There’re Always Paranoid Thoughts to Monopolize Me - Chapter 69.1

The news that Huo Zhonglou was wearing a ring on the ring finger of his left hand spread quickly across A University campus, not even taking the time of one full class period.

However, most students still dismissed this news with a laugh.

Wearing a ring on the left ring finger was a symbol of marriage, but how could that be possible on a university campus? Especially since they all remembered that the last time this new campus heartthrob from the freshman class vaguely had a rumor, it was about kissing a girl who seemed to be a high school student, wearing an A University Affiliated High School uniform jacket in the basketball gymnasium—but after half a year of rumors, no one had ever seen Huo Zhonglou being close to any girl.

Like before, almost everyone treated this as a baseless rumor.

As for the ring, they assumed it was just the new campus heartthrob’s unique personality, wearing it on whichever finger he liked. Who could control that?

Meanwhile, on the other side.

Qin Ke, who had arrived at A University to report in, was handling her enrollment procedures at the Office of Student Affairs. In this office, she rarely encountered a very friendly teacher.

After completing the procedures, the teacher kindly looked up and asked, “Student Qin Ke, you don’t have any other plans after this, right?”

Qin Ke didn’t understand where this question came from, but she still honestly nodded. “No, I don’t.”

“That’s good. Let me find a senior student to give you a tour of the campus,” the teacher said. Without giving Qin Ke time to think or refuse, she directly picked up the office phone and dialed an unknown internal line, connecting to the secretary department of the student union. “We have a new student from the scholarship class. Please arrange someone to come down and guide her.”

By the time Qin Ke came to her senses, the teacher had already hung up the phone and was smiling at her.

“Just wait here for a moment. The student union office is on the second basement floor of this building. Someone will be here soon.”

“……”

Qin Ke was taken aback by the teacher’s efficiency. But she had no other choice at this point, so she could only smile bitterly and nod.

“Okay, thank you, teacher.”

“You’re welcome.”

The teacher was right. Whether the student union was willing or not was unknown, but they were quick to send someone up.

About three minutes after the phone call ended, there was a knock on the Office of Student Affairs door, and a tall, thin male student walked in. “Teacher, I’m here to guide the new student from the scholarship class.”

“Oh, good,” the teacher looked up and gestured towards where Qin Ke was standing. “This is her.”

The male student’s gaze fell on her, seeing the girl standing in the corner. He paused for a moment, then his eyes lit up slightly.

“Hello, junior. I’m the senior in charge of guiding you, Wu Lintao.”

Qin Ke nodded, “Hello, senior.”

“You……” Wu Lintao seemed to want to say something, but in the end, he didn’t finish that sentence. He scratched his head and smiled, changing the subject, “Well, follow me. I’ll show you around the school.”

“Thank you for the trouble, senior.”

Qin Ke nodded and followed behind the male student as they left the Office of Student Affairs.

When they had walked about ten meters, Qin Ke looked up. “Senior.”

“Hmm?” Wu Lintao heard her voice and quickly turned back, thinking, “Is there something you want to ask?”

“No,” Qin Ke shook her head, “I just wanted to tell you that I was previously a student at A University Affiliated High School, and I’ve visited A University several times before. I’m actually quite familiar with the school—so there’s no need to trouble you with a tour.”

Wu Lintao was stunned, then quickly spoke up, “But… but there are some specific locations you definitely won’t know as well as a current student. It would be good for me to show you around to avoid problems in the future……”

“It’s alright, I can figure it out on my own.”

“Huh?” Wu Lintao hesitated very uncertainly, scratching his head, then suddenly seemed to remember something. “But this guidance task is the responsibility of our student union. We do this every year. If the teacher finds out I didn’t complete the task, they might scold me.”

“……”

Qin Ke was stuck. With the other party putting it this way, refusing further would seem too uncooperative. With no other choice, Qin Ke could only nod.

“Then I’ll trouble you, senior.”

Wu Lintao smiled, showing a row of neat white teeth. “It’s no trouble at all. This is what we in the student union should do.”

For the next twenty minutes, Qin Ke could only follow this particularly enthusiastic senior on a “tour” of the vast campus.

However, Qin Ke was very clear about the source of this “enthusiasm,” so apart from polite responses, she didn’t leave any room for the other party to imagine anything more.

When the watch showed that it had been half an hour since she left the Office of Student Affairs, Qin Ke finally couldn’t hold back anymore.

“Senior, I’m a bit tired. Let’s end the tour here for today—”

“Oh? Junior, you’re tired? No problem, there’s an outdoor rest area just ahead, outside the library. We don’t have many locations left. Let’s take a short break, and we can finish quickly.”

“……”

Qin Ke gritted her teeth inwardly, silently repeating three times in her mind, “He has no ill intentions, so there’s no need to make the relationship tense or create enemies.” Only then did she barely manage to hold back.

The two arrived at the nearby rest area.

On a weekend, there were many idle university students who didn’t need to attend classes, so the rest area was quite crowded at this time.

Just as Qin Ke and Wu Lintao sat down, Qin Ke heard a sharp female voice from a table behind them—

“I don’t believe it. Wearing a ring on the ring finger means marriage. Is he even of legal marriage age this year?”

Upon hearing the word “ring,” Qin Ke suddenly felt very guilty in her heart, giving a small start.

She unconsciously pricked up her ears, listening carefully to the commotion over there.

“I think it’s impossible too.”

“Forget about marriage, does he even look like he has a girlfriend?”

“But don’t you remember? Last year in the school gymnasium, Campus Heartthrob Huo definitely kissed a girl in the audience seats. That was absolutely not a rumor, I saw it with my own eyes—it was just ten seats away from me at the time.”

“…………”

A few meters away, Qin Ke’s back suddenly stiffened.

Ten seats away…… Now she could only hope that the person wasn’t that sensitive.

“Junior Qin Ke—?”

The voice near her ear pulled Qin Ke’s consciousness back.

Qin Ke came back to her senses and looked at Wu Lintao. “What did you just say, senior?”

Wu Lintao was a bit helpless.

He could now see that he had absolutely no chance with this junior, so he no longer harbored any illusions and just followed his duty to introduce her to the basic situation.

Just as he was about to repeat what he had said earlier, someone suddenly patted him on the back—

“Hey, why is Department Head Wu here?”

A very outgoing girl poked her head over from behind, seeming to be familiar with Wu Lintao.

As she spoke, her gaze swept over and stopped for two seconds when it fell on Qin Ke. “This is…… your girlfriend? Tsk tsk, she’s so pretty, no wonder you’ve been hiding her from us so tightly.”

“No, no!” When Wu Lintao heard this, his face turned red. Afraid that Qin Ke would get angry, he quickly waved his hands in denial. “This is a new student from this year’s scholarship class. The teacher asked me to show her around the school.”

“Ah…… so that’s how it is.”

The girl’s eyes rolled, and she asked Qin Ke with a grin, “Little junior, do you have a boyfriend? Our Department Head Wu is a super nice guy, do you want to consider—”

“Lin Qian, don’t talk nonsense!” Wu Lintao became a bit anxious.

Qin Ke, however, remained calm and spoke in a composed tone.

“Thank you, senior, but I already have a boyfriend.”

“……”

When these words came out, the other two were stunned for a moment.

Wu Lintao’s expression became a bit awkward, thinking to himself that no wonder the little junior was so resistant to him, she was already taken.

The girl called Lin Qian came to her senses and sighed, “That’s right, how could such a pretty little junior only start dating in college?”

She seemed to remember something and muttered.

“All the good-looking people are taken, it’s really frustrating.”

Qin Ke sensed that these words didn’t seem to be just about herself. Just as she was about to look closely at the other’s expression, she suddenly heard Lin Qian ask excitedly, “You’re touring the school? Does that mean you haven’t been to a classroom to experience a college lecture yet?”

Wu Lintao said, “Do we need to do that? Usually just looking from outside the classroom is enough, right? Otherwise, it really takes up too much time.”

“How can that be okay? This is a necessary part of the new student tour!” Lin Qian patted her chest. “I’ll take the junior. Department Head Wu, you can go back to your work!”

Wu Lintao gave her a deep look and lowered his voice, “Aren’t you using public office for private gain?”

Lin Qian pretended not to understand. “No need to thank me, no need to thank me. This little junior and I have a connection—I’ll just take her to find a random classroom to listen to a lesson!”

After saying this, without giving Wu Lintao a chance to refuse, Lin Qian “kidnapped” Qin Ke away.

Lin Qian said she was going to “find a random classroom to listen to a lesson,” but after setting out, she clearly had a destination in mind, heading straight for the teaching building to the east of the rest area.

Even when talking to Qin Ke along the way, she seemed absent-minded.

Qin Ke didn’t mind.

She was now just waiting to get through this “observation class,” find an excuse to leave, and figured that this seemingly distracted senior wouldn’t stop her.

Thinking this way, Qin Ke suddenly felt much more relaxed.

This relaxed mood lasted for a long time. Even when following Lin Qian up to the fourth floor of the teaching building, Qin Ke was still in a good mood.

Until Lin Qian stopped outside a classroom opposite the elevator, standing on tiptoe to look inside the door.

Even though it was break time, this classroom was surprisingly quiet, with few students even standing outside—in a university, this situation could definitely be considered strange.

After observing for a few seconds, Lin Qian turned back and smiled mysteriously at Qin Ke. “This class is a linear algebra course taught by a teacher from the School of Science. This teacher is particularly fierce. Sometimes when he does random checks, he calls names from the class roster. Students don’t even dare to audit the class.”

“Audit?” Qin Ke was stunned. “Linear algebra should be a basic course, why would anyone need to audit it?”

“Oh? You seem very familiar with university courses. But I guess that’s not surprising, given you’re from the scholarship class.” Lin Qian smiled. “Let me tell you the truth, junior. It’s not about the class itself, it’s about the students taking the class—any basic course in their School of Business, Finance Department this year will see a situation where the classroom is packed with students.”

“…… School of Business?” Qin Ke’s heart skipped a beat. “Because of that…… Huo Zhonglou?”

“Huh? You know about him?” Lin Qian turned back to look at Qin Ke in surprise. A few seconds later, she came to her senses and shook her head, sighing, “Has his fame spread so far that even new students who haven’t entered the school have heard of him? Ah, love rivals are increasing more and more.”

Qin Ke: “……”

Sorry, 24K pure love rival right here.

Just as Qin Ke was feeling a bit peculiar, she looked up to see that Lin Qian had already gone to push open the front door of the classroom.

Qin Ke instinctively spoke up, “Senior, aren’t we not allowed to audit classes?”

Lin Qian replied righteously, “That’s why I brought you here—you’re a new student from the scholarship class. Taking you to experience university classes is part of the tour process every year. Even this teacher can’t refuse.”

Qin Ke: “…………”

She finally understood what Wu Lintao meant when he said Lin Qian was using public office for private gain.

When the two entered the classroom, there were still two or three minutes before class started, but the strict linear algebra teacher was already standing on the podium.

As soon as he heard the classroom door being pushed open, he looked up.

After staring for two seconds, the linear algebra teacher frowned. “Which major are you from? I don’t recognize you. You’re not Finance students, are you?”

After saying this, without even waiting for the two to explain, he lowered his voice.

“I don’t allow auditing in my class—if you want to attend, it’s simple. Go to the Academic Affairs Office and submit an application for a minor. I’ll add you to the class roster—but let me be clear upfront, once you’re added, it’s formal class attendance. If you don’t submit assignments on time or miss exams, I’ll fail you without exception.”

The first university class experience for Qin Ke was very deep – this professor was indeed as fierce as his reputation.

At this point, Lin Qian finally had a chance to explain to the professor.

“Professor, you misunderstood. This junior is from this year’s special admission class, and I’m responsible for bringing her to experience university classes as a student affairs member. I’ve checked with the registrar’s office, and they said your class is a good foundational course, so I brought her here to experience it.”

After hearing the explanation, the professor’s brow relaxed slightly.

However, he was clearly aware that Lin Qian’s words were just flattery, and the real purpose was most likely the well-known one.

The professor looked at Lin Qian indifferently, then turned to Qin Ke, studied her for a few seconds, and asked, “Are you from this year’s special admission class?”

“…Yes.” Qin Ke had noticed Huo Jun lying in the corner of the middle row since entering the classroom, so her voice was not too loud, afraid of disturbing him.

——

That person has been acting abnormal lately, capable of doing anything.

Qin Ke had thought that since she had agreed with him at the school gate not to let him approach her, everything would be fine. But who would have thought she would end up stumbling right into the wolf’s den?

It was as if she had pried open the mouth of the big bad wolf and placed her own rabbit head inside.

Unfortunately, this stern professor seemed unaware of Qin Ke’s inner turmoil and asked another question.

“What’s your name?”

“…”

Was he worried she was pretending to be someone else to audit the class?