After The Honest Person Was Discovered For Simultaneously Pursuing Three People - Chapter 67

Chapter 67: Four-Player Landlord

“Midterms are coming up. But according to school tradition, we’ll have several lectures over the next few days, and they’ve invited academic bigwigs from various fields. Do you want to go listen?”

The tip of his pencil pauses. Tao Ning looks up from his practice book. A boy with a sunny smile stands in front of him, holding a basketball in his right hand. When he sees Tao Ning looking at him, he scratches his head a little shyly.

Worried that Tao Ning might refuse, Lu Jue continues, “They’ll be giving out a lot of collectible books at those lectures. You can also meet a lot of famous people, many of whom have edited our textbooks…”

“Excuse me.”

A cold voice comes from behind. Tao Ning looks over and sees Xu Jun standing behind Lu Jue with an indifferent expression.

Lu Jue reflexively moves to the side. Xu Jun walks past expressionlessly. He doesn’t even look at Tao Ning from beginning to end, as if he was just passing by and his way was blocked. Lu Jue, on the other hand, is a little annoyed. He says speechlessly, “His eyesight must have gotten worse. This path is clearly very wide. Couldn’t he have walked on the side?”

Occident only allows about thirty students in a classroom. Each classroom is spacious and bright, and students have individual seats, so there is no crowding between two desks.

Tao Ning also knows that Xu Jun is doing it on purpose, although he doesn’t understand why. Ever since what happened in the dorm last time, Xu Jun has barely spoken to him these past two days. His attitude is as cold as if he’s treating a stranger, not even a simple roommate.

Even though Tao Ning follows Xu Jun step by step, like a real admirer, Xu Jun’s gaze rarely falls on him.

As a result, there’s been no news of the mission being completed. On the contrary, rumors have spread that he is “Xu Jun’s little sidekick,” “likes Xu Jun,” and “wants to cling to Xu Jun’s connections at school for protection,” and so on.

These rumors are beneficial to Tao Ning’s mission, so he doesn’t explain. The strange thing is that Xu Jun doesn’t either. In the past, Tao Ning couldn’t guess what Xu Jun was thinking, and now that their relationship has become awkward and cold, he can’t guess even more.

So Tao Ning can’t figure out Xu Jun’s attitude towards these rumors after their relationship turned cold.

Yesterday, Tao Ning still kept his head down, silently following behind Xu Jun. A student council member saw him and asked playfully, “President Xu, your roommate and little sidekick are behind you. Do you want to invite him in for a cup of water?”

Tao Ning stops and quietly raises his head. The man’s back is handsome and straight. After a moment, he hears Xu Jun say, “I’m not familiar with him.”

This sentence stirs up a thousand waves. Soon, the rumor “Tao Ning was rejected by Xu Jun” spreads. On Occident’s forum, someone even sincerely asks, “I remember Tao Ning was involved with that guy, so how did he get involved with Xu?”

The replies to the post are all over the place.

From “What’s there to hide about Song Yucong? His family is being targeted now,” to “Ahhhhh, you don’t know how cute and beautiful Tao Ning is. He’s like the main character Omega in a manhua,” and “Is this a love triangle? I love watching it,” and “The one above is wrong. It’s a four-player game of Landlord. I saw him get out of a Mercedes-Benz last time, and a gangster (suspected) was following him,” and “Can you guys just break up? I’m betting on Xu Jun for first place in midterms again.”

…

This post is taken down in less than an hour. The original poster is even banned for ninety-nine years. And as everyone knows, the school forum is managed by the student council. As for who in the student council banned him, no one knows.

Remembering that Xu Jun said he wasn’t familiar with him, even though he knows it’s an angry remark, Tao Ning is still a little sad. But he is not a person who gives up easily. He continues to follow behind Xu Jun when he needs to.

Even with midterms coming up, Tao Ning takes out a small notebook from his pocket. He keeps his head down, reviewing and reading while following behind Xu Jun. It can be said that he is taking care of two things at once. At night, he goes back to the dorm and does three sets of partial subject test papers.

The familiar mechanical voice in his mind sounds incredibly sarcastic: [It seems you’re adapting very well.]

Tao Ning barely pays attention to this “new system.” And he feels that these words don’t even have a fraction of Song Yucong’s attacking power, so he is immune to this un-irritating sarcasm.

“Tao Ning?” Lu Jue’s hand waves in front of his eyes. Tao Ning comes back to his senses and agrees. “Mhm.”

Lu Jue is excited. “Okay, it’s settled. I’ll take you tomorrow.”

When they return to the dorm at night, Xu Jun is very busy because the student council is also arranging the lectures.

While he is still in the office for a meeting, Tao Ning replies to Zhao Jingqun’s text messages. He doesn’t carry his phone during the day. He only replies to messages at night. Most of the time, he is replying to Zhao Jingqun’s calls and texts, and some of the time, he is taking pictures.

Because Zhao Jingqun says he misses him a lot, and photos can ease the longing.

Baby is so good. I’ll come pick you up tomorrow.

Tao Ning hesitates. I have exams this week. I might have to stay a few more days.

The other side replies: [>—<]

Tao Ning doesn’t understand what this emoji means. He sends a [? I’m sorry].

The other side is silent for a moment. Even without seeing the person, he can tell from the words that there is a hint of helplessness and doting.

Okay, sweetheart. It looks like I’ll be alone in an empty room T-T.

Tao Ning studies the chat app and finds out that it even has an emoji function. He carefully selects one and sends: [(Standard yellow face smiling.jpg)]

After the chat ends, Xu Jun happens to come back. His face is cold. He seems to not have seen Tao Ning put his phone away. He goes straight to the bathroom. When he comes out, he sits at his desk and reads. During this time, he doesn’t say a word, so the only sound in the dorm is the rustling of his pen.

After the lights are turned off, Tao Ning keeps his eyes open, staring at the ceiling, and says softly, “Good night.”

Until a very shallow breathing sounds, Xu Jun opens his eyes. A flash of complexity passes through his sharp eyes. Finally, he “Mhm”s faintly.

“Tao Ning… good night.”

The two days before midterms, there are no classes. It’s for students to review on their own or attend lectures, club activities, and so on. After breakfast, Lu Jue excitedly takes Tao Ning to the lecture venue. Occident has three stadiums and dozens of lecture halls. Posters on the wall describe the different lectures, and students can choose on their own.

“It’s Professor Elizabeth. I just bought her new book and have a few questions I want to ask her.”

“Holy cow! Li Ya is here too? With so many things to do at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he still came. He’s a true fan of his alma mater…”

“This animal exhibition is interesting. People from the Beijing Institute of Biosciences.”

“I’m speechless. I saw my dad.”

“Which one do you want to listen to?” Lu Jue smiles brightly and gives Tao Ning a cup of room-temperature Coke. Tao Ning has never had this kind of carbonated drink. He takes a sip, and his eyes light up slightly. “Thank you. It’s delicious. Hmm… Let’s check out this one.”

Tao Ning originally wanted to choose one about poetry and prose, but unfortunately, there isn’t one. So he chooses the poster that interests him the most. The slender finger points to a poster full of animals and various insects.

Lu Jue’s expression is hesitant. “Do you really want to listen to this biology lecture?”

Tao Ning blinks. “You don’t like it? We can choose another one.”

“No, no.” The boy with the sunny smile looks a little guilty at the moment. He scratches his head. “I’m afraid of running into my brother. He’s a real nag… Hey, never mind. If you like it, let’s go.”

“Mhm.”

The biology lecture is held in Occident’s second main building. A lot of people come to listen. Most of them are attracted by the animals on the poster. During this time, student council members are arranging seats. There is an unwritten rule here: the better your family background, the more qualified you are to sit in the front.

Tao Ning doesn’t know this rule. He goes straight to the front row. As soon as he sits down, a guy from the student council calls out to him. “Hey, you…”

The guy’s sleeve is pulled. Another student council member whispers to him, “The president said Tao Ning can sit wherever he wants. Do you know what the words ‘wherever he wants’ mean?”

“But I heard… doesn’t the president dislike him?”

“Heh heh.” The other person pulls him away. “The president’s heart is a needle in the haystack. Let’s go.”

Tao Ning looks back, but the person has already walked away. He doesn’t understand and puts his attention back on the stage. In the center of the stage stands a young man wearing a blue and white checkered shirt and white pants. Because he is very close, Tao Ning can see him very clearly.

The young man is very tall, about one-eighty-six meters. He has broad shoulders and a narrow waist. He is looking down, rummaging through some documents. Someone next to him is testing the playback equipment for him. After a while, he looks up, revealing handsome features. He is wearing simple black glasses and pushes up the frame with his slender finger.

Noticing Tao Ning’s focused gaze, he smiles at him gently.

The young man’s gaze moves to the person next to Tao Ning. He smiles lightly and shakes his head but doesn’t say anything, continuing to organize the things on the table. Only then does Tao Ning realize that Lu Jue is very nervous. The moment the young man’s gaze fell on him, his body tensed up as if he was facing a great enemy.

“Is that your brother?” Tao Ning has some memory of hearing people say that Lu Jue has a brother named Lu En who studies biology. No wonder the young man’s appearance is a little similar to Lu Jue’s.

Lu Jue lets out a sigh of relief and nods with a complicated expression. “Don’t look at my brother and his seemingly good-looking face. He’s actually full of mischief. You’ll see. The animals he takes out for the exhibition will definitely be scary.”

After the lecture officially begins, the young man on the stage simply introduces himself. “My name is Lu En. I’m currently working at the Beijing Institute of Biosciences of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. My advisor had something urgent today, so he let me come.”

He says a few words about his background and then begins to talk nonstop about various animals. The knowledge he teaches goes from simple to complex, and it’s vivid and interesting. Tao Ning takes a lot of notes, while Lu Jue next to him has already started snoring softly.

Until the highly anticipated animal exhibition segment arrives. The crowd below the stage holds their breath. Lu En’s expression on the stage is inscrutable. The small cage with the animal on the podium is covered with a red cloth. He smiles and lifts the red cloth.

“Ahhhhhhh—”

“It’s a toad!!”

“Holy cow! And a red caterpillar, ahhhh!”

Compared to the shock of others and their desire to stay as far away as possible, only Tao Ning is very calm, because he grew up in the mountains and has seen all sorts of strange insects and small animals.

Lu En laughs and takes out the bumpy toad with his bare hands. “This is a spadefoot toad. It can grow to be the size of an adult man’s palm. The one in my hand is. It usually lives in high-altitude areas and is found in estuary and Jingxi in our country. This is the larva of the Hestina assimilis. Its entire body is black and red, and the spines on its back are used to ward off predators.”

“It seems like everyone is very interested in the reaction. Does anyone want to touch one?”

Huh? Who says they are interested? The faces of the crowd below are filled with horror, and they all shake their heads in rejection.

Lu En looks a little disappointed until his gaze lands on the young man below the stage. Actually, he noticed him the moment he walked in. It’s not just because his useless brother is sitting next to him, but also because of the young man’s eyes that are sparkling under the lights, as beautiful as the starlight at the bottom of the sea.

Support