ATLAS TRANSLATES

It was supposedly a friend’s birthday, though this “friend” was just someone who’d come along with Cheng Yi and they’d only met twice.

When Lu Jiaheng arrived, the atmosphere was already lively. The moment he walked in, Cheng Yi, who had been singing with his arm around a girl’s shoulders, immediately tumbled off the sofa and stared intently behind Lu Jiaheng.

No one was there.

Cheng Yi refused to give up, craning his neck to look outside.

Still nobody.

This was truly cosmic-level news – incredibly fresh. When Young Master Lu had warned them he might bring someone along, Cheng Yi took it as a hint and had healthily dismissed a group of long-legged beauties so they could have a wholesome evening of singing and drinking. But this guy showed up alone.

Cheng Yi looked at his expression again.

Instead of looking rejected as expected, it was rather peculiar.

As for how peculiar…

Cheng Yi narrowed his eyes and moved closer to him, hissing in confusion: “Why do you look so… girly?”

“…”

“Don’t know why, but there’s just this subtle feminine vibe.”

“?”

Cheng Yi stroked his chin: “Something seemed off when you brought back that pink water bottle last time. You’re not actually falling for someone, are you? Please don’t – Lin Baiyang’s ten years of dog life are in your hands.”

Lin Baiyang, sitting quietly and harmlessly eating someone’s birthday cake in the corner sofa booth by the door, happened to overhear their conversation. He raised his pinky finger and stabbed his plastic fork into the cake: “Cheng Yi, screw you.”

Cheng Yi was bewildered: “Why are you acting girly too?”

Lu Jiaheng was clearly not in the mood, couldn’t even be bothered to respond, and walked straight into the private room to the small sofa booth where Lin Baiyang was sitting.

They’d only known Lin Baiyang since university. Though they got along well, he was the type whose good character couldn’t be corrupted even if you tried – a hot-tempered pure boy who cursed like a sailor. When they went out, he would always quietly sit to the side, eating snacks and playing on his phone.

Today, Lu Jiaheng joined him.

The atmosphere was high in the semi-circular booths at the back of the room, with dice scattered on the floor and spilled alcohol. Someone called out to him when they saw him come in, but he barely acknowledged them. Like a doorkeeper, isolated from the world, he sat next to Lin Baiyang in the corner by the door, stretching out and crossing his long legs before taking out his phone.

Cheng Yi found this hard to accept.

He watched in disbelief as Young Master Lu borrowed an earbud from Young Master Lin beside him, plugged it into his phone and put it on. He lounged lazily in the small sofa with his legs crossed, stayed quiet for about half a minute, and then—

Showed a mysterious smile.

Cheng Yi seriously suspected he was listening to something dirty in public.

He circled around behind him and stuck his head near Lu Jiaheng’s neck, trying to peek at his phone screen: “Gotta share the good stuff, Brother Heng.”

The man reacted quickly, immediately flipping his phone face down and turning his head, pushing Cheng Yi’s forehead away with his hand: “Keep your distance.”

Cheng Yi struggled: “What’s the deal?”

“You crawled out of a pile of women? The perfume smell is making me want to vomit.”

Cheng Yi: “…”

As soon as Chu Zhi returned to the dorm, she was subjected to intense interrogation.

After living together for over ten days, the girls had already shared their shallow relationship histories during late-night talks. Lin Tong expressed her frustration: “How could you agree to go with him? He’s just a player! What’s there to talk about??”

The second roommate, Gu Han, was heartbroken: “You silly child, he says a few sweet words, shows some reform, brings you breakfast for a couple days, and you fall right back into his hands.”

The third roommate finally made a calm conclusion: “Comrade Chu Zhi, the organization is very disappointed in you.”

“…”

Chu Zhi struggled to explain: “We only dated for less than ten days, I didn’t have any feelings, and there’s nothing to avoid. Besides, we were classmates for three years.”

Gu Han’s eyes widened, completely unconvinced: “What if he takes you somewhere isolated and forces himself on you!”

Chu Zhi: “It’s fine, I studied karate for three years.”

Gu Han’s expression went from unexpected to admiring: “Wouldn’t have guessed, little Zhi.”

Chu Zhi grinned, showing her neat white teeth: “Still just a white belt though.”

Gu Han: “…”

Gu Han was a girl from Northeast China who liked to study things like tarot cards, astrology, and feng shui. Sometimes she would suddenly get inspired and mystically recite something to you.

Lin Tong didn’t believe in these things, and the third roommate Xue Niannan was a standard academic achiever – the type who would study for English tests while others played mobile games after military training. Gu Han’s only faithful fan was Chu Zhi.

At eleven-thirty at night, with the lights out and everyone on their beds playing with phones and chatting, Gu Han sat cross-legged on her bed with her phone flashlight on, peering through the hazy white mosquito net at Chu Zhi across from her, speaking mysteriously: “Want to know about your destiny with him? Tell me your names, like Guo Jing and Huang Rong, and I’ll immediately tell you how much destiny you two share.”

Chu Zhi was very nervous: “Me and Andy Lau.”

“…”

Gu Han: “Okay, your destiny index with Yin Mingshuo is zero, but judging by his face, he’s definitely an annoying pest who will stick to you persistently. He’s going to make his moves soon, starting with breakfast and ending with late-night snacks.”

Chu Zhi: “…”

Chu Zhi felt that Gu Han really had some skills, because the next morning, Yin Mingshuo really did appear.

She wasn’t fully awake yet, her military training uniform jacket unzipped as she tied her hair while following her roommates out of the dormitory building to buy breakfast and walk to the training field while eating.

She finished a red bean bun just as they reached the field. Chu Zhi had just opened her soy milk and taken a sip when she looked up and saw Yin Mingshuo standing at the field’s iron gate, holding a bag.

He wasn’t alone – there were two other male students with him, probably his roommates. When they saw Chu Zhi and her friends approach, they smiled in a way that made everyone uncomfortable.

Before Chu Zhi could react, Yin Mingshuo had already run over, smiling at her: “Morning.”

Chu Zhi still had soy milk in her mouth: “Mm, morning…”

“Already ate? Just drinking soy milk for breakfast won’t fill you up, you’ll be in the sun all morning. I bought you some preserved vegetable and shredded chicken porridge. There’s still some time before assembly, want to eat a bit first?”

Gu Han exchanged a look with Lin Tong, as if saying “What did I tell you?”

Lin Tong had an explosive personality – the self-igniting kind that didn’t need a spark. Without hesitation, she pulled Chu Zhi behind her, narrowed her eyes, radiating strong big sister energy: “Look, since you’ve broken up, stop bothering the girl, okay? Have some self-respect.”

Yin Mingshuo’s smile disappeared and his expression changed slightly, but he still maintained a good temper: “This is between me and Chu Zhi. You might not understand, she has some misunderstandings about me.”

“You’re really overthinking it,” Lin Tong snorted contemptuously. “Go look at yourself in the toilet bowl water and you’ll understand – who needs any misunderstandings to break up with you?”

Before Yin Mingshuo could respond, the two guys behind him got upset first. One of them, who looked quite muscular, immediately cursed and stepped forward: “Watch your mouth. You think I won’t hit a woman?”

Gu Han, who had just been calculating fortunes with Chu Zhi, stopped joking around at those words and walked over with drooping lips, watching them warily.

Yin Mingshuo looked a bit embarrassed, putting his hand on his friend’s shoulder and patting it reassuringly.

Male and female students in military training uniforms were gradually entering the field gates in the early morning, all turning to look twice at this scene.

Three tall guys facing a few girls – no matter how you looked at it, the girls were at a disadvantage. The two fighter-type roommates in front were fired up like little chili peppers, while Xue Niannan briefly returned from her world of English vocabulary to quickly analyze how best to handle the situation.

But she wasn’t too scared, thinking the possibility of guys actually hitting girls was too low.

So when she saw that tall guy directly brush off Yin Mingshuo’s hand and provocatively push Lin Tong, she was completely stunned.

A guy using force against a girl was something completely unimaginable to her.

Gu Han standing nearby immediately got angry, let out a curse, grabbed his arm and bit down hard. Chu Zhi, who had been standing quietly to the side, still had the soy milk in her mouth. She held up the jelly-like soy milk bag high, squeezed it, and the white liquid shot out like a water stream, spraying all over the guy’s face.

The guy instinctively closed his eyes, blindly pushed back a couple times while stepping backward. When he opened his eyes again, he was completely enraged, soy milk dripping down his face and seeping into his clothes. His eyes blazing with anger, he glared at them hatefully.

Just as he charged forward aggressively, someone punched him in the back of the head.

Zhou Ming had somehow gotten behind him. After punching, he yelped a couple times, his hand red and stinging, but still tried to act cool: “Bullying the girls in our class? Did you ask us guys first?”

The battlefield atmosphere was tense, weapons drawn and about to explode.

Zhou Ming’s dorm had four guys who, although each looked more slender than their opponents, had the advantage of numbers plus help from the girls. Though they got some injuries, they weren’t at a disadvantage.

As they say, the law doesn’t punish groups – if you’re going to fight, fight as a group, though a dorm-scale fight was still a bit small.

When the military instructor and counselor arrived, Chu Zhi was pouring the preserved vegetable and shredded chicken porridge that Yin Mingshuo had bought her onto his face. The guy was being held down by Lin Tong and Gu Han, howling as he was scalded, the thick, sticky porridge dripping down.

Several military instructors ran over roaring to separate everyone. The guys were mostly injured, with the one who started it looking the worst – his face, hair, and clothes covered in both porridge and soy milk. The girls appeared mostly unharmed except for slightly messy clothes and hair.

The counselor looked about to explode with anger, spitting as she yelled at them: “The department head is coming! Just you wait, our class is already famous before school even starts!”

Chu Zhi stood honestly at the very end, looked up, and saw the department head already walking over from a distance.

Someone else was following behind.

Four Digits was wearing a cream-colored hoodie and jeans today. His slightly upturned peach blossom eyes swept across everyone before stopping on her, with an expression between a smile and not.

That look seemed to say: Impressive.

Chu Zhi froze, blinking pitifully.

The man’s lips curved up as he followed behind the department head, watching the counselor and department head talking nearby before casually moving to stand beside Chu Zhi.

“Which parts were your handiwork?” he asked in a lowered, playful tone, his gaze not on her but carelessly sweeping over the injured guys in front.

“The porridge,” Chu Zhi hesitated before quietly adding, “and the soy milk…”

He laughed when she finished.

A couple of light chuckles escaped his throat as he looked down at her little head hanging low, appearing so honest and well-behaved, and teased her in a low voice: “Porridge is so boring – why didn’t you keep a couple oil plates in your pocket?”