Chapter 2, Chapter Two: Merchant Baby

Lu Shangyan silently took back his two hundred yuan, lowered his eyelashes, and said with a hint of frustration, "If you feel it's really not enough, could you wait a bit? I'll give it to you as soon as I get paid from my part-time job."

"But my part-time salary isn't much, so I might have to pay you in installments. If you're worried, I can give you an IOU."

Lu Shangyan felt that he was probably the only one who could afford to sleep with a man on installment.

Pei Yumin hugged his leg, and although she had been tempted to sneak a few rubs against him, she felt a pang of sadness upon hearing his words, and she entered a state of complete enlightenment.

He said even more firmly, "I don't want money, I just want you to take responsibility for me."

As long as Lu Shangyan takes responsibility for him and stays with him, he won't have to live such a hard life.

Lu Shangyan frowned slightly, somewhat helplessly: "You really are strange."

Pei Yumin hugged his legs and started arching upwards, almost knocking him back onto the bed.

It looked just like a large dog, the kind that couldn't understand human speech.

Annoyed by his teasing, Lu Shangyan pressed down on his head and asked sincerely, "When you were a child, if you had a fever, did you like to sneak off to see the vet?"

Pei Yumin actually started to think about it.

Seeing his expression, Lu Shangyan couldn't help but ask, "How much is it exactly? If it's really too much, I'll give you an extra fifty so you can buy two bottles of brain tonic."

Pei Yumin sensed that his patience was running out: "Let's add each other as friends first, and we can talk about this in detail later."

Lu Shangyan thought he wanted to talk about money, so he responded and turned around to touch his bomb machine.

Both the screen and the back cover cracked in their own ways; even pressing a key on the keyboard that lights up the screen causes it to flicker twice.

Even so, Lu Shangyan still carefully put a beautiful phone case on his phone and was extremely careful when pressing the keys with his fingers.

Pei Yumin leaned over to take a look, but the QR code was completely illegible.

So I had no choice but to say, "Fine, why don't you scan me?"

Lu Shangyan said in a flat tone: "The camera is broken."

Pei Yumin paused for a few seconds before saying without changing his expression, "Then tell me your number."

In the end, we became friends.

While he was getting dressed, Pei Yumin sent Tang Suichen a screenshot of the message indicating that he had successfully added Tang Suichen as a friend.

[m: Chenzi, I've truly fallen in love this time.]

[m: You're good at hooking up with men, but this time I'm serious. You have to teach me how to win over a wife!]

He replied quickly.

[c flips the whole world: You two, one an S and one a M, the nature of your couple's online names is very clear.]

Pei Yumin was changing Lu Shangyan's nickname when she saw this message. She immediately deleted all the "Shangshang Baby/Heart" she had typed and changed it to "s Baby".

At that moment, Lu Shangyan had just changed his clothes and happened to see his screen.

He said in a calm voice, "I'm not a slut."

Pei Yumin: "..."

Pei Yumin felt inexplicably guilty and put his phone away, while Lu Shangyan noticed his shiny phone case again, along with a fruit logo.

I thought of my phone, which was wrapped in several layers of packaging in my pocket and was about to fall apart.

He couldn't help but ask, "Does everyone in your line of work make this much money?"

It took Pei Yumin a while to realize: "I really don't sell myself. I just accidentally got caught up in this with you yesterday."

He was also afraid that Lu Shangyan still wouldn't believe him, and Pei Yumin, seeing how desperately poor he was, worried that one day he might actually go down this path.

After all, with Lu Shangyan's face, if he just stood there and offered to give someone a passionate kiss for money, there would probably be a long queue.

He gritted his teeth silently, and finally said, "I can help you find a part-time job."

He further assured, "It's absolutely a legitimate job!"

Lu Shangyan's probing gaze, full of deep meaning, instantly changed.

With bright eyes, she approached Pei Yumin: "Thank you so much! I'll treat you to a meal! An expensive one!"

Even before leaving, Lu Shangyan was still praising him with a cold face as a "great philanthropist" and "beautiful inside and out." Although his voice was mechanical and devoid of emotion, it still made Pei Yumin's face burn with embarrassment.

-

Before returning to school, Lu Shangyan went to the hospital for a full check-up. He walked a lot and his back and legs were sore and numb when he got to the dormitory.

I tried several times, but I still couldn't get my bottom onto the chair.

It stopped getting wet later, but it swelled up a lot.

He vaguely remembered the size of Pei Yumin in his palm, and even though both of them had lost their minds, there was no blood.

He didn't know whether to say Pei Yumin was skilled or to say that he himself was exceptionally gifted.

Just as he was thinking, Chen Shuo kicked his chair.

He wasn't sitting properly to begin with, and this time he fell directly to the ground, causing him to frown and gasp in pain.

This is a six-person dorm room, which is considered a mixed dorm. Two of my roommates had classes in the afternoon and weren't in the dorm.

There's another guy who's usually very low-profile; whenever Chen Shuo has a conflict with him, he immediately hides in a corner.

The rest were Chen Shuo, his little follower Liu Tong, and a student from another dormitory named Shi Qing.

Lu Shangyan glanced at them and stood up, supporting himself on the ground.

He didn't get along with these people, but they were still on good terms with each other on the surface.

But what happened last night clearly shows that Chen Shuo was the one leading the charge against him.

He wasn't stupid; he knew Chen Shuo had ulterior motives, and what happened yesterday had crossed his bottom line.

Lu Shangyan was no longer going to hold back, and said in an unfriendly tone: "If you don't have eyes, go to an ophthalmologist and get them fixed."

Chen Shuo, who had been laughing sarcastically, instantly became angry upon hearing these words.

She grabbed his collar and slammed him hard against the wardrobe behind him: "Say that again if you dare!"

Lu Shangyan stared directly at him: "A piece of trash who only dares to use underhanded tactics."

Chen Shuo gritted his teeth: "That's because you're a poor bastard. You're overjoyed with just two hundred yuan. I bet you'd be excited to eat two piles of shit if you took that money!"

Without further hesitation, Lu Shangyan punched him hard, and Chen Shuo stumbled back a few steps and crashed into the table.

Half of his face was numb and painful, especially after being beaten in front of his underlings, he felt so ashamed that his face turned red.

Lu Shangyan rolled his eyes at him, picked up his clothes, and planned to go to the bathroom to take a shower, while also secretly rubbing his sore back so that he wouldn't be unable to fight later.

Chen Shuo stepped in front of him first: "You're gay, what if you bring back some kind of venereal disease? You don't deserve to live here anymore."

His underling, who was standing next to him, finally reacted and snatched the towel from his hand, throwing it on the ground.

"You shouldn't use the bathroom. Who knows what kind of shady things you might do in there?"

"We're all straight men, this is disgusting. You'd better get out of here."

Lu Shangyan glanced around and said, "I've paid for the accommodation. If you don't want to stay, you can move out yourselves."

He just threw a punch, and his anger has mostly subsided.

More importantly, he was afraid that Chen Shuo would hold a grudge against the punch and make him pay for it if they really got into an argument, which he couldn't afford.

He lowered his head and tried to walk around it.

Seeing him like this, and having just lost face again, Chen Shuo grabbed his collar and pushed him out of the dormitory.

His back hit the wall, pulling at the aching parts of his body, and his legs buckled, causing him to kneel on the ground.

Shi Qing pulled Chen Shuo back before he could add insult to injury: "Brother Shuo, is he trying to extort money from us?"

Chen Shuo felt a pang of anxiety when he saw Lu Shangyan fall to the ground.

But he quickly took out his phone and started recording a video: "He wasn't beaten so badly he couldn't stand up, he was clearly exhausted from having sex with a man last night!"

"Look at the marks on his body, you can imagine how wild he was last night!"

Lu Shangyan looked up and found that Chen Shuo was already standing in front of him with his phone in hand.

They just slapped his face like that.

She was still cursing, "You're so dependent on men, do you expect me to beg him to sleep with you?"

Lu Shangyan tightened his collar and shoved him.

The fear he had felt years ago when he was forced to face a camera resurfaced at this moment. He broke out in a cold sweat, felt dizzy, and with red eyes and trembling hands, pushed the person away, shouting, "Get out!"

At this time of day, many people are resting in their dormitories.

Hearing the commotion outside, they all ran out to watch. There were quite a few people, and when they saw Chen Shuo taking pictures with his phone, they followed suit.

Lu Shangyan's breathing became more and more rapid, and he propped himself up to hide.

But Chen Shuo grabbed his shoulder first: "No wonder I always disliked you, turns out you have a disgusting aura about you!"

-

Meanwhile, Pei Yumin was still basking in the happiness of exchanging contact information with Lu Shangyan after a wonderful night together.

Not long after Lu Shangyan left, he immediately called Tang Suichen.

They openly and secretly boasted that Lu Shangyan was very gentle, and that they themselves had no money but still gave him money to pay for his medical treatment.

Tang Suichen sarcastically remarked, "He probably really thinks you're mentally ill."

But Pei Yumin kept saying he didn't understand, and then for the umpteenth time boasted that he and Lu Shangyan had matching online names: "Isn't this fate?"

Tang Suichen couldn't listen to it anymore; it was incredibly annoying. In less than an hour, he already regretted telling Pei Yumin about his discovery.

But then she remembered something else and asked him with a cold laugh, "You're happy, but your little merchant might not be."

"Do you know that the video and photos of you hugging Lu Shangyan yesterday, and your heroic rescue of the damsel in distress instead of the commander, are going viral at Z University?"

The phone vibrated a few times.

Pei Yumin saw the photos and videos he forwarded.

But after seeing it, I couldn't help but laugh out loud: "Didn't you notice how cute Shangshang looked when she was snuggled up in my arms and being held by me?"

"And this photo of our backs, don't you think that just from our backs, Shangshang and I are already a match made in heaven?"

Tang Suichen was utterly speechless.

She snorted coldly: "I don't know if Lu Shangyan is a good match for you, but I do know that if you don't deal with this matter soon, his reputation will be ruined and he'll be expelled from school."

Pei Yumin paused, his hand still holding the photo: "What do you mean by that?"

Tang Suichen said, "I recently met a young boy. He and Lu Shangyan both went to Z University. We were about to break up, but he kept sending me messages to find topics to talk about."

“The video captured me for a few seconds, and he sent it to me asking what happened. He also said that Lu Shangyan had messed with the wrong person this time. The person who caused the trouble was named Chen Shuo, who had a relative at Z University. He was so arrogant because he had someone backing him up that he wanted to act like he owned the place.”

"These photos and videos were posted by Chen Shuo, and the insults were really nasty. If you don't help him, Lu Shangyan definitely won't be able to make a living. I heard he's quite poor, and it wasn't easy for him to get into Z University. If you get expelled because of you, you'll probably never have a good impression of him for the rest of your life."

Before he could finish speaking, Pei Yumin hung up the phone, grabbed his crumpled coat, and ran outside.

I called the principal on the way and asked him to help me handle the messages on the school's official website and forum.

Principal Guo was still confused, but this was Pei Yumin's "request," and the order was issued before anything was understood.

After arriving at the school, Pei Yumin followed the dormitory number that Tang Suichen had tricked her into giving him during a date, and rushed all the way to the fifth floor.

As soon as I stepped off the stairs and into the corridor, I saw a large group of people craning their necks to look outside.

Then Lu Shangyan kicked Chen Shuo, sending him sliding several meters to the ground.

Shi Qing and Liu Tong rushed forward to stop them, but after taking only two steps forward, they dared not go any further.

Pei Yumin breathed a sigh of relief and slowed his pace forward, thinking that this fiery hot pepper didn't need his protection at all, and he wouldn't suffer any losses.

Lu Shangyan squatted down next to Chen Shuo and took the phone from his hand.

He originally intended to delete the videos from last night and the ones he had just taken, but unexpectedly found other videos on his phone.

One glance was enough to make his eyes turn red with anger. He threw another punch, gritting his teeth as he said, "When did you sneak into the bathroom to take these pictures?! Aren't you a pervert?!"

A note from the author:

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