Hidden Killing Intent

Seeing the Engineering Department staff looking gloomy, quietly berating one another and complaining nonstop, Ma Yuan, watching from the sidelines, secretly felt delighted.

Luckily, he was with Professor Xu's geology and chemistry side. He believed that, with Professor Xu's style, there was no way he would do something as outrageous as Manager Zhong.

At the same time, Ma Yuan sneered inwardly. Didn't you bastards enjoy watching me make a fool of myself not long ago? Didn't expect it to land right on your own heads so soon, did you?

They fucking deserved it!

After lunch, Liu Shang was called into Manager Zhong's office for tea and a chat.

"Tell me, kid. You got such a huge bonus, and you've been getting so many dirty looks and criticisms. Yet you seem awfully calm, like none of it has anything to do with you?"

Liu Shang smiled. "Give it time. They'll get used to it."

His words made Manager Zhong burst out laughing. "You really are arrogant, kid!"

"You're even more arrogant than I was when I was young!"

"But as long as you really have the skills, there'll be no shortage of work for you in this company, under Professor Xu and me, from now on."

"You're different from the other kids. You're steady and mature, so I won't lecture you too much."

Liu Shang nodded gratefully to Manager Zhong. After chatting for a little longer, he used his afternoon classes as an excuse and left early.

On the bus back to school, Liu Shang got off midway and went straight to a Giant specialty store.

Without even blinking, he picked out a Giant mountain bike with a rear rack, priced at 2,980 yuan.

Fengcheng Oil University's campus was quite large. Walking from the dorms to several of the teaching buildings took a long time.

So most students got themselves bicycles, which were far more convenient than taking the school's open-air shuttle.

But given the students' spending money at the time, very few could afford a Giant bike, especially the latest model Liu Shang had bought with its aluminum alloy frame.

By most people's tastes, they would have prioritized a flashier, cooler road bike with drop handlebars. Liu Shang was different. He chose this more steady, understated mountain bike.

More importantly, it had a rear rack. Naturally, it was meant for his girlfriend, Jiang Ruolin.

Just imagining Jiang Ruolin sitting on the rear rack, her arms around his waist as he rode with her along the sun-dappled paths of campus, felt rather pleasant.

Jiang Ruolin and the others had class during the first period that afternoon. As agreed, Liu Shang went to wait by a side entrance of the teaching building where there were fewer people.

When smiling Jiang Ruolin arrived and saw Liu Shang along with the beautiful white Giant bike parked beside him, she was clearly taken aback.

"Where did you get the bike?"

"It's pretty cool. It suits you."

Liu Shang smiled as he took Jiang Ruolin's little bag and hung it from the handlebars. "Come on. I'm inviting a beautiful lady aboard so we can enjoy the campus scenery along the way."

Jiang Ruolin immediately blushed, but she still carefully climbed onto the rear seat, looking slightly nervous.

This was the first time in her life that she had ridden on a boy's bicycle.

But to her surprise, Liu Shang rode very steadily and slowly. The two of them leisurely traveled along the campus's outer ring path, where there were few pedestrians.

Jiang Ruolin gradually relaxed as well. Her hands, which had been tightly gripping Liu Shang's shirt, became two slender fingers lightly tugging at it instead.

As for the scene Liu Shang had imagined—Jiang Ruolin wrapping her arms around his waist and resting her long hair against his back—it did not happen.

After all, it was broad daylight on campus. Jiang Ruolin, who was quite well-known, did not dare make such a move.

While chatting, Jiang Ruolin learned that the brand-new white Giant bike had actually been bought by Liu Shang himself, and that it had cost nearly three thousand yuan.

Jiang Ruolin could not help worrying. She tactfully asked whether Liu Shang would go hungry in the coming days and whether she should accompany him for meals.

Liu Shang shook his head with a bitter smile and told Jiang Ruolin that he could eat at Annie's Western Restaurant every day from now on if he wanted.

After arriving at the dorm area, Liu Shang returned to his dorm to park the bike while Jiang Ruolin went back to put down her bag and change clothes. Then they would head to the evening gathering together.

When Liu Shang pushed the bike downstairs to his dorm building, he happened to run into several of his roommates returning.

Almost instantly, they spotted Liu Shang's Giant bike and began praising how good it looked.

Even Cheng Meng, whose family was quite well-off, had bought one recently, but its style and price were still a tier below Liu Shang's.

"Three thousand yuan for a bicycle?! That's insane!"

That was their shared final assessment and exclamation.

At the same time, Liu Shang received some news from them: because he had already skipped four consecutive days of classes that week, the professors were all very dissatisfied.

As a result, Liu Shang was facing a very serious risk of failing his finals.

Liu Shang merely nodded calmly at this, then had no further reaction at all. He clearly did not take it seriously.

Meanwhile, at the Kaiyue Grand Hotel off campus, Zhou Liang and many group administrators had already begun carefully arranging the venue and decorating for the banquet.

It had to be said that, overall, the atmosphere for this gathering was quite good—if one ignored the "hidden killing intent" of Tan Feng and the others.

After helping decorate the venue, Song Jia waved goodbye and left, leaving Tan Feng, Zhou Liang, and the others confused as they tried to persuade her to stay.

But now that Song Jia had learned Liu Shang had received a 30,000-yuan bonus, and with guilt in her heart, she insisted on leaving under the excuse that something had come up at home.

An hour later, when Liu Shang and Jiang Ruolin arrived at the hotel for the gathering, more than half the people had already arrived. Zhou Liang, Tan Feng, and several others were gathered at the entrance, waiting for the main characters to appear.

When Tan Feng saw Liu Shang and Jiang Ruolin holding hands, rage shot straight to his head. But Zhou Liang forcefully patted his shoulder, signaling for him to calm down.

"Hehe, our beautiful Jiang, you're finally here. Everyone's been waiting for you."

As Liu Shang and Jiang Ruolin approached, Zhou Liang was the first to greet them.

Then he proactively shook Liu Shang's hand. "You're Liu Shang, right? I'm Zhou Liang. We've talked before."

"Come on, please head inside."

Liu Shang smiled and shook his hand as well. Without showing any emotional fluctuation, he took the lead in walking into the hotel with him.

While Liu Shang was gone, Jiang Ruolin's previously gentle, smiling expression turned cold. She gave Tan Feng a serious look.

"Tan Feng, if you deliberately make things difficult for Liu Shang tonight, I won't let you get away with it!"

Tan Feng, whose heart was already in a knot, spread his hands. "Ruolin, we were classmates in middle school and high school. Do you really think I, Tan Feng, am such a despicable person?"

"Besides, the real gap between men will naturally reveal itself without anyone having to make things difficult for anyone."

"Whether it's family background or anything else, that man is not worthy of you no matter what."

Hearing him say that only made Jiang Ruolin's worries grow heavier. She stressed again, with utmost seriousness, "My affairs are none of your business!"