CH 98

Chapter 28.1 (TL: Bara Chou)

The instructor had taken a leave today, so it was a substitute doing the lecture right now. The substitute instructor was very lenient. She didn’t care if you were chatting, just as long as her voice wasn’t completely drowned out.

She was chill. So, the students took it as a hint to do whatever they wanted.

Ruan An’an was spacing out when she felt her phone buzz. A message.

[Yin-Has-No-Yuan]: @[Ruan-An-Ruan] I’m going home today. Don’t wait up if you’re coming to my dorm.

Huh?

Ruan An’an was surprised.

[Ruan-An-Ruan]: Why are you going home? Aren’t you in the middle of a project with your advisor?

[Yin-Has-No-Yuan]: It’s my birthday this weekend, so my mom is forcing me to go home, saying that I need to start prepping… hmph, it’s less than a week until my birthday and yet neither of you mentioned anything, I knew we weren’t real friend (/upside-down smile)

Ruan An’an hurriedly pulled out her calendar app and shared a screenshot to the group chat.

[Ruan-An-Ruan]: No, that’s not true! I beg your mercy! I’ve marked your birthday as an important event on my calendar!!!

This topic was over and done with, once Jiang Yi chimed in pledging her loyalty too, but not before Ruan An’an made her attempt.

[Ruan-An-Ruan]: I got you a gift, but darling, can I skip the party?

Her pleas were obviously rejected.

Ruan An’an spammed a few stickers and put away her phone. Out of habit, she turned to look at her boyfriend, only to find him stabbing at his phone with his fingers. He seemed to be chatting with someone and it didn’t look like a happy conversation.

She was about to poke him when the trio sitting in front of them started talking. Ruan An’an got curious and listened in.

Chen Song asked quietly, “Dove, how’s the memorizing going?”

“I feel great, like my soul has ascended and my brain is filled with political science.” Qiu Yan had a crisp voice that sounded distinct even when she spoke at a low volume, “There’s nothing that Marxism can’t fix! If there is, you just have to add in our lovely Chinese Socialism!”

Ruan An’an: … The government is proud of you, girl.

Ruan An’an couldn’t help butting in. She poked Qiu Yan’s back with her pen while stifling her laughs.

“Hey, why are you memorizing that?”

Before Qiu Yan could open her mouth, “Why else? She paid no mind to that course last semester and flunked. She didn’t pass the makeup exam at the beginning of this semester either.” Lian Hao sighed dramatically, taking pleasure in her misery, “Now, it’s almost midterms, so she’s panicking. At least she knows to study now.”

It finally clicked for Ruan An’an.

It was midterms next week. No wonder Qiu Yan was studying hard.

Qiu Yan glared at Lian Hao, before turning back to Ruan An’an. She was making puppy eyes, “This is so hard. I’ve been trying to memorize it day and night, to the point of being nauseated…”

Gu Ju decided to join in too, “memorizing what?”

Gu Jue was enraged by the comments on the forum, but when he thought about it, he wasn’t able to refute “poor” or “impatient”. Deciding that arguing was not worth it, he decided to take a break from the internet.

Chen Song repeated the story again, only, more exaggerated this time.

Qiu Yan retorted, “Don’t you laugh at me, you two! Didn’t you also go through hell studying for this? Who was the one that taped their eyes to keep them open the night before their exam???”

Since it was a compulsory general course, Ruan An’an had to take it in her first year in Comp Sci as well. Speaking of, she had only taken the course for one semester before she left for overseas. She was very glad about that and enjoyed the drama playing out in front of her trauma-free.

Gu Jue had never enrolled in a Chinese university and found their pain amusing.

And so, the couple watched in glee as the trio ranted.

Chen Song: “Right?! Lemme tell you, I went into Science Stream back in high school because I hated Poli Sci! Who knew that uni would force us to learn even more about it?

TL/N: In China, many high schools split their higher grades into Science Stream and Liberal Arts Stream.

“Don’t remind me, weren’t we all the same? In grade 10, we only ranked in the middle of the class, but once they split the streams, we jumped to the top 3 in our grade! Wasn’t that all because of s̲h̲i̲t̲ like this?!”

The trio was talking heatedly until Lian Hao suddenly stopped.

“Wait, we’re talking about a distressing matter here…” Liao Hao stared at the two amused faces with astonishment, “My dear Gods, why do you look so happy?”

“…” Because I never took the exams.

“…” Because I never took the course.

Ruan An’an reacted quickly, clearing her throat, “… Don’t mind me. I’m just happy that I passed on my first try.”

“Speaking of exams…” Qiu Yan started, “Do you have midterms? Or do exchange students get a free pass?”

“We have exams,” Ruan An’an just got an email about it yesterday, “I have one Core and one Elective.”

Gu Jue: “I only have a Core.”

Their replies prompted sighs of envy from Qiu Yan and a sudden question from Chen Song, “I’ve been curious… You two barely have any classes, so what do you do after?”

“Me?” Ruan An’an considered her recent whereabouts, “I usually just go back to the dorms.”

Well, most of the time, she went home, but she did lie about living in the graduate dorms already. It wasn’t like they met often outside classes enough to know the difference.

Chen Song turned to Gu Jue, “But Gu God doesn’t live in the dorms, where do you go then? Please enlighten us on the life of a Study God.”

Gu Jue answered without missing a beat, “Part-timing as a tutor.”

Before Chen Song could make a comment, Ruan An’an cut in after recovering from her shock, “You don’t live in the dorms?”

“Gu God never lived in the dorms.” Chen Song was surprised, “You didn’t know?”

Wasn’t that the general assumption? He never mentioned where he was living, and he always went toward the male dorms after dropping her off at the graduate dorms… but of course, that was also where the school gates were.

Ruan An’an felt like a bad girlfriend who didn’t care about her boyfriend.

“I never asked…” She admitted weakly.

Gu Jue suddenly grabbed her hand under the desk and gave her a squeeze. “You can ask now.”

Qiu Yan couldn’t see their little interaction, but she reckoned as much and nudged the two sitting beside her.

The trio turned back around and left the couple to have their moment.

Ruan An’an questioned, “Why do you not live in the dorms? Do you not like sharing a dorm?”

Gu Jue was about to nod when Ruan An’an continued with perplexity, “Isn’t renting expensive…?”

“…”

Yeah, renting is expensive.

Children from poor families become independent early. How could he be so wasteful and rent a place, simply because he “didn’t like rooming with others” when he couldn’t even afford to fix his cracked screen?

He had to stay in character.

Plus, how could he bring up living with her if he used that excuse?

“It’s not that I don’t like sharing a place,” Gu Jue pondered a bit and decided on a slightly different excuse, “I’m slightly germophobic, so it’s inconvenient in dorms.”

“Oh…” Ruan An’an understood.

Germaphobes would have a hard time living in groups, especially in dorms.

Her man was so beautiful that small idiosyncrasies could easily be overlooked, much less something like a little germaphobia. After all, who wouldn’t like a clean beauty?

Ruan An’an thought deeper, and became worried again, “Is your rent expensive? How much per month?”

Gu Jue said a random number, “3000.”

“…”

That was the entirety of his tutoring earnings.

Ruan An’an felt so bad for him.

No matter how she looked at it, Gu Jue seemed like the kind who had been superior since their birth – if she hadn’t known the truth, of course.

Not only was he alone in the city for school, but he also didn’t have a lot of money. On top of that, he couldn’t stand the dorms, so he had to pay rent with the money he earned from tutoring.

He was a star in the school – great at basketball, MVP at the Sports Meet, and killing it with the Game Championship.

What a role model for modern university students he was!

Aside from the pity she felt, her first thought was “If only I had a way to bring up splitting rent with him, then, he would be able to save half his money”.

But… renting together seemed like an odd topic to bring up…

After a bit of silence, a lightbulb lit up in Ruan An’an’s brain. She returned the hold on her hand. Due to her excitement, her voice came out a bit louder than she meant to.

“Gu Jue, did you know the prize money for first place in the Game Championship is 50 grands?”

“Pft…” Before Gu Jue made any reactions, Chen Song, who accidentally overheard, lost his cool first.

“…” Ruan An’an stared at Chen Song, “What? Do you have no faith in me?”

“It’s not about faith…” Chen Song returned round and explained immediately, “Like, I know you two are the best in our year, but the grad students are also participating. There are also the 1st, 2nd, and 4th years. Not to mention the other schools that are no worse than University C…”

Chen Song showed a bitter expression, “I’d die happy if I got carried into the top 100. I’m very grateful for you two Gods, but I wouldn’t dare to think about getting 1st place even in my wildest dreams. You’re the hope of your towns, don’t give yourself too much pressure!”

“…” What pressure?

“Trust me,” Ruan An’an ignored Chen Song and stared intently at Gu Jue, “We can get the top place, and win that prize money.”

“…”

Looking at her bright eyes, Gu Jue felt a warmth in his heart.

He laughed as he rubbed her hair, saying with more confidence than she had, as if it was already a given, “Yes, of course.”

Chen Song: …

Look, it’s not even the evening and they’re already dreaming.

It was the only second day after Gu Jue asked Zhou Chenchu for help when he decided on a place already.

It was a pre-furnished unit previously used as a showroom. Despite its small size, it had all the necessities and didn’t require remodeling. The only problem was the furniture. Gu Jue didn’t like the style and decided to get new ones.

It was a busy week, so he didn’t go to the company every day. Even when he did go, he only stayed half the day. Gu Qizhong personally called him to express his anger, “You little brat! I heard you’ve been visiting the furniture district a lot. What are you doing? Planning a revolt against me?”

“Ok, fine you can buy all the furniture you want, but I also heard, you’ve been picking only the cheap stuff?! Are you trying to send me to an early grave???”

Gu Jue: …

“Dad, calm down, about buying the cheap stuff…” He paused, “It’s a long story, I’ll explain everything later, but about me buying furniture—”

“Tell me! Why!”

Gu Jue told the truth, “It’s for my marriage.”

“…”

Those 4 words gave President Gu an aneurysm, but what could he do when Gu Jue was halfway across the world? Nothing but to berate Gu Ming, apparently, only to realize he managed to insult himself as well when he used “a fish rots from the head down”.

Gu Ming complained to his brother about being traumatized by their dad and demanded to get carried through instances in 6 Realms.

Gu Jue decided that Gu Ming, being the only son in America and getting yelled at, was pitiful, so he played with his brother several days in a row.

Saturday after dinner, Gu Ming logged onto the game as usual and went on voice chat with Gu Jue.

As they were playing, Gu Ming suddenly remembered, “Ah Jue, today is the Young Lady Yin’s birthday, Dad told you to go, are you not going?”

“Dad told me to go?” Gu Jue snickered, “If I was agreeable, I’d be attending even the birthday party of the daughter of some diaper factory seller he once worked with…”

Gu Ming: … I can’t argue that.

“You are not agreeable though…” Gu Ming finally choked out, “But seriously, why have you avoided public appearances after returning? Is it because of the one from our aunt’s…?”

Gu Ming didn’t continue. Gu Jue didn’t falter. “That’s a small part of it… You should know how crazy she gets every time she saw me.” He said genuinely, “Laying low is for the best, I don’t like trouble.”

“Sigh, thinking back, very few girls within our circle actually have met you before, with you going abroad before finishing high school and all. And yet, something like that happened, tsk tsk.” Gu Ming exclaimed, “That’s why they call you femme fatale…”

“Don’t give her that much credit,” Gu Jue interrupted him. “My main objective for coming back is to get married.”

Gu Ming went silent.

Gu Jue turned on auto-casting for his character and adjusted his mic so Gu Ming could hear him loud and clear. “Don’t overthink it. I came back for that girlfriend of mine. The company is doing well, and the workload has lessened. With how much contribution I’ve made to our family, getting half a year to land myself a wife isn’t asking too much, right?”

Gu Ming remained silent.

“Brother of mine, you wouldn’t know since you’ve been single your whole life, but, after getting a girlfriend, even games lost their appeal. My only desire every day is to be in the same space as her. It’s fine even if we don’t talk, since my girlfriend… wait, are you even listening? Give me a response here!”

“…”

If you’re this bad when I don’t give any responses, do I even want to see you when you do get a response?

However, Gu Ming was the one getting carried in the game. Without Gu Jue, he would have had to use extreme methods for that instance. So, he had appeased the one who made the instance a smooth sail.

Reluctantly, Gu Ming asked, “What is your darling girlfriend doing right now?”

“My girlfriend?” The corner of Gu Jue’s mouth curled up at the mention of that title. Thinking back to the status update he just saw from her, “She is… very tame. She should be studying in her dorms around now.”

7 pm.

After sending the “only [Gu Jue] can see” status, Ruan An’an arrived at Yuan Jiang Hotel.

The VIP party rooms had a separate entrance on the side of the building that remained unused. Unless there was a special event, like today. Ruan An’an didn’t need to show her invitation, since she was brought inside by a server specifically sent by Yin Yuan.

The overall flow of the event was the same as Jiang Yi’s birthday, but they had very different styles. Jiang Yi’s has more of a party vibe, while Yin Yuan’s was more formal.

Even though Yin Yuan hadn’t graduated yet, she was already tired of flying all over for all the social obligations, like fashion shows and charity dinners. But that came with being born into a prestigious family. She was a socialite in Qing Cheng after all, and one with a high standing too.

A socialite’s birthday party was rarely just a celebration, not to mention one organized by the powerful Yin family. Frankly speaking, it was just another social gathering. Most families with some level of prestige showed up, but the number of guests from each family varied.

Ruan An’an’s present to Yin Yuan was a priceless legendary weapon in 6 Realms.

The only reason Ruan An’an knew about the weapon was because Yin Yuan gushed about it every day. Stuff like “Dawn&Dusk’s weapon is so pretty” and “it forms trailing lights when you cast with it, OMG I want it”… Not very hard to pick up on.

It several days of checking the world chat frequently to finally find a crafter looking to trade their newest creation for some cash. She immediately messaged them and sealed the deal at 10 grand.

Now Yin Yuan can match with her god, Dawn&Dusk. A legendary couple with legendary weapons, perfect.

TL/N:

There’s a lot of money talk in this chapter. All the units are in RMB (the Chinese currency), which is ~5x USD I think. So, 3k of rent would be around 600 USD. 10k for the weapon would be ~2k USD… that’s still a lot to spend on a game… (thinks back to all the Genshin Players spending thousands on a single Banner)