The ball

Bai Chen looked over the original owner's luggage. Although it was a mess, he could still make out what the clothes were if he looked carefully.

The original owner's clothes leaned toward black, with rather flashy designs. There was even a pair of beach trunks and a floral shirt.

His pants were mostly jeans, the kind with huge rips, including a particularly large hole at the knee.

There were no thermal long johns for winter. He looked through everything and found not a single pair.

Didn't he get cold? Wearing ripped jeans in winter without long johns-I can already feel the freezing wind shooting straight from my knees to my brain.

Although he had transmigrated into the original owner's body, he actually knew very little about him and hadn't received all of his memories.

Only a small portion.

Bai Chen thought he was probably the most unfortunate person ever to transmigrate into a novel. He lacked the original owner's memories and knew nothing about the plot. Every step was a struggle.

The original owner had brought a few suits, though. Their styles were fairly conventional, but none had been unpacked. They were still sitting in their boxes.

Looks like I'll have to save up and buy him another one in the same style to replace it, Bai Chen thought.

Judging by the packaging, they certainly weren't cheap. This would only make Bai Chen's already meager finances worse.

Lin Sen spotted the original owner's suits and asked, "So you have this many suits, and they're all designer brands? Why are you usually so frugal, then?"

"I think I'm doing fine. I'm not really that frugal, am I?" Bai Chen was puzzled. Wasn't this just how ordinary people lived?

Three meals a day, and no spending on things he didn't need. Compared with the hardships of his first year of college, this really wasn't bad.

At least he now had proper dishes with every meal, unlike in his first year, when he had survived on three steamed buns and pickled mustard greens.

That was what real frugality looked like.

Perhaps the rich people in a Mary Sue novel thought that not wearing designer brands or eating expensive Western food on the cafeteria's third floor counted as being frugal.

In the end, Bai Chen picked a navy-blue suit at random.

That evening, Bai Chen and Lin Sen headed to the ball venue together.

Gu Yun had volunteer duties, so he didn't go with them.

The ball was being held in the hall on the northwest campus.

The northwest campus was home to finance students. Most would go home to inherit their family businesses as soon as they graduated, and many business tycoons had come from that campus.

Students in that major also made the largest donations, so naturally, their campus was more lavishly decorated.

It was a little nicer than the southeast campus, where Bai Chen studied.

The northwest campus wasn't far away. Bai Chen and Lin Sen arrived after walking for a little over ten minutes.

A large sign stood outside the hall.

It read: Welcome, first-year students. We hope you have a wonderful time.

Exquisite pale-blue chandeliers hung in the opulent hall, and several small carts held wine or little cakes.

At a glance, he could see it all.

Both the boys and the girls had dressed up for the occasion.

The girls wore cocktail dresses paired with heels that were refined yet elegant, their makeup meticulously applied.

Every glance and smile seemed to brighten the entire campus.

The boys wore their respective suits and formal attire with gleaming leather shoes, looking gentlemanly and polite.

Since Bai Chen was ill, he had no energy at all and felt utterly listless. He simply found a seat in a corner and sat down.

Bai Chen rubbed his forehead and said, "Lin Sen, go have fun. I'll sit here for a while and leave when it's time."

"Huh? What's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?" Lin Sen asked worriedly.

He hadn't heard Gu Yun and Bai Chen's earlier conversation, since he had been in the restroom at the time.

Now that he looked closely, Bai Chen really did look ill. His face was very red, not a healthy flush, and his lips were pale.

Worried that Bai Chen might faint, he said, "Why don't you go see a doctor first? You don't look like you're doing too well."

"Yeah. Once the university administrators finish taking attendance, I'll sneak out. It won't cause any trouble." Bai Chen shook his head. Even Lin Sen was starting to look doubled.

Looks like I've caught a really bad cold this time, Bai Chen thought.

"All right, then. How about I go to the hospital with you later?" Lin Sen asked.

Bai Chen declined with a faint smile and thanked him.

"No need. I can go by myself. Go have fun. Here's hoping you won't be single anymore by the end of tonight."

Lin Sen had come today specifically for an older female student.

She was from the school of design. Lin Sen had secretly shown him a photo of her the other day.

She was very beautiful, the mature, commanding type.

"Okay, I'll get going, then. Tell me if it gets worse!" Lin Sen reminded him.

"Sure, Five Woods," Bai Chen said with a cheerful smile.

After Lin Sen left, Bai Chen leaned lightly against the wall, hoping to rest for a while.

The hall grew livelier and livelier. It seemed the ball was about to begin.

On the other side of the hall, the girls were all excited, discussing something in hushed voices.

A girl in a pale-pink dress, her hair tied in a bun, chatted excitedly with the girls beside her.

"Girls, have you heard? The university invited Senior Lin to give a speech this time! I'm so excited! I applied to this university because of him. He's my idol!"

The girl was thrilled. She hadn't expected to see her idol at this ball.

"Of course I know. But he won't stay long. My dad said the bids will be opened tomorrow or the day after, so he's bound to be busy," a girl in a black strapless dress explained.

Her family had a business partnership with the Lin Group, so naturally, she knew all about these things.

She had also heard that the Gu Group would be bidding this time. She wondered whether he would run into Gu Cheng at the ball.

Compared with a gentle, mature, accomplished young man like Lin Jingchen, she preferred a handsome man like Gu Cheng, with his commanding presence and roguish air.

Bai Chen had already fallen sound asleep. His ears and brain had automatically shut out all those voices.

A moment later, the bench suddenly shifted as someone sat down beside him.