A rival

A young girl in blue came skipping over, carrying a black wooden case as tall as a person on her back.

A young man followed behind her, eyeing everyone as though they were potential thieves.

"Slow down, junior sister. Don't fall." Tang Ling'er was unhappy. Very unhappy.

What should have been a wonderful day had been utterly ruined the moment she discovered that her only classmate was none other than Senior Brother Huang.

"Hmph, none of your business." The girl pouted in displeasure. "Honestly, what was Grandpa thinking, sending an idiot like you?"

Senior Brother Huang's face fell at once. "Isn't that because of you, junior sister?"

"Me?" Tang Ling'er's eyes widened. Pointing at her own nose, she asked, "What does this have to do with me?"

"Because you told Master... told him your senior brothers were peeking at you while you bathed..." Senior Brother Huang stammered. "Then Master broke their legs."

"Oh..." Tang Ling'er suddenly felt a little embarrassed. She had only wanted to trick her grandfather into leaving. She hadn't expected him to take her seriously and actually break her senior brothers' legs when he went back. Had she gone a little too far?

Then something else seemed to occur to her. She looked at him and asked suspiciously, "If all their legs were broken, how come you're perfectly fine? You're not lying to me, are you?"

"No... no!" Senior Brother Huang hastily waved his hands. "It happened to be my turn to go down the mountain for supplies that day, so I escaped. Otherwise, I wouldn't have been the one sent to protect you."

"All right." Tang Ling'er waved a hand. "You can stay here from now on. But try to stay out of my sight."

"That... doesn't seem right." Senior Brother Huang looked troubled. "Master told me to stay close and protect you. What if..."

"No what-ifs," Tang Ling'er cut him off impatiently. "If you don't do what I say, I'll tell Grandpa that you... that you tried to rape me."

Senior Brother Huang was terrified. His face turned deathly pale, and he nearly burst into tears. "Junior sister, if you make up something like that about me, Master will beat me to death!"

"Then do what I say." Tang Ling'er pouted. "I promise nothing will happen to you."

After thinking it over, Senior Brother Huang could only give a bitter smile. "All right, junior sister. I understand. I promise to stay out of your way. Will that do?"

"Hehe, that's more like it." Satisfied, the girl was in a good mood again.

She skipped up behind Li Yichen and asked in a bright, clear voice, "Hey, handsome, is this the Journalism Department?"

"Yes," Li Yichen answered, then turned around and froze when he saw Tang Ling'er.

Then they pointed at each other and exclaimed in unison, "It's you!"

"How come you..." they both began again at the same time.

Both of them felt a little embarrassed.

Li Yichen scratched his head sheepishly. "You first."

"What are you doing here? Aren't you a sophomore?" the girl asked with a smile.

"I don't know how I somehow ended up as the Journalism Department's 'Acting Counselor,' so here I am." After explaining, Li Yichen asked, "What about you? Haven't you found your department's group yet?"

"I'm from the Archaeology Department. We're doing military training with you," the girl said with a smile. "I'll be counting on you to look after me, then."

"No problem," Li Yichen said with a smile. "We're just lining up, so you can..." He looked around, then pointed to a spot on the left side of the front row. "You can stand there."

"Okay." The girl skipped over to the far-left spot and took her place.

Her arrival immediately made the Journalism Department boys' eyes light up, and all of them stole glances at her.

Although their department already had Ouyang Xuanxuan, a beauty from South of the Yangtze, the fresh, vibrant beauty of this girl from Bashu captivated them too.

A beauty on the left, a beauty on the right—what an enviable sight.

"Make way... make way." The girl's senior brother and bodyguard also squeezed toward the front row, trying to stand beside Tang Ling'er.

The boy next to her wasn't having it. You're so tall. Why are you squeezing in here? Do you think it's easy to get a spot beside a gorgeous girl?

"Go to the back. You're so tall—what are you squeezing in here for?" he complained, then leaned his body against him in displeasure.

Senior Brother Huang frowned slightly and gave his hips a little flick.

"Whoa, damn!" The boy immediately lost his footing and went flying out of the line.

"What are you doing?" The girl waved her fists indignantly. "No bullying the weak!"

Li Yichen's brow furrowed slightly. Others might not have noticed, but he could tell that Senior Brother Huang was a skilled fighter.

He slowly walked over and said quietly, "You're too tall. Stand at the back so you don't block the others."

Senior Brother Huang glanced at him and ignored him completely, as though he hadn't heard. Seeing him exchange flirtatious looks with his junior sister earlier had already irritated him. Li Yichen should have been grateful he hadn't told him off.

"I said, go to the back," Li Yichen said sternly.

"You have no right to order me around." Senior Brother Huang curled his lip disdainfully.

Tang Ling'er might have had him completely under her thumb, but he wasn't nearly so polite to anyone else.

"Then don't blame me for getting rough." Li Yichen reached out to grab his shoulder.

Senior Brother Huang sneered. Without dodging, he gave his shoulder a slight shake. By his reckoning, that shake would almost certainly dislocate an ordinary person's arm.

But Li Yichen's hand didn't budge. It remained firmly clamped onto his shoulder.

Startled, he was just about to grab Li Yichen's arm when the hand on his shoulder suddenly became an iron vise. Half his body went numb, and all his strength drained away.

"Get to the back." With a casual shove from Li Yichen, he immediately lost his footing and stumbled backward despite himself, only coming to a stop at the very rear.

His face had turned a dark purplish red, and he stared at Li Yichen in shock and uncertainty.

Li Yichen ignored him and instead looked apologetically at Tang Ling'er. After all, he could tell that the two knew each other.

But he found Tang Ling'er smiling back at him.

"You were the one who did it that day, and you still tried to fool me?" Tang Ling'er suddenly rose onto her tiptoes and leaned close to his ear, whispering, "Senior Brother Huang may be useless, but he's not that easy to deal with."

Their whispered exchange looked far too intimate. Watching from behind, Ouyang Xuanxuan's eyes nearly blazed with anger. She also felt a little wronged—she had met Li Yichen first.

"Xuanxuan, looks like you've got another rival," her roommate whispered into her ear.

"Hmph, stop making things worse." Ouyang Xuanxuan stamped her foot and couldn't help cursing, "What a little vixen."

Just then, a boy wearing glasses ran over to Li Yichen from a distance. He smiled and held out his hand. "Hello, you're Li Yichen, right? I'm Zheng Liang from the Student Union, your assistant. I look forward to working with you."

Li Yichen frowned. He felt a certain aversion to the words "Student Union."

Besides, it took no brains to figure out why the Student Union had sent this person. This was no assistant—they were clearly planting a spy at his side, someone who might deal him a nasty blow one day.

Still, he couldn't very well rebuff a friendly face. He reached out and shook his hand. "Of course. Let's help each other out."

Just then, someone shouted in the distance, "The instructor's here! Everyone, keep quiet!"