This Life Is Impossible To Pretend To Be Cool

Chapter 10: No Way I'm Showing Off in This Life

The young man looked about the same height as Cheng Yan. Cheng Yun estimated he was at most 1.72 meters tall. His build might be considered standard by many young girls, but to Cheng Yun, he looked quite thin, probably weighing no more than fifty kilograms. A person of this height and weight would be fine living a normal life, but if they got into a fight, a single push would send them tumbling.

Cheng Yun immediately relaxed. He then slowly walked down the stairs, carefully observing the young man—

He was actually a bit handsome, Cheng Yun guessed about a third as handsome as himself. He wore plain cotton shorts and a white t-shirt, casual shoes, and a string of decorative beads on his wrist, following the trend. He looked like a clean, refined 'little brother'.

However, it was already past eleven at night, and Cheng Yun could still smell a faint hint of alcohol. There were quite a few bars and clubs scattered around Yizhou University. While most of them were relatively wholesome, there were also ones themed around chance encounters. So, this guy had likely just returned from a club, failed to hook up, and came here alone looking for accommodation. Otherwise, he might have been heartbroken, feeling depressed, and gone out for a drink to drown his sorrows.

Clearly, the drunken young man's gaze was immediately captured by Cheng Yan's youthful, still somewhat shy, pretty face and tall figure.

Cheng Yun walked closer and closer, but the young man remained oblivious, staring intently at Cheng Yan. He even forced a smile he thought was very charming. "You didn't say if you have a boyfriend or not. I'm not necessarily trying to pursue you. Just saying no like that, isn't that a bit too unfriendly?"

Cheng Yan glanced at Cheng Yun out of the corner of her eye, then continued to look coldly at the young man. "We welcome guests who need accommodation. If you're looking to act drunk and disorderly, you'd better get lost!"

"So fierce?" the young man blinked. "I just wanted to make a friend."

"I don't want to be friends with you."

"Wow, little beauty, you're so pretty, why are you so difficult to talk to! Is it that hard to leave your WeChat?" The young man gave a helpless wry smile. "If you have a boyfriend, I'll leave immediately, okay? I, Lu Hetong, am not the type to steal someone's girlfriend. But if you don't have a boyfriend, give me a chance, just give me a chance! Let's add each other on WeChat, and we'll see if we click, what do you say?"

"No, I won't leave it!" Cheng Yan's eyes grew cold.

Is this guy mentally challenged?

"Little beauty, don't be so cruel. Give me some face, okay? Give me an out," the young man pleaded earnestly. "If you give me your WeChat, and later we find out we're not compatible, you can just delete me. That would be my fault. But if you don't even give it to me, then it's your fault..."

While the young man was rambling, Cheng Yan expressionlessly picked up a thick, heavy copy of Atlas Shrugged from the computer desk in front of her. Before the young man could finish speaking, she quickly turned sideways, then used the strength of her waist to swing her arm, smashing the book like a brick onto the young man's cheek—

"My ass is your fault!" Cheng Yan shouted coldly!

With a bang!

The young man's body tilted, and he sat down on the ground with a thud. His head was dizzy and his consciousness was unclear.

Cheng Yun, who was watching from a few meters away, smiled.

Cheng Yan wasn't just aloof; she had a fiery temper, and she had clearly trained before. This young man wasn't heavier than her, and they were about the same height. Cheng Yan estimated she could take on two of him.

However, as a businessman, harmony was most important.

So, Cheng Yun stepped forward. Seeing that the young man seemed stunned, sitting on the ground without reacting for a long time, he quickly reached out and pulled him up, saying, "Oh, brother, what happened to you! Why did you suddenly sit down on the ground? Drunk, huh? Get up, get up..."

The young man blinked twice, shook his head fiercely, and looked at Cheng Yan in disbelief. The copy of Atlas Shrugged, comparable in size to an Oxford dictionary, was still on the counter.

He reached out, as if to point at Cheng Yan.

Slap, Cheng Yun pushed his hand down. "Brother, stay steady, don't move around, or you'll fall again!"

The young man turned to look at Cheng Yun, his face full of confusion and bewilderment. He opened his mouth, and uttered a syllable: "This chick..."

Cheng Yun pursed his lips and released his hands.

With a bang, he sat down on the ground again!

His coccyx nerve had suffered a severe blow, making his face contort in pain, and he couldn't utter a single word.

Cheng Yun quickly grabbed his arm again and pulled him up. With Cheng Yun's height and weight, the frail young man was lifted like a puppy. "See, I told you not to move, and you fell again! Come on, where are you staying? I'll take you back!"

Slap!

A student ID card fell out.

Cheng Yun picked up the student ID and took a look, then chuckled. "Oh, you're a junior! Class of 2016, and you're already out clubbing in your first year? Lu Hetong... Dance major..."

Cheng Yun looked the young man up and down before saying, "With your physique, you'd be better suited for crosstalk!"

Lu Hetong looked up at him, his face contorted, and managed to squeeze out, "Bro, I was wrong."

Great, that's no fun anymore!

Cheng Yun decided to stop teasing him. He let go, patting away imaginary dust from his clothes. "Alright, since you know you were wrong, I won't hold it against you. Usually, either drink less, or if you do get drunk, you need to be more careful. Pestering a girl in the middle of the night for her phone number, and not letting go when she refuses, what kind of behavior is that!"

Lu Hetong squeezed out an ugly expression. Amplified by the alcohol, he felt an urge to cry.

Doesn't he care about my dignity!

Finally, he rubbed his backside and limped out the door. He paused at the entrance, looked around left and right, then found a direction and continued searching for a hotel.

Cheng Yun turned back and looked at Cheng Yan.

They exchanged a glance. One couldn't help but want to laugh, while the other remained coldly expressionless.

After a while, Cheng Yun managed to say, "Good thing you used a book to hit him. Otherwise, with his physique, wouldn't he have knocked you out with one slap?"

"I know what I'm doing, you don't need to remind me!" Cheng Yan said coldly, pausing before adding, "If I wasn't running a shop, I would have picked up a book and smacked him ages ago!"

"Okay, I'm not blaming you," Cheng Yun said. "I shouldn't have asked you to work the night shift anyway. It's not very safe for girls at night. Everyone subconsciously categorizes girls as easy targets... Especially someone like you, besides those who genuinely intend to cause trouble, you'll also attract a lot of riff-raff."

"Like this kind of riff-raff?" Cheng Yan said with disdain.

"So young and ignorant," Cheng Yun said helplessly. "What if a taller, stronger guy had shown up, and you impulsively attacked him, making him furious? Then what would you do!"

"Then you didn't come to help me just now!" Cheng Yan's tone held a hint of dissatisfaction.

"I saw you could handle it. If it had been someone taller, then I would have had to step in!"

"Can you stop thinking of yourself so highly?" Cheng Yan glanced at him sideways. "You're still just a weakling!"

"..." Cheng Yun stared at her in surprise. "Weakling? Come on, have you ever seen a weakling who's almost six feet tall and weighs over 150 pounds?"

"Five-eleven, with shoes on. Without them, I'd be lucky if I'm five-eleven!" Cheng Yan said disdainfully. "Besides, if being fat were useful, pigs could eat tigers."

"My standing height is six feet! Thank you!" Cheng Yun said, annoyed. This girl always argued with him. "And I'm not fat. I used to play on the university basketball team!"

"Used to."

"I still have abs and pecs!"

"Used to."

"You win." Cheng Yun threw up his hands in surrender.

"I'm telling the truth. You've essentially reversed the process of building a good physique," Cheng Yan said, looking him over before glancing at his face. "You slept for half the day, but your mental state has improved a lot. You even have the energy to argue with me now!"

Cheng Yun pouted helplessly. What could he do?

He used to exercise often and enjoyed sports, so he naturally had a good physique. Later, he got busy with his startup, and exercise gradually decreased. At most, he'd go for a run on impulse. After becoming single again in his junior year, he was depressed for a while. Plus, he wasn't on campus in his senior year. Neglecting exercise while eating well and having fun naturally led to gaining weight.

He didn't want to argue with Cheng Yan about this. He walked over to the counter and sat down. "You go sleep. I'll keep watch tonight."

"Not sleepy." Cheng Yan said lightly, picking up the thick book and flipping to about a third of the way through. She lowered her head to read. "If you can't sleep, sit here. If I get sleepy early, I'll go upstairs to rest. If I'm not sleepy, I'll sit here with you and see if any hooligans show up to make you prove the bragging you just did."

"..." Cheng Yun said, "I'm so hungry."

"You should be." Cheng Yan nodded, holding the book, her finger lightly turning a page. "I ordered barbecue tonight. There's grilled pork belly, grilled ribs, grilled eggplant, grilled chicken wings, beef, lamb, chicken skin, pork skin…"

"Cheng Yan! You're going too far!!" Cheng Yun said, his face dark, his voice low.

Cheng Yan ignored him and continued, "Oh, and I also ordered a cold mixed small crucian carp as the main course."

"Enough!" Cheng Yun's face darkened further.

"Why is it enough?" Cheng Yan's face still showed little emotion, and she didn't look up. "Have you forgotten what you did to me when we were kids?"

"We were so little then! Do you have to hold a grudge for so long!?" Cheng Yun was speechless.

"I'm still little now, not an adult yet," Cheng Yan said calmly while reading. "So, I'll have to ask you, as my guardian, to be a little more patient."

"Fine." Cheng Yun pursed his lips, sighed helplessly, then took out his phone and opened the food delivery app. "I'm ordering takeout now. What do you want to eat?…… You won't say, huh? I'll order all your favorites. Anyway, I'm starving right now, I feel like I could eat a whole cow."

Cheng Yan: "……"

Cheng Yun did indeed order a large pile of food, and Cheng Yan, true to her word, endured it all without snatching any. However, she had secretly noted this incident in her heart. Her expression was terrifyingly gloomy as she went upstairs.

It was past one in the morning. The inn closed, and they went upstairs to sleep.

The Old Mage still wasn't asleep at this time. Blue light seeped from the gap under his room door, particularly noticeable in the dark.