Chapter 488 335: Don't Sell Out Your Master

The first class of the morning was a fundamental theory course. Like most schools, the University of Posts and Telecommunications started its students with an introduction to C programming.

Theory courses were usually taught to several classes at once, and the lecture hall was large enough to hold over a hundred people.

The classroom was already filling up. To Xue Rui's surprise, the first few rows were completely full.

"Mm, someone got here even earlier than us," Lin Ruoxi said, pulling Xue Rui toward a corner spot by the window.

Xue Rui found this amusing. He smiled and asked, "I thought you said we were saving seats. Didn't you mean in the front row?"

"Good thing no one fought for this spot," Lin Ruoxi said with a sweet smile at Xue Rui as she took some snacks out of her bag.

Xue Rui pinched Lin Ruoxi's nose. "You've already figured out the true secret of university classes: the back row is the spot really worth fighting for."

The front rows being so full today was a strange phenomenon unique to the freshman period.

Freshmen at the start of the semester were full of curiosity about everything, especially the courses for their chosen major, which they ranked as top priority.

However, after a few more lectures, they would discover that the teaching atmosphere in university was very different from high school. Professors rarely paid attention to whether students were listening, and the classroom mood would be influenced by those in the back eating breakfast and playing on their phones.

Although those students didn't directly disrupt class discipline, the apathetic atmosphere was contagious.

The main reason was that listening to the professor read from a PowerPoint was just plain boring. When an important point came up, you just held up your phone to snap a picture, and you could consider the class "attended."...

Anyway, after a while, the front row near the lectern would be occupied by the top students, the second, third, and fourth rows would be completely empty, and the back rows would be packed...

"The front rows are called the 'scholar zone.' That's where you belong," Xue Rui said, pointing to the front.

Lin Ruoxi blinked blankly, glanced at the front rows, and then slowly shook her head in denial.

Xue Rui lowered his finger, suddenly remembering that Lin Ruoxi had never sat in the front. Even in high school, she always sat in the very back, which had made him mistakenly think she was a slacker when he first met her.

Lin Ruoxi's greatest strength was actually her ability to self-study. Her growth was completely independent of school.

All Xue Rui could see in Lin Ruoxi was raw talent.

As for where the sweat was?

On the faces of the other top students, of course.

"You're right, you don't belong there," Xue Rui said with a smile.

Lin Ruoxi reached out and intertwined her fingers with Xue Rui's. "I don't belong anywhere. I only belong to you. I'll be wherever you are."

Xue Rui clutched his heart. Getting hit with a critical strike from this little rascal first thing in the morning had completely woken him up.

He pinched Lin Ruoxi's cheek. "Who taught you all these strange moves?"

Lin Ruoxi pouted. "I don't know. I just have a feeling you like to hear it."

Suddenly, Xue Rui sensed a hostile gaze. He looked up and saw Jiang Yuan glaring at him resentfully.

"Squad Leader, why are you sitting back there?" Jiang Yuan, who was in the front row, called out, turning to the side.

Xue Rui cringed. He'd forgotten something: the squad leader was supposed to sit in the front to act as the professor's assistant.

"Squad Leader Jiang, I'll have to trouble you with coordinating with the professor. I'll be in the back, supervising the people in front to make sure no one is on their phone," Xue Rui said with a straight face.

Jiang Yuan opened her mouth to speak but stopped. Xue Rui's arrangement actually sounded quite reasonable.

'But she had her doubts. Was he really sitting in the back just to flirt with his girlfriend?'

'In any case, she felt that Xue Rui was a completely hands-off squad leader.'

As people continued to file into the classroom, the atmosphere grew increasingly noisy.

"What other classes do we have today?"

"Let me check my photos. Looks like we're fully booked!"

"And we still have to go to evening self-study, for fuck's sake. What kind of university is this? Didn't our teachers say college would be easy?"

...

'I need to get someone to fill in the course schedules quickly,' Xue Rui muttered to himself and started pinging the representatives from the other universities in the group chat.

If his app was going to maintain daily active users, it had to be deeply integrated with every aspect of university life.

'Right. After all, most people can't remember their class schedule for the whole semester. Even if they can, they don't have much confidence in their memory and still have to open the schedule to double-check which classroom it is...'

'As long as they open it frequently enough and the app has enough rich content, they'll eventually forget to close it.'

The lecture hall had rows of three seats. Xue Rui sat in the middle, with Lin Ruoxi in the window seat to his left and Qian Huabiao, who had just rushed back from off-campus, to his right.

Xue Rui knew his roommates well. 'What kind of ambition could a dorm that plays five-stacks every day since the semester started possibly have?'

His roommates had "clear" goals. For example, Cai Huazhou's goal was to "reach Challenger" by the end of the semester. To Xue Rui, that goal seemed incredibly distant...

"Squad Leader, let me borrow your book," Qian Huabiao said, snatching Xue Rui's book without waiting for permission.

Qian Huabiao had zero focus on his studies. He only wanted Xue Rui's book to hide the fact that he was playing on his phone.

Xue Rui didn't mind at all, because he wasn't planning on opening the book either...

But then he glanced over and saw the guy was looking for "prey" on his app again.

'So, is he looking for a one-time girlfriend?'

'Some piece of work.'

When Lin Ruoxi saw Qian Huabiao messaging another girl, she couldn't help but ask, "Does your girlfriend know about this?"

Xue Rui felt a sudden shiver. 'Will Lin Ruoxi question me like that one day, too?'

Qian Huabiao instinctively shrank back. He retorted, "Old Xue was right last night. How am I supposed to know if she's rejecting other guys?"

"So I can't control her, and to be fair, she can't control me either."