“I’m definitely not going back with him tonight,” Eric Bennett didn’t know if she was talking to herself, to her grandma, or to David Reed. “No one try to persuade me. I’m staying here, I need some air.”

“Okay.” David Reed nodded.

“When we’re done eating, I’ll leave as soon as I say so,” Eric Bennett said. “David, keep up and don’t dawdle.”

“Got it.” David Reed raised his hand and flashed an OK sign to the people behind him.

Edward Clark hadn’t told anyone about being cursed out in all sorts of ways in his friend requests, but the guys in the dorm still found out.

It just took him another two days to finally bring it up.

“Should we try to do something about it?” Adam Brooks asked. “Honestly, if you hadn’t said anything, we wouldn’t have asked, but it’s been two or three days, right? It hasn’t stopped at all. It’s like they’ve found a new way to get their kicks by insulting you.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Edward Clark kept eating.

“Tell Mr. Clark about it,” Jason Reed said. “He’ll definitely help sort it out. This is really messing with your mood—how are you supposed to study?”

“It’s not affecting me.” Edward Clark took a sip of soup. The cafeteria food was a bit salty today.

“So you’re just going to put up with it?” Matthew Cooper frowned.

“It’s not really putting up with it,” Edward Clark thought for a moment. “Let’s put it this way: these people aren’t even worth a single brain cell of mine. I don’t have time to waste on them.”

Adam Brooks looked at him. “Makes sense. All they want is to get under your skin.”

“If I even give them a glance, I lose.” Edward Clark put down his chopsticks, wiped his mouth, and stood up with his tray.

“Eating so fast isn’t good for your stomach,” Jason Reed couldn’t help but lecture him. “Where are you going?”

“Shopping.” Adam Brooks and Edward Clark answered at the same time.

Edward Clark didn’t really like sitting properly at his desk to study. That kind of pressure was too much for him. He preferred wandering around, checking out different places, zoning out wherever—on the track, on the street, by the plaza fountain—while the review material played over and over in his mind.

Being in a relatively unfamiliar place, without any familiar faces, made him feel grounded, like the whole world belonged to him alone.

I have a photographic memory. I’m as wise as Yao, Shun, Yu, and Tang. I’m the most badass king of the mountain in all the land.

He walked pretty far today. He’d been to this little plaza twice before. It was lively at night, not really the best place to study, but he wasn’t in the mood to study tonight anyway.

He just wanted to watch life at the foot of the mountain.

In the distance, a teenager jumped onto a rail with his skateboard, fell, and slid another two meters. Under the lights, someone was doing trick shots at the basketball hoop, the chain net clanging loudly. Twenty meters away, a few girls were singing with guitars in their arms...

So lively.

And behind him, there was a street hustler.

“Read my fortune, just say a few words, right? Men left, women right? So you read my left hand?”

And a fool eager to be scammed.

“No,” the hustler didn’t seem interested in scamming this kind of person. “Can you not say that every time you see me?”

“You’ve never read my fortune,” the fool said. “We’ve known each other four or five years, right? Not that close, but still...”

“Not today, he’s in a bad mood,” another voice, probably the hustler’s assistant, chimed in. “Maybe next time.”

Of course not. It was too sudden. The master hustler probably hadn’t had time to dig up any info on the fool. No way he’d do it today.

But—

“Fine,” the hustler clicked his tongue. “Go buy me a bottle of water.”

Edward Clark perked up, listening intently to what was happening behind him.

The fool quickly came back with water. “How much?”

“Your hand,” the hustler said.

A few seconds later, he added, “You have an older brother or sister, right?”

“Yeah.” The fool sounded surprised. “That’s right.”

“You had a serious illness or something else happened to you in upper elementary or middle school, right?” the hustler asked again.

“I... damn!” The fool’s voice shot up. “I got in a car accident in seventh grade! I’ve never told anyone about that! How did you know? How can you tell?”

“Guessed.” The hustler said.

Edward Clark couldn’t help but turn around and glance behind him.

If that was real, it was pretty amazing.

Three people were sitting on the steps behind him. The one in the middle was probably the hustler, and the person on the right was holding out his left hand.

The hustler was young, about the same age as him.

But when he looked up and glanced over, Edward Clark raised an eyebrow.

...Could this be Brian Foster’s long-lost brother?

The hustler had a lollipop in his mouth. After a few seconds of eye contact, seeing that Edward Clark wasn’t about to look away, he rolled the lollipop around with his tongue and pointed the stick straight at Edward Clark.

“What are you looking at?” He lifted his chin.

Chapter 3

Watching how you scam people.

Edward Clark didn’t say anything, just smiled, glanced at the hustler a couple more times, and turned back around.

“Go on,” the fool said.

The hustler didn’t say anything. Edward Clark could feel the gaze from behind.

When it comes to scamming, the main scammer definitely doesn’t want anyone around except the mark, but he wasn’t planning to leave. He was actually pretty interested to hear what happened next.