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Gu Xiu was growing impatient and was about to speak when a car horn blared. From nearby came a flippant whistle: "Not bad looking. Which department are you in? Give Brother a smile, and I'll drive you to registration."

Gu Xiu whipped his head around to look at the Ferrari parked on the side of the road: "Who are you talking to?"

The buzz-cut boy sitting in the sports car raised an eyebrow and gave a wicked grin: "Whoever answers is who I'm talking to."

"Are you sick?" Although Gu Xiu was an adopted child of the Gu Family, he had been pampered since he was little because of his pretty face and obedient personality. Consequently, he was inevitably a bit spoiled: "Do I know you?"

The boy with the buzz cut seemed unaccustomed to being scolded like that and immediately laughed even harder: "Don't you know me now? I'm Huo Mingzhang. What's your name, little beauty?"

"You're the beauty! Your whole family is full of beauties!" Gu Xiu had never been teased like this before and was trembling with rage.

Huo Mingzhang mimicked Gu Xiu's tone and chuckled cheekily: "I'm a handsome guy. You're the beauty. A handsome guy and a beauty—we're a perfect match~"

"You—" Gu Xiu was choked for words. He turned and jabbed Gu Chen with his elbow: "Say something! How did Mom and Dad tell you to take care of me before we came? You're my brother, are you just going to watch me get bullied?"

Gu Chen was a bit dazed. Looking at the inexplicably youthful Gu Xiu and Huo Mingzhang, then at the scene of freshmen arriving all around him, he slowly accepted the fact that he seemed to have been reborn ten years into the past, the year he had just been admitted to university.

"Stop it." Gu Chen felt listless and was in a hurry to find a quiet place to calm down: "Let's go register."

"Gu Chen, what do you mean by that?" Gu Xiu widened his eyes in disbelief: "You're just going to watch me get bullied without saying a word?"

What was there to say? Besides, Huo Mingzhang wasn't wrong; the two of them would end up as a couple anyway, flirting like this every single day. Gu Chen gave Huo Mingzhang a dead-eyed look: "I can't afford to provoke him."

Huo Mingzhang hadn't noticed the protector beside the little beauty until now. He couldn't help but look him over with fresh interest. He found that this guy wasn't bad-looking either; although he wasn't as delicate and pretty as Gu Xiu, his features were open and his profile was gentle—he looked like a good-tempered person at first glance. It was just that he seemed a bit gloomy, lacking any of the youthful vigor a boy should have.

Huo Mingzhang snorted and commented with a hint of provocation: "Coward."

Gu Chen didn't speak. He shouldered two duffel bags and headed straight for the Management Department's registration desk. Gu Xiu followed behind him, looking very dissatisfied, his mouth pouting enough to hang an oil bottle: "Brother, what's wrong with you? What do you mean you can't afford to provoke him? Why can't you?"

Of course he couldn't provoke him. The young master of the Huo Group, one of the top playboys in A City. How many people could afford to provoke him? Gu Chen still remembered how he had stood up for Gu Xiu in his past life, only to be cornered by Huo Mingzhang and his gang on the basketball court. Under the guise of a friendly game, they had slammed into him again and again, leaving him covered in bruises and crawling all over the court. Yet the next day, Gu Xiu had gone out to eat street food with that very same group.

Living a second life, Gu Chen didn't want to get tangled up in the mess involving Gu Xiu and Huo Mingzhang anymore. He figured it would save him some physical pain.

As Gu Chen thought this, he suddenly felt a dull ache begin to throb in his body. Gu Chen gave a bitter smile; it seemed he really had been reborn, and the body's memories had followed him.

Gu Chen endured the soreness and helped Gu Xiu finish the freshman registration. They were both in the Management Department, and they were even in the same dormitory. Having studied at A University for four years, Gu Chen still remembered where the dorm was. He led Gu Xiu to the room, familiar with the path. Gu Xiu asked curiously: "How do you know where the dorm is?"

Gu Chen put the two duffel bags in the room and gave a casual, perfunctory answer: "I checked on the internet before we came."

Gu Xiu said "Oh," his expression inexplicably unhappy.

Gu Chen couldn't be bothered to pay him any mind. He forced himself to make his bed and immediately lay down on it.

Gu Xiu was furious and kicked the bed frame: "Gu Chen, you only made your own bed. What about mine?"

"Make it yourself." Gu Chen closed his eyes, his body breaking out in a cold sweat from the pain.

Gu Xiu finally noticed something was wrong. He leaned over to Gu Chen and asked: "What's wrong with you? Where do you feel unwell?"

"I don't know." Gu Chen pressed his lips together: "Everything hurts."

Gu Xiu frowned, looking at Gu Chen on the lower bunk with a hint of disgust: "You can't just lie on the bed like that! You're so dirty."

Gu Chen curled up and didn't make a sound.

Gu Xiu thought for a moment: "You just lie there. I'll go ask where I can get hot water so you can drink some."

Gu Chen kept his eyes closed and didn't speak. Gu Xiu took the newly issued thermos and went out. The dormitory was quiet, with no sound at all. Gu Chen felt dizzy and muddled, as if he were dreaming—dreaming that he lived in a book. The protagonist of the book was Gu Xiu, who had been stolen by his biological father's mistress right after birth and thrown into a river, only to be picked up by Gu Chen's mother downstream and become an adopted child of the Gu Family. It was an inspirational story about him entering A University eighteen years later, becoming a bickering pair with the school's heartthrob and bully, being loved and pampered by many, and finally returning to his roots to inherit the family business. As for him, Gu Chen, he was nothing more than a minor supporting character in the book.

I don't know how much time had passed when Gu Chen felt his shoulder being shaken: "Hey, coward, where's that little beauty of yours?"

Gu Chen opened his eyes in a daze. Huo Mingzhang was leaning against the bed railing with his hands in his pockets, looking down at the sweat-drenched Gu Chen, and asked with a raised eyebrow: "What's wrong with you? It's just registration, how are you this weak?"

Gu Chen turned over listlessly, too lazy to deal with Huo Mingzhang.

Huo Mingzhang sneered and simply hauled Gu Chen up: "Let's go. I'm feeling generous today, so I'll take you to the school infirmary."

"No need." Gu Chen struggled weakly: "I'm not going."

"Don't move!" Huo Mingzhang slapped Gu Chen on the back: "I haven't complained about you being dirty yet. You'd better not get your dust on me. You can't afford to pay for these clothes."

A designer limited edition worth tens of thousands—Gu Chen certainly couldn't afford it. He stopped moving immediately.

Huo Mingzhang snorted again and carried Gu Chen off to the infirmary with a look of disgust. As they walked, he asked: "What's your name? Where are you from? And what's your relationship to the little beauty?"