Chapter 45

Tong Chao returned to the dorm and said, "Yu Jin was beaten up and didn't tell anyone. He's at home recovering."

The entire 717 dorm, including Bian Xuedao who still had a band-aid on his face, went to Yu Jin's rented house.

Zhou Ling opened the door. Everyone saw Yu Jin lying on the bed, his head and right hand wrapped in thick bandages, sipping milk.

Seeing the 717 brothers enter, Yu Jin tried to sit up, but as soon as he moved, he must have stretched a wound and let out a soft "Ouch" and fell back down.

Zhou Ling quickly went over to support Yu Jin and told everyone to find a place to sit.

Chen Jian asked Zhou Ling, "What happened?"

Zhou Ling said, "A few nights ago, Yu Jin and I were having dinner at a nearby small restaurant. A few boys who came later sat nearby and said some dirty things about me. Yu Jin got into a fight with them." Zhou Ling held Yu Jin's hand and continued, "In the hospital, he got 11 stitches on his head and 9 on his hand."

Li Yu asked Yu Jin, "Did you know those guys? Are they from our school?"

Yu Jin looked at the blanket on his body and didn't speak.

Ai Feng asked, "Who beat you up? I'll go find them."

Yu Jin still didn't speak.

Li Yu looked back at Bian Xuedao.

Bian Xuedao sat down at the foot of the bed and asked Yu Jin with a smile, "Don't be embarrassed. I got a cut on my face too. Who started it?"

Yu Jin rolled his eyes, "I did."

"Why did you start it? How many of them were there?"

"Four of them, they were talking about Zhou Ling's chest."

Zhou Ling blushed and lowered her head. Seeing Zhou Ling's embarrassment, Yu Jin gently squeezed her hand.

Bian Xuedao continued, "Who were they?"

Yu Jin pursed his lips, "The guys from the ice rink last year, the one with the hooked nose."

When Yu Jin said this, everyone remembered. Chen Jian got up to leave, but Yu Jin stopped him, "Brother, don't go, listen to me. I didn't tell the brothers about this because I started it. I caused the trouble, so I'll deal with it myself. Whatever happens, it won't affect everyone."

Bian Xuedao asked Yu Jin, "How do you plan to deal with it?"

Yu Jin said, "I haven't decided yet. I might forget about it after the New Year."

Bian Xuedao said, "Alright, that's fine. Take good care of yourself. If you want anything to eat, tell the brothers. Don't let Zhou Ling do everything alone. When you're better, I'll take everyone out for a day of fun."

Before leaving, Bian Xuedao turned back to Yu Jin, "I might get a new hack soon. I'll let you try it first!"

Hearing this, Yu Jin perked up, "Brother Bian, you better keep your word!"

After returning to the Red Building, Bian Xuedao called Yu Jin.

"Let us know if you have any plans, so we can discuss it. And don't act rashly."

Yu Jin casually agreed.

In the following days, everyone visited Yu Jin a few more times.

Later, Yu Jin told Bian Xuedao that during his recovery, Yang Hao was the most frequent visitor. He helped with tasks that Zhou Ling couldn't handle. This ordinary boy from 717 showed a very human side through his actions.

Bian Xuedao has been very busy recently!

He formed a loose soccer team with some classmates from his physical education class. They play a match every two days. These boys, despite their average backgrounds and not-so-balanced diets, are all tall and strong. They look young, but when playing against college students, they don't seem to be at a disadvantage. Often, after 30 minutes, they even have the upper hand.

When he has no classes, Bian Xuedao takes a map of Songjiang City and boards a bus, riding aimlessly to the end, then transferring to another bus, and so on. Along the way, if he remembers which plots of land have high-rise buildings, commercial areas, or subway stations, he marks them on the map.

If he sees a large bookstore, Bian Xuedao will get off the bus to look for books on e-commerce.

One day on the bus, Brother Wen called Bian Xuedao, telling him that he had bought the source code of "Legend" for 50,000 yuan, calling it a great deal.

Bian Xuedao told him that it wasn't a great deal. Since it had leaked, the seller wouldn't sell it to just one person, and it would quickly depreciate. They needed to get their private server up and running as soon as possible, or soon the internet would be full of private servers, leaving them with very little profit.

At the end of October, it was time for Bian Xuedao's class to have a joint party with the 2002 International Trade freshmen. Everyone marveled at how time flies and looked forward to seeing some pretty freshmen at the party.

The party was very successful, thanks to the beautiful and enthusiastic freshmen, especially the female host who paired with Chen Jian, who was skilled in singing, dancing, and hosting, making her a versatile talent.

The best performance of the night was undoubtedly Kong Weize's solo magic trick with cards. To impress the freshmen, he performed a trick he hadn't practiced enough, and it went wrong every time. Despite his confident opening of the cards and his look of disbelief, everyone found it hilarious.

In the end, Chen Jian came to Kong Weize's rescue, "Let's give a round of applause to Kong Weize for his wonderful solo act."

Bian Xuedao watched the performances with a smile all night. Song Jia found an opportunity to ask him why he didn't perform. Bian Xuedao said, "I'll leave the opportunities for those who need them."

Song Jia sighed, "It's really hard to hear you sing!"

Bian Xuedao said, "There will be a chance."

The studio finally developed the offline hack for "Legend," and Bian Xuedao gave a copy to Yu Jin. Yu Jin had recovered, and he looked no different, still his usual carefree self.

When giving the offline hack to Yu Jin, Bian Xuedao said, "I don't have much time to work on hacks anymore. You don't need to give me the money from your account. If you want to make money from this, you can use the offline hack to farm equipment and sell it. It won't be worse than when we sold hacks. Also, this weekend, bring Zhou Ling, and we'll all go out for a day of fun."

On Saturday, 717 and 603 went out as a group. They first went shopping, then spent a long time at the amusement park, found a place to eat, and then went to sing karaoke.

Li Yu was still the singing king, but this time, everyone discovered that Zhou Ling had a beautiful voice, soft and reminiscent of Teresa Teng.

Ai Feng had just finished a rousing "Glorious Days," and Yang Hao followed with "True Man." Despite not knowing Cantonese, they managed to sing it with some meaning, and everyone cheered.

Yang Hao always loved "True Man." Every time they went out to sing, it was his signature song. When he was in a mood in the dorm, he would hum the tune. When asked why he liked it so much, Yang Hao said he was fascinated by the TV series "The Tyrant" starring Alex Man, especially the character's eye-for-an-eye personality.

Hearing the usually gentle and polite Yang Hao say this, everyone shouted "Pfft" in unison. Kong Weize, the most imaginative, guessed that Yang Hao must like one of the actresses in the show.

The girls in Building 11 were already used to seeing Bian Xuedao sitting at the back door of 10A in the evening. Sometimes, girls who forgot their meal cards would leave their water bottles with him while they went back to the dorm to get their cards.

This trust was built through persistence!

When sitting at the back door of 10A, sometimes Bian Xuedao wanted to catch a glimpse of Xu Shangxiu, and sometimes it was just a habit. Few people knew who he was waiting for, but most had lost interest in guessing.

Bian Xuedao had roughly outlined a paper on e-commerce but still needed to find some materials. One day, while looking for books in the library, he ran into Shan Rao, who was studying there.

Shan Rao had already noticed Bian Xuedao, who was focused on finding books between the shelves. She thought men were most charming when they were focused. Seeing Bian Xuedao about to go to another section, Shan Rao softly called him.

A while ago, Bian Xuedao had urgently asked Shan Rao to help him look up information on Xu Shangxiu, and he had only said "thank you" at the time. Now seeing Shan Rao, he felt a bit embarrassed.

Bian Xuedao said, "What a coincidence!"

"Yes, quite a coincidence."

"Studying?"

"Yes, looking up materials."

"Right. Thanks for your help last time. How about I treat you to dinner?" Bian Xuedao just wanted to be polite. He already knew that Shan Rao was the head of the women's department in the student council, making her a senior official, not easy to invite.

"Sure, wait for me, I'll tidy up." Shan Rao immediately started packing up her things.

Bian Xuedao smiled and said, "Sure."

As they walked out of the library, Bian Xuedao asked, "What do you feel like eating? Any favorite places nearby?"

Shan Rao thought for a moment, "I don't feel like eating right now. How about you buy me a cup of coffee? If I get hungry later, we can eat."

Since it was a thank-you, Bian Xuedao didn't want to take Shan Rao to a nearby café for instant coffee. They walked for 20 minutes to a more professional coffee shop and chose a seat by the window.

Bian Xuedao let Shan Rao order the coffee. She ordered the cheapest two cups. Hearing this, Bian Xuedao asked the waiter for the menu and changed the order to two cups of Blue Mountain. Bian Xuedao knew that the so-called Blue Mountain was fake, but the price was there, and that's what he wanted.

When the waiter was far enough away, Shan Rao said, "It's just a name. The beans are all similar. No need to buy the expensive ones."

Bian Xuedao shook his head with a smile, "The price represents my gratitude."

Page AD starts

Page AD ends