Chapter 4: Fan Xi

"Old Xu? Old Xu?"

Xu Heng had been deep in thought about his plot for a long time, only to be pulled back to the real world by Cheng Huaiyu's voice.

"Where are you going? The classroom for Ancient Literature is this way."

From the back of the classroom, Zhao Gaoyang grinned, "I think Xu Heng has been blinded by that vixen Ying Ziyun, he can't even tell north from south anymore."

Xu Heng was noncommittal.

Although the reality was that he had forgotten which classrooms his university courses were in, and because he hadn't been paying attention, he had walked ahead of Zhao Gaoyang and the other, thus overshooting his destination.

This matter had absolutely nothing to do with Ying Ziyun, but he wouldn't tell anyone about things like transmigration, so it was better to just let Ying Ziyun take the blame.

There were four classes in the afternoon, two for Ancient Literature and two for Modern Chinese Language, and since he had roommates in the same major, Xu Heng didn't have to worry about not finding the classroom.

It was already past five o'clock after class ended; Xu Heng had long since lost interest in university lectures, so he had spent the entire afternoon staring at his book in a daze, and even when he picked up his pen to write or draw, it was all about the plot of his own novel.

Anyone who didn't know better would think he was taking notes and being a good student.

The bell for the end of class rang, and the classroom instantly erupted in cheers; a group of people headed straight for the cafeteria, a scene that would remain exactly the same even a dozen years later.

Zhao Gaoyang and Cheng Huaiyu were over there discussing what to eat; only at times like this would they pull Xu Heng along to join the discussion.

In the dormitory, Xu Heng had a better relationship with his roommate Sheng Bo, who studied Advertising, while Zhao Gaoyang and Cheng Huaiyu were closer; university was actually a small society, but compared to the complex human nature in society, the infighting in university seemed childish and ridiculous.

"Old Xu, let's go to Blue Sky tonight! Let me tell you, my CS skills have improved by leaps and bounds recently; those little brats downstairs are no match for me anymore."

Seeing Xu Heng silently packing up his textbooks, Cheng Huaiyu walked over to invite him.

He considered himself the leader of the dormitory and had a bit of pride, but he wasn't a bad person and didn't have a petty mind; he believed it was his responsibility to help the "weak" and heartbroken Xu Heng and maintain good dormitory relations.

"I'm not going, you guys go have fun." Xu Heng shook his head and refused.

Blue Sky was the name of an internet cafe at the school gate, and it was also the battlefield where their surrounding dormitories often gathered.

In university, competitive boys had abandoned their academic grades and instead turned the outcome of games into the main metric for determining who was superior.

If it were the Xu Heng of his past life, he definitely wouldn't have refused, as he had also been a loyal fan of games in university, but now he only wanted to make money and had no mood for gaming.

Besides, games in 2007... the image quality was quite an eyesore.

"Damn, this is hellish; Xu Heng, you're not even playing games for the sake of Ying Ziyun? No way, I have to post on the forum tonight to record your story, let's call it 'Jinling's Number One Deeply Affectionate Man Changes for Love'..."

Zhao Gaoyang's voice came to an abrupt halt.

Xu Heng had thought he would keep blabbering for a few more minutes and was too lazy to pay attention to him, preparing to leave, but he saw embarrassment in Zhao Gaoyang's pupils.

"Fan... Fan Xi, listen to my sophistry—no, wait, listen to my explanation, I wasn't planning on going to the internet cafe, I was going to the study hall to study tonight, but those guys from Computer Science downstairs kept provoking us..."

Fan Xi?

Hearing this distant yet somewhat familiar name, Xu Heng turned his head subconsciously and bumped right into a fair and delicate little face.

The girl was dressed simply and wore no makeup, but her features were extremely beautiful, her pair of watery eyes were full of liveliness, and she wore a ponytail that gave off a pure vibe.

"Just go to the internet cafe if you want, why explain it to me? I'm here to find your Arts Committee Member." The girl smiled, her words light and soft, carrying a touch of graceful tenderness.

Xu Heng suddenly remembered her name.

The girl was named Fan Xi, and she was the Class Monitor of their Class 3 in the Chinese Language and Literature major; in his memory, she was from the same high school as Zhao Gaoyang, and both were children born in the countryside.

However, there was absolutely no rural rusticity about her; instead, she was full of a young girl's innocence and gentleness, and she was pretty, so many boys in their Literature Department had ideas about Fan Xi, but she had never accepted any boy's confession.

When Zhao Gaoyang first arrived at university, he often boasted about how good his relationship with Fan Xi was, saying that as long as he put in a little effort, he could take Fan Xi down in less than a month, but unfortunately, even after university graduation, he never saw him become a couple with Fan Xi.

As for where Fan Xi went after university graduation, Xu Heng didn't know much; back in university, he had been single-mindedly chasing Ying Ziyun and wasn't very close with Fan Xi.

Their few interactions were probably due to his status as a class committee member.

When Xu Heng first started university, he held a guitar and became the Arts Committee Member of Class 3 with the song "Ten Years," and he had chatted with Fan Xi a few times during some class-building activities and department evening parties.

Fan Xi coming to find him at this point in time was most likely because of the last class meeting of their freshman year.

Zhao Gaoyang obviously also knew the purpose of Fan Xi looking for Xu Heng, and he laughed foolishly, "Then you guys discuss it, Cheng Ge and I are leaving first."

Afterwards, he dragged Cheng Huaiyu and ran out of the classroom in a hurry.

It was common knowledge that he liked Fan Xi, and even though Fan Xi had clearly rejected him, Zhao Gaoyang always believed in his heart that he would eventually end up with Fan Xi.

Xu Heng thought of how, when they were interning in their senior year, Zhao Gaoyang confessed to Fan Xi at a gathering and was rejected again, crying so hard on the spot that he rolled down the stairs and broke a bone, which later became a famous little story on the campus network, often brought out by underclassmen to make fun of him.

Thinking about it this way, Zhao Gaoyang was also quite pitiful; he didn't play the role of a "lickspittle" well, and he even got himself injured in the process.

Fan Xi stood in front of Xu Heng, feeling a bit embarrassed by his straight, unblinking gaze.

"Hurry up and finish the blackboard newspaper for tomorrow's class meeting, why are you staring at me!"

Xu Heng came back to his senses, stunned for a moment, and immediately knew that his reminiscing about university days had been misunderstood; he didn't explain, but just joked, "Of course it's because you, Class Monitor, are pretty."

Having been a minor civil servant for over a decade in his past life, he had honed his glib tongue by frequently flattering leaders and others at banquets.

Fan Xi looked at Xu Heng's clean and sharp-featured smiling face, the sunset illuminating his face brightly; it had to be said that the Xu Heng who hadn't yet gained weight was indeed handsome. In high school, his style as a student had constrained his looks, but after starting university and changing his hairstyle and attire, he had instantly transformed.

Two red clouds visibly appeared on the girl's cheeks, and her head lowered accordingly.

"Thank you."

"Huh?" Xu Heng was baffled.

If this were any other girl, the reaction, if not displeasure, would at least be a coy rebuke like, "You're glib, you're not a good person."

Class Monitor Fan's reaction was actually... to thank him???

Until now, he hadn't realized that although this way of speaking would become increasingly common and unwelcome in the future, and might even be called "greasy" by girls, it still had great lethality for young girls of this era; after all, no girl disliked being complimented for being pretty.