I Can’t Keep Being a Scumbag Anymore—What Should I Do? [Quick Transmigration] - Chapter 15

Ran Muqiu stayed home for two days, receiving a great deal of comfort from the system.

233 noted that regardless of the chaos, the mission progress was finally moving smoothly, which meant Ran Muqiu’s hard work was finally paying off!

Ran Muqiu figured that made sense. After managing to pull himself together, he finally returned to school.

However, he didn’t dare provoke Li Zhu again. He was terrified that one wrong move would lead to the other boy forcibly finishing what they had started in the tent.

The Protagonist Shou was terrifying!

Ran Muqiu was too weak to win a physical fight, and in a realistic world like this, the system couldn’t provide him with any supernatural assistance.

He decided his best bet was to keep a conscious distance.

Conveniently, Feng Qin’s Heartbreak Value had spiked, so Ran Muqiu planned to strike while the iron was hot and farm even more during this period.

Currently, it seemed Feng Qin’s heartbreak was fueled entirely by jealousy. So, if he made him suffer through more of it, maybe the value would skyrocket to a hundred in one go?

With that in mind, the first thing Ran Muqiu did upon returning to school was move his seat back to the center of the classroom—far away from Li Zhu, and several aisles away from Feng Qin.

As it turned out, Feng Qin didn’t show up to school at all that day; his seat remained empty.

Having nothing to do, Ran Muqiu was dozing off during the first period when he was startled awake by the vibration of the phone in his pocket.

Dazed, he pulled it out to see a text from an unknown number: “Why did you move away?”

Ran Muqiu rubbed his eyes and was about to reply when he remembered something. He looked up and locked eyes with Lu Min, who was watching him from the podium with a look of resigned frustration.

Lu Min was a new intern teacher, a recent graduate student teaching physics to several senior classes. He had recently taken leave to handle some affairs at his university in City B and had just returned today.

He was born with a stern, handsome face and always wore a white shirt and slacks to class, with every button fastened meticulously to the neck. Qin Wei and the others described him as “erudite and refined on the outside, but a total beast inside.”

This was only his third class with Ran Muqiu’s group.

Lu Min seemed to be a bit of a “greenhorn.” Even though he knew Ran Muqiu was the leader of the school’s delinquents, his lack of social experience and the fact that he hadn’t been “beaten down by reality” meant he didn’t treat Ran Muqiu with the usual mix of politeness and flattery other teachers did.

In the two classes they’d had so far, he had unceremoniously called on Ran Muqiu twice. The first time, he asked a question about freshman physics; Ran Muqiu stood there like a deer in headlights until “Chubby,” who was sitting next to him, whispered the correct answer. Only then did Lu Min allow him to sit.

The second time was worse; he actually made him go to the blackboard to solve a problem.

In terms of academic performance, Ran Muqiu was remarkably consistent with the Scum Bully of the original script. He stood there clutching a piece of chalk for five minutes, and aside from writing the word “Solution,” he couldn’t produce a single useful character.

Lu Min had watched him expressionlessly, stating that he had just explained the concept a minute ago and that it was actually middle school knowledge. Since he couldn’t write it, he was told to stand for the rest of the lecture.

Before Ran Muqiu could react, Qin Wei had exploded with annoyance, slamming the desk and barking back at Lu Min with a casual lie: “Teacher, our Brother Qiu isn’t feeling well and didn’t eat breakfast. If he stands for a whole period, he’ll get low blood sugar. I’ll stand; I’ll stand for him, alright?”

He had started to stand up, with Slim Monkey and the others joining in the commotion.

Any other teacher would have let it slide after such a disruption—after all, these kids came from wealthy, powerful families and weren’t easily crossed.

But Lu Min’s face had chilled instantly. He lectured them: “This is a classroom; what is this ‘brother’ nonsense?” He then checked his watch and ended the class early, ordering Qin Wei to come to his office.

Qin Wei went, came back looking dejected, and never dared to stir up trouble in Lu Min’s class again.

Later, everyone found out that the Director of Education for City C was a former student of Lu Min’s father.

Ran Muqiu blinked, not wanting to actually offend Lu Min, so he slowly offered him a smile.

His eyes were large and round; when he smiled, they curved into crescent beans, and his fuzzy eyelashes fluttered. He looked excessively sweet.

Lu Min stared at him for a few seconds, pointed wordlessly at his phone, and turned back to continue writing on the blackboard.

Ran Muqiu quickly stuffed his phone into his desk, leaving only the screen visible.

He stealthily typed a reply to the unknown number: “Who is this?”

The reply came back almost instantly: “Look back.”

Ran Muqiu dazed for a second and instinctively turned around, crashing right into Li Zhu’s gaze.

Li Zhu, still sitting in the back row, was sitting ramrod straight. He was staring at him without blinking—who knows for how long—with a look of intense focus.

Ran Muqiu felt as if he’d been burned and hurriedly turned back around. Thinking about his eye contact with Lu Min just now, he felt a strange, inexplicable flicker of guilt.

The phone vibrated again: “This is my phone number.”

Ran Muqiu pursed his lips and saved the contact. After a thought, he asked: “When did you buy a phone?”

“Yesterday. I worked for it.”

Working?

Ran Muqiu tilted his head, confused.

With the arrival of a “task-taker,” many plot points from the original script had changed—which was common in these missions. However, the Protagonist Shou going out to find a job was a development that had absolutely never appeared in the original story.

The Protagonist Shou shouldn’t have a reason to work.

After all, while the Scum Bully was a jerk, he never mistreated the Shou materially. He even had a fierce sense of territoriality, with a possessiveness so extreme that at one point he insisted on handling even the Shou’s underwear.

Not that the Protagonist Shou appreciated it.

In Ran Muqiu’s case, although he had “sponsored” Li Zhu, he couldn’t bring himself to be as perverted as the original character. Aside from the rent and the money spent on clothes during that one “Scum Bully” shopping trip, he hadn’t really found many opportunities to spend money on him.

He replied: “Is the money I gave you not enough?”

Li Zhu replied quickly: “It’s enough.”

Ran Muqiu asked again: “Then why find a job?”

This time, there was no reply for a long while.

Ran Muqiu peeked at Li Zhu out of the corner of his eye, only to see that the other had already put his phone away. He was looking down, quickly calculating a physics problem.

Ran Muqiu turned back and stared at his phone for a long time.

He felt like he understood the Protagonist Shou’s mind less and less. Now, even plot points completely absent from the original script were emerging.

This was not a good sign.

Even a “professional extra” like Ran Muqiu knew that minor plot changes were fine as long as they stayed within the framework of the world line. But when a target character developed a plot thread completely incompatible with the original story, it meant the world line was likely deviating. If it wasn’t pulled back to the normal track in time, it could lead to mission failure.

Just as he was about to consult the system, a clear, resonant male voice came from the podium.

“Ran Muqiu.”

Ran Muqiu jolted and scrambled to hide his phone, but his hand slipped. The device hit the floor with a loud thwack.

Instantly, the eyes of the entire class were on him.

Lu Min picked up his lesson plan and spared him a glance. “Come to my office after class.”

When Ran Muqiu finally shuffled into Lu Min’s office, the man was leisurely brewing tea.

His shirt sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, revealing lean forearms. His watch had already been removed and set aside. His other hand was pressed against the lid of the teapot as he poured water into a cup.

Ran Muqiu moved slowly toward the desk.

Lu Min set down the teapot, looked at him, and tapped the desk with his index finger. “Hand it over.”

Ran Muqiu blinked. “Huh?”

Lu Min lowered his gaze, looking toward the boy’s pocket.

The Nancheng High school uniform trousers were of the most unflattering, baggy design, completely lacking any shape. Since Ran Muqiu was even more slender than the average boy, it was easy to see the outline of an object in his pocket.

Seeing him staring at his leg, Ran Muqiu quickly covered it with his hand. Lu Min lifted his eyes to meet his; after a moment of internal conflict, Ran Muqiu reluctantly pulled the device out.

Lu Min reached out to take it.

His fingers brushed against the boy’s hand first.

Despite his lean frame, the boy’s palm was fleshy and his fingers were soft, feeling almost as if they were boneless to the touch.

Lu Min paused. He shifted his hand down slightly, moving from Ran Muqiu’s hand to the edge of the phone.

He easily plucked the device from the boy’s grasp, gave it a small shake, and dropped it into his desk drawer right in front of him. “Confiscated.”

Ran Muqiu stood there, dumbfounded.

“You can go back now,” Lu Min added. “Don’t play with your phone in class, and don’t get involved in early romance.”

Ran Muqiu: “?”

Ran Muqiu snapped out of his daze, wondering if Lu Min had seen him and Li Zhu exchanging secret texts and glances. He immediately offered an assurance: “I won’t. Everyone in our class is a boy.”

Technically, Nancheng High was a co-ed school, but whether for the original author’s convenience in writing adult scenes or some other reason, the class the protagonist belonged to had been designated as all-male.

Lu Min spared him a glance. On his composed, handsome face, there was no expression as he coldly spat out a few words:

“That is exactly why I am reminding you.”