Chapter 30: Who Taught Her to Be Like This?

Chapter 30: Chapter 30: Who Taught Her to Be Like This?

The sudden mission made Chen Yuan put aside his plans to head back to his dorm.

Munching on the cut fruit Song Jianye had given him, he strolled leisurely toward the main athletic field.

A one-kilometer run was a piece of cake for Chen Yuan; it wasn’t difficult at all.

After finishing the fruit, he did a few simple stretches and ran two and a half laps around the rubber track.

He lifted his shirt to wipe the sweat from his face.

That brief endorphin rush felt amazing.

A notification for his mission progress appeared in his mind.

[1/5]

’Just four more days to go.’

"Hey, underclassman!"

Just as Chen Yuan was about to head back, he heard someone call his name.

He turned to see Jiang Shuyi walking toward him, holding a bottle of peach juice.

"Senior," Chen Yuan greeted.

"This is for you."

"Why buy me a drink out of the blue?"

’There’s no such thing as a free lunch.’ Chen Yuan didn’t dare to accept it.

"It’s just a drink. What, you think I’m going to poison you?" Jiang Shuyi insisted, pushing the peach juice into his hand.

Jiang Shuyi had actually bought the drink for herself. But on her way back, she spotted Chen Yuan running on the field and decided to give it to him, planning to use the opportunity to talk about him joining the School Student Union.

’God, I’m hopeless. I got completely lost just watching an over-six-foot-tall guy sweating up a storm.’

"Senior, you’re not trying to hit me up for sponsorship money, are you?"

"No, I want to recruit you for the School Student Union, for our External Relations Department. I’ll have your back."

"Not interested."

Jiang Shuyi paused. ’Such a quick refusal?’

"We might be in the same department, but I’m talking about the university-wide School Student Union, not just our department’s student council."

"I’m not really cut out for soliciting sponsorships, and I don’t have any experience. Thanks for the offer, Senior."

"You don’t need any experience. Just joining is enough, and you’ll get to meet new people," Jiang Shuyi said, looking at Chen Yuan hopefully. "How about you think it over?"

"Still not interested."

"Come on, Junior~~~"

Jiang Shuyi whined playfully, tugging at the corner of Chen Yuan’s shirt.

"It’s not going to work, no matter what you call me."

"Daddy."

’Seriously... who programmed her to be like this?’

"Senior, I really don’t think I have a knack for this kind of thing. I shouldn’t take up a spot."

"It’s fine. You can just be an unofficial member. We’ll just give you the title of a Student Union member, with no other strings attached."

"You make it sound like getting a VIP-colored name on QQ."

"Exactly, so there’s no downside for you."

"I feel like there’s more to it. You wouldn’t just suddenly ask me to join the School Student Union out of nowhere. If you’ve got something to say, just be straight with me."

’Like I said, there’s always a catch. There’s nothing special about me—aside from being your average, run-of-the-mill handsome guy. Normally, even if they were desperate for people, they’d never come looking for me.’

"Fine, I’ll be straight with you," Jiang Shuyi said.

"You know the manager of the Lanting Hotel, right?"

"What about it?"

"The hotel’s general manager said that if you join the School Student Union, they’ll give us a 3,000 yuan sponsorship. So, naturally, I came to find you."

’Uncle Zhang set this up?’

’No way.’

’How did he get mixed up in this?’

"The money isn’t going into your pocket, so why be so persistent about it?"

"But I just got promoted to department head, so I need to get off to a good start. Besides, the Student Union has a rule that we can keep a 10% commission," Jiang Shuyi said.

"Anyway, you’d just be an unofficial member, so you wouldn’t even have to come to our regular meetings. What’s not to like? Plus, in the future, if you want to skip an evening class, you can just say you have Student Union business. How great is that?"

"I’ll give you an answer tomorrow."

"Okay. Let’s add each other as contacts."

After they exchanged contact info, Chen Yuan left.

On the way back, Chen Yuan messaged Song Jianye and asked for Uncle Zhang’s contact information.

"Uncle Zhang."

Chen Yuan dialed his number.

"Xiaoyuan."

"You want me to join the School Student Union?"

"Did that young lady come find you?"

"Yes, but it’s really not necessary. I’m not interested in the Student Union."

"The hotel sets aside a portion of its budget every year for sponsorships at the local universities. If we don’t give it to your school, it’ll just go to another one. It doesn’t really matter who gets it. I just mentioned it offhand. If you don’t want to join, that’s fine too."

Chen Yuan felt that Uncle Zhang seemed to have a somewhat dated, stereotypical view of the Student Union, seeing it as a place that builds character.

"I understand."

"Our young miss is quite introverted, so I’ll have to trouble you to look after her at school."

"We’re helping each other out."

They talked for a little while longer before Chen Yuan hung up.

’Uncle Zhang was really bending over backward for Song Jianye. He’d probably said the same thing to other people, not just me.’

’She always brought four portions of fruit, one for each person in the dorm. The first time I met her, it seemed like she was also trying to build up her courage.’

’The strange thing was, in all the time I’ve known her, I’ve never once heard her mention her parents.’

When he got back to the dorm, his three roommates were going wild.

"Boss, is it true you know the campus belle, Song Jianye?"

The one who spoke was Sheng Kangming, the fourth-ranked brother in their dorm.

A buzz cut, a round face, a full beard—the Lin Xinru of Chunxi Road.

Sheng Kangming was from Hang City. Right at the start of freshman year, before military training had even finished, he’d been roped into the Rongcheng regional association.

The Sichuan and Chongqing area is known for producing beautiful women. He’d originally thought that by sneaking in, he could meet a girl like Shen Youchu and have a sweet romance, but after he went, he discovered it was all fucking gay guys.

It scared him so badly he tucked tail and ran that very night.

"We don’t just know each other. We’ve even kissed."

"HOLY SHIT! She’s the number one campus belle in the school’s hundred-year history!"

This was a member of the Song Faction.

"Number Three here got circumcised and still hasn’t found a girlfriend, and here you are, quietly bagging the campus belle," Liu Shiyu said.

"Hey, don’t diss me. I met a girl from another department on the confession page. We’re getting along really well, I think I have a shot," Sun Pengnan said.

"How far have you gotten? What do you talk about? Give us the details."

Having been at the university for only a month, the novelty hadn’t worn off. If a girl so much as asked one of them for directions, they would wonder to themselves a hundred times over: ’Is she into me?’

’Otherwise, why would she ask me instead of anyone else?’

’Heh, little minx. Playing hard to get, are we?’

Now that Sun Pengnan was also talking to a girl, the other two started hooting and hollering.

"It’s nothing special, just normal conversation. But she said her stomach hurts. I think her period might have started, and I’m not really sure how to comfort her."

"That’s a pretty advanced problem, I’ll admit. Besides telling her to drink more hot water, I can’t think of anything else," Sheng Kangming said.

"I’ve actually looked into this before. Nothing you say will help. If it’s going to hurt, it’s going to hurt," Liu Shiyu said, sitting cross-legged on his bed.

"But I’m a little confused. What kind of organ is the stomach, exactly? If I could figure that out, I could solve the problem at its source," Sun Pengnan said.

"You’re a real idiot," Sheng Kangming said.

"’Stomach ache’ is just a general term. The actual organ is the uterus—the place where the sperm and egg meet."

"Huh?"

Liu Shiyu stared at Sheng Kangming.

"I thought the place where the sperm and egg meet was a hotel."