Chapter 54

On the playground, the boys from Class One occasionally glanced toward Ying Chanxi and Li Luo.

At first, their gazes held some hostility—they wondered how their own class's most beautiful girl could be snatched away by a boy from another class.

But soon, rumors spread.

It turned out that the boy was Ying Chanxi's cousin.

Last night, during dormitory night chat, Liao Hailin had already discussed this topic in their dorm.

Now, through the spread among several roommates, the news quickly circulated throughout the boys' circle.

Li Luo remained oblivious to all this, crouching beside Ying Chanxi; seeing she had nearly finished eating, he patted his buttocks and stood up, saying, "I'll go over to Zhao Rongjun's side."

"Mm." Ying Chanxi nodded, then added, "I'll wait here for you at dinner; we'll go to the cafeteria together later."

"Why do you always insist on eating with me?"

"Can't an older sister supervise whether her younger brother eats healthily?" Ying Chanxi pouted.

"I think it's more refined if it's just a friendly meeting between the class monitors of Class One and Class Eight."

"You're such a chatterbox," Ying Chanxi rolled her eyes and waved him off. "Go on, go on."

Watching Li Luo's retreating back, Qiao Xinyan sucked on her small pudding, savoring this rare coolness amid the training, and couldn't help saying, "Your cousin is kind of fun—how about we have dinner together later?"

"Hmm…" Ying Chanxi glanced at Qiao Xinyan and fell into thought. "Xinyan, Li Luo is rather erratic—he's not as good as you think."

Qiao Xinyan gave her a strange look: "He bought us drinks and small puddings—isn't that good enough? Seems like you're holding your cousin to a high standard."

"Ah… that's not what I meant…" Ying Chanxi, realizing Qiao Xinyan was merely praising Li Luo without ulterior motives, felt her ears turn slightly red. "Alright then, let's have dinner together later."

…

On Class Three's territory.

Zhao Rongjun sat quietly on the ground, resting.

At that moment, a tall girl walked over from the convenience store, holding two bottles of iced water; she took one and stealthily pressed it against Zhao Rongjun's face from behind.

"Sss…" Zhao Rongjun flinched from the cold, tilted his head back, and glanced at the intruder. "Luo Jiajia, you scared me."

"Here." Luo Jiajia, with her short hair and casual demeanor, plopped down beside Zhao Rongjun and handed him the water. "Thanks for the belt this morning."

"Thanks." Zhao Rongjun took the iced water, shifted slightly away, twisted open the cap, took a sip, then said, "But that belt was something I got from a friend."

"Still, you gave it to me," Luo Jiajia said. "I heard from others that a belt at the gate costs ten yuan—expensive ones are fifteen or twenty."

"…The guy selling ten-yuan belts? He's my friend."

"Huh?" Luo Jiajia froze.

At that moment, Li Luo's voice came from behind them: "I think I just heard someone talking behind my back."

Zhao Rongjun turned his head and immediately said, "I was just praising you."

"Keep quiet about the belt thing," Li Luo crouched down, slipped a small pudding into Zhao Rongjun's arms, then turned to Luo Jiajia. "Hi, I'm Li Luo from Class Eight."

"So you're the one selling belts at the gate?" Luo Jiajia blinked, curious.

"My uncle sells them—has nothing to do with me," Li Luo pulled out another small pudding and handed it to Luo Jiajia. "Don't go spreading this—consider this your hush money."

"Haha, I won't say anything," Luo Jiajia took the pudding, ate it while asking, "But I think it's awesome—why can't you talk about it?"

"Who knows if that clothing store at the gate has some connection with a school official?" Li Luo sneered. "I'm stealing food from their table—costing them thousands in lost sales. I don't want to get sabotaged at school for no reason later."

Of course, this kind of thing would most likely just fade away.

After all, selling belts only happens once a year—the clothing store owner has no reason to go out of her way to harass a student like Li Luo.

Especially this year, she made plenty from Qianjiang University; she just lost out on the Fuyi High School side to Li Luo.

But better to avoid trouble than invite it—Li Luo had long passed the age of enjoying flashy displays. High school life should be simple and pleasant.

After chatting awhile with Zhao Rongjun, before leaving, Li Luo patted his shoulder and gave him a sly wink, glancing sideways at Luo Jiajia with the corner of his eye.

Zhao Rongjun saw this and immediately looked exasperated, shaking his head vigorously to indicate he had no interest in romance.

Li Luo sighed, gave up on him, and walked toward Class Eight.

At that moment, homeroom teacher Kong Jun came downstairs to inspect, glanced over at Class Eight, and noticed three large boxes sitting there; he curiously asked, "What's this?"

Hua Xiuxiu, seeing Teacher Kong, immediately stepped forward to report: "Drinks and ice cream sent by the class monitor."

"Oh, I see," Kong Jun glanced inside; there were still drinks and small puddings left, and he felt a pang of hunger.

But as a teacher, he couldn't bring himself to take students' things outright, so he merely looked, then turned away, asking Hua Xiuxiu about the training.

If nothing important was happening, he'd return to his office to keep enjoying the air conditioning and reading novels.

The training was still on campus these two days—he could still enjoy some comfort. But once they moved to the military camp in a few days, he'd have to brace himself for hardship.

"Teacher Kong," Li Luo returned, spotted Kong Jun, strode forward, and took a drink and a small pudding. "Teacher, you're sweating—have something to drink."

"Oh, thanks," Kong Jun accepted the drink, took a modest sip, and said, "If there's nothing urgent here, I'll head back."

"Yes, Teacher Kong," Li Luo said, then turned and placed the remaining small puddings into the drink box, picked it up, and followed Kong Jun.

"We still have some drinks and ice cream left—we won't finish them before training resumes, so let's take them upstairs to share with other teachers."

Kong Jun glanced at Li Luo in surprise, then chuckled softly: "Alright, thanks for your trouble."

…

On the fifth-floor office, Li Luo quietly distributed the drinks and ice cream to the teachers, then greeted Kong Jun and went downstairs for training.

The teachers in the office, having received their items, all turned to look at Kong Jun.

English teacher Ding smiled and said, "Teacher Kong, what's going on today? Treating us to drinks?"

"This isn't my treat," Kong Jun took off his cap and placed it on the desk, grinning. "That boy who just left—he's our class monitor. The drinks and ice cream were all bought by him."

"Huh? Your class monitor bought these and thought of us?"

"He said he bought them for the students, and since there were leftovers, he brought them up."

"Do you believe that?" Math teacher Li glanced at Kong Jun. "Your class monitor's pretty good—knows how to handle people."

"Just average," Kong Jun demurred. "He's just reliable."