Chapter 21

"If I'd known Young Master Huo carried this much weight, why would Gu Xiu have gone to all the trouble of preparing lesson plans? You should've taken him over there the morning before yesterday. This would've been settled ages ago."

"What's with you? I only said one thing, and you're all prickly like a hedgehog." Huo Mingzhang cupped his hands at Zhou Xiaoting in surrender. "My mistake, okay? Can we let this go now?"

Zhou Xiaoting rolled her eyes at him, her face full of disdain.

Huo Mingzhang simply plopped down beside Gu Chen. "Studying even while you eat? Isn't that a little too hardworking?"

Gu Chen said nothing.

Huo Mingzhang had long grown used to Gu Chen looking half-dead whenever he faced him. Acting overly familiar, he slung an arm around Gu Chen's shoulders and asked, "Why aren't you having breakfast with Gu Xiu?"

Gu Chen shook off Huo Mingzhang's arm. "I prefer eating alone."

Fine, then!

Huo Mingzhang rubbed his nose and searched for something to say. "I heard you hooked up with a rich older woman? You rode her car back to school last night. Pretty impressive! Didn't realize you had the talent to be a kept man."

This time, Gu Chen could not even be bothered to respond.

Zhou Xiaoting was the one who could not stand it anymore. She explained, "Don't talk nonsense. That woman is an interior designer. Gu Chen's client bought a house through him, but they're out of town and in a hurry to get it renovated, so they asked Gu Chen to keep an eye on the renovation progress."

Huo Mingzhang sneered. "You sure know a lot."

"Gu Chen told me! I believe him."

"Then why couldn't he tell me?" Huo Mingzhang shoved Gu Chen. "Since I misunderstood you, why couldn't you explain it properly?"

Gu Chen felt that Huo Mingzhang really had something wrong with him. And it was serious. "Explaining takes time and energy too."

Besides, how could Gu Chen possibly take the initiative to explain? If he explained too much and triggered the plot restrictions, would he not be the one suffering?

"So?" Huo Mingzhang had no idea where this sudden burst of anger had come from. "You think I, Huo Mingzhang, am not worth wasting your time and energy on for one explanation?"

"Gu Chen, did you forget that when you felt unwell on the first day of school, I was the one who carried you to the campus clinic? Is this how you repay a lifesaving favor?" Huo Mingzhang had no idea how he had offended Gu Chen. Why was this guy so unwilling to give him any face?

Huo Mingzhang felt so aggrieved he was about to suffer internal injuries. In his twenty-odd years of life, everyone who knew him had gone out of their way to curry favor with him! He had never met anyone this ungrateful! He had practically shoved an olive branch under Gu Chen's chin, yet this country bumpkin still did not know to take it.

Gu Chen looked at the furious Huo Mingzhang, utterly bewildered. "You chose to misunderstand me. Why should I explain myself to you?" Was there even any need?

Huo Mingzhang was left speechless. He pointed at Gu Chen, so angry smoke practically rose from his head. "Fine! Basketball gym tonight!"

Gu Chen watched Huo Mingzhang's retreating back in confusion. Then a flash of insight suddenly struck him—

The plot can progress like this too?!

Chapter 21

Gu Chen remembered his previous life. The reason he had joined the basketball team was because he had offended Huo Mingzhang. The Huo family was strict in its upbringing, so Huo Mingzhang did not dare bully people openly. He used basketball practice as an excuse, but in reality, he had simply used the ball to hit him.

—That was how Gu Chen had developed such superb basketball skills.

After being reborn, Gu Chen had avoided offending Huo Mingzhang on the first day of school. Yet the plot still had to continue. Thinking about it now, it must have automatically corrected itself here.

Zhou Xiaoting looked at Gu Chen with some concern. "Don't be afraid. Tonight, I'll have the coach keep an eye on Huo Mingzhang. He won't let him bully you."

"It's fine." Gu Chen curled his lips indifferently. "I can handle it."

At worst, he would take a beating. There was no need to drag Zhou Xiaoting into this. Besides, even if he avoided the plot, he could not avoid the rejection punishment imposed by the plot restrictions.

Zhou Xiaoting looked at Gu Chen, wanting to say something but stopping herself. In the end, she said nothing.

After breakfast, Gu Chen followed his schedule to class. Their freshman business management program had only one major course, Principles of Economics. The rest were required courses such as calculus, linear algebra, writing and communication, and an outline of modern history. Besides those, Gu Chen had to select at least six courses from ten elective groups to earn a total of thirteen credits.

Gu Chen felt a headache coming on as he looked at the schedule.

—Having to study again the courses he had already learned and mostly forgotten was probably the greatest pain of being reborn.

Gu Chen sighed. Why could he not have been reborn after graduating from college?

"Gu Chen, have you chosen your electives yet?" As Gu Chen stared grimly at the schedule, an energetic voice suddenly sounded beside him.

Gu Chen looked up and saw a girl in a white dress standing before him with books in her arms. When she saw him look up, she asked again, "Gu Chen, have you chosen your electives yet?"

Too much time had passed since graduation, and Gu Chen could not quite remember who this girl was. He only thought she looked familiar. He shook his head. "I'm choosing them now."

Relieved to receive a response, the girl asked, "Then do you have any advice for me? I'm worried about it too. There are too many electives, and I don't know how to choose."

"That depends on you." Gu Chen answered casually. "What are you interested in? Our electives are divided into three broad categories: cultural studies, foreign languages, and sports. If you really don't know what to choose, you can finish the English electives first. As for the rest, it depends on whether you want to boost your GPA or actually learn something. You can sign up for a few more classes and sit in on them, then drop the ones that don't interest you."

As he spoke, Gu Chen quickly ticked off several electives on the course list. The girl secretly glanced over and discovered that most of the electives Gu Chen had chosen were related to economic law and computer programming. He had even selected Python.

"Why did you choose Python?" The girl was curious. Before starting college, the programming language she had heard about most was C language. She had never really heard of Python. "Does it have any special significance?"

"It can be used to scrape data and information." Gu Chen kept his answer brief.