Chapter 10

Chu Ci discovered more facts about his pretty roommate being an innocent small-town eye candy.

For instance, with even slightly complicated road conditions, He Yuxuan would have to pull up his GPS and follow it step-by-step. He clearly hadn’t traveled much. Of course, the Young Master couldn’t stand watching this, so whenever they went the same way, He Yuxuan essentially had a human GPS and didn’t need to use his brain.

For instance, Chu Ci initially thought He Yuxuan loved studying, but later found this guy staring at his Calculus homework for ages without writing a single answer, his mood plummeting terribly low. His desk was always perfectly tidy, but the books on it were practically untouched. He probably hadn’t had enough study conditions growing up.

For instance, right now, Chu Ci had come back to the dorm on a rare weekend visit only to find no sign of him. An offhand question got the answer that the guy was busy with club affairs.

In Chu Ci’s eyes, club activities were just kids playing house, completely meaningless.

But his roommate was curious about everything, couldn’t walk straight whenever he saw a pretty girl, so joining a bunch of clubs wasn’t surprising. Chu Ci felt a knot in his heart, but had no standing to criticize anything.

The Young Master didn’t spend much time at school. He’d slept in the dorm perhaps once all week as a token gesture, found it torturous, and hadn’t come back to sleep since.

He hadn’t even noticed it himself, but if it weren’t for wanting to see someone, his visits to campus would probably be even less frequent.

However, Chu Ci gradually found the activities and gatherings with his usual social circle boring; his old life had lost its appeal. So he actually thought of coming to school this weekend, only to find no trace of the person. It thoroughly pissed him off.

“Then do you know when he’ll be back?” Chu Ci asked again.

Roommate Number Four was named Jiang Lu. In the novel’s setup, he was an invisible person like He Yuxuan—wait, at least not a villain, just completely invisible.

Currently, Chu Ci hadn’t even bothered to ask his name.

And Jiang Lu, these past two days, had been planning to move out and live with his girlfriend. Being sandwiched among a bunch of prominent figures stressed him out immensely.

Especially after Little He got handsome too, Jiang Lu felt even more isolated.

“He should be back this afternoon,” he answered Chu Ci rather timidly.

Chu Ci’s cold face and his status indeed created an intimidating presence that made people shrink and stammer in front of him.

“Okay, thanks.” The Young Master actually said thanks, rare for him—who knew who had influenced him.

“No problem, no problem.” Jiang Lu put his headphones back on to continue gaming, retreating into his bed curtain to escape his awkwardness.

Chu Ci didn’t know where to go find He Yuxuan for a moment. His messages went unanswered; the guy was probably busy. Just thinking that conjured an image before his eyes of the other moving about, slow and bustling.

He didn’t really have anything specific to say to the guy, but the Young Master didn’t want to leave either, so he simply stayed in the dorm and waited.

His gaze fell on He Yuxuan’s laundry drying on the balcony. The one decent outfit—at least one from a brand the Young Master had heard of—reportedly cost half a month of the guy’s living expenses.

This was something Chu Ci had glimpsed from the corner of his eye when He Yuxuan was chatting.

He found the other quite pitiable.

Meanwhile, He Yuxuan, completely unaware that his image as eye candy was deeply ingrained in people’s minds, was preparing for the Drama Club’s first round of interviews.

His registration form was very bare, because he genuinely had nothing to write. Sandwiched among a pile of kids with extensive resumes, a sense of unease crept over him.

What if the interviewers saw his registration form and eliminated him immediately… But he remained quite composed on the surface.

He overheard students nearby gossiping that a director had spotted a student in one of the Jinghai University Drama Club’s performances a few days ago and specifically left a business card asking them to audition. Although it was only a minor role, it was the only way current students like them could access acting.

In his previous life, He Yuxuan had basically been the one choosing scripts. But times had changed. The male celebrity was much more low-key now, albeit passively low-key…

This morning, about twenty people were interviewing. Performing a talent took considerable time, plus the final deliberation process.

He Yuxuan had prepared a cello performance, the piece “Foresthymn,” one of his favorite famous compositions, beautiful and ethereal.

But right now, he was still waiting for the cello. He had arranged with the kind girl willing to lend him the instrument to meet here and give it to him.

Actually, He Yuxuan had wanted to go pick it up himself, not wanting to trouble her so much, and it was heavy. But the girl said she wanted to watch his interview, and He Yuxuan couldn’t refuse.

Besides, it probably wasn’t good for him to wait for someone outside the girls’ dormitory; it would cause unnecessary trouble.

He Yuxuan was quite experienced in this regard.

Not that he needed to worry about scandals now anyway…

Regardless, he was indeed just sitting there waiting. Therefore, quite a few people viewed He Yuxuan as just eye candy.

First of all, his looks completely fit the eye candy mold. Secondly, the nearly blank registration form was somewhat embarrassing to look at. Clearly, he didn’t have much substance.

“But he really is devastatingly handsome, and his expression is so composed. Maybe the spot is already reserved for him.”

“Let’s just see what he performs later, watch the show.”

“Maybe not. The club president is seriously strict. I was dying of nerves during my interview just now; the senior brothers and sisters didn’t smile once.”

Acquaintances relayed messages among themselves.

He Yuxuan didn’t really know anyone. He occasionally spaced out, watching other people’s performances. The interviewing students had prepared all sorts of talents—guitar singing, classical dance… And He Yuxuan could see through the classroom window that their performance results were all pretty good.

Quite a few people were waiting in the empty classroom they were in. No one was asking for his autograph anymore, but people were asking for his WeChat ID.

“I’m here! Is it the Comprehensive Teaching Building, 4th floor?”

He Yuxuan’s phone screen lit up. He immediately replied upon seeing it: “Yes, Jingshu.”

Her name was Meng Jingshu. He initially felt calling her that was a bit too familiar, but that’s just how young people addressed each other nowadays. Using “classmate” among acquaintances would seem odd, so He Yuxuan followed local customs.

He walked out of the classroom to meet her. As He Yuxuan stood up, countless gazes followed his movement.

The guy next door hadn’t called anyone. Could it be that the handsome guy was giving up? He was probably just here to casually try, got intimidated seeing the scale of the event.

This was within everyone’s expectations. Still, it wasn’t like they thought too harshly of He Yuxuan—with a face like that, it was hard to criticize him for lacking substance.

He stood at the stairway landing, waiting.

Today, He Yuxuan wore a black T-shirt and jeans, a very ordinary outfit. But the deep color made him seem more mysterious, no longer radiating that instantly sweet aura. The way he pursed his lips and looked around made him identical to a slender, cunning male lead from a manga.

With his type of facial features, he could easily mold different auras.

“Are you Jingshu?” He Yuxuan saw a girl in a white dress, a black instrument case slung over her slender shoulders, creating a striking contrast.

“It’s me!” The girl turned and, upon looking up and seeing He Yuxuan, smiled. She then quickened her pace up the stairs.

He Yuxuan jogged down to meet her. His leg was much better now, not fully recovered yet, but no longer as slow-moving as when he had just been discharged a week ago.

“I really troubled you today. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have known what to perform,” He Yuxuan said, taking the case and slinging it over his own shoulder as he made small talk.

Meng Jingshu looked very similar in person to her photos—a girl with delicate, gentle features. Though inwardly, she wasn’t so gentle.

She admitted that while she was initially drawn in by his WeChat Moments photos, discovering that the real person was way better-looking than the pictures had made her quite shy for a moment.

But after exchanging a few words, she vaguely sensed that He Yuxuan didn’t seem to have any of the usual awkward shyness that comes with male-female interactions. Though his attitude was warm, there was absolutely no hint of “that” kind of interest. The guy was either not interested in her specifically, or just hadn’t awakened to romance yet.

Impossible that a guy this handsome hasn’t awakened to it… He looks like the type who would have had a string of early romances and tons of ex-girlfriends. She also thought that if not for the cello connection, she probably wouldn’t have gotten to know a guy this handsome.

“I heard the Drama Club is really tough. Plus you have to compete with arts-track students. Our school’s Media Department is pretty competitive. Yuxuan, why do you want to join this club?” Meng Jingshu sat beside him and asked.

She only treated the cello as a hobby herself; she didn’t feel confident enough for a public performance. And it was truly hard to compete—their school’s Media Department, only slightly below a few specialized media colleges, was top-ranked nationally.

“Maybe because I want to be an actor in the future, so I’m trying it out.”

“Ah, I see. I believe in you, good luck!” A face like that would be a huge advantage in the entertainment industry. Maybe not necessarily get into the Drama Club, but signing with a company as an influencer or star was hopeful.

“But if you enter the entertainment industry later, you can’t get a girlfriend, or your career will collapse, hahaha. Or… do you have a girlfriend right now?” Meng Jingshu probed.

He Yuxuan deeply agreed. Romance didn’t seem like a necessity for him, so in this life, he also hadn’t thought about dating or having a campus romance or anything like that.

The key thing was, he felt they were all young girls, so much younger than him, which gave him a strong guilty conscience. Besides, He Yuxuan hadn’t felt his heart stir for anyone in over twenty years.

“No, I think the career comes first. Can’t hold someone back.” He Yuxuan was purely expressing his inner thoughts, completely unaware there was anything odd about it.

With anyone else, Meng Jingshu would have thought they were subtly rejecting her. But He Yuxuan’s expression held absolutely no such implication; the guy simply didn’t realize any other possibilities could exist between them.

“Can I ask something forward… have you ever dated? Haha.”

“…No.” He Yuxuan blushed.

Oh, so he just hadn’t awakened to romance at all.

Still, Meng Jingshu wasn’t purely here for the eye candy. Making friends with a gentle, handsome guy wasn’t bad either. She stopped probing; she understood this type—it was super hard to make them interested, they didn’t even have that awareness. Probably, no matter how pretty the girl, they all looked the same in his eyes.

If He Yuxuan knew Meng Jingshu thought this, he probably would have realized that if the person were male, he would be quite worried about them having ulterior motives.

After all, in his previous life, He Yuxuan had more, and crazier, male fans. Female fans were all little-sister, big-sister, or mom fans… along with secret admirer fans he never knew about.

Well, their idol didn’t even know he was supposed to sell a boyfriend persona, didn’t even know they adored him the way one adores a boyfriend. He purely thought young girls were just joking around. What could they do about it?

Men were far more direct. Didn’t matter if you liked women or men—if I like you, I’m going to express it.

And He Yuxuan had even tripped over this once, so the memory naturally ran deep.

During the waiting time, He Yuxuan tuned the instrument. Due to practicing cello, his arm and hand strength was quite good, which didn’t exactly match his appearance.

Watching the young man beside her tune the instrument effortlessly and fluidly, clearly very practiced, Meng Jingshu thought of how she had to use every ounce of her strength every time. She felt immense admiration.

Truly, you can’t judge a book by its cover.

Finally, it was He Yuxuan’s turn. The person before him probably hadn’t performed well; they accidentally fell during their dance. After a brief moment of dejection, seeing He Yuxuan walk in carrying his cello, they didn’t rush off but patiently stayed to watch from the window.

One could say quite a few people were pressed against the windows.

The young man sat down, and instantly, his entire aura shifted dramatically. His handsome face grew serious, his body seemed to brim with strength. The slight bow of his head radiated a gentlemanly air. Despite being in a bare, simple classroom, it was as if a filter had been laid over him.