Chapter 7
Upon seeing the figure of Long Aotian, a brief calm washed over Wang Shuo's heart.
He first glanced at Hu Yuying, then turned his gaze to Long Aotian.
Noticing Wang Shuo looking at him, Long Aotian tilted his head slightly and suddenly broke into a lazy yet arrogant smile. "Did you not hear me? Do you need me to repeat that?"
He was clearly rebellious and carefree, yet his gaze was sharp—no, it was more accurate to say it was his aura.
The aura was powerful...
Wang Shuo instinctively swallowed hard.
People are like that; when they encounter someone weaker than themselves, they feel emboldened and act particularly arrogant. But when faced with someone stronger, even if they might still feel unconvinced inside, their attitude inevitably softens.
Looking at Hu Yuying, Wang Shuo felt that if he didn’t apologize, Long Aotian would definitely beat him up.
The atmosphere clearly indicated that he was there to protect Hu Yuying!
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have deliberately thrown your things on the ground."
Upon hearing Wang Shuo's apology, the tension in Hu Yuying's heart instantly relaxed.
She couldn't quite describe the feeling, but it was as if she suddenly felt much lighter.
Not just physically, but more so mentally.
Hearing Wang Shuo's apology, Hu Yuying instinctively wanted to say, "It's okay!"
But before she could voice it, she felt two pokes on her shoulder.
She looked at Long Aotian.
He raised an eyebrow and gave her a knowing look.
Hu Yuying quickly caught on, took a deep breath, and said, albeit with a noticeable lack of confidence, "You... you still need to compensate for the stationery you broke."
Wang Shuo pursed his lips, unwilling but could only nod, because he knew he couldn't take on Long Aotian. More importantly, facing Long Aotian felt like confronting a group of people from society.
He had no doubt that Long Aotian really knew those people: "Alright."
He immediately pulled out a handful of pens from his pencil case.
As a professional slacker, those pens were merely decorative in his pencil case, so they were all quite new.
Hu Yuying only took five pens because that was how many were broken.
She didn’t take the rest, returning them all.
This marked a new beginning, and Long Aotian turned to leave.
Seeing this, Hu Yuying hurriedly followed.
Once back at her seat, Hu Yuying looked at the pens in her hand and couldn't help but smile.
It wasn't just about receiving five pens; it was the apology and the entire process of getting her pens back that made her happy.
In the past, when she was bullied, it was just bullying.
When her pens were broken, they were simply broken.
No one ever apologized to her, nor did anyone ever return what they had damaged.
It seemed that damaging her belongings and bullying her was just a given.
But today was different; not only did she receive an apology, but she also got compensation for her damaged items.
If this had happened before, it would have been unthinkable!
"Thank you, Long Aotian." In just one morning, she had already lost count of how many times she had thanked him, but she still wanted to say it.
It seemed that apart from thanking him, she didn’t know what else to do!
"What are you thanking me for? You found the courage to reclaim your dignity yourself. Damaging your things should be compensated for," Long Aotian said, glancing at Hu Yuying before continuing slowly, "If you don’t have the guts, then it’s all for nothing."
What Hu Yuying needed most right now was encouragement and affirmation from others. A casual word of encouragement like that could slowly help her regain her confidence.
Hu Yuying wasn’t foolish; she knew that if Long Aotian hadn’t stood behind her today, she wouldn’t have had the courage.
By noon, Long Aotian glanced at Hu Yuying, who was still taking notes. "Let’s go eat."
Hu Yuying hesitated for a moment and said softly, "I... I’m not that hungry yet."
"Who asked if you’re hungry? You’re my sidekick now."
"Do you understand what a sidekick means? It means wherever I go, you follow."
"Let’s go!"
"Okay, fine." Hu Yuying stood up, first tidying her things, then glancing at Long Aotian's messy desk.
She quickly cleaned it up too before following Long Aotian out of the classroom.
Walking behind Long Aotian, he was tall—at least for someone like Hu Yuying.
As she watched his back, Hu Yuying carefully avoided stepping on his shadow, afraid of making a misstep.
"Excuse me, could you wait a moment?"
Long Aotian continued walking forward, as he didn’t think anyone would call out to him, given the portrayal of the cruel male antagonist in the original story.
"Wait a moment, please." Two figures jogged up to Long Aotian.
They were two girls, slightly out of breath, with apologetic expressions on their faces. "Sorry, could we bother you for a moment? We’re doing a campus promotion."
Long Aotian looked at one of the girls, his lips twitching slightly.
She was exquisite, beautiful, and elegant—stunning, really. Seeing her, Long Aotian couldn’t help but recall the description of the second female lead, Bai Yueguang, from the original novel.
Before Long Aotian could collect his thoughts, the girl had already pointed the microphone at him. "Excuse me, do you think the cafeteria food needs any improvements?"
Due to the height difference, even though the girl was trying her best to hold the microphone up, it still fell short.
Long Aotian frowned slightly and subtly bent down a bit. "I haven’t eaten there yet, so I wouldn’t know what needs improvement."
Straightening up again, he added, "We’re going to eat now, sorry."
Then he led Hu Yuying toward the cafeteria.
Li Qingxue had interviewed many people, but no one had ever answered like he did.
Moreover, his bending down was quite gentlemanly...
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**Chapter 9: Regret and Awakening, Her Love Will Be Passionate**
"Chen Ge, it’s Li Qingxue." Gao Quan nudged Ye Liangchen with his shoulder, whispering a reminder as he watched the girl interviewing ahead.
He thought this was an opportunity.
If Chen Ge really couldn’t let go of Li Qingxue, he could use this chance to clarify things with her.
Ye Liangchen coldly observed the scene.
His palm involuntarily clenched.
Seeing Hu Yuying obediently following Long Aotian made his heart bleed.
But he could only endure it now.
What he hadn’t expected was that by actively rejecting Li Qingxue, it would lead to her meeting Long Aotian ahead of schedule.
In his dream, Li Qingxue had rejected him, but when she saw the disappointment in his eyes, she inexplicably felt anxious and disoriented. Because he had been hurt, he didn’t wait for Li Qingxue to go to the cafeteria together for the first time.
This led to Li Qingxue being in a bad mood and ultimately not going to the cafeteria, which meant she didn’t participate in the school anniversary interview activity!
The real intersection between Li Qingxue and Long Aotian should have happened after he had saved Hu Yuying and spent half a month with her...
But now, because he had actively rejected Li Qingxue, it caused a brief deviation from the dream.
Ye Liangchen slowly shook his head. "There’s nothing to say!"
Because he knew this was just the beginning. Later, Li Qingxue would start to feel out of place and eventually remember how good it was when he was by her side.
Then she would suddenly realize that he had unknowingly occupied a significant place in her heart.
At that point, she would regret it, awaken to her feelings, and come looking for him.
If he went to her now, how would it be any different from when he was following her before?
But seeing Li Qingxue interview Long Aotian still pained him!
She was his Bai Yueguang, the beautiful memory that had occupied his entire adolescence.
Taking a deep breath, Ye Liangchen kept telling himself to hold on, to hold on, to definitely hold on. Li Qingxue had spent too long with him, making it hard for her to see his true feelings.
She couldn’t distinguish whether she liked him more or if it was just the familiarity of friendship.
She needed time; only time could help her see her true feelings.
Only then would she realize that not only had she occupied his entire adolescence, but he had also occupied hers.
Once a woman regrets and awakens, her love can be incredibly intense. He had experienced this in his dreams, so he mustn’t show any signs of regret now; he had to pretend to be at ease.
Only by doing so could he hasten Li Qingxue’s regret!
Suddenly!
Long Aotian left with Hu Yuying.
Not only Gao Quan heard it, but Ye Liangchen also caught it. The girl responsible for filming next to Li Qingxue remarked, "That guy is quite a gentleman."
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