Chapter 22: Pretty Little Boy part 1
“Hillbilly.”
Because Shi Ye was in a bad mood, he cursed out loud without mercy.
He had seen kids in the outer districts play with this stuff. Fold a paper crane, put it in a glass jar, and accumulate a thousand to make a wish.
Just like tossing coins into a wishing fountain—easy to fool and tacky as hell, thinking dreams actually come true by wishing.
However, paper cranes were more cost-effective than coins. You could fold them with cheap notebook paper or candy wrappers; the only cost was time.
Besides, those wishes… were boring. Living in a big house, eating fried chicken, making lots of money.
Wen Rong was one of them.
The corner of Shi Ye’s mouth stiffened, and he tossed the note aside.
Don’t think about Wen Rong anymore.
I’m not cheap. He made it so clear; if I keep thinking about him, I’d be too thick-skinned.
And why keep thinking about a guy? It’s not like I want to be brothers with him.
…
When the security guard returned with a cup of hot water, he saw strips of paper all over the floor. Shi Ye was squatting by the sofa, looking like he had lost an argument and was reflecting on the spot.
Sensing something was wrong, the security guard turned to leave.
“Stop.”
The guard slapped his thigh in regret. “Sorry, Young Master, we were out of hot water so I had to boil more, it took some time… Oh my, why did everything in the ballot box fall out? You go back and rest, I’ll clean it up, I’ll clean it up.”
Shi Ye pushed himself up from his knees. The back of his hand was in severe pain, causing both arms to tremble. “Pack it up and send it to my room.”
“Okay, okay.”
The guard called out again, “Young Master, do you still want this one with lots of words on it?”
Shi Ye looked back and snatched it away. “This isn’t a vote. I’m taking it.”
“Aye, aye, okay. I figured as much. So many words, completely different from the others with two or three words. It must belong to the Young Master.”
Shi Ye was alert. “You read it?”
“Young Master, I can’t read.”
“…”
Shi Ye fell silent for a moment, then said, “Doesn’t matter if you read it. It’s just words praising me anyway.”
Shi Ye flattened the note and put it in his pocket, carefully recalling the content on the paper.
Why sign it “Alien”? Childish.
The note must have been put in long ago, probably before he carried the ballot box to the villa.
Back then, there was no talk of forgiving or not forgiving.
As he walked, Shi Ye felt dizzy. He determined that tonight was entirely his fault. If he hadn’t lost his temper, he wouldn’t have scared Wen Rong. If he hadn’t scared him, Wen Rong wouldn’t have counted the number of times his butt was kicked on his fingers.
Back in his room, Shi Ye took a cold shower. He thought again: What did we talk about before that incident?
Wen Rong said: Compared to building a new Tennis Club, maybe replacing the Tennis Club President is easier.
As the water ran, his hand trembled with pain, but his brain surprisingly cleared up.
Wen Rong was right!
Shi Ye washed up and sent a message to Zhou Xie: [I want to apply to join the Tennis Club.]
Zhou Xie: [Recruitment is over.]
Shi Ye: [I’ll handle the modification on that vintage car of yours.]
Zhou Xie: [How many people?]
Shi Ye knew he was asking how many people would join the Tennis Club with him.
[89.]
Zhou Xie: [Saw the ballot box?]
Shi Ye’s finger paused, then his whole body surged with energy. [You seek death, faking it to screw me over.]
[If you behaved yourself, there wouldn’t be so much trouble.]
[Send a dumbass to guide you and see what happens.]
Zhou Xie: [Going to sleep. Hope you have nightmares.]
[Fuck, hope you get dethroned soon.]
As soon as the message was sent, Zhou Xie’s call came in.
Knowing Zhou Xie had snapped, Shi Ye pressed the screen, hanging up swiftly, and even turned off his phone.
After this refreshing and “friendly” exchange, Shi Ye felt great. He grabbed his laptop and opened Black Pigeon, planning to read some fun stuff to keep the happiness going.
Black Pigeon was lively tonight. Freshmen hadn’t started classes yet and had nowhere to vent their energy, so they unleashed it all on the anonymous forum.
As Shi Ye scrolled, a new post popped up.
[Black Pigeon Gossip Breaking News: Special Recruit steps out of the Dealer’s car late at night. Suspected underground romance exposed.]
1st Floor: [Image] [Image]
The photos were taken at night. If one opened the window and looked out, they would find the sky in the photo matched the current sky exactly.
The first photo was the back view of Wen Rong walking into the dormitory building. It wasn’t hard to distinguish; Shi Ye had just seen him.
The second photo showed a black vintage car parked at the dormitory entrance. Huge headlights, curved body, a leg stepping out from the passenger seat.
The protagonists in both photos wore jeans. The time matched. Obviously the same person.
2nd Floor: [Holy crap, explosive.]
3rd Floor: [Isn’t the Special Recruit in a triangle with Shi Ye and Leon? The Dealer joined in too?]
4th Floor: [Rumor has it the Dealer stopped the Special Recruit during club recruitment to ask for his contact info. When refused, he wouldn’t let the Special Recruit leave, and even gave him a Yellow Card out of humiliation and rage.]
5th Floor: [Was at the scene. I confirm what 4th Floor said is true.]
6th Floor: [It’s obvious now. While the snipe and clam fought, the fisherman caught the prize. The Dealer is the male lead of this campus romance story.]
7th Floor: [Crying. When the heart drawing came out, I laughed at Shi Ye and Leon for having bad taste. Now I know I was the blind one. If only I realized sooner, I regret it so much /cry]
8th Floor: [Watching this makes me jealous. I’m not pretending anymore. What do I have to do to make the Dealer break up with the Special Recruit? If the Dealer can do it, I think I can too. At least I’m funnier.]
9th Floor: [Give it a rest. This is the Dealer’s first love, an old man tasting meat for the first time. You dare?]
8th Floor: [Of course I—okay, I don’t dare. Let us send our blessings to the new couple.]
11th Floor: [Blessings]
12th Floor: [Blessing on the surface]
13th Floor: [Thinking about the Dealer getting to kiss the Special Recruit makes me a bit unhappy, but surface blessings.]
14th Floor: [Are you guys serious? Why are you suddenly simping for the Special Recruit?]
15th Floor: [Someone in the last thread said we’d understand once the Special Recruit took off his glasses. Still no pics, no truth. Any brave warrior want to go take them off so we can judge?]
16th Floor: [I would have dared before, but not now. You didn’t see the Special Recruit’s moves when he beat up Zhao Zeryang. Smooth and flowing, looked like he practiced. I’m afraid of getting beaten.]
The room grew increasingly silent.
The car was an antique Zhou Xie had driven for years. He always wanted to modify it but never found anyone who met his standards because he was too perfectionist. Shi Ye knew it all too well.
Wen Rong got out of Zhou Xie’s car.
They met at the club recruitment? How did so many things happen without him knowing? That day he… he was at the Student Council writing Zhou Xie’s 1300 psychological test questions.
Fuck!
Shi Ye felt inexplicably uncomfortable. He didn’t know why he cared about fabricated gossip on the forum.
Shi Ye scrolled down. Suddenly, “This post has been deleted” popped up in the middle of the interface.
[Forum Rules: Discussing the Dealer is Prohibited]
1st Floor: [Knew that post wouldn’t live long. Use your brains, freshmen. Don’t you know the Dealer has system administrator privileges? You think chatting anonymously is safe, but to the Dealer, it’s basically streaking and harassment.]
Knock, knock, knock.
The butler knocked. “Young Master, the security guard sent a ballot box. Should I put it in your room?”
Ballot box…
Shi Ye slowly straightened out his thoughts.
Wen Rong came with the ballot box that only Zhou Xie could touch.
Wen Rong went back in Zhou Xie’s car, and very likely came in Zhou Xie’s car too.
Just now, Zhou Xie specifically asked if he had seen the ballot box, as if showing off.
Shi Ye combined this information into a logical line, and his pupils contracted sharply.
Zhou Xie and Wen Rong seemed to be real.
So Wen Rong likes men?!
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