“Zhang Chen.”
At recess, seeing Zhang Chen, Li Junhao, and Duan Chenxu walk out of the classroom with their arms around each other’s shoulders, Su Yu quickly stood up, followed behind them, and called Zhang Chen to stop.
“You need something from me?” Zhang Chen turned around. Seeing that it was Su Yu, he frowned in confusion.
When Li Junhao and Duan Chenxu saw that it was Su Yu, they immediately started shoving each other to leave as usual, not wanting to disturb Zhang Chen’s alone time with someone.
“What are you doing?” Zhang Chen called out to stop them when he saw that. “What do you mean, not waiting for me?”
“Uh…” The two exchanged a glance.
By then, Su Yu had already reached the three of them. She looked at Li Junhao and Duan Chenxu beside her and found it a little hard to speak.
“If you have something to say, say it. If not, we’re leaving.” Zhang Chen frowned and urged.
Hearing Zhang Chen’s tone, Su Yu’s heart instantly filled with anger. Her brows tightened as she wanted to vent.
Ever since he had been called to the office that day, he had never come to speak to her. Now that she had taken the initiative to come find him, what kind of attitude was this!?
It was utterly baffling. She didn’t even know what he meant!
But after taking a deep breath, she ultimately held it in.
“I want to talk to you. Can you do it at noon?”
“No.”
“Huh?” Su Yu’s mind went blank.
She had barely finished speaking, and Zhang Chen had already rejected her?
“Anything else? If not, we’re leaving.”
Zhang Chen’s voice pulled her consciousness back.
“What did you say!?” she blurted out, displeased.
“I said no. I have plans.” Zhang Chen repeated.
“With Bai Xiruo?”
“Yeah. How did you know?” Zhang Chen asked warily.
“Sure enough…” Su Yu sneered. “Zhang Chen, so she’s more important than me now?”
“…?”
Zhang Chen was instantly speechless. What did any of this have to do with anything…
How did this sound like Su Yu was actually getting jealous?
Wasn’t it written in the original novel that Su Yu had never developed any interest in Zhang Chen at all?
After Zhang Chen was expelled, the number of times they met became fewer and fewer. Every time, it was basically only when she had something she needed Zhang Chen to do that she would agree to see him.
Seeing Zhang Chen remain silent, Su Yu assumed he was hesitating.
After all, he had liked her so hopelessly for so long!
In the end, she was still the more important one!
Her usual sense of superiority made her confident in front of Zhang Chen:
“Think it over. Are you eating with her, or with me?”
“If you go eat with her, then never talk to me again.”
Zhang Chen looked at Su Yu, who was fairly good-looking but now completely distorted by anger.
All he wanted was to stay far away from her…
“Oh… okay.” Zhang Chen curled the corners of his mouth and replied.
“Okay?”
Hearing that, Su Yu naturally assumed Zhang Chen had agreed to eat with her, which meant he would reject Bai Xiruo. The tension in her face immediately relaxed.
Zhang Chen turned around and walked off with Li Junhao and Duan Chenxu:
“I definitely won’t talk to you again in the future.”
After saying that, even Li Junhao and Duan Chenxu beside Zhang Chen were dumbfounded. As they walked, they kept looking back at Su Yu behind them.
Only Su Yu remained frozen in place, eyes wide, staring as the three of them left…
After a while, she squatted down where she stood, looking as if she might start crying…
“Brother Chen, Su Yu’s crying, huh?”
“Hm?” Zhang Chen also looked back, but then waved a hand. He would not feel any pity for Su Yu.
In the original novel, abandoning Zhang Chen was like abandoning a dog. If it weren’t for her, Zhang Chen definitely wouldn’t have gone to bother Bai Xiruo, and he wouldn’t have ended up in such a miserable state.
Although today was strange, because he hadn’t actively gone to bother her, she had actually come to speak to him.
But Zhang Chen still followed his principle: avoid her if he could, and never get involved with her!
Otherwise, if the protagonist ever appeared, he wouldn’t even know how the Child of Destiny killed him.
Thinking of this, Zhang Chen turned to Li Junhao. “By the way, Haozi, did you find that person?”
“No. I asked around, and there’s no one by that name.” Li Junhao answered honestly. He had searched the entire school and still hadn’t found anyone named Ye Fan.
“…Alright then…” Zhang Chen said thoughtfully. “Oh, these next couple of days after school, keep a close eye on Bai Xiruo for me.”
Just now, Su Yu had specifically mentioned Bai Xiruo. Zhang Chen felt that with Su Yu’s personality, she might try to stir up trouble.
Li Junhao heard that and thought Zhang Chen was reminding him about last night.
“Don’t worry, Brother Chen! There definitely won’t be a repeat of last night!”
“It had better be that way.” Zhang Chen narrowed his eyes slightly…
Then he patted Li Junhao’s freshly cut hair. “Can’t you cut your hair a little shorter? Are you still trying to cosplay Sasuke?”
“I already cut it! Brother Chen! It can’t get any shorter!”
…
At noon after school.
“Let’s go, Brother Chen, time to eat.” Despite his bulky frame, Duan Chenxu moved as lightly as a swallow. Being closest to the back door, he was the first to charge out of the classroom as he spoke.
Zhang Chen didn’t even have time to say anything to him before he was out of sight.
The people in class hurriedly squeezed toward the front and back doors, joining the “zombie” tide of food-crazed students heading to the cafeteria.
Li Junhao, however, was unhurried. He strolled over to Zhang Chen’s desk and said, “Brother Chen, let’s eat. Going out or eating at the cafeteria?”
“You go with them. I have plans with Bai Xiruo.” Zhang Chen said bluntly.
“…Alright.”
Once most of the class had left, and only a few classmates who had brought lunch like Bai Xiruo remained, Zhang Chen finally stood up, making some noise.
Hearing it, Bai Xiruo turned around, took out her lunch box, and followed behind Zhang Chen with a guilty, sneaky look, like a thief…
No. 1 Middle School had a fairly long lunch break. Classes did not resume until 2:30 in the afternoon.
Usually after eating, students who had joined clubs would go participate in club activities, while those who wanted to nap could return to the dorms or rest in the classroom.
As for students like Zhang Chen, they would generally choose to go to an internet cafe and play on a computer for two hours during this time…
The two of them left the school and walked north along the main street toward Beishan Park.
Bai Xiruo held her lunch box and obediently followed behind Zhang Chen. Looking at his back, she didn’t dare ask where they were going.
It was only after Zhang Chen brought her to the Beishan Internet Cafe in Beishan Park, and the two of them stood downstairs from the cafe, that she suddenly realized something.
She turned to run, but Zhang Chen grabbed her:
“What are you doing? You said you’d treat me to a meal.”
“But I didn’t say I’d treat you to internet access.” Bai Xiruo hugged her lunch box, her crescent-shaped eyes glistening with tears as if they could reflect water.
“I’m not asking you to pay for internet access. Just feed me, and that’s enough.” Zhang Chen laughed when he saw her looking like a startled fawn.
“No, the teacher said we can’t go into internet cafes.” Bai Xiruo shook her head.
“Tsk.” Zhang Chen’s face darkened.
Bai Xiruo’s body stiffened, and she suddenly didn’t dare move.
Seeing that, Zhang Chen suppressed the upward curve of his lips and did his best to look serious. “It’s fine. Going in once is okay.”
With that, Zhang Chen pulled Bai Xiruo into the internet cafe.
“Is it really okay to go in…”
“Relax. Everyone has a first time.”
Huh, why do I feel like saying it this way makes me sound like some creepy old man luring ignorant girls away?
He opened two computers and led the nervous Bai Xiruo to a corner.
Bai Xiruo didn’t know how to play on a computer. She didn’t even have a phone, so she could only obediently eat and watch Zhang Chen play.
At the same time, she didn’t forget to ask Zhang Chen, “What are you eating?”
But Zhang Chen wasn’t actually playing games. Instead, he was looking up information related to novels, music, films, and similar things.
His phone data was limited, and its functions were far inferior to a computer’s.
Glancing at Bai Xiruo, Zhang Chen answered casually, “It’ll be delivered later. Instant noodles.”
“H-how much?” Bai Xiruo quickly took out all her money and neatly placed it on the table.
“Just 6 yuan.” Zhang Chen chuckled, took a 5-yuan bill and a 1-yuan bill from the pile, and then looked at the food she was eating. On his own, he ordered two chicken drumsticks from the internet cafe supermarket on the computer desktop…
“Oh…”
Bai Xiruo blinked at Zhang Chen, only feeling that this place was much cheaper than she’d expected.
After all, at school a chicken drumstick cost 5 yuan…
Then, not wanting to disturb Zhang Chen, she quietly ate beside him.
Partway through, the attendant delivered the noodles and chicken drumsticks. Zhang Chen casually dropped them into Bai Xiruo’s bowl, his face cold as he forced her to eat, then finished off the instant noodles in just a few bites himself.
After searching for a while, Zhang Chen confirmed that many things in this world were missing.
Take web fiction, for example. Even though Zhang Chen had never written web novels in his previous life, judging from the highly emotional, satisfying stories he had read the most, novels like Dragon King Crooked-Mouth, the authors in this world still seemed completely unaware of that style.
The satisfying fiction he had read most in his past life was exactly that kind. To make sure he could make money, he had come to the internet cafe to verify it.
Since it was feasible, he would give it a try. He wasn’t saying he wanted to become a legendary author overnight and make a fortune; making a little money would be enough.
In his previous life, he hadn’t lacked money, but now that he had suddenly become a sophomore with no money in his pocket, he was still somewhat unaccustomed to it.
As for what the original novel described, where the male lead came to this world and directly plagiarized Battle Through the Heavens, then wrote a bunch of classic scripts and songs and became a god overnight…
That might work for the male lead…
As for him…
Leaving aside the fact that in 2025, he had basically never read those novels from the 2010s; he’d only heard plenty about them.
As for music, he couldn’t even recognize all the notes, and he wasn’t very good at singing either!
As for scripts and the like, that was even more ridiculous!
Having him write those was hardly realistic…
And as for making money the way he had in his previous life through the college entrance exam, he couldn’t do that now!
At present, the only way he knew for a sophomore to make money seemed to be the same as in the original novel: write novels…
Only the male lead was plagiarizing them. He had to write every single word himself, damn it…
Sigh… To think that I, a dignified top scorer on the college entrance exam, would end up in such a state…
Feeling a wave of sorrow in his heart, Zhang Chen began following an online tutorial to register an author account on this world’s writer website, open an account, and create a work…
“What are you looking at?” Halfway through registration, Zhang Chen looked at Bai Xiruo, who was staring at him with her big eyes from the side, and quickly blocked the screen!
Bai Xiruo had already finished eating. Sitting there with nothing to do, she could only watch him.
“If… if there’s nothing else, I’ll head back first?” Bai Xiruo blinked her innocent eyes twice and picked up the lunch box on the table.
“I even opened a computer for you. If you don’t use it, then that money’s wasted.” Zhang Chen said, keeping her there.
“I don’t know how to use it.” Bai Xiruo looked at the computer screen on her side and said awkwardly.
“If you don’t know how, then learn. Aren’t you pretty good at learning?”
“I…”
“Can you type?”
Bai Xiruo shook her head.
“Come on, I’ll teach you.”
…
“Press W and O, and it becomes wo, meaning ‘I.'”
“Pinyin. Simple, right?”
Bai Xiruo’s eyes grew bright, and she nodded.
“Then spell another one.”
“Spell what?” Bai Xiruo asked.
“Anything. Spell whichever character you want.”
“x, i, e.” Bai Xiruo, half confused and half understanding, pressed the letters one by one according to what she was thinking.
“Xie?” Zhang Chen looked at the first pinyin option that appeared on the screen.
“Xie!” Bai Xiruo pointed at the fifth character, xie.
“Then press 5, this key.” Zhang Chen helped her press it. “When you type the pinyin, whichever character you want, press its number. If none of them are what you want, then make a phrase.”
“For example, xiexie.”
Zhang Chen typed out the pinyin.
Thank you.
“See?”
After hearing that, Bai Xiruo copied him and typed xiexie on the screen.
Sure enough, the word “thank you” appeared on the screen.
Then she typed one more ni.
Three characters appeared on the screen: “thank you.”
Then she pressed space.
Together, it became: “I thank you.”
“I thank you.”