Life became truly miserable when bad luck came crashing in wave after wave without stopping. On the way to his new classroom, Ke Bu once again witnessed Zhi Li’s awful nature. In the stairwell, Zhi Li sat casually on the handrail, looking perfectly at ease, while a girl stood in front of him. Ke Bu hid around the corner. Just what is it about this guy that makes him so popular? It’s only the first day of school, and something this unrealistic is already happening.
“I like you,” the girl confessed boldly.
“But I like boys.” Zhi Li said something so startling without blushing or batting an eye. The girl fled as if escaping for her life. Ke Bu was just about to step out when another boy suddenly appeared in front of Zhi Li.
“I like you,” the boy confessed just as boldly.
“But I like girls.” There it was, this awful man who casually trampled on other people’s feelings and lied as naturally as breathing. Worst of all, even Ke Bu, who had always prided himself on reading people accurately, had been completely fooled. There was not the slightest crack in Zhi Li’s expression.
How pitiful. Do they really think that on the first day of school, beneath a cloudless sky and among drifting fallen leaves, all they have to do is blush and say, “Senior, I… I like you,” and the two of them will embrace with tears in their eyes? Stop dreaming. This is reality. In the end, don’t most people just settle for someone at random, spend every day glued to a computer, and live a decadent life? That’s the destination of university. If anyone is to blame, it’s because their ideas are too naïve, and because they had the bad luck to fall for Zhi Li. This man is reality made flesh, a destroyer of fantasies! Ke Bu stepped out and spat disdainfully. “There isn’t a single word in this world that can fully describe how awful you are.”
“A voyeur has no right to talk about me.”
“So what if I was watching you?” Ke Bu answered with complete confidence, but apparently someone else could be even more shameless.
“Then am I good-looking?” Zhi Li asked expressionlessly, saying something so brazen without the slightest hint of shame.
“Don’t ask questions people could misunderstand!!”
“What did you misunderstand?”
Playing dumb. He’s definitely playing dumb. That harmless face is hiding one scheming bastard!! Ke Bu was irritated that someone as sharp as himself had still fallen into a verbal trap. Zhi Li jumped down from the handrail and walked straight toward the classroom, toward Ke Bu’s classroom. Ke Bu ground his teeth. So this is what cruel reality looks like? He casually found a seat and sat down. Not far away and diagonally ahead, Zhi Li seemed to be seriously flipping through the freshman handbook. Chu Hao Yu moved over and stood beside him. “Zhi Li, so you’re here! I’ve been looking everywhere for you. By the way, have you noticed anything different about me today?”
Ke Bu frowned in disgust. Here we go again, that pervert. Zhi Li did not even lift his eyelids. Chu Hao Yu remained full of excitement. “I’m not wearing underwear today.” How can something that shameless come out of a person’s mouth?! Zhi Li turned his gaze toward Chu Hao Yu’s lower body. Five seconds later, he reached out and pulled down Chu Hao Yu’s pants. Several girls screamed and covered their eyes. Zhi Li alone remained perfectly calm. “So you really aren’t wearing any.” Then he went right back to reading the freshman handbook. Chu Hao Yu hurriedly yanked his pants back up and shouted furiously, “Zhi Li!!” In the middle of the commotion, the class adviser entered carrying a large stack of materials. She was a woman in her thirties, dressed in a maroon suit that could not conceal her mature charm. After a long string of official remarks, she told everyone to gather in the auditorium for the opening ceremony. Ke Bu followed the crowd. The auditorium was packed, and he took his place with his class.
“Ke Bu?” Ke Bu turned around. It was Gong Zhu. So he was in the same class after all, and Ke Bu had not noticed at all.
“Oh, it’s you.” After the chancellor finished his long-winded speech, a man in a suit stepped onto the stage. “Now, please welcome the freshman representative, Zhi Li, to give his speech.”
“L-Lord Zhi Li is the freshman representative? My Lord Zhi Li,” Gong Zhu murmured. Since when did he become yours? Ke Bu glanced at Zhi Li standing behind them. He remained where he was as though he had not heard a thing. The man in the suit raised his voice into the microphone again. “Zhi Li!”
“What?” Zhi Li replied from the crowd, completely unmoved.
“Zhi Li, it’s your turn to come on stage.”
“What?”
“Zhi Li!!”
“What?”
Ke Bu finally lost his patience and shouted, “If you don’t want to go up, just say so!! Stop using that trick to brush people off, Zhi Li!” Only Ke Bu’s echo remained in the suddenly silent hall. Realizing what he had just done, he shrank back. In the end, Zhi Li still did not go up, and someone else replaced him as the freshman representative. Behind Ke Bu, Gong Zhu said quietly, “Hey, Ke Bu… is it just my imagination, or do you seem to care more about Zhi Li’s business than everyone else’s…?”
“More what?”
“It’s a feeling I can’t really describe. Don’t tell me you also…”
“Y-you, you, you, don’t keep going!” This time it was Ke Bu who did not know what to do. “It’s definitely not what you’re thinking! I just keep feeling like I can’t leave that guy to his own devices. O-otherwise he’ll definitely destroy my peaceful campus life.” That was the conclusion Ke Bu settled on.
“Leave him to his own devices? I never thought someone as detached from worldly concerns as you would care this much about Lord Zhi Li after knowing him for only one day. Looks like I was wrong. You really are a kind person.” Ke Bu stared at Gong Zhu’s innocent face. This guy was definitely an idiot, though he probably was the type men would like: considerate, kind, pretty. Even though he was a man, his delicate build made people want to protect him. Ke Bu, however, only wanted to crush that pitifully lovable quality. It was such a waste for this type to appear on a man.
“When did I ever say I only met Zhi Li today?” Ke Bu dropped the revelation so suddenly that Gong Zhu froze. Ke Bu continued, “He and I were classmates in middle school, and unfortunately, we were classmates in high school too.”
“What?!!!” Gong Zhu stared at Ke Bu in disbelief. “Why didn’t you say that earlier? Then are you two close?”
“We just went to the same school. We hardly ever talked.”
“Then you must know Lord Zhi Li really well?” Gong Zhu suddenly perked up.
“Not at all!!” Ke Bu denied it immediately. “I just know a few habits everybody knows. Like what he did just now. When he doesn’t want to deal with someone, he uses that Zhi Li-style mechanical repetition to muddle through. It’s infuriating to listen to.”
“Then, Ke Bu, can you introduce me to him?”
“No.”
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