There’re Always Paranoid Thoughts to Monopolize Me - Chapter 52.1

“Do you really want to go in?”

“Of course, didn’t we agree on this?”

“… That was more like you unilaterally agreeing with me, wasn’t it?”

“Oh come on, Ke Ke, just accompany me in once, just once. I’ll take a look and leave, really! I swear!”

“Do you think I’ll believe that?”

“Hmm… you will!”

“…”

Qin Ke smiled bitterly, feeling helpless against Qiao Xiaoyun. She glanced at the gleaming golden inscription on A University’s monument, then turned back, pointing at the A University Affiliated High School uniforms they were wearing.

“Even if I agree to go with you, do you think they’ll let us in wearing these uniforms?”

“…”

Qiao Xiaoyun blinked. “I hadn’t thought about that. But I see other people going in for tours, so shouldn’t we be able to go in too?”

“Tours are only allowed at scheduled times,” Qin Ke said helplessly. “More importantly, we’re affiliated high school students. Strictly speaking, we’re skipping class right now—aren’t you afraid of being caught by the security uncles and dragged in front of our homeroom teacher?”

Qiao Xiaoyun’s face immediately fell.

“What should we do?” She glanced at Qin Ke, fidgeting with her fingers. “I really, really want to go take a look…”

Qin Ke: “…”

Qin Ke: “Speak properly.”

“Oh.” Qiao Xiaoyun resumed her playful expression. “Ke Ke, you’re the smartest. You must have a way to help us sneak in without getting caught, right?”

Qin Ke gave her a teasing look. “In your eyes, is my intelligence just about being good at sneaking around?”

“…” Qiao Xiaoyun blinked. “I didn’t say that.”

Qin Ke glanced at the main gate, then turned back, silently sighing. “You really want to go in?”

“Mm-hmm!”

“I’ll help you just this once, but don’t make it a habit, okay?”

“Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm!!”

Qiao Xiaoyun nodded vigorously like a pecking chicken.

Two minutes later.

Behind a tree at A University’s north gate.

“Will this really work?” Qiao Xiaoyun swallowed, running her hand through her hair that Qin Ke had loosened by removing the hair tie, asking worriedly.

“It’ll be okay,” Qin Ke reassured her.

Qiao Xiaoyun took a deep breath, preparing to step forward.

Qin Ke: “Uh, wait.”

Qiao Xiaoyun was startled and quickly pulled back her foot. “What’s wrong? Is there a problem with me?”

Qin Ke gestured towards her eyes, “Don’t look so… ‘heroic’.”

Qiao Xiaoyun: “—?”

Qin Ke thought for a moment and rephrased, “Relax your eyes, try to unfocus them. You looked too energetic just now—be more listless, wilted, and colder.”

“…?”

Seeing Qiao Xiaoyun grimace and eventually rub her sore face while looking at her in pain, Qin Ke sighed.

“Never mind, I’ll give you a scenario to imagine. You failed your midterm exams, dropped ten places compared to last time, and suddenly found out there’s a parent-teacher meeting—now you need to tell your parents this news.”

After saying this, Qin Ke observed Qiao Xiaoyun’s expression and snapped her fingers.

“Good, maintain that expression. You can pretend to make a phone call—on the other end are your parents who are about to attend the parent-teacher meeting and learn that you’ve dropped 20 places.”

Watching Qiao Xiaoyun walk past and successfully enter the campus gates, Qin Ke also breathed a sigh of relief.

She removed her hair tie, shook out her hair, and had already taken off her high school uniform jacket. She turned it inside out along with Qiao Xiaoyun’s.

Then Qin Ke draped the clothes over her arm and casually blended into the small groups of people walking in.

When the two reunited several dozen meters inside the gate, Qiao Xiaoyun was so excited she almost jumped on Qin Ke.

“Calm down, calm down,” Qin Ke helplessly soothed her. “Where are we going now?”

“Follow me! I’ve studied the map of this area so much to see the new campus heartthrob today, I could almost draw it with my eyes closed!”

Qiao Xiaoyun grabbed Qin Ke’s hand and strode off in one direction.

****

A University’s basketball gym was extremely lively today. With more than ten minutes until the game started, there were hardly any empty seats left in the stands.

Qin Ke and Qiao Xiaoyun arrived at a slightly awkward time, just as the stands were almost full. They circled around the front and back rows and several aisles, asking about empty seats that were all taken by others. After circling once, they found there was barely even standing room left in front of the rows.

Qiao Xiaoyun felt conflicted and elbowed Qin Ke behind her. “Now do you believe me when I said the number of girls chasing Huo Zhonglou could circle A University three times and line up to our school gate? It wasn’t an exaggeration, right?”

Qin Ke felt even more conflicted.

“… They all came for him?”

Qiao Xiaoyun gave Qin Ke a look of disdain as if saying “how can you still not believe it”, then put on a smiling face and tapped the shoulder of a girl excitedly chatting with her companion in the nearby seat. “Senior, why are there so many people in the gym today?”

The girl looked at her in surprise, “Don’t you know today is the game between the Business School and Law School? That new campus heartthrob from the Business School’s Industrial Management department is playing today, so everyone came to see the handsome guy and enjoy the excitement.”

“I see, thank you, senior.”

Qiao Xiaoyun straightened up, shrugged, and looked at Qin Ke. She spoke over the increasingly noisy background.

“Now do you believe me?”

“…”

Qin Ke was speechless.

About three minutes later.

The basketball teams from the Business School and Law School entered the gym from the southeast and northwest corner doors respectively. Deafening screams instantly erupted throughout the entire gym.

Caught off guard, Qin Ke was almost startled into a crouch.

When she came to her senses and looked around in confusion, she heard a name gradually emerging from the chaotic screams, starting as a jumble of voices and eventually finding a rhythm to become a single chant.

“Huo Zhonglou! Huo Zhonglou…”

Qin Ke was both surprised and a bit amused.

She felt she could already imagine a certain person’s expression at this moment.

Thinking this, Qin Ke stood on her tiptoes, looking over the heads of the girls in front who couldn’t resist standing up, to see the basketball court below.