Chapter 380 - 293: Does a Marriage Certificate Count? (2)

Xue Rui, of course, knew what Qian Huabiao was talking about. He feigned surprise and said, "You’d better hurry up and make your move! Go get her!"

In his past life, he had been desperate for Qian Huabiao, that scumbag, to win over Jiang Yuan. He hoped the class president would fall in love and stop spending all her damn time catching him for skipping class.

Unfortunately, it was as if Jiang Yuan’s heart was sealed in cement; she hadn’t dated a single person from the start of school to graduation.

Guys from other classes couldn’t win her over, and no one in her own class dared to ask her out.

"Huh?" Qian Huabiao didn’t process it at first. ’Is Xue Rui encouraging me?’ He suddenly felt a little unnerved. He always had a feeling that nothing good ever came of Xue Rui’s support.

The young woman perked up her ears and leaned forward, listening intently to their conversation.

Xue Rui was a little surprised. He gently pushed her face back. "Why are you eavesdropping so brazenly?"

Lin Ruoxi said with a serious face, "Um, I was afraid he was going to bad-mouth you."

After she spoke, she shot a wary glance at Qian Huabiao, her beautiful eyes tinged with displeasure, as if issuing a threat.

Qian Huabiao’s lip twitched. He picked up his tray and moved two seats farther away. He didn’t want Lin Ruoxi to pin some false accusation on him later, leaving him unable to clear his name.

Xue Rui had never seen this kind of expression on the girl’s face before. He smiled and asked, "How come you aren’t eating with your roommates? They wouldn’t let you sit with them?"

Lin Ruoxi said quietly, "They wanted me to, but Zhao Ru said she was saving a seat for Jiang Yuan. I figured she didn’t want me sitting with them, so I just sat a bit farther away."

Xue Rui sighed in resignation. The girl could get angry on his behalf if someone bad-mouthed him, but she would never argue with anyone for her own sake.

He said seriously, "You need to have more of a backbone. You can’t spend all your time worrying about other people’s feelings. If someone gives you a hard time, you push right back. I’ll be keeping an eye on you to make sure you do."

Xue Rui felt that interacting with her peers was helping the girl grow. ’She’s even learned how to be angry now...’

Even if it was currently only directed at Qian Huabiao for bad-mouthing him.

’But what about in the future? Maybe she’ll learn to argue with others for her own benefit. That’s a necessary skill for surviving in this world.’

Xue Rui didn’t know if Lin Ruoxi had taken any of that to heart. She was currently opening a box of fruit, intending to feed him a piece.

"You’re making me a target for everyone’s jealousy," Xue Rui said, refusing the girl’s offer to feed him.

Lin Ruoxi ducked her head and glanced around cautiously, confused about who could possibly be hostile toward Xue Rui.

Xue Rui found the girl so adorable that he couldn’t resist pinching her cheek, which prompted a nearby group of single guys to start shoveling their food down even faster out of frustration.

Once the other students in their group were about done eating, they all exchanged a look, got up, and started heading out of the cafeteria.

They had formed a general impression of Xue Rui. ’He has a beautiful girlfriend, isn’t shy about showing her off, and seems to be a little superstitious?’

The dorms and academic buildings at Changyou University were far apart. The group of guys dawdled as they walked, looking this way and that and occasionally chatting about girls.

Meanwhile, the group of girls strolled leisurely behind the guys, their conversation mostly revolving around their astonishment at Lin Ruoxi’s college entrance exam scores.

As for Lin Ruoxi herself, she, of course, was not with them. The girl was carrying a large bag, happily trotting along at Xue Rui’s side.

"Why don’t you go chat with the other girls?" Xue Rui asked.

Lin Ruoxi shook her head. "I came here to go to college with you, not with them."

The pack of single guys nearby felt as if they had just taken a critical hit. ’Is that something a girl would actually say?’

"Rui, I... I was thinking of getting your roommates’ contact info," Lin Ruoxi said timidly.

Xue Rui had told her a long time ago not to get contact info from other guys. ’But I want to know where he is,’ she thought. ’If I can’t find him, I can at least ask the people he’s with.’

When the guys from Room 622 heard Lin Ruoxi, they could barely suppress their smiles.

Previously, many people had spent all afternoon searching the class group chat, but none could find Lin Ruoxi’s account. Now that she wanted to add them herself, they felt a small sense of smug satisfaction.

Just as Zhao Chaojie and Qian Huabiao were about to start squabbling over who would be the first to add Lin Ruoxi, Xue Rui spoke up calmly, "She’ll be in the group chat. No need to add her."

"Then I’ll join the group first," Lin Ruoxi said. She found the group for Software Engineering 141 and sent a request to join.

The group arrived at the designated classroom, where Xia Tianjun was already waiting. To be precise, as first-years, they did have a fixed classroom, though it was only theirs in the evenings.

Unlike in high school, there were no assigned seats in university. But Lin Ruoxi stuck to Xue Rui like glue, following him to a spot in the corner to sit down.

"Hello, everyone. I’m your counselor and class advisor. I’ll be looking after you for the next four years..."

Xia Tianjun went through his prepared speech, then pointed to a stack of student handbooks on the desk, gesturing for the students in the front to pass them out.

"I’ll do it, sir!" Jiang Yuan hurried to grab the handbooks and began passing them out to her classmates.

At this point, most of the students hadn’t yet shaken off the habits ingrained from high school, and they were particularly "respectful" of the class advisor role.

While Xia Tianjun was speaking at the podium, the room was quiet. No one spoke, except for a few more lively students who would pipe up with a question now and then.

Most of the students had no interest in listening to these kinds of orientation platitudes. Their brains, honed by countless speeches from authority figures, had already developed the ability to filter out fluff. They would only tune in to listen carefully when he got to an important point.

Halfway through his speech, Xia Tianjun’s phone suddenly rang. He instinctively hit the mute button, his expression turning slightly annoyed.