Chapter 17

Chapter 17

The moment six o'clock hit, Nan Liujing was home on the dot.

As soon as he walked in, he saw Uncle Li waiting at the door with his head bowed, looking nothing like his usual self.

"Young Master... welcome home. Please allow me to help you change your c-clothes." He even stammered.

Nan Liujing looked him over. There was too much tension in the air today—it gave him a really bad feeling.

"Where's Shen Gali?" he asked in a low voice.

"M-Mr. Shen is still in the kitchen making dinner. And tonight's ingredients—he volunteered to go to the market himself." Uncle Li scrambled to say something nice for the kid. If he really pissed off the master, he'd probably be locked in the dark room again.

"Mr. Shen has never had to lift a finger since he was young, and this is his first time grocery shopping. He may not have experience, but his intentions are good."

Nan Liujing got it right away—Shen Gali had probably done something way off his usual script again.

As he was thinking it over, Shen Gali came out carrying a plate.

Nan Liujing and Uncle Li both widened their eyes at the same time, disbelief and unease written all over their faces.

He was wearing a light blue-gray sleeveless Lolita dress, the layers of lace like a fancy little cake. His bare arms were pale and slender, his shoulders round like jade.

Oh my god, he'd even put on white stockings to match the dress. As the hem swayed, the top of the stockings digging into his thighs was barely visible.

But the slippers on his feet really killed the vibe.

Nan Liujing frowned: *Is he trying to piss me off? He said he'd sooner die than wear this!*

It wasn't until Shen Gali set the plate on the table that Nan Liujing seemed to catch on to his little scheme.

On the porcelain plate, the macaroni was laid out in a long vertical line with three branches at the top, like a kid's clumsy drawing of a tree branch.

Nan Liujing looked up and caught Shen Gali's guilty gaze through his hanging bangs.

"What's this?" He raised his chin toward the plate.

Shen Gali: "Water spinach... pasta."

Uncle Li quickly jumped in to explain: "Mr. Shen misread the shopping list, so he bought pasta instead of water spinach... But he really tried. See, he at least remembered the 'hollow' part?"

Nan Liujing tapped the table expressionlessly. He turned his head, but his gaze snagged on those tantalizingly visible upper thighs.

*He really did put in the effort. To make up for his mistake, he arranged the pasta to look like water spinach, trying to pull a fast one.*

*And he even wore a dress.*

"And this too." Shen Gali brought out another soup bowl and lifted the lid. A sweet fragrance filled the air.

Nan Liujing leaned in for a look.

A bowl of clear water with one red date floating in it.

"And this is?"

Shen Gali: "Stewed pear with rock sugar. I didn't buy any pears. If you don't mind, I've got duck eggs."

As he spoke, he pulled a duck egg out of a small lace bag attached to the dress and cracked it on the table edge.

Nan Liujing gave him a cold stare. "What about the pan-fried mushrooms?"

Shen Gali scratched his cheek. "Bought the wrong thing too. If you don't mind, pan-fried pork tongue?"

Nan Liujing slowly closed his eyes, propping his tired head on his left fist.

*Water spinach, mushrooms, pears—even without a list, anyone with half a brain wouldn't mess that up. How could a grown man who went to school pull something like this?*

*It's almost like he's deliberately trying to provoke me. If I'm the one to bring up divorce, he can justifiably get a fat settlement and paint himself as the perfect victim.*

Nan Liujing stared at him, his eyes dark and unreadable.

*Shen Gali, who says you're not clever?*

On the other side, Shen Gali was thinking: *I swallowed my pride and put on this dress to make him happy. Can he please not take away my chance to line my own pockets... I mean, to buy groceries?*

Just putting on this complicated dress had worn him out—he kept wavering between "screw it" and "suck it up for the cash." He was already exhausted after slipping on the petticoat, so he had to crack open that luxury cemetery ad and breathe it in for an energy boost. Then he put on the outer dress and collapsed again, took another deep breath from the ad—

He'd worked so hard. Nan Liujing had better not be ungrateful.

"Thank you for your efforts." Unexpectedly, Nan Liujing softened his voice. "I'll leave tomorrow's grocery shopping to you as well."

*Trying to piss me off? He's not even close.*

*He wants to show off so bad? Fine, let everyone see his 'efforts.'*

A brilliant plan took shape in Nan Liujing's head.

But it was quickly replaced by the image of those pale, creamy thighs.

His Adam's apple moved as he looked away.

*

Meanwhile, on the Jinhai University campus forum—

"[2023 Jinhai University Admissions Promo Video Spokesperson Finals—vote now! Our spokesperson, our choice!]"

A post with a "HOT" tag was pinned at the top of the forum's front page.

Clicking in, the OP showed four colored name bars with the vote counts for each candidate, followed by their audition clips.

To keep it fair, the poster had anonymized the candidates with numbers. Voting closes at 8 a.m. tomorrow—winner takes all.

6F: [Voting for Lanqing. That guy is so hot and cute.]

8F: [Our Haiwei bro is great too! (drool) A sunny little hottie~ Everyone, give No. 2 a vote!]

12F: [Who said Jinhai is a genius paradise but a looks wasteland? Any one of these could debut as center.]

17F: [12F, you're right.]

33F: [Wait, who's contestant No. 4? Damn, he's stunning. He doesn't seem that into it, but that listless vibe is like a breath of fresh air. We have someone like this at our school?]

34F: [Same question about No. 4. That face is my type. Help, I'm the Impatient King.]

37F: [Hahahaha, people don't know Shen Gali? He's the one who just married that cripple. A real social butterfly, always playing around—until the cripple played him back.]

39F: [Damn, it's SJL. My bad, already voted for him. Can I undo it?]

44F: [I mean, Shen Gali is freaking gorgeous. When the sun hit him, it was stunning. He just gives off this whole 'peaceful times, beauty making things better' vibe. I still want to vote for him.]

57L: [Come on, we're selecting the spokesperson for the admissions video. The character image must be positive and uplifting. Shen Gali stands there—jeez, he didn't even finish his studies, ran off to get married, and married a twisted cripple. His own image isn't up to par either. If he can't even smile, what kind of spokesperson is he?]

58L: [Some girls are hilarious. Think carefully—when you're drooling over your boy Jiali, isn't he getting screwed by that cripple? Oh, forgot, it's a cripple, so that means getting it with silicone toys.]

61L: [58L, your words are awful. Did some riffraff from some third-rate school sneak in here? Who we like is none of your damn business.]

66L: [Forget it, let's be reasonable. Don't boss each other around—just vote for who you like.]

In dormitories, canteens, and libraries, students spread the word like wildfire, all glued to their phones watching the audition videos of each candidate.

Some showed great camera presence without any stage fright, striking classic poses while walking.

Others exuded an air of scholarly sophistication, perfectly fitting the scholarly atmosphere of a top-tier school.

Shen Gali's audition video seemed somewhat out of place—no obvious moves, no positivity—but when that perfect beam of sunlight fell across his face, illuminating his gentle, elegant eyes and defining every single eyelash, it felt like he was chosen by the gods. Everything around him faded into obscurity. Post-production effects were wasted on him.

Even though he was notorious, his looks seemed to serve as a get-out-of-jail-free card. The vote bar under his alias grew visibly at an astonishing pace, almost neck-and-neck with Shen Lanqing, who held the top spot.

If he couldn't widen the gap, being overtaken was only a matter of time.

So fans of each candidate worked through the night, making alt accounts, rallying their contacts, vowing to ensure their chosen one ended up in the admissions video.

The next morning, everyone risked dying of exhaustion to turn off their alarms, forcing themselves awake and dragging themselves to the forum to check the results.

Four name bars of varying lengths appeared. The bars for first and second place were almost even, but the precise numbers behind them brought devastating news:

First place—Shen Gali.

And he beat second-place Shen Lanqing by just one vote, while utterly crushing the other two candidates.

Instantly, posts popped up like mushrooms after rain.

"Who is Shen Lanqing? Who is Shen Gali? Do you really think this result is possible?"

"Vote rigging? Otherwise, why would it be SJL?"

"I suggest the moderator check every voting ID to see if there's any suspicion of cheating."

In everyone's eyes, Shen Lanqing was an exemplary student with excellent morals. If either of the other two had surpassed him, it might be acceptable. But Shen Gali—the one everyone saw as morally corrupt, low-quality, and frequently cutting class—narrowly beating someone nearly perfect?

Impossible. Absolutely impossible.

The moderator was happy to play along. When asked to check the IDs, they actually did.

The result blew their minds.

Among Shen Gali's voters, there was one with a username that was blatantly obvious: "Yu Yanxiang from Jinhai University"...

Yu Yanxiang was their president.

And it was definitely him, because back when the forum was created, the president posted a congratulatory thread. Just checking that username's post history proved it was him.

So, Shen Gali, don't even think about claiming you didn't hack an account and rig the votes! Otherwise, why would the president—a high-ranking official—have time to bother with such petty stuff?