Editor and Proofreader: Rinrin

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This was the most incredible rejection reason Lin Wu had ever heard, without a doubt.

Its brilliance lay in not only completely cutting off the confessor’s hopes but also uprooting any feelings they had.

Like the school beauty senior.

In the nearly one minute of silence after being rejected, she and the Buzzcut Guy maintained eye contact, appearing quite composed. But from her flickering gaze, Lin Wu could read layers of soul-searching reflections^[1]deep reflection of one’s thought, feelings and values:

(Don’t like people?)

(Are you kidding me?)

(No, he was serious.)

(Wait, would a normal person use “I don’t like people” to reject a confession?)

(Is he insane?)

My taste in men must have serious issues…

“Wang Ye” the senior finally spoke again, “Have you ever liked anyone? You know, that kind of liking that makes you want to date.”

Buzzcut Guy: “No.”

Senior Sister: “If one day you meet that person…”

Lin Wu felt a pang of sadness.

(Even if he met someone, it would still be someone else’s love. Are you going to make Buzzcut Guy bring over the girl who finally makes his heart flutter just to torment you again? Senior Sister, wake up!)

Senior Sister: “If you meet someone, please make sure to post it on moments so I can mock you to my heart’s content.”

Lin Wu: “…”

(Senior Sister, you can do that.)

The school beauty was bold in confessing and even more so in leaving.

Only Wang Ye was left at the base of the wall.

The wind rose and fell, and the fog thickened and lightened. After so many events today, Wang Ye felt that this moment was just right to sort everything out.

It started with the morning light, a thick fog that didn’t look like any ordinary fog.

In the cafeteria, his favorite egg pancake wasn’t available.

On the way to class, two guys from his class were messing around, and although it was funny, just as it calmed down, they almost ended up hitting him. He ducked back, and he swore it was just a light dodge, but it knocked over a bunch of people behind him, and they ended up getting dragged to the office for a scolding.

After class, when he returned to the dorm, he had just managed to catch a quick nap when he was called here again.

—Once is a coincidence, but if it happens repeatedly, that’s just bad luck. Wang Ye suspected today was particularly unlucky—everything was unfavorable: no going out, no classes, no confessions, and no egg pancakes.

Lin Wu couldn’t understand why that guy at the base of the wall hasn’t left yet.

(Was it that he actually liked the senior sister but had to refuse for some reason, so he could only feel sad and forlorn^[2]despair after she left?)

Whatever, whether Buzzcut Guy wanted to leave or not, he definitely had to leave.

The security guard outside had finished patrolling that area, and the footsteps gradually faded away. Lin Wu hugged the wall, just as he was about to swing his other leg over the wall when he suddenly heard a soft “meow~.”

A little black kitten peeked out from the bushes at the base of the wall, cautiously watching Wang Ye invade its territory.

Wang Ye spotted it too, and the two of them stared at each other from a distance.

The little black cat looked a bit fierce.

Wang Ye, who wasn’t speaking… looked even fiercer.

At first, Lin Wu thought it was just a hairstyle issue; a buzz cut inherently carried a rebellious vibe. But as time passed in the silent standoff between the two, he began to suspect he might have wronged the hairstyle—this guy radiated an aura of “I’m a delinquent,” okay!

Wang Ye suddenly moved.

Lin Wu jumped, thinking he wouldn’t actually make a move on a little kitten, would he?

Swish—

He squatted down.

Expectantly raising his hand, he waved at the little black cat: “Mimi.”

Lin Wu: “…”

(Who told you every cat is called Mimi?!)

The little black cat remained unmoved, and it even seemed to take a step back.

Wang Ye: “Meow meow?”

Wang Ye: “Xiao Hua?”

Wang Ye: “Er Mao?”

… Lin Wu wanted to scratch him, and he wasn’t even a cat.

Maybe Wang Ye’s persistent and ridiculous naming finally touched the feline^[3]cat-like, as the little black cat tilted its head and cautiously took a couple of steps forward.

Wang Ye was immediately encouraged.

“Er Mao, come here, Er Mao.”

Finally, the little black cat approached him.

Wang Ye’s eyes lit up as he reached out toward its fluffy little ears.

Slap!

The little black cat swatted^[4]slapped his hand and dashed off, clearly satisfied.

Lin Wu felt relieved—(well done.)

Happiness is infectious, so Wang Ye suddenly lifted his head without warning.

Their eyes met.

The onlookers’ laughter froze on Lin Wu’s face, and Lin Wu was frozen against the wall.

The wind picked up.

The fog surged like a wave, blocking you and blurring me.

In the last moment before his vision was swallowed by the thick fog, Lin Wu saw Wang Ye turn around without hesitation, muttering, “What the hell.”

Lin Wu: “…”

He had misunderstood a genuinely honest guy.

It turned out that not liking people truly meant, quite literally, not liking people.

Successfully climbing over the wall, Lin Wu received a location message from Li Junchi—he and Xia Yang had found someone.

Lin Wu was surprised at how quickly those two were, and when he checked the location, it was just around the corner diagonally across the street, less than 300 meters in a straight line from the north gate.

With the location, things became easier.

In this weather, almost no one was foolish enough to drive, so Lin Wu followed the shortest diagonal path toward the location, sprinting a hundred meters.

As soon as he arrived, he hadn’t even seen anything clearly when he heard Xia Yang cursing.

“Driving a Cayenne^[5]Porsche cayenne,luxury sport car, what the hell, do you have a flaming wheel^[6]divine presence or a heavenly circle^[7]divine power? Is it that if you put a fish bladder on it, it can go underwater, or if you insert a propeller, it can fly? Anyone with even two ounces of brain would know that going out driving in this weather is just courting^[8]inviting death. If you want to court^[9]invite death, fine, but at least find a place with no one around. What kind of street are you on, causing trouble to the flower of the motherland^[10]talking about Lin Wu, they consider him as the flower of the motherland? Don’t you feel guilty?”

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“What’s the deal? Your car was parked nicely by the side of the road, and you let the trunk get scratched? I thought you were so righteous walking around that you ended up getting scammed? Can you not embarrass yourselves here? Is this parking on the roadside? There are no lines on the ground, but if there were, it’d be a double lane. You guys are definitely parked on a wrong-way street and still claim it’s a golden ratio point^[11]perfectly balanced or optimal. Even a master of performance art would have to share your post and give it a thumbs up; if they don’t, they just don’t understand art…”

Lin Wu stepped closer, finally getting a clearer picture of the scene.

A Porsche Cayenne had its paint scratched near the right headlight, and there was an open suitcase on the ground. Clothes and Harbin red sausages were still lying in the suitcase, and several large loaves of bread had fallen out onto the ground, with a few potholes in the dirt road—who knows if they were made by the bread landing.

This area was surrounded by land developed by real estate companies, with all the roads like this dirt track—no traffic lights, no crosswalks, and certainly no cameras. But with this kind of weather, cameras wouldn’t be useful anyway.

There were four people on the other side, all standing by their car. Just as Xia Yang said, their car was almost in the middle of the road. Saying they parked here was plausible since the fog was so thick that it was impossible to drive further. But claiming they were parked by the roadside was just a lie.

However, Xia Yang’s positioning of Ren Feiyu as a “flower of the motherland” was a bit off.

They were young, but the ones across looked even younger, okay? Just four little rascals who looked like they were a year or two younger than them.

Lin Wu’s earlier anger started to wane^[12]fade away.

“Feiyu, are you okay?” He walked up to Ren Feiyu and asked the most important question.

“I’m fine” Ren Feiyu looked around nervously, his voice a bit hoarse^[13]rough, “It was just so foggy, and I was in a hurry to get back to school; I didn’t see their car parked in the middle of the road, and I slammed right into the trunk.”

“As long as you’re okay” Lin Wu sighed in relief, then felt a bit dizzy, “Why are you shaking your head?”

“I’m not…” Ren Feiyu immediately stopped shaking his head and looked up at the sky instead.

Lin Wu frowned and directly slapped his hand on Ren Feiyu’s head, forcing him to meet his gaze.

The fog was thick.

But it still couldn’t hide the cut on Ren Feiyu’s lip.

Lin Wu’s voice turned cold: “Did they make a move?”

If they really wanted to press charges, it would actually be a confusing situation. One side parked improperly, the other wasn’t paying attention, but ultimately, it was still the weather’s fault. If they both took a step back, everything would be fine.

“Not only did they make a move” Li Junchi scoffed, “but they also want Feiyu to pay them 10,000 for paintwork at the dealership.”

Lin Wu chuckled, starting to crack his knuckles: “They want gold paint^[14]payment, huh?”

“You’re not getting it” Li Junchi patted his roommate’s shoulder in preparation, gesturing toward the others.

Lin Wu looked over in confusion and then noticed the four people across, three of whom had visible injuries, while the leader still looked intact, probably because the other three took the hits for him while he hid behind them.

In the past, when it came to group fights, Lin Wu was always responsible for the main offense, Xia Yang provided verbal support, Li Junchi covered the flanks^[15]sides, and Ren Feiyu protected himself.

He had never seen a scene that was already under control before he even got there. Those four might be little brats, but they were around seventeen or eighteen, so they weren’t physically disadvantaged.

“You did this?” Lin Wu looked at Ren Feiyu in disbelief.

Lin Wu looked even more incredulous^[16]unconvinced: “How could that be?”

… He already knew.

That left only one possibility.

Lin Wu raised an eyebrow at Li Junchi: “You and Xia Yang did this?”

Li Junchi shook his head: “Xiayang did it alone.”

Lin Wu: “You didn’t join in?”

Li Junchi: “I tried to stop him, but I couldn’t.”

Lin Wu: “What were you trying to stop? I’m asking why you didn’t help him?”

Li Junchi: “Help? With his crazy disregard for anything, I was afraid I’d get hit too.”

Lin Wu was completely confused and turned to Xia Yang, who was still in a verbal battle with the “little bears”^[17]talking about the men that Xia Yang fought: “What’s going on…”

The four “bears” in the Cayenne shared Lin Wu’s feelings.

They never expected that the coward they called for help was not only not a coward but also completely insane.

There’s an old saying: “The rigid^[18]rule-bound or someone who follows rule or law fear the reckless, the reckless fear the desperate.” If there’s anything scarier than being reckless, it’s being reckless and having a big mouth.

“Did your parents not teach you to respect your elders, be kind to the young, yield^[19]give or surrender to pedestrians, help grandmas onto the bus, and give seats to grandpas on the subway? Did you learn nothing from nine years of compulsory^[20]required education? You don’t even know your directions with a broken car? Are you eighteen now? Have you grown up? Is the car yours? Show me your driver’s license, let me see your registration…”

The four of them clearly couldn’t take it anymore. The leader was barely managing to lean against the car, trying to maintain a defiant posture, while the three behind him looked like they were about to explode, discreetly tugging at him a few times, whispering, “Why not just let it go? You don’t need this money anyway…”

The leader’s expression darkened, and he said fiercely, “I’m not short of this money, but who told him he’s from this school? He’s from this school, so it’s 10,000—no less than a penny.”

Xia Yang: “Hey, I’ve seen people who hate the rich and the beautiful, but I’ve never seen someone who hates students. Are you confused? Let me teach you: when small ü meets jqx, wipe your tears and don’t cry. Nouns end with consonants y, y turns to i and adds es…” ^[21]device or poetic rule for pluralizing nouns ending in consonant + “y”, example is city to cities

The leader: “…”

The terrifying thing about this verbal battle wasn’t the opponent’s extensive vocabulary, but rather that even if you were knowledgeable, you still wouldn’t find an opportunity to speak up, and you weren’t even that knowledgeable while the other side was filled with erudition^[22]extensive knowledgeable or learning.