“Don’t you know? You’ve become a campus celebrity now!” Cao Jianhui said to him wretchedly. “A buttload of threads have popped up on the school forum, all talking about you and all made by girls. They were saying how charming you are and how they were gonna nominate you as the “most attractive guy on campus” or something. Anyhow, they’ve sniffed you out now, my dude.”
Cao Jianhui knew that something must’ve happened between Luo Ziling and Ouyang Huihui that they could not speak of. At least, not in public. He noted to himself to be on the lookout for opportunities to interrogate his friend about the matter in private.
Although Luo Ziling had indeed known about the thread discussions, he couldn’t help feeling a little more excited about it after hearing what Cao Jianhui had said.
After all, he knew very well what came with the title of “most attractive guy on campus”; it meant that most girls would be after him.
“That’s right, big boss, lots of ’em are now fangirling over you. You’re gonna make every boy on campus jealous of you, y’know?” Wu Longjiang plopped down beside him and slung his arm around Luo Ziling’s shoulder. “Why is the world such an unfair place? I mean, look at me. Am I not equally as attractive? Does my face not make panties drop in an instant?”
“Good God. You? Attractive?” Li Fuming shot him a look of disgust as he pushed a mirror in front of Wu Longjiang’s face. “Take a good look at yourself. Careful, don’t break the mirror.”
Wu Longjiang’s pride took a critical hit. He shot up from Luo Ziling’s bed in an instant, challenging Li Fuming to a duel. That pathetic sight made Luo Ziling and Cao Jianhui burst out in laughter. Upon realizing that they were actually looking to fight, Cao Jianhui hastily pulled them apart.
Cao Jianhui picked up his phone and tapped on the school forum to show Luo Ziling what was going on in real time.
Without sparing even a second of delay, Luo Ziling yanked the phone out of his hand. His eyes almost popped out of their sockets upon seeing the content of one of the threads.
At the top of the threadlist were a handful of discussions, all related to himself. Some even contained his own photos from every angle one could think of, but he was quite sure that these photos were not taken by himself nor his friends.
“God, I look so ugly in these photos. At least tell me when you’re snapping a photo, geez.” Luo Ziling was a little appalled by the crappy photos some stalker girl took of him.
“Heh heh, it seems to me that a lotta girls are interested in you now,” said Cao Jianhui as he presented another thread discussion to Luo Ziling. “Take a look at this. So many of ’em are talking about how fine of a man you are. Some are even laying out plans to steal your heart. Soon, your name will be on the mouths of everyone on campus.”
“Big boss, I think you should go out more often. There’s the cafeteria, the field, the classrooms, and the library you could hang out at. Maybe you’ll meet the love of your life at one of the spots.” Wu Longjiang moved over. “Maybe next time, you’ll spare us some of your sidechicks, ya dig?”
“I’ll be right by your side from now on,” said Li Fuming shamelessly. “Big boss, you’re really something else, aren’t you? To be able to rise into celebrity status overnight while you weren’t even on campus! God how I wish I were you!”
This time, it was Cao Jianhui’s turn to yell out in surprise. “Hot damn! Someone’s just declared his love for Yenching’s prettiest girl!”
“What?!”
Everyone in the room was stunned.
Luo ZIling, too, rushed over in the blink of an eye.
A live thread had sprouted, in which Lu Weiguang, a popular boy majoring in their school’s global trading program, was confessing his love for Yang Qingyin, who many had agreed was the prettiest face in their university.
In the live video, Lu Weiguang was standing outside the female dormitory with 999 roses as well as a hundred or so candles, arranged into a big heart shape. The thread starter was someone named “Run Piggy, Run!” and the name of the thread, unsurprisingly, was set as “The confession of a Yenching University student to his one and only Goddess”.
Luo Ziling almost boiled over in fury from seeing the contents of said thread.
There was a photo of Yang Qingyin herself posted in the discussion, which appeared so beautiful that it made many choke out of surprise.
That photo was somehow attached to the first floor of the dormitory building, in front of which he was standing, and on the second floor hung his own photo.
Finally, Luo Ziling was able to make out just who this brave soul was. He was none other than the guy he and Yang Qingyin had bumped into during their lakeside stroll. It was that guy who shoved him away from Yang Qingyin, who gave himself the imaginary title of “Yang Qingyin’s boyfriend”.
That Lu Weiguang fella stood in the middle of the candles and was clothed in a bespoke suit, with a bunch of flowers in hand. An indescribable resentment grew in Luo Ziling’s heart. Climbing to his feet immediately, he dashed out of his dorm room without thinking twice.
“Big boss, what are ya doing?” Cao Jianhui, whose interest had been piqued by that thread, appeared stunned by Luo Ziling’s bizarre reaction, but his mind was able to catch up with Luo Ziling’s thoughts. “Hey! Why are you guys still watching on your phones? We’re going to the place now!”
After saying that, Cao Jianhui ran after Luo Ziling, all the while calling for him to slow his pace down so he could catch up.
The rest of the fellas, too, rushed out of the room excitedly.
Luo Ziling came to a complete halt upon dashing out of the male dormitory. He had no idea where that darned Lu Weiguang was making his live confession.
Cao Jianghui finally caught up with him. Grabbing onto Luo ZIling while gasping for air, he asked, “How do you even run that fast, man?”
“Where is he?” Luo Ziling asked with furrowed brows.
“Huh? You mean the place where Lu Weiguang’s making his confession?” Cao Jianhui’s eyes lit up in the dark. “I know! I know! He’s right in front of apartment number 2, the girls’ dormitory! You probably don’t know where it is, do you? Come, follow me!”
Without saying anything, Luo Ziling left with Cao Jianhui alongside the gang who had just caught up with them.
As they made their way toward apartment number 2, Cao Jianhui briefed Luo Ziling on what he knew about Yang Qingyin and that Lu Weiguang bloke, who apparently was the son of a wealthy tycoon.
After that though, the group went silent as there was nothing left to say.
Still, Luo Ziling was finally able to get information on the course Yang Qingyin was majoring in from Cao Jianhui’s database.
So his guess had been proven wrong. Yang Qingyin was in fact, majoring in history and not the Chinese language, which gave him quite the shock.
As for Lu Weiguang, he was a third year senior, majoring in Global Trade at the School of Economics. He was no doubt a member of Yenching’s ruling elite class. His father, Lu Lianda, was a man of power and his mother was supposedly as pretty as Yang Qingyin herself back then. A popular phrase during her time at Yenching University was how her suitors could form a line stretching from Yenching to Shanhaiguan.
Lu Weiguang was a tall man, with a height of 1.82 meters. That, paired with his relatively good looks and his family background, meant that many girls on campus were interested in him, romantically-speaking.
Thinking about these factors only made Luo Ziling feel even more depressed about himself.
He silently felt his pride take a hit.