The real young master thought he was hated by everyone

Li Heng really wanted to point out the flaws in his logic.

Because up to this point, all of Xue Ce’s suspicions were based on the assumption that *his* roommates must have stolen the pen.

Li Heng could understand the feeling of losing something and not feeling good about it. 

He had also lost a pen in his second year of high school, though it wasn’t as valuable as Xue Ce’s.

It was a graduation gift from his middle school class teacher. 

When his class teacher called him to the office, the teacher congratulated him on being accepted into the best high school in the county and encouraged him to study hard. 

The pen came from the capital, a souvenir bought years ago by the teacher when visiting Q University, with the school’s name engraved on it, making it quite sentimental. 

Though Li Heng had never used the pen and it stayed in his pencil case, it had accompanied him during the initial adjustment period.

At the time, his class committee member was his deskmate. 

When the deskmate found out the pen was missing, he quickly listed a long string of names. 

The deskmate suspected it was one of the boys from the back row who rarely attended class and often challenged him, even planning to check their drawers. 

Though Li Heng felt upset, regretful, and anxious, he stopped his deskmate from taking further actions. He didn’t report it to the teacher but instead went back to the dormitory and searched the places he had been. 

In the end, the pen was found days later when they were on duty and spotted among the chalk piles on the podium, possibly having fallen out of the pencil case while on the desk during break or while doing duty. 

The pen rolled off, unnoticed, and was mistaken as someone else’s and placed with the other items on the podium, waiting for its rightful owner.

He remembered that Xue Ce came back late last night before lights out. Not long after, he went out to make a phone call. 

Xue Ce didn’t even bother to search his desk or the corners of the room carefully before immediately concluding that it was stolen by his roommates. Didn’t he think his assumption was absurd?

“Why do you think I took your pen? Do you have any evidence?” Li Heng’s expression wasn’t very good. “If you have no proof, making such accusations is slander.”

“What evidence do I need?” Xue Ce was puzzled. “The other two stayed in the dorm, they didn’t go anywhere. Apart from the dorm, they have no other place to hide things.”

“And you can’t prove that you don’t have any criminal involvement,” Xue Ce continued. “In our dorm, you’re the one who’s the most short of money.”

“…What?” Li Heng wondered if he had misheard.

Even though he didn’t think a few tens of thousands of yuan was a small amount, hearing Xue Ce say this still felt quite strange.

In Xue Ce’s eyes, Li Heng’s surprised look and furrowed brows signified the discomfort of having been exposed.

“I’m saying that although you act calm, in reality, you’re really short on cash and living poorly,” Xue Ce didn’t hide his malice.

He couldn’t resist the intense satisfaction that surged within him as he exposed this roommate, who always appeared so quiet and gentle, in front of others.

Did you ever think that while you were pretending, I had already seen through you and one day you’d be exposed?

“You’re quick at helping Wei Zhuowei with game tasks, and you say you’ve done summer jobs, so it’s clear you’ve been making money through game boosting and such.” 

“….” Li Heng fell silent, utterly confused as to how Xue Ce came to such a conclusion. His bewilderment almost spilled over.

He missed his chance to refute, and his silence only fueled his arrogance.

“Just summer jobs wouldn’t be too much, because I also interned at my family’s company during the summer, flying back and forth between the domestic and international offices, using the opportunity to gain experience,” Xue Ce proudly mentioned his summer job, brimming with pride. 

“But the issue is, your family background is poor, and you can’t afford the lifestyle that allows you to show off in front of your classmates.”

“Why do you think my family is poor?” Li Heng finally couldn’t hold back and interrupted him, as his disbelief deepened.

“We’ve only known each other for a few days, we’re not familiar, and I’ve never talked to you about my family’s occupation or given you my address,” he continued, his furrowed brows deeper than when he had seen Xie Sizhi’s and his crush’s chat history.

“Because you’re embarrassed to bring it up,” Xue Ce said casually. “And whether you say it or not, it makes no difference to me. You probably don’t know, but for families like mine, observing others is a mandatory lesson from childhood.”

When Xue Ce brought this up, he felt an odd sense of superiority.

His face unconsciously revealed disdain. “Which people can be friends, which can’t, who’s gold on the outside but hollow inside, and who has a genuinely impressive family background – all these can be figured out through their dress and manner.”

“Well, your teacher is definitely not very qualified,” Li Heng shot back calmly.

The so-called lesson that Xue Ce mentioned, Li Heng had dreamed of. In that dream, only the teacher and he were in the room, playing various sounds, asking him to identify the speaker based on their tone and conversation content.

That teacher told him that no matter who stood before him, even a beggar, his attitude should be polite but not overly familiar. 

Li Heng remembered asking that teacher why he couldn’t help the beggar, only to be reprimanded by Bai Ruan later for doing so.

He didn’t think that teacher was great; in fact, he saw them as being as arrogant as Xue Ce, only much more cultured, using manners and hypocrisy to cover up their pride.

“Didn’t that teacher teach you that no matter the other person’s status, whether you look down on or admire them, you should at least keep it hidden and be polite?” Li Heng stated. “Otherwise, you’ll be branded a ‘nouveau riche’ and laughed at for lacking manners.”

Li Heng didn’t realize that the term “nouveau riche” had struck a raw nerve with Xue Ce.

Xue Ce had gone to a private high school, though it was part of a branch. He had heard the main campus students openly mock him as a “nouveau riche” behind his back. 

Though he didn’t think he’d done anything wrong, that incident—his white shoes being stepped on by a student who didn’t know if it was accidental or out of envy—still irritated him.

If he had previously enjoyed the feeling of being in control, relishing the slow humiliation of others, hearing those words from Li Heng immediately turned that smugness into anger.

He felt humiliated.

Taking a deep breath, he sneered, “You can only guess with a poor imagination because you’ve never truly seen wealthy people.”

“Why do I suspect you took it? Because you have a few tens of thousands of yuan worth of a laptop and camera, and the latest phone, but can only afford to eat the cheapest dishes at the school’s cafeteria and use a two-yuan pen from the school shop.”

He coldly laid out the facts he knew.

“Do you really think you’re hiding it well? Every time I try to bring up the topic of family, you always act awkward, like you don’t know how to respond.”

Isn’t that trying too hard to cover up?

“You don’t think I can see that you’re just trying to show off, pretending to be calm?” 

Xue Ce sneered. “You know my family is rich, losing a pen isn’t a big deal. Maybe I’ll forget about it in a while, plan to sneak it back and bring it out later.” 

“But unfortunately, that pen you took wasn’t expensive, but it meant a lot to me—”

He turned to look at the counselor, who had been looking troubled since the beginning. “Teacher, no need to investigate. I think it’s better to call the police directly.”

“?!” 

Wei Zhuowei, who had just unlocked the door, shook his wrist.

Lin Mo, who was carrying fruit behind him, was so startled that he almost dropped the bag.

“Come in first,” the counselor gestured for them to enter.

It was noon, and most students were still in their dorms, so he didn’t want the whole dorm building to know about this.

However, Wei Zhuowei didn’t understand his hint. “Teacher, why are you suddenly going to call the police?”

“Did a thief break into the dorm?” 

The counselor had no choice but to close the door himself and explained the situation again. “The teacher means, since you’re all here, just check your belongings in front of Xue Ce to prove your innocence.”

“You have to search your body too,” Xue Ce added. “What if it’s hidden on you?”

“Didn’t you already decide I took your pen?” Li Heng didn’t understand.

“It’s possible it was a joint theft, but you’re the main suspect,” Xue Ce openly admitted. “Your motive is the strongest.”

Li Heng laughed angrily. “No evidence, and you’re coming up with a motive just by talking?”

“I saw it with my own eyes, so what I say counts as evidence,” Xue Ce sneered. “Even if you keep denying it, when the police come, we’ll find another way to make you confess.”

“…

Teacher, don’t you think this is unreasonable and violates privacy?

Wei Zhuowei was equally confused. “Even if Xue Ce suspects that the fountain pen wasn’t lost by himself but stolen by us, he still needs to provide enough evidence to search our belongings, right?”

“Otherwise, if I say my phone is lost and I suspect he stole it, can I also search his things?”

“Would I take your phone?” Xue Ce sneered. “A few thousand yuan, if it were lying on the street, I wouldn’t even glance at it.”

In contrast, Lin Mo’s attitude was different.

He cautiously looked at them, a hesitant, conflicted look on his face. After a moment, as if making up his mind, he spoke:

“…So if they check my stuff and don’t find anything, then when the police arrive, I can leave, right?”

Wei Zhuowei was stunned. “You…”

“I… I still need to go to the library later. If we finish quickly, I can leave earlier…” Lin Mo lowered his head. “…and there’s class in the afternoon. What if it delays my classes?”

He felt a bit guilty toward the others but still had a glimmer of hope.

However, Xue Ce did not give him any leeway and became even more rigid in his stance.

“No.”

He blocked the dormitory door decisively, making his intentions clear. “You could all be covering for each other, and in the end, splitting the spoils.”

No one could leave the dorm until the police arrived.

“Damn, is he crazy?” Li Heng heard Wei Zhuowei mutter an expletive.

After getting consent from the concerned individual, the counselor had begun checking Lin Mo’s belongings very thoroughly.

While doing so, he was also trying to reason with Xue Ce, urging him not to call the 

“Maybe it’s just a misunderstanding. Once we find the pen, I’ll have someone apologize and write a letter of guarantee.”

The counselor was considering the other students’ interests.

This situation had escalated, and whether for the students or the school, it was looking bad. “Of course, if we can resolve it within the school, there’s no need to involve the police, right?”

“You might as well check Xue Ce’s own stuff first,” Wei Zhuowei said with a scowl.

He believed that, at heart, the counselor was showing bias. “Maybe he lost it himself.”

The counselor didn’t respond to him.

“Why haven’t you called the police already, especially since it’s over the reporting threshold?” Xue Ce retorted, now also frustrated with the counselor, thinking the other person was too timid to handle the situation.

Li Heng, tired of hearing Xue Ce’s so-called “principles” and “reasons,” dialed the police himself.

“I’ve already called the police.” He had no patience left for more of his nonsense.

There was a police station not far from S University, and the police would be there soon.

Xue Ce scoffed contemptuously. “You don’t think calling the police will clear your name, do you?”

He stopped dialing the police, instead calling his secretary, instructing them to come to the school immediately.

The reason he called the secretary instead of the company’s legal department was that the secretary had more clout and was better at dealing with people.

“…Yeah, don’t tell my dad. I can handle this myself, but having you come is safer.”

He hung up the phone, thinking that Li Heng, a powerless university student, wouldn’t cause any trouble.

“If we don’t find the fountain pen in the dorm, I’ll have my secretary and the police come to your house to search.”

They would file a case as soon as they found it.

Before Li Heng could say anything, Wei Zhuowei couldn’t help but laugh bitterly at Xue Ce’s shamelessness. “…Do you think the police are as brainless as you, just barging into someone’s house?”

Wei Zhuowei had initially wanted to downplay the situation, taking care of the dorm’s relationships. 

After all, if there were no major accidents, they would all live together under the same roof for four years. It wouldn’t be good to start off with bad blood over such a small misunderstanding.

But clearly, Xue Ce was the type to slap you in the face as soon as you gave him an inch.

“The more you lack something, the more you flaunt it—this is exactly you,” Wei Zhuowei said, his disgust growing. “The more you insist you don’t care about money, the more it’s obvious how much you care about that fountain pen. How low.”

“Can you even take it out? If you can’t, then don’t talk.”

Now that the masks had come off, Xue Ce didn’t try to hide his arrogance anymore. “You act like you can pull out fifty thousand yuan from nowhere,” he sneered.

“Can you take it out?”

He glanced at Wei Zhuowei with disdain. “I’ve still got over a hundred thousand on me, and I could buy several pens like the one you’re talking about. Want to know why I’m fixated on that one pen?”

“Because you’re all so low-class, I can tell just by looking that your character’s questionable. I can’t just pretend nothing happened.”

Wei Zhuowei clenched his fist so hard it creaked, but he knew better than to take the first swing.

“If I did have the money, then what would you do?” Li Heng asked. “Would you reflect on your mistakes and apologize to everyone?”

Xue Ce laughed as though hearing a joke. He probably didn’t take Li Heng seriously, thinking he was just being stubborn and resistant.

Li Heng hadn’t really linked his bank cards to his accounts.

The balance on his cards was so high that it could never be spent, so he never had to worry about transferring money. He had many cards, but he rarely paid for things when out. 

The cards in his wallet, collected from various banks and countries, were more for collection than practical use.

He compared whether his balance on his chat app or on his payment app was higher.

In the end, his chat app won.

On Saturday night, Xie Sizhi had sent him a bunch of red envelopes with no words attached, just sending them silently. 

When he asked Xie Duzhi about it, Xie Duzhi transferred him some money and told him to rest well and not to worry about Xie Sizhi.

Now, his wallet was almost at eight digits.

He stepped forward, raised his phone, and flashed his wallet balance right in front of Xue Ce’s face, only to realize he hadn’t figured out what to say yet.

This was his first time in such a situation, so he hesitated. 

In the face of Xue Ce’s stunned and confused eyes, he asked softly:

“…Would you like to check how many pens this could buy?”

“Right now, by your standards, I’m neither low-class nor trying to impress anyone. I’m simply being myself.”

After a moment of thought, he added in a more serious tone, “This is just from my chat app’s balance.”

“My bank cards have enough money to buy your entire family’s house.”

He slightly altered Xie Duzhi’s words. “I just need to make a call to my asset manager.”

Strictly speaking, his asset managers were Mrs. Xie and Xie Duzhi, so he should call them.

“You definitely used some kind of modifying software.”

Xue Ce’s face twisted with anger as he scrambled to check his phone screen, trying to find evidence of Li Heng using such a “scam” software. “I know all about that tech. I could easily download it from a forum… the chat interface is usually like this…”

But Li Heng could tell that he didn’t even believe his own theory, and his attempts to find evidence made him look foolish.

“Do you want to see if I can actually buy your house?” He asked calmly.

Xue Ce didn’t respond. His face had drained of all color.

Just moments ago, he had tried to find proof that Li Heng was using some sort of scam app, but instead, he had clicked on the contact list.

There, he saw the name of the ship his family was building, followed by the note “brother.”

He recognized it immediately from a banquet his father had taken him to, where he’d seen the person with the red hair.

A forced smile stretched across his face, entirely devoid of the arrogance from before. He awkwardly spoke:

“Maybe there’s been a misunderstanding, or…”

“There’s no ‘or.'” 

Li Heng interrupted him. “If I really didn’t have money, living in a low-income family in the suburbs, eating at the cheapest food stall, you wouldn’t change your attitude one bit.”

He could sense that, more than apologizing or acknowledging his mistakes, Xue Ce was only backing down because he was forced to.

So when the police came, let them handle the investigation.

And for those who insult others, questioning their character without any evidence, that needed to be dealt with.

“Teacher, can I talk to you about Xue Ce?” Li Heng asked, wanting to resolve the issue once and for all.

“I don’t think we can stay in the same dorm anymore,” he added.

The counselor, who had been awkwardly silent this whole time, finally responded.

“I thought Xue Ce was already a hot potato,” the counselor muttered. “I didn’t expect another one.”

“…So what are your thoughts now?” The counselor asked. “You’re Li Heng, right? Do you plan to change rooms?”

“Teacher, I think it’s just a small misunderstanding between us,” Xue Ce quickly spoke up. “We

can talk it out.”

“Who are you talking about ‘we’?” Wei Zhuowei rolled his eyes.

“I’m not the one who should be changing rooms,” Li Heng said seriously, looking the counselor in the eye. “Don’t you think someone should apologize for this?”

For some unknown reason, the counselor’s face flushed with embarrassment.