Chapter 64: Promoted to Empress
Wen Rong was woken up early the next morning by the cold.
The nurse had come in and opened the window. Even though it was just a crack, the freezing wind filled the room.
Wen Rong asked the nurse, “Excuse me, may I be discharged?”
The nurse was a kindly older man. As he tidied up the trash can, he smiled and said, “The doctor said you have no issues. You can leave whenever you like.”
“If you want to continue staying, that’s fine too. Floriman Academy doesn’t charge students for medical expenses.”
Wen Rong immediately felt a pang of guilt for “mooching off the hospital for a night.” He packed his things and fled in embarrassment.
More cold wind spiraled into the sky. Wen Rong felt his hair standing on end from the blowing gale. Shivering as he walked, he decided after only five minutes to give up on going to the cafeteria. He would return to the nearby dormitory to put on more clothes before heading out again.
Clearly, he wasn’t the only one feeling the arrival of winter. The cafeteria entrance now sported heavy curtains to block the wind. Upon entering, a wave of warmth hit his face, and he finally let out a heavy sigh of relief.
Wen Rong carried a bowl of steaming noodles. Just as he sat down to drink a mouthful of soup to warm his body, a hateful face appeared in his line of sight.
“Wen—Rong—”
Wang Allen crossed his arms, deliberately dragging out his name, his eyes full of ambiguous intent.
Sitting down with him were two “lackeys.”
It was strange; in this school, so many people had lackeys. Shi Ye, Zhao Zeyang… and now Wang Allen.
Because of Zhang Jincheng and the previous events, Wen Rong particularly disliked him. He picked up his bowl, intending to leave, but Wang Allen suddenly reached out rudely and pressed down on Wen Rong’s bowl. “Don’t go.”
His large hand almost covered the entire rim of the bowl. For a split second, Wen Rong felt his noodles were contaminated.
“I heard you hate gay men?”
Wang Allen continued, “You grew up in an orphanage in the outer city, right? My family donates money to those orphanages every year. I wonder if the one you grew up in is on the list.”
Wen Rong looked over in confusion. This was purely instinctual because he had no idea why Wang Allen would suddenly mention the orphanage.
Wang Allen smiled smugly. “It probably is. My family always spends money on those strange places.”
“…”
“What do you say… how about I pull the funding this year?”
“Oh.”
Wen Rong wasn’t replying coldly; he simply understood—Wang Allen had said all that just to threaten him.
But Wen Rong wasn’t threatened at all, because in his memory, the orphanage had long since been destroyed in the earthquake.
Just as Wang Allen was about to burst with glee, Wen Rong replied indifferently, “Suit yourself.”
Wang Allen paused. “Suit myself?”
“…”
“You don’t care about the lives of those kids in the orphanage?”
Wen Rong thought, I grew up in an orphanage, don’t I know? Orphanages are government-supported; they have nothing to do with you.
But his silence made Wang Allen misunderstand again, thinking he had successfully threatened Wen Rong. He swallowed greedily. “If you become my boyfriend, I’ll donate more money to the orphanage where you grew up.”
“…”
“Well? Have you thought it over?”
“I haven’t considered it.”
Wen Rong felt a mix of irritation and nausea. He didn’t even bother talking to Wang Allen anymore. He fished out his phone, turned the volume up to the max, and clicked on a video saved in his Bluebook favorites.
“Don’t think just because you have brain damage you can do whatever you want.”
“Being gay is an illness; get it treated.”
Wen Rong clicked on a new video: “The person ignores you completely, and you know there’s no hope, yet you still shamelessly stick your face in there. That’s called being a simp.”
The sound blasting from the phone was enormous, attracting the attention of many people around them.
“What is the Goddess doing?”
“Don’t call him Goddess, he doesn’t like it. Call him Male God.”
“Oh. What’s wrong with the Male God? What’s this about simps and being shameless?”
“It’s obvious. He’s cursing Wang Allen for being a simp.”
“Did I just hear Wang Allen ask the Male God to be his boyfriend?”
“He’s dreaming. Didn’t you see yesterday’s post? right now the first in line is Shi Ye, followed by Leon, Zhou Xie, Shi Jing, Zhao Zeyang, and Liang Zilixue. If it ever gets to his turn, even I could step up and compete.”
The discussions were loud and clearly reached their ears. Wang Allen’s face grew uglier by the second.
Wen Rong didn’t pull his bowl back. Instead, he shoved it forward with force, spilling the scalding soup all over Wang Allen’s hand.
“Hiss—” Wang Allen jerked back, eyes wide with rage. “You—”
Wen Rong asked, “Starting a fight violates school rules. Everyone here can bear witness. Do you dare to take another Yellow Card?”
Wang Allen: “I—”
The people next to him hurriedly pulled Wang Allen back. “Forget it. You can’t appeal to the Student Council with a Yellow Card. It’s not worth the loss.”
“Just you wait.”
After Wang Allen left, shaking his hand, Wen Rong ignored everyone’s discussions and stares and went to get a fresh bowl of noodles.
After breakfast, Lin Qizheng called him in the News Club group chat to come to Room 100. The three planned to discuss their grand scheme to bring down Wang Allen. However, when Wen Rong arrived, only Zhang Lin was sitting inside, his face full of worry.
Seeing Wen Rong, Zhang Lin shook his head and composed his expression. “Feeling better?”
“I’m fine now.”
Wen Rong had just sat down when Zhang Lin spoke again. “Youngest, our plan might need to change.”
“Did something go wrong?”
“Wang Allen was obviously prepared. He answered several questions that Qizheng and I came up with, and he even fabricated a story about a deceased grandmother. Basically, he moved the people online to tears, and they worship him even more now.”
“Mm… then let’s think of how else to question him.”
Wen Rong lowered his head in thought, then suddenly remembered something more important. “Where is Senior Lin Qizheng?”
“He didn’t oversleep, did he?” Zhang Lin took out his phone to message Lin Qizheng.
Buzz.
The phone vibrated. Zhang Lin’s expression turned ugly.
“What’s wrong?”
“Qizheng says he’s been kidnapped to experience the life of a rich young master.”
…
Meanwhile, inside Shi Ye’s villa.
Several servants moved between the kitchen and the dining room, filling the five-meter-long table with food. Lin Qizheng and Shi Ye sat at opposite ends—one sat gloomily motionless, while the other stuffed his mouth full.
“Can you answer my question first?”
Lin Qizheng swallowed everything in his mouth. “I told you, I haven’t done anything to the Youngest.”
“Then why is he so close to you!”
“In the Youngest’s words, because I’m a nice person.”
“…”
Shi Ye grabbed his chopsticks and stabbed them forcefully onto the plate. Crack. The plate split in two.
Simultaneously, Lin Qizheng’s upper and lower teeth clamped shut, and he didn’t dare move.
The butler nearby seemed accustomed to this scene and expressionlessly replaced Shi Ye’s plate with a new one.
In the silence, Lin Qizheng felt his life was under threat. He quickly added, “Shi… Brother Shi, I understand you. I’m the same when I can’t catch the girl I like. It’s just like those discarded concubines in the Cold Palace in those palace dramas, looking forward every day to receiving the Emperor’s favor.”
Shi Ye shot him a cold glance. “I am not.”
“Sigh, that’s what I’m saying. The Youngest isn’t close to you.” Lin Qizheng puffed out his chest. “Your attitude is wrong.”
“Attitude?”
Lin Qizheng started counting on his fingers. “Look at our Youngest. First off, he’s beautiful. He’s a bit ditzy but dares to think and act. He has a good heart and a good personality. You like him, Leon likes him, Shi Jing likes him, Liang Zilixue likes him, Wang Allen likes him, most of the school likes him… With things like this, why do you all treat him like Diaochan? He’s clearly the ‘peerless beauty’ version of Liu Bei.”
Shi Ye’s eyelids drooped, his expression speechless.
Lin Qizheng felt questioned and said excitedly, “Brother Shi, as a key minister by the King’s side, and for the sake of the two meals I’ve eaten here, I advise you to watch some palace dramas. Learn how the female lead gets promoted to Empress.”
“Can you answer my question seriously?”
Lin Qizheng was helpless. “Fine then, ask it again. Why did you call me over?”
Because he had gone to the medical building this morning only to find out Wen Rong had already left!
He hadn’t even sent a message on Black Pigeon.
Shi Ye clenched his fist to control his emotions, took a deep breath, and asked, “How does one get promoted to Empress?”
“Sigh, now that’s the spirit.”
Just as Lin Qizheng was preparing to impart the palace intrigue experience he had learned from watching Empresses in the Palace 99 times, the butler took a call and came over to report to Shi Ye. “Young Master, Wen Rong is waiting for you in the security room.”
Shi Ye shot up instantly, smoothed his hair, and walked toward the security room.
Lin Qizheng moved to follow, but was blocked by Shi Ye saying, “If you want anything else to eat, order it yourself.”
Inside the security room, the security guard had just finished a round of his game. He sat next to Wen Rong, looking him up and down.
“Tsk.”
“Huh?”
“Strange.”
Wen Rong felt uncomfortable being stared at. “Is there something you want to say?”
The security guard was curious. “If I put on your school uniform, could I pull off a ‘great living person transformation’ like you?”
“Great living person transformation?”
“Yeah. After putting on this uniform, you’re completely different from before. If I wore it to a blind date, maybe I could solve my bachelor problem.”
Cough cough. A cough came from the door. Seeing Shi Ye, the security guard very sensibly walked out.
Shi Ye closed the door behind him. He was about to ask Wen Rong why he always came to the security room instead of entering the villa directly, but suddenly remembering Lin Qizheng’s “Promoted to Empress” advice, he changed his question. “Is your body feeling better?”
Wen Rong nodded. “Mm, I’m fine now.”
Then he added, “Last night…”
Shi Ye interrupted him. “No need to thank me again. You said it last night.”
Wen Rong pursed his lips. “No, I wasn’t going to thank you.”
Shi Ye frowned. “Why aren’t you thanking me anymore?”
“Huh?”
But didn’t you just tell me not to thank you?
No, he couldn’t let Shi Ye derail his train of thought.
Wen Rong quickly stopped his questioning and forcibly changed the topic. “Last night, I could sense you were trying hard to control your temper.”
“…”
“That’s very, very good. I hope you keep working on it.”
Shi Ye shook violently, raising a hand to cover half his face.
Wen Rong saw him do this often, so he didn’t find it strange. He continued, “I asked you before to invest in our professional science app. Although the Student Council has released one now, we still want to make our original one. Are you still investing?”
Muffled voice: “Mm.”
“Okay. I will also follow the agreement and come play tennis with you in the morning.”
Still muffled: “Mm.”
“I heard the Senior is here with you. Can I take him with me? We have some things to do, so we can’t stay here long.”
“Mm…”
“Thank you.”
Wen Rong successfully took Lin Qizheng away and was even gifted a handful of pastries by Shi Ye. The butler arranged a car to send them to the administrative building.
Inside Room 100, Lin Qizheng was so full he walked in circles around the table. Zhang Lin enjoyed the pastries, lamenting that being number one was indeed different; the exclusive chef’s food was better than the cafeteria’s.
Wen Rong wasn’t greedy for food. His mind was full of the problem Senior Zhang Lin had mentioned, trying to find a flaw in Wang Allen’s defense.
It was difficult. He wasn’t a professional. Just looking at the photos of the dresses and Wang Allen’s answers, he didn’t feel anything was wrong. What was scarier was that Wen Rong was almost moved by the story Wang Allen made up.
What should they do?
Aimlessly scrolling through those answers, he suddenly saw an account reply to Wang Allen a few minutes ago.
[Using the platinum eye pattern isn’t because of any religion; it’s simply because Wen Rong’s eyes are that color under the light.]
[The short skirts are generally longer because Wen Rong has long legs, requiring an extended hemline to balance the proportions.]
[The dresses Wang Allen showcased at the Spring/Summer Fashion Week stole my design drafts. I have surveillance evidence.]
Poster: Floriman Academy – Zhang Jincheng
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