Chapter 73: Pervert (Requesting Monthly Tickets!)

In September in Yuhang City, though officially autumn, it was still as hot as summer.

Most students on Houde Road heading to the cafeteria still wore only their short-sleeved uniforms.

The youthful faces glowing before Li Luo made him truly feel a vitality he hadn't experienced in a long time.

If he had to walk with three unfamiliar beautiful girls, even with a 35-year-old soul, Li Luo guessed he'd still feel uneasy.

But if they were Ying Chanxi, Yan Zhusheng, and Xu Youyu, whom he had known in his past life, he felt perfectly at ease.

Fuyi High School was utterly unfamiliar to Li Luo.

He had never been here in his past life.

He knew nothing about this prestigious institution.

He had only glimpsed a fraction of it occasionally during chats with Zhao Rongjun.

Now that he was deep within it, he naturally saw a side entirely different from what he had imagined.

For example, club activities.

In his memory, his past-life high school had absolutely no such thing.

But at Fuyi High, although the main clubs were still competition-based, many students skilled in certain subjects would try joining a subject club to see if they could pursue the competition path.

Yet beyond those few competition clubs, there were indeed many clubs driven purely by interest.

This was completely unimaginable in Li Luo's previous understanding.

He had thought that back then, high school already had unbearable academic pressure, with teachers constantly hyping students up, threatening that if they didn't get into a good university, they'd end up working in a factory screwing bolts.

As the top contender in Yinjiang District, Fuyi High's academic pressure must be astronomical.

So Li Luo had comforted himself internally: failing to get into Fuyi High might not be a bad thing—at least his high school wouldn't have had even greater pressure.

But after truly experiencing Fuyi High's campus life, Li Luo suddenly realized something.

A school with truly high teaching standards might not necessarily be a product of high-pressure environments.

"Senior," Li Luo asked curiously as they walked toward the cafeteria, "I feel our school isn't very strict, there are lots of clubs, and classes aren't packed—won't that affect academic performance?"

Xu Youyu hadn't expected Li Luo to suddenly ask such a question; she paused, then said, "It's probably the atmosphere."

"Fuyi High's students are the most outstanding recruits from Yinjiang District; everyone fundamentally understands the importance of studying."

"If you see everyone studying hard, you naturally feel urgency and unconsciously follow along with that atmosphere."

"Besides, what's wrong with having rich and varied club activities?"

"According to our principal, participating in more sports and exploring hobbies enriches both body and spirit, making studying far more efficient."

Principal Wang of Fuyi High was a retired soldier, still brimming with military spirit—so holding this view wasn't surprising.

The group went to the cafeteria for lunch.

Because of her student union duties, Xu Youyu had to return to patrol soon, so she ate quickly.

But she still added, "Once you all join the student union, I can relax—I'll just order you around then."

"I'm not joining." Li Luo shook his head vigorously.

He clearly remembered how many ridiculous, annoying things happened in the student union after he entered college.

But Xu Youyu looked at him strangely and reminded him, "Our school calls it the student union, but it's not like university student unions—it's just made up of class monitors and branch secretaries, so if you become class monitor, you're automatically in the student union."

"????" Li Luo stared blankly, then remembered Saturday's class officer election and sighed in relief, "Good, I never planned to stay on anyway."

"You're not staying as class monitor?" Ying Chanxi frowned. "You worked so hard to get it—why quit?"

"Being class monitor is exhausting—I prefer something lighter."

Li Luo had firmly decided not to run for class monitor—let whoever wants it take it.

After quickly finishing lunch, Xu Youyu left first.

Li Luo waited until Ying Chanxi and the others finished eating slowly, then they walked together to stroll along Houde Road.

Yan Zhusheng went to the rock club, showed off two moves, and passed the audition easily.

With nothing else to do, Li Luo also played guitar, but hadn't decided whether to join, so he politely declined the rock club's invitation.

Later, he accompanied Ying Chanxi to visit the literature club, where they ran into Hua Xiuxiu and Lin Yuan.

"Didn't you say you weren't coming?" Hua Xiuxiu asked, surprised. "Are you thinking of joining now?"

"She's coming—I'm just tagging along," Li Luo said, pointing at Ying Chanxi, then glanced at the literature club's membership requirements.

Besides those who had won awards or scored full marks in the high school entrance exam's Chinese essay, all other students needed to pass a simple test to officially join.

The test was indeed simple: multiple-choice questions about classic literature, like whether "Morning Flowers Plucked at Dusk" was prose or fiction.

Ying Chanxi hadn't participated in any Chinese essay contests in junior high or taken the high school entrance exam, so she still had to take the test.

But for her, it posed no difficulty.

After touring the literature club, Li Luo accompanied her to visit several other competition clubs.

In the end, Ying Chanxi chose the math club, fulfilling the expectations of their homeroom teacher, Teacher Sun.

After touring all these, Li Luo ended up wandering into the basketball club, joining Zhu Yufei and the others, deciding to follow Principal Wang's advice and participate more in sports to exercise his body.

But just as today's club recruitment ended and evening self-study began, right after the first session, someone came to find Li Luo at the door.

"Li Luo, someone's looking for you," Hua Xiuxiu, near the door, called out. "It's the vice president of the literature club."

Li Luo, sitting in a window-side corner, stood up and walked to the classroom front door, where he met Qin Yawei, who claimed to be the vice president.

"Hello, Li Luo," Qin Yawei smiled and introduced herself. "I'm Qin Yawei, vice president of the literature club. Nice to meet you."

"Uh…" Li Luo was busy doing homework, hoping to finish it in the first two evening sessions so he wouldn't have to catch up at home and could start writing directly, "If it's about joining a club, I'm going to decline outright—sorry."

"Huh?" Qin Yawei hadn't expected him to refuse so decisively before she'd even spoken; her expression changed instantly. "Why not join? Everyone else in our school who scored full marks on the high school entrance exam's Chinese essay has already joined the literature club."

"So one more won't matter, right?" Li Luo asked, looking puzzled. "Anyway, thanks for the offer—I'll be going now."

"Wait!" Qin Yawei grabbed his arm. "The literature club is very relaxed—we only ask for one submission per month, almost no other requirements, and weekly pen-pal meetings are entirely voluntary. Even if you join another club, it won't interfere with joining the literature club too."

Normally, even with a full mark on the high school entrance exam's Chinese essay, Qin Yawei wouldn't have been this persistent.

It was simply because after the National Day holiday in Gao Er, the Literature Club would hold a new election for president.

Students in Gao San were required to withdraw from all clubs and focus entirely on their final year's college entrance exam preparation.

The club president, however, would delay their departure until just before the National Day holiday in the first semester, completing the handover and selecting a new president before fully stepping down.

Qin Yawei's current rival was Xu Youyu.

Although this was just a small recruitment effort, it was still technically a task.

Qin Yawei knew she wasn't as good-looking as Xu Youyu, and the boys in the club favored him, so she had to work harder on these small things to gain a slight edge in competition.

But she never imagined Li Luo would be so rude.

Would it kill you to add me?

But Li Luo was also speechless, thinking: Would it kill you not to join the Literature Club?

He pulled his arm free from Qin Yawei's grip and sighed, "Senior Qin, I really have no interest in the Literature Club. Don't waste your time on me."

Just then, the bell rang, signaling the start of the second evening self-study session.

Li Luo waved goodbye and returned to his seat; Qin Yawei stood at the door, her expression shifting between frustration and resignation, until finally she stomped her foot and went back to her own classroom.

…

At 8:30 p. m., after the second evening self-study session ended, Ying Chanxi came to find Li Luo to go home.

"Aren't you waiting for Senior Qin to go with us?" Li Luo asked as he walked downstairs.

"I already asked her," Ying Chanxi said. "She said she needs to handle some Literature Club recruitment matters after class and has to attend a meeting. But she reminded you to make a late-night snack—she wants fried noodles." She added, "I want some too."

"... You two really aren't afraid of gaining weight, are you?"

"I'm skinny, okay? You should tell that to Senior Qin."

"Hmm… true."

"Where are you looking?! Pervert!"