Chapter 392 300: Still a Long Way from Being a Scumbag

The atmosphere seemed to freeze. Xue Rui's mind was a complete blank. The girl's behavior was as good as spelling out everything that had just happened.

The first screw-up was her faking the faint. Secretary Li had already seen through it and knew he was the one who put her up to it...

As for the second... 'Does it look like I'm bullying Lin Ruoxi?'

Lin Ruoxi walked over to Xue Rui and gently tugged on the corner of his sleeve. When their eyes met, she couldn't help but look down.

When they had first met, Xue Rui had often been harsh with her, and she had just assumed she must have done something to make him angry.

Back then, she would secretly think, 'It would be better if Xue Rui just stayed away from me...'

But now, she was worried she would make him angry enough to leave.

Xue Rui quickly pieced things together. This girl was different from the other one. The other girl was very self-confident and would use all sorts of little tricks to keep him in line, managing the distance between them perfectly.

But as for this one, even though he'd told her countless times that he wouldn't leave, his two-timing had probably left her feeling deeply insecure.

It had gotten to the point where she was the one who always took the initiative, giving him everything.

Now, Lin Ruoxi couldn't think of any way to keep him from leaving, so she was becoming consumed by anxiety...

'It's not a big deal,' he thought. 'I'll just have to sweet-talk her a little later.'

Secretary Li let out a soft chuckle, staring intently at Xue Rui. He'd just assumed Lin Ruoxi was apologizing to her professor. 'So she was apologizing to Xue Rui instead?'

Although Secretary Li said nothing, Xue Rui could read the look in his eyes. It was clearly asking, "What are you trying to pull, kid?"

"Secretary Li, Lin Ruoxi has been frail since she was a child. She's fainted before," Xue Rui said, his face a mask of concern. "I saw she'd been standing for half an hour, and I couldn't help but worry."

"Is that so?" Secretary Li glanced casually at Lin Ruoxi but didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. She was just standing there, looking dazed.

He was, of course, concerned about Lin Ruoxi's health, but he also knew Xue Rui wasn't telling the whole truth.

"So I'd like to request a half-day leave to take her to the hospital. And while we're at it, we could also take care of the university's startup application paperwork," Xue Rui said, motioning for Lin Ruoxi to bring him her bag.

Secretary Li smiled. Xue Rui's two requests each had a clear purpose.

"The semester just started. You should focus on your studies. Wait for the university to make an announcement before you apply. It has to go through multiple rounds of approval..." Just as Secretary Li was mid-sentence, he saw Xue Rui pull a stack of documents from Lin Ruoxi's bag.

Xue Rui smiled and presented them with both hands. Secretary Li took them and glanced at the top page:

*"University Student Entrepreneurship Training Program Project Application," "Business Plan"...*

Xue Rui had laid the groundwork for this at the start of the semester, but Secretary Li hadn't taken him seriously, simply telling him to learn more about the process and come back later.

'This is way too fast. Has he really prepared all this in just one day?'

Secretary Li didn't bother opening the cover, just glanced at it before handing it back to Xue Rui.

"Since you know the procedure, you should understand that it requires a lengthy approval process. It's no use giving this to me now."

Xue Rui then produced a business license. "Please, Secretary Li. Just take a look."

Seeing the official business registration with the national emblem, Secretary Li's curiosity was piqued, and he flipped through a few more pages.

A few minutes later, he looked up at Xue Rui in astonishment.

'Xue Rui is dead serious. The cash on the books alone is in the millions.'

He had misunderstood Xue Rui. He'd thought Xue Rui was like all those other students, just trying to exploit the university's reimbursement policies. But he was actually bringing his own funding to the table?

He quickly analyzed the situation. With Xue Rui's level of startup capital, there was no need to go through him at all. He could have just followed standard procedures and gone directly through the university administration. So why insist on giving the documents to *him*?

The most he could do was file the project on behalf of the department. For a project of this magnitude, he couldn't really offer any significant help.

Xue Rui never needed his help in the first place. In that case... wasn't he the one who was getting the better end of the deal?

After all, Xue Rui was a student in his college. If the startup succeeded, he would share in the glory.

Only then did he begin to seriously size up Xue Rui. The young man didn't have a shred of the arrogance you'd expect from a rich kid; on the contrary, he spoke with great humility...

It was the same during last night's dorm inspections. He had never seen such a clean student dorm; he'd even taken a picture and sent it to the faculty group chat. And since Xue Rui was the head of Room 622, it was obvious who was responsible for it...

Though he had only known Xue Rui for a day, his impressions of the young man were almost entirely positive.

"I'll grant you two a half-day leave. If she's not feeling well, go to the hospital and get her checked out."

Secretary Li suddenly recalled something. 'The first thing the kid mentioned was the hospital. He probably wants a doctor's note to get out of military training.'

'Well, everyone has their flaws.'

He decided not to mention the idea of having Lin Ruoxi switch majors for now. The girl seemed anxious and troubled.

Besides, Lin Ruoxi was the type to be consumed by emotional insecurity. He doubted she would achieve much in the long run. There were far too many people who aced exams but lacked real-world ability, and he wasn't sure if Lin Ruoxi was worth the investment.

He suddenly felt that Xue Rui, in fact, was far more worthy of his attention than Lin Ruoxi.

"Secretary Li, I really do want to attend the military training, but this project can't be delayed. Lin Ruoxi and I are both core members..." Xue Rui said with an air of regret, as if missing the training was a terrible shame.

"Get the rest of your paperwork together and bring it all to me tomorrow." Secretary Li stood up and handed the documents back to Xue Rui. On top was a temporary leave slip he had just written out.

Xue Rui smiled as he took the slip. "Thank you, Secretary."

"If you have any questions, come find me in my office." Secretary Li said, then lowered his head and walked out.

Once Secretary Li was gone, Xue Rui turned and pinched the girl's nose, whispering, "We're exempt from military training."

Lin Ruoxi finally snapped out of her daze. 'I shouldn't have been so worried,' she thought. After all, Xue Rui was still teasing her affectionately.