Chapter 423 - 311: You Look So Pretty with Lipstick On

"Then why didn’t you say so earlier? I thought you were going to take a picture of me."

The young woman in the maid costume returned the phone to Lin Ruoxi, looking completely speechless. She had just been striking poses for ages, only to find out she wasn’t the main subject.

’Communicating with outsiders is so exhausting,’ she couldn’t help but sigh.

"S-sorry," Lin Ruoxi stammered. She didn’t know what she had done wrong, but the other person seemed unhappy.

A moment later, Lin Ruoxi trudged back to Xue Rui’s side, her head hanging in dejection.

"Rui, I... I’m so useless. I can’t seem to connect with them," Lin Ruoxi said in a small voice.

Xue Rui patted the little one’s head reassuringly. "Are there any normal people in the anime world? If you don’t fit into a circle, don’t force it."

He nonchalantly shifted the blame. There was a generation gap between his girl and other girls her age...

But it couldn’t be helped. After all, she was raised by her grandmother...

However, even though he had spoken quietly, a passing girl overheard him and shot him a fierce glare.

Xue Rui pulled Lin Ruoxi and started walking toward the exit of the convention center.

"I..." Lin Ruoxi thought about the party after the military training. Xue Rui had told her he was going to get together with his old high school classmates.

Gu Muxue would be there, and Lin Ruoxi was afraid she wouldn’t get along with Gu Muxue’s friends.

She had wanted to go talk to Gu Muxue alone when she saw her, but Xue Rui had stopped her.

"Rui, I saw her today. Why didn’t you let me go talk to her?" Lin Ruoxi asked, clinging to Xue Rui’s arm.

Xue Rui remained silent. He had his reasons. That girl was furious right now; was he supposed to throw his own girl into the mix to talk to her?

He didn’t even dare to imagine the consequences.

But he wasn’t planning to hide it anymore. He didn’t care what she thought during this week of military training. He would come clean to her at the party. Whatever the outcome, he would have to accept it.

By the time the two of them got back to school, the students doing military training were just being dismissed.

Xue Rui got out of the car near the athletic field and happened to see his classmates coming out from the back gate. Jiang Yuan was among them.

When Jiang Yuan saw Xue Rui, she gave him a smug wink as she passed by.

’Xue Rui skipping military training was his biggest mistake. The other students’ impression of her was steadily growing stronger. By the time the training was over, everyone would have pretty much forgotten everything Xue Rui had done before.’

"Lin Ruoxi, are you going to eat?" Zhao Ru asked.

Lin Ruoxi shook her head. "Rui and I already ate out."

"I still haven’t gotten my bank card," Du Miaomiao complained. "I don’t know what they were thinking. The bank is open while we’re at military training, and by the time we’re done, they’re closing. Do they really expect us to wait in a huge line during our lunch break to get it done?"

"About that," Xue Rui began, only to find Jiang Yuan had suddenly stepped in front of him.

Jiang Yuan cut in, "Tomorrow at noon, I’ll go buy lunch for everyone, and you guys can go get your cards. We can take turns."

Xue Rui frowned. ’How rude can she be?’

He had only been trying to say that the bank was acting with impunity. They’d already sealed the deal with the school’s leadership. Given how obedient the students were, the bank knew that even if they couldn’t get their cards during orientation, they’d eventually find time to go to a branch. There was no risk of losing customers, so there was no way the bank would work overtime for them.

Seeing Jiang Yuan’s smug expression, Xue Rui was suddenly reminded of the triumphant look on her face in his past life when she caught him skipping class.

"Anyone could have thought of what you just proposed," Xue Rui said coolly.

Du Miaomiao sighed. "Xue Rui is right. It’s useless. I went to check as soon as we were dismissed from the field at noon today, and the line was still endlessly long."

"Our formation is always dismissed late. If it’s really not possible, we can just go to a branch later. That’s what the bank staff said."

"Forget it, forget it. Let’s go eat first," Zhao Ru said, gesturing for Jiang Yuan to follow.

Jiang Yuan was at a loss for words. Of course, she knew her plan wasn’t very useful. Everyone’s free time was fixed. They were all university students; who didn’t know how to manage their own time?

"Well, it’s still better than you doing nothing," Jiang Yuan muttered quietly to Xue Rui before jogging to catch up with the others.

’She didn’t know what was wrong with her. It was as if she was terrified of Xue Rui stealing her spotlight, but it was only her few roommates here...’

Xue Rui watched Jiang Yuan’s retreating back with a smile playing on his lips. Jiang Yuan was incredibly sensitive around him now, like a startled rabbit.

"Rui, why do you always provoke her?" Lin Ruoxi asked, tilting her head.

"She’s the one who started bullying me first," Xue Rui said, rubbing his nose. ’He couldn’t very well say that he and Jiang Yuan were nemeses in a past life, could he?’

’Anyway, teasing Jiang Yuan is pretty fun. Tomorrow, I’ll solve this bank card problem for the class and piss her off again.’

Humming a little tune, Xue Rui couldn’t help but think, ’University is so much fun.’

...

「Third day of military training.」

In the morning, Xue Rui went over to Jiao University as usual. Checking in on Gu Muxue was one reason; discussing promotion and monetization strategies with Li Ruihao was another key objective.

"Muxue, Lin Ruoxi doesn’t really have any friends, and I think she has some psychological issues," Xue Rui said with a serious expression.

Gu Muxue blinked. She was happy that Xue Rui had come to see her this morning, but why had the topic of Lin Ruoxi been coming up so much lately?

’Hadn’t he already entrusted her with this matter?’

"’Psychological issues?’" Gu Muxue murmured.

’How could someone whose parents were both gone be psychologically healthy?’

’She had anticipated this. It was also the part that gave her the biggest headache.’

’If it were any other girl, it would be much easier to handle. All she’d have to do is subtly hint at the long history she and Xue Rui shared, then frankly ask about the other girl’s family situation, her plans for the future...’