As soon as Lin Lu stepped out of the restroom, he ran into Jiang Ruotang and Zhao Changfeng, walking arm in arm, carrying milk tea and heading upstairs. Lin Lu’s heart leaped into his throat. 

Jiang Ruotang clearly paused; he saw it! He saw the slap mark on Lin Lu’s face. But Jiang Ruotang didn’t say anything, just indifferently turned towards the classroom door.

However, Zhao Changfeng wasn’t so kind. He flashed a gloating smile. “Yo, Lin Lu, what happened to your face? Did you get caught being a homewrecker by the original partner?” Zhao Changfeng’s voice was neither too loud nor too soft, but some students who had just returned from dinner outside looked over, and an inevitable buzz of discussion followed. 

Lin Lu turned his face, lowered his head, and quickly brushed past Zhao Changfeng, hoping as few people as possible would see him.

Lin Lu took leave and went home. He couldn’t resist searching for Fu Chunshi’s “New Wave” group champion in his room, and indeed, Jiang Ruotang’s name appeared. 

Probably due to copyright reasons for artistic works, the winning piece wasn’t publicly displayed online, but it was rumored that the painting’s price had already been speculated to over 800,000, with even overseas collectors inquiring. However, Jiang Ruotang had no intention of selling it. Mr. Fu Chunshi’s commentary on Jiang Ruotang was: “Full of emotion, exceptionally spirited, with boundless potential.”

Lin Lu took a deep breath and forcefully pressed down on his laptop screen. Without him realizing it, Jiang Ruotang had already reached a height he could only look up to.

Lin Lu originally thought that Geng Yu slapping him would have been enough to satisfy him, but he underestimated Geng Yu’s determination to get revenge. That very night, Geng Yu went to his father, indignantly saying, “Dad! Lin Lu harmed me!”

“How did he harm you?”

“Lin Lu knows what the agreed-upon mark with the examiner was! He called the supervisory team!”

Geng Yu’s father found it absurd: “What nonsense are you talking about! Why would Lin Lu harm you?”

“Because he wanted to harm Jiang Ruotang! He thought Jiang Ruotang’s high score of 284 was also obtained through the same cheating method! So he called the supervisory team. Who knew that Jiang Ruotang was fine, but during the random paper check, they picked mine!” Geng Yu cleverly shifted the blame, putting his own foolish actions onto Lin Lu.

“Are you sure?”

“My friend heard it! How could that be false? And Lin Lu specifically invited me to hot pot just to get information out of me!”

Before this, Lin Chengdong and Geng Yu’s father had already had a falling out over the rising price of the Chengtan fishponds. Although Lin Chengdong apologized later, Geng Yu’s father, as a senior secretary in the provincial government, was used to being flattered and had never been cursed at like that. Geng Yu’s father snorted coldly, “These father and son… they’re truly birds of a feather!”

Geng Yu’s father knew what kind of character his son had. With Geng Yu’s personality, if it wasn’t true, he couldn’t have fabricated such a lie. And the story of Lin Lu trying to scheme against Jiang Ruotang but causing Geng Yu to take the hit sounded absolutely true.

Geng Yu’s father called Lin Chengdong, furiously saying, “You’ve truly raised a good son! He directly ruined my son’s future! I think I’ll stay out of the Chengtan matter. Otherwise, one day, Brother Lin, you might accidentally scheme against me too, and I can’t afford that!”

Lin Chengdong was puzzled. “Secretary Geng, what do you mean by that? I invested a huge amount of money to acquire the fishponds in Chengtan! I’m still waiting for you to connect me with the higher-ups! If you back out, my fishponds…”

Geng Yu’s father scoffed, “Fishponds? Then you can go raise your fish! I wish you prosperity through fish farming, making you the wealthiest in Chengtan!” With that, Geng Yu’s father hung up the phone.

Geng Yu’s father thought, Like father, like son. Weren’t Lin Lu’s schemes learned from Lin Chengdong? Today, Lin Lu wanted to mess with Jiang Ruotang, and Geng Yu was caught in the crossfire. Who knew who Lin Chengdong would want to mess with tomorrow and drag him into it?

Just then, Lin Lu came downstairs from his room, wanting to grab something to eat from the fridge, and saw Lin Chengdong staring at him with cold eyes, arms crossed. “Dad…” Lin Lu had a bad feeling.

“Are you f***ing sick! What’s with this joint exam report!” Lin Chengdong roared, scaring Lin Lu stiff. His legs went weak, and he almost fell to his knees. “Tell me clearly, how did you get involved in the joint exam report!”

Under his father’s furious gaze, Lin Lu immediately spilled the whole story. Lin Chengdong understood that Geng Yu had reaped what he sowed, but Lin Lu’s “borrowed knife to kill” tactic had not only failed to harm Jiang Ruotang but had also severely stabbed his own father. His 30 million fishponds! He was still waiting to sell them to the higher-ups to build office buildings and earn tens of millions!

“You truly are more trouble than you’re worth!” Lin Chengdong couldn’t control his temper in that moment and threw a punch. It was too fast, and Lin Lu was standing too close. He took a heavy blow, fell to the ground, and his head buzzed. He covered his cheekbone, wondering if his bone was fractured.

Lin Lu’s mother, Wu Ning, heard the commotion and rushed downstairs to protect her son. “What are you doing! Taking out your anger on your son just because you’re frustrated outside!”

“I’m taking it out on him! Do you want to ask him what kind of mess he’s gotten into! Secretary Geng is not going to cooperate with me anymore! From now on, any news from above won’t be told to me! Our fishponds, which cost us 30 million, might be stuck with us!”

“Ah? Is it too late to back out of that fishpond deal?” Lin Lu’s mother asked.

“The money’s paid! The contract’s signed! Now I have to go to the Geng family to apologize! Geng Yu is definitely going to waste this year, and it’s almost impossible for Secretary Geng to forgive him! This idiot, I really want to tie him up and take him to the Geng family to break his bones!”

Lin Lu hid behind his mother. At this moment, he knew he had caused Lin Chengdong a lot of trouble. Back in his room, Lin Lu looked at his eye socket; it was bruised. 

Damn it, tomorrow at school, I’ll definitely be bombarded with questions. Just thinking about it is annoying. 

And that Geng Yu, he might even go to Jiang Ruotang and badmouth him. That would be really annoying. Frankly, Lin Lu even thought about just tearing off the facade with Jiang Ruotang; anyway, now the two were more like nodding acquaintances than childhood friends. But recalling Bai Yingchuan’s attitude towards Jiang Ruotang, Lin Lu immediately banished that thought from his mind.

Lin Lu applied boiled eggs and various ointments for a long time. The next morning, the bruising around his eye had subsided somewhat, but it was still visible up close.

As Lin Lu expected, when he arrived in the classroom and sat down, Bai Yingchuan asked him, “What happened to your eye?”

“Ah? This is really bad luck. I was passing by the community sports field yesterday and got hit by a tennis ball,” Lin Lu whispered.

Bai Yingchuan looked at him and meaningfully retorted, “Is that so?” The slight upward inflection in his voice, ambiguous as to whether it was teasing or sarcastic, made Lin Lu extremely uncomfortable.

Jiang Ruotang and Zhao Changfeng entered the classroom almost simultaneously. After Jiang Ruotang sat down, he also leaned over for a moment, “Your eye…” Yesterday it was clearly a slap mark, so how did it turn into a bruised eye today?

“Hit by a tennis ball,” Lin Lu explained again, feeling utterly exasperated inside. Stop looking at me! Have you finished your homework? Have you copied your assignments? Don’t you have anything better to do?

Zhao Changfeng added from behind, “As long as it’s not from being beaten for having too many ulterior motives.”

Jiang Ruotang didn’t react much, but Bai Yingchuan actually let out a very slight laugh, which made Lin Lu even more furious with Geng Yu. It’s not divine opponents you fear, but teammates who are pigs.

And Geng Yu, passing by Lin Lu, deliberately stopped to look closely, leaving a suggestive remark: “Retribution, it’s still too light.”

That afternoon, Jiang Ruotang surprisingly received a message from Geng Yu: [Got time? Let’s chat?]

Jiang Ruotang sighed. If he said he didn’t want to chat, with Geng Yu’s impulsive personality, he didn’t know if Geng Yu would drag him away and force him to talk.

[Where to chat?]

[Sapphire for steak?]

Alright, fine. Ordering takeout is eating, and finding a place to sit down and eat is also eating. Might as well see what kind of drama Geng Yu wants to put on.

At noon, Jiang Ruotang didn’t go to pick up takeout but walked straight out of the school gate, which made Lin Lu a little nervous. “Ruotang, where are you going?”

“Oh, I’m going to eat some steak.”

Lin Lu was about to ask who he was eating with when Jiang Ruotang, hands in his pockets, turned and walked away. Did Geng Yu invite him? Lin Lu quickly followed, and unexpectedly, at the crossroads, he actually saw Geng Yu. The two even greeted each other. This bastard, he’s definitely going to badmouth me to Jiang Ruotang.

Lin Lu quickly stepped forward, just about to find an excuse to join them, when Geng Yu turned his head and raised his fist at him, meaning that if Lin Lu dared to come, Geng Yu’s fist would show no mercy. Anyway, he was already destined to retake the year, so punching Lin Lu a few more times was nothing.

Lin Lu gritted his teeth. The only thing he could do now was wait for Jiang Ruotang to confront him and figure out how to explain himself. Anyway, I didn’t make the call myself; I just listened to Geng Yu complain about Jiang Ruotang as his confidant. Yes, that’s it! And I have no reason to trick Jiang Ruotang! Whatever Geng Yu says is illogical!

Jiang Ruotang and Geng Yu didn’t waste any time with pleasantries. As soon as the sizzling hot plate of steak arrived, Geng Yu spoke. 

“Do you know that Lin Lu has ill intentions towards you?” Geng Yu waited to see Jiang Ruotang’s reaction: confusion, disbelief, or anger. But none of those appeared. Jiang Ruotang simply leaned calmly against the back of his chair, avoiding the oil splatters. “Oh, tell me more.”

“I only understood after suffering a great loss and talking to my parents about the whole story. Lin Lu first approached me. He spoke well of me, flattered me, and made me tell him the mark agreed upon with the examiner. 

Then he told you this mark. When our scores came out, you made a splash, while I didn’t achieve the expected results. Then he came to me to fan the flames, telling me to report you. Because he also didn’t believe you could get such a high score in art by yourself!”

Your closest friend has been stabbing you in the back all along. Jiang Ruotang, I don’t believe you’re not angry, not upset, not going to confront Lin Lu!

“Your father is a provincial government secretary, right? Isn’t that very smart? Such a smart person, why would he choose to associate with Lin Chengdong?” Jiang Ruotang sighed, “If you hadn’t cheated, or hadn’t been so jealous of me, Lin Lu wouldn’t have been able to instigate anything, would he?”

Geng Yu opened his mouth; there was no refuting this point. He was already a bad guy in Jiang Ruotang’s eyes, but why should he be the only bad guy? The worst one was still maintaining good relationships and continued to be popular, which Geng Yu couldn’t stand.

“You’re right, consider it my own doing. Is Lin Lu a good person then?”

“Geng Yu, it’s better to offend a gentleman than a petty person. Next time, don’t put all your anger and dissatisfaction out in the open; you’ll be used as a pawn. Only children think venting anger brings satisfaction. When we grow up, we all have to learn to rein in our emotions and observe slowly.”

“You…”

Jiang Ruotang looked up and smiled, “It’s already like this, Geng Yu… don’t mess around either. Practice your art, and put some effort into your academic scores. We all have to do well, so that those who don’t want us to succeed will be upset.”

Geng Yu was stunned for a long time before finally speaking, “Your words… they sound like an old man.”

“Oh, if you don’t like it, just pretend you didn’t hear it.”

Geng Yu lowered his head and said self-deprecatingly, “Who doesn’t understand the道理 (logic/principle), but I just can’t learn it.”

“Then learn something else. Everyone has their own talents.”

“I only use it when I have to.”

“Hahaha.” Jiang Ruotang smiled, “When you go back, also advise your father not to waste his resources on unreliable partners.”

“Huh?” Geng Yu looked confused.

“Some people’s ways of pleasing others are exactly the same as their son’s. The tactics of backstabbing are also very similar.”

Geng Yu tilted his head, looking at Jiang Ruotang: “What are you implying? I think I understand, but not entirely.”

“Tell your dad, and your dad will instantly understand,” Jiang Ruotang tilted his head and smiled, “And speaking of which, our family is quite reliable. At least we never stab our allies in the back.”

This was already stated very directly. Geng Yu thought for a moment, then raised his chin: “I’ll pass the message to my dad.” This was the meaning of Jiang Ruotang specially having this meal with Geng Yu—to prevent Secretary Geng from continuing to cooperate with Lin Chengdong.

---

After eating their fill, the two returned to the classroom, and Lin Lu’s nerves immediately tightened. Jiang Ruotang, however, simply lay down on his desk and started sleeping, as if he hadn’t heard anything or as if nothing had happened. It was Lin Lu who was hesitant to speak. Geng Yu, sitting diagonally behind him, watched Lin Lu’s conflicted and cautious demeanor. This was true mental torment. Thinking this way, Geng Yu suddenly understood what Jiang Ruotang meant by “reining in emotions” during their meal.

It wasn’t until lunchtime was almost over that Lin Lu asked, “You ate steak with Geng Yu?”

“Mhm.”

“He… said anything?”

“He just talked about the report, saying you instigated him to do it,” Jiang Ruotang’s tone was so flat that Lin Lu couldn’t respond.

“Ah… did I instigate him to report himself?”

“No, he said he wanted to report me, but he didn’t expect me not to use the mark you mentioned, and he ended up implicating himself instead.”

“That’s too funny… you wouldn’t believe that, would you?” Lin Lu asked nervously.

“I wasn’t affected, and I feel like it’s a conflict between you two,” Jiang Ruotang replied.

“Right, just ignore him. He’s just jealous of you, reported you, and then the boomerang hit him, and now he’s blaming me. I don’t even dare to get close to him anymore.” As Lin Lu spoke, he carefully observed Jiang Ruotang’s expression. Jiang Ruotang’s face showed no joy or sorrow; Geng Yu’s words truly seemed to have no effect on him. But Lin Lu knew it was all just self-consolation.

The classes ended for the day. Since tomorrow was New Year’s Day, evening self-study was canceled, and everyone could go home early. Xiao Gao drove to pick up Jiang Ruotang, Zhao Changfeng, Cai Ji, and Jian Sha for the New Year’s Eve party. Bai Yingchuan and Lin Lu were also invited, after all, one had acted in Jiang Huaiyuan’s movie before, and the other was a childhood friend whose friendship hadn’t been publicly broken off yet.

The two of them were in the Lin family’s car. Bai Yingchuan propped his chin, leaning against the car window, and said, “You actually really wanted to report Jiang Ruotang, didn’t you?”

Lin Lu froze, forcing out a smile: “Yingchuan, what are you talking about!”

“Jiang Ruotang is upright and fears no shadow. Lin Lu, if you put those petty, underhanded tricks where they belong, you might even compete with Lu Guifan for the top spot in the grade.” Bai Yingchuan’s gaze swept over him, cold, slightly warning. 

Lin Lu wanted to argue, but under such an aura, he couldn’t utter a single word. This wasn’t the Bai Yingchuan he knew; it was more like the young general from Jiang Huaiyuan’s lens, coldly seeing through all human nature. 

His silence didn’t mean he agreed.