Zhou Yuchen didn't like being the center of attention. Flustered and not knowing where to hide, he hung his head even lower. Unlike other guys, who would be excited if the campus belle suddenly sat beside them, he was on tenterhooks.
Yun Liuli looked at Guan Nina in bewilderment. She also had a look of confusion on her face when she noticed that nearly half of the people in the classroom were looking in her direction.
Upon hearing the sound of fingernails rubbing against paper, Yun Liuli turned to look at Zhou Yuchen, whose head was hung very low.
Yun Liuli never really cared too much about what happened in school, but Du Yingzi loved to gossip. Every day, she'd talk about the latest happenings in school without fail, and she sometimes even got Yun Liuli to guess the subject of the gossip.
Yun Liuli had also heard Du Yingzi talk about Zhou Yuchen before. When Yun Liuli sat near him, she didn't smell any stench coming from him. Instead, there was the fragrance of detergent.
Back then, Yun Liuli had experienced personal attacks and had rumors spread about her as well. She didn't take them to heart.
Seeing that the professor had already entered the classroom, Yun Liuli remained in her seat and flipped open her book. She didn't move just because she had seen who the person sitting beside her was.
To Yun Liuli, it didn't matter where she sat.
Guan Nina frowned and took a long look at Yun Liuli. She then turned and said something to Zhong Qingfei before the both of them turned back.
The rest of the students were all seated two or three seats away from Zhou Yuchen, causing the seats around him to be empty. As a result, Yun Liuli and Zhou Yuchen looked especially conspicuous.
The professor was somewhat surprised to see Yun Liuli and Zhou Yuchen sitting together, but he proceeded with the lesson without probing further.
However, news of Yun Liuli and Zhou Yuchen sitting together in class blew up on the university forum. Someone secretly took a photo of the two of them and uploaded it, causing Zhou Yuchen to be viciously attacked from all sides.
Everyone asked why the goddess, Yun Liuli, was sitting together with Zhou Yuchen…
Someone called Zhou Yuchen scheming, saying that he knew that the goddess was soft-hearted and was playing the sympathy card to cause her to notice him.
Another person earnestly said that the goddess was passing by and that Zhou Yuchen asked her if she could sit with him. After seeing that there was no one sitting around him, she agreed, not having the heart to reject him.
Another person immediately criticized him, saying that Zhou Yuchen was a nobody and that even a sewer rat was better than him. Yun Liuli was out of his league!
Zhou Yuchen was on tenterhooks during that class. He wanted to move to the side, but he was worried that the people sitting three seats away from him would be unhappy… and create unnecessary trouble. As such, he could only sit upright and remain silent.
Yun Liuli was also a very unsociable person. Unsociable people tended to have similar auras. For example, Yun Liuli felt more comfortable sitting with Zhou Yuchen than with other people. Zhou Yuchen was very quiet and wouldn't make any noise to disturb her, and he wouldn't take the opportunity to talk to her either.
Not only that, but there was no one sitting around them, allowing Yun Liuli to have a very comfortable time during that class.
The moment class ended, Zhou Yuchen hurriedly packed his things and left, while Yun Liuli was dragged out of the classroom by Guan Nina…
"What's wrong with you? Why did you sit with Zhou Yuchen? Don't you mind the smell coming from him?" Guan Nina frowned. "You're going to cause Zhong Qingfei to get the wrong idea!"
Yun Liuli looked at the anxious Guan Nina and blinked. "Zhou Yuchen doesn't smell, and I'm not friends with Zhong Qingfei…"
Yun Liuli spoke very straightforwardly. Since they weren't friends, what did she have to be concerned about?
"So that means what Zhong Qingfei said was true. You told him… that you don't even want to be friends with him?" Guan Nina exclaimed in disbelief.
Yun Liuli nodded.
Guan Nina was speechless.
She reached out to poke Yun Liuli's head. "How can you be so stubborn? Who rejects someone like that? You didn't even give him any hope at all. Other people would say something about still being friends, but you gave him no way out!"
"But I don't like it! Why must I give him hope? Won't I be a… a… b*tch? The kind that you guys talk about?" Yun Liuli asked Guan Nina seriously.
Guan Nina replied, "Touché!"
Guan Nina was the most enthusiastic girl in the dormitory, and she loved to matchmake people.
Zhong Qingfei came from a wealthy family and was considered a popular guy at the university. Hence, when he revealed that he wanted to pursue Yun Liuli, Guan Nina eagerly stepped in to help.
Who knew that Yun Liuli would turn her nose up at Zhong Qingfei?
"Then don't sit with Zhou Yuchen again next time. What will other people think of you?" Guan Nina held onto Yun Liuli's arm and said as they walked to the hostel. "By the way, do you know that Ye Yingying likes the school hunk from the School of Civil Engineering? The one that's especially tall and handsome. He's just not that well-off. I heard he's on financial assistance. I think Zhou Yuchen should be on financial assistance. Just look at him. Who wears the same set of clothes for the whole year…"
Guan Nina rattled away as she walked back to the hostel with Yun Liuli, talking at length about Zhou Yuchen.
Guan Nina said that, at first, no one knew about Zhou Yuchen's situation at home. He wasn't one to talk, and for every ten questions someone asked him, he would only reply to one. Not only that, but he didn't live on campus, and apparently, it was because he was too poor to afford on-campus accommodation. Luckily, he lived in the city, so he took the public bus to and from school every day.
Once, there was a student who happened to see Zhou Yuchen while taking the public bus. He noticed that Zhou Yuchen got off in the slums. He decided to follow Zhou Yuchen out of curiosity and saw him walk into the area. He even took a photo and uploaded it to the university platform. By the next day, the whole school knew which part of the slums Zhou Yuchen lives in…
Later on, Zhou Yuchen continued wearing that same set of clothes, and the rumor that he never changed his clothes was confirmed. In the beginning, everyone was already unwilling to talk to Zhou Yuchen. After that, everyone eventually avoided Zhou Yuchen when they saw him, and they definitely stayed at least two meters away from him. It could have been because they could really smell the stench coming off of Zhou Yuchen, or it could have been their minds playing tricks on them.
And after that, everyone started to bully Zhou Yuchen.
When Yun Liuli heard Guan Nina talk about Zhou Yuchen, she thought about what she experienced back in middle school.
At the time, Yun Liuli was also a loner. The rumors and slanders eventually became especially nasty. In the end, she was involved in school violence and was constantly bullied.
Yun Liuli was now like this, possibly due to what Gu Qingcheng said when she first started school. He hoped that she would be able to lead the life of an ordinary girl…