Chapter 12

Chapter 12

"This is a meet-and-greet gift for everyone," Qi Muyao said as the servants handed out the gift bags, even placing one on the desk of the roommate who hadn’t shown up yet.

Huang Shaoze wanted to politely decline, but Qi Yuanhan opened his and saw a designer watch worth at least fifty to sixty grand. He nudged Huang Shaoze with his elbow, giving him a meaningful look, then pulled him aside and whispered, "This guy must be a handful, right? Why else would he give us gifts right off the bat? Does he expect us to deal with his crap for four years?"

With that, Qi Yuanhan refused the gift and handed it back. "No thanks. We’re all roommates. As long as we get along and help each other out, there won’t be any issues." There was an unspoken implication—if this rich kid turned out to be difficult, Qi Yuanhan wouldn’t hold back.

Huang Shaoze, though from a poor rural background, shared a similar stance—he didn’t believe in accepting unearned favors, let alone a gift worth tens of thousands. "You’re too kind. We’re roommates and classmates—of course we’ll help each other out." He backed up Qi Yuanhan’s words.

Qi Muyao didn’t take the gifts back. "I’ll let you guys settle in," he said before calling out to the person on the balcony.

Qi Yuanhan watched as the trust fund baby walked in from the balcony of their four-person dorm. The young man barely glanced at the freshly cleaned room, the neatly made bed, or the towering stack of textbooks—twice as tall as a person—arranged meticulously on the bookshelf.

Qi Muyao asked him, "Is everything set up to your liking?" The rich kid said nothing and simply followed Qi Muyao out. The whole entourage—over a dozen maids and nearly ten bodyguards—disappeared from Room 413 in a flash.

"That guy’s definitely going to be a pain to live with!" Qi Yuanhan wanted to throw the watch away, but after some thought, he figured if the guy really caused trouble, keeping it as pain and suffering pay wouldn’t be unreasonable. He stuffed it in his pocket, still bitching.

Afterward, he circled the rich kid’s bed, wardrobe, and desk, inspecting everything—all high-end brands.

Huang Shaoze didn’t recognize the brands, but seeing Qi Yuanhan freeze in awe, muttering names like Balenciaga, Versace, and Burberry, he finally scoffed, "...Since when do trust fund babies actually go to class?"

Once they left, students from neighboring dorms came pouring in to rubberneck. Some even schooled the clueless ones on the brands.

"That guy’s your roommate? I heard from Dong that he arrived in seven or eight Rolls-Royces! Is his dad the governor or what?"

Qi Yuanhan snorted. "The guy who brought him was young—no way that’s a butler."

"No way that’s a butler. Have you ever seen a butler that young and commanding?" Du Fengping from Room 415 leaned in. "He looks familiar—I think I’ve seen him in Forbes or some shit."

"Who do you think you’ve seen? Financial magazines don’t feature people that young," Qi Yuanhan retorted as he tucked the watch away. "Alright, quit staring. You only show up after they’re gone—why didn’t you come in and ask questions earlier?"

The comment drew laughter from the neighboring dormmates. Someone teased Huang Shaoze, "A’Ze, you’re babysitting royalty for the next four years." Their clinical medicine program was a five-year undergraduate course.

"Piss off," Huang Shaoze snapped, annoyed by the teasing.

"A real rich kid, huh? Over a dozen attendants, not even counting the bodyguards. Dude might as well sleep on a pile of cash." Du Fengping ran a hand over the rich kid’s desk, then suddenly remembered, "Hey, where’s your boy Gu Jinglan at?"

If he were here, things would’ve been livelier.

"He’s not around. Gu’s got shit to do," Qi Yuanhan said, itching to shower after sweating through an afternoon of basketball. He shooed them out. "Alright, get lost. Back to your own dorms, go bother your own people."

After two waves of visitors came and went, Room 413 finally got some quiet.

Meanwhile, on campus, beneath the autumn sky and the shade of the plane trees, a small group strolled leisurely.

"Just leave," Qi Yanyu said for the second time.

"At least let Zhang Liu stay." Zhang Liu was Qi Yanyu’s longtime attendant, only about ten years older than him.

"No." What kind of independence would this be if he still had a caretaker? Qi Yanyu refused.

"I’ll lose my mind worrying about you alone like this." Qi Muyao couldn’t bear the thought of leaving him in a dorm where he’d only return home on weekends. If something happened—if he collapsed somewhere with no one around—who would help him?

"I’ve given you the freedom you wanted. Now, my conditions—"

Qi Yanyu slowly repeated Qi Muyao’s demands: "I’ll eat and take my medicine on time. I’ll go back for regular hospital check-ups."

"I’ll have Zhang Liu come every day to make sure you take your meds," Qi Muyao added.

"That's too much trouble."

"You've dumped so many meds before, and now you want to bargain with me?"

"..." His past mistakes were plentiful, forcing Qi Muyao to adopt a "measure for measure" approach to deal with him.

"You can come to watch me take my meds, but don’t interfere with my life or studies, and definitely don’t show up in front of my classmates."

"Fine," Qi Muyao nodded with a faint smile, glancing at the distant buildings. "Not going to invite me to try your university’s cafeteria?"

"Ordinary food probably isn’t good enough for you." The guy thought sarcastically.

Qi Muyao chuckled. If he still had the energy to snipe at him, it meant his mood wasn’t too bad.

Qi Yanyu’s mood finally lightened a bit, unburdened.

As if he had put in some effort, moving the story forward a little faster.

He remembered a passage in the original story where he returned to university only to be bullied by teachers, classmates, and clubs.

Once he finished all the plotlines, it should be over. Getting a head start on the university arc wouldn’t hurt.

It wasn’t like he hadn’t tried to end it all and skip the plot.

During his half-year stay in a hotel, he once swallowed all his meds in one night, only to be discovered by a cleaning lady and rushed to the hospital for stomach pumping.

He also tried saving a young suicide victim, letting himself sink underwater without struggling, only to be rescued by a kind-hearted couple.

His character in the book was weirdly unkillable.

Dorm 413 hadn’t seen Qi Yanyu move in yet, assuming he wasn’t planning to live there.

Until two days later, on Sunday night, when they had to attend the mandatory roll-call meeting led by their class monitor.

Seated in the tiered lecture hall that could hold over 300 people, as Qi Yuanhan lazily remarked—"The crown prince gracing us with his presence? Yeah, right"—Huang Shaoze hesitated, then said, "It wouldn’t look good if he gets reported to the homeroom teacher for missing the first mandatory meeting of the semester. Let’s notify him. Whether he comes or not is his problem, but at least we warned him."

"You’re really his nanny," Qi Yuanhan teased. Truly, once you take favors, you owe favors. He didn’t want to spend four years babysitting this spoiled brat.

"Shut up." Huang Shaoze made the call. Luckily, he had noted down the prince’s number that Friday.

The call connected. "Hello, Qi... uh..." What was his name again? "Qi... classmate, it’s your roommate. There’s a grade-wide meeting, in Building 19, Room 1130."

A quiet voice replied, uttering a simple "Oh." Could’ve been either.

Huang Shaoze felt awkward. "Hurry up, the monitor’s taking roll." Their monitor was strict and hated slackers.

Another monosyllabic sound came through, leaving Huang Shaoze clueless about the tone.

Truly, a crown prince was a crown prince.

Guess we’re all just his servants. The saying didn’t lie.

Huang Shaoze regretted calling. As soon as he hung up, Qi Yuanhan laughed at him. "Look at you—the crown prince isn’t worried, but the eunuch is."

"You traitorous mutt, taking money without doing the job—" Huang Shaoze and Qi Yuanhan tussled half-heartedly, their minor scuffle drowned out as scattered chatter merged into a sudden collective noise.

"It’s Gu." Qi Yuanhan immediately straightened up—no, actually stood to greet him, though the man was still signing in at the front row.

Gu Jinglan walked up and saw his roommates had saved him a spot.

There was still an empty seat beside him, clearly because Qi Yuanhan didn't want to sit next to the Crown Prince. Odds were, the Crown Prince wouldn’t even show up to the meeting.

"Who’s that for? Your girlfriend? Holding two seats?"

"No way, I’m not that blessed. It’s Huang Shaoze’s girlfriend." Qi Yuanhan chuckled as Gu Jinglan took his seat. "Where’s his girlfriend, then?"

"New roommate. This seat’s for the new roommate." Huang Shaoze didn’t dare gossip about the Crown Prince behind his back.

"Your girlfriend’s here." A while later, Qi Yuanhan looked up from his mind-numbing immunology text and spotted a familiar figure. He teased Huang Shaoze.

Huang Shaoze quickly waved. The person signed in and walked up, stopping in front of their dorm group’s seats. Seeing that only the spot next to Gu Jinglan was left, he squeezed in and sat down.

All the medical students had stacks of books in hand, scribbling notes while half-listening to the speaker’s droning, recycled platitudes. Only Qi Yanyu hadn’t brought a single book.

Qi Yuanhan silently scoffed: *How does this Crown Prince think he can be a doctor? Is he even qualified? Or is he just planning to skate by, get assigned to some top-tier hospital, and gamble with patients’ lives? Then again, he’s probably just here for the degree before taking over the family business—maybe sleeping with a few pretty drug reps on the side.*

Each dorm group sat together as a unit, taking photos to send to the class monitor, who’d compile them for the counselor. He and Gu Jinglan sat together. He hadn’t met Gu Jinglan before, but he didn’t bother sizing him up either. His social circle wasn’t lacking in handsome men—Qi Yanyu had no shortage of admirers.

Naturally, Gu Jinglan wasn’t interested in him either, didn’t exchange so much as a word the entire time.

Qi Yanyu listened half-heartedly to the speaker’s long-winded, outdated rhetoric. Before long, his eyelids drooped as he scrolled through his phone.

Qi Yuanhan occasionally glanced at the Crown Prince, surprised to see him actually playing on his phone.

Qi Yanyu noticed a new message from Qi Muyao: *"Where are you? What are you doing? Have you eaten?"*

He snapped a photo of the meeting and sent it back.

Soon after, the hand propping his chin slipped, and the person face-planted on the desk—out cold. Motionless. For two whole hours, his posture didn’t change a bit. *How can someone pass out like that?* It almost looked like he was dead.

Huang Shaoze gawked. He’d worked hard, enduring hardships to get into the prestigious Kanbei University Medical School. Most people around him were small-town overachievers—none like this pampered heir.