Kindness cannot lead soldiers, and goodness cannot conduct business.

Chapter 206

Girls' Dormitory, Room 302.

Zhao Xiaoxiao and Chen Jing sat on their beds, staring blankly at the bed near the door.

The desk that was piled high with Lin Yu's cosmetics, designer bags, and clothes just yesterday was now completely bare.

Just two hours ago, before the sun had even come up.

Lin Yu's parents, accompanied by the dorm matron and two counselors, had sneaked into the dorm room like thieves.

The rather wealthy-looking middle-aged couple kept their heads down the entire time, not saying a single word.

They swiftly packed all of Lin Yu's belongings into woven bags, not even daring to look at the other two roommates.

Then they fled as if escaping.

Click.

The dorm door was pushed open.

Ye Zhenzhen walked in, carrying breakfast.

You're awake? Perfect timing, I brought breakfast.

The young girl's voice was sweet and soft, as if the storm from last night had absolutely nothing to do with her.

Zhenzhen...

Zhao Xiaoxiao took the soy milk, keeping her voice very low.

Um... what exactly does Gu Ran's family do?

Chen Jing also pricked up her ears.

Even though she had been bribed by Gu Ran, she still felt unsure.

To have a police station chief act as a driver and make the school expel someone overnight, how the hell is that an ordinary businessman?

Ye Zhenzhen paused as she unwrapped a straw.

She remembered what Gu Ran had told her in the car last night.

Sometimes, you don't need to intimidate people yourself. Letting them guess works much better.

A smile crept onto the girl's lips, and she blinked, feigning a profound look.

Him? He just does a little business.

Ye Zhenzhen poked the straw into the soy milk cup, handed it to Chen Jing, and said softly.

But he has a bit of OCD and takes things quite seriously. He's usually easy to talk to, but he just can't stand seeing the people around him get wronged.

Business?

Takes things seriously?

Zhao Xiaoxiao and Chen Jing exchanged a glance, both seeing the same message in each other's eyes.

Like hell we believe you!

How the hell is this taking things seriously?

This is driving someone to their doom!

However, both of them tactfully chose not to ask any further.

They just silently upgraded Gu Ran's danger level in their minds from S-class to Untouchable.

...

Noon, in a corner on the second floor of the cafeteria.

A plate of braised prawns sat in front of Gu Ran. Wearing disposable gloves, his long, slender fingers nimbly peeled the shrimp shells.

Then, he placed a crystal-clear piece of shrimp meat into Ye Zhenzhen's bowl.

The girl picked up the shrimp but didn't eat it right away. Instead, she looked into Gu Ran's eyes and asked softly.

The school... handled it so severely. Will it have a bad impact on you? Everyone is talking about it, after all...

Talking about what? Talking about me using my power to bully people?

Gu Ran chuckled softly, his hands not stopping their work.

Zhenzhen, you need to remember one thing.

The young man leaned forward slightly, his deep eyes fixed on the girl in front of him, his voice low and powerful.

In this society, kindness is a virtue, but kindness without a sharp edge is just weakness.

For someone like Lin Yu, if you only give her a slap on the wrist, she will just think you are weak and easy to bully, and she will bite you even harder in the future.

His eyes were calm, revealing a steadiness that did not match his age.

Only by hitting her hard enough to make it hurt, to make her afraid, or even to completely destroy her, can you eliminate the trouble once and for all.

The merciful cannot command armies, and the overly kind cannot succeed in business.

If you want to gain a firm foothold in this world, sometimes you have to be a little ruthless.

Ye Zhenzhen listened in a daze.

She understood Gu Ran's good intentions.

He was teaching her the rules of survival.

Boss Gu has taught me well.

Ye Zhenzhen blinked, gave a playful smile, picked up the shrimp, and popped it into her mouth. With bulging cheeks, she said.

Then I'll follow Boss Gu from now on. I'll strike wherever Boss Gu points!

The smile in Gu Ran's eyes deepened.

Nicely said, Doctor Ye.

The girl froze for a moment, her little face wrinkling slightly.

Gu 'Dog' Ran, you're not thinking about something dirty again, are you?

The young man raised his hands, feigning innocence.

Doctor Ye, how can you slander someone with no proof? I am a proper, upstanding young man.

Tsk tsk.

Ye Zhenzhen didn't call him out on it, just quietly watched his performance.

...

As the dust settled on the Lin Yu incident, the half-month-long freshman military training finally came to an end.

At the military parade, Ye Zhenzhen acted as the leader of the medical school's formation.

Wearing a camouflage uniform and a high ponytail, she marched past the rostrum with perfect goose-steps.

When that crisp, loud Salute! was shouted, the entire venue erupted in thunderous applause.

That night, Dorm Room 302.

During their late-night dorm chat, the atmosphere was warmly cozy for the first time in a while.

Without Lin Yu, that passive-aggressive contrarian, around, everyone relaxed considerably.

Zhenzhen, I really envy you.

In the darkness, Zhao Xiaoxiao rolled over, her tone filled with emotion.

Your boyfriend is handsome, rich, and so protective of you. If I were you, I'd just peacefully become a little rich lady in the future, shopping and getting beauty treatments every day, and just lie flat.

Exactly!

Chen Jing agreed.

I wouldn't even dare to dream of such a fairy-tale life.

Ye Zhenzhen lay in bed, looking at the dappled moonlight on the ceiling.

Lie flat?

What Gu Ran said at noon today kept echoing in her mind.

The merciful cannot command armies, and the overly kind cannot succeed in business.

His world was vast, a magnificent ocean of commerce and a battlefield of flashing swords and shadows.

If she merely hid under his wings blindly.

Sooner or later, she would fail to keep up with his pace and be left only looking up at his back.

That was something she could not accept.

I won't lie flat.

The girl's voice rang out in the darkness, soft yet exceptionally firm.

Huh? Why?

Her roommates didn't understand.

Ye Zhenzhen rolled over and hugged her quilt tightly.

Because...

I want to stand beside him, not hide behind him.

These words made the originally noisy dorm room go quiet.

Zhao Xiaoxiao and Chen Jing looked at each other in the darkness.

What a realization!

...

Meanwhile, Boys' Dormitory, Room 404.

Gu Ran sat in front of his computer, the screen's glow reflecting on his focused face.

The backend data showed that the daily active users of MicroChat in the past 24 hours.

Had made a bizarre deep V-shaped reversal.

The numbers weren't exaggerated, but the growth curve was frighteningly steep.

It was clearly the dividend brought by the Lin Yu incident.

That sentence, I heard someone is looking for the car owner, paired with the scene of a luxury car appearing, had not only intimidated the whole school.

It also made the name Gu Ran, along with MicroChat, completely explode among the freshmen.

We saved a ton on advertising fees this time.

Gu Ran stroked his chin, a slow smile curving his lips.

Sometimes, bad things can turn into good things.

Traffic doesn't distinguish between black and white; it just depends on how you convert it.

Now that he had the traffic, he had to strike while the iron was hot and make this fire burn even brighter.

Brother Gu, what are you looking at, smiling so sinisterly?

Zhang Qi came out of the bathroom shirtless, holding a basin in his hands, looking suspicious.

Does the Hundred Clubs War start tomorrow?

Gu Ran suddenly asked.

Yeah!

At the mention of this, Li Ming also perked up and leaned over to say.

I heard that's the liveliest event in our school. Hundreds of clubs will set up booths on the main road to recruit new members. It's like a market fair, and it lasts for two whole days!

Hundreds of clubs, thousands of freshmen...

Gu Ran stood up and walked over to the balcony.

Looking down from up here, countless colorful tents had been pitched overnight along both sides of the campus's main avenue.

Even in the dead of night, the restless, pent-up energy waiting to be unleashed was palpable.

Following the arrival of the freshmen, this was the moment when foot traffic would be at its absolute peak.

It was a promotional battlefield tailor-made for "MicroChat."

Gu Ran turned around, looked at his two roommates who were still debating which student club had the most girls, and snapped his fingers.

"Stop obsessing over girls."

"We're getting up at six tomorrow morning. We're going to pull off something big."

"Like what?"

Zhang Qi looked completely bewildered.

Gu Ran pointed down at the endless stretch of tents, a sharp gleam flashing in his eyes.

"Harvesting traffic."

......