Chapter 23

Gu Chen looked at the still-aggrieved Gu Xiu, genuinely curious. "Did you stop eating and attending class with Wang Miao and Xia Tian because I dislike them? Or because Zhou Xiaoting exposed the fact that you actually agreed with them spreading rumors and slandering me?"

Gu Xiu's eyes widened in shock, as though he had never expected Gu Chen to say such a thing.

After a long while, Gu Xiu finally came back to himself. "W-what? What are you talking about? Why can't I understand you? Are you blaming me now?"

Gu Chen said, "I've always disliked those two, ever since the first day of school. Yet you were having plenty of fun with them too. It's been half a month already, and suddenly you've stopped eating and going to class with them. I don't want to know why you did it, but surely it wasn't because of me?"

Gu Xiu: "..."

"I-I had no choice! There are only four people in our dorm. Before college, our parents kept telling me that I had to get along well with my classmates after starting school. That harmony was most important. You'd fallen out with them so badly, so of course I had to find a way to ease things between everyone. Wasn't I doing this for both of us? I hoped that through my efforts, they would stop targeting you!" Gu Xiu was so angry that tears welled in his eyes. He tearfully protested, looking utterly wronged, "How could you slander me like this?"

Gu Chen did not know what exactly he had supposedly slandered Gu Xiu over. Still, Gu Xiu had always been like this, and he was used to it.

"Then keep working on it. Go ease the relationship between you all." As Gu Chen spoke, he turned and left.

Gu Xiu watched Gu Chen's retreating back, his face turning colors with rage. Seeing the students around him whispering among themselves, his expression changed again and again. He simply could not understand why Gu Chen had to embarrass him so thoroughly!

In the afternoon, they had Calculus, Linear Algebra, and Western Civilization back-to-back. Gu Chen kept up the appearance of listening attentively the entire time, but he was secretly reading Tax Law underneath the desk. Fortunately, he sat near the back of the classroom and did not stand out much. By the end of the three classes, his head was spinning and his stomach was churning from reading. At that moment, he suddenly felt that playing basketball every evening was actually not so bad.

It would be even better if he didn't have to follow the plot.

After dinner, Gu Chen embraced the mindset of muddling through one day at a time and strolled all the way to the school basketball team.

Huo Mingzhang had arrived long ago. He was warming up and passing the ball with several other team members to get their feel back. The moment he spotted Gu Chen, Huo Mingzhang casually passed the ball to Jin Wei and strode over aggressively. "Why are you only getting here now? Can't you be more proactive about training? You should know that you traded an internship for your spot on the team!"

Gu Chen had no idea what kind of madness Huo Mingzhang was on. The man found fault with him every day. Still, Gu Chen was used to it. He walked straight past Huo Mingzhang and headed to the locker room to change.

Huo Mingzhang followed behind Gu Chen with a dark face. He entered the locker room looking like a storm cloud, only to run headlong into Gu Chen changing in front of his locker. Huo Mingzhang's gaze flickered. His eyes swept over Gu Chen's smooth bare back, exposed as he changed, and he awkwardly looked away. "Y-you're changing clothes. Don't you know to cover yourself up a little?"

Gu Chen was speechless. "Are you sick?"

He was changing in the school team's locker room. There were no women around. Cover up for what?

Huo Mingzhang's expression immediately turned fierce. "Who are you calling sick?"

"Whoever's baring his teeth is the one I mean." Since he could not avoid this beating anyway, Gu Chen had no intention of indulging Huo Mingzhang. He shot back, "Looks to me like your rabies is acting up. You bite whoever you can catch."

After being called a mad dog, Huo Mingzhang should have been angry. Yet when he saw the little expressions on Gu Chen's face become noticeably more animated while cursing him out, the pent-up frustration in his chest suddenly dispersed. Like a balloon pierced by a needle, it went flying away with a soft pop.

"I'm a mad dog? Then what are you, Lü Dongbin?" Huo Mingzhang snorted, folding his arms as he leaned against the lockers. His gaze traveled over Gu Chen from head to toe, and he curled his lips in distaste. "You really don't know how to appreciate good intentions."

Gu Chen could not be bothered with Huo Mingzhang. He put on his wrist guards and knee pads, then carried his thermos out.

Huo Mingzhang trailed behind Gu Chen, staring fixedly at the thermos in his hand. He frowned. "Your thermos looks familiar. Is it yours?"

Gu Chen did not want to deal with Huo Mingzhang, but he also did not want to cause trouble for Zhou Xiaoting. He could only explain, "Senior Zhou sold it to me."

"Why would Zhou Xiaoting sell you a thermos?" In a flash, Huo Mingzhang thought of the two of them often sitting together for breakfast. His frown deepened. "You two aren't really dating, are you?"

They even had matching thermoses!

Gu Chen sighed, feeling a headache coming on. He asked Huo Mingzhang in complete sincerity, "Is there anything in your head besides dating?"

Counting both his previous life and this one, Gu Chen had always wondered about it. Huo Mingzhang was such a love-struck fool, yet after taking over the Huo Group, the Huo Group had not only avoided bankruptcy but actually flourished.

Meanwhile, Gu Chen had diligently studied the market and run the company, only to end up bankrupt, with his family destroyed and his loved ones dead!

Where was the justice in that?

Huo Mingzhang raised an eyebrow. "Stop trying to change the subject. Hurry up and tell me. Are you two dating or not?"

"Of course not." Gu Chen knew Zhou Xiaoting's status. Though he did not know what kind of man Zhou Xiaoting would marry in the future, whether it was a business marriage or a match made for love, it had nothing to do with him.

But—

A thought stirred in Gu Chen's heart. He looked suspiciously at Huo Mingzhang. "Why are you so concerned about who Senior Zhou is dating?"

Gu Chen remembered that in his previous life, the Zhou family and the Huo family had indeed wanted to form a marriage alliance. The elders of both families had been very enthusiastic about making the match happen. Yet Huo Mingzhang had fiercely opposed it. He had even run away from home and cut off ties with the Huo family. Huo Mingzhang's mother had gone to Gu Xiu afterward, hoping Gu Xiu would take the initiative to leave Huo Mingzhang. She had even resorted to dishonorable means to threaten Gu Xiu. Fortunately, at the critical moment, the Ling family discovered Gu Xiu's identity, allowing him to return to his family in time. That was what led to the happy ending afterward.

Gu Chen remembered that after Gu Xiu and Huo Mingzhang got engaged in his previous life, Zhou Xiaoting went abroad to study. She never returned after that. Gu Chen did not know whether Zhou Xiaoting truly liked Huo Mingzhang. But if Huo Mingzhang liked Gu Xiu while also keeping Zhou Xiaoting around as a backup, then he really was a complete scumbag.