Chapter 416 - 308: Seizing the Throat of Fate (Part 2)

"You just have to communicate with her normally," Xue Rui said with a wave of his hand.

’That girl is a natural-born pushover; she’d never get into a fight with the little missy.’

’And the little missy isn’t some shrew. Faced with the timid Lin Ruoxi, she won’t push her luck. It’ll let her experience what it feels like to punch a cotton ball.’

"Mm," Lin Ruoxi nodded. ’Gu Muxue knows about me. She must be heartbroken and needs someone to comfort her.’

But Xue Rui told her not to look for Gu Muxue, saying they’d meet at the gathering over the weekend.

’I can accept Gu Muxue’s existence,’ she thought, ’as long as Xue Rui is happy.’

’But will Gu Muxue accept me?’

’In any case, as long as I don’t have to leave Xue Rui, and Xue Rui doesn’t get hit anymore, I can handle whatever Gu Muxue throws at me...’

After Lin Ruoxi finished eating, she fiddled with a fluffy cartoon doll in her hand. It was a toy included in the "kid’s meal" Gu Muxue had given her yesterday, and she had attached it to her keychain.

’I should give Gu Muxue a gift this weekend, too,’ she thought.

After Zhang Xuelun finished eating, he sat at the table playing on his phone. Suddenly, the shopkeeper placed a large bag of breakfast in front of him. "All packed up for you. Please come again."

"For me?" Zhang Xuelun looked completely dumbfounded. He hadn’t ordered this much.

Just then, Xue Rui walked over. "Something urgent came up and I have to go. Take this back for the guys in the dorm."

Lin Ruoxi asked, "Um, should I give you a ride back? This place is..."

Xue Rui pretended to answer a call. "Hello? Right, right, I’m on my way. Be there in a minute."

Lin Ruoxi’s heart lurched. ’Is Gu Muxue rushing him?’

Zhang Xuelun sighed. He had no idea what he’d been doing since he woke up, and now Xue Rui was saying he wasn’t needed anymore?

"No need, I’ll just grab a cab back." As Zhang Xuelun spoke, he started patting himself down. He’d left in such a hurry that he’d forgotten his cigarettes, and he felt an empty craving after finishing his meal. He shot a meaningful look at Xue Rui.

Xue Rui took a carton from the trunk, opened it, and tossed a whole pack to Zhang Xuelun.

Zhang Xuelun was stunned. He knew Xue Rui was rich, but this was a bit too generous. Tossing him a whole premium pack of soft-packs, just like that. He felt an inexplicable pressure.

"Business is taken care of. I’m off. You should smoke less in the future." Xue Rui gave him a meaningful smile, then ducked into the car.

Zhang Xuelun was completely baffled. What was Xue Rui talking about?

’What business? Treating me to a meal?’

He suddenly remembered smoking in the dorm room last night...

’Did Xue Rui call me out here because of that?’

HISS!~

It was clearly his fault, but Xue Rui had treated him to a meal and even given him cigarettes? What kind of play was this?

If they had actually argued about it, he wouldn’t have felt any psychological pressure. He would have just readily agreed and then absolutely not changed his ways...

But Xue Rui’s calm and friendly approach left him completely disarmed.

Zhang Xuelun followed the map on his phone and started walking toward the school. He couldn’t find a single taxi along the way. By the time he finally saw one, he was only a kilometer from the school...

’Forget it. Who needs a cab for just one kilometer.’

He suddenly remembered that this was Xue Rui’s first time in Chang’an too. Why would he pick such a remote breakfast shop?

He suddenly understood. Had Xue Rui set him up?

"Got a meal and a pack of smokes out of it. Guess I’ll just consider it exercise." Zhang Xuelun muttered to himself as he lit another cigarette and shifted the breakfast bags to his other hand. The breakfast Xue Rui had bought was full of soupy and liquidy things—it was fucking heavy.

He remembered what Xue Rui and the dorm manager had said...

’Did I really come all this way just to get some exercise?’

By the time he finished the last kilometer, he saw students in military training uniforms rushing toward the athletic field. He felt utterly exhausted, both mentally and physically.

He had only gotten three hours of sleep last night. Now he was exhausted and sleepy, and the thought of a full day of military training...

"I should ask for a day off to catch up on sleep. Xue Rui isn’t even doing the military training, so it can’t be a big deal." Zhang Xuelun found his class advisor’s number on his phone and hit the call button.

"Hello, Teacher Xia, this is Zhang Xuelun from Software Engineering 141..."

Before Zhang Xuelun could finish, Xia Tianjun cut him off. "You want to request leave, right? Xue Rui just called me about it. I’ve approved a half-day leave for you tomorrow morning. Take care of yourself. If you’re not familiar with how to get to the hospital alone, you can have Xue Rui go with you..."

"Uh, thank you, Teacher..." Zhang Xuelun readily agreed.

Zhang Xuelun stared speechlessly at his phone screen. The good news was he had a half-day off tomorrow.

The bad news was... since Xue Rui had just requested leave for him for tomorrow, there was no way he could ask for today off now.

"If you need anything, just talk to Xue Rui directly. I’m hanging up now."

Xia Tianjun thought Xue Rui was so much better than Jiang Yuan. A call from Jiang Yuan was practically equivalent to a call from a superior—it always meant there was something that needed to be done. But Xue Rui either had things already prepared or reported them a day in advance, giving him plenty of time to get ready.

Zhang Xuelun stuffed his phone into his pocket and lit another cigarette to wake himself up.

His escape route was cut off. He had been completely and thoroughly outplayed by Xue Rui!

’What good is a day off tomorrow? I’m exhausted right now!’

"Old Zhang, Old Xue said you brought us breakfast?" Zhao Chaojie spotted the bearded Zhang Xuelun at a glance. His distinctive look was easy to recognize.

Zhang Xuelun took out the premium soft-packs and passed them around. "The smokes are from Old Xue, too. Let’s not smoke in the dorm anymore."

"What did Old Xue say to you?"

Qian Huabiao took a cigarette and said, "Didn’t we just talk about this yesterday? Old Xue is the only one who doesn’t smoke. We can smoke whenever he’s not around."

"Well, I’m not smoking in there anymore. Anyone who wants to can go ahead." Zhang Xuelun shook his head.

’This feeling of being cornered, of having your fate in someone else’s hands... it was utterly helpless.’

He thought of Xue Rui’s meaningful smile before he left. It was a smile that hid a dagger!

The guys muttered and exchanged glances. The heaviest smoker in the dorm was saying something like this?

"Look at these smokes. He definitely bribed Old Zhang," Cai Huazhou joked.

Zhang Xuelun remained silent, just taking a deep drag from his cigarette.

...

At that moment, Xue Rui had just delivered a meal to Gu Muxue and was watching her military training from a watermelon stall near the athletic field.

Gu Muxue didn’t say a word to Xue Rui the entire time, but deep down, she was actually very happy. Xue Rui had kept his word.

’He came all the way to my school this early in the morning just to bring me breakfast. He must have woken up really early, right?’

Xue Rui had originally planned to leave after dropping off the breakfast, but he noticed Gu Muxue’s eyes were a little swollen. He couldn’t tell if she hadn’t slept well or if she had been secretly crying last night...

In any case, his work was all online now, so it didn’t matter where he worked from.

"Have some water, Boss. I brought some for the boss’s lady and her roommates, too." Li Ruihao said, moving a case of mineral water and stuffing it into a cooler.

Xue Rui was a little puzzled. It wasn’t that hard to find a job these days, especially for a graduate from a top-tier university. It really didn’t have to be like this.

He said, "Just say what’s on your mind."

Li Ruihao said, "I want to work for you. I know startups are exhausting and difficult, but I’m not afraid of that."

"That’s it? There are tons of startups these days," Xue Rui said with a laugh.

Li Ruihao sighed and told him the truth. "Actually, I’ve tried to start my own business before..."

He used to do a lot of small-time flipping, buying and selling things. After saving up over a hundred thousand yuan, he tried a proper startup, but he lost everything in one go and even ended up in some debt...

He knew a lot about how to make money from students, so he developed a campus food delivery service.

For the first few months, he spent a ton of time and energy negotiating with vendors. He only managed to make a little money in the first month. After that, he didn’t earn a single cent and was just losing money...

It wasn’t that he wasn’t working hard; he just discovered that hard work was useless.

Every time mealtime rolled around, his backend system would get attacked. Either the delivery fees would be jacked up to an astronomical price, or users couldn’t log in at all. The vendors also started leaving his platform one by one...

He didn’t know who was targeting him. It could have been a major corporation expanding its territory, or maybe it was just someone acting out of jealousy.

In short, someone was burning money to capture the market, and he couldn’t compete. His operating costs far exceeded his revenue, so he had no choice but to wrap things up hastily...

"So that’s the story, Boss. I know a lot about campus-based projects, and I’m very interested."

He had carefully studied Xue Rui’s software. It was expanding its user base first without getting involved in any industry competition. Then, it could leverage that huge user base to cultivate consumer habits...

It was a very deep move. Ever since discovering the potential of All-Purpose Campus yesterday, he’d been full of admiration for Xue Rui.

Besides, unlike him, Xue Rui had ample startup capital. He could afford to burn money.

Xue Rui sat up a little straighter. He asked casually, "Since you’ve been burned before, tell me, which area do you think we should focus on for monetization first?"

Among university students, Li Ruihao was without a doubt a talented individual. His startup failed simply due to bad luck. A person who can swallow his pride and get to work can make it anywhere.

Li Ruihao ventured, "Local advertising?"

Xue Rui nodded in satisfaction. "Your reasoning?"

"It would only affect the sponsorships for the student unions at each school. They’re a disorganized mess, an easy target."