“Do you want me to drop you off?”
“No need, I can manage on my own.”
Jing Jiaxi slung his backpack over his shoulders; it was packed full of snacks suitable for a pregnant husband and various daily necessities.
It was the official opening day for freshmen, and the campus of Imperial Capital University was bustling, overflowing everywhere with a vibrant, youthful aura.
Jing Jiaxi had ridden in Fu Qianyu’s luxury car to get to the school to attend the opening ceremony.
Because he had been hospitalized after being beaten a while back, he had missed military training, leaving him entirely unfamiliar with the school layout.
The driver offered to escort him into the campus, but Jing Jiaxi hurriedly declined.
People were already snapping pictures when the car pulled up at the school gates; he didn’t want to draw any attention to himself.
Even though it was still early summer, he had put on a jacket.
Due to his poor constitution, Jing Jiaxi’s hands were usually ice-cold. Although his pregnancy wasn’t showing yet, he wore the jacket anyway for psychological comfort, hoping to conceal things from prying eyes.
Stepping onto the campus, Jing Jiaxi discovered that the grounds were unexpectedly massive.
The lively, bustling atmosphere made him quite thrilled. He had studied painstakingly hard since childhood precisely to get into a good university and take charge of his own destiny.
Now that he had finally realized his dream, the corners of his mouth couldn’t help but curve upward.
With light steps, he followed the map on his phone to seek out his department building.
Jing Jiaxi wanted to maintain a low profile, but he had no idea that the exact moment he stepped out of the car, his photo had already been uploaded onto the school’s public forum.
Even though Imperial Capital was no stranger to luxury cars, this particular vehicle happened to be the only one of its kind in the world.
Someone searched the car’s price online, and upon seeing that string of zeros, everyone gasped.
“Holy crap, a hypercar! That’s a filthy rich person right there!”
Someone who knew more insider details commented below: “It’s not just about having money. An ordinary wealthy person can’t even buy this car. The identity of the person who can drive this vehicle is anything but simple.”
Someone asked: “Bro, give us the scoop? What’s this guy’s background?”
But that person didn’t reply further, maintaining an air of profound mystery. Soon enough, the thread was bumped into a trending hot topic.
While the guys focused their attention on the luxury car, the girls focused entirely on the handsome guy who had stepped out of it.
The clear-cut, beautiful boy possessed a wonderful smile; every frown and laugh pierced straight into the girls’ hearts.
“Ahhhh, I’m dead, what a gorgeous boy!”
“One minute! I want all the background info on this guy!” one girl said, imitating a CEO’s domineering tone as she eagerly searched for information on him, though she came up completely empty-handed.
The trending thread pinned on the homepage accumulated continuous comments. The forum section was entirely discussing the boy’s background and visuals, and the overall vibe was relatively harmonious.
“This year’s freshmen have some serious background, huh? Reaching this level of popularity the moment they enter the school.”
“So handsome, licking my screen…”
“Handsome little brother, just wait until I find out which department you belong to—I am definitely going to lock you down!”
……
Jing Jiaxi didn’t understand how university worked, assuming it was just like high school where one had to sit diligently through classes.
Yet, when he arrived at the classroom, he discovered that the people who had arrived were scattered in groups of twos and threes, sitting together and chatting while waiting for the homeroom teacher to arrive.
Because Jing Jiaxi hadn’t participated in military training, the people in the class had already formed their own social circles. Unable to blend in for the moment, he planned to just find a random place to sit.
“Hey, classmate, why don’t you sit over here?”
A short boy with freckles on his face called out to him. Beside him stood two other guys—one tall and thin, the other dark and sturdy.
“Sure, thank you.”
“I’m Mu Yushu, a local, and we’re in the same dorm.” The short boy was enthusiastic and lively, taking the initiative to introduce himself first.
“Teng Ziqi.” “Hong Yiran.” The tall, thin boy and the dark, sturdy boy stated their names respectively.
“Hello everyone, my name is Jing Jiaxi.” Jing Jiaxi gave a warm, genial smile, which easily won people’s favor.
“Jing Jiaxi, what a beautiful name. I’m Mi Yaxin.” The female class monitor sat down with her friend in the row ahead to strike up a conversation.
“It’s really a pity you missed military training. Our class’s performance program actually won first place.”
“That really is a pity…”
“Tsk. A pampered young master who didn’t even participate in military training, what’s he putting on acts for by relying on his privileges?”
The moment Jing Jiaxi spoke up, a heavily built, buzzcut guy across the aisle spoke out offensively.
The buzzcut guy sat splayed out with his legs wide apart, lounging carelessly in the very center of the row, surrounded by a few guys egging him on.
“Exactly. Monitor, don’t be too biased. When our Brother Tao asked for leave, you didn’t give him a single good look. Yet this pretty boy didn’t even show up for military training, and you’re practically holding him up on a pedestal.”
The moment these words came out, Mi Yaxin’s face instantly turned incredibly unsightly.
During military training, Lu Pengtao had pursued Mi Yaxin to no avail. Consequently, during the final performance stage, he threw a tantrum and intentionally dropped out halfway through, forcing Mi Yaxin to desperately find a replacement to rehearse, leaving her tossing and turning without proper sleep for several days.
Lu Pengtao laughed arrogantly: “Monitor, isn’t this pretty boy just harboring a bit of pocket change and wearing a bunch of designer brands? If it’s money you want, my family has plenty of cash too. It’s just that we don’t wear it all on our bodies like some nouveau riche. How about… you reconsider me?”
His family possessed a bit of status in the Imperial Capital, and he could tell that Jing Jiaxi’s soft, gentle temperament didn’t look like it stemmed from some immensely wealthy family.
The luxury brands from head to toe were authentic, yes, but they were brand new. Truly wealthy families wouldn’t intentionally wear a completely new outfit out the door; it looked tacky.
Therefore, he deduced that Jing Jiaxi’s family had, at most, a tiny bit of money, and that he was just a poser. He despised posers who acted rich without the funds the most, and he felt like a righteous crusader stepping up to teach him a lesson.
If anyone wanted to flaunt wealth, they had to be as rich as him, or richer.
What did this pretty boy even count as? How dare he try to steal a woman from him!
These words were an outright insult to Mi Yaxin. Mi Yaxin came from a middle-class family; though not wealthy, she had been raised with self-respect, self-love, and a healthy personality.
“Lu Pengtao! Have some self-respect! The teacher is coming in a moment! Shut your mouth!” No matter how good her upbringing was, her composure shattered in the face of a shameless rogue. She couldn’t help but raise her volume on the last sentence.
“Student Lu, just because the monitor rejected you, do you really have to be this petty and target her?” Mu Yushu spoke up righteously.
The others chimed in one after another: “Exactly, Lu Pengtao, not everyone is a gold-digger like you.” “Lu Pengtao is just jealous of you, Jiaxi.”
Since his name was brought into it, it wasn’t fitting for Jing Jiaxi to speak up, so he merely responded with a polite smile.
In Lu Pengtao’s eyes, this was nothing short of blatant mockery. He was just about to flare up: “You—”
“The teacher is here.”
The classroom quickly quieted down. Lu Pengtao glared viciously at Jing Jiaxi from below.
Meanwhile, Jing Jiaxi remained completely unbothered, treating his intense gaze as non-existent.
After all, he had seen plenty of people like this; there were plenty who spoke far more harshly than Lu Pengtao.
Aside from empathizing with the female class monitor for getting entangled with such a troublesome person, Jing Jiaxi felt absolutely nothing toward Lu Pengtao’s insults directed at him.
He was used to it.
The teacher instructed everyone to go up to the podium to introduce themselves once more, primarily to accommodate Jing Jiaxi, so that the student who arrived slightly later could familiarize himself with the class as quickly as possible.
Jing Jiaxi went up to the podium and finished introducing himself, only to discover that several classmates were actually snapping photos of him.
He was a bit puzzled—was he really that popular?
In the past, Jing Jiaxi had always buried his head in his studies, rarely interacting with his peers. There had only been that one time he attended a high school class reunion, where he had ended up getting drunk and losing his body…