Under Tang San’s cold stare, Li Ming unconsciously took a few steps back.
But then, remembering that he’d just eaten the jerky brought by Boss Lu, he mustered up his courage and said: “Yes—the rules of Seven Dorm are that every new work-study student must spar with the current boss of Seven Dorm to see who’s more fit to be the leader.”
“And there are a few newly added rules—nobody in Seven Dorm can bully others, stir up trouble for no reason, but we’re also not afraid of trouble when it comes…”
Li Ming rattled off a whole spiel, covering all the rules.
Tang San understood after hearing it.
“I’m not interested—I’m here to study.”
With that, he walked off without looking back.
“Leader?
Hah!” Tang San sneered inwardly.
He had no interest in some so-called leader—nothing more than a bunch of kids playing house.
“Hey—how can you be so cold?”
Li Ming shouted after Tang San, but the latter ignored him completely.
Li Ming had no choice but to let it go—after all, Boss Lu had set the rules: don’t stir up trouble, don’t bully others.
Since Tang San didn’t want to spar, they couldn’t force him.
Returning to the gathering spot, Li Ming shrugged and said: “I told him the rules—he doesn’t want to spar.”
“Fine by us.
Judging by his looks, he probably couldn’t beat Boss Lu anyway.
We’ll wait until Boss Lu gets back.”
Wang Sheng didn’t bother lowering his voice when he said this, so Tang San heard every word clearly—but his contempt only deepened.
“Heh—I couldn’t beat this so-called Boss Lu?
What a joke.”
“Still, from what they’re saying, it sounds like this Boss Lu isn’t in the dorm right now.”
While Tang San was lost in thought, Wang Sheng was facing another dilemma.
Li Ming pointed at the jerky and hesitated: “Um, Wang Sheng—should we give some to the new kid?”
After a moment’s hesitation, Wang Sheng said: “Yeah—Boss Lu said it’s for everyone in the dorm, and that new kid counts too.”
“But first, we need him to acknowledge Boss Lu’s authority.”
“Mm-hmm, no objections!”
They quickly reached a consensus.
Then Wang Sheng stood up and called out to Tang San: “Hey, new kid—do you want some jerky?
We’ll give you some if you acknowledge Boss Lu.”
The tantalizing aroma of meat was tempting, but after a moment’s hesitation, Tang San refused: “No thanks—you guys eat it yourselves.”
“Tch!
Forget it, then—it’s his loss.” Li Ming sneered.
Just then, a pleasant female voice came from the doorway.
“Excuse me—is this Seven Dorm?”
“Wow—she’s so pretty!”
Even Tang San, sitting off to the side, couldn’t help staring.
Seeing everyone silent, Xiao Wu frowned slightly in displeasure—but then she sniffed the air.
“Wow—what smells so good?”
Following the scent, she soon spotted a small pile of spicy, fragrant jerky.
“That looks delicious!”
Xiao Wu sucked on her fingers, staring intently at the jerky.
Wang Sheng, as the dorm’s second-in-command, was the first to snap out of it.
He introduced himself: “My name is Wang Sheng—I’m Boss Lu’s subordinate.
This jerky was brought by Boss Lu.
If you want some, you have to acknowledge Boss Lu first.”
“As long as I acknowledge Boss Lu, I get jerky?
That sounds fun!”
Then, as if thinking of something, Xiao Wu asked with a blank expression: “But can I be the boss instead?”
Seeing Xiao Wu’s almost unfairly cute expression, Wang Sheng stammered: “You…
you could, but you’d have to beat Boss Lu first.”
“Oh, and here are the dorm rules…”
Then Wang Sheng went on to explain the rules of Seven Dorm to Xiao Wu, who was barely paying attention—her eyes were glazing over.
All she wanted was to eat the jerky in front of her.
Wang Sheng could see her impatience.
Since Xiao Wu had sort of acknowledged Boss Lu, he said: “Let’s eat together!”
“Yay!”
Xiao Wu jumped up excitedly, grabbed a piece of jerky, and shoved it into her mouth.
“Wow—this is so good!
But for some reason, it has a familiar taste…”
“Ah, forget it—eating is more important!”
So Xiao Wu dug in with gusto, sweating while she chewed on the spicy jerky, occasionally chatting with Wang Sheng.
“Hey, Wang Sheng—is that guy over there also a work-study student in our dorm?
Why isn’t he coming over to eat?”
“Uh…” After a moment, Wang Sheng said: “I don’t know why either—maybe he’s just antisocial.”
“Before you came, we invited him too, and told him he could have jerky if he acknowledged Boss Lu—since it was brought by Boss Lu.
“Oh, I see.” Xiao Wu dropped the matter and didn’t pay Tang San any more attention—just a kid, and she, Xiao Wu, had been a big sister for tens of thousands of years.
But Wang Sheng’s constant praise of Lu Yuan did pique Xiao Wu’s interest.
“Hey, Wang Sheng—this Boss Lu you keep talking about—what’s his name, and how strong is he?”
Though Wang Sheng had only met Lu Yuan two or three times, that didn’t stop him from singing Lu Yuan’s praises.
“Boss Lu’s name?
I think it’s Lu Yuan.”
“As for his strength—I can only say Boss Lu is incredibly strong.
I couldn’t even last one move against him.”
Wang Sheng animatedly described the entire process of getting beaten up by Lu Yuan that day, showing no shame at all—in fact, he seemed proud of it.
“That impressive!” Xiao Wu looked at Wang Sheng with surprise.
“So is he also a full-innate spirit master?”
Hearing the phrase “full-innate spirit power,” Tang San’s ears perked up.
Wang Sheng waved his hand and explained: “Not exactly—Boss Lu’s innate spirit power is apparently level eight.”
“What?
Only innate level eight?”
Hearing this, Xiao Wu’s eyes lit up.
“Haha.” Xiao Wu laughed, making an exaggerated gesture, and said excitedly: “Then you guys can switch leaders!
I have full-innate spirit power!”
…
Meanwhile, after buying all sorts of spices and seasonings, Lu Yuan headed straight for the kitchen.
After all, he couldn’t exactly bring these things back to the dorm.
He prepared the marinade, took out a large chunk of meat, and evenly coated it with the sauce and spices, then left the private kitchen that Su Daqiang had specially approved for him.
As a powerhouse ranking second in the academy, plus being the Director of Academic Affairs, getting a private kitchen approved was child’s play for Su Daqiang.
Looking up at the blazing sun overhead, Lu Yuan didn’t linger on campus—he headed straight back to the dorm.
Pushing open the door, Lu Yuan saw two scenes.
A little girl was huddled together with Wang Sheng and the others, noisily chewing on the spicy jerky.
On the other side, an ordinary-looking boy sat cross-legged on his bed, apparently cultivating.
Seeing Lu Yuan walk in, Wang Sheng and the others called out: “Boss, you’re back!”
Hearing this, both Tang San and Xiao Wu turned to look at the door.
After getting a clear view, their expressions differed.
Tang San was visibly taken aback—wasn’t this the same boy he’d seen outside the academy earlier?
“What’s going on?
This guy is also a work-study student—and the boss of this dorm?”
Xiao Wu, though also surprised, was mostly just taken by Lu Yuan’s looks.
“Wow—you’re really handsome!”