So That's How It Is

Binhe University of Science and Technology, back mountain practice field. Behind a row of large palm trees.

"Slap!" A loud smack. Immediately followed by an enraged voice, "Good, very good! You actually found someone to frame the woman I like! Fortunately, this time it didn't escalate into an unmanageable situation, or I would never have let you off lightly!"

Still fuming, he kicked a loose stone at his feet, sending it flying over ten meters away.

Little Fatty looked at Peng Jie, who was glaring at him with a wronged expression, and quickly explained, "Brother Peng, I did this for your own good."

A flicker of surprise crossed Peng Jie's eyes. "For my own good? For my own good, you went and framed the woman I like?"

"No, Brother Peng, you've misunderstood."

Peng Jie waved his hand impatiently. "What's going on? Explain yourself clearly."

Little Fatty clutched his stinging cheek and hissed, "Brother Peng, isn't this to reduce your competition? Think about it, if Su Yuan... no, that girl, if she's confirmed as the Underwear Thief, her reputation will be damaged. Other people's perception of her will change, and no other man will compete with you for her."

"So your intention was to help me?" Peng Jie asked, narrowing his eyes.

"Of course! When I, Little Fatty, do something, I always consider Brother Peng, never with any selfish motives!" To say there was no selfish motive in framing Su Yuan would be a lie. The ugly title of "Underwear Thief" was enough to make that kid surnamed Su sweat.

"You idiot!!" Peng Jie raised his hand to strike again. Little Fatty flinched and dodged.

"Brother Peng, did I do something wrong?"

Peng Jie gritted his teeth. "Of course, you did! Is there any more absurd and ridiculous idea than yours? Did you ever consider that she's a girl? If you push her like this and try to pin the Underwear Thief charge on her, what if she decides to go all out and reveal that she's a girl? Do you think that would help me or make things worse for me?"

Little Fatty was stunned. "Brother Peng, did I make a mistake?"

"You couldn't be more wrong!"

From Little Fatty's perspective, he thought Su Yuan was a boy. Therefore, when considering the situation, his starting point was that Su Yuan was male. If the "Underwear Thief" label stuck, there would be no room for her to argue, thus avenging his personal grudge and clearing the path for Peng Jie.

But Peng Jie couldn't agree. He believed Su Yuan was a girl, making Little Fatty's actions a move that would destroy his own efforts. He understood the meaning of "better to have an enemy like a god than a teammate like a pig."

"But she's clearly a boy, why would she admit to being a girl?" Little Fatty couldn't figure it out and muttered to himself.

"Fortunately, the Underwear Thief incident didn't implicate her." Glancing at Little Fatty, he took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, lit one, and said, "By the way, where did you find your helper? Why didn't your 'foolproof' plan work in the end?"

Putting aside Little Fatty's foolishness, Peng Jie began to doubt his competence.

Little Fatty also found it perplexing and said innocently, "I found that person from society. It took some effort to find him. Do you remember the incident of the underwear theft in the girls' dormitory last year, Brother Peng?"

Peng Jie took a puff of his cigarette. "You mean, this person was the Underwear Thief from back then?"

"That's him!"

"Good kid, you've got some nerve!" Peng Jie praised, though it was unclear if he was being genuine or sarcastic.

"Tell me, how did you brief him?"

Little Fatty, eager to impress Peng Jie, narrowed his small eyes and chuckled, "It was actually very simple. The day before, I had him sneak into the girls' dormitory and steal the girls' underwear. Then, after Su Yuan and the others went to class, he was supposed to secretly put it in Su Yuan's closet. Then he was to go into the girls' dormitory again to steal underwear, this time to attract the attention of the girls and lure them to Building 17."

Peng Jie nodded.

He added with concern, "Will he get exposed?"

Little Fatty confidently replied, "Don't worry, he's a repeat offender. He knows how to handle these things."

As they were talking, they suddenly noticed a commotion on the pedestrian walkway not far away. It seemed like a large group of girls was parading a thin guy, occasionally throwing pebbles at him to vent their anger. If this were ancient times, they would have been throwing rotten eggs instead of stones.

Peng Jie blew a smoke ring and asked curiously, "What's going on? Go find out."

Little Fatty also looked on in surprise. Upon clearly seeing the appearance of the "culprit," he immediately tensed up and stammered, "Brother Peng, that... that person they're escorting seems to be the Underwear Thief we were just talking about."

The cigarette in Peng Jie's mouth fell to the ground. He slapped Little Fatty, "Didn't you just guarantee that he wouldn't be exposed?"

"Brother Peng, I didn't expect something like this to happen either!" Little Fatty felt like crying. Regardless of whether this incident would implicate him, just leaving Peng Jie with the impression of incompetence made him miserable.

Peng Jie kicked him in frustration, "Clean up this mess immediately! I don't want this to involve either of us."

"Brother... Brother Peng, you can rest assured about this. He has a sense of honor. He took the money, and he'll keep his mouth shut."

Just then, the thin man looked up and saw Little Fatty behind the palm trees. Little Fatty was short and round like a ball, making him very easy to recognize.

"Crack!" Another pebble landed on his forehead. He cried out in pain and yelled at the top of his lungs, "It was him! That person paid me to do this! I didn't intentionally go into the girls' dormitory to steal their underwear!!"

"Quick, catch those two! They're the masterminds!" shouted the leading girl.

"Damn it, is this what you call honor? Run!!" Peng Jie glared fiercely at Little Fatty and took off.

"Oh my god!!" Little Fatty knew this was going to end badly. Brother Peng could escape, but his own physical characteristics were too obvious; there was no way he could get away clean.

The girls, like angry mother hens, surrounded Little Fatty and began punching and kicking his round body.

Su Yuan walked out of the Student Affairs Office with a light heart, feeling cheerful. Upon arriving at Building 17, even better news reached her.

"What, the Underwear Thief was caught?" she asked, her eyes wide and spirited.

Gao Jun nodded. "Yeah, don't forget there are cameras near the flower bed at the bottom of our dorm. The search of the dorms didn't find any underwear in the end. The girls were unwilling to give up and got the security office to retrieve the surveillance footage. You can vaguely see a figure."

"We thought we wouldn't be able to find the person with just this footage, but then, as luck would have it, Ji Yehao went down earlier and saw a suspicious guy lurking at the bottom of the dorm. When he got closer, it turned out to be the guy who almost knocked you over at the staircase. Ye Hao kicked him and caught him."

"Later, the girls came back and took him away. Turns out the guy came back to see the 'results' but ran into Ye Hao, and his scheme was exposed."

Su Yuan nodded, realizing how many coincidences there were.

But no matter what, she was grateful to Ji Yehao this time.

"Oh, right, where's Yehao?"

"Oh, Instructor Tan called him over."

Su Yuan paused for a moment. Her intuition told her that Ji Yehao being called over by Instructor Tan probably had something to do with her. However, she remembered that Teacher Wang and Instructor Tan had promised to keep it a secret for her, so they wouldn't betray her right after she left, would they?

She knew clearly that since Instructor Tan and Teacher Wang already knew about her "situation," she definitely couldn't stay in the male dormitory anymore—or rather, she wouldn't be able to stay for long.

The two teachers were also worried about any accidents. They could make an exception for her for a while, but they absolutely wouldn't tolerate her staying in the male dormitory indefinitely, as they couldn't bear that responsibility.