On the day of exhibition, Yu Sui was awakened by the sound of his alarm clock. He instinctively reached for his phone, turning it off, before going back into the quilt to sleep.
Then, in the daze of returning to sleep, he suddenly remembered that he had not set an alarm clock at all last night. His only awake nerve immediately sounded the alarm, and he sat up like a corpse springing back to life.
Yu Sui sat blankly for a while, then turned to look at the two phones side by side on the bedside. But it was empty next to him, cold to the touch, and there was no sound in the bathroom. Yan Xiu didn’t know how long he had been out, and he didn’t even bring his phone with him.
Later, when Yu Sui was holding a toothbrush in his mouth and trying to smooth down his frizzy hair, he heard the sound of the door card being swiped open. He stuck his head out and saw Yan Xiu coming back with the smoke outside.
Yan Xiu served breakfast and glanced at the bed, then turned to the bathroom. Facing the head popping out of the door, he said, “Did you wake up by yourself?”
“Don’t be so surprised. I don’t stay in bed all the time.” Yu Sui raised his chin and admitted after a moment: “I woke up because of someone’s alarm clock.”
Yan Xiu nodded with understanding.
Yu Sui narrowed his eyes. He really liked seeing Yan Xiu wearing house clothes. Because Yan Xiu prefers comfortable and loose clothes, the smell of smoke gives him the illusion of living a nice life every time he opens the door.
Thinking of this, Yu whistled: “Very decent.”
Yan Xiu put the breakfast on the table. The two breakfasts were originally placed side by side. After hearing this, Yan Xiu put the two breakfasts together: “You will not have any.”
Yu Sui pointed at him: “Childish.”
Professor Xu doesn’t like to be late. In order to avoid being late, he will set his clock five minutes ahead. He also has the habit of arriving thirty minutes early for large events. So No. 26 High School gathered very early today.
Compared with the last competition, there were not many people this time. And everyone was familiar with each other.
Yu Sui shuffled out of the elevator with his chin on Yan Xiu’s shoulder. He raised his eyes and glanced over, just in time to see several girls looking away with smiles and evasive eyes.
“What did we do again?” Yu Sui stood up straight and asked inexplicably.
“Let’s ask.” Yan Xiu directly asked an acquaintance, Yi Tian, “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” Yi Tian couldn’t tell him and shook her head coquettishly. After Yan Xiu turned around and walked away, Yi Tian lowered her head and clicked on the message she had just received.
[I just remembered that the Minister must know about Sui’er’s puppy love]
[First of all, they are in the same class and at the same table. He can definitely hear A-Wen and Sui’er talking]
[But did the Minister react?]
[No]
[This is all a violation of discipline right under your nose, so arrogant and blatant, and the Minister still won’t arrest him! ]
[Isn’t this love? ]
[You have a partner, but I still love you. Woohoo, that must be it! ]
The girl from Class 4 poked her head over to read this line and snorted: “That’s it.”
Yi Tian looked at her: “What do you have in mind?”
Classes 4 and 3 were adjacent to each other, so it was easy for them to communicate, not worrying about any disturbances. The girl obviously knows something about it: “I think the Minister already knows about Sui’er.”
“Look at A-Wen’s reaction that time, that’s normal. I treat you as a brother, but you actually secretly fell in love without telling me. And now I know how I should react.”
“What about the Minister? The Minister didn’t react at all.”
“He must have known about it for a long time, but not only did he not arrest Sui’er. He also helped Sui’er hide it.”
After hearing this, Yi Tian felt that this logic made sense: “You are right.”
“That’s right.” This time, the person approaching was the dark horse who emerged during the competition, a boy from the same team who usually rarely talks. “The Minister didn’t react.”
The girls shouted in unison: “What do you know?”
Most of the people who are active in the official CP thread were girls, and most of the people who like to make random jokes like this were also girls. They subconsciously thought that this boy didn’t know how to pretend to understand and sneaked in on purpose.
The boy shrugged his shoulders: “The Minister is usually like this. Who can tell whether he was in trouble or not? He is not like Yang Feiwen who writes everything on his face.”
Then he glanced at the backs of the two people who were walking away: “But he hasn’t changed at all. Think about it carefully, was Yan Xiu so clinging to Yu Sui before? Didn’t he start to try to keep him more even after knowing this?”
Everyone: “…”
Yi Tian clapped, and after a while, he said, “How can our Minister be so tea?”
The crowd burst into laughter.
Soon, these polished versions made their way to the two. And Yu Sui laughed so hard that his stomach hurt.
The two of them bought drinks outside the exhibition. After Yan Xiu paid, he glanced at him: “Are you not done yet?”
Yu Sui stretched out his hand in front of him and said slyly: “I’ve already thrown myself into your trap. Why don’t you deduct points from me, Minister?”
“…” The Minister didn’t want to speak.
He raised his eyes and looked at the hand, then swatted it away. But, Yu Sui caught it with his hand.
Yu Sui squeezed Yan Xiu before letting go.
He felt particularly relaxed when he went out this time. He probably realized that he was in another place again and that he and Yan Xiu could hang out again.
The young man was lazy, flamboyant, and annoying. Yan Xiu’s heart was moved, and he wanted to touch the tip of his hair. But as soon as Yan Xiu raised his hand, Yu Sui grabbed Yan Xiu’s wrist alertly. The young master looked around, then suddenly lowered his head and kissed Yan Xiu’s wrist.
Yan Xiu held him back and gently pulled him. For a moment, he seemed to want to kiss him back. They stood frozen for a long time, and Yan Xiu took the lead to let go and sighed in extreme displeasure.
Yu Sui was happy again.
Students mostly follow behind their mentors and professors.
Although the number of students was already quite large, they were still a small number among all the people invited to the exhibition.
Everyone was busy admiring or expanding their networks, so they don’t pay attention to those faces that are obviously young. After entering the venue, mentors or professors will go with the judges they know or want to get to know. They don’t have much time to care about their own students.
This group of students were carefully selected from their respective regions, and they were used to being favored. It was the first time they were ignored so completely, so they spontaneously formed teams one by one and dispersed with their instructors as they walked.
The Shenghuang High School had more slots, so they had twice as many students as other places, making their pace through the exhibition slower.
Neighboring provinces, having fewer students overall, had banded together as one group, and they happened to pass by the Affiliated High School.
“I saw the judges for the M-Competition youth division.” Someone nervously tugged on the sleeve of a classmate, “Hey, how can I let him see the novelty of my bones and invite me to compete?”
“Dreaming would be faster.” His classmate said.
At that moment, Shenghuang High School gathered in front of the piano that is said to have been used by the genius who had named the M-Competition as its founding.
Hearing that exchange, they instinctively lifted their chins. A few of them looked at each other and turned to Gou Yuda and Zhou Jiayi: “Next year will be the fourth year. Are you two going to the M-Competition?”
“Anyway, Qian Ruichen from our class will go.” Someone said arrogantly.
The M-Competition is held only once every four years. And, in theory, only adults are allowed to participate. Later, in order to discover talented underage players, a youth competition was created on the basis of the M-Competition. Those who ranked in the youth competition may be invited to participate in the M-Competition.
Qian Ruichen had not been in the Affiliated High School for a long time, but he always looks at people through his nostrils. He handled the interpersonal relationships in his class very well, so that no matter what Qian Ruichen did, there were always people around to speak for him.
The students from the other group looked down on their behavior, and the boy who asked the question responded directly: “I didn’t ask you.”
Gou Yuda and Zhou Yijia, pretending not to see the argument, half-jokingly said, “It’s the last chance, why not go?”
Because they couldn’t wait another four years.
The classmates around him echoed, “Yeah, right.”
A boy with a buzz cut looked up and saw the group from No. 26 High School walking towards them from another corridor. He suddenly remembered what happened last year: “Weren’t Yu Sui, Gou Yuda, and Zhou Yijia the ones who went from our school before?”
“Yeah, back then, Qian Ruichen was nowhere to be found,” the boy replied with a half-smile.
The students around Qian Ruichen immediately objected: “What’s the use of reminiscing? He’s not at Holy Emperor anymore.”
“Exactly.”
Qian Ruichen hadn’t said much from beginning to end, until he saw the group from No. 26 High School approaching, then he coldly snorted: “I’m certainly not like you guys who were born into privilege.”
Upon hearing this, everyone was momentarily speechless.
Qian Ruichen was a specially admitted, tuition-free, top student from the affiliated middle school.
No one asked him about his family background. He was choked by these words for a while, and it took him a while to react. Several people turned around and stared at him: “What do you mean?”
“You know what I mean.” Qian Ruichen shrugged. “For this G7, there are only 30 places in the affiliated middle school. How many of you here are really selected because you are good enough? Aren’t they all stuffed in by a few filthy rich people from your family? What are you so proud of?”
He stifled public anger, and after speaking, he looked away respectfully, staring indifferently at No. 26 High School, which was getting closer and closer.
Both came from Yandu, and the atmosphere between the two schools was quite harmonious when they faced each other.
Yan Xiu turned his head and glanced at the group of people standing facing each other. He raised his hand and grabbed Yu Sui’s wrist, before asking him to switch to the other side.
“What’s wrong?” Yu Sui asked softly.
Yan Xiu: “Nothing.”
Yu Sui was doubtful, but he didn’t ask any more questions. He leaned slightly closer to Yan Xiu and lowered his voice: “The staff will have extra meals today.”
Yan Xiu paused: “Did you see it?”
“No. I saw their expressions.” Yu Sui said.
By then everyone would know that a catering company had inexplicably invested in an exhibition that had nothing to do with them.
Yu Sui clicked his tongue.
Sure enough, during the lunch break, a row of red-painted food trucks parked in the exhibition parking lot. The bustling scene was particularly eye-catching.
The uninformed crowd was stunned.
“Damn it, the funds are so huge this time? They’re even treating us to Fu Lai for boxed lunches?” The person who spoke was a student. “Didn’t you say that those people in the front office have already bled their accounts dry? Bullshit. There’s still money for Fu Lai, isn’t there?”
Someone immediately asked: “Is Fu Lai expensive?”
“It’s expensive. Where do you come from, classmate? You don’t have Fu Lai in your place?”
The working adults did not show any surprise on their faces, but occasionally looked around and wondered.
Soon a joke came from someone who didn’t know who said: “Don’t tell me the young princess from Fu Lai came to our exhibition?”
There was no reaction from the crowd, but the students on the other side of the Sheng Huang Affiliated High School exploded in silence.
“……”
Their school was full of princesses and young masters, extremely sensitive about such things. Besides, not long ago, the one top honor student among them had subtly mocked him for not having legitimate qualifications to participate in the exhibition.
Everyone waved their hands to express that they were not the princess and young master, and looked at each other suspiciously.
“Why are you looking at me? It’s not me!” The short boy approached Gou Yuda and said angrily, “Fuck, my family is not that rich.”
Zhou Yijia turned around and looked at Gou Yuda.
Obviously, they both knew who the convoy was there for, but naming the person at this moment would just cause unnecessary trouble for him.
“Is his family simply donating money?” Yijia whispered. “Bad timing.”
Gou Yuda shook his head: “He doesn’t need to rely on those to get in.”
Zhou Yijia: “Only Yandu knows about it. Look, no one knows about it in other places. Forget it, it’s none of our business anyway.”
However, they were not the only ones who knew about it. Others thought about it and confessed without any thought: “The Yu family. It’s definitely the Yu’s. Okay, with that kind of strength, there is no need to go through the back door. It’s just that they have too much money and no place to spend it.”
The result spread to neighboring provinces: “Did you hear that a young master came from Yandu? His father threw money to get him in with us. The convoy outside belongs to their family.”
“…”
No. 26 High School occupied a long table in the lounge, far away from the noisy sounds outside.
Five minutes later, the heavy security door opened, and two boys came out one after the other, each carrying two large lunch bags with the Fu Lai logo printed on them.
They put it on the table and let people distribute it.
Everyone looked at Yu Sui anxiously and blankly. Seeing that Yu Sui was not affected by the rumors outside, they suddenly relaxed.
“Why do people nowadays always like to make random assumptions about others?” Yi Tian slumped his shoulders and sighed.
A boy opposite her smiled: “Don’t you always speculate about the Minister and Yu Sui?”
Everyone fell into silence again: “???”
Yu Sui took the lunch box from Yan Xiu and said smoothly: “Exactly.”
Everyone was stunned for a moment.
Yan Xiu just took out the chopsticks from the bag and put them in front of Yu Sui. He seemed to really not mind them making such a joke and just said: “Don’t worry about it.”
Everyone in No. 26 High School looked at Yu Sui again and then said: “Well, rumors will always disappear. Facts speak louder than words.”
They were just saying that, but they didn’t expect that the direction of the discussion among the people outside would change half an hour later.
At that time, in order to prove that they weren’t the one who donated money and went through the back door, the students from Shenghuang High School all ran downstairs and lined up in front of the Fu Lai food truck.
They didn’t even react when Fu Lai started to move. They just turned around and saw another food truck with a blue logo coming in in an orderly manner from the exhibition entrance.
What a coincidence, they also recognized it. After all, the Yu and Yan families have been partners for so many years, and they always like to do joint promotions.
Zhou Yijia held the lunch box and twitched the corner of his mouth: “What? Why do I suddenly feel that I will lose face if I don’t let my parents bring something over?”
wannaberecluse On SRTT Chapter 50.1