Chapter 51: Extra (3)

Two months into the school term.

Lin Yang and Lin Chao had both adapted to campus life.

The two brothers were both handsome and refined, and being twins, they always attracted attention. Every day there were girls asking for their contact information.

The campus confession wall featured them regularly.

Back in high school it wasn’t like this. They were in the advanced class where romance was forbidden. Teachers paid special attention to their studies to avoid distractions.

Now in university, romance was open and it was all about who was bolder.

Lin Chao joined the student council. In his free time, he went to the library and kept his schedule full, ignoring anything outside of his studies. When it came to the opposite sex, he was polite but distant.

After a few rejections, rumors spread.

Everyone knew he was hard to approach, with almost zero success rate.

But Lin Yang was different. Outside of class, he ran around everywhere with a cheerful smile like a blooming flower, and his routine was very fixed.

Every evening he ran on the school track, then bought an ice cream, happily munched on it, and went back to his dorm to sleep without a worry in the world.

His schedule was fixed. His location was fixed. Even his route was fixed.

So a bunch of people started waiting for him like hunters guarding a rabbit hole. Lin Yang got so annoyed he didn’t want to go anymore. But he loved fitness. Su Pei happened to want to go to the gym too, and they heard about a promotion, so the two of them went together.

The gym required an annual membership card, 1,199 yuan per year, but currently they had a 68-yuan monthly trial promotion.

“So cheap, not getting it is a loss.” Lin Yang didn’t hesitate and paid on the spot.

Since it’s a monthly card, not going would be a waste.

Lin Yang went every day.

Su Pei went for two days and said he needed a break. That break turned into never going again.

Lin Yang still went daily. At six in the evening, he left campus, took the bus for three stops, then transferred. It took forty minutes to get to the gym.

That day, just as Lin Yang reached the bus stop, the bus arrived. He smiled with satisfaction and happily walked forward.

“Hey—”

Lin Yang took two steps forward and suddenly bumped into a girl walking from the side. He quickly apologized, “Sorry, are you alright?”

Zhao Ying shook her head and smiled with a raised lip. “I’m fine.”

The bus stopped and opened its door.

Lin Yang didn’t rush ahead and instead let her board first.

Zhao Ying got on and took a double seat, then said to Lin Yang, “Sit here.”

“Thanks.” Lin Yang sat down and said shyly, “I didn’t see you just now.”

“It’s no big deal.” Zhao Ying smiled, looked him up and down, her gaze stopping on the watch he wore. Her eyes flickered, then she asked, “Where are you going?”

Lin Yang: “The gym.”

“So am I.”

Lin Yang looked surprised. “Really?”

Zhao Ying lifted her backpack slightly. It was filled with a change of clothes, and she was wearing workout clothes too.

“It’s fate,” Lin Yang said.

The two chatted all the way, took three stops, then transferred to another bus together.

During the ride, Lin Yang learned that Zhao Ying was a year ahead of him, a student from the art college.

Lin Yang usually came alone and would fully concentrate on training for an hour, rest, shower, and return to school.

That day, halfway through his workout, Zhao Ying came to him and asked him to guide her movements. Feeling guilty for bumping into her earlier, he agreed and helped enthusiastically.

Zhao Ying believed she looked good, with a curvy figure.

She deliberately changed into a tank top and kept observing Lin Yang’s expression while training.

Through their conversation, she figured out what kind of man Lin Yang was. A silly son from a rich family, a sunny and pure boy. This type of guy was the easiest to manipulate and most likely to fall deeply.

“Chest out, stomach in.” Lin Yang instructed seriously, pointing at her shoulder with his finger. He was very gentlemanly, not even touching her skin.

Zhao Ying secretly observed him, but from beginning to end, she did not see the slightest abnormality on Lin Yang’s face. In the end, he only said, “Senior, many of your movements are not standard. Don’t train blindly and hurt your body.”

“Mm-hmm.” Zhao Ying nodded and asked again, “If I don’t know how to do something in the future, can I come ask you?”

“Sure.” He thought it was just a matter of asking.

Zhao Ying looked overjoyed. When they reached the building under the gym, she offered to buy Lin Yang milk tea.

“No need.”

“Otherwise, I’d feel embarrassed asking you to teach me next time.” Zhao Ying reached out to pull him. “Come on, let me buy it for you.”

“You’re really buying it for me?” Lin Yang confirmed again.

“Mm.” Zhao Ying nodded.

“Thank you.” Lin Yang smiled, his brows curving, and walked to the counter to study the menu carefully.

He rarely drank milk tea. Now that he came to the gym every day and liked going out, he really did not have enough money to spend. One cup of milk tea could buy several bottles of mineral water.

Lin Yang carefully picked a roasted milk tea and sincerely thanked her, “Thank you, Senior.”

“Don’t call me Senior. That makes me sound old. Just call me Ying’er.” Zhao Ying said.

Lin Yang did not expect that for the following week, he would bump into Zhao Ying at the school gate every day. She would enthusiastically greet him, then go to the gym with him and ask him to teach her again.

After a while, Lin Yang practically became her personal trainer, but the price of a private coach was three hundred yuan per session.

Zhao Ying bought him milk tea or small desserts every day. When he tried to refuse, she insisted on buying them. After several days of this, Lin Yang felt rather embarrassed.

On the way back one day, he said to Zhao Ying, “Next time I’ll treat you to a meal.”

Treating her to a meal was a decision that took a lot of courage. He had deliberated for a long time.

“When?” Zhao Ying turned her head to look at him, her smile suddenly deepening.

Lin Yang thought carefully. “Next month. I’m out of money this month.”

Zhao Ying was slightly stunned and asked tentatively, “It’s only the middle of the month. You’re already out of money?”

She had looked into it. The watch he wore that day cost several million. This was a standard second-generation rich kid. How could he not afford a meal?

“The remaining money is only enough for meals,” Lin Yang said honestly. “There’s not much money each month.”

On weekends, he liked to go out, visiting tourist spots in the city or having fun. Though he took the bus, it still cost money. He had already gone out twice this month.

When Zhao Ying heard that his living expenses were not much, she became more calculating and casually chatted with him about his family background.

Lin Yang had no defenses and told her everything.

His dorm mates were all very simple. Be a little generous, buy them some snacks or a meal, and they’d start calling him “young master.” He couldn’t live up to that title. This time, he explained cautiously. He was definitely not pretending to be poor, but he certainly was not rich.

When Zhao Ying heard him say that his mom was a primary school teacher and his dad did a small business to make a living, her heart turned cold halfway.

“What about your grandparents?” Zhao Ying asked, still unwilling to give up. “Are they usually busy?”

The parents had no capabilities, so maybe the grandparents were wealthy?

“Busy. They work in the village farming. It’s really hard work.” Lin Yang spoke while thinking about calling them, his eyes dimming slightly. “My brother and I aren’t home, so no one helps them harvest peanuts and sweet potatoes.”

The old couple in the Lin family doted on them. He most hated seeing them struggle.

Every holiday, the brothers would return to the village to help with the farm work. For some reason, his brother really liked working in the fields. He even said he wanted to become a civil servant in the future to help farmers.

At this moment, Zhao Ying had lost interest in talking and asked, “If your family is so poor, what will you and your brother do in the future?”

With a family background like Lin Yang’s, how worthless. And there were two brothers. All her scheming was wasted.

“What do you mean, what to do?” Lin Yang was holding his phone, wondering whether to call his grandparents, half-heartedly listening to Zhao Ying’s words.

Zhao Ying almost said he would have to rely on a woman in the future, but swallowed her words and instead looked at the watch on Lin Yang’s wrist again. Not giving up, she asked, “That watch of yours is quite nice. How much did it cost? I want to buy one like it for my cousin’s birthday.”

“This one? Three or four hundred.” Lin Yang replied, even complimenting it. “Though it’s a bit pricey, it’s really useful.”

Zhao Ying rolled her eyes inwardly, convinced it was a fake.

A watch worth millions turned into a three or four-hundred yuan imitation, and he even praised it nonstop.

What a miserly appearance. Just a good-looking face, nothing more.

Lin Yang did not quite understand why Zhao Ying suddenly became cold toward him. He thought she was in a bad mood and didn’t overthink it.

In the following half month, Lin Yang saw Zhao Ying once at the gym. She did not ask for his guidance either. He secretly sighed in relief—finally, she stopped bothering him. But he remembered what he said about treating her to a meal.

A man’s word is his bond, even though it really hurt him financially.

So, on the first day of the month when he got his living expenses, Lin Yang messaged Zhao Ying, saying he wanted to treat her to a meal tomorrow and asked if she had time.

The message was seen by Zhao Ying’s roommate, who recognized the name.

“Is it that pair of freshman twins? Someone confessed to him on the confession wall today.” The roommate was surprised.

“Yes, him. Lin Yang.” Zhao Ying rejected him right in front of her roommate, saying she was unavailable tomorrow.

The roommate looked envious. “Lin Yang actually likes you? Don’t you like him?”

“Lots of people like me. Does that mean I have to like them all?” Zhao Ying continued doing her makeup with disdain in her tone. “Just a little boy.”

She had originally thought Lin Yang was a naive rich boy, easy to trick. But it turned out he had nothing. She had to continue targeting real rich second-generation heirs elsewhere. As for these kinds of fish, she would just keep them on the line for now.

When Lin Yang saw that Zhao Ying refused, he didn’t say anything. He just said they’d go another time when she had time, then got busy with his own stuff.

He even forgot about it until he saw Zhao Ying in the school cafeteria. Then he suddenly remembered and hurried over. “Senior, want to have a meal together?”

Lin Yang still called her “Senior.” He always treated her as an elder sister. Maybe it was because he had been taken care of by Tian Yuxin and Chen Shuang. Since Zhao Ying had bought him milk tea a few times, he was respectful and polite to her.

Zhao Ying was with her roommate when she saw him stop her. On top of being scolded by a rich second generation last night, her expression looked unpleasant. “Can you stop clinging like a band-aid? Didn’t I say I wasn’t going to eat?”

There was nothing but confusion in Lin Yang’s clear eyes. What’s going on? Why the sudden change of attitude?

Zhao Ying said coldly again, “I’m kindly reminding you. If you don’t have money, then stop pretending. A man with no money chasing women? It’s really disgraceful.”

Her roommate looked at Lin Yang’s handsome face and felt a pang of jealousy. Such a good-looking guy, and Zhao Ying just brushed him off like that, not even giving him a chance.

“Hey, why do you have to speak so harshly? When did I ever chase you?” Lin Yang finally understood, but he wasn’t a pushover, so he spoke back. “You insisted on buying me milk tea, and I said I’d return the favor with a meal. I even told you I had no money and would treat you this month. Didn’t we agree? Why are you insulting me now?”

Lin Yang was straightforward and honest. The more he thought about it, the more wronged he felt. “I was just keeping my word and didn’t want to take advantage of you. If you didn’t want to eat, you could’ve just said so. I’d have saved money. Why act like this?”

Zhao Ying hadn’t expected Lin Yang to confront her in public and immediately cut him off. “What nonsense are you saying? Are you crazy?”

Lin Yang, feeling wronged, looked at her roommate. “I haven’t even mentioned how she kept taking up my time at the gym, pestering me to coach her, and now she says I was chasing her? Has she always been like this?”

This was about his reputation, and he wouldn’t back down.

Zhao Ying’s roommate hadn’t expected this reversal. She had always played the supporting role, witnessing Zhao Ying turn down and mock men with modest backgrounds. This was the first time things backfired.

She hadn’t imagined Zhao Ying was the one who had approached Lin Yang first, and he was just being polite. She also remembered the mocking words Zhao Ying said about Lin Yang back in the dorm. The slap to the face couldn’t be louder.

Seeing more people paying attention, Zhao Ying’s face turned dark. She pushed Lin Yang aside, dragged her roommate away, still muttering angrily under her breath.

Now it was Lin Yang’s turn to be upset.

Li Mao’s girlfriend had just broken up with him recently, saying he was too poor. But Lin Yang had never even thought about dating. After all, his allowance only barely covered his own expenses.

Plus, he liked to go out and have fun, and had no time to deal with girls.

Why was he being looked down on for being poor? What did he do wrong? Why take a hit like this out of nowhere?

To make things worse, when Lin Yang went to the gym in the evening, the one-month trial card was about to expire. The staff started pushing him to buy a membership. He originally only wanted a six-month one. Last time they said six hundred ninety-nine, now it was eight hundred eighty-eight. The yearly card stayed the same price, so they kept promoting the one for one thousand one hundred ninety-nine.

Lin Yang even asked Fang Yuwei for money. His mom was generous and gave him an extra hundred, transferring eight hundred.

She was also going to give his older brother Lin Chao eight hundred, but his brother refused, saying he still hadn’t spent last month’s money.

Naturally, Lin Yang felt embarrassed to ask Fang Yuwei for more. He usually lived happily, but after two bad experiences today, he left the gym completely deflated.

He didn’t even take the bus. Lin Yang just walked the whole way back, wanting some time alone to calm down.

“Isn’t that Young Master Lin?”

As soon as the driver spoke, Yang Liyu immediately looked out and saw Lin Yang walking down the street alone, clearly in a bad mood.

“Stop the car.” Yang Liyu frowned and said, then rolled down the window and called out, “Yangyang.”

“Brother Liyu?” Lin Yang saw Yang Liyu and immediately brightened.

After all, this was one of the few sources of warmth he had in the city, and also his “meal ticket”!

Yang Liyu said, “Get in.”

Lin Yang ran over excitedly, grinning more and more cheerfully. In his heart, he was already calculating. Getting a ride meant saving two yuan on bus fare. Even if it’s just two yuan!

Yang Liyu even took him out for a late-night meal—a fancy one. All his worries vanished.

After hearing Lin Yang was troubled over a gym card, Yang Liyu said, “Go to Jiating. There’s a gym there. It’s free and includes a swimming pool. If you don’t feel like coming back, you can stay there too.”

Upon hearing that, Lin Yang looked up suddenly.

Yang Liyu had already told him before that he had a large apartment at Jiating and had told him and his brother to move in. It was near their school. Last time Lin Yang refused because he felt he was living well at school and didn’t want to bother him.

But now, hearing that it had a swimming pool and a gym, that changed things.

Gyms with swimming pools are expensive, costing at least two thousand a year!

If he could use it for free, why not? Lin Yang immediately agreed, shoved a piece of steak into his mouth, and his mood turned sunny again. He asked Yang Liyu in a whisper, “Brother Liyu, do you think my dad would hit me if I secretly kept the eight hundred my mom gave me?”

“……” Yang Liyu said to him, “Transportation is inconvenient for you here. I have a car. Take it and drive.”

The driver overheard their conversation and felt like they weren’t even talking on the same level.

From what he knew, the place at Jiating was specially prepared by Yang Liyu for these two brothers. The car had been ordered long ago and had just arrived.

When Yang Liyu made a move, it was a multi-million property and car, with a watch worth millions, while this young master was seriously worrying over eight hundred yuan.

Not only did Yang Liyu feel helpless, even the driver had imaginary black lines running over his head.

When Lin Yang came back, he had one hand in his pocket, humming a tune. On campus, he even ran into Zhao Ying but didn’t look at her once.

No need to fuss with fools.

Now he had money! Better not mess with him!

Zhao Ying ground her teeth in anger. Seeing Lin Yang ignore her, she had nowhere to vent and stayed angry the whole night.

The next day, Zhao Ying saw Lin Yang at the school gate.

They were walking in the same direction.

Zhao Ying turned around and glared coldly, “Why are you following me?”

“Who’s following you? Do you own the road?” Lin Yang scoffed disdainfully and sped up his pace.

The two of them arrived at the Jiating apartment building together. Zhao Ying saw Lin Yang still walking forward and snorted. This was a luxury apartment with a price close to ten thousand per square meter. Had this poor boy ever even seen such a place?

She also saw a man in a suit waiting at the entrance. When he looked in her direction, he smiled respectfully and raised his hand in greeting.She smiled and stepped forward to push Lin Yang aside, then passed him with disdain and said, “Can you even get in? Don’t block my way!”