Shen Yu had stubbornly refused to let him leave empty-handed. The dramatic designer had insisted on packing up every single outfit Yan Shou had tried on, piling them into the bags alongside an excessive array of high-end skincare products. When Yan Shou had tried to politely decline the absurdly generous gifts, Shen Yu had simply waved a dismissive, perfectly manicured hand.

"Just take it!" Shen Yu had countered with a wicked, teasing smirk. "And if anyone asks where you got all this from just tell them that your rumored 'sugar daddy' bought it all for you." Shen Yu said with a wink. 

So, in the end, Yan Shou was left with no choice but to accept.

He dumped the haul onto his small bed, looking at the mountain of designer clothes, bespoke shoes, rare jewelry, and luxury skincare formulas. Collectively, the items piled on his mattress were worth millions—a literal fortune sitting in the university dorm room.

Yan Shou leaned against his desk, staring at the luxury labels with a slow smile that was forming onto his face. He then looked at himself in front of the wardrobe mirror. He had the perfect look, a flawless radiant complexion, and an armor of untouchable luxury.

The weekend gala was fast approaching, and the Yan family had absolutely no idea what was about to hit them.

It took Yan Shou several hours of hard work to properly arrange everything into his wardrobe. After finally finishing the task, he went straight to sleep, he was far too exhausted to study anything right after all the hard work.

The next morning, he woke up early, got ready, and headed straight out toward the university. On the way, he grabbed breakfast as usual and made his way to the classroom.

He took his usual seat and started reviewing the topics they had covered in the previous class. A few minutes later, other students began trickling into the room. With exactly two minutes left before the lecture started, Lin XiaoXi burst through the door, huffing and puffing as he tried to catch his breath.

"Good morning," Lin XiaoXi said with a bright and sweet smile across his face. "Oh wow! I didn't even recognize you at first glance! You look absolutely stunning today. That can only mean one thing: you met Shen Yu yesterday."

"Oh, yes," Yan Shou said, glancing down at his wristwatch. "Wow, you couldn't be any more late than this, could you?" Yan Shou retorted.

"Hey! Hey! Don't start scolding me like my mom first thing in the morning. I was totally exhausted from practice yesterday," Lin XiaoXi pleaded.

Yan Shou laughed at his friend's puppy-like pleading and turned his attention back to the front of the class. Because the monthly exams were approaching, everyone else was stressed out. But not Yan Shou and Lin XiaoXi. Since both of them had been studying continuously, they knew exactly what they needed to do. Just two top students, completely at ease.

Once the class finished, they made their way toward the cafeteria together, happily chatting along the way.

"Oh! By the way, you met Shen Yu yesterday and he must have helped you choose a dress for the weekend event. How was it?" Lin XiaoXi asked.

"No doubt about it. He is actually a great designer," Yan Shou replied. "His designs were absolutely amazing; even I was shocked when I looked at myself in the mirror. He even gave me a new haircut. I was totally satisfied and stunned at the same time.”

"I wasn't talking about the clothes in the first place. I know he is a total genius in making clothes. I was talking about him. How was it? Your first meeting."

Just thinking about it made Yan Shou laugh to himself before turning back to answer Lin XiaoXi. "He practically kidnapped me, but I can't prove it," Yan Shou answered.

"I expected nothing less from him," Lin XiaoXi said, shaking his head. "He is always like this. But from how much I've known him since childhood, I can say one thing for sure: remember that everything he does always has a deeper meaning than what we can see on the surface.

He has always been like that since we were kids. Whatever he does, he always thinks about it twice before acting, and there is always a hidden meaning behind it.”

After saying this, Lin XiaoXi went straight toward the food counter to choose his lunch, but Yan Shou went silent. Yan Shou had known from the start that Shen Yu was no easy character, but hearing Lin XiaoXi's words just now caused a sudden thought to cross his mind.

‘There must be a deeper meaning behind why Shen Yu chose to kidnap me like that.’ He could have simply called him straight to the showroom or invited him along with Lin XiaoXi, yet he chose this dramatic method specifically in Lin XiaoXi's absence. But right now, Yan Shou couldn't think of any particular reason behind it. Since Shen Yu clearly didn't mean to harm him—he could genuinely feel that much—there was no use stressing over it.

So, in the end, Yan Shou just sighed to himself and let it go. Even if Shen Yu was planning something, he would just let it unfold.

Yan Shou walked over to the food counter, grabbed his lunch tray, and headed straight toward Lin XiaoXi, who had already secured an empty table for them. Yan Shou sat down, and they both started eating.

As they were enjoying their meal, someone unexpectedly joined them, sliding into a seat at their table.

“Oh wow, look who has graced us with their presence today. Our resident genius designer,” Lin XiaoXi said, playfully elbowing Shen Yu.

“Stop playing around and eat your food in silence for once,” Shen Yu retorted smoothly, taking a neat bite of his lunch.

“But why did you come to campus today? I rarely ever see you at the university,” Yan Shou asked, genuinely curious.

“Actually, he does come to university, but he never goes anywhere else—just straight to his classes and then straight back to his showroom. But because he had to finish some work out of town, he was absent for a whole month,” Lin XiaoXi explained, while Shen Yu continued to eat his food in elegant silence. “Don't pay him much mind, he is just like that. He only talks when he feels like it.”

Yan Shou nodded and returned to his meal. He and Lin XiaoXi continued to make small talk as they ate, while Shen Yu listened to their conversation carefully, his dark eyes observing them.

While their peaceful lunch was still going on, someone suddenly slammed a basketball hard onto their table, making both Yan Shou and Lin XiaoXi flinch in shock.

“Yo! Look who it is. Isn't this that child of a mistress, who just happened to get a little money to change his hairstyle?” a heavily built boy said as he approached their table. He leaned down, staring directly at Yan Shou with a mocking sneer. “What? You think just by changing your haircut you suddenly become handsome? Wake up, country bumpkin. You can never stand on the same level as us.”

Yan Shou calmly studied the figure in front of him. This was Gao Peng, one of the most notorious bullies and playboys at the university. Because his father had an immense amount of influence and was one of the wealthiest businessmen around, Gao Peng felt he had absolutely nothing to fear.

He was thoroughly used to bullying other people, and his family's status ensured he never got into trouble for it. But most importantly, Yan Shou knew that Gao Peng was one of Haotian’s closest friends. He must have come here the second he learned that Haotian was losing his precious car, completely determined to take revenge on Yan Shou.

Yan Shou stayed silent for a second, then turned to look at the other two people at the table. Lin XiaoXi shrugged, then looked at Shen Yu, who was sipping his cold drink luxuriously. Shen Yu just gave a slight nod back to Lin XiaoXi.

“Hmm, do you have something to say to Shou?” Lin XiaoXi asked innocently, offering a sweet smile.

Gao Peng turned his attention toward Lin XiaoXi, then frowned upon noticing Shen Yu as well. “You two are also here? I didn't even see you guys.”

“Then I think you should go check your eyes at the doctor,” Lin XiaoXi said smoothly. Yan Shou almost choked on his food and started coughing. Shen Yu calmly passed him a glass of water, which Yan Shou quickly drank. Lin XiaoXi was someone who was simply too blunt, he never hesitated before saying exactly what was on his mind. Too innocent for this world, yet completely deadly.

Gao Peng’s face instantly changed color. “What did you say?!”

Lin XiaoXi looked up at him. “I mean, we were practically sitting right here the whole time, but you still didn't notice us. That’s why.”

Gao Peng forced himself to calm down, then scoffed. “Maybe it's because I think whoever sits with this bumpkin is just as useless as him, so I never bother to look around him.” Gao Peng smirked, trying to provoke a reaction from the three of them. But none of them even flinched, and Lin XiaoXi only offered a simple response.

“Oh.”

This completely infuriated Gao Peng, who slammed the basketball down onto the table once again. The sudden impact caused a cup of juice to tip over, splashing sticky liquid right over Shen Yu’s hand.

Shen Yu looked down at his wet hand, then slowly and meticulously took out a tissue to wipe it clean. Seeing this, Lin XiaoXi quickly popped the straw of his cold drink back into his mouth and muttered quietly to himself:

“Uh oh. A disaster.”