School's out.
Gu Chen wasn't in a hurry to leave. He propped his head up and stared at him, looking so happy that it was as if a movie had been shown during the last math class.
"Brother Chen, let's eat! What are you waiting for!" Yang Shuhuan shouted from the back door to the two people who were still sitting. "Let's have the new classmate together. I guess I'll invite you too, seeing how enthusiastic Brother Chen was this morning."
Xiang Yu didn't intend to agree, but Gu Chen was too proactive and pushed him along before he could refuse.
The four of them walked together, with Wang Zehao and Yang Shuhuan leading the way and the other two following behind. Their classmates were chasing and pulling each other along. Xiang Yu was bumped by a classmate who couldn't stop in time, and before he could regain his balance, someone reached out and pulled him up.
Xiang Yu: "...Thank you."
Gu Chen: "Don't be so formal. We're like-minded friends, why say thank you?"
As soon as the four entered the cafeteria, a wave of heat and the aroma of food wafted over them. Every window was packed with people, and Xiang Yu instantly lost his appetite. He turned to leave, but Gu Chen grabbed him.
"Why are you going to eat?"
"There are many people."
"Hey!" Wang Zehao sighed when he heard Xiang Yu say there were many people. "Don't worry, new classmate, we don't need to queue for food. Someone will get the food for us in advance."
After saying that, he waved towards the corner and called out, "Luo Zai!"
Xu Youluo was alone, tending to five meals. After the four people sat down, he smiled, revealing his dimples, which made him quite endearing.
"I arrived late today and didn't have time to ask, so I just got the same food. Is that okay?"
"That's great, thank you Luo Zai." Wang Zehao picked up his chopsticks and started eating, making a lot of noise. Yang Shuhuan, who was sitting next to him, nudged him with his leg.
Wang Zehao retaliated without backing down, and the two nearly came to blows.
"Sigh." Gu Chen sighed. Before he could even speak, Xiang Yu saw the two of them stiffen and quickly fall silent to eat, as if they had just been acting.
What kind of training does it take to develop such a reaction speed?
Xiang Yu glanced at Gu Chen's profile beside him. The latter showed no sign of eating and was chatting with Xu Youluo diagonally opposite him. When he felt the gaze turn to him, he gave a perfect smile that showed eight teeth.
"What's wrong, deskmate? Don't you like the food?"
"No." Xiang Yu quickly gave a reply, afraid of being dragged into a long explanation.
Their panicked behavior was exactly the same as the two people from before.
The five boys, who were in their developmental stage, had big appetites. They ate all the three meat dishes and two vegetable dishes and two meals. Wang Zehao was still not full, so he dragged Yang Shuhuan to the convenience store. The other three went back to the dormitory first.
The dormitory was small, a four-person room with bunk beds and desks underneath. The room was full of students who stayed overnight, coming and going as they pleased. Apart from the mattresses on the beds, there was no sign that anyone had ever lived there.
The empty bed was next to Gu Chen's. Without waiting for Xiang Yu's consent, Gu Chen took the three-piece bedding set he had gotten from the dormitory manager from his arms and threw it on the upper bunk, and then started making the bed for him.
This enthusiasm is excessive.
Unable to accept this, Xiang Yu, who hadn't said much the whole way, finally spoke up: "You don't need to do this, I can do it myself." After saying that, he quickly climbed up to the top bunk, leaned over, and reached out to grab the blanket that Gu Chen was holding.
“It’s alright, I’ll help you. We’re just idling around anyway, and people can’t be idle,” Gu Chen raised his hand, not intending to give it to him, and continued, “Do you know why? Because life is finite, but its value is infinite. Why don’t we use our finite lives to create infinite value? As Lu Xun said, to make a person’s finite life more effective—”
"Here we are, brothers!" Before he could finish speaking, the door was kicked open without warning. Zhang Boyuan was in a good mood because his phone hadn't been confiscated. He was carrying a bag of snacks to share. When he couldn't see anyone on the bunk, he looked up at the bunk. From his angle, it looked like the class monitor had one arm around a new classmate.
"Holy crap?!" Zhang Boyuan was completely dumbfounded.
Xiang Yu stood up. Gu Chen turned around, and the two stared at him with puzzled expressions, wondering what he was up to.
Seeing a blue quilt cover pulled between the two, Zhang Boyuan breathed a sigh of relief, thinking to himself that he had really been influenced by the Wen 2 Women's Army.
During English class in the morning, the girls in Class 2 of Literature got excited when they heard Gu Chen say, "My deskmate is the prettiest girl in Class 2 of Literature." After class, they gathered together to chat. Zhang Boyuan, who was used to gossiping with the girls, went over to listen and was forced to ship them as a couple for the entire break.
"Make the bed," Zhang Boyuan said, putting the snacks on the table. "Don't bother making the bed, come down and eat."
The door wasn't closed. Hearing familiar voices outside, he turned around and saw Yang Shuhuan and Wang Zehao about to part ways at the door. He immediately shouted at Wang Zehao, who was about to enter apartment 202 across the hall, "Eating snacks, you little rat!"
"Here you are!" Upon hearing that there were snacks, Wang Zehao rushed in faster than anyone else. Yang Shuhuan hadn't even entered the door when Wang Zehao's size made her stumble, and she clung to the door frame.
He came in with a dark face, closed the door, and muttered, "What a jerk."
Xiang Yu had already come down and was sitting in his seat, not moving towards the other side. Gu Chen, on the other hand, had just made the bed and jumped down to go over, but saw him sitting there without moving.
"My deskmate? Let's go together."
Hearing the commotion and seeing that Xiang Yu didn't seem inclined to come over, Zhang Boyuan reached into the bag, took out a few items, and stuffed them into Xiang Yu's hand, saying, "New classmate, don't be shy, come on, eat with us."
Gu Chen took a bag of Want Want mini cream puffs, a bag of Want Want mini crisps, and a can of O-Pao fruit milk and opened them.
He didn't forcefully return the remaining snacks, but he didn't eat them either. After putting the snacks on the table, he didn't know what to do. He wasn't good at chatting with so many people, so he simply listened to them talk.
"Brother Chen, did you ask? Is Luo Zai's sister feeling better?" Wang Zehao asked Gu Chen while chewing on potato chips.
"The bone is injured, and he can't move for the time being." Gu Chen drank half a can of fruit milk, waved it in front of Xiang Yu, who shook his head, and then drank it all in one go.
"What's wrong? What happened to Sister Luo?" Zhang Boyuan got excited as soon as he heard something, and didn't care whether it was true or not, he just wanted to hear it all.
“Hey,” Wang Zehao opened another bag of Oreos and said, “On Mid-Autumn Festival, Brother Chen took a few of us to the nursing home to bring warmth, and Sister Luo went with us. On the way back, we got into a rear-end collision.”
At this point, Wang Zehao straightened up and lowered his voice, saying, "Isn't it strange? The car bumper was fine, but Luo Zai's sister broke her leg."
"Get out of here, what's with the weird stuff?" Gu Chen frowned upon hearing this. "It's a scientific society. Don't spread feudal superstitions. Strengthen your legal awareness and consciously resist the invasion of superstitious ideas, understand? We must uphold science, uphold—"
"I understand, I understand, stop talking, Brother Chen." Wang Zehao quickly stopped him from continuing and changed the subject until he yawned, then put down the snacks in his hand and said, "I'm full, I'm going back to rest first, you guys take your time eating."
Wang Zehao pushed open the door and went straight to the other side. Without him as the main force, the other four people couldn't eat much of the bag of snacks. In fact, only Yang Shuhuan and Zhang Boyuan were eating. They had finished half of them and couldn't eat anymore, so they planned to take them to the classroom in the afternoon to share.
The lunch break is from 12:00 to 2:00 in the afternoon, and with more than an hour left, Xiangyu planned to rest well.
The dormitory was built facing south, and the corner bed was in the back, with a wall above your head facing north.
Gu Chen continued to sleep in the same bed as him, near the door.
The metal bunk bed creaked and groaned, and Xiang Yu knew that Gu Chen had finished cleaning up the snacks and trash and climbed up. She closed her eyes to fall asleep.
Two more snores sounded. Zhang Boyuan and Yang Shuhuan had already fallen asleep. Xiang Yu felt sleepy and, half-asleep, heard someone calling him.
"Hey, deskmate." She spoke softly, afraid of waking up the other people in the dorm.
Xiang Yu was about to fall asleep and didn't want to talk to anyone. He had thought he could deal with it in the afternoon, but then he thought that although his deskmate was a bit silly, he was a good person and maybe he shouldn't treat him like this.
"Hoo—" Xiang Yu took a deep breath, forcing himself to clear his head, and got up to look over there.
Gu Chen was indeed awake. Seeing him sit up excitedly, he quietly called his deskmate a few times to call Xiang Yu over.
"what."
"Could you put your pillow here to sleep?"
"Huh?" Xiang Yu didn't hear clearly, or rather, he didn't believe what he heard.
He didn't believe that any idiot in the world would wake up his roommate just to make him turn around.
“Your head is facing this way, so we’re head to head.” Gu Chen emphasized again, looking quite serious: “Sleeping head to toe is bad luck, it’s taboo.”
?
Damn it!
Who said earlier that a scientific society should resist superstition?
[Author's Note: Xiang Yu: My fist has hardened]
Chapter 5: Entrapment Enforcement in Progress
Chapter Five: A Missed Opportunity: Entrapment in Progress
The fact that Erque, who was both resisting feudal superstition and afraid of breaking taboos, was serious for an entire afternoon was something Xiang Yu hadn't expected. Apart from being pulled aside by Gu Chen to do some student surveys during breaks, Gu Chen basically didn't say anything strange to him.
In the first semester of the second year of high school at Xinfeng No.1 Middle School, evening self-study was only set up for students who stayed overnight. Day students could go home after finishing their four afternoon classes.
As Li Yifan had said in the morning, Xiang Yu planned to wait for him at the school gate.
"Hey, don't rush off yet," Gu Chen grabbed the other's backpack strap, took out his phone and waved it in front of him, saying, "Let's add each other's contact information so we can stay in touch."
Xiang Yu didn't refuse and added her as a WeChat friend.
Gu Chen uses his real name on WeChat, and his profile picture is a landscape drawing made with crayons, with a color scheme full of childlike innocence.
Xiang Yu didn't look closely. After confirming that he had added the friend, he put his phone in his pocket, nodded to Gu Chen, and said goodbye, "I'm leaving now."
Gu Chen remained serious, saying little, and waved with a smile: "See you tomorrow."
The entrance to No. 1 Middle School was bustling with activity. Xiang Yu felt uncomfortable seeing such a large crowd. Fortunately, Li Yifan had come out early, and the two of them rode together on a small electric scooter, wearing helmets, and sped home safely.
"Cousin, my mom said she and my dad are working overtime tonight and won't be home, so we'll have to figure out what to eat on our own." Li Yifan replied to the message while sitting on the entryway floor, taking off his slippers. "I can't cook, do you, cousin?"
"No," Xiang Yu said truthfully.
"How about we make do with instant noodles? Or should we order takeout?" Li Yifan is a bit of a homebody. His parents often work overtime, and he's happy to be left alone at home. He often eats takeout while playing games.
We have consistently adhered to the principle of not going out unless absolutely necessary.
"Anything is fine." Xiang Yu is not picky about food, except for certain ingredients.
After finishing their instant noodles and cleaning up, the two went back to their respective rooms without disturbing each other. Xiang Yu went back to his room and only turned on a desk lamp. Under the bright light of the lamp, he finished his schoolwork. After finishing, he saw that there was still time, so he did another math test. The last two big questions were his favorite types of questions. After doing them once, he checked the answers to make sure they were correct, and then began to study other problem-solving methods. He didn't stop until he had filled five sheets of draft paper on both sides.
Xiang Yu checked the answers and found that he had gotten all the points he was entitled to, except for the last fill-in-the-blank question where he lost 5 points due to a calculation error. He took out a red pen and wrote 145 at the top of the paper, then copied the wrong questions into his error correction notebook. He then tidied up the paper and the draft paper and put it in his desk drawer.
After finishing these tasks, Xiang Yu realized that night had fallen outside. He glanced at the time; it was a little past eight o'clock, still a long time before bed. He didn't want to continue working on his problems, and he had no other way to pass the time. Feeling a bit bored, he suddenly remembered what he used to do at this time.
-System: In entrapment enforcement
"..." Xiang Yu was stunned, not knowing how to answer. In fact, he often did this in City B.
The B City campus is divided into zones, and his area is a mix of junior and senior high schools, with particularly serious bad habits. It's common for them to arrange fights one day and brawl the next. There are plenty of good-for-nothing hooligans both inside and outside the school.
When Xiang Yu was in junior high school, he dealt with a group of thugs who asked him for protection money. He unexpectedly discovered that stopping such people from doing evil could earn him moral points, so he started 'entrapment'.
He would go out after dark, deliberately loiter in places frequented by thugs and hooligans, and wait for those fools to come and collect protection money from him. He would beat up as many as they came, and after accumulating his moral points, he would leave.
After Xiangyu was bound to the system, most of his morality points were obtained through this method.
Taking advantage of a bug where it was dark and facial features couldn't be clearly seen, and with the system's tacit approval, he beat up thugs from junior high to high school. Eventually, the local thugs remembered him. Whenever he appeared, they would either disappear or fawn over him, calling him "big brother" and offering him cigarettes.
The reformed thugs, unable to take action against him, chose to simply ignore him.
It's said that it's fun to be rejected when you're not interested. In the end, more and more hooligans recognized him, and more and more people called him "Big Brother." One day in his first year of high school, he could see several people calling him "Big Brother" just by going out of the school gate. In addition, he had dealt with a few school bullies and troublemakers on campus. Word spread, and he himself became a school bully.
Whatever, he has social anxiety and never intended to clarify things with so many people.
Only the sense of power and conquest that the White Tiger constellation brought him could overcome his temporary social anxiety. What could he do? Beat them all up and make them lie down and believe he wasn't a school bully? Nonsense.
The school bully thought the entrapment method was great; according to the system, he was indirectly contributing to the fight against organized crime.