The Freshman Welcome Show

The next day.

Luo Ye woke up in his dorm bed and looked around with dull eyes that weren't quite open yet.

Who am I? Where am I? What am I supposed to do?

Three questions in a row.

"You're awake."

Shen Qiao spoke as he played a game.

Shen Qiao was the only other person awake in the dorm. The remaining two were still asleep.

Luckily, they had no classes that morning, or they would have skipped their very first class of the semester.

Drinking really does mess things up.

"Brother Shen Qiao."

Luo Ye said admiringly, "I underestimated southerners. I never expected you to be the real hidden heavyweight."

"Being able to hold your liquor isn't always a good thing," Shen Qiao said quietly.

"No, back in Beijing, anyone who can drink is a legend."

Luo Ye praised him. He was about to get out of bed when he noticed a white jacket among the pile of clothes on his bed that didn't belong to him.

Huh? Where did this come from?

Luo Ye picked up the jacket and examined it closely.

A faint fragrance wafted from it, pleasant and fresh, with a hint of strawberry milk.

A girl's jacket?

Luo Ye felt as though he remembered something, yet at the same time, he couldn't remember anything at all.

He remembered that something had happened last night, but he'd forgotten exactly what it was.

"When I got back to the dorm yesterday, you were gone. Not long afterward, you came back wearing an extra jacket, grinning like an idiot."

"Oh, right, you were talking in your sleep last night, too. You kept mumbling something about Fairy Senior. Nearly scared me out of my mind."

As he listened to Shen Qiao's explanation.

It suddenly dawned on Luo Ye.

What happened yesterday wasn't a dream!

Then...

Luo Ye lit up with delight.

The jacket in his hands was a gift from Fairy Senior?

Excitement, joy, surprise, honor.

Luo Ye didn't know how to describe what he was feeling. He cradled the white jacket as though he'd been granted a priceless treasure.

Seeing him like that, Shen Qiao gave him a deeply disdainful look.

Heh. Still so young.

"Brother Luo Ye, judging by that reaction, you've never dated anyone, have you?"

"How did you know?"

"It's obvious at a glance."

"So, want your big brother to teach you a few tricks?"

At those words, Luo Ye got dressed and sprang out of bed, sitting straight down on a chair and looking eagerly at Shen Qiao.

"Please enlighten me, Professor Shen."

"An eager pupil indeed."

Shen Qiao nodded in satisfaction, then said, "But you'll have to wait until I finish this match."

"How long?"

"I just started."

Half an hour later, Shen Qiao assumed an air of profound wisdom.

"Brother Luo Ye, let me teach you how to pursue a girl."

"One: get to know her better."

"Getting to know her is the key step before moving forward. Only by understanding someone can you tell whether you're really compatible. If you start dating without knowing her, you might regret it once you do. After learning about her temperament, personality, hobbies, and so on, you'll feel much more confident finding things to talk about. It's also a process of figuring out how well you match with her. By the end, you'll be able to tell whether the two of you are right for each other."

After finishing, Shen Qiao glanced at his phone and continued:

"Two: you need to spend money and give material gifts."

"In today's society, getting something for nothing is simply impossible. Girls these days are raised comfortably, and they're financially independent now. Plenty of girls aren't short of money at all. But as a man pursuing a girl, you should present yourself decently. Buying things she likes or snacks she enjoys is absolutely necessary."

Luo Ye kept nodding, clearly buying every word.

Holding back laughter, Shen Qiao lowered his head for another glance at his phone and continued.

"Wait."

Luo Ye interrupted him. "Why do you keep looking at your phone?"

"Because..."

"Because you're fucking looking it up on Baidu?"

Sharp as he was, Luo Ye could tell at a glance that this guy was up to no good.

Sure enough, when Luo Ye searched "how to pursue a girl" on Baidu using his own phone, the results were identical to what Shen Qiao had just said.

"Ahem. You caught me."

Luo Ye stared at Shen Qiao with a scrutinizing gaze until the latter squirmed.

"Brother Luo Ye! Let me show you something funny."

Shen Qiao promptly decided to change the subject and shared the video he'd recorded on his phone the night before with Luo Ye.

Seeing a thoroughly drunken Wang Dachui loudly shouting "Dad," Luo Ye couldn't help laughing.

Still, he had to admit that beneath Shen Qiao's handsome, respectable exterior, the guy was devious as hell.

Good-looking people always have something wrong with their personalities.

The image of Fairy Senior began taking shape in Luo Ye's mind.

Except Fairy Senior.

It wasn't until noon that Li Haoyang and Wang Dachui finally stirred awake.

The moment Wang Dachui opened his eyes, he shouted, "What time is it?!"

The sudden noise made Li Haoyang jolt beside him. "Why the hell are you shouting? You scared the shit out of me."

"What do you know? The freshman welcome show starts at six thirty tonight."

"There'll definitely be loads of second- and third-year girls performing. I heard Qin Yuwen is an amazing dancer. I'm going to watch Goddess Qin dance."

After saying that, Wang Dachui checked the time and discovered it was only noon.

"Tch, still early. Back to sleep."

Luo Ye was speechless. "Brother Hammer, you might not know this, but we have a class first thing this afternoon."

"So what?"

"Morality and Law. The department head teaches it. He said if we miss three classes, we automatically fail."

At that, Wang Dachui sprang up and got dressed as fast as he could.

"Actually, I love going to class, especially Morality and Law. Come on, let's grab lunch, then head to class."

Luo Ye: "...Smooth."

Shen Qiao: "...Very smooth."

Li Haoyang: snoring...

The guy had fallen asleep again.

Morality and Law was an incredibly dull class, yet Shen Qiao stared at the lectern with an utterly serious expression.

"Hey, movie star, are you actually taking any of this in?" Wang Dachui asked curiously.

Shen Qiao didn't react.

"Movie star?"

"Huh? Were you calling me? What did you say? I zoned out just now."

Wang Dachui: ...

As evening approached, Wang Dachui dragged Luo Ye off to watch the freshman welcome show.

As for the other two, Shen Qiao was afraid of getting surrounded by girls and didn't dare come.

Li Haoyang said he had something to do, though no one knew what he'd gone off to do.

Only Luo Ye had nothing better to do, so Wang Dachui hauled him along.

"Brother Hammer, is the welcome show really that fun? I'm not very well educated, so don't go fooling me."

"Wild Kid, how could your Brother Hammer ever lie to you? Don't worry, the performances at the welcome show will definitely catch your interest."

Luo Ye sat expressionlessly in the audience.

"This is the performance you said would catch my interest?"

Watching several male upperclassmen perform an excruciatingly boring comedy sketch onstage, Luo Ye suffered through every moment.

Why not spend this time lying around in the dorm instead?

Wang Dachui hadn't expected the freshman welcome show to be this boring either.

It seemed his goddess, Qin Yuwen, hadn't signed up to perform at all.

"Oh well, we're already here. There's only one performance left before the show ends, so let's finish watching."