Chapter 10: CH 10

The news that Chen Zhiyu was coming to speak at the school was known to everyone.

As the youngest richest man in the country, he was even more famous than many top idols, not just because of his money, but also because of his face.

At the top of the wealthy business circle, there are either men who are on the older side, or brash-looking nouveau riche, or philandering young men. A man like Chen Zhiyu, handsome, single, with no bad habits and no scandals, is simply one in a million.

Chen Zhiyu almost keeps to himself, has few friends, and is a loner in whatever business he does, not having even a few business partners. Such a secretive man has fuelled the public’s desire to know more about him.

His private life has always been the subject of much discussion. Many speculated that either he was having a good time and kept the news to himself, or that he had some hidden illness that was difficult to talk about. The most talked about was that his family had long ago arranged for him to marry the right person. After all, an upper-class man like him could not just find someone to marry. There is no true love under the capital, a strong union is the real deal.

The legend of Mr. Chen was everywhere.

Secretary Li pulled open the car door and Xia Qingshu was photographed the moment he got down from the car. With long limbs and a slender waist, Xia Qingshu’s ear tips flushed red as he got out of the car. As if he had just woken up, he stretched out after standing firmly. He was as bright as the moon in the sky.

Dazzling, bright and beautiful.

Secretary Li looked at Xia Qingshu’s retreating back and was dazed for a moment. He had followed his boss as soon as he graduated and had helped him deal with many peach blossoms in the wild. Some seemingly careless chance encounters were actually painstakingly planned, and he had seen all sorts of old-fashioned, novel and unique ways of attracting them. There were also wealthy ladies who offered up their entire family fortune just to show their sincerity.

However, the boss was rock solid at heart, ignoring all of this, and the more men and women he meets, the more he would be disgusted.

But, this Xia student, he had accompanied his boss to see him twice and had him investigated a few times in private.

After each meeting, the boss’s face was not very good, but he’d still come to find him again.

Because of Xia Qing Shu, he even saw the immovable boss in a frantic mood for the first time in his life really.

Xia Qingshu walked away happy and bouncy, he could already feel the low pressure of his boss outside the car. In his mind, he was beyond sure that this boss was angry and would come back next time.

～

Xia Qing Shu carried his school bag and trotted into the third school building.

At the corner of the first floor, He Chen was leaning against the balcony of the veranda, sunbathing, holding a cup of milk tea in his hand and taking a sip every now and then.

When he saw Xia Qing Shu, he snorted coldly, “Pestering Chen Zhi Yu again.”

The word “again” was very impressive.

Xia Qingshu only gave He Chen a faint look, not stopping, not even pausing briefly, as if he was looking at a passer-by.

He Chen was a little embarrassed and forgot to even say his prepared mocking words.

The feeling Xia Qing Shu gave him was too strange.

He doesn’t know when Xia Qing Shu had changed. All the fancy clothes he used to wear were gone, his speech was illogical and choking but he almost seemed to look like a normal person.

The biggest change was in his eyes.

Crystal, bright, pure.

Xia Qing Shu glanced at him carelessly, the end of his eyes hooked up, the small mole under his eyes seemed like a seed that fell straight to the bottom of his heart.

He Chen unexpectedly felt a hint of panic.

“Xia Qing Shu, you, you’re deaf, I’m talking to you!” A little annoyed, He Chen stepped forward and pulled the strap of his school bag.

Xia Qing Shu looked at him suspiciously and took off his Bluetooth headset, “You were just talking to me?”

“Nonsense, there’s only the two of us here, am I talking to a ghost!” He Chen growled.

Xia Qing Shu took two steps back, a little disgusted.

“What are you hiding from?!” He Chen’s brow furrowed.

“Drool.” Xia Qing Shu pointed to the almost invisible watermark on the ground and whispered, “When you just spoke loudly, your saliva almost sprayed on me.”

He Chen’s face turned from green to purple, from purple to red, like a large neon sign.

Xia Qing Shu: “What were you going to say?”

“You’re going to pester Brother Zhiyu again?!”

He Chen’s voice was still loud, but the sarcastic words lost their gravitas after a few more times.

Xia Qingshu responded indifferently, “No, he’s the one who came looking for me.”

He Chen sneered, “And you lie again.”

That demeanor, that tone of voice, it was simply certainty.

How could Brother Zhiyu take the initiative to let him get into the car? Even if Brother Zhiyu liked a cat or dog on the roadside, there was no way he would like him.

Xia Qing Shu looked at He Chen.

He Chen should be about his age, with thick eyebrows and a peaked nose, so he was naturally a good-looking man. With a wealthy family and well-dressed, he was the kind of schoolboy who had a high turnout.

Xia Qing Shu withdrew his eyes, “I’m leaving if there’s nothing else.”

“Something’s wrong!” He Chen had never been treated so coldly before, and his tone was a little unkind.

Xia Qing Shu nodded at him, signalling him to speak quickly.

He Chen held back, “I want you to publicly apologise to Brother Yu Bin.”

Xia Yubin and Zhou Qian ate Xia Qing Shu’s peanuts and got their fingers stuck. The story of the throat, vomiting and stomach wash soon spread across campus, when the police and ambulance came, and although the Zhou family suppressed the news, the drama club students all saw it. Now, Xia Yubin’s popularity is very bad, that post of choosing the school grass, all the students who had previously chosen Xia Yubin, changed their votes and stepped back.

Brother Yubin has been very distressed lately, and his voice is sickly inside the phone. He didn’t even know that it was Zhou Qian who stole the peanuts, and he was considered a victim.

He wanted Xia Qing Shu to re-post a post on the forum, simply stating that Xia Yubin eating the peanuts was shared by Xia Qing Shu of his own accord, and not stolen by Xia Yubin and Zhou Qian. Hopefully this would ease Brother Yu Bin’s worries.

Xia Qing Shu’s mouth curled up after hearing his suggestion, “The milk tea you drank, was it full of Buddha beads?”

Xia Qingshu said no. He was no saintly mother, condescending to himself to make others whole.

When He Chen looked at the pearl milk tea in his hand, he felt weird and casually threw it into the trash.

“You help out Brother Yu Bin, Brother Yu Bin has been having a bit of a hard time lately, he’s had a lot going on at home. Besides, they were just being naughty and only took a packet of peanuts from you, you didn’t lose a bit.” He Chen looked like he had made a huge determination, “If you help him, I promise you a request.”

After saying that, he blocked the middle of the road and refused to move out of the way.

Xia Qing Shu grumbled and took out a packet from his school bag and threw it over.

“What is it?” He Chen took the pocket and frowned when he saw what was inside.

The packet contained a condom and stained underwear.

“This is what Zhou Qian put in my school bag.” Xia Qing Shu asked rhetorically, “Is this naughty?”

Anyone familiar with Zhou Qian knew how he acted, indicating that he had taken a liking to Xia Qing Shu and it was only a matter of time before he fucked him. This was no longer school bullying, this was molesting a fellow student.

He Chen’s face instantly turned red.

“…… I’ll promise you three more things.” He Chen said, “You help Brother Yu Bin, he should have been deceived by Zhou Qian. Brother Yu Bin is very nice, there is no way he would do such a thing, you just need to take Brother Yu Bin out of the picture.”

“Alright.” Xia Qing Shu took out his phone, “Campus forum posting, right?”

He Chen’s eyes lit up for a moment and he nodded his head.

Xia Qing Shu opened the school forum.

The “poisoned peanuts” incident opened a thread with thousands of floors of discussion, followed by the word “fire” in red.

The post briefly rehashed the events of that day, and most of the comments that followed were scolding Zhou Qian. There were also those who scolded Xia Yubin, but there were also those who defended him, probably saying that Xia Yubin did not participate in bullying Xia Qing Shu, that he was innocent and that he was forced to eat peanuts by Zhou Qian. There were also some who were simply mocking and sarcastic about the duo and actually planted themselves in Xia Qing Shu’s hands.

Xia Qing Shu finished posting, and also accompanied by a scissor hand selfie, “I can go now, right?”

He Chen gave him a look.

Xia Qing Shu’s entire body stood in the sunlight, shrouded in a light golden glow, his fair skin looked like a veil, as if he was a little prince walking out of a portrait.

He had only just realised that Xia Qingshu was so good-looking. No wonder the school flower selection scored ah.

He clenched his fist with one hand and coughed lightly at his mouth, “That, you can ask to go to the amusement park with me.” At Xia Qing Shu’s shocked expression, he hurriedly explained, “It’s not a date, it’s just going to have fun together.”

Xia Qing Shu let out an “Oh”, “No, I don’t like going to amusement parks.”

After saying that, he carried his school bag and wanted to leave again. He Chen got anxious and stepped in front of him with a flash of his body, “You, you’ve asked me to go to the amusement park several times before.”

“Didn’t you used to be annoyed with me pestering you?” Xia Qing Shu cocked his head, puzzled, “And still not used to it now that I’m not pestering.”

He crossed his body sideways and muttered to himself, “It’s the first time I’ve encountered someone forcing themselves to be pestered, how strange.”

He Chen’s face turned scarlet with anger as he took out his phone and tapped on the post Xia Qing Shu had made –

#Be resourceful in protecting yourself when you encounter school bullying#

There was nothing wrong with this post, although it didn’t name names, it did confirm the bullying behaviour of Xia Yubin and Zhou Qian.

The replies were all in the same vein with the words “protect your wife” and cursing the bully. Because the forum is anonymous, many of the words are unpleasant.

In the previous post, there were people who spoke for Xia Yubin, but in this post, it was all about him. He Chen angrily closed his phone and walked quickly towards the classroom.

~

Chen Zhiyu’s speech was at ten o’clock, after the second period. His speech was mainly aimed at students in their third and fourth years, preparing for employment and standing up for his own company by the way.

Xia Yubin, as the student representative, would be following Chen Zhiyu throughout.

After the “tainted peanuts” incident, he didn’t want to come to school, at least not until the storm had passed. However, this is the best opportunity to get close to Chen Zhiyu. He hadn’t played well the last time he saw Chen Zhiyu, so he had to hold his ground this time.

As he set up on the auditorium, he heard people whispering.

“He’s the student representative? How can he be the student representative when he’s so badly behaved?”

“The teacher likes him. I’ve seen him eating with teachers in private a few times.”

“Oh, so he went through the backdoor.”

“……”

Xia Yubin turned around and saw a few of the usual average achievers moving boxes, seeing him looking over, giving him a fake smile and continuing with the task at hand.

Xia Yubin remembered the faces of these few people and turned to walk away.

These people were lemon spirits, jealous that the teacher liked him and that he did well in his studies. If they saw Chen Zhiyu bending over backwards to him in the future, wouldn’t they be sour.

Xia Yubin didn’t care much and took the list to set up the venue. It was almost finished when the teacher from the teaching office came over to inspect it.

“Xia Yubin, come here for a moment.” The teacher from the teaching office, surnamed Zhang, also held the position of assistant headmaster and was usually very close to him.

“Teacher Zhang, I’m all set up here.” Xia Yubin handed over the list, smiling warmly.

There was a hint of gravity in Mr. Zhang’s expression as he pulled Xia Yubin to the corner of the curtain, deliberating for a moment before saying, “It’s hard work for you, I’ve reserved a seat for you, you can sit in the first row and listen to the lecture.”

Xia Yubin had an unsettling feeling in her heart, “Teacher Zhang, didn’t we agree that I would follow Mr. Chen throughout?”

Teacher Zhang: “The ‘poisoned peanuts’ incident, the students reacted greatly, after the leaders deliberated, in order to appease the students, they decided to let student Xia Qing Shu follow Mr. Chen.”

Xia Yubin argued, “Teacher Zhang, I didn’t bully him, it was Zhou Qian ……”

Teacher Zhang interrupted him, “Xia Yubin, I know you’re not that kind of person, you were also dragged into this by Zhou Qian, this is the leader’s decision, I can’t do anything about it.”

Because Xia Qing Shu reported to the police,and alarmed the senior leadership of the school, almost making the social news, there were reporters who wanted to come over for interviews, and there was a lot of emotion among the students. The school made this decision in order to calm down the matter and appease the victims. Moreover, Xia Qing Shu has also been doing very well recently, and the lecturer has changed his evaluation greatly, which is also considered an incentive for the latter students.

When Mr. Zhang finished, he lifted the curtain and pointed to the first row right in the middle, “Later on, you can sit there and see very clearly.”

After he finished, Mr. Zhang gave Xia Yubin two pats on the back and walked away quickly.

Xia Yubin stood in place, his hand clenched into a fist, his nails pinching into his flesh. The students who had just talked about him behind his back gathered together again, chattering about something.

He could faintly hear words like “deserved” and “good job”.

At that moment, the phone rang and Xia Yubin picked it up. The call was from Zhou Qian, who had seen Xia Qing Shu’s new post and was furious.

Zhou Qian ranted on the other side of the phone, Xia Yubin took a deep breath, smiled and advised, “Don’t be angry, he is just a fool, you do a cleaner job this time …… If he doesn’t listen, beat him until he gives in, won’t it be more enjoyable when you fuck him …… Even if he’s tied up, he’ll feel it, he’ll cry, he’ll scream, he’ll beg for mercy ……”

“As long as there’s no substantial evidence, a fool’s word isn’t really that credible, you could say, he sold himself to you……”

～

Xia Qing Shu was in class, the section was the language Arabic, which he liked a lot.

Halfway through the class, an out-of-class student came to the classroom door looking for him, saying that he was needed as a volunteer for a presentation in the school auditorium.

Xia Qing Shu found it strange that he was needed, why not go to the strong sports students, but he went along anyway.

“Xia Qingshu, you are so lucky, Chen Zhiyu is coming to the school to give a speech and the teacher has asked you to be the student representative.” The classmate led him forward with envy in his eyes.

“Is that so?” Xia Qingshu slowly followed behind, secretly thinking to himself.

Wasn’t the student representative Xia Yubin? How come it had changed to him? Wasn’t this was the key episode where Chen Zhiyu and Xia Yubin’s feelings collided and sparked?

The two walked slowly, one in front of the other.

Xia Qing Shu was not familiar with the campus, having gotten lost last time, but he still knew the location of the school auditorium.

This classmate was leading him further and further off in the direction of the sports warehouse, it seemed.

“This student, aren’t you going the wrong way?” Xia Qing Shu stood still, refusing to move forward.

“No, this is the place.”

From the corner stood two boys, one of whom was Zhou Qian.

Xia Qing Shu looked up and found himself standing under the surveillance and the boys were in the blindspot of the surveillance.

It seemed to be premeditated.

Xia Qing Shu stood still, timidly exclaiming, “Don’t hit me!”

On the other side of the auditorium, Xia Yubin was still standing behind the curtain and did not depart. As if he was very sure that the newly replaced student representative, wouldn’t come.