Chapter 75

Chapter 75

Du Danren was recovering well. Tian Ruan sat briefly in the hospital room, then went to visit Sha Meijuan before returning home for dinner.

He was so fast that by the time he arrived back at the estate, Yu Shang had just finished showering and was getting ready to go with them to the hospital.

Tian Ruan: "Both your dad and I are back already."

Yu Shang: "What?"

Yu Jingmo shook his head. "If you were this slow when chasing your partner, they would've ditched you ages ago."

Yu Shang: "..."

Early the next morning, Tian Ruan painfully dragged himself downstairs, his face scrunched up in pain—normally, his morning exercise consisted of just some walking or light jogging, but after two basketball games the previous afternoon, he hadn’t felt anything at the time. Now, his legs felt like they might give out, heavy and sore.

His awkward movements instantly drew the servants' stares—Good heavens, had the master made the madam unable to walk? What an animal!

The weird way he was moving also caught Yu Jingmo’s attention. "I told you to hit those muscles with the massage gun before bed. Did you?"

Tian Ruan: "...I thought I’d be fine."

At the same time, Yu Shang strolled over. Yu Jingmo used his son as a comparison. "Look at Yu Shang. How can your twig arms and legs compare to his?"

As the main protagonist, even after two basketball games, Yu Shang wasn’t even fazed.

Tian Ruan shot Yu Shang a jealous glare.

Yu Shang: "...What does this have to do with me?"

Despite his discomfort, Tian Ruan insisted on walking some of the way to school. Muscle soreness from lactic acid buildup could only be alleviated through rest, easy movement, or a massage to speed up metabolism.

Yu Jingmo watched him hobble along. "Deyin has a spa room. You can get a massage during your lunch break."

Tian Ruan: "It’s not a big deal. I’ll walk it out."

That youthful stubbornness. Yu Jingmo said as usual, "I’ll pick you up after school."

Tian Ruan waved goodbye.

About four or five minutes later, a bicycle bell jingled. Tian Ruan turned to see Lu Qiuyan speeding toward him on a classic cruiser bike. The bike screeched to a halt as Lu Qiuyan put his feet down beside him.

"I saw you limping from way down the street. Why are you walking to school?" Lu Qiuyan asked.

Tian Ruan’s gaze dropped to Lu Qiuyan’s long legs. "Your legs don’t hurt?"

"Just two games. Why would they hurt?" This level of exercise was nothing to Lu Qiuyan—his usual fights were far more intense.

"..." Was this some main character privilege? No leg pain after exercise?

With legs aching and a mood dark enough to destroy the world, Tian Ruan painfully dragged himself to Deyin.

The incident of Deyin's original basketball team all coming down with food poisoning had already been investigated. Director Hu was ranting over the PA system—the disciplinary actions against the students from No. 2 High School would be finalized within three days.

Don’t underestimate high school disciplinary records. A black mark like this in their files would practically eliminate their chances of future civil service exams.

Tian Ruan quickly forgot about this minor episode. He had other things to focus on, frequently checking his phone for messages from "Soybean Classmate" and engaging in a secret back-and-forth.

In just half a day, things rapidly progressed in the direction he had anticipated.

During the afternoon free activity period, the student council routinely consolidated the week’s affairs, handing out punishments and deducting points as necessary.

At the conference table, Yu Shang said to Xie Tangyan, "Call Zhu Zhizhi, the head of the literature club."

But Tian Ruan interjected, "No need—I’ll get her to come to us on her own."

Xie Tangyan asked, "How? That girl’s a ghost—she ditches class to wander around for 'inspiration.'"

Tian Ruan smiled faintly and calculated, "You can run, but you can’t hide. In an hour, I’ll have her bawling her eyes out, begging for mercy."

"...That’s too harsh, isn’t it?"

"If she admits her mistake, I’ll forgive her."

"You’re way too soft." Xie Tangyan knew Tian Ruan well enough—looks harmless but doesn’t mess around, never dragging things out. Yet he was also forgiving and not particularly scheming, though he had plenty of sneaky tricks.

Half an hour later, the entire literature club—except its leader—gathered in the student council, staring at Tian Ruan like he was a rockstar. Like they’d practiced it, they declared in unison, "We voluntarily nominate Tian as the new head of our literature club!"

Xie Tangyan’s jaw dropped. Tian Ruan had pulled a coup behind the scenes.

Tian Ruan neither accepted nor refused, only smiling in response.

Huang Dou then began notifying Zhu Zhizhi.

Zhu Zhizhi stormed in half an hour later, gaping at her traitorous members. "What are you doing? Rebelling?"

The members droned like robots, "We voluntarily nominate Tian as the new head of our literature club!"

Zhu Zhizhi shrieked, "I don’t agree!"

Huang Dou timidly said, "The club head is elected by the members. The literature club wants to follow talent—don’t be a sore loser, Zhu."

Zhu Zhizhi glared at Huang Dou. "So *you’re* the traitor, ‘Bean Boy’—you betrayed me first, didn’t you?"

Huang Dou replied, "There was never any contract between us. How is this betrayal?"

Furious, Zhu Zhizhi snapped and whacked him with her notebook. It fell to the floor, landing right at Xie Tangyan’s feet. She picked it up and flipped to a page—

*"The morning after the brother-in-law railroaded his little brother so thoroughly that he could hardly stand, the younger one still insisted on going to school. During class, he couldn’t help but relive everything from the night before..."*

The room went dead silent.

Xie Tangyan flung it away like it was radioactive. "What the actual *hell*?!"

Zhu Zhizhi dove to save her precious notebook. "My treasure!"

Tian Ruan stepped on it, glaring down at her, equal parts pissed and mortified. "You stalk me, and then you write this kind of smutty trash?"

Kneeling beside his foot, Zhu Zhizhi waved a desperate hand and looked up. "If you don’t identify with it, then it’s not about you."

"Rumors spread fast but are hard to clean up. You’re ruining my reputation, and you think you’re justified?"

Zhu Zhizhi faltered. "I only wrote it for myself—I wasn’t going to share it!"

Tian Ruan retorted, "Distributing pornography is illegal."

"I know! Just give me back my notebook, and I promise I won’t spread it."

Tian Ruan then barked at his lackey, "Huang Dou."

Huang Dou stepped forward, snatched the notebook from under Tian Ruan's foot, tore it in half with force, and handed it to the other members. Soon, shreds of paper littered the floor.

With her heart shattered, Zhu Zhizhi choked out, "My baby!" and knelt among the fragments, her eyes glazed over.

The members rained down the torn pieces over her head and body, as if in a stage play, with the spotlight shining on Zhu Zhizhi.

Prodigy, Zhu Zhizhi said with a low voice, "You're so lowdown."

Tian Ruan asked, "Will you admit your mistake?"

Zhu Zhizhi stubbornly refused, "I did nothing wrong!"

"..."

"Prodigy, you've broken my heart. I'm going to write you into an NC-17 fic."

Tian Ruan didn’t know what to say. "Whatever. Get lost. Stop following me."

Zhu Zhizhi parroted mechanically, "I'm going to write you into an NC-17 fic."

Tian Ruan replied, "Write it once, and I'll report it once."

Huang Dou hesitated and said to Tian Ruan, "Prez, she’s also a literature enthusiast. She’s contributed to the club. Are we really kicking her out like this?"

Tian Ruan said, "I’m driving her away from me, not the literature club. The notebook’s torn, and I got my payback. Do whatever you want. I won’t be the club leader anymore—I’ve got PTSD from this."

Huang Dou: "..."

Suddenly, Zhu Zhizhi jumped up from the shredded paper and let out a villainous laugh, "Did you really think this could defeat me? Hahaha, I’ve already backed up all my stroke-of-genius ideas on my computer. Did you really think I cared about just one notebook?"

Tian Ruan said casually, "If you’re talking about the computer in your classroom, it’s probably been wiped clean by now."

Zhu Zhizhi went statue-still.

Tian Ruan added, "Don’t worry, I had the tech squad save a backup of your homework. It won’t affect your studies."

Zhu Zhizhi trembled and took a step back. "You... you sneaky son of a—!"

Tian Ruan said with fake concern, "Classmate, hit the books. That’s what people our age should be doing."

Zhu Zhizhi full-on groveled. "Prodigy, please join the literature club."

Huang Dou and the other members echoed, "Prodigy, please join the literature club."

Tian Ruan: "?"

Xie Tangyan asked, "Did you all gang up to punk Tian Ruan?"

Tian Ruan: "..."

Zhu Zhizhi cackled, "I built this literature club from the ground up myself. Did you really think you could pull off a mutiny in one day without my tacit approval? Prodigy, how’d you like our little performance?"

Tian Ruan gave a thumbs-up. "You should go compete with the opera troupe."

Zhu Zhizhi said, "I originally wanted to start a drama club, but it was too much trouble—rehearsals and all. Writing novels is way more fun. Prodigy, as long as you join the literature club, you can pick any script you want. The opera troupe’s last performance, *Of Stars and Seas*, had my fingerprints all over it. Wasn’t it a huge success?"

Tian Ruan: "...So it was you."

"Of course it was me." Zhu Zhizhi beamed like the Cheshire Cat. "Your essays speak to my soul. Just looking at you sets my creativity on fire—you’re my muse."

Tian Ruan didn't feel worthy of being called a muse. "Maybe you should ask someone else."

Zhu Zhizhi sighed. "Let me cut to the chase. The province is about to host a reading event, open to all literature enthusiasts. It’s also a charity gathering to collect books for mountainous regions. Leaders from the provincial education bureau will attend—it’s a golden chance to make a name, both personally and for the literary club. If the Deyin Literary Society has a talent like you joining us, it’ll really shine."

Tian Ruan asked, "So what's this really about?"

"For the legacy of the literary club. I don’t want Deyin Literary Society to fade away after I graduate." Standing there in the mess, Zhu Zhizhi solemnly extended her hand to Tian Ruan. "Please save the literary club."

Swept up by her passion, Tian Ruan shook her hand and agreed without thinking. "Fine."

Zhu Zhizhi spun around in delight, hugging the other club members. "AHAHAHA! Finally tricked the genius into joining!"

Xie Tangyan crossed her arms, watching. "You’re so gullible."

Tian Ruan: "..."

Tricked into joining the literary club, Tian Ruan left school feeling in a bit of a funk. At the gate, he suddenly saw Wang Weiqi surrounded by seven or eight students wearing Second High uniforms. He immediately rushed over. "What's going on here?"

Wang Weiqi quickly hid behind Tian Ruan. Despite being much bigger, he trembled like a frightened bird. "Save me."

Tian Ruan's temper flared again. He glared at the bald leader. "What do you want with my classmate?"

The bald guy growled in a rough voice, staring intently at Wang Weiqi behind Tian Ruan. "I'm into him. He stole my heart."

Tian Ruan: "...What?"

Wang Weiqi was petrified.

The bald guy repeated, "I wanna date him. He stole my heart."

Tian Ruan: "............"

Tian Ruan stepped aside and said to Wang Weiqi, "Good luck with that."

Just then, Nan Mengyao happened to pass by, with a complicated expression. "Good luck with that."

Wang Weiqi panicked. "NOOOO!!"