I Want to Join the Student Council (Gift of Thanks 5/21)

Zhao Lei stared intently at his phone screen, his eyes practically bulging out of their sockets.

Do these people have mush for brains?

Just then, a heavy series of footsteps echoed from outside the restroom door.

Immediately after, the voice that struck terror into the hearts of the entire student body rang out:

"That stall over there, two people? Get out here right now!"

Baldy Xie!

Skinny Monkey jolted in fright, his calves cramping as he lowered his voice in terror, "We're done for, Brother Lei, it's Director Xie! If we get caught with a phone, we're dead meat!"

Zhao Lei was also startled by the sudden reprimand.

Already feeling guilty, and with his hands shaking from being angered by the comment section just moments ago, this sudden flinch proved fatal. The brand-new Fruit X phone he had just bought and barely warmed up in his hands slipped from his palm as if it were coated in oil.

Zhao Lei watched helplessly as the expensive black phone traced a graceful parabola in the air.

"No—"

He let out a desperate scream in his heart.

"Plop!"

A crisp splashing sound echoed in the cramped stall.

The phone fell with pinpoint accuracy into the drain hole of the squat toilet, splashing up a few drops of water.

Zhao Lei froze.

Skinny Monkey froze too.

The two of them looked down at the pitch-black hole. The phone screen was still on, blinking stubbornly twice in the murky water before going completely black.

That was a Fruit X!

It cost over eight thousand bucks!

Zhao Lei felt his heart bleeding, his breathing coming to a halt. He instinctively wanted to reach out and fish it up, but the foul stench shooting straight to his brain made him forcefully stop his movements.

"What are you dawdling for? Do you need a formal invitation to come out?"

Outside, Director Xie had clearly lost his patience, heavily pounding on the stall door with a series of loud bangs. "If you don't open the door right now, I'm calling security to tear it down!"

"C... coming!"

Skinny Monkey was scared out of his wits and frantically unlatched the door.

The door opened.

Director Xie stood with his hands behind his back, his round belly protruding, scanning the two of them with a piercing gaze.

"Two grown guys squeezing into one stall? What kind of funny business is this?" Director Xie eyed them suspiciously, his nose twitching twice. "It stinks in here. Were you having a dinner party inside?"

Zhao Lei's face was deathly pale, looking as if he had lost his soul, his eyes still staring blankly at the toilet hole.

"N... nothing, sir. I wasn't feeling well, so Zhao Lei was helping me hold steady." Skinny Monkey reacted fairly quickly, clutching his stomach and putting on an expression of agony.

Director Xie snorted coldly, his sharp gaze sweeping over the two of them before finally landing on Zhao Lei's empty hands.

"I heard a 'plop' just now. What fell in?"

Zhao Lei shuddered all over, suppressing his heartache, and gritted his teeth as he said, "N... nothing. I dropped a coin."

"A coin?" Director Xie clearly didn't buy it. He peeked into the hole, but couldn't see anything due to the angle. "Alright, hurry up and get back to class! If I find out you were smoking or playing on your phones in the restroom, you better watch your backs!"

"Yes, yes, yes. Goodbye, sir."

The two of them felt as if they had received a royal pardon and slunk out of the restroom dejectedly.

Even after walking a long distance, Zhao Lei could still feel the ache in his heart.

It had completely backfired.

Instead of taking Chen Zhi down, he ended up sacrificing his own phone.

...

The next morning.

On the sports field of Jiangcheng No. 1 High School, the "Athletes' March" was playing over the loudspeakers.

Thousands of students wearing blue-and-white uniforms formed several long dragons on the red running track.

Just as the formation ran past the rostrum, Chen Zhi broke away from Class One's lines and expertly squatted on the grass beside the track.

"Oops, my shoelace came undone."

He muttered to himself, his hands tying a shoelace that had never been loose to begin with.

By the time Class One's formation had run far ahead, Class Ten's formation just happened to pass by.

Chen Zhi accurately caught sight of that familiar figure.

Pei Ningxue was running on the outer edge of the girls' column, her ponytail swinging with every step, a slight rosy flush from the exercise on her fair face.

"Morning, classmate Pei."

Maintaining his squatting posture, Chen Zhi smiled and waved.

Pei Ningxue kept her eyes straight ahead, but her pace noticeably slowed by half a beat. The corners of her mouth turned up slightly as she muttered in a low voice, "Childish."

"Did you sleep well last night? You didn't dream about me, did you?" Chen Zhi shamelessly jogged along beside her for a couple of steps.

"I dreamed you fell into the toilet." Pei Ningxue rolled her eyes at him, then looked around with some concern. "You should hurry back before the duty students catch you."

"Yes, ma'am."

Chen Zhi gave a salute and squatted down again.

"Oops, the other shoelace came undone too."

This time, he squatted until Class Seven's formation came along.

Lin Wanwan was running in the front row of the formation and had long since spotted Chen Zhi waiting to ambush someone over there.

The girl hadn't tied her hair up today. Her smooth, long hair draped over her shoulders. Upon seeing Chen Zhi, her almond eyes instantly filled with a smile. She deliberately slowed her pace, and as she passed him, she reached out a finger and gently poked him on the forehead.

"Big liar, pretending again."

"I'm innocent, I was specifically waiting for you." Chen Zhi lowered his voice, fishing a White Rabbit milk candy out of his pocket and slipping it into her palm. "You didn't eat enough for breakfast, right? Here, a little supplement."

Lin Wanwan gripped the candy tightly, feeling sweet inside, but she scoffed out loud, "I saw you chatting pretty happily with Pei Ningxue just now."

"I was asking her to play video games after school," Chen Zhi spouted nonsense with a straight face.

"As if I'd believe you." Lin Wanwan tossed her head proudly and ran off with the formation, not forgetting to turn back and make a silly face before leaving.

Chen Zhi contentedly patted the grass clippings off his pant legs.

This is what youth is all about.

Having a girl in each arm... no, wait, having the best of both worlds.

He stretched, and just as he was about to cut back into the rear of Class One, he suddenly felt a shadow fall over him.

A pair of long, straight legs blocked his path.

Moving his gaze upward.

The girl was wearing a neat school uniform, with a red "Student Council" armband pinned to her sleeve. Her high ponytail was tied immaculately, and she held a small notebook in her hands, looking down at him from a commanding height.

Chen Zhi blinked. This person looked familiar.

Wasn't this that rigid student council president from middle school?

"Senior?" Chen Zhi called out tentatively.

Xu Min pushed up the glasses on the bridge of her nose, twirling a ballpoint pen in her hand, and said in a flat tone, "I didn't expect you to still be so lawless after getting into high school, student Chen Zhi."

"You flatter me, you flatter me," Chen Zhi cupped his hands with a cheeky grin. "It's all thanks to my peers making me look good."

"I wasn't complimenting you." Xu Min expressionlessly jotted something down in her notebook. "Leaving the formation at will during morning exercises, disrupting order. Two points deducted from Class One."

Chen Zhi wasn't annoyed; instead, he leaned in a bit closer, curiously eyeing the armband on her sleeve. "Don't tell me you became the student council president again?"

He had been Xu Min's primary target of attention back in middle school, so the two of them were basically old acquaintances.

"What else?" Xu Min closed her notebook and glanced at him. "Should we let someone like you be president?"

Chen Zhi rolled his eyes, suddenly acting excited, and grabbed Xu Min's sleeve. "Hey, hey, hey, Senior, let's make a deal."

Xu Min withdrew her hand in disgust. "Use your words, keep your hands to yourself."

"Is your Student Council still recruiting?" Chen Zhi's eyes lit up.

Xu Min froze for a moment, clearly failing to keep up with his train of thought.

Logically speaking, a troublemaker like Chen Zhi should absolutely despise disciplinary organizations like the Student Council.

"We are, but..." Xu Min looked him up and down. "You? What do you want? Trying to sneak in and throw your weight around?"

"How vulgar!" Chen Zhi retorted with righteous indignation. "Am I that kind of person? I wholeheartedly want to serve the school and solve problems for my fellow students!"

Xu Min sneered. "Cut the crap."

Chen Zhi chuckled, lowered his voice, and asked with a mysterious look, "Do you guys normally... do phone checks?"

"We do," Xu Min nodded. "It's a key task for the Disciplinary Committee. Why?"

Hearing the affirmative answer, the smile on Chen Zhi's face gradually turned creepy.

He suddenly stood up straight, thumped his chest, and declared with awe-inspiring righteousness, "I want to join the Student Council! I want to join the Disciplinary Committee! And I request to be put exclusively in charge of phone checks!"

Xu Min narrowed her eyes at him, getting the distinct feeling that this guy was up to no good.

This was exactly like putting a fox in charge of the henhouse.

"Give me a reason," Xu Min said flatly.

"A reason?" Chen Zhi's tone carried a hint of excitement. "I want to do my part in building up our school's ethos and discipline."

...

Xu Min's mouth twitched.

"Furthermore," Chen Zhi held up three fingers, "I swear on my life! If you let me do the checks, if I can't fish out at least three phones from a single class, I'll bring you my head on a platter!"

Xu Min fell silent for a few seconds. Looking at Chen Zhi's eager appearance, she suddenly thought this might actually be a good idea.

After all, sometimes you have to fight fire with fire.

Only a slacker knows best where other slackers hide their phones.

"No need for your head," Xu Min reopened her notebook and jotted down a few things. "Come to the Student Council office for an interview after school today. But let me make this perfectly clear upfront: if I catch you taking the lead in breaking the rules..."

"Don't worry!" Chen Zhi patted his chest in guarantee. "I'm a man of principles. One rule for me, another for thee... wait, spit that out. I mean, strict with others, lenient with myself... that's not right either."

Chen Zhi coughed. "Anyway, I'm going to make all the phone-smuggling outlaws in Jiangcheng First High feel the oppressive might of a true gaming champion!"

Xu Min watched his retreating back and shook her head helplessly.

This guy really is a menace.