Chapter 65#
The People in the Story (Part 2)#
Ye Sheng hadn’t expected to run into Chen Can.
Chen Can probably hadn’t expected to run into him either.
Chen Can was chatting with a girl with exquisite makeup and a striking appearance, winking and making all sorts of advances. As a group of them laughed and crossed the road, they saw Ye Sheng waiting for a ride and froze in surprise.
Ye Sheng stood under a streetlight, his head turned towards a dark area. Behind him were the brilliant lights of the food street’s various barbecue stalls and nightclubs. The chaotic lights of the mortal world made his skin look as white as frost and snow. The young man had a cold demeanor, his lips pressed together, his face screaming “hard to get along with.”
However, Wang Zixiu and Kang Xiaoxiao were naturally warm-hearted. Recognizing him from a distance, they greeted him excitedly.
“Xiao Si!”
“Xiao Si!”
Ye Sheng pulled his gaze back and looked towards the source of the voices, seeing the smiling faces of Wang Zixiu and Kang Xiaoxiao.
“…”
What a coincidence.
He nodded at his roommates in acknowledgment.
Both roommates were naturally sociable and big-hearted.
Kang Xiaoxiao’s voice was loud as he asked with a smile, “Xiao Si, what are you doing here?”
Ye Sheng said, “I’m waiting for a ride.”
Kang Xiaoxiao enthusiastically offered, “Since we ran into you, want to come hang out with us?”
“No, thanks.” Ye Sheng shook his head. “I have something to do. You guys go ahead.” He paused, then added, “I’ll leave the dorm door unlocked for you tonight.”
“Okay, okay, Xiao Si is so considerate.”
Chen Can said sarcastically and gloomily, “What’s the point of leaving the door unlocked? You can sleep by yourself. We’ll probably be out all night.”
Wang Zixiu frowned in disapproval. “Lao San!”
“Is he your roommate?” The girl next to Chen Can, who had been silent until now, suddenly spoke. Her eyes were bright, the pearlescent eyeshadow particularly pretty under the lights, her face full of amazement and interest.
“Yeah,” Chen Can replied vaguely, bubbling with jealousy.
He really didn’t understand how Wang Zixiu and Kang Xiaoxiao could be so enthusiastic towards Ye Sheng. He hated people with no money or power who loved to act pretentious!
Chen Can stepped forward, suppressed the jealousy in his heart, and squeezed out a fake smile. “Hey, wait a minute, Xiao Si. When you said you had something to do, did you mean you have to go to your part-time job?”
Ye Sheng glanced at him.
He didn’t want to get entangled with his roommate on the street for too long, so he nodded.
Chen Can immediately pretended to be concerned and said loudly, “School has already started, Xiao Si, why are you still working so hard! Didn’t you save enough for living expenses after working for two months during the summer?”
As soon as he said this, the girl next to him frowned, and the initial fervor in her eyes when she looked at Ye Sheng disappeared.
“…”
Ye Sheng’s eyes were cold as he looked directly at Chen Can. Ye Sheng’s “stiffness” in social interactions was never because he was slow-witted, but because he found it annoying.
He wasn’t slow; on the contrary, Ye Sheng was best at capturing the malice in human nature.
He was naturally a suspicious person. From their first meeting in the freshmen group chat, he had a general idea of what kind of person Chen Can was.
Vain, noisy, and snobbish.
Although Chen Can said this to show everyone how poor he was and to belittle him, he was, in fact, poor. Ye Sheng had suffered enough from poverty and had long since made peace with himself. He didn’t feel there was anything shameful about being poor.
“No, it’s not enough. I’ll probably have to work for another four years,” Ye Sheng said calmly, giving him a strange look.
Chen Can: “…”
Ye Sheng’s gaze was too normal, his tone too calm, as if he didn’t find this shameful or something to hide at all. It left Chen Can at a loss for what to say next.
Holding back his frustration, Chen Can said in a joking tone, “That’s not right. Xiao Si, it’s rare for Yinshan to produce a student for a prestigious university. Doesn’t the Ministry of Education give you any money?”
Yinshan?
Such a notorious place with the highest crime rate in the country made everyone pause.
Ye Sheng: “What? Are you going to contact the Yinshan Ministry of Education to send me money?”
“…”
Chen Can was speechless.
Wang Zixiu stepped in to smooth things over, pulling on Chen Can’s sleeve. “Our reservation time is coming up, let’s go. Don’t bother Xiao Si.”
Chen Can shook him off. “It’s still early, what’s wrong with chatting with Xiao Si for a bit! I see Xiao Si is always alone, so withdrawn. If we don’t talk to him more, he’s going to become a mute.”
He just wanted to embarrass Ye Sheng. To let everyone know he was from Yinshan, poor, strange, and isolated.
“Brother, are they your friends?” Suddenly, a charming, smiling voice interrupted their conversation.
Everyone looked up and saw a person walking out of the darkness, holding a phone.
The moment they saw that person, everyone was stunned. Their whispers caught in their throats, their faces filled with astonishment.
Ning Weichen turned off his phone, his peach-blossom eyes curving slightly as he looked at them without much of a smile. He had a noble air, an outstanding appearance, and his clothes and style were entirely that of an elegant and carefree young master from a wealthy family.
Ye Sheng said flatly, “Three are my roommates, I don’t know the rest.”
Ning Weichen nodded and said softly, “I had to take a call. My apologies.”
Ye Sheng: “Are you done?”
Ning Weichen: “Yes, I’ve asked Butler Li to come pick us up.”
Ye Sheng: “Oh.”
After speaking with Ye Sheng, Ning Weichen turned his gaze back to the young men and women before him, his expression a half-smile, his eyes thoughtful.
Chen Can’s face turned slightly pale.
Wang Zixiu and Kang Xiaoxiao were also stunned. Before they were assigned to the same dorm as Ye Sheng, their counselor had specifically told them that Ye Sheng was an orphan, without parents, and that they should avoid talking about family matters.
They were both confused: How could Xiao Si, who came to Huai City alone, have such a friend? And this friend seemed to be from a completely different world than them.
Ye Sheng didn’t want Ning Weichen to have any connection with his roommates. Just as he was about to speak and pull his attention back, Ning Weichen had already casually withdrawn his gaze, gave him another ambiguous smile, and said softly, “Brother, you’re staying in the dorm alone tonight.”
Ye Sheng: “…”
Ning Weichen’s eyes were full of affection. “It looks like your roommates will be back very late. Won’t you consider spending the night at my place?”
Ye Sheng said, “…I’ll consider it if I miss the curfew.”
As expected. Ning Weichen was merely good at socializing, it didn’t mean he enjoyed it.
Ning Weichen leaned close to his ear, completely ignoring everyone’s stares, and in a very intimate posture, spoke the most teasing words in a light and gentle tone.
“Baby, you’re rejecting me for roommates like these?”
Ye Sheng said with disgust, “There’s no causal relationship between these two things. I’m not crazy.”
Ning Weichen sighed, “Are you really not considering moving out?”
Ye Sheng frowned, “Have you forgotten about your own illness? We should maintain some distance in our lives.”
Ning Weichen just smirked, unconcerned.
Fortunately, at that moment, Butler Li drove the car over.
Ye Sheng didn’t want to be seen bickering with Ning Weichen on the street. He took a long stride, pulled open the car door, and sat inside. Before getting in, Ning Weichen placed his long, pale hand on the car door, looked up, and his peach-blossom eyes glanced at Chen Can from a distance. His expression was distant and cold under the starlight. After a long moment, he smiled.
Cold sweat dripped down Chen Can’s back, his mind a complete blank.
Butler Li said, “Young Master, Young Mad… Mr. Ye.”
He corrected himself just in time before saying “Young Madam.”
Ye Sheng said, “Let’s go.”
Butler Li: “Yes.”
The expensive Maybach disappeared at the end of the long street.
The group of people stared at the luxury car, their minds buzzing. Especially Chen Can, whose cheeks burned as if he had been slapped.
He wished he could bury his head in the ground to avoid the gazes of the people around him, who were looking at him like he was a clown.
Inside the car, Ye Sheng said to Ning Weichen, “Don’t interact with my roommates in the future.”
Getting involved with heretics would only bring more trouble.
Ning Weichen raised an eyebrow. “Hmm?”
Ye Sheng said, “They are ordinary people, and I won’t have much interaction with them in college anyway.”
Ning Weichen watched him leisurely for a moment, then asked with a smile, “Why? You were so determined on the train, I thought your college life would be very rich and colorful.”
Ye Sheng couldn’t be bothered to respond to the sarcasm in his tone.
Ning Weichen looked at him in the darkness, his voice laced with a smile, but his words were calm. “Ye Sheng, haven’t you realized yet? You’re not suited for this kind of life at all. You just don’t want to give up your step-by-step path.”
Ye Sheng looked out the window, the neon lights illuminating his beautiful, cold profile. He pressed his lips together and said nothing.
“It’s okay.” Ning Weichen leaned back, his expression indifferent. “Why do I like you so much?” he chuckled, blinked, and his voice became as soft as honey. “I’m willing to play along with your ‘return to campus’ script.”
After the opening ceremony, the first thing for new university students was usually military training.
Huai’an University’s welcome party was held after the military training, and the promotional video would also be shown at the party.
However, from early to mid-September in Huai City, it almost always rained heavily.
So the university had to postpone the military training until the end of September. This year was no exception.
In the freshmen group chat, all kinds of gossip spread the fastest, especially about the handsome new students, beauties, and influential figures. Chen Can eventually found out Ning Weichen’s identity.
Family background, education, appearance, wealth—he was adorned with numerous halos.
Within a few days, this young master from a wealthy family became known throughout the university, attracting countless people’s envy and curiosity.
The classmates were all guessing why this young master had returned to the country.
Chen Can really wanted to show off the information he had, but he held back because his two roommates were nearby.
He hadn’t forgotten how much face he had lost in front of Ye Sheng and Ning Weichen that day.
Ning Weichen was a legendary figure at Huai’an University. He didn’t attend classes like a normal freshman, maybe coming to campus only once or twice a week. And the teachers were all pleasant and extremely lenient with him.
Chen Can had thought about getting on good terms with Ye Sheng. However, Ye Sheng was really busy. It seemed that apart from studying, he was always working, spending no more than three hours in the dorm each day. He had no opportunity to curry favor even if he wanted to.
Fortunately, the script and casting for the “promotional video” were finally settled a week after school started. Chen Can could finally find a good opportunity to get to know Ye Sheng again. Actually, it didn’t matter if he knew Ye Sheng or not; he mainly wanted to use Ye Sheng to build a connection with Ning Weichen.
September was the rainy season in Huai City. It would pour every other day, and the drizzling rain would knock the osmanthus blossoms to the ground.
In mid-September, Huai’an University had a five-day break, which was filled with gloomy, rainy weather.
Huang Qiqi said, “Since it’s raining, let’s shoot the indoor scenes first.” The indoor scene at the old arts and sports hall was also the only one that required “passersby” to act.
When Ye Sheng received the message from the film crew, he took leave from the haunted house and returned to Huai’an University. When Xia Wenshi found out that Huang Qiqi was the scriptwriter, the unserious, second-generation rich boss immediately closed his business to go join the fun with him.
He also brought Luo Xingyan along.
Luo Xingyan: “…”
So he came back to China to broaden his horizons, huh?
First, he watched a dramatic, cliché-filled family drama at the Qin family’s main residence; then, he watched a master perform an exorcism that combined Chinese and Western methods at a haunted house.
And now it was time for a campus youth secret crush story?