Chapter 3

That seemingly well-off kid still seemed to be looking at him, those dark eyes carrying a hint of curiosity, his face a picture of spirited handsomeness.

He Yuxuan thought, somewhat inappropriately, that he was the type of idol popular with fans recently. In his past life, he had juniors in the industry with this style.

In front of fans, they maintained a certain cool aloofness, but in reality, they were still kids, behaving obediently around their seniors.

Beyond that, He Yuxuan didn’t think much more.

He figured he hadn’t moved aside enough, so he took two more steps to the left, pressing right up against the flowerbed. That should be enough now.

The blaring horn was making his ear a bit uncomfortable, so he rubbed his right ear, stealing a couple more glances from the corner of his eye.

He Yuxuan, with a 24-year-old soul inside, felt an indescribable envy at this moment.

This car model was one he’d had his eye on for a long time in his past life, always wanting to buy it. Pity he was directionally challenged and hadn’t gotten his driver’s license, so even if he bought it, he could only watch others drive it.

Unexpectedly, he was now indeed watching someone else drive it, and it was a youthful university student. The single-handed driving posture was pretty cool.

When He Yuxuan was little, he actually yearned for this style just like any other boy. But his looks were too flawless; dressing him as a doll carried no sense of incongruity.

So he’d always been the darling of teachers and female classmates, never having the chance to get close to those mischievous bad boys who looked like they were all about fun. He completely lacked a “bad guy” phase. Even later, when he became explosively popular and paparazzi wanted to dig up dirt, they couldn’t find any.

They could only criticize him for always being pretentious since childhood… totally fake!

Thus, He Yuxuan grew up always gentlemanly but extremely sought-after.

Later, after entering the entertainment industry, there were too many things to pay attention to. He couldn’t fully reveal himself, so He Yuxuan’s persona was always that of an ethereal top-tier idol, detached from worldly concerns.

In reality, his inner world was quite dramatic.

Chu Ci watched the boy beside him move slowly with amused interest. Pity he couldn’t see the full face, though the little gestures were plenty.

Chu Ci was a bit curious inside. He wasn’t narcissistic, but Chu Ci had always been a straightforward person.

He considered himself somewhat famous at school, even though he hadn’t appeared many times. The forum was flooded with posts about him, some even predicting where he might show up.

The car he’d driven to registration had nearly been disassembled into spare parts by scrutiny. Countless fake, knockoff social media accounts had sprung up like bamboo shoots, and people actually believed them. Why would he add just any random person?

Just along the way, he’d already met many obvious stares.

This person, however, seemed utterly oblivious to him, walking forward on his own without even looking back.

Was he playing hard to get, or was he truly clueless? Was there really such an information-blocked little country bumpkin left in this world? And a pretty good-looking little country bumpkin at that.

Either way, Chu Ci wasn’t in a hurry to drive off. He even diverted from his original direction, instead slowly following alongside He Yuxuan.

Chu Ci was just that kind of person, acting on whatever came to mind.

Because He Yuxuan was walking so slowly, the car-and-person duo looked rather strange.

It even gave Chu Ci a bizarre notion: to tell the guy to get in and give him a ride—with those legs, how long would it take him otherwise?

Of course, such a thought was fleeting. Chu Ci was still that arrogant young master who looked down on everyone; he just found it amusing.

He Yuxuan didn’t notice at all. Ahead two steps was a fork in the road. Holding Amap, he spun in place once before finally figuring out the direction of his dormitory building.

The original owner hadn’t had good hygiene habits. The bed space in the dorm room must be unbelievably filthy.

He needed to use this last full day before classes started to clean up the dorm. Before checking his account balance and coming back to reality, He Yuxuan had even considered hiring an auntie…

Sigh, couldn’t change his bad habits one bit.

He Yuxuan had never lived in a dorm. As a top-seeded candidate, even as a trainee in his past life, he’d actually had a single room. Speaking of it, he felt a bit at a loss.

His future roommates were kids two full generations younger than his actual age, and they’d be dating in the dorm.

He Yuxuan secretly decided he’d try to give them space as much as possible, not to mention he didn’t even know how to interact with kids.

Chu Ci followed leisurely, occasionally glancing out the window.

Today’s weather forecast said 33 degrees Celsius. Just rolling down the window and facing the hot air made him feel a little irritable. But that person seemed completely oblivious to it, looking fresh and cool from head to toe. The exposed skin was clean and fair to an unreasonable degree, not a trace of sweat in sight.

Chu Ci watched, and instead felt his own chest getting somewhat hotter.

Just then, a phone call came in. Chu Ci toyed with the steering wheel with one hand and tapped to answer with the other.

It was his older sister.

A married, BL-shipping, tolerant lady, Chu Yan.

Chu Ci had discovered his sexual orientation shortly after starting high school. He was more interested in good-looking boys, but everyone looked at him with fearful expressions, afraid to provoke him.

So throughout high school, Chu Ci didn’t have any puppy love. He thought those people were mediocre, too boring. Therefore, not many classmates knew he was gay.

Actually, Chu Ci was a high-profile person. If he met someone who interested him, he wouldn’t mind if the whole school knew.

He was also a person who followed his whims. Not long after discovering his orientation, he brazenly watched gay videos in his room, not caring a bit.

And then his sister caught him.

Chu Ci stared with his big, dark eyes, completely unfazed, even fast-forwarding past unappealing parts. The look he gave Chu Yan was half provocation, half indifference.

He wasn’t even afraid she’d tell their parents. After all, the truth was nothing to hide.

Worst case, he’d take a beating, or be kicked out of the family.

Chu Ci had always been so spirited and fearless.

However, this lady, Chu Yan, nine years older than him, was pretty cool. Her reaction was completely different from what Chu Ci had imagined. Not only did she not threaten him to correct himself or change his orientation, she didn’t even mention telling their parents.

“Hahahaha, let me recommend you some better ones! If our Little Ci ever finds someone he likes but can’t share with others, just tell Big Sister, okay.”

A teenage boy’s urges were quite strong. Chu Ci was indeed interested and accepted without a second word. The video quality was indeed much better than what he’d found himself, but still nothing hit his excitement button.

But through this incident, he discovered his older sister didn’t have as much of a generation gap with him as he’d thought.

Even now, Chu Ci, who maintained an extremely cold, tough exterior to outsiders, would only occasionally reveal his true feelings and thoughts to Chu Yan.

“Little Ci, it’s been a while since you started school. Found any interesting boys yet?” Chu Yan’s tone was expectant.

“I heard the new students this year at Jinghai University have pretty high looks!”

Chu Yan herself was an alumna of Jinghai University. One could say Jinghai University was practically teeming with Chus; half the family had gone to university there.

They’d also donated quite a few buildings to the school, so the teachers looked after them well. Chu Ci was originally supposed to go to the principal’s office for some tea first.

Chu Ci pouted but didn’t hide anything.

“Just saw someone. Sickly and dawdling, but his side profile looked pretty good,” he said casually.

Just as he finished speaking, he saw the person pause on the spot, suddenly change direction, and dawdle up the steps into the library.

Loved studying?

Chu Ci raised an eyebrow. Couldn’t follow anymore. Whatever. He stepped on the gas and drove off along his original route. Soon, the other’s back vanished in the rearview mirror.

It was just a brief interlude, but Chu Ci replayed it for a few seconds. The more he replayed it, the more a hazy sense of beauty lingered in his mind.

“Hahahaha, sounds like there’s hope then, if even a passerby is so handsome. I heard there’s a big hunk in your Economics and Management Department, studies incredibly well too. His surname is Tang, I think? Is that true?”

Chu Ci paused a moment before coming back to his senses. He grunted an indifferent confirmation.

“Seems like he’s my roommate. Have to see to know for sure.”

“I have a hunch you two will have a story. Something like dormitory bromance is really popular right now.”

“Heh heh.” Chu Ci knew his sister became nonsensical when she shipped couples.

But he was a little curious about this highly praised Academic God. Looks-wise, it’d be fine if he was about the same as that guy just now, right?