Chapter 1: Lackey Part 1

The hand-brewed coffee shop closest to the school was at the end of the street by the east gate. From where Tao Zhi stood now, it was about a forty-minute round trip on foot.

To avoid the ice in the iced Americano melting, the stingy guy even scanned a shared bike code, cutting the time in half at least.

After successfully grabbing Fu Zheng’s ordered drink, Tao Zhi hurriedly pedaled back.

The ice held up fine.

When he handed the coffee to Fu Zheng, the usually picky young master surprisingly said nothing, just reached out to take it.

The silver ring on his finger bone reflected the sunlight, flashing in Tao Zhi’s eyes. Tao Zhi, panting, averted his gaze slightly.

“Not bad.” Fu Zheng glanced at the label on the cup, confirmed the number was right, and tugged at the corner of his mouth. His tone was mocking yet complimentary, ambiguous and sarcastic: “This time you didn’t grab someone else’s coffee for me.”

“Sorry about that.” Tao Zhi apologized again for his past mistake.

Fu Zheng: “……”

This guy really knew how to act spoiled. He was delicate too—if you scolded him twice, his face would fall.

Did he think Fu Zheng couldn’t see with his head down? His cheeks were puffed out.

The soft cheeks bulged slightly in an arc, the corners of his mouth drooped—he was clearly unconvinced, and he wouldn’t even speak properly.

Sorry was just sorry, but no, “sorry about that.”

Spoiled.

……

If only Tao Zhi knew what he was thinking—he’d definitely cry injustice.

Because Tao Zhi had nothing to do with being spoiled.

Which spoiled roommate would go all the way to fetch coffee for him? Or wash his clothes, clean his shoes, attend classes for him, pick up deliveries, open bottle caps? Point and he’d do it, no objections?

Tao Zhi was the hardworking, enduring type.

His drooping mouth was just because, in the hot summer, he’d biked all that way and was too exhausted to maintain his expression.

His cheeks were naturally chubby.

Fu Zheng was utterly unreasonable.

“Hey, that was ages ago. Stop picking on him.” Fu Zheng’s friend nearby saw the atmosphere turning awkward and quickly changed the subject: “Speaking of, I heard you went after that Qi family kid yesterday?”

This was a good guy.

Tao Zhi knew he was helping him out. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and shot him a grateful look.

His soft, clean eyes brimmed with sincere thanks.

The friend inexplicably blushed and looked away.

Not to mention anything else, Fu Zheng’s roommate was really good-looking.

Oval face, sharp chin, delicate and petite features… that was fine enough. But what was killer was how cute his face was—the left cheek had a slight puff right at the side, not too big an arc, baby fat or whatever, but it looked just like a hamster stuffing its cheeks. Adorably lethal.

The older generation said it was “pearl in the mouth,” a sign of wealth and smooth sailing through life, good fortune.

He’d told Fu Zheng, who dismissed it completely and even yanked at it right in front of him on purpose. The fair cheek flesh stretched into shape… No one wouldn’t want to pinch it.

He’d eyed it for ages but hadn’t dared provoke Fu Zheng, holding back.

The little roommate was cute and pretty, with pure eyes, soft black hair falling over his forehead—clean and simple vibe, very innocent.

That’s how he saw it, but Fu Zheng always called his roommate a dummy, stupid.

Couldn’t figure out this young master’s tastes.

Anyway, one look from Tao Zhi like that, and he felt he could forgive the world.

Like being patted on the head by Nangong Wenya—his eyes even cleared up. After a moment, he scratched his head and pretended to be busy chatting with Fu Zheng: “You guys didn’t cause any real trouble, right?”

“Fuck, don’t bring it up.” Mentioning it made Fu Zheng flare up, and Tao Zhi’s expression turned guilty. He slowly lowered his head, not daring to even glance at Fu Zheng.

“What happened?” The friend was puzzled.

“Nothing, drop it.” Fu Zheng was too lazy to talk about it—it annoyed him just thinking.

No particular reason, except Tao Zhi had embarrassed him again.

Young Master Fu was used to entourages of underlings trailing him. Bringing backup to mess with someone was standard.

But now he had no one around, and Tao Zhi just happened to be in the dorm.

So he got drafted.

Who would’ve thought Tao Zhi couldn’t even bully people properly?

Before they went, he’d told Tao Zhi: after the warning, as his lackey, go up, throw some harsh words, pat the guy’s face, say, “This is what happens when you mess with Young Master Fu, got it?” He’d even prepped the lines.

But Tao Zhi—

Never mind, the more he thought, the angrier he got.

Fucking unbelievable.

Always embarrassing him in public.

Fu Zheng was pissed.

He took a deep breath, suppressed the throbbing vein at his temple, and chugged his iced Americano to cool his dissatisfaction with Tao Zhi.

……

But Tao Zhi didn’t think he’d done anything wrong at all.

He hadn’t.

Bullying people was really not right.

Tao Zhi had always been honest and upright, good-tempered and well-behaved. In eighteen years, he’d never even argued with anyone, let alone raised his voice. Suddenly asking him to bully someone… he just couldn’t do it.

Standing straight behind Fu Zheng with his chest out, bolstering his presence—that was already a big deal for Tao Zhi.

But Fu Zheng still wasn’t satisfied.

Earning money was so hard.

Tao Zhi sighed.

When he tuned back into their conversation, they’d changed topics.

But it was still circling the bullying incident.

“Your brother told you not to mess with him.”

“Isn’t this disobeying Heng-ge?” Fu Zheng’s friend trailed off, his voice getting smaller, face showing some fear—he was clearly scared of Fu Zheng’s brother: “When Heng-ge gets mad…”

Tao Zhi looked up, curiosity in his eyes.

He was full of resentment toward Fu Zheng right now and wondered who this “Heng-ge” they kept mentioning was.

But Fu Zheng didn’t care.

His face soured further, but he showed no fear: “Just because he says it, I have to obey?”

“Just warning that idiot—what’s the big deal? I didn’t even hit him.”

“That’s not how it works. He’s still the young master of the Qi family, and your brother’s got a deal going with them lately…”

“So what.” Fu Zheng sneered: “Think it’ll tank the cooperation over a little spat? If so, Fu Si Heng should reflect on his own incompetence.”

“Enough, shut up.” Fu Zheng was thoroughly annoyed and didn’t want to hear it anymore.

He called out to Tao Zhi, who immediately responded as the dutiful lackey: “Yes?”

Fu Zheng handed him his backpack.

“Take it back to the dorm. And…” Fu Zheng said expressionlessly: “Go learn properly how to be a lackey. Don’t embarrass me again.”

For the short term… maybe long term, the only person he could boss around was Tao Zhi.

Tao Zhi had to get smarter.

“Okay.” Tao Zhi obediently agreed.

–

After dumping his stuff on Tao Zhi, Fu Zheng went to the boxing gym with his friend.

For the rest of the day, Tao Zhi planned to drop Fu Zheng’s backpack at the dorm first, then head to the library to study how to be a proper lackey.