Chapter 479 332: Beware the Educated Rogue

University of Posts and Telecommunications, Foundational Studies Building.

Xue Rui and a few others from dorm 622 headed upstairs together.

"This way, this way. Did you get lost just because we had a holiday?" Jiang Yuan reached out and stopped a male student.

The student scratched his head sheepishly. "Heh heh, I forgot."

"Hurry inside. It's almost seven." Jiang Yuan was in a great mood today. Ever since the holiday break, Xue Rui had completely washed his hands of everything, leaving her to handle all the class announcements.

Although Lin Ruoxi had helped campaign for Xue Rui during military training, the fact remained that Xue Rui hadn't attended the training with his classmates, and they rarely saw him in the cafeteria.

His relationship with the other students was good, but he had far fewer shared memories with them than she did.

The goodwill he'd earned from providing breakfast during the physical exams had been gradually worn away by the military training. Jiang Yuan was confident that if they canvassed for votes now, her odds of winning were better than Xue Rui's.

As Xue Rui entered the classroom, he noticed Jiang Yuan's gaze linger on him for a few extra seconds, her eyes filled with unconcealed hostility and a hint of arrogance.

"Don't be nervous," Xue Rui said with a smile.

"You!" Jiang Yuan was infuriated. 'Why is Xue Rui so damn confident?'

'Does Xue Rui have some kind of trick up his sleeve?'

In reality, Xue Rui had no interest in the position of class president whatsoever. He now had a legitimate reason to be an entrepreneur, so skipping a few classes here and there would be understandable.

'As long as I don't make any major mistakes, how hard can it be to graduate from university?'

His requirements were just that simple.

Xue Rui paused his stride and said to Jiang Yuan, "I've seen quite a few people confessing their feelings to you on the confession wall lately. Haven't any of them caught your eye?"

The guys mostly just talked about which girls were pretty, and Jiang Yuan was quite well-known in their department.

"Get inside and stop blocking the way," Jiang Yuan said coldly.

Xue Rui shook his head and paid her no mind. If things went as expected, the counselor would arrive soon and ask anyone interested in running to come up and give a speech. Then, they would start the anonymous voting to elect a class president based on the number of votes.

At that moment, Jiang Yuan stood at the podium, her eyes constantly scanning the classroom as she tapped her finger.

Xue Rui was all too familiar with Jiang Yuan's movements. 'She's doing a head count.'

"Where's Dong Yufan? Someone from dorm 623, give him a call," Jiang Yuan shouted from the podium. She had memorized every student in the class, even compiling notes on their dorm numbers and hometowns.

"From now on, this will be our class's evening self-study room. Everyone must be here from 7 to 9 p.m. every night," Jiang Yuan said slowly.

"Huh? We really have evening self-study?" many people groaned.

Qian Huabiao said in disbelief, "What is this bullshit arrangement? We're in university and still have to do evening self-study?"

This would seriously get in the way of him picking up girls. Was his great nightlife about to be ruined by evening self-study?

It was like asking a girl out shopping, for dinner, and a movie, only for her to pull out a sanitary pad as a protective talisman after he had already showered and was ready to go...

The feeling was absolutely terrible!

Jiang Yuan slammed her hand on the desk. "It's the university's arrangement! If you don't show up, you'll have points deducted. If you lose enough points in a semester, you'll be called in for a talk..."

"They're keeping score?"

"Isn't this just like high school?"

For a moment, everyone started talking at once.

On the first day of the semester, Secretary Li made his usual rounds through the department. Hearing the noisy commotion from the software engineering class, he ambled in with his hands behind his back.

"If you ask me, this evening self-study is just pure formalism," Zhao Chaojie sneered. Just as he finished speaking, his eyes met Secretary Li's as the man walked in.

He immediately swallowed hard and quickly lowered his head, terrified of being recognized as the one who had offered someone a cigarette on the athletic field that day...

Secretary Li swept a cold gaze across the classroom and said in a grave, heartfelt tone:

"Don't think you can relax just because you're in university. Do you have any plans for the future? The school arranged this evening self-study for your own good. You should focus more on your studies."

Seeing a leader come in to speak, the students all fell silent. Someone secretly rolled their eyes; they had heard this kind of lecture far too many times.

Seeing how awkward the atmosphere had become, Xue Rui spoke up in agreement. "The Secretary is right. The school is actually protecting us. It's too dangerous not to be in class on a night like this."

"Especially the female students. If you leave campus at night, you should try to have a male student with you. I heard something happened before..."

Xue Rui himself hadn't really understood at this age, but from a manager's perspective, there was nothing wrong with arranging evening self-study. Any leader would have done the same.

What seemed like an unreasonable rule was, in fact, precious experience gained by various universities through practice.

University students come from all over the country. They've just broken free from their parents and gained their freedom. If they were faced with lax and lenient school rules and spent their nights roaming a strange city without a care, the potential for trouble would be enormous.

The university could only guarantee safety within the campus walls. Outside the gates was society at large, with far too many uncontrollable factors. And nighttime was when criminals were most active...

For the sake of student safety, the simplest solution was to make the freshmen attend evening self-study, giving them a buffer period to get used to their surroundings.

After a semester of evening self-study, their hearts would settle down, and they wouldn't be so impulsive.

But the most important point was, of course, that the university could bear less responsibility...

Secretary Li glanced at Xue Rui in surprise. 'He really understands a lot,' he thought. 'To have such a big-picture view at his age... No wonder he was able to start a business so young.'

When words like these came from a peer, the students were clearly more receptive. Xue Rui had even deliberately and vaguely mentioned that "something happened," letting everyone's imagination run wild.

"Has your counselor arrived yet?" Secretary Li asked casually.

Many of them shook their heads. "We haven't seen him."