Chapter 6: My old enemy is covered by me

This was the first time Tong An’yu had held a strange man’s hand.

His fingers were slender and bony, the veins clearly visible, and the lines on his palm were neat.

His body temperature was slightly higher than hers, probably due to the intense fight.

But she had no time for heart palpitations, because the wet wipe was quickly soaked through with blood, and the red stung her eyes.

She wiped his palm, over and over, passing across the lines of his hand, and finally managed to clean the wound.

It was a two-centimeter long cut, she didn’t know how deep, and it was still oozing blood, but the dirt seemed to be wiped clean.

Tong An’yu used up all the wet wipes, leaving the last one for him to press against his palm to stop the bleeding.

She hoped it would work; it was all she had on hand.

“Are you done?” Lin Huaixu glanced at her.
After pressing the last wet wipe into his hand, she had kept her hand on his palm for a long time.

If he just curled his fingers, he could wrap them around her small fist.

Tong An’yu pulled her hand back, seeing the faint white finger marks on his wrist disappear in an instant.

Lin Huaixu held the wet wipe and was about to leave.

Someone in the crowd said to Tong An’yu, “Young lady, you two might have to go to the police station to give a statement.”

“After all, we’re not the ones involved.”

“He’ll definitely be held responsible for injuring someone while drunk.”

“Okay, then we’ll—”

“No need to mention me,” Lin Huaixu cut in.

“Why?” Tong An’yu asked.

“No time,” he said, and this time he didn’t stop, directly passing through the crowd and leaving the alley.

When she finished giving her statement at two in the morning, only to find that all the dormitories were locked and she had a double degree course the next day, did Tong An’yu realize how prescient Lin Huaixu had been.

Fortunately, Tong An’yu had plenty of pocket money and booked a room at a five-star hotel near the school that still had vacancies.

After a careful shower, lying in bed together, Zhu Yan was still shaken: “Tonight was so thrilling.”

“I thought the two of us would definitely end up in the hospital.”

“Yeah,” Tong An’yu broke out in a cold sweat just thinking about it now.

She had truly escaped death.

Zhu Yan: “Do you think we should tell the school?”

“But the school will definitely be very serious, they’ll have us in for talks one by one, and then conduct a campus-wide safety education.”

“That’s what they should do, right?”

“Many students from around here come to eat.”

“That alley is definitely a hidden danger.”

“But if the school knows, our parents will know too.”

“I’m afraid they’ll worry, especially since my parents are in a small county.”

“They might even come to see me, which would be time-consuming and troublesome.”

“That’s true,” Tong An’yu picked up her phone, hesitating whether to tell her parents.

Her father, Si Zhan, was the founder of the Si Corporation, her mother, Tong Miao, was the director of a top-tier hospital, and her androgynously beautiful brother, Si Xu, was currently studying for his MBA at Penn and was obsessed with Muay Thai.

The whole family doted on her.

If they heard about this, they would probably send bodyguards directly.

The exaggeration was secondary; the main thing was the lack of freedom.

“Sigh, I’ll never say Lin Huaixu is reclusive again.”

“Thanks to him tutoring nearby, and thanks to him not just standing by and watching.”

“Actually, he’s just not sociable, but he’s a good person at heart, and he’s so handsome,” Zhu Yan said, ashamed.

Tong An’yu nodded in complete agreement, then suddenly turned her head and stared at Zhu Yan, “You said his freshman scholarship would be canceled?”

Zhu Yan blinked and hesitated, “How about… I go talk to their advisor?”

“Actually, he was just out tutoring, and he acted heroically for a just cause.”

Tong An’yu withdrew her gaze, slipped under the covers, and whispered, “Will talking to their advisor be useful?”

“Oh, he’s your direct senior, right?”

“Then if you insist on getting involved in this, I respect your decision.”

Zhu Yan: “…”

Which young lady was it who just gave me a reminder!

Zhu Yan did indeed go talk to the physics department’s advisor, but he only said that it would be taken into consideration, because the freshman scholarship was multi-dimensional and also depended on the student’s academic performance in the first half of the semester and their family situation.

Zhu Yan was just an outsider, after all, so that was about as far as she could go.
She felt that acting heroically for a just cause was a big deal.

Unless Lin Huaixu skipped classes, missed exams, and neglected his duties, the scholarship was pretty much a sure thing.

So she didn’t follow up on the matter.

In a blink of an eye, it was October 31st.
It was Tong An’yu’s birthday, and she officially turned seventeen.

The four of them in her dormitory had a hot pot meal at Haidilao and shared a six-inch cream and fruit cake.

Her roommates smeared cream on Tong An’yu’s cheeks, three diagonal white stripes, like cat whiskers.

She received video blessings and huge red envelopes from her parents and brother.
Her friends from middle and high school also remembered her birthday.

The picture she posted on her Moments of her gifts had hundreds of likes, and her roommates had also carefully prepared a surprise for her, even though they were extremely busy with their studies.

She was, as always, surrounded by happiness.

And then that night, she saw the official announcement of the freshman scholarship list.

She deliberately scrolled through it from top to bottom three times, but still couldn’t find Lin Huaixu’s name.

The freshman scholarship wasn’t much money, only five thousand yuan.

Those who received the scholarship needed to ensure their overall ranking in their major was in the top 20% for the first academic year, otherwise they would have to return the money.

In the early years, the management was strict, and many people didn’t even apply because of this rigid requirement.

Later, perhaps because of more alumni donations and sufficient funds, the academic affairs office turned a blind eye to some who didn’t meet the requirements and didn’t ask for the money back.

So the number of applicants had increased significantly in recent years.

She didn’t think it was a must for Lin Huaixu to be selected, but according to his resume, he had studied at Stanford for two years, then had his financial support cut off, and had only spent a year cramming for the domestic college entrance exam, and still managed to get into T University.

This clearly showed that he was a top student in both the Chinese and foreign education systems, far more outstanding than the average person.

It was a pity that he didn’t receive this honor.

“How could that be?”

“I clearly told their advisor,” Zhu Yan said, refusing to believe it.

She stopped eating her hot pot and held one ear closed as she made a voice call to the physics department’s advisor.

Some advisors in universities were not full-time, but part-time graduate students from the same university.

Lin Huaixu’s advisor happened to be a senior two years above Zhu Yan.

He was the one who had brought her into the student union.

“Hello, Hou-ge, I see that Lin Huaixu is not on the freshman scholarship list this time.”

“Is the competition fierce?” Zhu Yan asked tactfully.

The person on the other end chuckled, “Do you have some kind of relationship with him?”

Zhu Yan was embarrassed, “Heh, not at all.”

“But he saved me by acting heroically for a just cause.”

“I should at least show some concern.”

“I remember our school places a lot of importance on this kind of thing.”

It was more than just placing importance on it.
If Lin Huaixu hadn’t been unwilling to cooperate, this matter could have been a hot topic on social media and he could have been heavily promoted as a representative of T University students’ selflessness.

Maybe the principal would have been so happy that he would have waived his tuition for all four years with a wave of his hand.

“Mmm… but this person is really uncooperative with student work.”

“His class committee members also have opinions about giving it to him.”

“Yes, but the last time he didn’t attend the freshman ball was because he was tutoring.”

“I happened to run into him that day.”

“This also shows that he’s quite responsible, he didn’t delay the child’s lesson.”

“It’s not about that.”

“What did he do again?” Zhu Yan was stunned.

The advisor began to complain.

It turned out that their class president was very enthusiastic about student work and had taken the initiative to contact a manufacturer to design a baseball jacket that could represent the physics department, which would both enhance class cohesion and promote the department to the outside world.

If the promotion was effective and many people inside and outside the school bought it, all the profits could be used for class activities, which was a kind of micro-entrepreneurship that piggybacked on T University’s fame.

The advisor naturally encouraged it.
No one disliked proactive class cadres.

Of course, with this kind of organizational experience, the class committee members could also get good comprehensive assessment scores at the end of the semester and improve their competitiveness for scholarships.

Everyone else thought it was a good idea and was willing to cooperate.

The one who sang a different tune was still Lin Huaixu.

He had been typing on his computer during the class meeting, as if he hadn’t heard anything.

Only when the class committee asked everyone to vote did he lift his eyelids and say, “Don’t include me.”

The atmosphere immediately became heavy.

The class president’s face turned ugly, “You didn’t attend the freshman ball, and now you’re not participating in the class activity.”

“What exactly do you want?”

Lin Huaixu: “I don’t want to spend money on meaningless things.”

The class president held back, but in the end, he couldn’t hold it back any longer.
Full of youthful vigor, he said, “The design and production fees are only four hundred yuan per person.”

“If you’re not willing to pay, I’ll pay for you, it’s on me!”

“Then you pay,” Lin Huaixu said in agreement, then closed his computer and went out.

He couldn’t be bothered to explain why this project wouldn’t succeed.

Class president: “…” He didn’t really want to pay, and he certainly didn’t expect someone to be so shameless as to accept.

The advisor was full of complaints, “You see, he’s offended everyone.”

“How can I give it to him?”

Zhu Yan hung up the phone and exchanged a look with Tong An’yu.

“Why is he so aloof? Does he have to offend these people?” Sun Han said in a bad tone, mainly because she felt it was a pity.
Five thousand yuan was nothing, but after all, he had put in the effort to submit so many forms and materials.

Jiang Xiaoying looked down, fiddling with her phone, and said gently, “The ‘Introduction to the Frontiers of Physics’ that I’m taking as an elective is a compulsory course for the physics department.”

“I happen to know some people.”

“This list of awardees looks really familiar, it seems like they’re all from their class committee…”

The hot pot bubbled, the beef had been cooking for a long time, like some kind of dying creature, struggling in the boiling water, about to fall apart.

After a long while, Zhu Yan laughed, a laugh that was full of gritted teeth, “I knew it.”
“Here I am, eagerly trying to help, and they’re both the players and the referees.”
“What the hell can I do to help!”

The atmosphere had only become like this in the past two years; she had never expected it.

Tong An’yu stared at the hot pot soup, listening to Zhu Yan’s curses.

Then she picked up a wet wipe and wiped the cream from her face, as if wiping away the unrealistic joy that surrounded her.

She lived in an indestructible protective layer.

If nothing unexpected happened, she would never have to experience or understand this kind of thing in her life.

So she put down the wet wipe, “I’ve decided.”

Her roommates immediately fell silent.

Zhu Yan was very vigilant, “What are you thinking of doing? Calm down.”

“I’m going to let him know that saving me will bring him good fortune!” Tong An’yu said.

“…” The three of them fell silent in unison.

The corridor on the top floor of the mall was empty, footsteps echoing.

The night sky fell from outside the floor-to-ceiling windows, the stars looking very real.

She was waiting for a call.
Fortunately, she only had to wait for half a minute before the call went through.

Tong An’yu no longer looked at the sky, but instead leaned over to look at the warm lights of the hot pot restaurant, “Uncle Ji, it’s Xiao Yu.”

“There’s something I want to tell you…”

Ji Ruocheng, Dean of the School of Science at T University, an academician of the National Academy of Sciences, and also Ji Yuming’s father.