Ye Zhou hesitated for a moment, but his thumb eventually clicked into the club chat group. He figured that since someone had tagged him, there must be something important.
The person who tagged him had also tagged Su Zhihan.
The user’s profile picture was a golden tulip, and their nickname was also Tulip. It felt a bit old-fashioned.
However, Ye Zhou wasn’t one to talk. From the time he started using Green Bubble until now, he had stuck with the system’s default profile picture.
[Hello, Ye Zhou and Su Zhihan. My name is Shen Yuzhen. As you can see, I am the Vice President of the Drama and Film Club.]
[For a while now, due to off-campus academic matters, I haven’t been able to return to school or even the club.]
[But starting today, that has ended. I can return to school and the club as normal.]
Immediately below that was a greeting from Su Zhihan:
[Vice President Shen, welcome home.]
Ye Zhou saw that 3 minutes had already passed since the messages were sent.
He scrambled to follow up with a message:
[Vice Shen President, welcome home!]
Oh no, he had typed too fast and made a mistake.
Ye Zhou felt incredibly guilty.
‘This mysterious Vice President Shen surely wouldn’t hold a grudge over such a small thing and make my life difficult in the club later, right? Probably… probably not.’
As expected, once both of them had replied, Shen Yuzhen quickly sent another message.
[Alright, in that case, I’ll get straight to the point. If you have no business or classes today, please come to the Drama and Film Club. I want to conduct an ability assessment for both of you.]
[Understood, Vice President. I am at school right now and don’t have an 8 AM class today. I will arrive at the club on time in about 15 minutes.]
Su Zhihan replied obediently and honestly.
But Ye Zhou was immediately stuck in a dilemma, unable to make a decision.
Going to the club for an ability assessment meant he needed to go to school.
However, he happened to be unable to go to school today.
After some thought, Ye Zhou decided to follow his heart.
[My apologies, Vice President. I might not be able to make it to the club today to participate in the assessment you mentioned.]
Shen Yuzhen replied instantly:
[Okay, can you tell me the reason why you can’t come?]
Ye Zhou also replied almost instantly:
[It’s just that my body is a bit comfortable. I just asked my professor for a leave of absence and missed my 8 AM class. I’m currently lying at home resting. If you don’t believe me, I can send you a photo of my leave slip.]
Ye Zhou subconsciously reread his message. As soon as he started, he realized something was wrong. His body was “a bit comfortable”? Was there something wrong with his brain? He didn’t know what was going on, but his phone’s input method was really working against him today!
Even though he quickly retracted the message, as long as the other person was holding their phone, they had definitely seen it.
Unsurprisingly, Shen Yuzhen replied with this:
[I see. Then just how comfortable is your body? Would you like to enlighten me?]
[At the same time, can I assume that this is an act of dodging the ability assessment?]
[Although President Jiang conducted an entrance assessment for you and Su Zhihan, I wasn’t present at the time. Therefore, I don’t know the extent of your abilities, which is why I want to see for myself.]
[Furthermore, from what I gathered from President Jiang’s words, you entered through Chen Yuhe’s backdoor, didn’t you?]
Ye Zhou, who was currently drinking water, spat it out the moment he saw the last message.
“Entered through Senior Chen’s backdoor” — on the surface, there was nothing wrong with the phrase, but looking closer, it was full of hidden meanings. No matter how he thought about it, it had a strange, suspicious taste to it.
Just as Ye Zhou was about to defend himself, Chen Yuhe, who rarely posted in the group, suddenly popped up:
[Oh! That’s right, Vice President! My Junior Student did indeed enter through my backdoor!]
[Heh heh… is that so? Chen Yuhe, looking at you, you seem quite proud of it?] Shen Yuzhen replied.
‘Ah, Senior Chen is intentionally making a mess, isn’t she? She should be helping me explain! Now look what happened. It was already bad, and now it’s even worse.’
‘Wait? Why did the conversation suddenly stop?’
Ye Zhou frowned slightly. ‘Given Senior Chen’s chatterbox personality, it shouldn’t have ended like this.’
He narrowed his eyes and looked closer. Sure enough, there was a line of small text at the very bottom of the chat interface — Chen Yuhe has been muted by Shen Yuzhen for 30 minutes.
‘Oh my God, this Vice President is so fierce! Why does she feel even fiercer than President Jiang? Is it just my imagination?’
Cold sweat broke out on Ye Zhou’s forehead. Having learned his lesson from the previous typo, he spent several minutes editing and re-editing a single sentence, attaching a photo of his leave slip before finally hitting send.
[Leave_Slip.jpg]
[Vice President, look, I really am unwell and need to recover at home. I’m not trying to dodge your assessment. I am truly sorry, but I will definitely come tomorrow!]
Before Shen Yuzhen could reply, Su Zhihan sent Ye Zhou a private message.
[Ye Zhou, is it serious?]
[It’s not serious. I’ll be fine after resting for a day. Thank you for your concern.]
At the same time, Shen Yuzhen finally replied:
[Fine, I understand. We’ll talk about it whenever you’re free.]
It was just a single message, but the end was accompanied by an ambiguous yellow smiley emoji.
To an older person, it might be seen as a friendly smile.
But in the eyes of a young person, it clearly signaled anger.
The corner of Ye Zhou’s eye twitched uncontrollably. His first impression on the Vice President was completely ruined. No, they hadn’t even met yet, and it was already ruined.
He could already foresee that starting tomorrow, he would be targeted by the Vice President everywhere in the club.
‘But then again, if I pass that assessment tomorrow, it might be fine. I’m just afraid I won’t pass.’
‘If I don’t pass, the Vice President will likely increase my daily workload in the club.’
‘Oh, no! My workload in the club is already quite high. If it increases any more, won’t my happy college life cease to exist?’
‘But I’m helpless here. I couldn’t possibly risk getting hit by a car on the way to the club just to attend the Vice President’s assessment today, could I?’
Ye Zhou shook his head with a bitter smile. Just then, his phone chimed again.
He picked it up and looked, a hint of confusion flashing across his brow. Was it a private message from Jiang Yingxue?
[Ye Zhou, don’t take her words too much to heart. She’s just that kind of person. It’s normal that you don’t understand her yet.]
[To put it nicely, she has strong principles. To put it bluntly, she’s an old-fashioned stickler for the rules.]
[If you really can’t come to the club today, I’ll help you explain it to her.]
Ye Zhou smiled warmly.
[Alright, thank you, President Jiang!]
As expected, compared to the Vice President, President Jiang was much easier to talk to.
However, President Jiang was probably similar in the beginning, wasn’t she?
It was only because Ye Zhou had spent more time with her that he felt she was approachable.
He only hoped that after spending more time with the Vice President, it would be the same.
Ye Zhou exited the chat with Jiang Yingxue and realized that Lin Shulan had also messaged him privately at some point. It had likely been buried by the three consecutive messages from Jiang Yingxue.
He thought Lin Shulan was coming to rescue him from his predicament, but it turned out she was there to add fuel to the fire.
The corner of his mouth couldn’t help but twitch.
[Brother, the ten chapters you added were a bit lacking in substance. I just gave you another tip of 200. If you only add two chapters today, you should be able to maintain your previous quality, right?]
[Okay, sister, I’ll try my best. If you really like reading my novel, you don’t actually have to tip me to make me add chapters. I was planning to start writing three chapters every day from today on. If I have enough time, four chapters won’t be a problem.]
[So, just as Chen Yuhe said, you’re letting me in through the backdoor?]
[Uh… well, yes and no. I think it’s more like what Su Zhihan said — as long as we’re in the club, we’re all family. There’s nothing wrong with family members looking out for one another.]
***