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

Water droplets from the plum juice bottle trickled down the bottle wall, splashing onto the lawn and leaving a small, dark stain.

Sun Haoyu's hand hung stiffly in mid-air, his knuckles white from clenching so hard, and trembling with soreness.

The icy chill traveled down my palms, chilling me to the core.

Li Meng's face was as red as a ripe apple, and her petite and slender figure could not be hidden even by her oversized camouflage military training uniform.

She kept her head down, biting her lower lip tightly, her eyelashes fluttering incessantly, and dared not even glance at Sun Haoyu.

The girls in the foreign language department erupted in a frenzy, with suppressed giggles escaping from the room.

A few bored boys in the distance crossed their arms and nudged each other with glee as they watched the spectacle unfold.

After holding it in for a full half minute, Li Meng finally raised her head slightly, her voice so soft it was almost a mosquito's hum: "Thank you, I... don't want to."

Sun Haoyu felt a sudden rush of energy, a sensation that spread from his scalp to the soles of his feet.

The snickers around him suddenly amplified, making his ears ring.

He stiffly withdrew his hand, the two bottles of plum juice clinking between his fingers with a muffled thud.

Sun Haoyu swallowed hard and forced out a few words: "Then...never mind."

As he turned to walk back, the man from Northeast China walked with steps as heavy as if they were made of lead.

Every step I took on the rubber track made me wobble, and I wished I could disappear into a crack in the ground.

Over at the Foreign Languages ​​Department, Wang Yao frowned and glanced at Li Meng, hesitating to speak.

Li Meng quickly lowered her head, picked up the military training manual, and fanned herself frantically, her wrist shaking violently.

In the computer science department, Lu Wenbo was the first to notice something was wrong.

Sun Haoyu, weighing nearly 200 pounds, swayed back like a defeated rooster.

He clutched the two bottles of plum juice tightly in his hand, untouched, as if all his energy had been drained away.

Reaching the end of the line, Sun Haoyu plopped down heavily, threw the two bottles of plum juice onto the grass, clutched his head in pain, and curled up into a ball with his round body.

Lu Wenbo quickly squatted down and patted him on the shoulder forcefully: "Old Sun, what's wrong?"

"They didn't want it." Sun Haoyu buried his face in his arms, his voice muffled.

Lu Wenbo opened his mouth, the words "Don't be discouraged" swirling in his throat for a few moments, but he couldn't quite get them out.

He himself was the one who pursued the woman, and when faced with this kind of direct confrontation and crushing rejection, he had no idea how to offer advice.

Three meters away, under a camphor tree, Ye Chen leaned against the trunk, casually holding a half-empty bottle of Gatorade, taking in the whole spectacle.

He immediately saw through Sun Haoyu's problem: the problem wasn't a flawed strategy, but rather that his rhythm had completely collapsed.

We just met yesterday, and today he charged at us like a bear in front of hundreds of freshmen.

This isn't a romantic gesture; it's clearly a public coercion!

His exact words last night were "taking advantage of an inconspicuous moment during a break from military training," emphasizing subtlety and making the handover easy and unobtrusive.

This guy, of all people, insisted on making it a grand public execution.

Ye Chen took a sip of Gatorade and stood still.

Some detours are best left unexplained; you have to experience a real fall to learn from them.

Just then, Zhao Qiang, who had been watching coldly from the sidelines, suddenly made a move.

He witnessed the entire process of Sun Haoyu's humiliation, and only when Sun Haoyu slunk back did a mocking smile appear on his lips.

Zhao Qiang strolled leisurely over to the two of them, deliberately raising his voice by half an octave: "Tsk tsk, isn't this our Sun Haoyu? What's wrong? You delivered water to the Foreign Languages ​​Department's territory, and they just kicked you out without even giving you a second glance?"

He shook his head, with the smug superiority typical of Shanghainese, and said sarcastically, "To put it bluntly, this is like a toad trying to eat swan meat. Don't they have any self-awareness?"

Sun Haoyu, who was curled up in a ball, tensed up instantly.

Lu Wenbo suddenly stood up, his brows furrowed in a deep frown, and pointed at Zhao Qiang, yelling, "Zhao Qiang, are you fucking crazy? What the hell is this got to do with you! Is it any of your business that Old Sun is chasing after a girl?"

Zhao Qiang spread his hands, feigning innocence: "Hey, why are you in such a hurry? I'm just telling the truth. That girl is clearly trying to disgust him, why bother going up there and humiliating yourself?"

He paused, glanced contemptuously at Sun Haoyu on the ground, and said in an even louder voice, "If word gets out, and people tell the whole dorm about you as a joke, that would be incredibly embarrassing!"

These words are like daggers to the heart.

Sun Haoyu's straightened back collapsed, and his thick fingers dug into the grass.

Chen Zhiqiang, standing to the side, clenched his fists in anger, his face turning red, but he swallowed his words because of his inferiority complex.

Lu Wenbo was furious and about to make a move when a lazy yet chilling voice suddenly came from behind him.

"Zhao Qiang".

Ye Chen casually tossed the empty bottle precisely into a trash can three meters away, making a muffled sound.

He casually patted the water droplets off his hands and slowly strolled forward.

Upon hearing the voice, Zhao Qiang instinctively straightened his back and retorted stiffly, "What's wrong?"

Ye Chen stopped half a meter in front of him, a faint smile on his face, as if watching a clown performance.

"You were just showing off by arranging for people to move water, and then you got humiliated by Counselor Xu in front of the whole class. Have you already forgotten about that so quickly?"

Zhao Qiang's face instantly turned pale and then bluish.

Ye Chen didn't give him a chance to interrupt, speaking slowly and deliberately, each word like a knife: "A self-appointed class monitor who can't even figure out how to handle a few cases of bottled water, and when the counselor says one thing, you don't dare utter a sound. Now tell me, who's more shameful?"

Zhao Qiang stiffened his neck, his face flushed red as he tried to argue, "That was class work! It has nothing to do with him!"

"It's the same thing." Ye Chen interrupted coldly, his tone as casual as if he were discussing whether the cafeteria food was salty or not. "Old Sun may be stupid, but at least he's got a man's got guts. He'd have the guts to charge forward in front of hundreds of people. What about you?"

Ye Chen sized Zhao Qiang up and down, his eyes full of disdain: "You can't even handle something as simple as directing a few people to move water properly. You cower like a turtle whenever something happens. What gives you the nerve to stand here and laugh at others?"

Several male classmates who were watching the commotion couldn't help but burst out laughing and started nudging each other with their elbows.

Zhao Qiang's face turned a deep purplish-red, and finally, in a fit of exasperation, he blurted out, "Stop talking nonsense! I'm talking about Sun Haoyu's mess!"

"I'm talking about you." Ye Chen suddenly took half a step closer, his aura as a seasoned socialite instantly overwhelming Zhao Qiang.

His tone was low and deep, exuding a strong sense of oppression: "From now on, keep your mouth shut. Don't try to kick anyone around all day to get attention. If you keep doing that, you'll end up kicking yourself into a cesspool sooner or later."

Zhao Qiang's chest heaved violently, feeling like he was about to explode.

He glared at Ye Chen fiercely, but dared not utter another word.

He turned and ran, his steps hurried and clumsy. In his panic, he almost tripped over the concrete ridge by the lawn and fell flat on his face, looking extremely disheveled.

A tall, thin boy next to him uttered two words in a low voice: "Serves you right."

The sound wasn't loud, but everyone present heard it clearly.

Ye Chen didn't look at Zhao Qiang again, and turned around to half-squat in front of Sun Haoyu.

"stand up."

Sun Haoyu remained huddled on the ground, not moving.

Ye Chen was too lazy to waste words and directly picked up the bottle of chilled plum juice that was covered in mud and unopened from the grass.

He unscrewed the cap with one hand and forced it into Sun Haoyu's hand: "You bought it with your own money, so drink it yourself. Don't waste it."

Sun Haoyu slowly raised his head, his eyes red-rimmed, and even his nose was bright red.

The nearly 200-pound man from Northeast China looked as aggrieved as a stray dog ​​at that moment.

"Old Ye..." He sniffed, his voice trembling, "You taught me so clearly last night, how could I... have messed it all up?"