The Pretty Campus Belle Loves Money-So What? (9)

Shi Zheng walked over to stand across from him, keeping a little distance between them.

She raised her head, her eyes holding just the right measure of vulnerability and pleading. "Young Master Hua, you've seen what happened on the forum... The school is going to take action against me. They might make me withdraw."

She bit her lower lip. "You helped me out of a difficult situation not long ago. I know I shouldn't trouble you, but... could you, could you please put in a good word for me with the Student Council?"

Shi Zheng humbled herself, treating Hua Jinchen as the last straw she could grasp to save her life.

Hua Jinchen listened quietly, his face largely expressionless.

The light from the lounge's ceiling lamp carved sharply defined shadows and highlights across his face.

He was undoubtedly handsome, with eyes that tilted slightly upward at the corners, lending him a hint of roguish charm even when he wasn't smiling.

But now, deep in those peach blossom eyes that always seemed to be smiling, Shi Zheng saw a scrutiny at odds with his appearance.

How could someone like him really be nothing more than a shallow playboy?

In the original plot, the Hua Family had arranged marriages for the sake of profit generation after generation. Hua Jinchen's parents were a prime example, loving in public and cold in private.

The estrangement beneath that glamorous facade had shaped his understanding of people from childhood.

His gentleness and consideration came from a refinement that ran to his very bones.

Especially when dealing with women, he was always gentle and attentive, the perfect date.

But in truth, Hua Jinchen, who changed girlfriends so frequently, had never had a substantive intimate relationship with any of them.

After all, the male lead had to preserve his purity for the female lead; if he wasn't clean, he wasn't worthy of joining her harem.

Only after Shi Zheng finished speaking did Hua Jinchen finally reply, in an unhurried voice. "Put in a good word? I heard Gu Yanshen made an exception and convened the Disciplinary Committee for you this time."

"A man like him has never paid anyone any regard, much less someone like you... I'm very curious. Why was he willing to make an exception for you this time of all times?"

Hua Jinchen leaned forward slightly, his tall frame bringing an intangible sense of pressure.

"Come to think of it, you and Gu Yanshen both seemed to leave early last night?"

As if he had suddenly remembered something, a flicker of inquiry passed through his eyes. "And the timing was pretty close. Could it be..."

The question was direct, and dangerous.

He had all but pointed out that there might be a relationship between Shi Zheng and Gu Yanshen that no one knew about.

"Young Master Hua, you've misunderstood!"

Shi Zheng's voice carried the urgency of someone wrongly accused. "The president just can't tolerate a grain of sand in his eye. The allegations on the forum came too suddenly, and the evidence was suspicious. He just thought someone might be pulling strings behind the scenes and wanted to get to the truth! He's helping me because there's something wrong with the matter itself, not because..."

Hua Jinchen said, "Not because of what?"

Shi Zheng faltered, as if she found it hard to say, and her face grew redder.

Her voice dropped. "It's not what you think. How could there possibly be anything between the president and me? How could someone like him ever take a fancy to me?"

After listening, Hua Jinchen said nothing, only watching her quietly.

It was impossible to tell whether he believed her explanation or simply didn't care whether it was true.

A few seconds later, he suddenly gave a derisive chuckle.

The laugh was soft, but it carried an indescribable meaning.

He found it somewhat amusing that, for a moment just now, he had actually suspected that the two might be involved in private.

Gu Yanshen and Shi Zheng?

They belonged to two entirely different worlds; even imagining them together seemed incongruous.

He knew Gu Yanshen's temperament very well.

With Gu Yanshen, even if you stripped naked and stood in front of him, he would probably treat you like air and pass you by.

Hua Jinchen's deeply ingrained understanding of Gu Yanshen also led him to completely rule out the possibility that Gu Yanshen and Shi Zheng were having a secret affair.

"So you came to me just to ask me to... speak up for you at the Disciplinary Committee?"

His tone sounded somewhat uninterested.

Shi Zheng knew that people like Hua Jinchen hated boredom most of all.

His life was probably like the frequency with which he changed girlfriends: a pursuit of novelty and excitement.

Shi Zheng did not answer his question directly. Instead, she took a small step forward.

Then she turned sideways and sat down right beside Hua Jinchen.

The lounge was cramped to begin with, and that step brought her almost within the space filled by Hua Jinchen's presence.

Their gazes met, clashing silently in the air.

Shi Zheng spoke, her voice as light as a feather brushing his eardrum. "Young Master Hua, I came to see you... not just because of the Disciplinary Committee."

"I know what I just said sounded very pitiful, as if I'd come to attach myself to you because I had nowhere else to turn."

She raised her eyes and looked straight at him.

Beneath the feigned, heartbreaking vulnerability in those beautiful eyes, ambition was gradually revealing itself.

"But you were half right. I do need your help, and I need to enter your circle to gain protection."

"And the other half?"

The smile playing at the corners of Hua Jinchen's mouth deepened.

But Shi Zheng's next words made that smile falter slightly.

"As for the other half..."

Shi Zheng tilted her head slightly, a strand of hair slipping down beside her cheek. "I think... you might not be as effortlessly in control as you make yourself out to be."

Her tone carried a note of provocation entirely unlike the weakness she had shown moments before.

Hua Jinchen's gaze darkened.

He still did not move, but Shi Zheng could sense him quietly sending out a more dangerous signal.

"I've been observing you for a long time, Young Master Hua. I can guarantee I've spent more time watching you than anyone else."

Shi Zheng spoke at an unhurried pace, her gaze lingering on Hua Jinchen's face.

From his peach blossom eyes to the high bridge of his nose, and then to his thin lips, now pressed slightly together.

Her gaze concealed its owner's greed, as if tracing the contours of a treasure she had long desired but dared not touch lightly.

She said, "Although you change girlfriends frequently, and every girl who has broken up with you praises you for being gentle and attentive, in truth... you've never had intimate contact with anyone that crossed the line. Am I right?"

Shi Zheng's words pierced precisely through the defenses beneath his roguish exterior.