Chapter 3: The Arrogant and Domineering Fake Young Master 03 Part 1

Chen Ziping came back drenched in sweat, clutching a basketball. He saw Shen Ji still sitting at his desk reading, exactly as he’d been when Chen Ziping left at noon—he hadn’t even changed positions…

Chen Ziping sighed inwardly. No wonder some people were academic gods. Can’t compare, truly can’t compare.

When he’d first become Shen Ji’s roommate, Chen Ziping had felt some pressure. After all, he’d tested into S University too—his grades were naturally excellent—so he couldn’t help feeling a bit competitive. But over the past two years, he’d learned one truth: even among S University students, the gap was enormous. Now he’d happily lain flat and never felt anxious again.

Chen Ziping walked over. “Want to go to the cafeteria together?”

Shen Ji didn’t look up. “You go ahead.”

Chen Ziping didn’t push. He took a shower, changed clothes, and had just stepped out of the dorm when someone brushed past his shoulder and walked in.

An unfamiliar face.

Chen Ziping asked, puzzled, “Who are you?”

Without turning his head, the other spat out one word: “Scram.”

Chen Ziping was tall and burly, and not exactly known for a mild temper. At that, fury surged up and he rolled up his sleeves, ready to fight—when several more tall guys walked over, all glaring at him menacingly. And then… he saw the young man standing at the very back.

The young man had a highly recognizable face. He walked over at an unhurried pace, and when he looked at Chen Ziping, his gaze was aloof and distant, looking down from above.

Chen Ziping’s fire was instantly extinguished.

He recognized Xu Zhaochen. This was a famous trust-fund brat—not someone he could afford to offend… But what was Xu Zhaochen doing here?

He watched the group enter his dorm, and then the door slammed shut from the inside. Chen Ziping paced anxiously, then gritted his teeth and ran off.

Wang Shao locked the door from the inside, then pulled a chair over and said with a smile to Li Ye, “Have a seat, Young Master Xu.”

Li Ye sat down leisurely.

Shen Ji stood up, his expression icy, frowning at the people before him.

He didn’t know how he’d offended Xu Zhaochen this time.

Fortunately, this time the other party didn’t seem inclined to make him guess.

Li Ye raised his chin, his gaze contemptuous. “Did you go crying to Gu Yu?”

Shen Ji’s brow furrowed. “I don’t know what you mean. I—” He paused, then said, “I didn’t tell her about that.”

Li Ye naturally knew Shen Ji hadn’t tattled. But he hadn’t come here today to reason with Shen Ji. If reasoning worked, there’d be no such thing as bullying the weak in this world.

And for Xu Zhaochen, whether Shen Ji had tattled no longer mattered. Gu Yu’s protection of Shen Ji infuriated him—Shen Ji’s very existence was a provocation.

Li Ye’s tone was mocking. “Is that so? Gu Yu seems quite concerned about you.”

Shen Ji said coldly, “Believe what you want.”

A lackey immediately barked, “How dare you speak to Young Master Xu like that?”

Shen Ji’s back was against the desk, fists clenched. The atmosphere was tense and stifling when the phone on the desk suddenly buzzed.

Shen Ji instinctively reached for it, but the person beside him was faster—snatched the phone and glanced at it, then presented it to Li Ye like a trophy, sneering, “Young Master Xu, this kid really was lying!”

Li Ye took the phone and looked. The message wasn’t hidden, so it was perfectly clear—a message from Gu Yu.

Gu Yu: I’ve already warned Xu Zhaochen. If he comes looking for trouble again, you must tell me.

Shen Ji hadn’t had time to see the message before his phone was snatched away, and he’d been blocked. Now, seeing the other’s expression turn colder by the second—if before it was merely displeasure, now it was storm clouds gathering—a bad feeling rose in Shen Ji’s chest.

Then he saw Li Ye lift the phone and wave it in front of him, his eyes like a storm about to break. He spoke slowly: “So this is what you meant by not telling her?”

The moment Shen Ji saw the message, he knew things had gone wrong. He hadn’t expected Gu Yu to go warn Xu Zhaochen—no wonder Xu Zhaochen had suddenly shown up…

Li Ye gripped Shen Ji’s phone, thinking that Gu Yu was truly a good girl, earnestly following the Plot. He was very satisfied with her.

This message had come at exactly the right moment.

The lackeys beside him fanned the flames, mocking, “This kid doesn’t even know his place. He thinks he can climb up to the Eldest Young Mistress Gu? Just because she’s a little nice to him, he forgets how much he’s worth.”

“Exactly. The Eldest Young Mistress Gu is our Young Master Xu’s fiancée. What are you, to compete with our Young Master Xu for a woman?”

“How could the Eldest Young Mistress Gu possibly like him? She’s just kindhearted and pities him. Don’t flatter yourself.”

“The Gu Family would never let someone like him through their doors.”

“Our Young Master Xu and the Eldest Young Mistress Gu are a perfect match. Where does a poor kid like him get off interfering?”

The more Li Ye listened, the darker his expression grew. But inwardly he thought: Truly qualified lackeys—they know exactly how to add fuel to the fire.

The atmosphere squad was all in place. If he didn’t do something now, where would the great Young Master Xu’s face be?

Li Ye let go, and the phone clattered to the floor. He rose slowly and stepped on it, grinding his heel down twice.

The crunch of shattering glass sounded underfoot.

Li Ye’s voice was devoid of warmth, word by word: “Wang Shao, teach him a lesson.”

Wang Shao turned and cracked his knuckles, looking at Shen Ji with a mocking smile. You shouldn’t have provoked Xu Zhaochen’s displeasure. Xu Zhaochen is petty and holds grudges—guess you’re just unlucky.

After last time, Wang Shao knew Shen Ji was a tough nut. This time he’d specifically brought several who could fight.

The dorm room was cramped.

And those guys were all tall and muscular. Pincer-style, they closed in, and Shen Ji didn’t last long. One grabbed his arm and wrenched it behind his back, another pressed down on his shoulder.

The sound of flesh and bone hitting concrete was a harsh, muffled thud.

Shen Ji was forced to one knee, pinned down by several people, unable to move. He looked at Li Ye with bloodshot eyes.

Despicable coward!

Any one of these people, one-on-one, he wasn’t afraid. But Xu Zhaochen, that coward, always used numbers to overwhelm.

Shen Ji’s jaw clenched tight, the sharp line of his jaw taut as a bowstring. His gaze fell on the phone on the floor—covered in dust, its screen shattered, clearly beyond use. Maybe this phone looked cheap to others, but his mother Shen Fu had scrimped and saved to buy it for him when he started university…

And now the phone lay broken beneath Li Ye’s feet, and he was forced to kneel before this person again and again.

Shen Ji could bear it no longer. He said sharply, “I don’t like Gu Yu at all!”

At those words, Li Ye’s eyes shifted slightly. After a long moment, he walked slowly over to Shen Ji.

Li Ye looked down at Shen Ji’s bloodshot eyes, meeting that furious, stubborn, unyielding gaze. In that moment, he understood why Xu Zhaochen was locked in a death struggle with Shen Ji.

How enviable…

No matter how Xu Zhaochen pursued, he couldn’t get a single glance from Gu Yu—what he tried so hard for and couldn’t get… Shen Ji had effortlessly, and didn’t even want it.

Actually, Xu Zhaochen didn’t truly like Gu Yu that much. He pursued her mostly because it was his mother’s arrangement, because Gu Yu was a suitable marriage prospect. But Gu Yu disdained him and instead protected this poor kid—that stabbed right at Xu Zhaochen’s sensitive, insecure heart.

What Shen Ji didn’t want was exactly what Xu Zhaochen couldn’t have.

To Xu Zhaochen, that was humiliation.

Unfortunately, Shen Ji didn’t understand this yet.

He thought he was clarifying, explaining—not knowing it would only make Xu Zhaochen resent him more.

Still too naive.

Li Ye bent down and grabbed Shen Ji by the collar, leaning close to his face. He parted his lips slowly: “So what?”

The face so suddenly near let Shen Ji see almost every eyelash. On that fair, flawless skin, the contours of his eyes were exquisite and beautiful. His pale rose lips opened and closed slightly. He was like a beautiful painting, every stroke and line captivating…

But in those beautiful eyes now swirled a dense, unmelting malice—evil wrapped in a beautiful illusion, like the pitch-black tide of the deep night, silently about to swallow a person whole.

Shen Ji’s breath caught. His mind stalled for a moment, and only then did he realize—Xu Zhaochen seemed even angrier.

Why?

Li Ye raised a hand and lightly touched the corner of Shen Ji’s eye.

As expected of the Child of the Plane. But the more unyielding the tough bone, the more I want to see it bend and scrape—it’ll surely be very interesting.

Li Ye narrowed his eyes slightly and whispered by Shen Ji’s ear, “I don’t like that look in your eyes.”

The light breath fell by his ear like dense, fine needles. Amid the tingling, a chill spread from his spine.

Even though Li Ye’s expression had smoothed into calm.

But Shen Ji felt as if a venomous snake were climbing up from the soles of his feet—a cold-blooded serpent slowly tightening its body, coiling around him until he could barely breathe. He had never felt so clearly, so unmistakably—

Li Ye would not let him go.

And his earlier belief that he could stay out of it by distancing himself from Gu Yu—that thought was laughably naive.

Knock knock knock!

“Shen Ji, Shen Ji, are you in there?”

The urgent knocking broke the frozen atmosphere in the room. Li Ye released his grip and stood up at once. The others immediately let go of Shen Ji too, smoothing their clothes and standing aside as if nothing had happened.

As if they hadn’t just been the ones throwing punches.

Wang Shao checked that everything was fine, then turned and opened the dorm door.

Chen Ziping had brought back the counselor, Wu Bo.

Wu Bo wore a pair of black-framed glasses and looked honest and old-fashioned. He’d known before coming that Xu Zhaochen was inside. His gaze swept quickly across the room, and seeing that Shen Ji didn’t seem injured, he breathed a sigh of relief. Then he said to Li Ye, “Did you need something from student Shen Ji?”

Li Ye gave Shen Ji a deep look, then turned and raised an eyebrow with a smile. “Shen Ji and I are friends. Just came by for a chat. Is there a problem?”

Chen Ziping saw the shattered phone on the floor and said angrily, “A chat that involves smashing someone’s phone?”

Li Ye glanced at him.

Chen Ziping felt a chill down his back, but he stubbornly held his ground. Wu Bo quickly pulled him back and asked Li Ye amiably, “What happened here?”

Li Ye said carelessly, “Dropped it by accident. I’ll compensate him.”

Li Ye paused, then asked the people behind him, “Did any of you bring cash?”

Everyone shook their heads.

Li Ye smiled at Wu Bo, the corners of his lips lifting. “WeChat transfer, then. To you or to Shen Ji?”

Wu Bo glanced at Shen Ji.

Shen Ji stood to the side, expressionless, his eyes distant and indifferent beneath his bangs, his whole body wrapped in a cold aura. Clearly he had no intention of accepting the transfer. Wu Bo said decisively, “Transfer it to me first. I’ll pass it to student Shen.”

Li Ye had no objection. He transferred ten thousand yuan to Wu Bo, then left with his people.

The dorm emptied out in a rush.

Wu Bo shut the door, blocking the curious gazes from outside, then quickly asked with concern, “Shen Ji, are you alright?”

Shen Ji silently picked up the phone from the floor. It was his mother’s gift for university. He’d used it carefully for two years, but now the screen was covered in cracks—just like his dignity, ground to pieces.

Chen Ziping said indignantly, “He definitely came to cause trouble for Shen Ji. Teacher Wu, why didn’t you stop Xu Zhaochen? Why did you just let him leave!”

Wu Bo sighed helplessly. “And if you didn’t let him leave, what then? You’d go fight them?”

Chen Ziping was choked red in the face.

Wu Bo shook his head. These hotheaded students hadn’t entered society yet. They didn’t understand the wickedness of human hearts, nor did they understand that this world didn’t have so much fairness and reason.

A rich young master like Xu Zhaochen—as long as no one died, what couldn’t he smooth over? Besides, Shen Ji wasn’t hurt. Just a phone was smashed, and the guy had directly compensated ten thousand—enough to buy ten phones like that.

Others’ past experience had already proven that even if this got out, nothing would come of it. Instead, one would easily earn a grudge and be targeted.

Wu Bo chose his words carefully before gently consoling Shen Ji. “I’ve transferred the money to you. Go get a new phone. From now on… try to stay as far from Xu Zhaochen as possible.”