Chapter 32: Neither Exposing Nor Confiding

At this moment, in the music classroom.

Lu Mengyao stifled a yawn; thanks to Cheng Yao, she hadn’t slept well at all. She could have had at least an hour and a half more sleep under normal circumstances.

In fact, sitting on the bench, Lu Mengyao couldn’t help feeling a little out of sorts.

Spotting a few of her dormmates, she asked, “What did you all buy?”

“Fried dough sticks, tea eggs, hot soy milk. Do you want some?”

Lu Mengyao glanced at the hot soy milk, hesitated, then rearranged the three breakfasts. That simple action conjured up a vivid image, and the wave of nausea returned.

“You’re going to kill us…”

Her friends exchanged looks, faces flushed with bemusement. None of them expected Lu Mengyao to be up to this sort of thing so early in the morning.

Lu Mengyao smiled slyly, like a fox. “I’m not drinking it, I’m not. You all go ahead. I’ll just have a tea egg. By the way, hasn’t Chen Qian arrived yet?”

“She said she wouldn’t be back this morning. Probably still in Wang Wenbo’s bed, hehe…”

“Those two are unbelievable. It’s only been two days.”

“Mengyao, didn’t Wang Wenbo originally plan to pursue you? You’re okay with this?”

Lu Mengyao’s expression turned a little awkward, and she nodded lightly. “He’s just not my type.”

“So, what kind of guy do you like? Cheng Yao from his dorm is pretty handsome.”

“He… well…”

…

…

It was close to noon by the time Wang Wenbo returned to campus.

He looked like he’d lost a whole layer from his cheeks, and Cheng Yao immediately guessed the guy had suffered last night.

Cheng Yao clapped him on the shoulder. “Let’s go out for some barbecue tonight—eat some oysters and chives to get your strength back.”

“Give it a rest. I don’t need that kind of thing. Let me sit for a bit. What did the teacher say?”

“The homeroom teacher asked if everyone in our dorm had stomach problems, then forgot about you. Still, pulling this stunt right at the start of the semester takes some nerve.”

He said this, but if it weren’t for class, Cheng Yao would have happily slept with a clear conscience all the way until noon, just like Lu Mengyao.

After lunch, Cheng Yao called the Half-Mountain Cloud Residence sales center to check on the situation and made an appointment to view a property that evening—since that was his only free time.

On Saturday, he also planned to go to driving school with Lu Mengyao for some practice.

By now, Lu Mengyao was gradually becoming more and more like him, and Cheng Yao didn’t hold anything back.

When he mentioned viewing a house in the evening, the female sales agent was originally reluctant. But sensing his strong interest—especially since he was looking at the largest layout, one hundred sixty-five square meters, with a total price of around six hundred thousand—the agent reconsidered, agreed, and gave him her number.

Time quickly slipped into the afternoon.

The moment the homeroom teacher entered the classroom, he asked, “Wang Wenbo, is your stomach still hurting?”

“Teacher, the medicine has already taken care of it,” Wang Wenbo replied, standing up, clearly embarrassed.

There were a few snickers around the classroom—no one really believed him.

Wang Churu muttered under her breath, “I bet he wasn’t up to anything good.”

“Then Cheng Yao must’ve been up to no good yesterday, too,” Liu Hanyue added.

Wang Churu paused, then burst into a mischievous smile. “No way, Cheng Yao that fast?”

“What are you talking about?” Liu Hanyue’s cheeks burned; she suspected Wang Churu was a little too cheeky by nature, always leading the conversation somewhere inappropriate. But what surprised her more was that she immediately understood.

Oh my god!

“All right, quiet down.”

The homeroom teacher turned to Wang Wenbo. “Be more careful next time.”

He’d been through this himself; as for what Wang Wenbo actually did last night, he had no interest in knowing.

“Back to yesterday’s matter. Military training has ended, and you’re officially starting the new semester. Let’s elect a class monitor. I have a few candidates in mind, but the final decision is yours. Now, who wants to be class monitor? If you’re not confident in your academic ability or leadership, don’t raise your hand.”

“Teacher, I’d like to run for class monitor,” Zhou Ziqing volunteered, raising her hand.

The teacher looked at her. “Come up and introduce yourself.”

“All right.”

Standing at the lectern, Zhou Ziqing was a little nervous. After gathering her thoughts, she said, “Hello, everyone. My name is Zhou Ziqing. I hope you’ll vote for me to become class monitor. I served three years as class monitor and academic committee member in high school. I have a lot of experience organizing class activities…”

When she finished, the applause was scattered at best.

“Teacher, I think there’s someone else who has our respect as class monitor. During military training, we all followed Cheng Yao. That’s real cohesion!”

“I agree, Cheng Yao is great, haha…”

“Say what you will, but he plays guitar like a rock star.”

Zhou Ziqing’s expression turned awkward, her fingers twisting together.

She’d known it—some of the girls didn’t seem to like her much. They’d even given her odd nicknames behind her back, but she pretended not to hear. At least she wasn’t alone.

She was “the Cow,”

Liu Hanyue was “the Washboard,”

Not much difference between the two, so Zhou Ziqing found her balance there.

The homeroom teacher looked at Cheng Yao. He knew the little celebrity in his class, especially since Cheng Yao had managed to be late for the first class right after military training.

“Cheng Yao, anything you want to say?”

Wang Wenbo and the others didn’t stir up any trouble, just looked his way.

Cheng Yao sighed. Somehow, trouble always managed to find him, no matter how humble and low-profile he tried to be.

He stood up and said helplessly, “Teacher, I’m really not interested in being class monitor, and I don’t think I’d be much help. I’m pretty lazy, I prefer to have fun, and as for grades—let’s not even go there. You all are giving me too much credit. Zhou Ziqing is an excellent choice.”

“All right, sit down.”

With all the commotion, the teacher decided to go with a vote.

Cheng Yao and Wang Wenbo’s group had already agreed to vote for Zhou Ziqing—after all, she was just too impressive.

Still, he was surprised a few die-hards voted for him anyway.

Cheng Yao found this exasperating—he hated any kind of moral coercion. Liu Hanyue also got quite a few votes, mostly from boys, but also some girls—Wang Churu among them.

In truth, school is just a microcosm of society.

People talk about unity, but it’s hard to achieve. Most relationships remain superficial, never truly close—only a handful of classmates form real bonds within their own circles.

The effect of military training would fade, eventually vanishing altogether.

In the end, Zhou Ziqing won by a landslide and became class monitor.

She had worked hard, and her efforts were rewarded. Her beautiful face and striking figure won her plenty of support among the boys—Cheng Yao’s entire dorm voted for her.

The teacher nodded approvingly. “In that case, Zhou Ziqing will serve as class monitor.”

“Thank you, Teacher. Thank you, everyone,” Zhou Ziqing said gratefully.

The applause was enthusiastic, though a few were resentful. Competition was only natural.

But ability decides everything—if you don’t work hard to win votes, how can you expect anyone to support you?

Look at Zhou Ziqing—so diligent.

With a good class monitor, there would be fewer conflicts in college.

After class, Zhou Ziqing bought a few bottles of drinks for everyone. Wang Wenbo laughed, “Monitor, you’re too polite. Even if we hadn’t voted, the position was yours.”

“It’s only right to thank you.”

After Zhou Ziqing left, Wang Wenbo asked, “Cheng Yao, are you heading back too?”

“Yeah, I’m going to check out some houses. Evening’s the only time I’m free.”

…