After Falling in Love with a 2D Character as a Socially Anxious Person - Chapter 27

Wearing the same outfit isn’t scary; whoever looks uglier is the one who feels awkward.

The same logic applies to having the same thesis topic.

When An Jing went on stage with his PPT, he gave each of the four teachers a copy of his printed first draft. He didn’t even dare to look at how the other three teachers reacted.

Before going up, An Jing took off his mask and put on his black-rimmed glasses.

Without the safety of the mask, his nervousness and unease radiated from the inside out.

Under the gaze of dozens of people, An Jing’s hand trembled uncontrollably as he plugged in his USB drive.

“Don’t be nervous.”

A teacher below the stage flipped through his draft. Seeing his hand gripping the edge of his shirt, the teacher spoke up to comfort him.

After listening to dozens of students in a row, the teachers had almost finished the bottled water on their desks.

Their energy and focus were not as sharp as they were at the beginning.

An Jing’s racing heart didn’t calm down because of that one sentence. When he spoke, his voice was shaky:

“Hello, teachers and fellow students…”

Seeing this from below, Ren Mingliang became even more suspicious of the truth in Li Sheng’s words.

This was clearly the same old, unimpressive An Jing. Where was the change?

An Jing had a very good memory. For ancient poems and prose from middle and high school, he could memorize almost eighty or ninety percent of them after reading them once and understanding the meaning.

While it wasn’t exactly a photographic memory, his outstanding recall brought him many advantages.

For example, right now:

He kept his side to the audience the whole time, not daring to look at the people below.

But even though he was nervous, it didn’t stop him from finishing his presentation in one breath.

Compared to the top students before him, An Jing’s performance was just okay. He managed to answer the teachers’ questions, even if he stumbled a bit.

Although the two of them had the same opening topic, the content did not overlap, and their directions of discussion were different.

An Jing had finished his first draft seriously. He wasn’t like the others who patched things together and tried to swap words just to avoid plagiarism checks.

The four teachers didn’t make things hard for him.

He wasn’t someone who knew nothing when asked. From the teachers’ expressions, even if An Jing didn’t get a high score, passing wouldn’t be a problem.

Having survived the ordeal, An Jing let out a long sigh of relief. As he walked off the stage, his heart felt lighter than the day he received his first seven-figure royalty payment.

Nice, I survived another day.

You did great, Nian Nian!

“Ah—!”

A short cry of surprise pulled An Jing’s drifting heart back. His foot hit something, and he grabbed a nearby desk to steady himself.

The distracted An Jing suddenly snapped back to reality and saw Ren Mingliang clutching his foot with a twisted face.

An Jing: “?”

Ren Mingliang’s shout was particularly loud in the quiet classroom. The teachers in the front row turned around one after another, frowning at him.

Ren Mingliang had originally stuck his leg out to trip An Jing and make him look like a fool in front of everyone.

As he expected, An Jing indeed didn’t notice his foot secretly sticking out into the aisle.

However, not only did An Jing not fall, but he also stepped firmly onto the top of Ren Mingliang’s foot.

If An Jing’s reaction hadn’t been so genuinely surprised, Ren Mingliang would have suspected he did it on purpose.

Under everyone’s gaze, Ren Mingliang gave the teachers an awkward smile:

“Sorry, sorry.”

After saying that, Ren Mingliang didn’t forget to glare at An Jing.

An Jing whispered an apology to Ren Mingliang and quickly slipped back to his seat.

Why don’t I look where I’m walking!

The frustrated An Jing hung his head almost below the desk.

Ren Mingliang won’t think I did it on purpose, right?

Should I find a chance to explain again?

But he put his leg in the aisle and wasn’t sitting properly, so it’s his fault too.

When the defense is over, will Ren Mingliang come looking for trouble?

An incident that seemed very small to others took up all of An Jing’s thoughts.

He was stuck in an internal struggle over whether to apologize or not.

And he felt uneasy because of it.

One student after another went on stage. The sunlight from the window moved slowly with the clock.

The last student bowed and left the stage; the mid-term defense was over.

All the students followed their advisors out, with An Jing trailing at the very end.

Since they were about to leave the university campus, many students took the chance to walk around or take photos with friends as a memory.

An Jing had no friends and didn’t miss campus life. He put his head down and rushed toward the school gate as fast as he could.

“An Jing.”

The gate was right in front of him, but Ren Mingliang’s voice came from behind.

An Jing stopped. He wanted to pretend he didn’t hear, but Ren Mingliang called a second time: “Why are you running so fast?”

An Jing: “…” QAQ.

It’s over. He’s here to settle the score.

My legs aren’t as long as Yan Qili’s, so I couldn’t escape.

An Jing tried his best to stay calm as he turned around. He saw Ren Mingliang and Li Sheng walking over. Ren Mingliang’s foot hurt, so his walk looked very unnatural.

No matter how thin An Jing was, he was still an adult man weighing over a hundred pounds. A full step down without warning really hurt Ren Mingliang.

But it wasn’t so bad that he needed to limp.

Seeing Ren Mingliang like this, An Jing felt guilty: “I’m sorry, I… I didn’t step on you on purpose.”

Ren Mingliang and Li Sheng had agreed to come and test if An Jing knew some important person.

This would determine how they treated An Jing in the future.

After leaving the ivory tower for an internship, Ren Mingliang realized that in society, while ability is important, connections are everything.

The world is just that realistic.

A good job is like a virus; it only spreads through specific, close-knit channels.

He had none of those, so he had to try his best to grab any connection he could use.

An Jing had been left out by classmates for four years, so he must crave friendship.

As long as they spoke a few more words to him, An Jing would surely be flattered.

Maybe they could even use his connections to meet a big shot.

Ren Mingliang looked at An Jing and his backpack with disdain, but he hid it well:

“Small thing, small thing. I didn’t take it to heart. You don’t need to apologize.”

Li Sheng also smiled: “About last time, my friend was in the wrong. It happened so suddenly that I didn’t get to chat with you.”

Their unusual attitude made An Jing very uncomfortable. He pressed his lips together, not knowing what to say.

Li Sheng pretended to care: “I had to leave early that day and haven’t talked to that friend since. How did you handle things afterward? The police didn’t give you a hard time, did they?”

Ren Mingliang joined in: “I heard from Sheng. Jiayang Shan was really too much. It’s good you had someone to help.”

Li Sheng and Ren Mingliang looked at each other.

You’ve been ignored for years; shouldn’t you be touched that we’re talking to you?

The socially anxious boy wasn’t touched. He only wondered why these two were so talkative today.

If he had known, he wouldn’t have been distracted when he left the stage.

Then he wouldn’t have stepped on Ren Mingliang’s foot.

“No.”

When dealing with people, An Jing’s brain worked slower than usual. He didn’t realize Li Sheng and Ren Mingliang were fishing for information. He honestly said he wasn’t given a hard time.

An Jing thought this was the end of the conversation, but Li Sheng and Ren Mingliang kept talking about nothing.

Li Sheng even said the classmates were taking photos at the field and told An Jing to join.

No, no, no!

The thought of putting his arms around people and posing for photos made An Jing shake his head like a bobblehead.

I can’t.

I really can’t!

An Jing opened his mouth to say no, but someone tapped the back of his head lightly.

An Jing covered his head and turned around. When he saw who it was, his light-colored eyes widened, and he blurted out: “Yan Qili?”

Why are you here?

Yan Qili didn’t answer the question in An Jing’s eyes. He glanced at Li Sheng with his usual cold face:

“Why are you standing here like an idiot?”

Yan Qili had a good memory and recognized Li Sheng immediately.

Being looked at coldly by this “Living Yama,” Li Sheng instantly remembered the feat of this man easily taking down five people with his bare hands.

Li Sheng: My back is shivering!

Yan Qili asked: “Are you done?”

An Jing, still surprised by his appearance, nodded blankly.

In the next second, An Jing was scooped up—backpack and all—by Yan Qili and taken away.

From beginning to end, Yan Qili didn’t even look at Ren Mingliang.

Ren Mingliang: “???”

Li Sheng and Ren Mingliang, completely ignored: “…”

After standing there for a long time, Ren Mingliang slowly turned to Li Sheng: “Sheng, was that the big shot An Jing knows?”

What a cold gaze, what a strong aura!

What a handsome guy.

That powerful, dismissive attitude—he looks like a big figure who calls the shots in the business world!

Li Sheng: “…He’s the man I told you about, the one who took down five people alone.”

Ren Mingliang: “The big shot sure has good moves!”

Li Sheng: “…”

The “Living Yama” had already learned how to use a phone to call a ride, and they went straight to the apartment complex.

On the way, An Jing asked Yan Qili why he was at the school. Yan Qili coolly stated that he was just curious about what modern schools looked like.

This explanation was reasonable.

After all, no matter the era, education was the foundation of the country.

An Jing didn’t think much of it. After getting out of the car, he went to the convenience store next to the complex to buy a simple meal.

It was past lunchtime. Yan Qili had already eaten at home and went to the supermarket to buy groceries by himself.

The two went their separate ways for a while.

As he passed the main gate, An Jing saw delivery workers talking to the guard. They said a resident had a large, very heavy delivery and wanted to drive the truck into the complex.

He wondered which resident had gone on a shopping spree again.

An Jing glanced at them and went home. His heated lunch was only two bites in when his phone rang.

It was the delivery man saying there was a package for him. It was unloaded downstairs, and he needed to carry it up himself.

An Jing: “???”

An Jing was stunned for a moment: “I don’t have any packages.”

Delivery man: “Mr. An, it’s definitely yours. It looks like more books you bought.”

An Jing hung up and checked all his online shopping apps. Then he remembered that the publisher had contacted him a couple of days ago. The books he needed to sign had been sent, and they told him to watch the tracking info.

According to the contract, there were two thousand books he needed to sign this time.

Besides that, there were five hundred bookmarks that needed him to write different famous quotes on them.

The defense was just over, and new work had already begun.

An Jing, who was already experienced, took a small trolley from the storage room and went downstairs to move the books.

Hardcover books were not light. Two thousand books were packed in several thick cardboard boxes. One small trolley couldn’t hold them all.

An Jing ran up and down several times, gasping for breath, before he finally got them all home.

As a shut-in who never went out or exercised, An Jing collapsed onto the cardboard boxes after pulling the last load upstairs.

“So tired…”

An Jing wiped the sweat from his forehead. His arms felt weak as he tried to grab a box from the trolley.

He bent down, put in some strength—and then, crack.

An Jing suddenly froze and stopped moving.

When Yan Qili came back from buying groceries, the first thing he saw was the pile of boxes in the living room and An Jing in a weird pose.

Yan Qili: “…What are you doing?”

Is this more modern knowledge I don’t understand?

“Yan Qili…” An Jing, seeing his savior, almost cried: “I threw out my back.”

With teary eyes, An Jing struggled to keep his waist still while turning his head toward Yan Qili:

Help me. QAQ.

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