Chapter 390 298: 1.8-Meter Legs

After leaving the hospital, Xue Rui took the school bus back to campus.

The rest of the tasks were scheduled for the afternoon: picking up military training uniforms, setting up bank accounts, and the like.

After getting off the bus, everyone had already eaten and the weather was hot, so they figured they might as well go back to the dorms and rest for a bit.

However, Jiang Yuan clapped her hands to get her classmates' attention. "I can go get the training uniforms for everyone. Just tell me your heights."

Xue Rui smiled. 'Jiang Yuan really doesn't give up. But she's trying to win over the wrong people. How much goodwill can she really earn by running errands for her classmates?'

'Running for class president is mainly about personality and interpersonal skills. The students' votes are useful, sure, but isn't Xia Tianjun the one who makes the final decision?'

'The vote is just a suggestion for Xia Tianjun to consider.'

"Jiang Yuan, you don't have to do that," someone said.

They could obviously tell that Jiang Yuan wanted to run for class president. But school had just started and they had nothing going on; were they really going to let someone else handle one of their few group activities?

Besides, if the uniforms didn't fit, wouldn't they have to go exchange them themselves anyway?

They might even lose track of the main group and run out of time to exchange the clothes.

Jiang Yuan's expression froze. 'No one appreciates the gesture?'

But she didn't lose heart. She repeated what an upperclassman had just told her: "The school also scheduled for us to open bank accounts today. Future tuition payments, scholarships, and stipends will all be deposited into these specific bank accounts, and opening them takes a long time..."

Everyone had a sudden realization. So Jiang Yuan was trying to save them time?

Of course, some were also thinking this was a perfect chance to go back and play on their computers, so they started giving Jiang Yuan their heights.

Qian Huabiao was the first to speak up. "I'm 185."

Hearing this number, the girls all turned to look Qian Huabiao over.

"He's so tall," a female student from a southern city whispered to the people around her.

Xue Rui glanced up. 'This guy is obviously a bit shorter than me. My actual height is only 183, so how does Qian Huabiao dare to claim 185?'

Zhao Chaojie, who was clearly even shorter, hesitated for a moment. He felt he wasn't that much shorter than Qian Huabiao, so he said, "I'm one-eighty."

Xue Rui chuckled. Discussing a guy's height was just like discussing a girl's weight. A girl weighing over a hundred pounds would claim she's ninety, and one who was one-fifty would claim she's one-twenty.

Girls' weights shrink, but boys' heights inflate.

Emperor Shi unified the system of weights and measures two thousand years ago, but he probably never imagined a scene like this would play out in Chang'an two millennia later.

With girls present, most of the boys, driven by their competitive spirit, exaggerated their heights to some degree.

Jiang Yuan looked puzzled. She had been helping out during the physical exams earlier and remembered that not many guys in their class were over 180. How did so many 180s suddenly pop up?

But she didn't question it, simply writing down the heights they reported. She shot a glare at Xue Rui. "What about you?"

Xue Rui said calmly, "I'm 180."

Jiang Yuan gave Xue Rui a surprised look. She remembered his height from the physical exam very clearly. He had measured 185...

'Damn it! Who reports their height *down*?'

Zhao Chaojie cursed inwardly. He nonchalantly sidled over to Lin Ruoxi's side to avoid a direct comparison with Xue Rui.

'He and Xue Rui both claimed to be 180, but Xue Rui was a good half a head taller than him?'

Some of the girls were already giving him strange looks.

In dorm 622, only Zhang Xuelun had reported his actual height. The others all instinctively moved a little farther away from Xue Rui.

"Rui, you reported a lower number. You're 1..." Lin Ruoxi said softly.

Xue Rui cut her off. "An upperclassman told me yesterday that the training uniforms run a bit large. He suggested I report a shorter height, otherwise the pant legs would be too long."

Of course, by "an upperclassman," he meant himself. In his past life, he had also reported 185, and the pants had still been too long, covering the tops of his feet.

As for his roommates who had exaggerated their heights?

'They had to hike up their goddamn pants just to go to the bathroom. Otherwise, the cuffs would mop the entire restroom floor. The janitor would wake up, find himself unemployed, and think his connections weren't strong enough...'

Hearing Xue Rui's explanation, the others visibly relaxed. They had been worried about the fit after exaggerating their heights, but now Xue Rui had given them a perfect excuse, and everyone was happy to take it.

Lin Ruoxi had just been about to reveal Xue Rui's real height when he cut her off. 'He must have done it to save face for them, right?'

Zhao Chaojie winked at Xue Rui, thinking he had really done them a solid. He quickly said to Jiang Yuan, "I'm 180, so I guess you can reluctantly put down 175."

'Yep, that "shrunken" number was his actual height.'

However, at almost the same moment, Lin Ruoxi, who was standing right next to Zhao Chaojie, chirped, "Um, I'm 170."

Lin Ruoxi tilted her head and glanced at Zhao Chaojie. Xue Rui had said to report a lower number, so she had just subtracted five centimeters herself.

Zhao Chaojie slowly turned his neck, staring at Lin Ruoxi in disbelief...

Girls naturally look taller for their height, and because Lin Ruoxi had her hair up, she actually looked a tiny bit taller than him!

Lin Ruoxi always drew a crowd whenever she spoke. To make matters worse, the two of them had spoken at almost the same time, making the comparison even more stark!

A girl whispered, "How tall is he, really? He's shorter than the 180 cm Xue Rui, but how is he also shorter than the 170 cm Lin Ruoxi?"

"So weird..."

"A guy's height is a mystery..."

"Is he, like, in the 160s?"

Zhao Chaojie listened as a group of girls muttered about him right to his face. His height had already shrunk to the 160s? If they kept talking, he'd be down to the 150s!

He'd exaggerated his height to get a preferential advantage in the dating pool. And the result? Zhao Chaojie had made a fool of himself right at the start of the semester.

He couldn't help but curse under his breath, "Old Xue! Get your girlfriend under control!"

His earlier actions, hovering around the two of them, made him look like a total buffoon. Right now, he wished he could find a crack in the ground to crawl into and hide...

Xue Rui held back a laugh. The little lass always had a way of unintentionally landing a critical hit on posers.

He turned to Lin Ruoxi with a serious expression. "You don't have to subtract from your height."

"Rui, why not?" Lin Ruoxi asked, her eyes twinkling.

"Because your legs are 180 cm long," Xue Rui said with a smile.

'He was intimately familiar with the little lass's legs, having touched them many times. He knew their length better than anyone. He figured they were about 110 cm, a perfect golden ratio. The uniform for a 175 cm person would probably still be a bit short on her.'

'The little lass's legs weren't as slender as the little missy's; her thighs had a bit of soft flesh to them. They were endlessly captivating.'

'He figured the little missy's legs were probably nice too, but unfortunately, she didn't let him get familiar with her legs now, so he had no concrete comparison.'

The moment Xue Rui said this, nearly everyone's gaze focused on Lin Ruoxi's figure. Zhao Chaojie also shot her an envious glance.

Du Miaomiao couldn't help but walk over. She leaned over to compare her legs with Lin Ruoxi's and exclaimed, "One-hundred-and-eighty-centimeter legs... They really are so long!"

"I feel like a grade schooler next to Lin Ruoxi..." Zhao Ru said.

Zhao Chaojie secretly gave Xue Rui a thumbs-up. 'Xue Rui is a true brother!'

'Not only did he divert everyone's attention, he also managed to smooth over the whole '180' thing.'

The notebook in Jiang Yuan's hand was crumpled, her knuckles white as she gripped her pen. She had just written 'Xue Rui,' stabbing the pen through the paper as she finished his name.

She had wanted to make a good impression on her classmates, and now everyone was completely ignoring her?

'It's Xue Rui again!'

'Using the training uniform sizes and Lin Ruoxi's long legs, he casually brushed aside all her efforts...'

She took a deep breath. "Everyone, hurry up and go get your bank cards. I'll shrink the heights appropriately when I submit the list."

After that little interlude, the group went to the designated place to get their bank cards. The line in front was a sea of people, snaking through the shaded area downstairs and blocking the entrances to several shops. Some of the shopkeepers were standing in their doorways, muttering and cursing.

"Do we really have to get this card?" Qian Huabiao complained.

Xue Rui couldn't help but chuckle. "University students are a valuable commodity."

A single university could stimulate so many industries. Even the local banks met their new account quotas during the first weeks of school.

'This was also why he was targeting university students as his user base. Even though they didn't produce anything and only had about a thousand yuan a month for living expenses, the key was that this thousand yuan was purely for consumption.'

'Not earning money themselves, they didn't know the cost of living. Many students even spent beyond their means, their purchasing power no less than that of working adults.'

"Old Xue, why aren't you in line?" Cai Huazhou asked.

"I'm not getting one. You guys go ahead."

Xue Rui had no intention of getting a card. The little lass didn't even have to pay tuition, so he didn't care either. Him, get a scholarship? 'Yeah, right.'

The main reason he came was because the little lass and Yu Minlan had arranged to meet here. Yu Minlan was delivering a package for Lin Ruoxi—which seemed to be his new computer.

He had spoken with Yu Minlan on the phone and asked her to be Lin Ruoxi's full-time assistant, responsible for handling various chores in her daily life and work.

'After all, the little missy has Yang Xing as her full-time lackey. He couldn't let the little lass be left out, so he got her a full-time assistant too.'

Right now, the little lass was discussing convenient places to buy a house with Yu Minlan, who was in charge of scouting properties and reporting back to Lin Ruoxi.

"Mmm, the house doesn't need to be very big, but it needs to fit a slightly larger bed. Preferably against a wall. Xue Rui can sleep on the side by the wall..."

Yu Minlan's expression was awkward. "Sister Ruoxi, some things you really don't need to describe in such detail."

"Sister Yu, is the car ordered? Rui and I are going out next week for a gathering with our classmates."

"It's ordered. We can pick it up within a week," Yu Minlan nodded.

...

"Rui, let's go to your dorm." Xue Rui had given her a computer before, so she had bought one for him too.

Just then, his roommates walked over. Qian Huabiao said, "We don't want to wait in line anymore either. We'll deal with it later. The bank staff said they'll be here for a week."

Yu Minlan's eyes lit up instantly. "Classmates, could you help move something?"

Back in the dorm, the guys clutched their aching backs. They hadn't expected Lin Ruoxi to have bought so much stuff for Xue Rui!

They couldn't tell what the specific items were from the packaging, but they were sure one of them was a gaming chair that weighed over a hundred pounds.

Their jaws nearly dropped. What kind of girl comes to a men's dorm to assemble a chair for someone?

Lin Ruoxi was busy at work, a sheen of sweat on her forehead, refusing to let anyone else help.

Finally, she hauled a desktop computer right out of a box, along with a pile of high-end peripherals...

Qian Huabiao looked at the Apple laptop that Lin Ruoxi had just returned to him, then at the pile of gear on Xue Rui's desk. Suddenly, his own computer didn't seem so great anymore.

A desktop was definitely better for gaming. Who would want to play games on such a small screen?

The roommates exchanged glances, a sour feeling brewing in their hearts.

Qian Huabiao cleared his throat twice and said, "I heard they cut the power at night during the winter. A desktop won't work without electricity."

That made him feel a bit better.

"Mmm, that's why I prepared a UPS."

Qian Huabiao had a questioning look on his face. "What's that?"

"It's something that keeps the desktop from losing power. It's that thing you just carried up," Lin Ruoxi said, pointing to the cardboard box Qian Huabiao was sitting on.

Qian Huabiao: "..."

So, the solution to the problem he had just intentionally pointed out was something he himself had carried upstairs?