Two days of orientation work had visibly broadened Wang Zhuo’s horizons, sharpening his ability to read people.

“A worthwhile trip indeed…” he mused aloud, as the young men beside him nodded in agreement.

Zhou Huai’an’s eyes shone. “Absolutely! That tall girl this morning, she was truly an absolute chest of wonders. It really opened our eyes, brothers.”

Geng Bin nodded vigorously, waving his hands, broad as winnowing fans. “I think… beyond comprehension.”

“And that little beauty just now, so sweetly charming she could make you die of cuteness. Her sugar content must be at least four plus signs,” Zhou Huai’an continued to savor the memory.

“Six, at least,” Zheng Peng corrected from the side.

Geng Bin kept nodding in agreement. “Someone like Lin Chi-ling, compared to her, is just passing mist.”

These lads immediately strayed off topic, sounding like a pack of wolves, critiquing the top-tier girls they’d seen over the past two days. One moment they’d say a certain freshman looked like Zhou Dongyu, but much fuller—a B-cup at least—the next they’d mention a freshman who was both beautiful and loaded, claiming getting her would lead to absolute ecstasy…

Wang Zhuo listened with a wry smile as they indulged in their fantasies. He mentally sighed that his single remark had led them astray to this degree; these guys were clearly reincarnated horn dogs.

The preliminary selection for the new class beauty and department beauty had thus begun. Some girls, completely unaware they’d swapped their bulky glasses for contacts and untied their braids, were already listed by the upperclassmen as candidates for department beauty. If they ever found out, they’d probably wake up laughing in the middle of the night.

Geng Bin grinned at Wang Zhuo. “Chief, did you set your sights on anyone?”

“There were a few I noticed,” Wang Zhuo joked. “But I already have a partner; I can’t make a move.”

“Pfft—” Zhou Huai’an immediately winked conspiratorially. “What man doesn’t sneak a bite now and then? Instructor Wang, you could keep a few concubines!”

“Get lost!” A young man immediately laughed and cursed. “A’Yan, what kind of terrible idea is that? Our school already has a shortage of beautiful women. If you let Wang Zhuo take a few more, what happens to the happiness of the rest of the brothers?”

“You’re studying clinical medicine and you fear a lack of happiness?” Zhou Huai’an scoffed at him. “The girls in the Nursing College—plenty of them for you to pursue!”

The mention of the Nursing College instantly brought knowing smiles to everyone’s faces. Most of the men present had been involved in flirtatious affairs with the little beauties from the Nursing College, not just because of their matching medical majors, but because the Nursing College was almost entirely female; the supply of male predators was severely insufficient.

“Right, speaking of the Nursing College, I just remembered something.” Zhou Huai’an snapped his fingers. When everyone stopped talking to look at him, he pointed at Wang Zhuo and asked ambiguously, “How are things developing with Xiao Bai?”

“Who is Xiao Bai?” a guy less familiar with Wang Zhuo interjected.

“Xiao Bai’s name is Bai Lu.” Zhou Huai’an chuckled, adding colorful details as he described Bai Lu’s looks, exaggerating her figure as superior to Lin Chi-ling’s and her beauty surpassing Fan Bingbing’s—saying she could be a supermodel in a competition and an A-list actress in film…

Listening to Zhou Huai’an spin such wild tales, Wang Zhuo could only offer a bitter smile. He wondered if Bai Lu lacked emotional intelligence like Siyuan, that she would listen to Siyuan’s prompting, sell that sports car, and run off to teach in the countryside—genuinely believing this method could move him and win his affection.

Wasn’t that just foolishness?

“A’Yan, you’re too much of a blowhard,” one student finally couldn’t stand Zhou Huai’an’s bragging and declared, “If such a person truly exists, pull out a photo and show us. If you can’t produce a photo, then shut up.”

Someone immediately chimed in to egg him on. “Yeah, no picture, no truth!”

“I don’t have a photo,” Zhou Huai’an waved his hand dismissively. “But Instructor Wang definitely does; their relationship is unusual.”

“I don’t have one either,” Wang Zhuo quickly waved his hands.

“A’Yan, stop shifting the focus,” the student crowed triumphantly. “Instructor Wang has a partner; even if he has some sort of flirtation with this Xiao Bai, he wouldn’t keep her photo on his phone, right? I think you’re just making it up.”

“I have one here, but it’s in video format, not very clear,” Zheng Peng pulled out his phone and shook it.

“A Nokia 6288; the clarity should be fine,” the student snatched it away.

“You secretly filmed it?” Zhou Huai’an rubbed his hands together excitedly.

Zheng Peng shook his head. “I filmed it openly. Everyone was striking poses.”

Wang Zhuo also leaned in curiously to watch the commotion. It turned out this video was shot right before the conflict at the karaoke lounge. Because the lighting in the private room was dim, the clarity was low. The video indeed showed what Zheng Peng said: he walked around the room holding his phone, filming, with many people making funny faces and hand gestures for the camera.

The video paid special attention to Bai Lu, filming her from head to toe for about ten seconds before circling her once. Seeing this, Zhou Huai’an immediately started teasing that Zheng Peng was interested in Bai Lu. Zheng Peng quickly tried to explain, but his eloquence failed him, and everyone could tell he did harbor feelings for Bai Lu.

However, the others soon noticed that he spent even longer filming Xia Zhi, even zooming in specifically on Xia Zhi’s impressive bust.

Thus, the honest and straightforward Zheng Peng earned a reputation as a sleaze that day, one he would never shake off.

The orientation duties concluded successfully. Wang Zhuo and a few classmates went to the cafeteria for a meal. The summer heat hadn't fully dissipated when Geng Bin received a call and hurried away.

After the food was served, he rushed back, his face contorted with anger. No one knew what had happened.

“Fatty, what’s wrong?” Lü Tiefeng asked.

“It’s about something from the Nursing College, concerning Bai Lu,” Geng Bin said as he sat down, carefully watching Wang Zhuo’s expression. He continued, “Those guys who saw Zheng Peng’s video—Liu Ming felt Bai Lu’s appearance was familiar. He went back and checked his chat history, then called me.”

Zheng Peng asked, “Liu Ming? The tall, skinny guy, your fellow provincial?”

“Yeah. He has a girlfriend in the Nursing College.” Geng Bin went on. “Liu Ming told me that the news about Bai Lu is spreading like wildfire in the Nursing College, though without naming names. One version claims she was kept by a rich man who bought her a sports car. Another says she was gang-raped by a bunch of playboys, then sought refuge with the triad, extorted a huge sum from those boys, and became the boss’s lover—and the sports car belonged to the boss.”

“What utter nonsense,” the group exchanged glances, their eyes instinctively turning to Wang Zhuo.

Upon hearing this, Wang Zhuo’s heart flared with anger. Although Bai Lu studied at the much-maligned Nursing College, it was clear she was still virtuous. To have such a pure girl slandered like this by her own classmates was simply outrageous!

“We who are present all know the truth,” Geng Bin said with a bitter smile. “Wang Zhuo got that car from the rich second-generation brats who bullied us; it was compensation to calm Bai Lu’s shock. We all benefited and shared the money that day. We can testify for Xiao Bai—both those stories are pure fabrication.”

“Right, right, there were no kept women or triads,” the young men echoed in agreement. Each of them had received twenty thousand yuan that day, all thanks to Wang Zhuo. Otherwise, forget sharing money; they would have had to pay their own medical bills if they’d ended up hospitalized.

“This matter was due to my poor handling,” Wang Zhuo admitted with a wry smile. “There were fourteen girls that day; they might not have been united. Moreover, none of you gave Bai Lu a second glance before you left. Then she stayed out all night and didn’t return to school until the next evening. There was too much opaque information in between, leaving too much room for imagination to run wild.”

The young men all thought to themselves: You gifted her a sports car worth over two million. How could we not let our imaginations run wild? Even if it was forcibly taken from the karaoke venue, that’s still an astonishing amount of wealth, given freely to Bai Lu. You say that, but can we actually believe it?

“Wang Zhuo,” Zhou Huai’an, being closest to Wang Zhuo, spoke with fewer reservations. He smirked slyly. “Be honest and confess—did you sleep with Xiao Bai?”

“Absolutely not,” Wang Zhuo immediately waved his hands.

“No? How is that possible?” Zhou Huai’an burst out laughing. “Why would you give her something worth two million for no reason? To tell you the truth, we only pretended to accept your explanation before; deep down, we never believed it.”

The other young men immediately concurred; Zhou Huai’an had voiced their unspoken thoughts.

Wang Zhuo could only scratch his head. Two million was just a few hours’ income for him; he didn't care about it. But switching perspectives, for these classmates from ordinary backgrounds, it was an astronomical sum. How could they not be suspicious?

Wang Zhuo had previously told them that taking the car was just a form of punishment for those official and rich second-generation kids, but now they had stated their position: they simply didn't believe it.

Geng Bin spread his hands. “If you insist you didn't sleep with her, then we’ll assume those scumbags did sleep with her, which is why you got that car as compensation.”

“I think the same as Fatty,” Lü Tiefeng chuckled silently.

Zheng Peng and the others nodded in agreement.

“Sleep with my foot! It’s all unfounded nonsense!” Wang Zhuo slammed the table, laughing and cursing. “I asked you guys to help me carry people upstairs, and you secretly ran off! Now you’re suspecting this and that—are you even human?”

Zhou Huai’an slammed the table, laughing. “Now that you say that, we know she hasn’t been touched by anyone else!”

“Nonsense, I’m completely pure,” Wang Zhuo shot him a sharp look, annoyed.

“Oh—” Lü Tiefeng waved his hand. “Let’s eat, let’s eat. In a couple of days, we’ll find those women and hold a gathering to debunk the rumors about Xiao Bai!”

That’s more like it. Wang Zhuo contentedly picked up his chopsticks.

“Right,” Geng Bin said with mock seriousness. “Tell them that Xiao Bai is Instructor Wang’s woman! Any talk about triads or rich men keeping her is garbage. And the rumor that she was gang-raped? That’s garbage too! What kind of man is our Instructor Wang? Would he bother using someone else’s leftovers? Huh?”

Wang Zhuo’s disposable chopsticks instantly snapped apart. After circling around so long, these rascals had finally maneuvered him into their scheme.

“Is it fun for you all to stir up such trouble?” he asked with a bitter smile.

“It is fun. Very fun,” Zhou Huai’an stated, voicing the sentiment of the entire group. “You snagged a beauty, and we can project ourselves into your position and fantasize a bit too, right?”