TBWE Extra 3

Chu Li explained for a long time before Xin Tong finally accepted in a daze the terrifying fact that her good friend had a divine boyfriend.

The next day, she went to handle her school re-enrollment procedures.

The ginkgo leaves outside the administrative building had almost all fallen, leaving bare branches pointing toward the gray-blue sky. Students on the campus paths hurried along, clutching books and exhaling puffs of white breath. With finals approaching, the entire Jiang University was shrouded in an invisible tension.

Walking through the crowd of similarly aged people, Chu Li breathed out a puff of white mist.

After just one summer vacation plus two months, the university where she had spent three years suddenly felt foreign.

Chu Li got her books from the class monitor and attended classes for a few days. Jiang University’s computer science program was notorious for its high failure rate. She had to face the deadly finals week, prepare for the IELTS exam at the end of the month, and also prepare her graduation thesis direction while contacting her preferred supervisors in advance.

The heavy workload piled up like a small mountain.

Every day after school, she would immerse herself in the library.

She attended classes during the day, studied in the library until nine o’clock after school, then went home to have a late-night snack and take a bath before falling into unconscious sleep.

All told, she only had two hours of conscious time each day to spend with Xi Chu.

The monster at home had an increasingly gloomy expression.

Before He decided to level the school, Chu Li timely sensed this thought and threw all the properties left by Father Chu to Him to manage.

She also brainwashed Him that this was earning money to support the family.

****

The library in the evening was packed, with every table full of people. Notebooks, open books, colorful highlighters, and draft papers covered with various formulas dominated the desk surfaces.

The air floated with faint scents of caffeine and ink.

Chu Li held a cup of hot coffee, with thin red threads moving between book pages and notebooks. With just a thought, the red threads would precisely turn pages.

After she finished writing a line in her notebook, the red threads would glide over the adjacent book, quickly marking the page numbers of related knowledge points.

Her phone was on silent, with messages constantly popping up in the class group chat.

[Vice Monitor: “Compilation Principles” Ultimate Knowledge Points Summary.pdf]

[Vice Monitor: The digital version is here, save it quickly. I stapled an extra paper copy, located in Library Section A. Anyone want it?]

Chu Li happened to be in Section A, so she casually sent a hand-raising emoji, asking Vice Monitor Chen Shuo which table he was at.

Ten minutes after sending the message, the materials were delivered to her.

“Here, fresh from the printer.” Chen Shuo handed over the materials and smoothly sat in the empty seat next to Chu Li. Glancing at the open book on the table, his tone was familiar and natural. “You’re reviewing this course? The teacher didn’t provide materials for this one. I organized the key points – want me to highlight the important parts for you?”

This spot was in a corner, and he kept his voice low, so it didn’t draw complaints from surrounding students.

The two had been members of the same group before and had worked together on several group assignments. Chu Li categorized him as an ordinary friend.

She flipped through the stapled materials. The pages were densely packed but clearly organized, with key sections marked by bright highlighters that were obviously just drawn.

“Very detailed, thanks.” Chu Li smiled with pursed lips. “Highlighting isn’t necessary – I can understand it fine. Don’t let me delay your studying.”

Chen Shuo was the type that girls liked, with crescent-shaped peach blossom eyes when he smiled. “I’m already done studying, no delay.”

****

The sky turned from bright to dark.

The conference room on the top floor of the office building was spacious and bright, with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking Hai City’s gray winter skyline.

The dark conference table was filled with people.

The young man sat in the main seat, wearing a well-tailored dark gray suit, with a report spread open in front of him.

A department executive in a business suit was giving a presentation, speaking rapidly while complex data appeared on the screen.

“…In summary, this quarter’s ‘Xingchi’ series new energy vehicles showed significant year-over-year growth in North American market sales, but the European side faced certain obstacles due to policy changes, requiring reassessment of supply strategies.”

While Zhou Zhiyang reported, his gaze occasionally stole glances at the excessively young, handsome youth with a cold temperament.

He heard this was the fiancé of Miss Chu, the largest shareholder, who had parachuted in as chairman a few days ago.

When he first arrived, the company buzzed with gossip, thinking he was a pretty boy who relied on his good looks to marry into wealth.

But after just a few days, Zhou Zhiyang had completely changed his mind.

After taking over the Chu family’s real estate and new energy industries for just a few days, this new chairman had already displayed suffocating insight.

Like now, Zhou Zhiyang himself was nearly dizzy from all the data, but Xi Chu pointed to a certain chart at the end of the report, his voice completely flat as he directly identified a calculation error that had been glossed over.

Meeting those eyes with their overly deep pupils, Zhou Zhiyang shivered.

Not just him – people in the company didn’t dare look directly into this new chairman’s eyes, feeling a trembling sensation that their souls might be absorbed.

“Sorry, Chairman…”

“Don’t make such elementary mistakes. Next.”

Xi Chu had already pushed that report aside, coldly tapping the table twice.

The conference room became even quieter. The next executive preparing to report was on edge, even his voice weakening somewhat.

Outside the window, the sky was completely dyed by night.

Xi Chu raised his wrist watch again, listening to the boring reports that had continued for nearly three hours.

“Meeting adjourned.”

The dark gray suited figure ignored the person who had just stood up preparing to report, leaving the conference room first, leaving behind the executives who looked at each other in confusion.

“Does the Chairman have urgent business?”

Secretary Zhang, who was organizing the meeting minutes, smiled and said, “Yes, he’s going to pick up Miss Chu. Isn’t that urgent business?”

****

Near nine o’clock, cold rain began falling from the sky.

A black Maybach stopped near the east gate of Jiang University. The guard watched as a suited young man got out of the back seat, holding a black umbrella as he walked over and filled out the campus entry registration information.

The tall, straight figure walked from the east gate to the library, drawing many passersby’s attention along the way.

Friday, nine o’clock sharp – the library closed.

A vast stream of students poured out of the main entrance.

Cold rain hit their faces. Outside the library, a long corridor connected to dozens of steps leading downward. In the distance, the Jiang University campus was dotted with streetlights like a sea of stars. At the bottom of the steps stood a solitary tall streetlight, its dim yellow halo casting a warm circle of light.

At the edge of the light circle, in the shadows, a tall figure stood quietly.

“…Those are all the key points. A senior from last year said Teacher Zhang’s question patterns never change – just focus on these few chapters and you’re set! Some people in the class group are going for barbecue outside the east gate. Want to go eat together?”

“I’ll skip the barbecue. But I’m also heading to the east gate – someone’s picking me up.”

Two figures walked out one after the other. The first was a tall male student with a smile on his face. As he backed out the door, he turned his head and said enthusiastically, “Great, then we’re going the same way. Let’s walk together. It’s raining outside – I happen to have an umbrella.”

Chu Li walked out of the library’s main entrance, the cold rain air dispelling the stuffiness from mental overexertion.

She sighed inwardly.

The vice monitor was the class’s acknowledged nice guy, enthusiastic toward everyone, especially female students.

“No need…” Before she could finish refusing, she suddenly caught sight of the umbrella-holding figure under the streetlight.

The young man stood tall and straight under the lamp, his features appearing even more profound at the boundary of light and shadow. The streetlight only illuminated half his body, while the other side was completely hidden in the night.

Under the umbrella, He looked up, his deep eyes directly locking onto Chu Li at the top of the steps.

“Don’t be so polite – we’re going the same way anyway.”

Chen Shuo opened his umbrella and stepped forward.

Whoosh—

His foot seemed to be violently tripped by something. The ground was already slippery from the rain, and he completely lost his balance. Unable to react, he fell straight down the steps with his umbrella!

Chu Li was startled.

The steps outside the library had dozens of levels, all made of hard granite.

If he really fell down them…

Without time to think, she moved her finger, and several red threads glided along the steps, supporting the rapidly tumbling body.

Chen Shuo only felt a gentle force “supporting” him, offsetting most of the momentum. He finally rolled down the steps at an incredible speed but without any serious injury, just feeling a bit dizzy from the tumbling.

“Damn, what the hell tripped me…” He grimaced as he got up, looking around as he spoke.

His gaze lifted and unexpectedly met the knife-sharp figure not far away.

A pair of eyes looked over calmly, pupils intensely black. The man under the umbrella showed no expression, just looking that way.

An indescribable chill shot straight to Chen Shuo’s head – this was the instinctive fear of prey facing a predator, his subconscious frantically sounding alarms, urging him to flee immediately.

Chu Li covered her head against the rain, running down the steps in quick strides. “Vice monitor, are you okay?”

Chen Shuo shuddered, breaking free from that feeling of being targeted. “Oh, oh… I’m fine. My ancestors were watching over me – falling from such a height and still—”

His words cut off abruptly.

The umbrella-holding man moved, walking toward them. Under His feet was completely clean ground.

No shadow!

Chen Shuo’s pupils contracted, his head buzzing, then he suddenly turned to look at Chu Li.

Her figure cast a long shadow on the steps.

But that man… had none! Not a trace of a shadow!

Hallucination? Vision problems?

He blinked hard and looked again.

The black umbrella cast a shadow, completely enveloping Chu Li.

The man naturally took her hand, fingers interlocking, two matching rings glinting with subtle metallic luster.

Chu Li felt the tightening force in Xi Chu’s palm. Glancing at the dumbstruck Chen Shuo beside them, she cleared her throat. “Vice monitor, this is my boyfriend – he came to pick me up.”

She introduced him naturally, then turned to Xi Chu, her voice softening slightly with a hint of appeasement. “This is our class vice monitor. We were just discussing review key points together.”

His expression didn’t change much, but Chu Li clearly felt the dominant force in her hand lighten somewhat. He nodded slightly, considering it a greeting.

“Oh, oh. Nice… nice to meet you…” Chen Shuo’s voice was dry as he forced out a smile uglier than crying. “Well… Chu Li… since you have someone picking you up, I’ll… I’ll go first! Goodbye!”

He didn’t even dare look in their direction again, fleeing like he was avoiding something extremely terrifying, disappearing into the campus path.

Once he was gone, Chu Li dropped her smile and stared at Xi Chu expressionlessly.

He lowered his eyelashes, meeting her gaze.

Neither spoke, just standing under the umbrella in silent confrontation.

Finally, Xi Chu calmly looked away, leading her forward. “Li Li, let’s go home for a late-night snack.” He paused and added, “I’ll make you red soup dumplings.”

“…”

Chu Li was so angry she wanted to laugh.

He had also learned to change the subject and fool people.

****

After that day, Xi Chu had the driver pick up Chu Li from the east gate every day.

Both the car and He were too eye-catching. Soon, the whole class knew that Chu Li had a handsome and clingy boyfriend.

When Xin Tong came to find her, eight out of ten times she would encounter Xi Chu.

Gradually, her fear also faded by seventy to eighty percent, and she could greet him normally when they met.

The weather grew colder and colder. After Hai City had a snowfall, the difficult finals week finally passed, and Chu Li also achieved her ideal IELTS score.

On the afternoon when finals ended, Xin Tong put her arm around Chu Li’s shoulder as they walked out, saying they needed to indulge in a good meal after the exams to reward themselves for becoming haggard and thin from studying.

Chu Li looked at her phone – ten minutes ago, Xi Chu had sent a message.

[Tentacle Monster: Li Li, I have a sudden meeting. I’ll have the driver pick you up.]

He had been busy during this period too.

Chu Li hoped He could stay this busy forever.

[Pear: No need to pick me up, Tong Tong and I are going to eat.]

After sending it, another message quickly came back, asking where they were eating, what time they’d finish, and reminding her to send her location.

Xin Tong inadvertently glanced over and couldn’t help but laugh out loud, teasing. “This is stickier than glue.”

Chu Li was speechless. Her phone suddenly vibrated with a call from an unknown number with a Hai City area code.

“Hello, who is this?”

The voice on the other end was gentle and calm, yet somewhat familiar. “Xiao Li, this is Huo Li. Is it convenient to meet?”