My boyfriend.

Once the lecture was over, the students left in twos and threes. As Ren Xingliu and Bai Juanqiu were getting up to leave, they were stopped by Professor Chi. 

Visually, it was apparent that Professor Chi appreciated a learner like Bai Juanqiu, and after a short discussion, she became even more pleased and exclaimed, “If only you were my student. I would have recommended you to grad school.”

Bai Juanqiu showed a small smile. “Thank you for the kind words.”

Ren Xingliu: Professor, I’m your student!

As if hearing his thoughts, Professor Chi turned to look at him again, and said with a pleased expression: “I am also very happy that Mr. Ren is interested in studying. I hope you can maintain this state in the future… If Mr. Bai can come to accompany you often, Just let Mr. Ren go to class.” 

As if hearing his internal voice, Professor Chi turned her head to look at Ren Xingliu and said with a relieved expression, “I’m also in great joy for Ren Xingliu to have a heart toward learning. I hope that you will continue this mentality… If only Bai Juanqiu could accompany Ren Xingliu to lecture often.”

Ren Xingliu rejected, “He doesn’t have the time.”

Bai Juanqiu accepted, “I will do my best.”

They spoke out in unison, and Professor Chi burst out laughing. “I can tell you two are good friends. Both of you are very considerate of each other.”

Ren Xingliu smiled, refraining from speaking. Without elaborating, he bid farewell to Professor Chi, with Bai Juanqiu still on textbook carrying duty. They left the lecture hall together.

Along the way, Ren Xingliu sighed, “Professor Chi is going to be heartbroken to not see you present in next week’s lecture…”

Bai Juanqiu gave him a strange look. “Didn’t I say I will do my best attending them?”

Ren Xingliu paused for a moment. “You didn’t just throw it out there?” 

“…” Bai Juanqiu replied helplessly, “No.”

“Of course, it will be great if you can make it, it’s just,” Ren Xingliu cautioned, “you still have to work during the day. Isn’t that too tiring?”

“It’s alright. It will only be one lecture a week.” Bai Juanqiu paused for a moment. “And also, I found it quite relaxing to attend the lecture with you…much more than working.”

This was the truth. Probably due to his intense work schedule in the past two years, this rare chance of returning back on campus was quite relaxing. 

Perhaps it was because Young Master Ren would get these blue-sky thinking.

Ren Xingliu got it now. The absolute vicious society made the already tortuous lecture look like heaven.

He cheered, “That’s great. You can continue to help me take notes.”

“It made you that happy?” Bai Juanqiu found this amusing. “If you need someone to take your notes, I’m sure there will be many volunteering students.” 

“That’s different.” Ren Xingliu gave him an affirmative look. “Your notes are way better.”

As soon as he finished, his stomach began to rumble.

Bai Juanqiu silently looked over, and Ren Xingliu remained composed. “Learning took too much of my energy!”

It was definitely not because of his large appetite! 

Bai Juanqiu nodded. “Well, I’m kind of hungry myself as well.”

Comrade Xiao Bai always stayed on the right track!

Ren Xingliu gave him a meaningful glance. “Since that’s the case, let’s go grab a late-night meal.”

“Alright.” Bai Juanqiu was in agreement. “Where do you want to eat?” 

“Just the campus food court.” Ren Xingliu took out his meal card. “Our second food court serves pretty decent food even this late in the day. It will be my treat.”

Bai Juanqiu raised an eyebrow. This would be the second time he dined with Ren Xingliu, but he could already tell that this young master wasn’t an extravagant spender as the rumor had suggested.

There was even a very natural simplicity.

The lights in his eyes flickered as he smiled. “Alright.” 

…

As a long-established local university, Lingcheng University’s cafeteria is famous for its high quality and low price. Even people who work nearby will come here to have lunch. Among them, the second dining hall is the most popular among students, because many windows in the second dining hall are rented to private operators, and the food varieties are more diverse. 

As an established local university, Lin University’s food courts were famous for their beautiful objects and uncorrupted value. Even the working people in the vicinity would come here for lunch. Among them, the second food court was the most popular among students because of the plethora of private food vendors, making the variety of food more diversified.

Before his transmigration, Ren Xingliu disliked the food court for the poor environment. Before, he didn’t even activate the meal card issued by the school. Now, he found it quite convenient to eat on campus, and the food tasted quite good.

On the way to the food court, Ren Xingliu had already thought of their food for today. “There’s a place in the second food court that sells stir-fried noodles this late. The owner is quite a good cook…”

Bai Juanqiu followed his gaze and saw that there was a small place selling clay pot soup.

Bai Juanqiu asked, “You want to order one?”

Ren Xingliu nodded. “It’s too dry just eating noodles.”

“Then I’ll get one for each of us.” After all, it would take two hands to carry them. Bai Juanqiu handed the textbook to Ren Xingliu. “You go ahead and find us a place to sit.”

“Alright.” Ren Xingliu didn’t hesitate. He took the book and entered the food court alone.

Although it was late in the evening, it happened to be the end of elective classes, so there were quite a few students inside. Ren Xingliu entered through the main gate, stopped and surveyed around, looking for a decently clean empty table.

As he was looking around, someone suddenly called out from behind him, “Xingliu, why are you here for?”

The voice was a bit familiar, but Ren Xingliu couldn’t remember it for a moment. He followed the sound and saw a few people sitting on the right side by the door. The one in the middle was a man with a delicate face and a handsome face, Zhilan Yushu, exuding a sense of nobility. 

This voice was a bit familiar, but Ren Xingliu couldn’t place a face to it for a moment. He followed the sound and saw a group of people sitting to the right of the door. The one in the middle had delicate features, like orchids and jade trees. He exuded a noble aura.

Ren Xingliu froze for a moment, then suddenly remembered that this was Pei Xianzhi.

Seeing him again more than a decade later, Ren Xingliu felt a spontaneous surge of emotion inside.

Pei Xianzhi and he were both the younger generation of an influential family, but their reputation was vastly different. Pei Xianzhi grew up to be reserved and noble, presenting himself in both elegant and upright manners, with excellent performance in all aspects, making him the typical ‘child from another family’.

Originally, Ren Xingliu would never have interacted with this kind of person, but people in their circle loved to compare them. Over time, Ren Xingliu became increasingly interested in this young master from the Pei Family.

Perhaps equally useless dog-like friends around him. After paying more attention to the other person, he also found Pei Xianzhi really special and developed good feelings for him.

Later on, people around him began to date, and Young Master Ren naturally couldn’t fall behind in this trend. However, he didn’t really understand what it meant to fall in love. After picking three and choosing four, he thought that Pei Xianzhi was worthy to date him.

At the start of his youthful passion, he did reckless actions without thinking of the consequences. During his pursuit of Pei Xianzhi, he did it with great fanfare. However, before he could succeed in his wooing, he ended up in a car accident, and it was also because of this accident that he transmigrated, living in a world during a chaotic time for over a decade.

Once he was finally back to modern times, the blue sea turned into mulberry fields. As if waking up from a long dream, his state of mind was vastly different from before.

These days, if it weren’t for the people around him constantly mentioning it, he seldom thought of Pei Xianzhi.

Ren Xingliu felt a sense of sorrow to suddenly encounter the other person in the food court.

It wasn’t because he still liked Pei Xianzhi. Because after going through so many things, he was finally able to distinguish his initial feelings for Pei Xianzhi. It was actually just a youth’s arrogance and impulsiveness, a feeling that was far from love. 

It was this impulse that cost him greatly. Of course, at this point, it could only say that both yin and yang were wrong, whether it be good or bad, it was hard to tell.

The cogs in his brain were spinning rapidly, distracting him from reality. For a long moment, he remained motionless.

His behavior was interpreted differently by the eyes of outsiders.

Especially for Pei Xianzhi. To see Ren Xingliu here left a bad taste in his mouth. 

He didn’t dislike Ren Xingliu. Although others may see Young Master Ren as a mixed egg, Young Master Ren has always been kind to him.

When Ren Xingliu pursued him with great fanfare, he just felt that it was too high-profile and often made him feel overwhelmed. But selfishly speaking, it was impossible to be unabashedly liked by such an arrogant person and not be touched at all.

When Ren Xingliu pursued him with large flags and loud drums, he found it too high-profile, making it difficult for him to reject. However, from a more selfish perspective, it was impossible not to feel touched from being liked by such a haughty person so openly.

He just never thought things would get that far that day. 

Nowadays, everyone in the circle knows about Ren Xingliu’s interest in him. Ren Xingliu was a man with a poor reputation, which made the Pei Family naturally very unhappy. The accident caused the two families to have a fall out, and his family prohibited him from having any further contact with Ren Xingliu.

Pei Xianzhi heard that Ren Xingliu’s hand was injured and he was in a coma. He originally wanted to visit him, but was blocked by his family, so he couldn’t go. Later, he inquired privately and said that the Ren family seemed to have forced him to do so in order to explain to the Pei family. Let Xingliu go on a blind date.

Pei Xianzhi then heard that Ren Xingliu had hurt his hand, as well as falling unconscious. Originally, he had the plan to visit Ren Xingliu, but was stopped by his family, so he ultimately couldn’t see the other person. Later, he inquired in private and found that the Ren Family had forced Ren Xingliu to go on blind date in order to appease the Pei Family.

Pei Xianzhi didn’t take this information to heart. As everyone knew, Young Master Ren’s temper made it hard to force things on him, especially ones he was unwilling to go along with. tQIMnh

On the contrary, Pei Xianzhi was even more worried that Ren Xingliu would make a fuss over this matter. According to his reckless nature, he would come knocking on Pei Xianzhi’s door and demand him to state his position.

If that was to happen, he would be in a sticky predicament. He actually hadn’t figured out his feelings.

Selfishly speaking, he was willing to interact with Ren Xingliu, but his family wasn’t going to agree with how bad Young Master Ren’s reputation was.

Therefore, Pei Xianzhi had been feeling conflicted these days and deliberately avoided Ren Xingliu. 

What he didn’t expect was to run into Ren Xingliu at the food court after not seeing each other for so many days.

Almost in an instant, Pei Xianzhi came up with a speculation.

Story translated by Chrysanthemum Garden.

Not just him, but also the people around him thought of the same thing—Ren Xingliu was indeed interested in Pei Xianzhi, going so far to find him at the food court.

This idea wasn’t that outrageous. After all, everyone in Ling University knew that no way would Young Master Ren be eating at the campus food court, especially after he kept his meal card inactive for three years. 

Making his appearance here more apparent.

For a moment, the other people were even more roused up than Pei Xianzhi. Seeing that the two weren’t talking after a long time, someone couldn’t resist letting his voice be heard, “Young Master Ren, are you here to find Young Master Pei?”

As soon as this person spoke out, Ren Xingliu came back to his senses and saw that the speaker was actually Bai Yao.

Bai Yao had always gone after his peers of influential backgrounds. Just earlier, he happened to pass by Pei Xianzhi and his friends and was eager to join them for their late-night meal. At first, he wanted to network with the Pei Family’s young master, but he never expected to encounter a scene like this. 

He was instantly overjoyed inside.

Just the other day, Ren Xingliu claimed to have fallen in love with Bai Juanqiu and even gave him a stink eye. Bai Yao was so angry. He went back to tell his father, who seemed to have expected such an outcome and wasn’t too concerned about it.

Bai Yao only understood after his father elaborated.

Although Bai Juanqiu was useless in all aspects, he had a good face. It wasn’t very strange for someone as wild as Ren Xingliu to try something fresh. 

Most likely, he would get tired of his new toy sometime later. Because to him, only a young master with an influential background was worthy of him.

Even having said that, Bai Yao was still feeling resentment. The thought of being trampled on by Bai Juanqiu, even if it was only temporary, made it unbearable for him.

Furthermore, he also felt that this matter was a bit strange. Bai Guanghai only regarded it as a playboy, but Bai Yao knew a little bit about Ren Xingliu. Although that person was a free-spirited person, he seemed to have a mysophobia in this regard. After so many years He also chased Pei Xianzhi.

However, he still found this fishy. Bai Guanghai brushed it off as a silk pants behavior, but Bai Yao had some understanding of Ren Xingliu. Although this young master acted without care in the world, he was actually a slight clean freak in this matter. If not, why would he only pursue Pei Xianzhi after so many years. 

How could he suddenly have love at first sight on a blind day?

Bai Yao became more suspicious the more this thought stayed in his mind, but he couldn’t find any evidence.

Then to see Ren Xingliu at the food court, Bai Yao’s suspicions came to fruition.

Sure enough, what Ren Xingliu really liked inside was still Pei Xianzhi. What he said about being attracted to Bai Juanqiu was just a measure to fool the Ren Family. 

Poor Bai Juanqiu. He truly had thought he had climbed up the ranks of the rich and powerful, but in reality, he was just being used as a shield.

See, in just a few days, Ren Xingliu couldn’t hold back any longer and came to find Pei Xianzhi. He even came to the food court where he had never set food before. Any one of them was able to deduce the whole picture from one small detail.

The more Bai Yao thought, the more satisfied he felt. He couldn’t wait to see Bai Juanqiu’s dream of achieving wealth shattered. Thus, he broke the silence.

What happened next was a glance from Ren Xingliu, who didn’t seem keen on answering. 

Bai Yao was feeling self-conscious, but it didn’t take long for him to compose himself. Ren Xingliu was probably afraid that he would expose his blind date with Bai Juanqiu in front of Pei Xianzhi.

As long as he played his card well, Ren Xingliu would understand.

After pondering, he instantly had an idea and said to Pei Xianzhi, “Young Master Pei, it wasn’t easy for Young Master Ren to come here. Why don’t we take our leave first so you two can have a good chat?”

“No need.” Pei Xianzhi felt a bit awkward, afraid that Ren Xingliu would say very shocking things in public, but the other person had been standing there for a long time, and it wouldn’t be possible for him to ignore the whole matter. 

Pei Xianzhi pursed his lips, then looked over, saying, “Xingliu, what are you doing here?”

Ren Xingliu finally found a good vacancy spot. As he was about to head there, he heard Pei Xianzhi’s question.

It was embarrassing to face Pei Xianzhi right now, since he had, after all, pursued the other person like a firework. He probably had caused a lot of trouble for Pei Xianzhi. The car accident was his own doing, and he couldn’t blame anyone else for it, but it also affected Pei Xianzhi somewhat.

Therefore, in the face of Pei Xianzhi, Ren Xingliu kept a good attitude and replied politely, “Oh, I’m here to eat.” 

Pei Xianzhi was taken aback by the response.

Several people next to him also looked at each other, with disbelief in their eyes, and they couldn’t help but feel a little emotional – Young Master Ren was really sincere towards Young Master Pei. Such a high-profile person chased him to the cafeteria, only to end up with another… I dare not admit it and still have to find such poor excuses. 

The small group next to him looked at each other with eyes filled with disbelief. They even sighed—Young Master Ren really still had feelings for Young Master Pei. Despite being a high-profile person, he personally came to the food court to see the other person. However, once he was here, he didn’t dare to admit it and used some clumsy excuse.

This really moved their internal organs!

There was a good show coming!

Bai Yao also came to the same conclusion and immediately suggested in order to curry favor, “Since you’re here to eat, why don’t you come join us?” 

The others instantly came to their senses and nodded. “Yeah, we happen to have a free spot.”

“You’re by yourself anyway…”

There were also some who were unhappy with Ren Xingliu and said passive-aggressively, “Let’s not. We can’t make it difficult for Young Master Pei just because he has a good temper.”

Pei Xianzhi was also feeling ill at ease. As he was about to put a stop to this, Ren Xingliu spoke up first, “No need, I’m not here by myself.”

Bai Yao hurriedly said, “Is Young Master Ding also here. It’s fine, come sit…”

Ren Xingliu had some idea on Bai Yao’s thoughts and suddenly felt comical. He only glanced indifferently at him, “No.” 

As he spoke, he raised his chin and added with a smug look, “It’s my boyfriend.”

The bustling came to an abrupt stop.

Pei Xianzhi: “?” 

Bai Yao: “??”

Others: “???”