CHAPTER 423: CHAPTER 419: ZHOU LI AND BAOZI: BAOZI WINS

"Zhou Li! Run!"

"Quick, get Lord Dumpling to safety! It’s poisonous!"

Lord Dumpling wailed in Zhou Li’s arms, clutching his clothes with its little paws, reminding him.

Zhou Li didn’t move. He just turned his head, searching for the source of the smell.

First to be ruled out is Chang Xiaoxiang.

Chang Xiaoxiang was a diligent and clean person. He usually took care of the dormitory’s hygiene, which included, but was not limited to, mopping the floor and scrubbing the toilets. Sometimes, if the mess on someone else’s desk was too much for him to bear, he would compulsively tidy it up for them.

He had a touch of OCD.

Zhou Li quickly locked onto the targets—

Chen Yang’s numerous sneakers on the shoe rack. Each shoe was stuffed with socks, roughly at a one-to-three ratio of shoe to socks, but the task wasn’t even complete, as a large pile of socks still lay in the corner of the rack.

And Liu Zhengming’s leftover food on his desk.

Seemed like sour pickled green beans with minced pork...

All of them, truly talented individuals.

Zhou Li shook his head, feeling utterly helpless.

Looking up, he met Chang Xiaoxiang’s gaze and saw the same expression on his face.

Clearly, Chang Xiaoxiang was also at his wits’ end. These were matters of personal habits; he couldn’t very well wash Chen Yang’s socks for him, nor could he throw away the leftovers that Liu Zhengming might still want to eat this morning.

"You have my sympathies," Zhou Li said to him.

"Oh, I’m alright; I’ve gotten used to it. It’s you, Dorm Head, who really has to put up with it. Oh, and Lord Dumpling too," Chang Xiaoxiang said, pausing for a moment. "But maybe they’ll restrain themselves a bit now that you’re back. Last semester, they weren’t like this at all. This semester, it’s just... beyond words."

"I’ll have a word with them."

"Who are you talking to..."

Chen Yang’s groggy voice came from the side. Zhou Li turned his head and saw Chen Yang propping himself up, revealing a muscular, tattooed torso. His hair was as messy as a certain Huang Bo meme.

"Oh, the Dorm Head is back..."

"I brought you all soup dumplings," Zhou Li said helplessly. "Get up and eat. You have class this morning."

"What time is it?"

"Seven-thirty."

"Which period do we have class?"

"The second block."

"Still early then..."

Having said that, Chen Yang flopped back down.

A moment later, he poked his head out again, probably hungry by now, and said to Zhou Li, "Dorm Head, could you pass me the soup dumplings?"

Zhou Li: ...

Zhou Li felt rather bewildered, unsure what was happening. He vaguely remembered that last semester—no, wait, it must have been the semester before last... Yes, the semester before last, the guys in the dorm were still full of anticipation for university life.

What was it again—

Study hard;

Socialize actively;

Exercise diligently;

Become a new version of yourself.

They seemed determined to reach the pinnacle of their lives in university... It hadn’t been that long. How had things become like this?

Chang Xiaoxiang explained, "The main reason is that we spent all of last semester at home, which made us lazy. Plus, this semester we have even fewer classes. Besides Thursdays, we have at most two classes a day on other days. Lying around in the dorm every day has made us completely lazy too."

"Exactly!" Chen Yang’s voice chimed in from beside him.

"And they frequently skip classes!" Chang Xiaoxiang added. "They’ve become such old hands at slacking; they don’t even want to get out of bed when the teacher comes for inspection."

"Exactly!"

...

Zhou Li was silently grateful he didn’t live in the dorm. Otherwise, influenced by them, he worried whether Brother Nan could save him from it. If not, wouldn’t he just become another useless male god?

No, that’s not right.

Considering Chen Yang’s appearance just now, with his disheveled hair, I might not even be able to keep the title of ’male god.’

「Nine fifty.」

Zhou Li, expressionless, carried Lord Dumpling on his way to class, accompanied by three clean-cut, energetic male university students.

It wasn’t Zhou Li who had made Chen Yang and Liu Zhengming tidy themselves up like this. After getting up, they had spent about two minutes washing their hair and another five blow-drying it until it was fluffy. Then, they changed out of the ’pajamas’ they’d worn for a long time into clean clothes from their wardrobes, and that was that.

On the way, they met classmates. Chen Yang knew every single one of them, greeting them cheerfully and brightly.

The group gradually grew in size.

They reached the classroom.

Zhou Li placed Lord Dumpling in the drawer and made a pact with her: when the bell rang, they’d play a game where the first one to make a sound lost. Then he sat down and started playing with his phone.

A girl holding books came up to him.

Zhou Li looked up—

A round, expressionless face.

Little Cousin lowered her head, pulled a piece of paper from the books she was holding, and handed it to him. "Brother Nan asked me to give this to you. It’s a blank leave request form."

"Oh."

Zhou Li reached out and took it.

Little Cousin sat down beside him, her face serious. "Can you tell me where that really beautiful Taoist temple is? I want to go take photos of the ginkgo trees. I want to participate in a photography festival hosted by Caiyun."

"Then you can probably forget about it," Zhou Li shook his head. "Many seasoned photographers know about it, and their equipment is better than yours."

"Where is it?"

...

"I brought you the leave request form," Baozi tried to appeal to his emotions.

"Brother Nan must have given you something for this," Zhou Li knew this Little Cousin well. Without any incentive, she’d still do things for you, but she wouldn’t be this obliging. However, he wasn’t deliberately withholding the information. After thinking it over, he said, "I’ll tell you if you treat me to hot pot."

"I only have a few hundred yuan left."

...

Zhou Li quietly glanced at her, observing her reaction.

However, for some reason, I couldn’t detect a hint of urgency on Baozi’s face. In fact, Baozi even had the composure to tease Tuanzi in the drawer. This made me feel like my plan to string her along and make her anxious had failed.

That’s not right— Or perhaps Baozi was doing this deliberately, to make me think my tactic was useless so he’d give up and tell her.

Zhou Li pursed his lips tightly, silent.

The bell for the start of class rang.

The game had begun.

During the class, Baozi tried twice more. Zhou Li remained silent, and she still seemed in no hurry.

Zhou Li looked at his watch; class was almost over.

He first glanced at Tuanzi, who was squeezed into the drawer and staring intently at him—their competition had reached a deadlock. Then he looked at Baozi, noting her meticulous note-taking. He even felt himself wavering, almost telling her right then and there.

「Half a minute later.」

The teacher turned off the projector and clapped his hands. "Let’s end today’s class here. The class representative, please collect the homework. Then you’re dismissed."

Homework??

Zhou Li was completely baffled.

The Little Cousin beside him calmly turned her head, looking at him.

Zhou Li: ?

Just then, Little Cousin unhurriedly took out an A4 sheet from beneath her books. It was filled with writing. "You and Brother Nan skipped class last week, right? The teacher assigned homework, and this time it counts towards our regular grades..."

The implication was clear: Had he done it?

Zhou Li grew even more confused. Glancing again at Tuanzi, who was watching him like a hawk from the drawer, he felt caught, unsure whether to speak or stay quiet, momentarily stuck.

Baozi nodded, having gotten her answer.

Her fingers gently rubbed together.

WHOOSH. The A4 paper became two sheets.

Excellent!

How thoughtful Little Cousin is, so considerate! Not only did she write one for me, but she even used different handwriting.

Baozi quietly observed his expression, feeling extremely satisfied internally, yet she showed nothing. She only said, "The other one is for Brother Nan. Last night, Brother Nan used Huai Xu’s WeChat to ask Mianmian to write it for her. She couldn’t get up this morning, so she asked me to bring it."

Zhou Li: ...

Baozi continued to watch him as his delight turned to disappointment. She pursed her lips slightly, her face still unreadable.

Her fingers rubbed together again.

Three sheets.

She said, "This one is the one I wrote for you."

Zhou Li: ...

He took a deep breath, then let it out.

Zhou Li slowly gave a thumbs-up, a gesture of conceding defeat.

Little Cousin looked at him without saying a word.

Zhou Li glanced again at Tuanzi and resignedly spoke, "Wannian Ao, Changping Lookout. You can find it with GPS navigation."

Instantly, Tuanzi burst from the drawer in delight, leaping into Zhou Li’s arms, her little paws patting his... unmentionable area... excitedly. "You lost! Zhou Li, you lost!"

Zhou Li: ...

Just as he was about to say a couple of words to Tuanzi, a pen was extended in front of him, followed by Baozi’s clear, pleasant voice—

"Write it down."

...

Zhou Li silently took the pen.