Academic Phantom Thief

At the milk tea shop.

Zhao Tongyu sat off to one side, watching Jiang Linyuan and Yu Songsong with a gloomy, resentful look. It made him feel awful.

He could only comfort himself with the thought that love meant restraint and patience.

He would work hard in secret, then amaze Yu Songsong. Love was a marathon, not fireworks.

Someone like Jiang Linyuan was the sort of person Yu Songsong might forget the moment she turned away.

Thinking this, he looked at Jiang Linyuan with a trace of disdain and felt rather pleased with himself.

Jiang Linyuan looked at his smug, self-important expression and was genuinely baffled.

I've seen plenty of clowns, but they all called me one.

Is that you, Zhao?

"Senior, have you ever taken part in any competitions?"

Yu Songsong sat close beside Jiang Linyuan and asked, blinking at him.

"Ah, I haven't really participated in many."

Jiang Linyuan decided to be honest.

Back when he'd just started his freshman year, he'd been full of ambition and determined to work hard.

Then five early-morning classes a week crushed his academic spirit.

His resolve shattered, and he gave up!

But really, sticking to being undisciplined was its own kind of discipline.

Just as continuing to watch NTR could be seen as a kind of devotion to NTR.

When Zhao Tongyu heard Jiang Linyuan say he hadn't participated in many competitions, his eyes lit up. He cleared his throat a few times.

"I've been preparing for the College Student Innovation Competition with a senior lately."

Yu Songsong gave him a strange look, as if she hadn't heard him, and continued talking to Jiang Linyuan.

"Senior, I'm rested now. Let's head back and chat as we walk."

Zhao Tongyu's expression stiffened.

"Sure, junior. Let's go together."

"Mm-hmm. Thanks for the milk tea today, Senior. I'll treat you next time."

As she said this, Yu Songsong turned to look at Zhao Tongyu.

Zhao Tongyu froze. A warm feeling spread through his heart. See? She still cares about me.

"After all, I can afford a cup of milk tea."

Yu Songsong gave a cold laugh. Without even looking at him, she pulled Jiang Linyuan away.

Zhao Tongyu was left utterly mortified. He felt so ashamed that he wanted to dig a hole and bury himself in it.

He couldn't take it anymore.

Jiang Linyuan didn't even need to look back to imagine how embarrassed Zhao Tongyu must be.

The Depressed Saint of Thieves really did have a grudge-bearing streak.

The two walked side by side.

Yu Songsong looked at Jiang Linyuan and said, a little embarrassed, "Senior, I only said that to annoy him. I didn't mean anything by it."

"Haha, actually, I've wanted to say the same thing for a while. Junior Zhao has a really nasty way of talking."

Jiang Linyuan said unconcernedly, "I was just worried it might make things awkward for you if you had to deal with him later, so I held back."

Seeing how relaxed he was, Yu Songsong let out a breath and joined in the complaints.

"Exactly. His social skills are terrible. He was the same when we were going over the script—dull and nitpicky. It drove me crazy."

"Just thinking about having to work with him makes me feel awful."

At that, she added another complaint, looking troubled.

"My roommates are the same. Not one of them knows how to be considerate of others."

Jiang Linyuan was a little curious about that.

What about your depression? Shouldn't someone help you?

Go stand on the rooftop at night and feel the breeze, then have a heart-to-heart with your counselor. Forget roommate conflicts—even if you don't perform a midair stunt, the counselor will sort everything out for you.

"You and your roommates aren't getting along?"

Jiang Linyuan asked.

Yu Songsong let out a long breath, as if she'd found an outlet for all her frustration.

"Exactly. They all say I'm putting on an act. They're polite to my face, but they curse me out every day in their private group chat."

"Then how did you find out?"

"Oh, two people in the dormitory can't stand each other, so they privately sent me screenshots of the other one talking about me in the group chat."

Incredible.

I wouldn't watch Empresses in the Palace if your dorm weren't in it.

"Junior, if anything comes up, just tell me."

Jiang Linyuan said calmly.

When Yu Songsong saw that he hadn't said anything like, "You should try to get along with them," or, "You all live under the same roof," she felt a little better and joked, "If something really happens, are you going to barge into the girls' dormitory?"

As she spoke, she burst out laughing.

"Relax, Senior. If anything happens, I'll definitely contact you. Just don't back out when I do, okay?"

"I'm not worried about you contacting me. I'm worried you won't."

Jiang Linyuan replied with a smile.

Seriously, what was the deal with this Depressed Saint of Thieves?

Wasn't she just a perfectly normal girl to talk to?

"Oh, right."

Yu Songsong seemed to remember something. She looked at Jiang Linyuan and asked, "Senior, you're in the External Relations Department, so you must know lots of people, right?"

"Yeah. Why?"

Jiang Linyuan nodded.

Yu Songsong looked at him tentatively. "Do you know anyone in the medical school who's good at studying? The people who come to the Academic Department to share their competition experiences are all from computer science, electrical engineering, telecommunications, and the like. I haven't seen many medical students."

Jiang Linyuan froze.

"Junior, you're a medical student?"

"Mm-hmm. Clinical medicine."

Yu Songsong nodded.

Then why are you so fixated on all those competitions? You're not even on the same track!

Jiang Linyuan hesitated before saying, "Junior, medical school is difficult and demanding, so not many people spend time on those competitions as well."

"But it's not like nobody does."

Yu Songsong sounded confident.

"I think I can manage it."

No wonder her roommates said she was putting on an act. You hadn't achieved anything yet, and they couldn't see what you were capable of. Of course they'd think you were just all talk.

But did Yu Songsong really have what it took?

Jiang Linyuan thought of her posts on Xiaohongshu, and his expression grew hard to read.

It was hard to say.

Yu Songsong might not have the hard skills, but she made up for it with her soft skills.

After Academic Daji, a new species had appeared: the Academic Phantom Thief.

I don't have what it takes myself, but as long as the people competing alongside me do, that works, right?

After all, proctoring at some lower-tier competitions was pretty lax—sometimes even worse than it had been during high school exams.

"Are you looking for a senior or a senior student in medicine to ask them something?"

Jiang Linyuan asked, keeping his expression neutral.

"Yeah."

Yu Songsong answered naturally. "We have a lot of classes, and I wanted to ask how they manage."

"Besides competitions, GPA matters a lot for graduate school recommendations, too."

Jiang Linyuan's gaze sharpened.

Damn.

No wonder they called you a Grade B bad woman. They weren't wrong at all.

If proctoring at some competitions could be called a complete joke, then proctoring at university final exams was on a whole other level.

Of course, for people who hadn't cheated much, there wasn't much difference.

But for this battle-hardened junior, the Depressed Saint of Thieves, it was another story entirely.

For crying out loud.

Other people cheated just to avoid failing. Fine.

But cheating to get one of the already scarce recommendations for graduate school? That was too much.

Find someone and see whether you were planning to return to your old ways or actually study!

"Sure. I know someone pretty impressive. She's in medicine, too. I'll send you her contact info later."

Jiang Linyuan smiled as he agreed.

"Really? Thank you!"

Yu Songsong smiled brightly.

"You're welcome."

Jiang Linyuan smiled, took out his phone, and was about to send her the person's contact information when he unexpectedly saw a message from Lin Yilin.

"Senior, Senior, there's a girl named Qiao Shan who says she wants to give you money. Any idea what that's about?"

What kind of outrageous sugar-mommy talk was this?