Don’t Be a Kept Man

ing self-study period always had a rule where you can voluntarily hand in your phones if you were afraid of distractions.

Yes, it’s voluntary.

This guy was such a blabbermouth.
Lu Qi let the guy talk, and never responded, keeping his silence.
The school bell rang exactly at 7pm to start the self-study period.
Every classroom started to fill with people.
Lu Qi and Li Zhao walked into a classroom, and Lu Qi could immediately spot Huo Ming Chen sitting in the last row.

Birds of a feather flock together, each person attracts someone who is similar to them as a friend.
The sons and daughters of wealthy generations all have their own hierarchy.
Huo Ming Chen was no doubt at the very top, and sitting around him were people related to those with the highest status of power and money.
This was a circle of people you cannot even try to enter.

Within the back row that sat these very people, some were sleeping, some were on their phones.
They were totally ignoring Li Zhao, as if he was air.
But Lu Qi, because of his face and his demeanor, was like a magnet to all the women, catching their gazes.

To enter this university, you don’t have to be a good student.
A lot of those with a finance major come to the evening self-study period not to study but to hook up with girls.

To make sure that new students adapted to the university environment, during the first couple weeks, inspection was tight.
However, after a month, they wouldn’t be as strict anymore.

“Evening self-study period has started.
If you are concerned about your phone distracting you, you can temporarily hand over your phone and your battery chargers.”

With a stern face, Lu Qi used his own phone as an example.
You could say he was very emotionless, but no doubt this made him look cold hearted, making it hard for people to approach him.

When Lu Qi first entered the classroom, Huo Ming Chen had already spotted him.
This was the first time since that night they saw each other.
He chuckled softly, staring at Lu Qi with interest.
His phone was on the table and Huo Ming Chen kept playing with it, turning it in a circle over and over.
Lu Qi could not even pretend he did not see it.

Li Zhao was recording the details, and Lu Qi had a bag for the students to drop their phones in.
He walked from the first row to the last.
Mesmerized by his handsomeness, a few girls dropped their phones into the bag without thinking.

However near the end, the bag was still light with not a lot of phones.
Some had played dumb and pretended they did not bring their cellphones.
Lu Qi didn’t really care.
However many cellphones they collect will be how many they received.

The classroom had been very quiet until Lu Qi came up to and knocked lightly on Huo Ming Chen’s desk,

“Hey student, please hand in your phone.”

Everyone turned to look at Lu Qi as he said that.
Cheng Tian Yao looked on in glee as if it was a tv show in front of him, and said to Fang Qi,

“Wow, this one is brave.
Another daring stickler for the rules.”

For him to be so concerned about Huo Ming Chen’s phone, and none of the other students, didn’t this mean he was purposefully trying to attract his attention?

Huo Ming Chen also thought the same way.
He stared at Lu Qi, thinking that there were too many things to do these couple of days, so he never found the time to find Lu Qi.

He slowly leaned back, with a contemplative look on his face.
Just as the others thought Huo Ming Chen would not give up his phone, he moved.
Before everyone’s piercing gaze, he dropped his phone into the bag.

No matter if Lu Qi came up to him with the purpose to make sure that he would not forget about Lu Qi or that Lu Qi thought he could act in whatever way he wanted now that they were together, in front of so many people, Huo Ming Chen decided he would protect Lu Qi’s dignity.

They can fight or curse each other behind closed doors, but they won’t put a show for other people to watch.
This was how he lived.

As it was a new school term with a new influx of students, that meant there would be seniors graduating, seniors with positions of power.
The department heads would be changing to fresh faces.
Those who finally get into a position of power would need to produce some results that show that they were fit for their positions.

Lu Qi remembered at this time in his past life, tonight there would be a group of leaders doing a sudden inspection.
Those who did not hand in their phones had their points deducted, and it would be added to their student file.

Although it’s not really a huge matter in the grand scheme of things, it was still not a good reflection on your records.
The Huo family has a lot of influence and clout, but that does not mean Huo Ming Chen can act carelessly.
In fact, it was the opposite.
Because with this kind of family, they have a lot more strict rules than the average household.

If Huo Ming Chen’s grandfather knew he was horsing around at school, his grandfather would be the first in line to beat him until his entire body had regenerated new skin cells.

Lu Qi purely had a moment where his tiny little piece of conscience came alive, and decided to remind Huo Ming Chen.
If Huo Ming Chen did not voluntarily hand over his phone, he wouldn’t have done anything else.
It didn’t really matter to him.

He hung up the bag with the phones by the wall, and stood along the back with Li Zhao.
One looked at the right side of the classroom and the other to the left to make sure the students were studying.
There were a few girls near the back rows that kept sneaking a peek at Lu Qi.
Every minute they would turn their heads, and they were more precise than an alarm clock.
Li Zhao was really scared they would snap their heads off given the frequency of turning.

“Ah, the hottest girl in the finance major, He Jia, has been giving you some looks.”

Li Zhao whispered to Lu Qi before leaving his spot, heading to walk around the classroom to check up on the other students.
Li Zhao lamented why his parents did not give birth to a more handsome son.

He Jia was not as shy as other girls.
She had beautiful long hazy blue hair, and she was confident.
She was rumored to be mixed hence she had an attractive face, and an even more fiery hot body.
By the end of the first day of school, she was already crowned the title of beauty queen in the finance department.

She seemed to be interested in Lu Qi, as she gave him a few head turns and glances.
Unfortunately for her, Lu Qi did not even move.
He was looking at the classroom as if it was a picture that he had and did not care for, as if he was a frozen mountain.

However, this kind of demeanor can easily entice women to try to conquer him.
She focused on scribbling something on her notebook, and then tore the corner off.
When no one was noticing, she scrunched it up and tossed it towards Lu Qi.

He Jia thought her actions were not seen by anyone, but did not realize that everything was being played out in Huo Ming Chen’s field of view.
His hand that was lying on the desk slowly made a fist, and his eyes narrowed dangerously.
He did not do anything else however — he wanted to see what Lu Qi would do.

Was he going to accept the invitation from a beautiful woman, or ……

‘Tup.’

Lu Qi did not even look, and kicked the ball of paper into a nearby dustpan.
Huo Ming Chen could not have even imagined that kind of conclusion.

He Jia’s eyes widened in shock, unable to believe that there would be a guy out there that could reject her.
She found a perfect match, and he rejected her.
This gave her a very big shock, and she pursed her lips.
Then turned back to face the front, holding her shoulders high and her back straight.
She did not look back once after that for the entire study period.

The author has something to say:
Beauty Queen: There’s a man that could reject me????
Author (nibbling on melon seeds*): Men won’t, but homosexuals will.

Notes:
*it’s the equivalent expression in english for “let me grab some popcorn” – literally as like grabbing/eating some popcorn for this show/drama that I’m watching (right now or right after this) and more figuratively, there’s a delicious sense of drama coming here and I want to be here to watch it from the beginning to the end.
In this case, that fits more into the culture’s taste, melon seeds.