The real young master thought he was hated by everyone

Xue Ce’s series of unfortunate events seemed to be just pure coincidences. Even for using a car accident as an excuse to take a leave of absence, Li Heng could find a reasonable explanation—after all, nothing could be more random or suitable as an excuse than a car accident.

Xue Ce was well-known for his vanity, and from his perspective, he definitely wouldn’t want others to know that he had fallen victim to a scam. Instead of continuing school with obvious injuries caused by blunt objects, he would rather rest for a while and wait for the storm to pass.

But what he probably didn’t expect was that his so-called girlfriend could be so meticulous and bold. After learning about his car accident and leave of absence, she directly released a series of pieces of evidence proving his “situation.”

By the time Xue Ce returns from his leave, he’ll find that he has become the school’s most despised person, and when he is forced to reveal the truth of being scammed, no one will believe him anymore. He has already missed the chance to explain himself.

The news that Bai Ruan was filming in a closed set almost dispelled Li Heng’s last doubts. After the mysterious shadow hanging over his heart cleared away, he quickly stopped paying excessive attention to the incident and shifted his focus elsewhere.

There were no midterms in college, but many courses assigned small papers halfway through the semester. Large classes, such as military or scientific theory, which were taken together by the whole class, also reached the point of conclusion.

When the course was ending, assignments were due.

Since the teacher for Li Heng’s course didn’t like to take attendance, the final grades depended entirely on the final assignments. After the long holiday, he didn’t have much time to continue relaxing. He quickly returned to the routine of going between the teaching buildings, the library, and the dormitory. He rarely went to the cafeteria anymore, and the frequency of ordering takeout skyrocketed.

Fortunately, he wasn’t the only one feeling this “nervous” and urgent sense.

Although Wei was the type to barely pass with a 60, his roommate Lin Mo was a diligent and hardworking academic overachiever.

During this time, Lin Mo didn’t even watch the TV shows he hadn’t finished.

His self-discipline was so strong that it made Li Heng, who was trying but not working too hard, feel somewhat ashamed.

Whether in the library or the dormitory, Li Heng couldn’t go long without checking his phone or clicking on the flashing messages in the bottom right corner of his computer. When he encountered confusing or interesting content, he even proactively took screenshots to share with others.

Lin Mo, however, could go a whole day without checking his phone, only messaging friends before bed or occasionally stepping out for a phone call.

Usually smiling, after finishing a call on the balcony, he would read some more, preparing for the next day’s classes.

The whole situation with Xue Ce had already passed many pages, except for the initial awkward period—of course, Wei probably helped explain things later—Li Heng and Xue Ce’s relationship was no longer as strained as before. It was no longer a situation of “one party terrified, avoiding contact, but still trying to maintain normal communication and interaction because of the roommate relationship and vague affection.”

He could sense that Lin Mo was making an effort to cross the invisible barrier in his heart, and he could probably guess why he suddenly became distant.

“…Why do I feel like your relationship with Mo Mo is way better than mine?” After Wei packed his roast duck meal and returned to the dorm, seeing them already back and working on a PPT, he suddenly felt like he was the outsider.

This shouldn’t be happening.

Although Lin Mo was a “social butterfly” and watched a lot of popular TV shows, he also followed some well-known, trending anime that were far from being niche. Without a doubt, they shared a common language.

As for Li Heng—well, that was even more obvious.

Wei believed in the invisible bonds between fans and streamers, and Li Heng had a very unique understanding of many game themes, which Wei enjoyed chatting about with him.

A good three-person dormitory should be like an equilateral triangle, maintaining the most stable and perfect structure in the world, right?

So why did things turn out this way?

He even noticed that the arrows pointing from him were one-way, each pointing to one of the other two.

Meanwhile, the other two were tightly bound by their studies, with their arrows coming and going, one even thicker than his two combined.

But he really didn’t understand what was so special about making a PPT. Shouldn’t it just be about choosing a template, searching for keywords on the internet, making some adjustments, and then submitting it?

Even when it came to the presentation, all you had to do was avoid doing worse than anyone else in the class.

It was such an easy assignment that it was hard to end up at the bottom.

“Wei, it’s just your illusion,” Li Heng said without looking up, still adjusting the slide transitions on the PPT. “We’re all good friends.”

He suddenly smelled the roast duck from the cafeteria and felt a bit hungry, so he decided to treat himself. “Mo Mo, let’s go to the cafeteria tomorrow, how about it?”

Wei: …

“Still say it’s not an illusion!”

At a more depressing moment, Wei noticed that Lin Mo glanced at him shyly, his mouth moving as if he wanted to say something.

However, in the end, he said nothing and didn’t answer the question Wei had asked earlier.

“Well… what should we have tomorrow?” Wei heard Lin Mo ask.

“How about roast duck? We only have two classes tomorrow morning. We can go to the library first and study for a bit, then head over around 10:30. That way, we won’t have to wait in line, and we can come back right after,” Li Heng thought for a moment. “That way, it’ll be perfect.”

The cafeteria lunch window opens at 10:45.

Lin Mo agreed without hesitation.

“Sounds good,” he softly replied. “Let’s have roast duck.”

Sounds great, but has anyone noticed there’s a third person in the dorm besides you two?

After struggling for a while, Wei made a decision to integrate into the group, even though it went against his conscience.

“Hey, can you guys take me to the library tomorrow too? I just remembered I have some assignments left to finish.”

In reality, he usually finished his assignments by copying and pasting, rearranging things, cutting down a bit, and submitting them quickly. Going to the library was just to seem more social and to reduce the time the other two spent alone.

Friendship’s little boat could capsize at any time for various reasons, but if one person flipped two boats, and those two boats became each other’s giants after capsizing, he would feel like he wouldn’t need to wear cosplay at the next comic con because he’d be the clown himself.

Plus, going to the library didn’t have to be about studying.

He could also read novels.

Last time, while surfing the internet, he came across a post saying that the Japanese literature section in their school’s library had many classic light novels. He planned to see if he could find works like Literary Girl or DRRR, which had a strong sense of the past but were still considered classics.

“Then we can still queue together for roast duck tomorrow,” Li Heng agreed without realizing the struggle Wei had just gone through.

He remembered he especially liked roast duck, even giving it a “just as tasty as the roast duck shop near my house” review. He ate it all the time, seven days a week, and never got tired of it.

Lin Mo immediately felt a sense of relief. He liked both of his roommates and didn’t want to be caught in the middle, making things awkward.

Wei not saying anything was good, allowing him to intentionally avoid thinking about it. But now that he had spoken, he felt a guilty sense of remorse.

A good dorm relationship meant doing everything together, always coming and going as a group.

However, Lin Mo had always been afraid of confronting his fears, deliberately avoiding one of his roommates to avoid contact. He spoke more with Wei than with Li Heng, and it was a purposeful form of avoidance, even manipulation. If he could, he also wanted to find an opportunity to apologize to Wei.

But Lin Mo still felt that the advice his friends gave him made more sense—no matter what, in order to do well in something, he first needed to distinguish what mattered most and prioritize tasks in order of urgency.

He wanted to build a good relationship with both roommates, but the prerequisite was overcoming his mental barriers and resolving the misunderstanding with Wei. Starting as normal friends was the key. So, while feeling guilty, he couldn’t allow Wei’s complaints to derail his goals and waste the effort he had already put in.

He felt that his relationship with him had improved compared to before.

Wei was inherently a kind person. He shouldn’t have automatically assumed the worst because of past unpleasant experiences, ignoring his true feelings.

Once bitten, twice shy—that was true, but this kind of caution wasn’t right. It would only cause him to miss out on potentially important friendships.

No matter how things were in elementary, middle, or high school, university was a new beginning.

“I’ll take care of reserving a spot in the library tomorrow…”

He said with a slightly embarrassed smile, “I wake up earlier than you guys.”

“Not just a little earlier—way earlier,” Wei teased. “How do you manage to get up at 6 AM every day, Mo Mo?”

When Lin Mo heard “Mo Mo,” he felt both flattered and a bit uncomfortable. “I… it’s just… a habit?”

He felt like he was waking up much later now than when he was in his senior year of high school.

“I used to have a 6 AM wake-up habit too,” Wei sighed, reminiscing about the past.

“But now you don’t have to fight anymore,” Li Heng calmly pointed out, mentioning that he was usually the last to arrive in class, and it was Lin Mo who always kindly saved him a seat.

“Not necessarily.”

He flexed his arm, trying to show off his muscles. “I’m just conserving energy, preparing for a new battlefield, using other methods to earn credits.”

Li Heng watched Wei’s exaggerated gesture and suddenly remembered that the class monitor had mentioned the sign-up for the sports meet yesterday.

The exact date for the sports meet hadn’t been set yet, but it was estimated to happen at the latest in the week after next.

If they didn’t hold it soon, the autumn sports meet might turn into a winter sports meet. And if it rained or snowed, the already low participation rate could decrease even further.

But he himself wasn’t planning to participate in the sports meet anyway.