This guy is truly…
For once, Lin Shuxue was at a loss for words.
She naturally hadn’t missed the words “personally” and “Publicity Department” that Jiang Zong had deliberately emphasized.
However, being in this kind of setting inevitably made her feel the guilt of someone pulling a sneaky stunt during class.
The senior was still trying to mediate the dispute, though he wasn’t successful.
Lin Shuxue watched as Gu Qingwan stormed off in front of her in a fury, not forgetting to shoot her a vicious glare before leaving.
Pei Tianyang went to communicate with the Youth League Committee teacher, then turned around and walked into a small booth to make a phone call.
Leaning against the wall to watch the excitement, a certain young master showed some mercy and spoke up to explain the situation to the students remaining in the interview room.
“The notification to turn off ‘Do Not Disturb’ for the interview group chat is a new rule introduced this semester. However, our department only requires that you are able to receive messages.”
“Furthermore, sitting down during the interview is a regulation set by the Youth League Committee teachers, and we have no authority to change it.”
The underlying meaning was clear: Gu Qingwan had committed two mistakes. Telling her to get lost wasn’t a momentary burst of temper; it was entirely justified.
Down below, a bold girl raised her hand. “Senior Jiang, will you be the one interviewing us in a moment?”
Lin Shuxue noticed the corners of that young master’s mouth curve upward slightly. His peach blossom eyes half-closed as he tilted his head a fraction.
“Me?” He trailed off with a rising cadence, his smile radiant and enchanting. “My mission has already ended.”
Jiang Zong’s words lacked context, leaving the girl who asked still looking confused. Just as she was about to ask more, Pei Tianyang finished his phone call and returned from the small booth.
The crowd had no choice but to drop the subject.
Yet, Lin Shuxue noticed that when Jiang Zong said those words, his gaze had been drifting over her the entire time. Sweeter and more direct than his slightly upturned tone were those pitch-black eyes. They seemed to hold a swirling mist of water, making it impossible for people to keep their minds from wandering.
Lin Shuxue secretly spaced out.
Were the female leads of his various romantic scandals also flying into the flame like moths just to keep those eyes?
The subsequent process was handled by a new senior sister sent by the Youth League Committee teacher to act as the interviewer. The progression of the entire interview went much smoother than before.
“Shuxue!”
The moment Lin Shuxue walked out of the interview room, she heard Meng Shuyin’s warm, familiar call.
Because of that little interlude, their department’s interviews had finished much later than scheduled. While they were stuck in the interview room, the image of Gu Qingwan running out with red eyes had been fully witnessed by the waiting students.
By the time Meng Shuyin finished her own interview and opened the school confession wall, several related posts had already cropped up.
“Are you okay? Did that woman bully you?”
The posts only mentioned it was the first group, without knowing exactly who was in it, but Meng Shuyin knew Lin Shuxue had been assigned to Group 1.
Lin Shuxue felt a warm current flow through her heart. Even if she tried her hardest not to care, being maliciously targeted by someone always felt unpleasant.
She returned a reassuring smile to Meng Shuyin and briefly explained what had happened.
Meng Shuyin ground her teeth in anger, vowing that the next time she saw that person, she would beat her up severely to vent her frustration.
This childish declaration made Lin Shuxue laugh, and she gently patted Meng Shuyin’s head.
“Alright, what about you? How did your interview go?”
The vibrant girl in front of her instantly wilted.
“Don’t even bring it up. What kind of questions were those?!”
“They asked me to imagine that I am representing our university to solicit sponsorships. The sponsor asks me: ‘University A also wants our sponsorship, so how should I convince the sponsor to choose our university instead?'”
University A was the school directly across from Huaan University, and its admission cutoff score was a massive tier higher than Huaan University’s.
Lin Shuxue pressed further, “So how did you answer?”
Meng Shuyin scratched her head. “I just said, ‘If University A were really here to negotiate for the sponsorship, you wouldn’t be sitting here with me today.'”
Hearing this, Lin Shuxue couldn’t help but crinkle her eyes, her smile unable to be hidden.
“Actually, the moment I said it, I regretted it. But it’s the truth! If they can hitch themselves to University A, how could they possibly look down on a small temple like ours?”
Though the words were blunt, the logic held up. Even though Huaan University was a dream school that many students could only look up to and never reach, compared to University A, the top institution in the country, it still fell short.
“What’s more, I was scammed!!!”
At this point, Meng Shuyin’s tone suddenly spiked. Her cheeks puffed out, and her light-colored eyebrows knitted together tightly.
“I saw the head of the External Relations Department today, and he wasn’t the guy standing at the recruitment booth last time at all!!! This department head’s eyes are so small they aren’t even as big as my eye bags, and his beer belly is huge and ridiculously exaggerated!!!”
Hearing this, Lin Shuxue understood everything and laughed silently in her heart.
No wonder Meng Shuyin had looked a bit downcast the moment she came out; it turned out she hadn’t seen the “department head” she had fallen in love with at first sight.
She gently comforted her, “It’s fine. Since he was able to appear there, he must be a member of the Student Union. Maybe he’s a regular department member, and the head had something urgent come up and called him to fill in?”
Unfortunately, her comfort yielded very little results, because upon hearing this hypothesis, Meng Shuyin’s pupils slowly dilated.
“Right, why didn’t I think of that!!! But the moment I saw that the department head didn’t match the description, I just gave up and slacked off. That interview answer will definitely get me rejected!”
Meng Shuyin wallowed in regret.
Out of nowhere, He Xicun suddenly popped up from behind them with a comment.
“What are you afraid of? Don’t we still have our Little Shuxue? Once she gets into the Student Union, she can just help you look for him.”
Meng Shuyin gasped. “You scared the life out of me! Why do you walk without making any sound?”
He Xicun shook his head, throwing his hands up in resignation. “It’s because you were too immersed in your sorrow. Shuxue and I have been locking eyes for ages.”
After saying this, he slung an arm around Meng Shuyin’s neck. “Alright, to celebrate both of your returns from the interviews, I specially hoarded coupons for a newly opened lounge bar near the school.”
“Tonight is my treat. I’ll take you to look at handsome guys!”
The person who had just been clutching her chest in regret instantly became lively and energetic, as if injected with adrenaline, and took large strides to rush back to the dormitory.
“Wait for me to touch up my makeup. Tonight, I’m going to add a hundred handsome guys on WeChat!!!”
The name of this lounge bar was very stylish.
It was called “The Mortal World.”
People passing by who saw this name would probably mistake it for a teahouse.
Behind its elegant, simple storefront lay an entirely different world.
Though it carried the title of a lounge bar, it didn’t lack any of the typical setups found in a regular bar.
Red and purple lights intersected and reflected off one another. In the center dance floor, the DJ’s music was intense and chaotic, and a cocktail of various perfumes and fragrances washed over them.
Describing it as a scene of luxury and dissipation wouldn’t be an exaggeration at all.
Among them, only Guan Zhiyu had ever been to a bar before; the others were experiencing this environment for the first time.
One after another, they expressed that they weren’t quite used to it, so they picked a spot a bit further away from the dance floor speakers to sit down.
Meng Shuyin, however, had not forgotten the primary purpose of this trip. Sitting far away didn’t stop her from craning her neck to search for handsome guys.
Since none of them drank regularly, under Guan Zhiyu’s recommendation, they ordered a few glasses of fruit wine with very low alcohol content to enjoy themselves.
The conversation at the table turned back to the events that had occurred during the afternoon interviews.
Lin Shuxue remained puzzled. “I don’t recall ever offending this Senior Sister Gu.”
Guan Zhiyu had a wide network of connections. Compared to Meng Shuyin, who only knew how to thoroughly read the confession wall, Guan Zhiyu knew much more insider information.
“Do you know Xu Ya?”
“Xu Ya?” Lin Shuxue repeated the name, her brow furrowing tightly. “I seem to have a vague impression, but I can’t remember clearly.”
“It’s normal to have an impression.” Guan Zhiyu snapped her fingers. “The two of you participated in the freshman representative selection together back then.”
The moment she brought this up, a blurry outline formed in Lin Shuxue’s mind.
Beside them, He Xicun asked curiously, “Could it be that Xu Ya is connected to this Gu Qingwan?”
“Yup,” Guan Zhiyu responded indistinctly, her mouth stuffed with French fries. “They seem to be related as cousins or something… I’m not entirely sure about the details. Our vice department head overheard it last time when he went to run an errand for our department counselor.”
Guan Zhiyu swallowed her food and lowered her voice, speaking guardedly, “This is just my guess. I reckon Xu Ya was furious that you snatched the freshman representative spot from her, so Gu Qingwan was taking it out on you on her behalf.”
Lin Shuxue lowered her eyes, her thoughts unknown.
“But Gu Qingwan wasn’t in the Arts Department before. I don’t know what the Youth League Committee teacher was thinking, letting her handle the interviews for the Arts Department.”
Meng Shuyin and He Xicun gasped in shock simultaneously, “She wasn’t from the Arts Department?!”
Guan Zhiyu explained, “Right, there’s a department redistribution when you move up to sophomore year. She used to be in the Organization Department. I guess the retention slots for the Organization Department were full, so they reassigned her out.”
She didn’t forget to disparage her further: “The Organization Department is always full of that kind of virtue—making people call them ‘Senior Sister’ and ‘Senior Brother,’ and making you stand as punishment if you’re late to a meeting. It’s no wonder she said those kinds of things during the interview.”
Meng Shuyin lamented, “Fortunately, I didn’t apply for the Organization Department…”
Hearing this, Guan Zhiyu feigned anger and scolded them.
“I’ve been running advertisements for the Publicity Department in front of you guys for so long, yet look at you two. One goes to my mortal enemy, the Arts Department, and the other runs off to that peripheral External Relations Department!”
Meng Shuyin felt guilty. “That’s not it, Senior Sister, let me explain! Originally, I wanted to be a lazy slacker and just accompany Shuxue to sign up, but who knew…”
Guan Zhiyu leaned closer, her eyes burning as she stared at her and repeated, “Who knew?”
“Who knew that the guy standing at the External Relations Department booth would be so handsome? I was just blinded by lust and committed a mistake that every woman in the world would make.”
Meng Shuyin flashed her a cheeky grin, her tone innocent as she cradled the fruit wine in her hands, attempting to gloss it over.
“Come on, cheers, cheers!”
Guan Zhiyu smiled helplessly. “Is there anyone you fancy in tonight’s venue?”
Meng Shuyin curled her lip. “These lights are too dizzying, and we’re sitting so far away that I can’t see anything clearly. How about you accompany me to the middle area to take a look, Senior Sister?”
Guan Zhiyu extended a hand to refuse. “You just betrayed me to join the enemy camp behind my back, and now you want me to accompany you? Tactfully declined.”
Meng Shuyin clung onto her arm, expertly raising her pitch to act spoiled. “Please, Senior Sister Guan? You are beautiful and kind-hearted, so you definitely won’t reject my tiny request, right?”
Meng Shuyin had already mastered this trick to perfection; it had never failed when she wanted Lin Shuxue or He Xicun to accompany her before.
She possessed a sweet appearance, so doing this didn’t make people dislike her at all.
Sure enough, Guan Zhiyu helplessly gave in to her.
He Xicun had recently been wanting to try building a self-media account. Coincidentally, Lin Shuxue lacked interest in the central dance floor’s DJ tracks, so she stayed behind to accompany He Xicun while he took photos.
Meng Shuyin, meanwhile, felt like a fish in water after getting over her initial discomfort. She relaxed completely, dragging Guan Zhiyu as they wove through the crowd.
The closer they got to the center, the louder the music became, forcing Guan Zhiyu to yell at the top of her lungs.
“How is it, did you spot one you like? This sister will help you ask for his WeChat—”
Meng Shuyin likewise screamed back, “I spotted one with a particularly breathtaking profile but I didn’t see his face clearly!”
She pointed a finger in a certain direction. “He headed over that way!”
Seeing this, Guan Zhiyu immediately said, “Let’s go then!”
Following her memory, Meng Shuyin searched while chattering endlessly, “This one is definitely the absolute best in the venue tonight. It’s a pity I didn’t see him clearly, but judging by that build, I’ve observed countless men, he is absolutely top-tier!”
Just as she was speaking passionately, the two of them bumped head-on into a guy.
“Guan Zhiyu…?” The guy sounded somewhat uncertain.
“Pei Tianyang? Why are you…”
Before Guan Zhiyu could even finish speaking, Meng Shuyin’s pleasantly surprised voice cut in seamlessly.
“I found him, Senior Sister Guan! It’s him! It’s this silhouette!”
Simultaneously, the person being pointed at slowly turned around. He possessed a deep brow bone and a high bridge of the nose, and his pair of peach blossom eyes looked exceptionally affectionate under the lights.
Taking a clear look at his face, Meng Shuyin blurted out her first curse word of the day.
“Holy shit…”