Chapter 3: Who Said I Was Confessing to Lin Wan'er?

Take six in the morning, for example. While other university students were sound asleep in their dorms, he would drag himself out of bed to the alarm he had set and yawn his way through the cafeteria queue to buy Lin Wan’er breakfast.

Worried that she wasn’t eating well, he would order her ridiculously expensive takeout without batting an eye.

Her demands had only grown with time. What began with meals eventually turned into outright requests for outrageously priced luxury goods.

Fine. His family had a little money. He had gritted his teeth and bought those for her too.

And what had Lin Wan’er done in return?

She had enjoyed his constant attention while telling everyone they were merely close friends from class.

She never turned down his presents, but she never acknowledged him as her boyfriend either.

Su Ze couldn’t have explained why. It wasn’t as though she had been getting involved with other boys.

She simply kept stringing him along with “I’m not ready for a relationship” or “Let me see how things go first.”

He was her free ATM and errand boy, available whenever she called.

And back then, the idiot he had been had taken it all for feminine reserve. He had believed that enough devotion would eventually win her heart.

The result? He had dropped dead in his laboratory without ever getting together with Lin Wan’er.

Yet just a few days ago, he had somehow lost his mind again and planned this grand public confession.

It wasn’t even his first.

In barely half a semester, he had already staged two spectacular declarations. Both had ended in failure. Worse, people had filmed them and posted the videos on the campus gossip page, putting him on display like a performing monkey.

Comment after comment under its social feed had crowned him the ultimate, unbeatable simp.

Now he had his youth and a whole new life ahead of him. Heaven had gone to all the trouble of giving him another chance. There was no way he was going back to being that nightmare girl’s free ATM.

Who cared about working your way up from the lowest simp to the king of all simps? Whoever wanted that job could have it!

Just thinking about Lin Wan’er’s face made him feel sick.

Su Ze turned to Wang Tao. “Wang, you haven’t told anyone I’m confessing to Lin Wan’er this afternoon, have you?”

Wang Tao shook his head. “Not yet. But if you want everyone to know like the last two times, I can still arrange that.”

“Don’t,” Su Ze cut in. “Don’t tell a soul. It’s better if nobody knows.”

Wang Tao scratched his head, puzzled. “Why, Su? Weren’t you the one who said we had to spread the word to build up the atmosphere?”

“That was then. This is now. Doing the same big production every time gets boring. I’m planning a surprise.”

Su Ze put on a mysterious air.

Understanding dawned on Wang Tao’s face. He gave Su Ze a thumbs-up.

“You’ve got moves, I’ll give you that. What else would I expect from a man who sneaks off to fool around with the campus beauty in a basement? Always something new.”

Su Ze immediately aimed a kick at his backside.

Wang Tao gave a nimble, boyish twist of his waist and dodged it with a grin.

Then he took off at a sprint, still looking back at Su Ze chasing furiously behind him. “Seriously, Su, why not go for Xia Zhiwei and Lin Wan’er together? Double the fun! You’d be in heaven!”

“Ow! Su Ze, you actually fucking kicked me? It was a joke! Was that really necessary?”

“Ow, ow, ow—stop kicking me, Dad! I can’t take it! You’re going to split my arse open! Stop!”

…

Afternoon soon arrived.

Su Ze deliberately took one class off to rest and mentally prepare for the upcoming “confession.”

He had mastered everything from undergraduate to doctoral level in his previous life anyway. Whether he attended this class made little difference.

During the break between classes, he appeared in the corridor outside the classroom with an enormous bouquet of fresh red roses. Students passing by immediately looked over, eager for a show.

His reputation as a hopeless simp hadn’t spread across the whole university yet, but plenty of people in his school knew who he was.

The class was being held in their school building, so one look at the roses in his arms told them he was about to confess to Lin Wan’er again.

Several students discreetly pulled out their phones and pointed the cameras his way. They intended to submit another installment of this endlessly entertaining clown show to the campus gossip page for everyone else to enjoy.

Su Ze paid no attention to their looks or their phones. He simply leaned against the cold iron railing, head lowered as he fiddled with a few tender rosebuds in his arms.

He almost looked like a melancholy young gentleman from a wealthy family.

Wang Tao, meanwhile, had somehow acquired a black suit and a pair of sunglasses. He stood beside Su Ze, staring straight ahead with a solemn expression.

He was a long way from looking like a bodyguard, though. An undertaker, perhaps.

As the crowd swelled, a rough voice cut through the noise in the corridor.

“What majors and classes are you all from? What’s this gathering for? Have you all decided to stop going to class?”

It was Li Qiang, head of the student union’s Academic Affairs Department, whose responsibilities included discipline checks.

He pushed through the crowd with a dark expression, his eyes immediately fixing on Su Ze and the huge bouquet a short distance away.

His face grew darker still. He strode over and ordered him to leave.

“You again! How many times have you pulled this stunt in the teaching building this semester?”

“Come on. Take your stuff and clear off. Don’t make me throw you out.”

Looking at the belligerent Li Qiang, Su Ze raised one corner of his mouth and shot Wang Tao a glance.

“Pika-Wang, I choose you! Get him!”

Wang Tao sprang forward, landing in front of Li Qiang with a mighty leap. He raised his right arm and held up a palm to block him.

“Hello. Do you know what you’ve done wrong?”

Li Qiang was momentarily thrown. Then he recovered and sneered. “I’m pretty sure that’s my fucking line.”

Wang Tao remained perfectly composed. “Are you blind? My bro’s about to confess to his future girlfriend. If you can’t even see that, what the hell are you doing in the student union? Retire already.”

He pointed at a few girls nearby who were filming on their phones.

“Sir, we will be recording the entire event, with sound, and posting it on social media. If you insist on obstructing us, I’m afraid the viewers you’ve deprived of their entertainment may tear a strip off you with their sharp comments.”

“Your personal information could be all over the internet before the night is out. Oh, sir, I think… that would be most undignified.”

“Of course, sir, if you’ve recently lost your ID or can’t find your family, this is an excellent way to get help. I do recommend giving it a try.”

He delivered the threats with an utterly straight face.

Seeing Li Qiang start to shrink back, Su Ze stepped in to play the good cop. “Don’t worry, mate. I’ll make it quick this time. I’ll be finished before class starts. Nobody’s going to miss a lesson because of me.”

Now that Su Ze had offered him a way out, Li Qiang cleared his throat awkwardly. “Ahem. Just this once, then. Clear out as soon as you’re done.”

After another glance at the decidedly unfriendly girls with the phones, he beat a hasty retreat.

Inside the classroom, Lin Wan’er decided that the atmosphere outside had finally built up enough. Only then did she get to her feet and stroll out.

Looking at the crowd packed around them, she felt a little surge of superiority.

She enjoyed being the center of attention.

Under everyone’s gaze, she approached Su Ze and lifted her slender fingers to tuck a stray lock of hair behind her ear. Her expression was lofty and unapproachable.

“Su Ze, how many more times are you going to do this? You’re really making things difficult for me.”

“Yes, you’ve been very good to me. But even at university, we still have a heavy workload. I want to focus on my studies and try to win a scholarship this semester.”

She sighed softly and turned him down once more. “I really don’t want a relationship right now. Let’s talk about it after graduation. For the next few years, let’s just be friends. All right?”

Quiet snickers immediately broke out around them.

The onlookers whispered among themselves, their eyes full of mockery as they looked at Su Ze.

He held the bouquet and quietly studied the girl putting on an act in front of him.

He had to admit that Lin Wan’er was beautiful. Who wouldn’t fall for that delicate face, the very picture of fragile innocence?

No wonder he had been so thoroughly bewitched in his last life, willingly serving as her ATM for so long.

But love had to go both ways.

Besides, he had already seen her for what she was in his previous life. There was no chance of him feeling anything for her again.

Lin Wan’er waited for him to humbly offer her the flowers and apologize, just as he always did.

Instead, Su Ze gave her a baffled look.

“Lady, are you all right? When did I say I was here to confess to you?”

The smile froze on Lin Wan’er’s lips.

Confusion spread through the crowd too.

Su Ze wasn’t here to confess to Lin Wan’er?

Then who were those flowers for…?

It wasn’t just the spectators who were lost. Su Ze had no idea what to do next either.

Before coming, he had only thought about how to thoroughly humiliate Lin Wan’er. He hadn’t given a moment’s thought to what came after that.

At that critical moment, a rather slender figure approached from a short distance away.