Chapter 22: Dissolving the Student Association

"Look, look, look! I think you all need to get your heads examined!"

Jiang Changyuan swung his chopsticks, tapping each of them on the head, truly exasperated. Even though he had started turning over a new leaf as the school bully, this bunch of lackeys was becoming increasingly arrogant, bold enough to even provoke the head teacher.

"If you touch Yan Chang, you're expelled on the spot."

"Can you use your pig brains for once and speak like human beings next time?"

He dropped his chopsticks and glanced to the side, noticing a neck stretching out from the periphery.

"Oh, if it isn't Student Zhang? Not eating your exclusive buffet today?"

Hearing this, Zhang Chengliang retracted his body with a start. Caught in a mix of guilt and panic, his anger flared.

"You're the one eating sh*t!"

"Tsk, guys, did I say he was eating sh*t?"

"Hahaha, Young Master Jiang didn't say it; he admitted it himself."

"Ugh, he’s stinking up the place. We should move further away..."

The group of lackeys chimed in with mockery, their voices undisguised, immediately drawing a crowd of onlookers. Feeling the strange stares from all around, Zhang Chengliang’s face turned beet red. He had long suspected that if his attempt to smear Jiang Changyuan failed, his own reputation would suffer, but he hadn't expected it to happen so soon.

"I’ve already heard about your plans to target Teacher Yan. Hmph, you’d better behave yourselves, or I’ll definitely report you."

"See that, boys? That’s what they mean by 'walls have ears'."

Watching Zhang Chengliang’s pathetic retreat, Jiang Changyuan taught his lackeys a lesson with cold, hard facts. The lackeys realized that when it came to having eight hundred tricks up one's sleeve, they were still seven hundred and ninety-nine short.

Back in the classroom, Su Yingying walked over, her face showing a hint of concern.

"Jiang Changyuan, are you alright?"

"I couldn't be better."

"But..."

Su Yingying bit her lip, hesitating for a long time before speaking her mind. "Teacher Yan is the head teacher, after all. If... if you can avoid him, you really should."

"Got it, got it."

Jiang Changyuan waved her off dismissively. Avoid him? Aside from the male and female leads, the word "fear" didn't exist in his dictionary. Seeing that he wasn't taking it seriously, Su Yingying stomped her foot in annoyance; she was only looking out for him, after all...

Gu Qing’s gaze, which he pulled back, was inscrutable. Ever since Yingying became Jiang Changyuan’s tutor, the two had been interacting more and more.

"Five more days!"

"Once the monthly exams are over, I must make sure Yingying stays away from Jiang Changyuan!"

However, those five days felt like an eternity for Gu Qing. Every day, he watched Jiang Changyuan and Su Yingying together, chatting and laughing as if they had known each other for years. Conversely, whenever he tried to approach Su Yingying, their total conversation amounted to less than what the two of them spoke in a single free period.

Gu Qing felt miserable. He wouldn't blame Su Yingying, so all his pent-up frustration was aimed squarely at Jiang Changyuan.

For five days, it was also an ordeal for Jiang Changyuan. The feeling of being watched, like needles pricking his back, happened everywhere and at all hours. He truly suspected that Gu Qing might go completely dark at any moment.

"Jiang Changyuan, I need to talk to you."

"Coincidentally, I was just thinking of talking to you, too."

The two tacitly walked out of the classroom one after the other. Once they reached the playground, Gu Qing cut straight to the chase.

"Stay far away from Yingying after the monthly exams."

"Certainly. Even if you didn't say it, I would have done so."

Gu Qing froze, not expecting Jiang Changyuan to agree so readily.

"You don't blame me for forcing you away from Yingying?"

"Give me a break. Su Yingying and I only have a tutor-student relationship. How could you think like that about us?"

The sudden reversal left Gu Qing lost in thought. Lately, he had indeed been acting too narrow-minded...

Seeing this, Jiang Changyuan’s mind raced. Recalling his ending in the original book, he felt it was necessary to take this opportunity to do some "public relations."

"Gu Qing, I know you care about Su Yingying, but I only see her as a classmate."

"And you know her family situation. You probably also know that her previous part-time job was no longer hiring, right?"

"Yeah."

Gu Qing replied in a muffled voice. He hadn't known before and had misunderstood Yingying. He had wanted to explain for a long time, but Yingying hadn't given him the chance. Thinking about it this way, he should actually be thanking Jiang Changyuan. If he hadn't hired Su Yingying as a tutor, she would have run out of money for her mother's medicine before she could find another job.

"Thanks."

"Don't thank me. I was just helping a classmate within my capabilities."

"Taking a step back, if you hadn't insisted on competing with us on grades, I wouldn't have had a reason to look for Su Yingying."

Seeing the look of guilt on Gu Qing’s face, Jiang Changyuan had to think hard about the ending of the original book to keep from laughing. The current male lead was far too easy to manipulate; he was nowhere near the cold, obsessive tyrant he would become much later.

"You..."

"What?"

After a long pause, Gu Qing finally raised his head to meet Jiang Changyuan’s gaze.

"I used my strengths to compare against your weaknesses. Do you hold any resentment toward me for that?"

"Not at all."

"You're bound to lose when the results come out, and you'll be humiliated... You don't hate me?"

"You can't judge everything by the surface. Even if we lose, the things we've learned during this time belong to us."

Jiang Changyuan gave a carefree smile, his relaxed attitude making Gu Qing feel even more ashamed.

"I don't hate you, nor am I angry. On the contrary, I want to thank you."

"If you hadn't proposed the competition, Fatty and the others wouldn't have studied so seriously."

"I actually hope for more opportunities like this. Besides, who says we're definitely going to lose?"

Gu Qing felt a pang of guilt. He had always assumed Jiang Changyuan was playing some kind of trick. He never expected the other party to be so magnanimous and far-sighted. It was he who had been narrow-minded.

"I'm sorry. I was angry at your past actions, and proposing the competition was indeed unfair."

"But rest assured, if you lose, I won't let you be humiliated."

Gu Qing’s sincere words made Jiang Changyuan excitedly slap him on the shoulder.

"That's the right way to think. As the saying goes, one should look at a person with fresh eyes after three days of separation. You really shouldn't think badly of me in the future..."

Over the next few days, Gu Qing adjusted his state of mind, stopped monitoring Jiang Changyuan and Su Yingying, and threw himself into his studies. Thanks to the mental toughness forged by over ten days of being roasted by a sharp tongue, the grades of Fatty and the others also improved rapidly.

Jiang Changyuan went even further, squeezing Su Yingying for every bit of knowledge, and successfully finished learning the second-year curriculum the day before the monthly exams.

After a full day of exams, Fatty and the others cheered each other on, but once the results were in, they couldn't bring themselves to be happy.

"You lost!"

"According to the bet, you have to disband the Student Society and apologize to us!"

The members of the Student Union were united for the first time, immediately cornering Class 1 to confront Jiang Changyuan.

"Apologizing is fine, but the Student Society..."

"What? Trying to back out?"

"Incompetent and yet so arrogant! This is the price for going against our Student Union!"

Fatty and the others didn't want to disband the Student Society; facing the mockery, their faces flushed red. Gu Qing had gone to the head teacher’s office, while Jiang Changyuan rubbed his chin, preparing to announce the dissolution of the Student Society.