Chapter 693

Zhang Jiale sat in the back row of Classroom 101 in the School of Literature's administrative building, convinced he had made the right choice.

Of the entire External Relations Department, apart from two sophomore seniors and two other first-year boys, every other member was a girl!

And to be honest, the girls in the External Relations Department were truly high-quality…

He Hailu herself was quite beautiful, her short hair giving off a sharp, efficient vibe; when she spoke from the podium, she radiated an inner confidence that was inherently attractive.

Among the sophomore seniors, there were plenty of pretty ones like Jiang Feiya, each time he saw her she was wearing meticulously applied makeup.

Among the first-year freshmen, girls like Xu Yinghuan and Ren Zheng were also quite adorable.

Even someone like Shen Shuhua, who exuded the delicate charm of a Jiangnan woman, made Zhang Jiale's heart flutter just from sneaking a glance at her profile.

Of course, the absolute standout was clearly Senior Xu Youyu.

Zhang Jiale turned his head to look at Xu Youyu's figure two rows ahead and to the left; whenever he caught a glimpse of her profile as she turned to speak with the boy beside her, his gaze couldn't help but be drawn.

She was just too beautiful!

Sure, other girls were pretty too, but once his eyes landed on Xu Youyu's face, it became impossible to picture any other girl's appearance in his mind.

Too bad…

Zhang Jiale's gaze fell on Li Luo's back, and he couldn't help but sigh.

During this recent military training period, rumors had already spread throughout the 2017 freshman cohort of the School of Literature.

It was said the class president of Humanities Class One had serious connections—he was a famous online novelist and lyricist-composer, and even the wildly popular summer drama "Little Joys" was adapted from the novel he wrote.

Many high school students already read online novels, and though most who got into Qianjiang University weren't deeply immersed, Li Luo's fame was simply too overwhelming.

Previously, "I Am Really Not a Star" might have been limited in reach due to its entertainment-themed subject matter.

But once "The Grand Patrol of the Imperial Night Corps" came out, the name "Chongran" exploded throughout the online novel community.

Not to mention the flood of news during summer break about the platinum-level writer becoming the top scorer in Qianjiang Province.

Not everyone followed Weibo trending topics, but there were simply too many freshmen in the group chats.

When conversations grew lively, some curious individuals naturally went to verify the facts.

Thus, information about Li Luo gradually spread among the School of Literature's freshmen.

After carefully learning about him, Zhang Jiale knew this was someone he absolutely couldn't afford to provoke.

So when he found out Senior Xu Youyu and Li Luo were a couple, he completely snuffed out his tiny crush.

They were truly a perfect match… a beautiful maiden and a talented scholar, utterly compatible.

Zhang Jiale had enough self-awareness in this regard, so he only dared to secretly admire Xu Youyu, then redirected his attention to other girls.

Hmm… that girl named Xu Yinghuan was lively and full of energy.

The one beside her, Ren Zheng, wasn't bad either.

And Shen Shuhua—she spoke so softly, truly lovely.

As Zhang Jiale listened to He Hailu speaking from the podium, his eyes kept glancing occasionally at the girls inside the classroom.

Finally, he lowered his head, glanced at the candy in his hand, then his gaze settled again on Xu Yinghuan.

This candy was given out by Xu Yinghuan after she entered the room, shared among the department members.

Although he felt Shen Shuhua was slightly more beautiful, Zhang Jiale thought Xu Yinghuan's personality was easier to get along with.

Clutching the candy tightly, Zhang Jiale carefully peeled off the wrapper and slipped it into his mouth, savoring it slowly.

It was quite sweet.

After the gathering ends, should I find a chance to add her on WeChat?

As Zhang Jiale's mind buzzed with various thoughts, Li Luo and Xu Youyu were still whispering to each other, while He Hailu had already officially moved on to the meeting's main agenda.

"Our School of Literature's Student Union, besides handling routine campus affairs, primarily manages internal college activities and coordinates with the university-wide Student Union on collaborative events."

"Any task involving coordination with external businesses, enterprises, factories, partner universities, or notable individuals falls under our External Relations Department's responsibilities."

"In short, it can be simply divided into three areas."

"First, coordinating activity requirements with other departments."

"Second, maintaining contact with nearby businesses and partner enterprises to secure event sponsorships."

"Third, procuring necessary materials for events, liaising with businesses or factories to ensure quality while minimizing costs as much as possible."

"In short, our main mission is to increase revenue and cut expenses for the Student Union."

He Hailu briefly summarized the External Relations Department's core functions, then smiled and asked if anyone had questions.

Those who joined the External Relations Department tended to be somewhat outgoing, and some came specifically to improve their social skills.

Thus, the classroom wasn't silent—Xu Yinghuan, for instance, raised her hand enthusiastically to ask a question.

Li Luo, by contrast, was the quietest one, since under the table his hand was still playing with Xu Youyu's thigh.

This wasn't his own idea… Xu Youyu had insisted on grabbing his hand and guiding it over; Li Luo couldn't very well refuse, so he simply fulfilled Senior Youyu's little request.

"Don't you have any questions?" Xu Youyu whispered into Li Luo's ear, "Look at everyone else—so active."

"I'm active too," Li Luo squeezed Xu Youyu's thigh hard.

"Oh right, now that you mention it, you are quite active," Xu Youyu chuckled, glanced down, then quietly reached out.

Li Luo had been enjoying the softness of Xu Youyu's thigh—it felt nice—until the next second his body stiffened; he turned to look at her and saw her smiling sweetly at him.

Li Luo quickly turned his head toward Xu Yinghuan on the other side.

Xu Yinghuan, noticing Li Luo's turn, looked back at him with a puzzled expression: "Why are you staring at me?"

"Nothing…" Li Luo lowered his right hand to block her downward line of sight, then casually said, "I just remembered—did Brother Zhao sign up for any department?"

"Nope," Xu Yinghuan shrugged helplessly, "I wanted him to try something, but he said he wants to focus on his studies, so he didn't join any."

"Isn't it because he wants to spend more time with you?" Li Luo laughed.

"You think Zhao Rongjun is you?" Xu Yinghuan rolled her eyes at Li Luo, "I like him for being honest—save your sweet talk for Zhu Sheng and the others; don't go corrupting Zhao Rongjun."

"Alright, alright, as long as you two are happy," Li Luo chuckled while chatting with Xu Yinghuan, quietly withdrew his left hand from Xu Youyu's thigh, then quickly pinned down her right hand and finally pulled it back.

Xu Youyu chuckled from the other side, and after Li Luo finished chatting, she leaned close to his ear and asked, "Exciting, right?"

"Take it easy," Li Luo turned his head and whispered in her ear, "there are cameras in the classroom."

"I know," Xu Youyu winked at him, "the cameras under the desk can't see anything."

Xu Youyu clearly loved this kind of teasing—after just a moment, her eyes seemed to pull threads, making Li Luo's heart blaze hotter and hotter.

At this point, He Hailu had finished introducing the basic situation of the External Relations Department, and she clapped her hands, smiling: "Alright, now let's begin self-introductions."

"To avoid making the freshmen feel awkward or nervous on stage for the first time, the upperclassmen will go first as an example."

"You you, you go first?" Xu Youyu was still whispering to Li Luo when the department head called her name—she quickly turned her head, stood up hastily, and walked toward the podium: "Coming, coming!"

"Someone pay attention to your image," He Hailu crossed her arms, teasing with a sigh, "don't forget you're the deputy head just because your boyfriend's sitting here."

"Cough… I'm sorry, Head," Xu Youyu clasped her hands together, pleading, then walked to the podium, beaming at the audience below and giving a brief self-introduction.

The audience wasn't just freshmen like Zhang Jiale— even the two sophomore upperclassmen who had seen Xu Youyu many times before couldn't help staring when they looked directly at her.

Too bad…

"Oh, by the way," Xu Youyu pointed to Li Luo in the audience after finishing her introduction, "that guy over there is my boyfriend—don't try to steal him during group assignments."

"You You, that's a bit too much," another sophomore upperclassmate chuckled from below, "I'd love to compete for such an excellent junior like Li Luo."

"Get lost," Xu Youyu rolled her eyes at her. "How dare you speak to your deputy head like that?"

"Oh come on, such a big boss vibe—look at her, Hai Lu, while you're still department head, she's already abusing her power!"

"Zhu Caiying, are you itching for a beating?" Xu Youyu chuckled. "I'm done. Your turn—come up and introduce yourself."

"Fine, fine," Zhu Caiying stood up smiling, walked to the podium, gave a brief self-introduction, and didn't tease Xu Youyu or Li Luo further.

It was clear they got along well in private.

After the sophomore upperclassmen finished their self-introductions, it was finally Li Luo's turn.

Li Luo didn't hesitate—he stood up first, walked to the podium, gave a simple introduction, then returned to his seat.

After the round of self-introductions, the time had reached 4:30 p. m.

He Hailu pulled out a pad of draft paper, tore off a stack of slips, and handed them to everyone present: "Write down your preferred group leader and members."

"You can list several options—final pairings will be based on mutual preferences."

"We have six sophomores, so we'll form six small groups."

"Two groups will handle sponsorship coordination, mainly overseen by Xu Youyu and Jiang Feiya."

"Two other groups will handle vendor material coordination, assigned to Zhu Caiying and Hu Xiuyuan."

"The last two groups will handle internal coordination and liaison with other student union departments."

"You can choose which upperclassman to follow based on the work you're interested in."

After speaking, He Hailu handed the floor to everyone.

A few minutes later, she collected the slips, pulled Xu Youyu aside to review them, and quickly announced the group assignments.

Li Luo was unsurprisingly placed under Xu Youyu's group.

And because there were only eleven freshmen, the other five sophomores each got two members—but Xu Youyu, the deputy head, had only Li Luo under her.

"You didn't plan this from the start, did you?" Li Luo glanced skeptically at Xu Youyu beside him as He Hailu announced the groupings. "There's some shady stuff going on here."

"Do you even need to ask?" Xu Youyu grinned. "Did you think I'd become deputy head for nothing?"

"How did Head He allow this?"

"For anyone else, it might be tough," Xu Youyu kindly reminded him, "but you're different. You probably don't realize how valuable your dad's hot pot restaurant is to our External Relations Department."

"Simply put, whenever our college needs sponsorship for any event, Chuan-Yu Old Hot Pot never misses a chance."

"Almost everyone in the College of Literature has received coupons from Chuan-Yu Old Hot Pot."

"It's even become the top choice for departmental dinners across the college."

"You, the son of a hot pot shop owner, showing up in our External Relations Department? It's like the imperial heir arriving in a vassal state."

Li Luo's lips twitched at her analogy.

He'd already heard from Li Guohong that because of his good relationship with Xu Rongsheng, whenever the College of Literature's External Relations Department came knocking, he'd almost always agree to sponsor.

But he never expected that after taking over the restaurant two years ago, his father had turned it into the college's official hot pot spot.

But this also had to do with Li Guohong's different priorities.

Ordinary hot pot owners chase profit.

Li Guohong started out the same way, but after his son started earning more and he himself had no big expenses, his drive to make money weakened considerably.

Now, running the hot pot shop, Li Guohong mostly enjoyed the simple, down-to-earth happiness.

So he offered generous sponsorships, plenty of coupons, and prices lower than nearby hot pot shops.

Plus, since he owned the shop outright, there was no rent pressure—over these two years, it gradually became the top choice for Qian University students and faculty.

Affordable, delicious, and no worse in taste than other hot pot places.

Add to that the opening of Tianjie Mall this summer, which dramatically increased foot traffic at the intersection of Xijie and Ningshan Avenue.

Business was booming more than ever.

Li Guohong no longer cared about making more money—but his monthly income kept climbing.

It was truly a strange sight.

While Li Luo and Xu Youyu whispered to each other, He Hailu finished announcing the rest of the group assignments.

Ren Zheng, who didn't want to handle internal coordination, chose the external liaison group and was assigned to Senior Hu Xiuyuan.

Shen Shuhua joined Jiang Feiya along with another girl.

Xu Yinghuan was taken under Zhu Caiying's wing, along with Zhang Jiale.

Upon learning he and Xu Yinghuan were placed under the same senior, Zhang Jiale's face lit up with delight—he felt this must be fate.

So he gathered courage, found Xu Yinghuan's QQ account in the External Relations Department group, and sent her a private message asking if she'd add him on WeChat.

After receiving a positive reply and successfully adding the other person on WeChat, Zhang Jiale felt even more cheerful.

"Alright, it's about time," He Hailu said, glancing at her phone and then clapping her hands with a smile. "It's almost five o'clock—let's head out for dinner!"

Hearing their department head say this, everyone stood up at once and walked toward the classroom door.

Li Luo walked out of the classroom side by side with Xu Youyu, when Xu Youyu whispered softly in his ear:

"From now on, you're one of my little soldiers. You'd better perform well, got it?"

Li Luo glanced at him and teased with a half-smile: "You should know better than anyone how well I perform, Xu xuejie."

"Hmph, what use is a disobedient soldier?"

"Having a soldier who charges into battle, infiltrates enemy lines, and fights bravely—Xu xuejie, you should be delighted."

(End of Chapter)