Chapter 598 - 378: You’re the Best... Hot Potato

Xue Rui jumped at Qian Huabiao’s sudden shout. ’This guy’s reflexes sure are slow,’ he thought.

The crowd of students was growing, but when they saw Qian Huabiao was just as indignant, they assumed he was another victim and parted to let him through.

Qian Huabiao glanced around, swallowed nervously, and braced himself before walking over to Xue Rui. He whispered, "What’s the plan? I’ll follow your lead."

Xue Rui gave a faint smile. Qian Huabiao never dropped the ball when it counted.

Sun Xiaoran shot to his feet. Other freshmen were always deferential to him, a department head, and would leave without complaint even after being rejected.

Take the last interviewee, for instance. He had merely waved a hand, and the student had walked out, dejected.

But this troublemaker, Xue Rui, hadn’t just ignored him—he’d turned around and slapped an enormous accusation on his head. If he didn’t explain himself now, it would be too late!

He smiled and explained to the crowd:

"Fellow students, Xue Rui misunderstood me. What I meant was that we’ve already accepted a lot of male students today, so we should give the female students more of a chance. As you know, women are a minority in our department and deserve special consideration."

The onlookers turned to each other and started whispering, quickly breaking into arguments among themselves:

"If that’s the case, then it sounds reasonable, doesn’t it?" one female student said, nodding. It was nice to feel taken care of, after all.

"What’s reasonable about it? Is the Student Union picking people based on gender now, not ability?" a male student retorted.

"The main task of the Public Relations Department is to secure sponsorships. Female students have a slight advantage there, as they can communicate better with businesses..." Sun Xiaoran explained.

Xue Rui held up a hand, cutting him off. "Hold on! Are you saying you need pretty female students to keep company with some greasy old men? What other ’advantage’ could you possibly be talking about? Is this how you’ve always operated?"

"Damn! He’s an animal!" someone in the crowd cursed.

Sun Xiaoran swallowed hard, momentarily at a loss for words. Xue Rui’s interpretation was so twisted that no explanation could mask its malice.

"Setting that aside for a moment, where’s my application form?" Xue Rui asked, his eyes crinkling into a smile. He had heard the distinct sound of Sun Xiaoran crumpling up paper; it was almost certainly in the trash can.

As the one being "bullied" by a person in power, Xue Rui naturally had the support of all the other freshmen. All he had to do was seize on Sun Xiaoran’s every mistake—he didn’t need to prove a thing himself.

"Well..." A bead of sweat slid down Sun Xiaoran’s temple as his eyes instinctively darted toward the trash can.

’Damn my twitchy hands! Why did I have to throw it away?’

With a sigh, Vice Minister Cheng Nian picked a crumpled ball of paper from the trash can and slowly smoothed it out. Staring up from it was none other than Xue Rui’s photo.

"Son of a bitch. He threw my handsome picture in the trash?" Xue Rui muttered.

The students standing nearby who heard him couldn’t help but laugh. ’Was that really the main point?’

Qian Huabiao couldn’t help but laugh out loud. Xue Rui really was narcissistic.

Xue Rui turned to Qian Huabiao. "What were you shouting about earlier? Did your application get thrown in the trash too?"

Qian Huabiao froze for a second, then nodded. "Yeah."

’His application form *was* in the trash can. It’s just... he’d been the one to throw it in there.’

"You! Have we even met? When did I ever throw away your application?"

Sun Xiaoran’s scalp tingled with dread. He had absolutely no memory of Qian Huabiao, the guy who had been yelling earlier. Xue Rui was framing him!

Xue Rui shot Qian Huabiao a look, his eyes flicking toward the hallway.

Qian Huabiao clenched his jaw, squeezed his way out of the crowd, and, under the watchful eyes of everyone present, gritted his teeth and stuck his hand into the trash can, fishing out the application he had tossed in a moment of agitation.

He unfolded the crumpled paper, revealing his own two-inch ID photo. After a brief hesitation, he tore the part of the form that read "Disciplinary Department" into shreds, then walked to the front of classroom 104 holding only the section with his photo.

"It’s got my picture on it and everything!" Qian Huabiao declared, though his voice lacked conviction. ’Isn’t this just blatantly pinning the blame on someone?’ he thought.

He noticed, however, that Xue Rui was all smiles, completely devoid of guilt.

Xue Rui shook his head again and again. He held up the photo and challenged Sun Xiaoran, "You’re not going to try and say I’m framing you, are you? Tell me, what kind of dumbass throws his own photo into a trash can?"

The corner of Qian Huabiao’s mouth twitched. Xue Rui’s words weren’t just directed at Sun Xiaoran—he was openly calling him a dumbass, too!

’Sun Xiaoran, are you really going to take this?’

’Well, then... I guess I can take it too!’

’I’ll need to rely on Xue Rui to get away with skipping class in the future. In our homeroom, the guy can basically do whatever he wants...’

’Honestly, when does he ever get the short end of the stick?’ Jiang Yuan thought to herself with a wry smile.

"This is just too much. I hadn’t even left the classroom and he’d already thrown my picture away," Xue Rui lamented with a long sigh.

"I’d be upset too if that were me."

The attitude of the onlookers shifted once again, and all eyes turned to Sun Xiaoran, waiting for an explanation.

"I really don’t know him!" Sun Xiaoran said, his face a mask of indignation as he pointed a trembling finger at Qian Huabiao.

Qian Huabiao suddenly felt a pang of pity for Sun Xiaoran. ’This is one of those situations where you’ve got mud in your pants—even if it’s not shit, everyone thinks it is...’

Vice Minister Cheng Nian glanced at Sun Xiaoran, a cold smirk touching her lips.

’She was so disappointed in how Sun Xiaoran was handling the situation. He was walking right into every one of Xue Rui’s traps.’

"Xue Rui, please, come in so we can talk. Perhaps there’s been a misunderstanding." Cheng Nian smoothed out Xue Rui’s application form with her sleeve and poured him a cup of tea.

Seeing Cheng Nian take action, Sun Xiaoran relaxed considerably. His vice minister was highly competent; surely she could handle Xue Rui for him.

Xue Rui pursed his lips. ’So now you decide to try and humor me?’

’Too late. I’m inconsolable!’

Just as he was thinking this, a faint scent of perfume wafted past his nose. His body’s center of gravity shifted slightly, leaning toward the fragrance.