I Want to Join the Student Council

"Where are you going?"

Shi Su had put on his coat and had his hand on the handle, about to open the door.

His roommate, dressed in pajamas, stood in the living room and asked him.

The school had single and double dorm rooms. Room assignments were entirely a matter of luck, with no exceptions.

But given how deep Kanlitel's pockets were, even a double room didn't sacrifice the slightest bit of private space.

Apart from the shared living room, the two bedrooms were separate and fully equipped.

Shi Su's roommate wasn't a special admission student. His family had money, but unlike those young masters who looked down their noses at everyone, he got along well with Shi Su.

"I'm taking Zanli some food. He doesn't want to go out."

His roommate looked at him in silence for a moment, then said, "I'd advise you not to go."

Shi Su was puzzled. "Why?"

"Not everyone has nerves as strong as yours and can face things calmly after going through something like that."

"You don't need to worry. I asked Zanli, and he said I could bring him food."

"...That's not what I meant..." His roommate hesitated, then warned him anyway. "Are you sure he won't blame you for what happened?"

Shi Su froze. "He... we're friends. If he was treated like that because of me, he'd be right to blame me."

"I'll do everything I can to help him and make it up to him, not stay away from him."

His roommate sighed. "Forget it. Do as you like."

Shi Su smiled. "Thanks for caring about me."

The door was opened from inside. In contrast to the brightly lit corridor outside, the room was pitch-dark.

Shi Su walked in and reached for the switch. "Why don't you turn on the light?"

"Don't!"

The sharp shout startled Shi Su, making his hand tremble. At a loss, he looked toward where Zhou Zanli was.

"Zanli... are you all right?"

Zhou Zanli was silent for a while before speaking, his voice a little hoarse. "I'm fine. I don't want the light on."

Shi Su knew he wasn't himself right now. Bitterness spread through his mouth, and his heart ached with a thousand tiny needle pricks.

"I'm sorry, Zanli. It's all my fault you ended up like this."

In the darkness, those eyes seemed to have been soaked in venom, fixed on Shi Su.

Shi Su noticed nothing. Guilt was almost enough to drown him. He had always believed that Shen Si had made things difficult for Zhou Zanli because of him.

"I'm so sorry. It's all my fault. I don't know how to make it up to you, but whatever you ask, I'll do it..."

He stumbled over his words, expressing his apology and guilt to Zhou Zanli in a jumbled rush.

In the darkness, Zhou Zanli spoke softly.

"...Really? You'll help me with anything I ask...?"

"...Then I want to join the student council. Can you help me with that too?"

"The student council?" Shi Su raised his head and repeated uncertainly, "You want to join the student council?"

"Can't I? I thought you'd help me with anything..."

Hearing the disappointment in his voice, Shi Su hurried to deny it. "No, no, no, I... I'll find a way."

Zhou Zanli gave a little laugh. After a long while, he said, "Thank you, Shi Su."

How could Shi Su possibly get him into the student council? After agreeing, he paced around the dorm in a panic.

His roommate came back from an outing and saw him pacing back and forth in the same spot like a robot following its programming. He thought Shi Su had gone mad.

"What happened to you?"

Shi Su didn't answer directly. "Can the world end tomorrow?"

His roommate calmly pulled out his phone. "Do you need me to call the counseling office for you?"

The robot stopped walking and collapsed onto the sofa.

"Call me an ambulance."

"...What's wrong with you, anyway?"

Shi Su sighed mournfully. "Do you think I'm capable of getting someone into the student council?"

His roommate said, "I thought your greatest virtue was knowing your own limits."

Shi Su wanted to laugh, but couldn't.

His roommate plopped down beside him. "Zhou Zanli wants you to help him get into the student council?"

Shi Su stared at him wide-eyed. "Fang Sheng, you're amazing! How did you know?"

"Tch, that friend of yours might as well have his ambition to join the student council tattooed on his forehead." Fang Sheng shrugged. "You just agreed?"

"What else could I do? I owe him, after all."

Fang Sheng rolled his eyes.

"Have you figured out what to do?"

Shi Su looked utterly despondent. "I don't even dare think about it. You know what my reputation at school is like. I can barely get a foothold here myself."

Fang Sheng comforted him. "Those people hear the wind and declare it rain. Don't take it to heart. As for Shen Si..."

"I'll ask someone to put in a word for you and see if we can clear up the misunderstanding."

"I've explained it several times already. That day was just an accident, but nobody believes me!" Shi Su scrunched up his face. Whenever he thought of the day the nightmare began, he was filled with regret.

He regretted having so much time on his hands that he'd insisted on wandering around campus.

When he ran into He Wangsheng, he'd only thought the guy was pretty handsome and taken a couple of extra looks. As a result, he'd missed a step and fallen.

He hadn't actually hit the ground. He Wangsheng had caught him.

It had only lasted a second, but someone had snapped a photo and posted it on the forum.

As for the other two, Shi Su could only tilt his face toward the sky and let his tears flow back. He swore he really hadn't meant to hit them with the ball.

"Anyone who saw a girl surrounded by two guys and crying wouldn't have been able to stop themselves from stepping in, right?"

Fang Sheng said, "Then couldn't you have opened your mouth and asked before you got physical?"

First he had "thrown himself into the president's arms," then he'd played the hero saving a beauty and dealt heavy blows to the two innocent people who'd been on the receiving end of a confession. In just two days, Shi Su had become famous in a single battle.

"Luckily, the other two haven't been at school these past two months, or you'd be in for it."

Shi Su lay flattened like a pancake. No grief was greater than a dead heart.

Seeing him like that, Fang Sheng sighed. "I'll ask my friend on the student council for you."

Shi Su's eyes lit up. "Thanks, Fang Sheng! I'll treat you to a meal!"

"It might not work."

"I'll treat you anyway."

"The student council?"

Cen Xia looked in surprise at Ding Yiheng, who sat opposite him, hard at work slurping noodles.

"Yeah, the student council is recruiting new members. My older cousin is in charge of that on the council. Are you interested? I can recommend you to her."

He shook his head. "Not interested."

Ding Yiheng widened his rather small eyes. "Do you know how many people want to join the student council?"

"That has nothing to do with me."

"Those special admission students are practically breaking their heads trying to get in, just so their résumés will look good when they look for jobs later. If a big company takes a shine to them, they might even ascend to heaven in a single step and cross class lines."

Seeing that he wasn't interested, Ding Yiheng lowered his head and slurped his noodles, talking between mouthfuls. "Then again, you'll definitely take over your family's business someday, so it wouldn't give you much of a boost."

At that, Ding Yiheng asked, "How many kids are there in your family?"

"Just me."

"Lucky you. You don't have the pressure of fighting over the family fortune."

"Do you?"

"No. I'm the only kid in my family too." Ding Yiheng raised a finger and pointed upward. "The higher up you go, the greater the pressure."

"But that's not true of everyone. Long-established families with deep roots don't have those problems."

This was Cen Xia's first time being rich, and his first time being friends with a rich person. Listening to Ding Yiheng gossip about high society was quite interesting.

Ding Yiheng was halfway through his noodles before he remembered to ask him, "You really aren't eating?"

Cen Xia said, "I'm not hungry."

"The food here's good, and not many people know about it. It'd be a shame not to try it."

Cen Xia looked around. The white paint on the walls had yellowed slightly, and he could tell it wasn't a new shop. It was small, with eight sets of tables and chairs leaving hardly any room to stand.

The owner took the money, while his wife cooked the noodles.

"You rich people eat at little places like this too?"

"What do you mean, 'you rich people'? Being rich doesn't make us stupid. If it tastes good, why wouldn't we eat it?"

Ding Yiheng slurped up a huge mouthful, showing Cen Xia through his own actions just how delicious the bowl of rice noodles was.

Before leaving, Cen Xia made a note of the shop's location. He planned to come back when he had time and see whether it was really as good as Ding Yiheng claimed.

Running into Ding Yiheng today had been a complete accident. Cen Xia had gone out shopping, and their eyes had met in the same mall.

Ding Yiheng's overly familiar nature had been on full display as he insisted on shopping with him.

Afterward, he'd said he was hungry and wanted to eat, and had brought Cen Xia to this shop.

As they walked down the street, Ding Yiheng asked, "Do you have any plans after this?"

Cen Xia couldn't tell what he was getting at, so he considered it before saying, "I don't think so."

A smile spread across Ding Yiheng's face. "Then come with me. I'll take you out for some fun."

Cen Xia had originally meant to refuse, but then he thought about how he really hadn't properly experienced this world despite having transmigrated here so long ago. So he nodded and agreed.