Chapter 1: Rotten in the Core

When Lin Hexi received a call from Ning Nan, he was holding a cup of milk tea, with most of his face pressed against his arm, lying on the table by the floor-to-ceiling window, basking in the sunlight.

Under the sunlight, his tea-brown short hair looked full and soft, with a small whorl faintly visible at the top. The silver owl earring on his earlobe reflected tiny points of light, and the jawline exposed outside his arm was smooth and beautiful.

Which attracted repeated glances from passersby outside the window.

Hearing the phone vibrating against the table, Lin Hexi lifted his face from his arm and lazily glanced at the lit-up screen.

The moment he saw Ning Nan’s name, he looked away, took the straw of the milk tea cup into his mouth, and took a sip lazily.

The cool, slightly sweet liquid with a milky aroma, slid down his throat, rolling slowly down his Adam’s apple, and flowed into his stomach through his esophagus.

The ringtone on the table abruptly stopped, only to persistently start again a second later.

Lin Hexi picked up the phone and answered it.

Before he could speak, a voice filled with displeasure came from the other end: “Didn’t we agree that the indoor gym would be ours this afternoon? Why are there people trying to take our spot?”

Lin Hexi wasn’t too surprised and responded, “I reminded you, didn’t I? Someone booked the gym for a match at 3 PM. You can only use it before then.”

Upon hearing this, Ning Nan’s expression briefly turned gloomy. The moment he hung up the phone, his expression returned to normal. He raised his chin and looked at the few people in front of him. “I asked the teacher in charge of the gym, and he said we have it for the entire afternoon.”

The leader of the group said coldly, “We have a match today. Can you let us use it first? We’ll return the favor after today.”

Ning Nan pretended not to hear.

The leader’s face darkened, and he suppressed his anger, turning to walk toward the stands.

You Chong hung up the phone, flipped down from the top of the stands, and walked over with the leader. Although his words were directed at the person beside him, his gaze was fixed on Ning Nan: “Call the teacher in charge.”

A few minutes later, the teacher in charge of the gym hurried over and immediately started scolding Ning Nan and his group: “Who booked the gym? Didn’t I tell you that you could only use it until 3 PM?”

Ning Nan dropped his earlier arrogance and looked innocently at the teacher, saying, “Lin Hexi booked it for us. He said we could use it for the entire afternoon.”

The teacher’s scolding quickly shifted from Ning Nan to the absent Lin Hexi.

Upon hearing Lin Hexi’s name, the group of boys opposite also showed displeasure.

Ning Nan discreetly observed everyone’s reactions, and finally felt somewhat satisfied.

After Ning Nan and his group left, Zhou Xuan, who had previously led the negotiation, turned to You Chong and frowned, “Is Lin Hexi deliberately causing us trouble?”

“Lin Hexi?” You Chong’s expression remained unchanged, and his tone was very calm, “Which Lin Hexi? The one from Metro Line 3?”

Around 6 PM, the basketball game at the Polytechnic Institute ended, and students began to leave the gym one after another.

You Chong and his teammates passed by a convenience store next to the gym. The other four went inside to buy cold drinks, while You Chong and Zhou Xuan stood outside the store waiting for them.

Zhou Xuan brought up Lin Hexi again, “How dare that illegitimate son dare to mess with us? If I don’t trip him up a bit, I won’t be satisfied.”

You Chong pondered for a moment, “Is he the illegitimate son from the Lin family?”

Zhou Xuan nodded, then looked a bit surprised, “You haven’t heard of him?”

You Chong replied, “Should I have heard of him?”

Zhou Xuan counted on his fingers, “He’s got good looks but no skills. His dad used connections to get him into the International College to scrape through for a college degree. He leads other illegitimate children from various families, causing trouble everywhere. His private life is a mess, indiscriminately with both men and women. The number of rooms he’s booked is in the hundreds, if not thousands.”

With each point Zhou Xuan listed, You Chong’s frown deepened. By the time he heard the last one, the repulsion and disgust in You Chong’s eyes were plainly evident.

“You know the performance department at our main campus, right? They’ve sent out quite a few popular idol stars over the past few years,” Zhou Xuan said with a subtle raise of his eyebrows. “There’s a lot of gossip going around the school—”

He abruptly fell silent halfway through his sentence.

Zhou Xuan hadn’t been speaking quietly, so Lin Hexi heard the entire conversation, from the “chaotic private life” to the end, and easily guessed that the topic of their conversation was him.

Noticing the undisguised disgust in You Chong’s eyes, Lin Hexi’s gaze paused slightly but then withdrew without leaving a trace.

With a faint smile on his lips, Lin Hexi walked past the two without changing his expression and stepped into the convenience store behind them.

Watching him disappear into the store, Zhou Xuan clicked his tongue and said, “Speak of the devil, and he appears.”

You Chong made no comment, he retracted his gaze and asked, “What’s the gossip going around the school?”

“They say half of the students in the performance department have slept with him,” Zhou Xuan added with a light laugh, “including both men and women.”

While rumors can’t be entirely trusted, there is usually some truth to them.

Upon hearing this, You Chong’s eyes darkened and his brows furrowed. It’s true that Lin Hexi had good looks, but inside, he was completely rotten.

The saying “a fair exterior concealing a foul interior” probably described people like Lin Hexi perfectly.

When their teammates came out of the convenience store, You Chong received a call from his roommate asking him to bring back some daily necessities to the dormitory. He hung up the phone and said to Zhou Xuan and the others, “I need to go in and buy a few things.”

Then he turned and stepped into the convenience store.

The store was quite crowded. Without lingering, You Chong grabbed the items he needed from the shelves and headed straight to the checkout counter.

There were four or five people in line at the register. You Chong walked to the end of the line and looked down at his phone.

Suddenly, the light in his field of vision dimmed. Someone had cut in line and was now standing in front of him. Annoyed, You Chong looked up. When he saw the familiar side profile, his annoyance deepened. “Hasn’t anyone taught you not to cut in line?”

Lin Hexi turned around at the sound of the voice and quickly recognized You Chong standing behind him. It wasn’t because You Chong had heard gossip about him a few minutes ago, but simply because of You Chong’s handsome and deep-set features.

Not caring about You Chong’s current perception of him, Lin Hexi curved his lips into a slight smile, and said with a voice carrying a lazy undertone: “I was originally in line here, but I just left to grab something.” He slightly raised the iced cola in his hand. “If you don’t believe me, you can ask the junior girl in front.”

After saying this, without waiting for You Chong to respond, he reached out and patted the shoulder of the person in front of him. “Junior, isn’t that right?”

The short-haired junior turned around and confirmed Lin Hexi’s statement.

You Chong, not looking at him anymore, stepped back, creating a small distance between them in the line.

Lin Hexi smiled and thanked him, then turned back to continue playing on his phone.

For some unknown reason, the queue in front suddenly moved back. The junior girl standing in front of Lin Hexi was forced to take a step back.

Seeing the girl in front about to bump into him, Lin Hexi discreetly frowned and quickly stepped back, creating a significant distance between them.

As he moved, he remembered that someone was behind him, but it was too late to stop. His heel collided directly with the toe of the person behind him.

At the same time, a hand with a clenched fist pressed against his lower back, stopping his backward movement.

Lin Hexi turned around in surprise.

Behind him, You Chong met his gaze with cold eyes, and recalled Zhou Xuan’s comment about Lin Hexi being indiscriminate with both men and women. His face openly showed a few traces of disgust.

As if seeing through his thoughts, Lin Hexi raised his eyebrow slightly.

With a hint of retaliation, he deliberately relaxed his entire body, letting his lower back soften and lean towards You Chong’s chest.

You Chong was caught off guard, and his expression darkened.