UCS Chapter 38

The CEOs in novels who spend 300 out of 365 days chasing after their wives are pure fiction.

 

Under normal circumstances, Li Mochen would never waste time coming to Jing University out of boredom. If the previous donation was the Li family giving back to society, this unexplained visit to Jing University was worth pondering.

 

As the saying goes, Gao Gusheng never doubted the destructive power of his face. Being overly cautious was better than being too late.

 

Gao Gusheng felt his hair stand on end and quickly called his father to report the news.

 

Whether it was due to his heightened sensitivity or not, he felt as if a gaze was following him like a shadow.

 

……

 

In the car, Li Mochen stared at Gao Gusheng’s retreating figure, his gaze reminiscent of a falcon or a wild wolf.

 

Li Mochen’s original plan was to display his financial power in front of Gao Gusheng.

 

Isn’t being kept by someone all about seeking money? Whatever the Gao family could give him, Li Mochen could provide as well.

 

But things didn’t develop as he had imagined.

 

Over the past few days, Assistant Li, who had previously given Gao Gusheng his business card, had been busy with follow-up matters at the school. Following Li Mochen’s instructions, he had walked around the campus a couple of times, ostensibly to check on the students’ living environment, but actually to familiarize students with his face-especially to make Gao Gusheng realize that the “boss” who wanted to meet him was Li Mochen.

 

However, a week had passed, and Gao Gusheng still hadn’t contacted him.

 

Li Mochen no longer had the patience to wait for the fish to take the bait.

 

Since Gao Gusheng’s photo had been posted online, his face was indeed too attention-grabbing. Some people wanted to sign him to become a star, while others wanted to keep him for themselves.

 

There were too many people coveting him. Although Li Mochen was confident that Gao Gusheng couldn’t possibly reject him, it was still uncomfortable to have what he considered already his being eyed by others.

 

Moreover, becoming a celebrity was indeed much better than becoming someone’s exclusive pet.

 

Without exaggeration, Gao Gusheng didn’t need to know how to sing or dance, didn’t need to know how to act-he just needed to stand there, and countless people would pay for him.

 

In this era where traffic was paramount, even someone like Qin Shi could be elevated to godhood, let alone Gao Gusheng.

 

In the entertainment industry, celebrities with high academic qualifications were always scarce. Gao Gusheng was not only the second-place finisher in City B’s college entrance examination but also a top student in the Finance Department. Gao Gusheng could easily rise to stardom with the title of “divine-faced academic genius.”

 

He represented astonishing traffic and continuous income.

 

No one would willingly give up this big cake.

 

So, Li Mochen, who initially just wanted to keep Gao Gusheng, changed his mind.

 

He didn’t need to put everything out in the open. As a giant in the entertainment industry, he could directly sign Gao Gusheng to Wanxing Entertainment.

 

Could a poor student who had never been exposed to the entertainment industry really find all the manipulated clauses in a contract?

 

Li Mochen looked outside the car until Gao Gusheng’s figure disappeared into the shade of the trees.

 

He was determined to succeed.

 

***

 

On the dark red track, young men and women were freely sweating, with Gao Gusheng in the lead, having pulled ahead of the second-place runner by more than ten meters.

 

His eyes were bold and unrestrained, his black hair flying back in the wind, crystalline sweat falling, his whole being radiant.

 

“First place!”

 

Gao Gusheng took a few quick steps to slow down, and Yun Zhiyi tossed him a bottle of water from the side.

 

“Well done, Xiao Sheng, first place again.”

 

Gao Gusheng raised his eyebrows, “Of course!”

 

He saw Mo Hua nearby and punched his arm, “Huazi, how come you have time to come over?”

 

Mo Hua was the last member of Gao Gusheng’s four-person squad, from the Sports Department.

 

In a while, Mo Hua would be recruited into the national team, so his teacher kept a close eye on him, and Gao Gusheng and the others hadn’t seen him for some time.

 

Gao Gusheng looked enviously at the bulging muscles on Mo Hua’s arms. Although they weren’t his favorite type of muscle, having some was better than having none.

 

“Wuwuwu, Huazi, your muscles are getting more and more beautiful.”

 

Gao Gusheng pinched his own soft arm, then pinched Mo Hua’s arm, shedding tears of envy.

 

Yun Zhiyi disdainfully tapped Gao Gusheng’s forehead, “For goodness’ sake-don’t make such a lecherous expression with that face!”

 

Mo Hua’s expressions were usually limited, but now his face was filled with despair.

 

He rubbed his temple, “Zhou Da and Jia Qi… they went too far.”

 

“Oh?”

 

Gao Gusheng and Yun Zhiyi perked up their ears.

 

Mo Hua usually kept to himself, so they were really curious about what these two had done to make Mo Hua say they went “too far.”

 

With a wooden face, Mo Hua was dragged to a corner by the two gossip-hungry friends. Looking at their faces full of curiosity, he sighed, “Zhou Da and Jia Qi, in the locker room.”

 

“I walked in on them.”

 

…Good!

 

Concise words, each one a pearl.

 

Just two short sentences created two shockwaves.

 

Yun Zhiyi opened and closed her mouth, “Is-is it what I’m thinking?”

 

Mo Hua nodded heavily.

 

Gao Gusheng had been shocked once before by the shower head incident, so the impact wasn’t as dramatic for him as it was for Yun Zhiyi. After a moment, he commented, “Zhou Da… has quite the energy.”

 

Yun Zhiyi couldn’t believe it, “No, you guys train like crazy every day-last time before the dinner gathering, you had extra training the night before, and you couldn’t get up the next day. Xiao Sheng thought you were paralyzed and hurriedly went to find the school doctor. He’s so directionally challenged, and in his panic, he asked everyone he met, ‘Where’s the school infirmary? Mo Hua is paralyzed!’ After half a day, the entire Sports Department knew that the great Mo Hua had been trained to disability. Your coach, at his age, was a mess of tears and snot, looking quite pitiful.”

 

“With all that, Zhou Da still has the energy for fooling around??”

 

Reminded of his black history, Gao Gusheng’s face turned red, “Stop it! Master, please stop!”

 

Mo Hua recalled how his coach’s tears and snot had covered his tank top that year, and three black lines silently slid down his face.

 

“No… Zhou Da’s training has indeed been problematic lately. His physical condition has declined significantly. This week, the coach already warned him that if this continues, he’ll be kicked out of the training team, but Zhou Da didn’t listen.”

 

“Lin Kun is the same,” said Zhou Jing, who had appeared without anyone noticing.

 

Yun Zhiyi was startled and turned around abruptly, her ponytail whipping toward Zhou Jing’s face, but he stepped back in time to avoid it.

 

He held a stack of materials in his left hand and calmly pushed his glasses up with his right.

 

“Lin Kun’s qualification for this mathematics exchange program has been revoked.”

 

Yun Zhiyi raised her eyebrows, “The great academic Zhou actually pays attention to others?”

 

Yun Zhiyi’s words carried no sarcasm-Zhou Jing had skipped two grades and was admitted directly, dominated math competitions to the point that upperclassmen were left trembling, and as a freshman was immediately recruited into a professor’s research group, making a name for himself ever since.

 

However, even someone like Zhou Jing had his shortcomings-his main flaw was his inability to handle interpersonal relationships. To put it bluntly, his emotional intelligence was low-extremely low.

 

Gao Gusheng and the others worried every day that he’d get ambushed on the street.

 

For Zhou Jing to pay attention to Lin Kun was truly unusual.

 

Zhou Jing said, “I only paid a bit more attention because I heard Gusheng mention things about Jia Qi and Lin Kun.”

 

He pushed his glasses again. “Lin Kun’s grades in the math group have dropped sharply lately. The professor said his mind isn’t on his studies and couldn’t wait for him, so he simply kicked him out.”

 

Gao Gusheng shook his head, thinking of that showerhead incident, his expression twisting. “He and Jia Qi party all night-if he still had energy for anything else, that’d be the real surprise.”

 

All four shook their heads. “Their dorm’s fourth roommate is really miserable…”

 

Just then, something flashed through Gao Gusheng’s mind.

 

Wait, he’d overheard Jia Qi’s thoughts before, something about [if I can conquer Cheng Zeqi, I can get some of his talent points]…?

 

What did that mean?

 

Could it be that Zhou Da and Lin Kun’s decline wasn’t just from partying every night, but also because Jia Qi stole their [talent points]?

 

At that moment, Mo Hua seemed to think of something, frowned, and asked Zhou Jing, “Have you… noticed Jia Qi deliberately trying to get close to you lately?”

 

Watching Zhou Jing try hard to recall but still look blank, Mo Hua silently took back his question. “Forget I asked.”

 

It was just too hard to get Zhou Jing to notice people around him.

 

But Gao Gusheng grabbed Mo Hua’s arm with a serious look. “Wait! Jia Qi has been deliberately getting close to you lately?”

 

Mo Hua glanced at Gao Gusheng’s hand. “Yeah.”

 

Thinking back, Mo Hua frowned again, looking a little embarrassed. “After I walked in on them that time, there was once when he wore only my T-shirt and asked me if I wanted to try things with him.”

 

Mo Hua’s frown deepened. “And my T-shirt was in my closet, just washed.”

 

Mo Hua was a bit of a neat freak, and recalling this still made him angry. He rarely spoke so much: “Jia Qi isn’t short of money, so why wear my clothes? I’d just washed and put that shirt away.”

 

Yun Zhiyi had a forehead full of black lines. “You blockhead, that’s called a boyfriend shirt.”

 

Mo Hua didn’t care about boyfriend shirts or whatever-just thinking about Jia Qi having worn his T-shirt made him uncomfortable, so he could only tear it up and use it as a rag.

 

Hearing this, Gao Gusheng actually felt relieved. “That’s good. Huazi, keep your distance from Jia Qi. I think there’s something off about him.”

 

He tugged at the string around his neck. “Are you all wearing the protective charms I gave you?”

 

Everyone pulled out their charms. “Of course.”

 

Gao Gusheng didn’t want to be fighting wits with Jia Qi only to have his friends get blindsided.

 

He smiled. “I’ll introduce you all to Sun Jun sometime-he’s a good guy.”

 

Just as the group was chatting, someone approached and locked eyes on Gao Gusheng. “Are you Student Gao? Do you have a moment?”

 

The group looked at the newcomer warily.

 

Yun Zhiyi was the first to recognize him. “Assistant Li?”

 

Assistant Li nodded at Yun Zhiyi. “Hello, classmate.”

 

At this, Gao Gusheng felt his heart settle back into place.

 

So it’s finally come.

 

…

 

Gao Gusheng followed Assistant Li to a secluded spot.

 

It was one of the campus lakes.

 

Jing University’s campus was vast, with four lakes at the cardinal points-some planted with flowers, some stocked with fish, others with five or six swans-making them popular dating spots.

 

But this particular lake was the quietest, rarely visited.

 

A man stood with his back to them, gazing out over the water.

 

He was tall and broad-shouldered, exuding the authority of someone long in power.

 

Gao Gusheng stopped, and the man turned around.

 

He recognized this man: Li Mochen, CEO of Wanxing Entertainment.

 

Gao Gusheng gave Li Mochen a student’s smile-a bit shy, a bit admiring, a bit timid. “Hello.”

 

Li Mochen’s eyes darkened, his tone meaningful. “Hello, Student Gao.”

 

He took a step forward, towering over Gao Gusheng and radiating an indescribable pressure. Yet his voice was gentle, reminiscent of the comfort a prey feels just before being paralyzed by a snake’s venom.

 

“Student Gao, I had my assistant look for you before.”

 

“You’re…” Gao Gusheng feigned surprise.

 

“That’s right. I’m very optimistic about you.” Li Mochen’s smile deepened. “I wonder if you’d be willing…”

 

To sign with Wanxing Entertainment?

 

“Sorry to interrupt-”

 

A voice abruptly cut into their conversation.

 

Then, someone known throughout Jing University entered their line of sight.

 

A gentleman, upright and refined, gentle as jade.

 

This was the first time since that incident that Gao Gusheng had seen “Wen Liang”-no, this couldn’t be Wen Liang.

 

Gao Gusheng’s intuition was so sharp that even though this person’s smile was identical to Wen Liang’s, he just knew: this wasn’t Wen Liang.

 

Or rather, he should be called Wen Yan.

 

Wen Yan apologized as he walked over, inserting himself between the two, his smile sincere, revealing nothing amiss.

 

“Hello, Mr. Li. Thank you for your donation to our school. On behalf of all the students and teachers, I thank you.”

 

“Sss-”

 

Li Mochen was clearly displeased at being interrupted, but the person before him was not only the student council president at Jing University but also the Wen family’s young master, outstanding and accomplished. He had no choice but to deal with him patiently.

 

“You flatter me. I’m just doing what I should.”

 

“Sss-”

 

After saying this, under normal circumstances, Wen Yan should have taken the hint and left.

 

But Wen Yan continued to wear his gentle smile. “Is CEO Li coming quietly this time to see if the donation has been properly implemented? These past few days, Assistant Li has been arranging the follow-up matters. If you’d like to personally tour Jing University, I’d be delighted to serve you.”

 

Li Mochen sensed something unusual. This feeling of having something he considered his being coveted by others was all too familiar. He looked directly into Wen Yan’s eyes for the first time.

 

Beneath Wen Yan’s pretense of gentleness, Li Mochen saw his possessiveness, completely undisguised.

 

“Sss-”

 

Interesting. The more people fight over something, the more satisfying it is to obtain it, isn’t it?

 

He tilted his head slightly upward and opened his mouth-

 

“Sss-”

 

What was that sound?

 

Both men turned their heads to see Gao Gusheng spraying himself with flower water.

 

“Sss-”

 

“Sss-”

 

Feeling their gazes, Gao Gusheng continued spraying himself while tentatively asking, “Would you… like some too?”

 

Of the four lakes at the cardinal points, only the southern lake was the quietest.

 

Because the mosquitoes here were particularly numerous.

 

Gao Gusheng looked at the swarm of mosquitoes buzzing around Wen Yan, then at the red mosquito bites on Li Mochen’s cheek and the back of his hand, and sincerely said, “Don’t be polite with me.”

 

“Sss-”

 

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