Chapter 376 292: That One Next to Xue Rui

Xue Rui glanced at the dorm room layout. Zhao Ru's spot was in the corner by the balcony, which was also a good spot.

"Thanks, everyone. I'll treat you all to milk tea later."

He didn't give Zhao Ru any chance to refuse. Even as he spoke, he was already moving things onto her desk.

The others had just learned the price of all that equipment, so how could they dare to block Xue Rui while he was carrying things? They all hurried to move their chairs aside, clearing a path for him.

"I..." Zhao Ru stood there, at a loss. Xue Rui was too assertive.

'In her eyes, Jiang Yuan was a Chang'an local from a well-off family. She had even come to campus early to help her classmates with their registration. She was highly respected among the girls, making her the undisputed choice for class president.'

'She had just spoken up to make her position clear, meaning that no matter what Jiang Yuan decided, she would be on her side. But now Xue Rui was demanding to swap her spot without a second thought?'

Lin Ruoxi timidly tugged on Xue Rui's sleeve, shaking her head slightly. "Rui."

Xue Rui smiled. 'The girl can tell Zhao Ru doesn't want to switch,' he thought. 'But her spot is the one I'm taking today.'

"Why aren't you moving your things? Don't you want to switch?"

"If you don't want to switch, you can just say so. There's no need to be indirect about it," Xue Rui said magnanimously.

He turned and started moving the items from Zhao Ru's spot onto Jiang Yuan's desk.

"You!" Zhao Ru nearly ground her teeth to pieces.

'Moving things from Lin Ruoxi's desk to Jiang Yuan's desk and moving them from *her* desk to Jiang Yuan's... the result was seemingly the same, but the implications were worlds apart.'

'With just a few words, Xue Rui had shifted the conflict onto her and Jiang Yuan. Now, if she said she didn't want to switch, it would mean she was the one forcing Jiang Yuan into the worst spot in the dorm.'

'She now faced two choices: take the worst spot, or offend the future class president on the very first day of school.'

"Of course I'm willing to switch." Zhao Ru forced a stiff smile at Jiang Yuan and started packing her things.

'She chose the former. Even if Jiang Yuan didn't mind, if their other roommates mentioned today's incident later on, she feared being ostracized by the girls' clique.'

Jiang Yuan said nothing. She knew Zhao Ru was being forced, and she shot Xue Rui a surprised glance.

'Xue Rui's way of handling things was so strange. Instead of solving the problem at its source, he just deflected the conflict.'

Xue Rui wasn't worried about the girl's future social life. After all, the advisor had already paid a visit, which meant these girls probably knew about her college entrance exam scores. Furthermore, all this miscellaneous equipment was indirect proof of Lin Ruoxi's wealth.

'People are always drawn to the powerful, especially women.'

'Lin Ruoxi was smart, beautiful, and loaded. She was already in a completely different league from these other students.'

'He wasn't worried about the girl being ostracized, because ostracism is essentially a form of bullying.'

'However, driving Lin Ruoxi away would only make her life even better, which would defeat the entire purpose of ostracizing her.'

'Any one of the girl's backup plans was a level they could never hope to reach.'

Besides, his actions had drawn all the animosity onto himself. The look Zhao Ru was giving him now could burn a hole right through him.

Lin Ruoxi stood there in a daze, not yet understanding what had happened. 'I'm switching spots with Zhao Ru?'

The other roommates stared at Xue Rui in amazement, the situation finally dawning on them. 'Zhao Ru tried to push Lin Ruoxi out, but ended up being forced to take the spot by the door herself?'

Jiang Yuan tossed the big red bucket Xue Rui had brought into a corner of the dorm. She recalled Xue Rui saying a school official would be inspecting the dorms, so giving the place a thorough cleaning wasn't a bad idea.

She smiled and said to Xue Rui, "Xue Rui, how much was all this? I can transfer you the money."

"No need." At that moment, Xue Rui was putting away Lin Ruoxi's clothes and happened to pull a piece of black, lacy underwear out of the closet.

Jiang Yuan frowned, quickly grabbing Xue Rui's wrist and stuffing the item back inside. "Lin Ruoxi, watch your stuff! Don't let guys take advantage!"

Lin Ruoxi blinked blankly. "He's not."

"He..." Jiang Yuan gestured with her eyes toward the item in Xue Rui's hand.

"Mmm, that's the kind he likes."

Jiang Yuan: "..."

'Lin Ruoxi's last two sentences were information overload!'

"In any case, you need to leave. It's inappropriate for you to be in a girls' dorm." Jiang Yuan said, pulling Xue Rui toward the door.

Xue Rui craned his neck and shouted back at Lin Ruoxi, "See you in class later!"

Jiang Yuan's expression darkened. 'How can this guy be so forward? Is he trying to compete with me for class president?'

'This was her biggest fear. If a guy ran against her, she'd be at a major disadvantage. The male-to-female ratio in the software engineering program was nearly two to one. Even if she secured every single girl's vote, she still wouldn't have a majority.'

"Wait for me by the door," Jiang Yuan said before shutting it.

Xue Rui looked puzzled. 'Jiang Yuan is still so domineering,' he thought. 'Back in the day, when it was too cold in the winter for me to wake up, she actually ran into the guys' dorm to drag me out of bed by the ear.'

He paused at the door for a second. 'You're not even the class president yet and you're already bossing people around?'

He knocked on the door. "Lin Ruoxi, I'm heading out."

However, before he could even reach the stairwell, he heard the sound of hurried footsteps behind him.

"Wait up." Jiang Yuan, who had changed into a short skirt, came jogging over with a makeup bag in hand.

Xue Rui, of course, had no intention of listening to Jiang Yuan. In fact, he deliberately picked up his pace.

By the time they got downstairs, Jiang Yuan indignantly grabbed Xue Rui's shoulder. "What are you running so fast for?" she demanded, panting for breath.