We agreed not to date, so why are you crying now that I've become the richest man?

"Ye Chen".

Ye Chen stopped and looked up.

Xu Jiao was walking quickly toward him.

She held a bottle of room temperature mineral water in her hand, and the hem of her military training uniform was rolled up a little, revealing a bit of her cleverness. She had a somewhat expectant smile on her face.

This shout immediately drew the attention of all the freshmen who hadn't gone far.

"Ye Chen, um..." Xu Jiao walked over and handed him a bottle of mineral water, tilting her head slightly to look at him. "Are you going to the cafeteria for lunch later? Want to come along?"

Sun Haoyu, standing to the side, didn't even bother to rub his legs; his eyes were wide open.

As Gu Yuxuan walked through the crowd, her gaze swept across the bustling playground and settled on the two of them. Deep within her cool eyes, a hint of panic and tension flashed, which she herself did not even realize.

Faced with Xu Jiao's overtures, Ye Chen did not readily accept the bottle of water. Instead, he wiped the sweat from his forehead and gave a hearty smile.

"Thanks!" Ye Chen said cheerfully, pointing to his sweat-soaked clothes. "But today is really not an option. I'm covered in sweat after a whole day of practice, and it's so sticky I can't stand it."

"I need to hurry back to my dorm and take a shower. You guys go ahead and eat today, I'll treat you another time!"

After saying that, he smiled and waved to Xu Jiao, then scooped up the still-dazed Sun Haoyu and strode towards the boys' dormitory.

Although he was rejected, Ye Chen spoke frankly and amiably.

Xu Jiao withdrew her hand, though she still felt a little disappointed that they hadn't been able to have dinner together.

The awkwardness that might have been there was completely washed away. Watching Ye Chen's departing figure, there was a hint of anticipation for "next time" in her eyes.

The boys around them, who had been expecting a good show, looked at each other in disbelief, thinking that this kid was simply wasting his talents.

Pushing open the dormitory door, Ye Chen walked to his desk and casually pulled out the phone that had been sitting in the drawer for half a day.

The screen lights up, displaying several missed calls from unknown numbers.

He swiped away without even looking and clicked on Penguin.

There was a message from Han Yue sent ten minutes ago: "Boss, an EA mobile game publishing manager came to our company today and insisted on waiting for you. He just got angry and left."

Ye Chen casually picked up the water glass on the table, took a sip to moisten his throat, and chuckled softly.

His thumb flew across the keyboard: "Understood, thank you for your hard work. If any more companies come knocking, just ignore them according to this standard. We are not accepting any offers at the moment."

After sending the text message, he locked the screen and tossed the phone back onto the table.

What multinational giants, what premium acquisitions? They're not even worthy of being chips at his current table.

They're the ones in a hurry, not me, since they're holding two cash cows that are raking in money like crazy.

The next morning.

Jiaotong University South Playground.

Instructor Liu stood at the front of the company, watching the freshmen march in formation.

He held the whistle, but couldn't blow a sound for a long time.

Yesterday, these students were staggering and complaining like they were under a zombie apocalypse, but today they've all mutated.

Dozens of people lined up in a square formation, kicking their legs in perfect unison and landing with remarkable stability.

Each step that landed on the rubber track didn't elicit a cry of pain; instead, it subtly conveyed a sense of rhythm that was extremely enjoyable.

Some people even wore satisfied smiles as they walked.

In the third row of the crowd, Zhao Qiang, the class's life committee member, stood ramrod straight and marched with powerful strides.

Yesterday, he experienced Sun Haoyu's devastating "sanitary napkin head-smashing" attack.

I had to wash my hair five times after returning to the dorm to barely suppress the psychological shadow in my heart.

He thought his blistered feet wouldn't hold up today, but he couldn't resist before morning exercises.

When no one was in the dormitory, Zhao Qiang, like a thief, took out the extra-long, thick overnight sleeping bag from the closet.

Tear open the packaging, peel off the adhesive backing, and it's perfectly attached to the sole of the Liberation Shoes.

The moment he shoved those wretched feet into the shoes.

soft.

It's too soft!

Zhao Qiang was so comfortable he almost cried out. He let out a long sigh, crumpled the pink outer packaging paper into a ball, and accurately threw it into the trash can in the center of the dormitory.

Then I looked down—

Inside the trash can, there were more than a dozen brightly colored identical packaging papers neatly arranged, including the remains of "Daily Use Mesh Breathable Pants" and "Comfort Pants".

It turns out that all those bastards were sneaking back to their dorms at different times in the morning, all for this very reason!

As Zhao Qiang walked in the queue, the wonderful sensation under his feet made every pore on his body open up.

It smells so good! It smells absolutely amazing!

Who invented this thing? It's practically an essential strategic resource for military training!

Although he was having a blast, Zhao Qiang still had to keep a straight face.

He slightly raised his chin, looked straight ahead, and forced himself to appear as a tough guy, afraid that his classmates would notice he was cheating.

Little did he know that the boy next to him, and the boys in front of him, all walked with the same light and graceful steps today.

Half an hour later, the company was dismissed for a rest.

Four people in dormitory 417 huddled together under the shade of a tree to drink water.

Sun Haoyu tightened the bottle cap and gestured towards Zhao Qiang's retreating figure with his lip.

"Old Ye, look at that son of a bitch Zhao Qiang. Yesterday he was limping like a cripple, but today he's running faster than a rabbit." Sun Haoyu lowered his voice, his tone full of schadenfreude. "I bet he definitely sneaked off to the supermarket."

Lu Wenbo followed up with a fatal blow.

"It's not just him. I just glanced around, and almost all the students in our class have something under their feet." Lu Wenbo raised his eyebrows. "Didn't you see that the entire formation is much more stable today? There was even a guy from the first squadron who wasn't properly attached and almost slipped off halfway through."

Chen Zhiqiang scratched his head sheepishly beside him.

After the three finished talking, they all turned around and looked at Ye Chen, who was resting on the grass.

Everywhere I looked, I was filled with utter awe and reverence.

Ye Chen was covering his face with his camouflage hat to shield himself from the sun when he heard the noise. He casually pushed the hat up a little, with a blade of grass in his mouth, and leaned lazily against the tree trunk.

"Nonsense, my feet are practically blistered, who cares about saving face?" Ye Chen squinted and chuckled.

"Just yesterday, these things were completely sold out in the supermarkets around Jiaotong University."

"I heard that when all else failed, some guys even shamelessly offered high prices to girls to buy it from them. It's absolutely outrageous."