Chapter 35: Scholarship

School infirmary.

Qi Yu had gotten into a scuffle with that group of bodyguards; although he didn't seem to have any major issues, Ling Wu still insisted on sending Qi Yu to the school infirmary, though he didn't follow him inside, fearing it would make him uncomfortable.

Ling Wu sat on a bench outside.

A few female students passed by, pointing in Ling Wu's direction: "So handsome, he's breathtaking!"

"Did you take a photo?"

"I did, I did."

"He looks so familiar... it seems to be Ling Wu, who is very popular on the forum lately. I'll post this set of photos to the forum when I go back tonight."

Ling Wu looked up and saw a few girls walking over: "Um, student Ling Wu, can we have your contact information?"

"We don't have any malicious intent."

"We just want to add you as a friend."

Ling Wu stood up and smiled politely: "I'm very sorry, my phone is out of battery. Could we do it next time?"

A standard and polite way of refusing.

The girls understood the subtext, but they were a little disappointed: "Alright... alright."

"We just took a photo of you, may we post it on the forum?"

Ling Wu nodded: "You may."

"Okay, okay, goodbye, Ling Wu wifey."

Ling Wu: "..."

"Goodbye."

Sike Academy covers ten thousand acres, with green grass like a carpet and swaying tree shadows; the spires of the Gothic-style buildings reach into the clouds, sunlight sprinkles onto the main road through the shade of the trees, and the castle-style teaching buildings are full of history and mystery.

Ling Wu saw three tall boys walking over side by side.

Coincidentally, Ling Wu knew all of these people; on the left and right were Shen Zhaojue and Wei Ranxu respectively, which didn't surprise him in the slightest, but the person in the middle was... Ming Tan.

Ling Wu was puzzled; how could the three of them be walking together?

Or could it be that the protagonist shou's halo was so great that it directly influenced two vicious male supporting characters, turning them into protectors guarding a flower?

Ming Tan walked up to him and said viciously: "I knew nothing good would come of Qi Yu staying with you. I already told you to stay away from him."

"You pest!"

After saying this, he hurried into the school infirmary.

Ling Wu's gaze swept past Wei Ranxu and landed first on Shen Zhaojue, who shrugged innocently: "It has nothing to do with me; he insisted on following us here."

"Then what did you come here for?" Ling Wu was a bit surprised.

Shen Zhaojue was concise: "Of course, Young Master Yin sent me to teach you a lesson."

"You didn't think you could escape so easily, did you?"

Wei Ranxu clearly looked very impatient; he stood to the side with his arms crossed, his tone very annoyed: "Shen Zhaojue, why are you dawdling so much with him?"

"Don't tell me you've gone soft."

Gone soft?

Shen Zhaojue seemed to recall something, glanced at him with a sense of ridicule, then leaned down and said in an intimate tone: "Wei Ranxu's temper is not to be trifled with; if I didn't stop him, you would have suffered quite a loss this time."

"How about it, do you want to agree to my proposal from the classroom last time?"

It was already annoying enough to face a Special Student every day, and now Shen Zhaojue was flirting with him to his face, his tone ambiguous.

Wei Ranxu curled his fingers and almost rolled his eyes: "Shen Zhaojue, whose side are you on, damn it?!"

"If you want to flirt, go back and do it!"

One doesn't fear a god-like opponent, but rather a pig-like teammate.

Shen Zhaojue patted his shoulder: "Don't be angry, I am of course on Young Master Yin's side."

"Then why aren't you making a move?"

"Haste makes waste!"

Shen Zhaojue glanced at Ling Wu, then leaned into Wei Ranxu's ear and whispered something; although Ling Wu couldn't read lips, he could vaguely sense it wasn't anything good.

It was unknown what Shen Zhaojue said, but it instantly calmed down the rampaging Wei Ranxu.

Then he looked at him with a gloating expression.

Ling Wu casually brought up a point: "Shen Zhaojue, did you mess with Qi Yu's scholarship?"

"I did," he said completely unconcerned.

Ling Wu: "Where is the money?"

Shen Zhaojue spread his hands: "Oh, you mean that? I originally thought it was a scholarship, but it turned out to be money for begging, hahaha..."

"It should be in some unknown sewer by now."

Clearly, their backgrounds were already noble enough, living without worry, like golden branches and jade leaves, yet they still went to such lengths to use underhanded means to plunder the fruits of labor that should have belonged to someone else.

"Let's go, don't waste words with him." Wei Ranxu had his hands in his pockets; as he passed by Ling Wu, there was blatant malice in his eyes, and a smile hung on his lips: "We've prepared a big gift for you."

"Remember to collect it."

Shen Zhaojue said nonchalantly: "My proposal is still valid."

"Good luck to you."

Ling Wu thought they were two lunatics.

Not long after, Qi Yu and Ming Tan came out of the school infirmary; Ming Tan was chattering about something, while Qi Yu listened with indifference, his face very cold.

Ling Wu's voice was pleasant and clear: "Qi Yu, how much is your annual scholarship?"

Qi Yu: "Why are you asking this all of a sudden?"

"About twenty thousand yuan."

Twenty thousand?

For an ordinary family, that is several months' salary, but for a rich young master, this is a drop in the bucket, not even counting as pocket money.

"It's nothing." Ling Wu shook his head with calm composure, his tone casual: "Just curious about the treatment you honor students get, that's all."

Ming Tan was quite proud: "Well, of course."

"Qi Yu's grades were already excellent when he was little; if it weren't for those two vicious foster parents, Qi Yu would have long since tested into other high schools."

"A slacker like you would never have the chance to see him..."

"Ming Tan!" Qi Yu's face was cold: "For the sake of our childhood friendship, I still treat you as a friend, but you must not always speak to Ling Wu like that."

"He is also my friend; you should respect him."

Ming Tan: "What kind of friend does he count as to you?"

Ming Tan just couldn't understand it; as the protagonist shou of this comic book world, he actually couldn't handle a villain, and no matter how he fawned over him, the other party acted as if he were invisible.

Clearly, he was the one who had his best interests at heart.

The more Ming Tan thought about it, the angrier he became; to think someone dared not to go along with him: "You went to the school infirmary, wasn't it to protect him? Why are you losing your temper at me?"

Qi Yu grasped the main point: "How do you know about these things?"

"It was..." Ming Tan felt a bit guilty deep down, but then he thought, why was Qi Yu allowed to have noble friends, but he wasn't allowed to make friends: "Shen Zhaojue and the others told me; I ran into them on the way here."

Qi Yu only felt that Ming Tan, this friend from his childhood, had changed in temperament, becoming completely different from before, with an indescribable sense of strangeness.

"Ming Tan, take my advice: do not have any more contact with them."

Shen Zhaojue is a tough nut to crack; someone like Ming Tan wouldn't even know if he were being used by them.

"I won't!" After shouting this, Ming Tan ran off in a huff.