Chapter 2: Elective Grouping

You Chong finally came out with a gloomy face.

Zhou Xuan looked him up and down, “Who upset you in there? You were fine when you went in.”

You Chong lifted his eyelids and, instead of answering, he asked, “Weren’t you going to cause trouble for Lin Hexi? Do you know anyone at the International College?”

“Of course, I do, and quite a few,” Zhou Xuan replied with a smile, though the smile didn’t reach his eyes. “People like them don’t come from respectable backgrounds. When they meet us, they should keep a low profile, but instead, they always provoke us. If we don’t teach him a lesson, I won’t be able to swallow this anger.”

A teammate who knew about Zhou Xuan’s family situation placed a hand on his shoulder and teased him, “You’ve had a grudge against him for a long time, haven’t you?”

Upon hearing this, Zhou Xuan thought of his current stepmother, who had taken over the Zhou family’s nest, and his smile completely vanished. His tone turned colder, “You all know, I hate illegitimate children the most.”

Ever since the day he met You Chong, nothing seemed to go right for Lin Hexi.

For instance, the takeout he left in the dormitory hall would always mysteriously disappear. When he skipped class and asked a classmate to mark him present, his name still appeared on the absence list.

Moreover, the counselor’s dorm checks had noticeably increased, and they always seemed to coincide with the nights he was not in his dorm.

At first, Lin Hexi thought that Ning Nan was unhappy, so he came to cause trouble out of spite. He didn’t take Ning Nan’s petty tactics seriously.

However, as time went on and the counselor repeatedly called him in for talks, Lin Hexi began to take the issue seriously. He quickly realized that these minor but consistent annoyances were likely not Ning Nan’s doing.

Lin Hexi’s reputation at school wasn’t great, and his social circle wasn’t that big either. But, with his good looks, that could easily make people let down their guard, he still managed to find out who held a grudge against him.

It was Zhou Xuan, the eldest son of the Zhou family, who was close friends with You Chong.

Lin Hexi was still puzzled about why he, who had no conflicts with the legitimate heirs of prominent families, had come under their radar. Then he saw a photo of You Chong from someone else.

Even with just a blurry side-profile photo, Lin Hexi easily recognized him. Just two weeks ago, he had personally crossed that significant river.

However, the whole incident had started simply because You Chong looked at him with such disdain, and he just went with the flow and made a small act of retaliation.

But this was the extent of his interaction with You Chong. 

The main campus dormitories and the International College dormitories were far apart, and they didn’t attend classes together. Apart from that chance encounter and the ensuing incident, Lin Hexi couldn’t think of any other reason he might have offended those young masters.

The whole thing finally broke Lin Hexi’s bottom line when his course selections were mysteriously altered. A University is a prestigious institution with a century-long history, and most of the elective courses offered each semester are the school’s specialty courses. However, Lin Hexi had little interest in those courses; he was only looking for ways to scrape through and earn credits.

However, Zhou Xuan somehow managed to replace one of Lin Hexi’s film appreciation courses with a small language course known for its rigorous assessments.

Although he was studying at the International College, Lin Hexi was clueless when it came to foreign languages. On the day the small language course started, he decided to skip it altogether and lay in his dormitory bed, abandoning the course credit.

After the new semester started in September, Lin Hexi would be in his third year of university, still short of three elective credits. However, Zhou Xuan’s actions meant that this semester, he could only earn credits for two courses, leaving him with one course to complete next year.

Lin Hexi was annoyed.

While pondering how to confront someone about this, Zhou Xuan conveniently appeared in his path. Lin Hexi and Zhou Xuan had both enrolled in the same course—wilderness survival training.

On the evening of the first class, Lin Hexi saw Zhou Xuan in the small lecture hall, with You Chong seated next to him. The small classroom, which could accommodate dozens of students, was packed, including several who hadn’t enrolled but had come to audit the class. Lin Hexi then realized that he had accidentally chosen a very popular course.

Five minutes before the class started, there were still a few scattered empty seats. Zhou Xuan sat in the middle of the back row, with You Chong on his right side. The seat to Zhou Xuan’s left, by the aisle, was empty, with a bottle of water placed on the desk, seemingly reserving the seat for a friend.

The entire row was filled with people they knew, and if a confrontation broke out, it was him who would be at a disadvantage.

Lin Hexi paused for two seconds by the door, considering the relationship between Zhou Xuan and You Chong. Although he couldn’t immediately make Zhou Xuan uncomfortable, making You Chong uncomfortable would achieve a similar effect. Moreover, compared to Zhou Xuan, after glancing at both Zhou Xuan and You Chong, he was more preferred to provoke You Chong.

People are superficial creatures, naturally drawn to attractive appearances, and he is no exception.

After those two seconds, he calmly walked in from the door, stepped onto the aisle steps leading to the back seats, and sat down leisurely in the empty seat next to You Chong in front of everyone. 

You Chong, who had been talking to someone, turned around and looked at him with a frown. “This seat is taken.”

Lin Hexi leisurely raised the corner of his lips and said, “Where’s the person? I don’t see anyone.”

Hearing this, You Chong’s eyes gradually get fierce, “If you want to cause trouble, you better think about the consequences.”

Lin Hexi replied, “I’m not looking for trouble.”

He recalled Zhou Xuan’s words once again.

Wasn’t it said that he didn’t care about gender? Then he wouldn’t mind showing it to them.

The smile on his lips gradually widened, and he slowly scanned the other onlookers. He lightly pressed the edge of the seat with his palm, then suddenly leaned closer to You Chong and winked at him. His voice, neither too loud nor too soft, was clear enough for the two rows around them to hear, “I’m not looking for trouble. I just want to sit closer to you.”

You Chong leaned back to avoid him, and glared at him angrily.

While the two of them were talking, the elective course teacher had already entered the classroom. Following behind the teacher was You Chong and Zhou Xuan’s roommate who arrived late.

Yang Juan hurriedly made his way to the back row, only to find that both sides of You Chong and Zhou Xuan were occupied. He stood there, stunned. With the teacher urging him to take a seat from the podium and Lin Hexi showing no intention of moving, Yang Juan had no choice but to turn and find an empty seat in the corner.

The teacher began the class. Despite his anger, You Chong wouldn’t start a fight during the lecture, and Lin Hexi focused his attention on listening to the course assessment rules.

But the teacher announced that the assessment wouldn’t be based on written exam scores or attendance but on participation in outdoor activities.

Lin Hexi had initially chosen this course because he had overheard that it was the easiest, requiring only fun activities to earn credits. However, he hadn’t realized that the “fun” referred to by others wasn’t what he had imagined.

Lin Hexi felt a little regretful, but he didn’t didn’t want to retake two courses again next year.

Before the course officially started, the thirty students on the enrollment list had to form groups.

The teacher asked from the podium, “Do you want to divide into groups based on seating or form your own groups?”

The students voted by raising their hands, and it was decided to allow free grouping. Each group would have six members and would select a leader. From then on, everyone would sit with their groupmates for each class.

The students began moving around the room to choose their teammates.

Yang Juan ran over from the corner and said to You Chong and Zhou Xuan, “How about our dorm forms a group of four?”

Zhou Xuan nodded, “We still need two more people.”

You Chong looked around at the others and said, “We need two more for our group. Anyone want to join?”

A hand suddenly entered his line of sight. Lin Hexi propped his chin on his hand and smiled at him, “I do.”

Ignoring his presence, You Chong’s gaze swept over Lin Hexi’s eye-catching tea-brown short hair and when paused slightly at the silver earring on his earlobe, his eyebrows furrowed subtly.

He then said to a few guys in the back row who had raised their hands, “We only need two.”

In the end, You Chong’s group of four added two guys from the back row, while Lin Hexi joined another group. When the boys from the back row went to submit their group list, Lin Hexi also got up and left his original seat. He wasn’t noticed heading toward the podium, leaving the remaining five to discuss the choice of their group leader.

Moments later, the boys who went to submit the list hadn’t returned, but Lin Hexi came back. His original seat was taken by Yang Juan, so he had to settle for a seat in the row in front of You Chong.

You Chong glanced at him coldly and reminded him in a low voice, “Sit with your group.”

Lin Hexi turned his face and replied lazily, “I am sitting with my group.”

You Chong ignored him after that.

When the teacher read out the group lists from the podium, everyone realized something was wrong. One person in the group had been replaced with Lin Hexi’s name.

After realizing that he had been played, Zhou Xuan grabbed the back of Lin Hexi’s collar and pulled him closer, lowered his voice and said angrily, “No one here wants you around. I suggest you don’t come looking for trouble.”

Lin Hexi turned back, still smiling and effortlessly giving a reason, “I just want to be in You Chong’s group. Are you a Pacific police officer?” Then he slowly enunciated the second half of the sentence, “—Why are you meddling in everything?”

“Besides,” Lin Hexi’s expression suddenly turned serious, and the smile on his face instantly disappeared. His voice was low, each word distinct, with a subtle rise at the end, “Is it only allowed for you to use tricks to change my class, but not for me to use tricks to replace your teammate?”