A bunch of men were about to fight over him

9

When Hua Jian returned, there were fewer customers around the bar.

Brother Shen, the floor manager, looked at Hua Jian as if he were a walking money tree. "Great work today, Xiao Jian. A few of the young masters ordered bottles on your behalf just now. Even though it's your first day, you'll get the same commission rate as the veteran staff. Keep it up!"

He patted Hua Jian on the back approvingly. Already rattled by the gay men around him, Hua Jian stiffened, then finally shifted a step away.

"Thanks, Brother Shen. I'll get back to work."

The more Brother Shen looked at him, the more pleased he became, and he saw him off with a smile.

"Is he still a student?"

The sudden voice startled Brother Shen. He hurriedly turned to look. "President Lu."

Lu Zexi tipped his chin toward Hua Jian and repeated, "Is he still a student?"

Brother Shen replied with a smile, "Mr. Lu, most of our part-time bartenders and servers are kids in their early twenties. They all say they're university students."

But how could there be that many university students these days?

"Really?"

Unable to figure out what he meant, Brother Shen ventured, "Should I look into Xiao Jian's background?"

"No need." Lu Zexi's gaze swept over Hua Jian before he turned to look elsewhere. "What's going on downstairs today? Why are those two booths empty?"

"The young master from the Gu Family reserved them in advance, but he never showed up, so they've been sitting empty."

Lu Zexi nodded casually and headed upstairs.

But after climbing just two steps, he stopped again.

"President Lu, is there anything else you need?"

"Once things quiet down downstairs, have this new bartender come up to the second floor and make me a drink."

"Sure thing."

The next day, Hua Jian was sleeping soundly when his alarm started buzzing.

He lay sprawled on the bed, too sleepy and exhausted to move.

He reached for his phone, only to stiffen at the dull ache in his arm.

Then he remembered. Just before his shift ended last night, a customer had caused a scene. He had been watching the drama from far away, yet a bottle flying out of nowhere had hit him.

Luckily, he had quick reflexes. If he hadn't dodged in time, it probably would have hit his head.

Hua Jian stared straight up at the ceiling and muttered, "I really have it rough."

An hour later, Hua Jian arrived outside the gates of Imperial University for his eight a.m. class.

The biggest advantage of his current apartment was its excellent location.

The novel's background character drew his classmates' attention the moment he found the classroom for his eight a.m. lecture.

"Hua Jian! You're finally here. Did you ignore your phone again? I heard from Jiang Pinglu that you got caught cheating in a hotel room over the weekend?"

"Seriously? Hua Jian actually had the nerve to book a room?"

Hua Jian still wore those black-framed glasses. He had taken a quick shower before leaving, and his slightly overgrown hair fell over his eyes, making him look exactly like his former introverted, inarticulate self.

They had been Hua Jian's classmates for over a year. They knew he was a local and that his family probably had a little money, but he was terribly timid.

All that height was wasted on him. He never dared talk back when his classmates mocked him.

Another male voice nearby said gruffly, "What's wrong with you? Who cares whether he booked a room? You sound like a bunch of gossiping old women."

Hua Jian turned to look, and his eyes immediately lit up.

The speaker was a guy with a buzz cut and a stern expression. Meeting Hua Jian's gaze, he snapped impatiently, "What are you looking at?"

"Hey, Xue Pan, what's your problem? We're talking to Hua Jian. What's it got to do with you?"

"Don't tell me you like Hua Jian? Tsk, tsk. I heard the person he booked a room with was a man. Was it you?"

The buzz-cut guy shot to his feet and strode toward the speaker, furious. "What the hell are you saying? Keep spouting that crap and I'll fucking kill you!"

"Kill me? Do you know who my dad is?"

"Hey, come look! Xue Pan's about to hit someone!"

Hua Jian, the eye of the storm, hadn't even had a chance to say anything before a bunch of men were about to fight over him.

It sounded a little strange, but it was the truth.

Xue Pan's face flushed with fury. Goaded by several male classmates, he was about to throw a punch.

A classmate watching the commotion took out a phone to record. A slender, fair-skinned arm appeared in the frame and simply hauled up the guy Xue Pan was about to punch.

"Whoa!"

The classmate filming instinctively followed the arm with the camera. Soon, an unremarkable face wearing black-framed glasses appeared on the screen.

It was Hua Jian, of all people.

"Who is it? What are you doing? Let me go!"

This was the classmate who had first brought up Hua Jian booking a hotel room.

He struggled and stumbled before he was finally released.

Humiliated and angry, he turned around and discovered that the person behind him was Hua Jian, whom he had always looked down on!

He pointed a trembling finger at Hua Jian. "You, you, you..."

Hua Jian spoke for the first time since entering the large classroom. "You need to lose weight."

The entire classroom fell silent at his words.

The guy wasn't tall, only around five foot eight, but he was a little chubby. With his injured arm, Hua Jian had nearly failed to lift him!

Everyone taking this class was an art student, and they all cared about their looks and figures. Society as a whole favored being thin. Now that Hua Jian had called him fat, the arrogant guy suddenly burst into loud sobs!

"What's going on here?"

"The teacher's here! Quick, sit down."

His sobs caught in his throat. Burning with humiliation and anger, the guy turned and ran out of the classroom, skipping his eight a.m. class just like that.

The spectators scattered. Xue Pan gave Hua Jian a strange look. "You're actually acting like a man today."

Hua Jian rotated his arm. "Thanks for helping me out back there, buddy."

Xue Pan looked him up and down in puzzlement. "You called me buddy?"

Hua Jian's heart jolted. Wasn't this guy the original owner's friend?

"The money you gave me is still enough. At least on campus, those guys won't dare bully you openly."

With that, Xue Pan sat back down.

"You in the glasses, hurry up and take your seat!"

At the teacher's voice, everyone in the classroom looked at him again, though this time their gazes were curious.

Hua Jian frowned and sat down.

If he had understood correctly, Xue Pan meant that "Hua Jian" had paid him to provide protection on campus?

Hua Jian was genuinely growing curious about the original owner.

Everyone was groggy during Monday's eight a.m. class.

Hua Jian was starving. He was about to leave as soon as class ended, but Xue Pan stopped him.

"Hua Jian, wait a minute."

"Anything else?"

Xue Pan glanced at the other students, then leaned close to Hua Jian. "I got the stuff you asked me to find."

Hua Jian froze. "What stuff?"

Xue Pan's brows shot up. "Why are you playing dumb? Trying to get out of paying?"

A few minutes later, Hua Jian saw the bottle in Xue Pan's hand.

"The Obedience Potion, you..."

"Shut up!"

Hua Jian's expression had already changed the moment he saw what Xue Pan was holding.

Only then did Xue Pan notice something was off about Hua Jian. "You're scared? Of what? This isn't your first time."

He wasn't a local. For someone from outside the capital to get into Imperial University through the entrance exams, Xue Pan had to be more than merely smart.

"I spent ages finding a source for this stuff. Even if you don't want it now, you still owe me every last cent!"

Hua Jian's mind raced. "How much?"

"Thirty thousand."

"All right!" Hua Jian let out a long breath. "Have we added each other? I'll transfer it straight from my phone."

"Tsk, there really is something off about you." Xue Pan gave him a faint, mocking smile. "Young Master Hua said someone who does the dirty work like me isn't allowed on your friends list."

Hua Jian stared steadily at him. "That was then. Add me!"

Looking at the QR code in front of him, Xue Pan paused, then took out his phone and scanned it.

Hua Jian accepted his friend request and immediately transferred thirty thousand to him. "This ends here."

He took the bottle from Xue Pan and strode toward the restroom on that floor.

Behind him, Xue Pan looked thoughtful. Hua Jian really was getting more and more interesting.

Inside the restroom, Hua Jian watched the liquid from the bottle swirl away with the toilet water and let out a long breath.

Only then did he realize that the back of his shirt was soaked.

He might have figured out why the true young master and his suitors had hated "Hua Jian" so much in the original novel.

The true young master, Shu Yao, had been drugged several times. The drugs had probably passed from "Hua Jian" to Feng Qian to Shu Yan, in that order, before being given to Shu Yao.

Then could the drug he had been given on the night he transmigrated into the novel have been this same one?