Chapter 461: Minor Conflict

Zhang Kai paused slightly, then swiftly turned off the TV, casually crossed his legs and tucked the rod between them, laughing: "Welcome, Miss Zheng, to my humble abode. Looking for Xu Young Master? I don't know where he went."

Zheng Wei rolled her eyes—she'd been watching for ages, and those loud, blood-pumping moans had been impossible to miss. Of course men are all creatures of their lower halves, especially that pig-like expression Zhang Kai just made—so sleazy. But she said nothing; after all, no matter how carefree she was, she was still a female classmate.

"Can't I be looking for you?"

"Then you're amazing—come in, come in! Whatever it is, just say it—Brother Zhang will handle it all."

"Grew up in a honey pot, huh? Why's your mouth so sweet?" Zheng Wei smiled, raised her hand, and waved the few discs she held, stepping inside: "Here, I've finished watching those again—got any new ones lately? Hey, Lao Zhang, can't you guys clean up this room? It's a pigsty—how do you even live like this?"

"Look, you're so crude. We've known each other for ages—you've been here plenty of times. You've seen what the dorms on this floor are like. If we're comparing, ours could even win an award for excellence. Besides, mountains aren't tall because they're high, but because immortals dwell there. This is the style of a scholar—unconcerned with trivialities."

"Save it. Your dorm? Only that weird guy you mentioned is clean—look at his bed, not even our girls can match it. The rest of you—Xu Young Master and Fatty—are dirtier than each other. Scholar? Pfft. Quickly find me some discs I haven't seen—I'm leaving now."

Zhang Kai laughed, took the discs Zheng Wei handed him, and pulled out a large box from under the desk: "Let me look—I just got some a couple days ago. I remember putting them here… ah, maybe I left them in another dorm. Wait—I'll go get them."

"Hurry up."

Zheng Wei watched Zhang Kai leave, sat listlessly beside the desk, tapped the keyboard, and glanced around bored. Then her gaze landed on the windowsill—and she couldn't look away, drawn to the architectural model there.

It was a model of a ground-floor shop connected to two buildings—one tall, one short—neat, precise, even with tiny greenery decorations on the base plate. By this design, it resembled future apartment complexes: the shop could be a mall or hotel, and entering through the back door led to individual small apartments above.

Though it looked simple, it was actually quite advanced. They'd only just started classes a month ago—still didn't understand structural mechanics or other professional knowledge, couldn't even draw straight lines on sketches—how could they possibly make such a model?

Seeing something so novel, any normal person would want to touch it. Zheng Wei, who was already naturally nosy, immediately stood and walked over to examine it closely, just as before, flipped the switch, stared in awe at the lit model, and—still mischievous—lifted off the roof to inspect it up close.

"What are you doing?"

In the quiet moment, a sudden shout came from behind. Zheng Wei was startled, instinctively turned toward the door. As she turned, she knocked over the model—it was about to fall off the table, and she screamed instinctively.

At that critical instant, a figure dashed forward with lightning speed, grabbed Zheng Wei by the arm and yanked her aside, while the other hand firmly caught the model, already half-falling.

Zheng Wei, yanked with anger, lost balance, her left foot tripped over her right, and she fell backward onto the floor—right onto the washbasin full of water that the fat guy in the dorm hadn't yet moved.

Splash—the washbasin overturned, water spilled everywhere, soaking Zheng Wei's body…

Room 310 wasn't clean at all; cleanliness relied entirely on Chen Xiaozheng's obsession with hygiene forcing him to clean. Perhaps Chen Xiaozheng didn't originally have OCD—just from living with Zhang Kai and others for so long, he'd developed it.

Trash carelessly scattered, cigarette butts everywhere, ash covering the floor, dust tracked in from comings and goings—black patches, white patches, filthy beyond description.

Now the water mixed with the grime on the floor, turning to mud, splattering all over Zheng Wei—filthy beyond words. But she didn't care, had no time to care. She snapped back to herself, scrambled to her feet with hands and feet, and furiously pointed at the man whose back was turned, repairing the model—someone she'd never met before. She knew this was the weird guy Zhang Kai mentioned, and she shouted: "How dare you push me?"

The one who shoved Zheng Wei—no need to ask, it was Chen Xiaozheng. He'd stayed up all night finishing it, still hadn't quite perfected it. Though it looked simple, he'd made countless preparations, revised the design many times, and finally brought it to life. Now today, Zheng Wei had ruined it—almost shattered it. Sure, he could've rebuilt it in another night, and maybe it wasn't that important—but why should an outsider destroy it?

He didn't indulge Zheng Wei. He spoke coldly: "If you weren't a woman, I wouldn't just have pushed you."

"Why did you push me? Apologize to me right now!" Zheng Wei stormed forward, hysterical: "You're a man, yet you shoved a defenseless woman to the ground? Isn't that perverted? Don't think pretending ignorance will work—you're a man, aren't you? Apologize to me—I demand you apologize!"

Seeing Chen Xiaozheng focused entirely on repairing the model, ignoring her, Zheng Wei shoved him hard, forcing him to face her.

Chen Xiaozheng still wore his deadpan expression, expressionless: "I pushed you because you nearly destroyed my property—and blocked me from saving it. No matter who brought you here, be careful. I don't like people touching my things, and I hate being pointed at."

Zheng Wei stared at his annoying face, fury boiling over—she raised her hand to slap him. Luckily, Zhang Kai returned, rushing over to grab her: "Hey hey hey, what's going on? Weiwei, Weiwei, don't get angry—it's a misunderstanding, just a misunderstanding!"

"Pfft, what misunderstanding? If you're not angry, you're not human. Lao Zhang, what kind of demons live in your dorm, picking on girls? Apologize—I demand you apologize!"

Zhang Kai struggled to hold onto Zheng Wei, who was thrashing and clawing at Chen Xiaozheng, and looked at Chen Xiaozheng standing there repairing the model: "Ah Zheng, what happened?"

"Forget it. I don't want to talk about it. Lao Zhang, since you brought her here, let this go—but don't let it happen again. And tell her: not everything can be touched."

"What do you mean? Even if I touched your thing, was it worth pushing me to the ground? What's so special about it? Are you even a man? Do you have any manners? Apologize to me—you must apologize!"

"Why should I apologize to you?" Chen Xiaozheng looked at her coolly: "Though this thing isn't special, to me, it's worth more than you."

"Are you even speaking human? Lao Zhang, let go—I'm going to kill him, kill him!"

Zheng Wei froze, then struggled like a madwoman, screaming to fight Chen Xiaozheng. She stood right here—and he didn't even look at her, made Zhang Kai relay his message—he didn't regard her at all. And what did he say? Let it go? Who does he think he is? "Don't touch anything"? So what if I did? He even warned me to be careful—trying to scare me?

The scene spiraled out of control—Zheng Wei thrashed, screamed, cursed. Zhang Kai desperately held her back. Chen Xiaozheng frowned, watching her performance—and it only fueled her more.

Such commotion naturally drew others from nearby dorms. Doors opened, students gathered at the entrance to Room 310 to watch. Wang Yan was no exception.

He'd thought this clash was inevitable yesterday—but didn't expect it to happen so fast.

The facts were clear: Zheng Wei touched Chen Xiaozheng's thing—wrong. Chen Xiaozheng shoved her—somewhat excessive, but not entirely unjustified. But pushing her to the ground? That was wrong.

The issue wasn't huge. If Chen Xiaozheng had just softened a little, brushed it off with a few words, it would've passed. But his nature was what it was. Besides, Zheng Wei was wrong first, he reacted second—why should he yield? Women are so petty—can they just touch others' things without permission, nearly destroy them? From this angle, he had no fault.

But from Zheng Wei's perspective, she felt wronged. She'd just touched the model—why such an extreme reaction? Pushed her to the ground, soaked her in filth? Chen Xiaozheng spoke so harshly, showed clear disdain, looked down on her. Her hysterical screaming, threatening to fight him—she had no fault either.

So Wang Yan shouted: "Enough! Can you stop yelling?"

Zheng Wei, mid-hysteria, was startled by the voice, turned to see Wang Yan standing at the door: "What's this to you? Why are you sticking your nose in?"

"None of my business? You're screaming at the top of your lungs—don't you know you're disturbing others' studying and rest? Do you know what public decency is? What is quality? Can't you think of others? Do you think this school is your house? You can scream however you want?"

"You…"

"What? I stood here a moment and understood: Chen Xiaozheng pushing you down was wrong. But everything has cause and effect—you can't act without reason. Didn't you touch his thing first? What kind of behavior is that? How can you scream like this? If you hadn't touched his thing, would he have pushed you? You admit you were wrong—then why not apologize first? Why yell? If you apologized, wouldn't he have apologized too?"

"You dare call him not a man? Look at yourself—you're no different from a shrew! Is this what a female university student from Southeast University looks like? When trouble comes, you're unreasonable, you throw tantrums, you rely on being female to act like a hysteric? Constantly calling yourself a defenseless woman—is there any defenseless woman screaming in a male dormitory? Look at you—shouting like a market hag—where's the weakness?!"

Zheng Wei hadn't expected Wang Yan to speak to her like this—and she couldn't refute him. Her momentum dropped. But seeing the crowd of male classmates outside watching, her face burned. He called her a shrew? Fine—I'll act like one.

"You're…"

Zhang Kai immediately clamped his hand over Zheng Wei's mouth, smiling apologetically: "Ah Zheng, Lao Wang, it's nothing, really nothing. Everyone, go back to your rooms—I'll take her back to the girls' dorm."

Saying this, he dragged Zheng Wei—who kept struggling, kicking and flailing, trying to attack Wang Yan—out of the male dormitory.

Watching the two disappear around the stair corner, Chen Xiaozheng gave Wang Yan a strained smile: "Thanks. If not for you, I don't know how bad it would've gotten."

"No problem. She really is too loud—zero quality." Wang Yan waved his hand, turned: "I'm off."

In a few steps, he returned to his dorm, picked up his water cup, drank some water, organized his thoughts, sat back at the desk, and his fingers flew across the keyboard—clack-clack-clack…

When Zhang Kai finally dragged Zheng Wei to the stair corner, out of sight, her struggling weakened drastically. Sensing this change, Zhang Kai understood—he kept dragging her all the way out of the male dormitory.

"Not bad, Miss Zheng—you still have some sense."

"Hmph, I'm not stupid." Zheng Wei spoke coldly: "That Chen Xiaozheng shoved me to the ground right away—look at how dirty I am. And Wang Yan? Even worse—meddling idiot. He called me a shrew? How dare he? I'm not letting this go."

"I think you should just let it go. Chen Xiaozheng's always been reclusive—fine. But Wang Yan—you know him—he single-handedly took on a whole squad of drill instructors during training. If you push him too far, he'll beat you up—can you handle that? Besides, didn't you admit he was right about what he said? Be magnanimous—let them off. Don't stoop to their level."

"No. I won't swallow this humiliation. Lao Zhang, you've got connections—here's your mission."

"What is it?"

"Find me all the information you can on Wang Yan and Chen Xiaozheng—detailed as possible. Any problem?"

Zhang Kai looked at her helplessly: "No, there's no need for this."

"Just tell me if you'll help or not. If you won't, I'll go find Young Xu Gong—he'll definitely help me. Old Zhang, you're not that disloyal, are you?"

"But I'm friends with Wang Yan too—you know that. Zheng Wei, I really don't think it's necessary. Drop it, okay?"

"Fine, you're loyal—I won't ask you. I'll go find Xu Kaiyang then. Enough, don't try to persuade me anymore. I'm filthy all over—I need a bath. I'm leaving." Zheng Wei didn't want to hear any more of Zhang Kai's nonsense; she turned and stormed off in anger.

In the girls' dorm, Li Weijuan, Zhu Xiao Bei, and Ruan Wan were reading and studying, free from class. Their study atmosphere was actually quite good: Li Weijuan wanted to find a rich man, so she carefully maintained herself while also studying diligently—she had to have some ability, after all. No one knew when the rich man would come, so she had to be capable. Zhu Xiao Bei wanted to earn money to live well with her sister, so she took her studies seriously. As for Ruan Wan, she was in a long-distance relationship; with nothing else to do at school, she only occasionally called her boyfriend to flirt, and since she had no other obligations, she didn't study much.

Only Zheng Wei remained. Perhaps affected by Lin Jing's sudden departure, she felt her goal for college had vanished—her once-cherished future had collapsed, and naturally, she lacked motivation to study. But with the other three living in the same room, she felt something was missing if she didn't study, so she reluctantly kept up.

In the quiet dorm, where the only sounds were pages turning and pens scratching across paper, suddenly—bang! —the dorm door was flung open. Zheng Wei dashed in and slammed it shut, then sat at the desk and grabbed a cup of water, gulping it down.

The other three relaxed their frowns and exchanged puzzled glances. Li Weijuan sighed: "What now, Miss Zheng? Didn't you go to Old Zhang for the new CD? Who upset you this time?"

Zheng Wei slammed the cup onto the table with a cold snort: "It's that damn Wang Yan."

Zhu Xiao Bei replied: "What did Wang Yan do to you? You two never even talk to each other."

Zheng Wei recounted the whole incident from start to finish, pouting: "Tell me—isn't he being too much? This is about me and that Chen Xiaozheng—what does Wang Yan have to do with it? He even said I had no manners, called me a shrew yelling in the street—this bastard…"

"But I think Wang Yan was kind of…" Li Weijuan began, then saw Zheng Wei's murderous glare and quickly waved her hands: "Fine, I won't say anything." She pouted and went back to reading, staying out of it.

Zhu Xiao Bei stayed silent. She thought Wang Yan was right.

Ruan Wan shook her head with a smile and patted Zheng Wei's shoulder: "Enough, Zheng Wei. Look at how dirty you are—go take a bath first."

"Bastard." Zheng Wei exhaled deeply and turned to the three of them: "Want to go bathe together?"

Zhu Xiao Bei stood up: "Let's go, let's go! Three beautiful girls—let me get a little benefit."

The four girls laughed and chattered as they grabbed basins and headed for the bathhouse…

"Old Wang, Zheng Wei's just like that. You can see she's not a bad girl—she's just impulsive, quick-tempered, inexperienced, and naive. Don't take it personally."

Zhang Kai laughed as he defended Zheng Wei—he couldn't help it; he'd brought her here, so if trouble came, he couldn't escape blame.

"Am I that kind of person? But I think you should still advise Zheng Wei—not to take it personally toward me. That wild, furious look she gave me? She's definitely not going to let this go. Right now, she's probably thinking up ways to get back at me and Chen Xiaozheng. But judging by her, she hates me more. Between this and the last time, it's old grudges and new ones combined."

"Come on, she's just an immature girl—what grudges does she have? It's just childish play. If you don't take it seriously, nothing will happen. It'll blow over in two months."

"You're really worried about her."

"It's because I get along with Zheng Wei—I like her bold, straightforward nature."

Wang Yan shook his head with a smile: "Alright, it's no big deal. Do you really think I'd take it personally with Zheng Wei?"

"Good! I still need to go talk to Ah Zheng. I'm off."

Back in the dorm, the sound of scribbling continued. Wang Yan returned to his task of copying documents.

That evening, Xu Kaiyang, having heard the story, came over to apologize—he certainly didn't want to fall out with Wang Yan over Zheng Wei. Wang Yan was awesome; his family background meant he naturally sought out impressive people and cultivated his network.

Truth be told, besides Zheng Wei, no one took this seriously. Chen Xiaozheng might be aloof, but he wasn't clueless—he'd pushed Zheng Wei down, which looked harsh, but as a man, he felt some guilt. Besides, his model wasn't damaged, so he didn't care.

Only Zheng Wei felt everyone was targeting her—that she'd been humiliated, taken advantage of, and that the guy couldn't even sleep. Lying in bed, she cursed Wang Yan, the most hated, and Chen Xiaozheng, the instigator, gritting her teeth and racking her brain for ways to get revenge…

The next day, after another workout, Wang Yan went to the Lucky Steamed Bun Shop.

Zhu Xiao Bei still smiled brightly: "You're here! I've already prepared your class schedule." As she spoke, she lifted the steamer lid and let Wang Yan help himself.

After greeting Zhu Dajie, Wang Yan picked up three tiers of buns: "Thanks, Xiao Bei."

"Hey, be careful lately—Zheng Wei's plotting revenge on you."

"Did she tell you?"

"How could she not? You didn't see her when she got back to the dorm—" Zhu Xiao Bei laughed and retold Zheng Wei's return scene from yesterday. "You're not really taking it personally, are you?"

"You're happily betraying military secrets—how could I do anything to her? Am I the type to quarrel with a girl? Sure, I don't hold her in high regard, but I'll just keep my distance—out of sight, out of mind."

"Big-hearted." Zhu Xiao Bei gave a thumbs-up, then slapped her hand: "Oh no! You're majoring in civil engineering—you'll have classes together, right? Then you'll…"

"I actually forgot that." Wang Yan shook his head with a smile: "Whatever. I can't skip class just because of her."

Zhu Xiao Bei chuckled and nodded: "So you're going to class today? Want me to save you a seat?"

"No need. I have to talk to my advisor first, then discuss things with the heads of both departments—there's a lot to sort out. I won't be able to take classes with you for a few days."

Seeing Zhu Xiao Bei fall silent, Wang Yan turned to Zhu Dajie, who was smiling warmly: "Sister Zhu, how's business lately?"

"Same as always—busy in the morning, a few customers trickle in during the day. It's fine."

"Why not add grilled skewers? Last night I dreamed of eating grilled meat and beer—I've been here two months and haven't had any yet. This spot's great, lots of foot traffic. I'll bring students from school to eat, and you'll make more."

"I've never done it—I can't grill well. If you want to eat, wait till I'm free—I'll buy meat and grill you some at night. We can eat it ourselves, but I can't sell it to others—I don't have the skill."

"I have a grilled skewer spice recipe. With this, as long as you don't burn the meat, it'll be fine. Sister Zhu, I'll write down the recipe for you now. Go buy materials during the day, pick up some lamb, thread it on skewers, and tonight when I come, we'll figure it out together…"