What Bad Intentions Could a Spoiled Little Brat Possibly have? - Chapter 40.1

It was like… a young couple having a petty quarrel.

The phone had been vibrating incessantly. In a gap between checking messages, Cheng Huai lifted his head, only to suddenly collide with a pair of dark, sunken eyes.

Unnoticed by Cheng Huai, Fu Zheng had already finished his low-voiced conversation with Professor Gu. At this moment, he was quietly gazing in Cheng Huai’s direction. Those eyes betrayed no emotion, yet it felt as if they had been watching him this way for a long time.

Cheng Huai’s heart skipped a beat. For some reason, even though he hadn’t done anything wrong, he felt inexplicably guilty.

During the second half of the assessment, several other students took turns going up to demonstrate. What algorithms they discussed or what clever ideas they showcased, Cheng Huai didn’t hear a word of it. His attention and gaze were entirely tethered to Fu Zheng.

The occasional movement of the other man’s fingertips flipping through the roster, the slight adjustment of his sitting posture, or even the minute arc of his neck turning to listen intently all of these easily tugged at Cheng Huai’s nerves.

Cheng Huai was immersed in this involuntary gaze, completely unaware of his own abnormal focus. However, Mo Qing, sitting beside him, took all of this in.

Looking at Cheng Huai’s slightly dazed profile, and then following his gaze toward that man with the overwhelming presence not far away, a certain blurry suspicion in Mo Qing’s heart gradually became clear, subsequently turning into a complex and difficult-to-describe taste.

Time trickled by second by second, and finally, Gu Yutang made the final call: “Everyone’s performance was quite good. Today was just meant to provide a platform for you to display yourselves, and it counts as a self-introduction using the answer sheets you submitted. There will be no eliminations for this inspection. Welcome everyone to officially join the laboratory!”

These words were undoubtedly a reassuring pill. Upon hearing that there would be no eliminations, the originally distressed crowd immediately broke into surprised and happy smiles.

Fu Zheng stood up along with Gu Yutang, accompanying him toward the door.

Gu Yutang stopped at the door, but didn’t leave immediately. Instead, he turned around and, with a hint of warning, patted Fu Zheng’s arm with deep meaning, instructing him earnestly: “You were the one who advocated for recruiting these people. Since you’ve taken a fancy to them, you must take responsibility for the follow-up and lead them well.”

Fu Zheng nodded slightly, his attitude respectful: “Yes. I was also someone you recruited back then, Teacher. I will do well in this ‘passing of the torch.'”

Gu Yutang gave a huff: “Don’t give me that. Don’t think that just because I’m an old man, I can’t see through the convoluted little schemes of you young people. I may be old, but my ears aren’t deaf and my eyes aren’t failing.”

“I wouldn’t dare, Teacher.”

After seeing off Gu Yutang, the atmosphere in the laboratory loosened slightly, but it was far from relaxed.

Lu Jia clapped his hands, gathering everyone for a brief summary meeting to explain subsequent matters.

Unexpectedly, Fu Zheng did not leave. He walked back to his previous spot, pulled out a chair, and sat down. With his long legs crossed and his arm resting casually on the armrest, he assumed a posture of someone just there to audit.

The aura of a “Great God” diffused silently. The few polite clichés Lu Jia had prepared suddenly got stuck in his throat. After saying a few sentences, his confidence wavered, and his voice grew smaller and smaller.

As if seeking help, he turned his head to look at Fu Zheng: “Great God, do you have anything to add?”

Fu Zheng shook his head: “No. You continue. I’m waiting for someone.”

“Waiting for whom?” As soon as Lu Jia asked, everyone in the lab automatically shifted their gaze toward Cheng Huai.

Cheng Huai was looking down, and upon suddenly becoming the focus of everyone’s vision, he was startled. He lifted his head, and his eyes happened to meet Fu Zheng’s gaze in mid-air. He immediately withdrew his gaze, looked directly back at those staring at him, and said, “Why are you all looking at me? He didn’t say he was waiting for me.”

Fu Zheng watched him quietly, offering no evaluation of his words.

The invisible tension between the two made the atmosphere in the entire lab instantly thicken. No matter how much Lu Jia worshipped Fu Zheng, he only wanted to end this meeting filled with an eerie vibe immediately.

“Then…” Lu Jia looked back and forth between Fu Zheng and Cheng Huai several times, his expression hard to define as either envy or jealousy. “I’ll leave it at that. Meeting adjourned.”

“Cheng Huai, I heard a new Sichuan-style Malatang place opened at the school gate and the reviews are great. Want to go try it together?” Cheng Huai was bowing his head, stuffing his laptop into his backpack, when Mo Qing, beside him, leaned over and issued a natural invitation.

Cheng Huai’s instinctive reaction was to refuse. He couldn’t eat spicy food; even a little spicy stimulus was enough to make his skin break out in a red rash. Brother will definitely be angry.

The moment this thought surfaced, Cheng Huai himself froze for a second.

Since when did “whether Brother would be angry” become the subconscious yardstick for his decision-making?

At that exact moment, from the corner of his eye, he glimpsed that tall, upright figure leaving his seat and walking toward them unhurriedly. A surge of mixed rebellion, grievance, and “abandoning all hope” emotions rushed up.

Cheng Huai’s fingers tightened on the backpack strap.

Angry? What does Fu Zheng’s anger have to do with me? From the moment this person decided to move out, he lost the right to restrict me in the capacity of a brother.

“Sure. I happen to be hungry too. Let’s go try it.” Cheng Huai flashed a smile at Mo Qing that the latter considered practically radiant.

Mo Qing was stunned. He hadn’t expected Cheng Huai to agree; it was indeed quite unexpected. Seeing Fu Zheng getting closer and closer to them, Mo Qing frowned.

Fu Zheng had clearly heard their conversation. He walked straight to Cheng Huai’s side and, without any circumlocution, reached out and grabbed Cheng Huai’s wrist as he was about to pull the backpack zipper.

However, his gaze passed over Cheng Huai’s head and landed on Mo Qing’s face, stating in a flat tone: “He can’t eat spicy food.”

“I can!” Cheng Huai retorted almost immediately, violently shaking off Fu Zheng’s hand. He didn’t even turn his head to look at Fu Zheng, merely staring at Mo Qing and emphasizing with quickened speech: “How do you know if you can eat it without trying? There are plenty of things I haven’t tried. From now on, I’m going to try them all, one by one.”

Better to experience every single thing Fu Zheng previously strictly forbade him from touching.

“What are you going to try?” Fu Zheng’s voice sank.

“None of your business,” Cheng Huai snapped.

“Oh, right.” As if thinking the fire wasn’t burning bright enough, Cheng Huai grabbed the lapels of the oversized suit jacket he was wearing and, without the slightest hesitation, nimbly took it off and casually draped it over the back of a nearby chair.

In an instant, the body curves wrapped in that overly ostentatious black tight-fitting top and low-waist jeans were once again fully exposed. Cheng Huai turned to Fu Zheng with a cold smile and said, “Thank you… Senior.”

The surrounding people hadn’t fully left yet. Seeing this, even their speed of packing up slowed down. Everyone was holding their breath, listening to the commotion between the two. Someone had even begun silently thinking about how the post on the forum would be written.

Fu Zheng watched him throw a tantrum, without a trace of anger showing on his face.

Seeing this indifferent appearance of his made Cheng Huai even angrier. He simply retracted his smile, not wanting to look at Fu Zheng for another second. He violently swept the pens and notebook on the table into his backpack, zipped it up, and turned to leave with Mo Qing.

“Cheng Huai.”

Fu Zheng didn’t let him go. He grabbed Cheng Huai’s arm, forcefully draped the jacket over Cheng Huai’s shoulders again, and then took the backpack from Cheng Huai’s hand, saying to Mo Qing: “Sorry, he has other arrangements today.”

After speaking, ignoring Cheng Huai’s protest and in front of a room full of people, he gripped Cheng Huai’s wrist. Before Mo Qing could react, he led the person straight out of the lab, leaving the rest of the room staring at each other.

“I didn’t see that wrong, did I?” Lu Jia looked incredulous. Only after the two had left did he dare to speak. He looked at the others, seemingly seeking verification. “The rumors are all true? Isn’t Cheng Huai a pursuer of the Great God? Doesn’t the Great God never pay attention to pursuers? I feel like something isn’t quite right.”

A boy nearby who had been listening to the gossip immediately leaned in and lowered his voice to add: “Brother Lu, your information isn’t updated in time. The latest version has already spread. They say they are actually biological brothers the kind where one takes the father’s surname and one takes the mother’s.”

“Biological brothers?” Zhu Manni gave a cold huff, her molars grinding together. Her glamorous face was covered in a layer of frost.

“They’d better be biological brothers.” She deliberately emphasized those words, the irony and a certain sense of unwilling jealousy in her tone almost overflowing.

The “sole survivor” senior from the junior class, who hadn’t spoken much and was the only one to enter the second round of assessment, pushed his glasses up at this moment and joined the discussion leisurely with a playful tone as if he knew the inside story: “I actually heard a different rumor. It’s said that Cheng Huai’s initial resume was directly rejected in the first round by some blind person. As a result, that very day, our ‘mysterious’ Senior Fu Zheng went to vent his anger on that person’s behalf. Who knows which unlucky bastard ran into the line of fire.”

Lu Jia stood there as if petrified: “Wait, wait, wait. You’re saying after Cheng Huai’s resume was rejected, the Great God went to vent anger for him? How did he vent it?” If that were the case, how could he still be standing here in one piece?

Mo Qing leaned against the table with his arms crossed, his expression not looking good. He glanced at the tightly closed door and joined the conversation with a complex tone: “Otherwise, why do you think we appeared here? Senior Fu Zheng personally came to give us an elective lecture. After the class ended, he explicitly said the lab had relaxed its recruitment criteria this year and told everyone to contact him directly.”

Six people in total. Since the laboratory was established, there had never been a precedent for recruiting six people at once.

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