Chapter 56: The Ruthless Old Man You Keep Cursing Is Standing Right Before You

After leaving the main building, Cheng Yao bought a few cups of milk tea, just in time for lunch. When he arrived at the academic building, he happened to run into Qiu Wan and her roommates.

"That's Cheng Yao from Class One, isn't it? He looks even more handsome up close. He must be here to see you. Why not just have lunch together while he's at it?"

At those words, Qiu Wan blushed a little. "Hello."

"Here, milk tea—I wasn't sure what you all like, so just help yourselves," Cheng Yao said, handing over the milk teas and fruit drinks. Qiu Wan accepted one a bit shyly. "Thank you."

"Cheng Yao, you are so thoughtful! You even bought drinks for all of us?"

"Thank you!"

Wow, isn't this kind of guy just perfect?

Qiu Wan's roommates were all starry-eyed as they looked at Cheng Yao. One of them grinned and said, "Handsome Cheng, could our dorm's little darling treat you to dinner tonight?"

She nudged Qiu Wan as she spoke.

Qiu Wan felt so awkward she wished she could disappear, but she still sneaked a glance at Cheng Yao.

"Sure, let's have dinner. Is the canteen all right?" Cheng Yao replied.

"Yes, that's fine," Qiu Wan answered, almost in disbelief. She thought, is it really this easy to ask him out?

"Let's go, then," Cheng Yao said, leading the way. "Do you want to put your guitar back first?"

"Oh, right... Could you wait for me a moment?"

"Of course."

Cheng Yao accompanied her to the girls' dormitory building and started chatting with her roommates.

"Cheng Yao, you're so handsome. Do you have a girlfriend?" one of them asked.

"I do," Cheng Yao nodded gently.

"What?"

"Seriously?"

Qiu Wan's roommates were all stunned. He really had a girlfriend?

After a moment of awkward silence, they realized they'd misunderstood. He was just being friendly and had no other intentions toward Qiu Wan.

Well, the romance ended before it even began. How tragic. But, better this way than ending up heartbroken.

The girls looked at Cheng Yao with new eyes. "Is your girlfriend from our school?" one asked, curious.

"No, she's at the Shanghai Conservatory."

"The Conservatory—that explains why you sing so well! No wonder your girlfriend is so amazing. You've noticed that Qiu Wan likes you, haven't you?"

"I have," Cheng Yao nodded. Though he was something of a player, he only entertained girls like Lu Mengyao—anything else would just get him into trouble. "Thanks for dinner. Later, please take care of Qiu Wan."

"Don't worry, leave it to us!"

When Qiu Wan came down, she sensed something strange in her friends' eyes. "What's going on with you all?"

"We'll tell you later."

"Oh..."

Along the way, Cheng Yao didn't say much. After paying for their meal, he found a seat.

Wang Churuo and Liu Hanyue sat together at another table, glancing over at him from time to time.

Wang Churuo wondered aloud, "Why is Cheng Yao hanging out with girls from Class Two? Is he bored with us and looking for something new?"

"That's a bit much, isn't it? Who he spends time with is none of our business," Liu Hanyue retorted.

"Then why do you keep staring at him?"

"I'm not staring at him, I'm just curious about the girls from Class Two. Anyway, he must have passed the audition, right?"

"You say you don't care, but you clearly do," Wang Churuo said, exasperated.

"I'd be happy if he didn't even make it past the preliminaries."

"Heh, you're just afraid he'll ask you for something risqué if he wins, aren't you?"

"…"

...

After treating Qiu Wan and her roommates to dinner, Cheng Yao found an excuse to slip away.

When he got back to his dorm, he found Zhang Lei and the others playing video games, having ordered takeout.

"Cheng, want to play DNF?"

"No thanks. You guys hole up in here every day playing games—don't you want to get into a relationship?"

Zhu Huiyang shot back, "What's so great about romance? Games are way more fun."

Wang Wenbo shook his head. "The only reason people want a relationship is because they're bored. Honestly, just go to a bathhouse for a scrub and you won’t have those thoughts anymore. I've seen the light!"

"You've had enough, huh?"

"Tsk, tsk, that's just you. Chen Qian asked me to buy her a bag—she must be crazy. Oh, and I heard from her that Lu Mengyao has snagged herself some rich old guy, who spent tens of thousands on her for bags and a blue balloon. Crazy rich. Makes me feel inadequate."

Wang Wenbo shook his head, thinking how pointless it was to compare.

The so-called 'foolish old man'—the rich guy—was sitting right in front of you!

Cheng Yao's face twitched. He had no way to refute that and just sat down quietly. Others might see him as an idiot, but every penny he spent came back to him tenfold.

"How did your audition go?"

"I passed. The preliminaries are tomorrow. No pressure at all. I just wish the competition was tougher—otherwise, how will my skills stand out?" Cheng Yao shook his head, disappointed.

"Damn, that's some serious humblebragging. You want stronger opponents? Are you on something? Where does all that confidence come from?"

"You don't get it."

Zhu Huiyang asked, "If you win, what are you going to ask Liu Hanyue to do?"

"Go play your game."

Cheng Yao lay down and opened his phone. Now that he had sixteen million, should he buy a car? During lunch, he had noticed there was a car show at the Hexi International Expo Center—was it tomorrow? He checked and found it was actually the day after.

So, what car should he get? Money wasn’t an issue anymore, and Cheng Yao felt like splurging—being cool was all that mattered.

An Audi RS7? No, girls only recognize Audi, not the RS7 model. Porsche? Lu Mengyao already had one. A G-Class?

His thoughts drifted to Ferraris and McLarens. Since money was no object, he could buy whatever he wanted, even all of them. But that would be showing off too much. Better to just get one for now.

"I'm taking the morning off tomorrow. Could you sign me in? Thanks, lunch is on me."

"No problem."

...

The next morning, Cheng Yao and Lu Mengyao headed straight to the DMV.

The theory test was a breeze; anyone who had done the practice questions seriously could pass. Then Cheng Yao went straight on to the second part of the driving test. His memory was excellent, and he'd practiced a lot—he felt confident.

Lu Mengyao was surprised. "Are you sure you can do this?"

"Piece of cake."

So, Lu Mengyao went to her driving school class, while Cheng Yao went straight to the test site.

There were quite a few people at the test center. After paying the fee, he waited a while and then scanned his ID card to enter.

Once he calmed his nerves, he didn't feel too anxious. First up was reverse parking. The weather was hot, and soon sweat started running down his back.

Ten minutes later, Cheng Yao left the test area to wait. He'd lost ten points on reverse parking but had passed. Only the hill start and S-curve remained.

It's easy to get nervous at times like this—he hadn’t even been this anxious during the college entrance exam. The heat made it worse.

Luckily, he passed with eighty points.

When he left the driving school, Cheng Yao sent a message to his instructor, who, a bit surprised, replied with a string of ellipses and told him to sign up for the third part and come practice when he had time.

Was that it?

Cheng Yao felt a bit smug. He'd heard some people had to take the second test five times—was that really true?

Back at school, Cheng Yao happened to run into Qiu Wan from the neighboring class.

He smiled and nodded. Qiu Wan looked a little embarrassed as she greeted him. Only after, when she came to herself, did her cheeks grow hot with mortification. It was just too awkward.

...