The girl was wearing heavy makeup. To be honest, it looked like the kind you'd see at an anime convention, which was quite rare in everyday life.
The reason Su Bai knew what anime convention makeup looked like was mainly because, during the summer vacation after the college entrance examination, apart from learning to drive, he had also visited an anime convention in his hometown.
Yes, even a small place like his hometown had anime conventions. It was held at the city's exhibition center. Su Bai had always heard about it, so taking advantage of the most leisurely period of his life—the summer after his senior year of high school—he went for a stroll out of boredom.
The result was highly disappointing. The invited guests were all unheard of, and the cosplayers were bizarre. Let alone comparing it to anime conventions in big cities, they didn't even reach the level of the members of the Jiangnan University Anime Club.
Moreover, the overly heavy makeup of the cosplayers left a deep impression on Su Bai.
It was said that such makeup looked good in photos, although it looked a bit scary in reality...
Anyway, Leilei's makeup was pretty much in this style.
To be honest, heavy makeup isn't necessarily bad. At least among the people around him, Su Bai felt that his senior's heavy makeup looked quite nice. Her naturally alluring undertone was actually very suitable for heavy makeup, but this girl was clearly not suited for it; her facial features were too flat.
Seeing Su Bai, the girl timidly hid behind Chu Mingzhe.
She was clearly socially anxious at a glance.
"Hello," Su Bai greeted, then asked Chu Mingzhe, "Is this your girlfriend?"
"Yeah, that's right. She is my girlfriend, Zhang Lei."
Chu Mingzhe's expression was a bit helpless, but it also carried a sense of acceptance. Obviously, he was already used to his girlfriend's socially anxious nature.
The girl didn't even speak to greet Su Bai; she just waved her hand.
Su Bai was noncommittal. He chatted briefly with Old Chu and then went inside.
Chu Mingzhe didn't know what else he had to dawdle over with Leilei, but anyway, he was going to go in a bit later.
Politeness is naturally a good thing if someone has it. If the other party lacks it, Su Bai wouldn't openly criticize them; he would just adopt a colder attitude. Interpersonal communication is all about reciprocity. For example, Liu Chenyang's father was very warm to Su Bai, so even though Su Bai hadn't known him for long, he gave him plenty of respect.
The moment he entered this so-called Art Development Center, he smelled the aroma of coffee permeating the room.
Very well, this actually matched the words "International Student" in the building's name. After all, they did seem to love drinking coffee.
Walking a few steps further inside, he saw a coffee shop occupying a prime location on the first floor. To be precise, it should be a coffee corner, similar to the open-concept coffee shops in shopping malls, but having this thing in a school was still quite a novelty.
This detail triggered Su Bai's distant memories. He remembered that when school first started, he heard girls in his grade talking about this coffee corner. At that time, it was popular for freshmen to come here and check in. Not only girls came to check in, but many boys did too. Following trends really didn't distinguish between men and women, although female students were indeed more active in this regard...
Su Bai spotted Xue Tao at the coffee corner and... what was this woman's name again?
He felt like he had absolutely no impression of her.
Based on logical deduction, this should be the girl from the Normal University that Xue Tao hooked up with during the programming competition.
However, Su Bai had no idea what her name was!
He had only heard Xue Tao complain about all sorts of melodramatic things.
"Brother Bai, let me introduce you. This is Huang Ran, who will be going camping with me tomorrow. She's from the math department of the neighboring Jiangcheng Normal University."
Seeing Su Bai, Xue Tao spoke first, as if eager to take the initiative.
Who knows what this guy was panicking about.
Immediately after, he introduced Su Bai to Huang Ran.
"This is Su Bai, my roommate. He plays basketball incredibly well."
Bro, why emphasize the basketball part... Su Bai silently grumbled, though he didn't deny it.
Although his skills were purely rough, being able to use his body to knock away the opposing defenders could also be considered playing basketball well, right?
I see nothing wrong with that.
"Ah, so you are Su Bai. Hello, hello. I occasionally hear Xue Tao mention you. You're so tall, no wonder you're great at basketball. Next time your class has a game, let Xue Tao bring me to watch."
Obviously, the girl Xue Tao hooked up with this time was much more outgoing than Old Chu's Leilei.
After speaking to Su Bai generously and appropriately, she also glanced at Xue Tao with eyes like water. Even though she was talking about very normal things, it looked as if she was flirting with Xue Tao.
She was a master!
Su Bai couldn't help but pull up his system panel to check the number of times this woman had been in a relationship, and the corners of his mouth curled up into an amused smile.
Sure enough...
Could someone who used the opportunity of an inter-school competition to hook up with Xue Tao be simple?
With this level of proficiency, Su Bai definitely wouldn't believe it if she hadn't dated a few guys before.
After briefly looking at the data and satisfying his curiosity, Su Bai's gaze didn't linger on Huang Ran.
He had no interest in the women his roommate hooked up with.
Furthermore, Huang Ran's quality in all aspects couldn't catch Su Bai's eye.
Even if she had nothing to do with Xue Tao, Su Bai wouldn't bother giving her a second glance.
There was no helping it; his appetite had already been spoiled by S-class goddesses.
At this time, Huang Ran was also observing Su Bai.
His handsome facial features truly amazed her.
To be honest, when it came to how well boys could dress up, the boys at the Normal University were definitely superior.
The boys at Jiangnan University were generally more studious. Their minds were clearly focused on their studies, leaving less time for dressing up.
Even putting aside the dressing factor, the Normal University still had the upper hand in pure looks.
After all, how should she put it...
Handsome boys were easily distracted during their school years due to being harassed by girls.
And boys who could focus on their studies and get into top universities generally had significantly worse looks.
This wasn't because Huang Ran had a grudge against boys who were good at studying, but rather a conclusion she had drawn from long-term observation!
Tall and handsome boys like Su Bai were rare at Jiangnan University.
After all, this wasn't Huang Ran's first time trying to hook up with a Jiangnan University boy.
Moreover, Su Bai wasn't just handsome.
He was dressed in top luxury designer brands, and the watch on his wrist was very stylish, looking expensive at first glance.
He exuded a relaxed and casual aura, clearly not having worn his most expensive set of clothes just to attend an event.
In that situation, a person would appear somewhat constrained.
However, on Su Bai, there wasn't even the slightest feeling of being constrained.
This indicated that his current state was perhaps just his simplest daily routine.
Hiss~
If this deduction was true, this guy was truly a big catch.
Who knows how many times bigger than Xue Tao.
Huang Ran secretly started paying attention to Su Bai in her heart, but she didn't show any abnormal behavior.
Kidding aside, Xue Tao was a very petty person. For now, Huang Ran still needed to play it safe and secure Xue Tao first, without being too aggressive.
What's more, a super rich guy like Su Bai obviously had very high standards. Didn't she see that he just glanced at her briefly and then stopped paying attention?
If it were an ordinary freshman boy, he would often show unnatural awkwardness in front of Huang Ran, but Su Bai had absolutely none.

lanned to earn money steadily and take life at a slower pace. But he never expected... his father's remarriage, and the stepmother bringing along a dependent, would completely disrupt his life's plans...

d intelligence to keep the plot moving, and sometimes even the protagonists are forced into absurdly dumb decisions. Why does the A-list celebrity heroine in urban romance novels ditch the top-tier movie star and become a lovestruck fool for a pockmarked male lead? Why do the leads in historical tragedy novels keep dancing between love and death, only for the blind healer to end up suffering the most? And Gu Wei never expected that after finally landing a villain role to stir up trouble, she’d pick the wrong gender! No choice now—she’ll just have to crush the protagonists as a girl!

transmigrates into the world as the sect master of the Heavenly Yan Sect, which is on the verge of being wiped out. He binds a system that grants him cultivation power based on the number of disciples he has: for each disciple, he automatically gains a year's worth of cultivation every single day! Take one disciple: every day he gains 1 year of cultivation power. While others struggle through a year of bitter training, he gets the same just by sleeping through a single night. Take ten disciples: every day he gains 10 years of cultivation power. Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, Nascent Soul—he breezes through all bottlenecks without lifting a finger. Take one hundred disciples: every day he gains 100 years of cultivation power. Even a Soul Transformation Venerable before him can’t survive a single blow. Take ten thousand disciples: every day he gains 10,000 years of cultivation power! With a wave of his hand, he topples empires. With a single step, he crushes the sacred grounds of the universe. ... While others fight tooth and nail for secret techniques, Lin Yan casually hands out Nascent Soul-level cultivation manuals as beginner textbooks. While others strain to find talented recruits, Lin Yan opens his doors to anyone—so long as they’re human. In just three short years, the Heavenly Yan Sect went from a backwater sect made up of three crumbling huts to a sacred land that every cultivator under heaven would kill to enter. ... One day, otherworldly demon gods invade, with a million demon soldiers pressing down upon the realm. Lin Yan, yawning, rises from his lounge chair and glances at the system panel: [Current Disciples: 1.28 million] [Daily Cultivation Increase: 1.28 million years] He waves his hand casually, and the countless demon soldiers are reduced to ashes in an instant. “So noisy… interrupting my fishing.”

e bizarre and supernatural had descended. The previous emperor was a thoroughgoing tyrant; no longer satisfied with human women, he had set his sights on a stunningly beautiful supernatural entity. He met his end in his bedchamber, drained of all his vital essence. As the legitimate eldest son and crown prince, Wang Hao was thus hastily enthroned, becoming the young emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. No sooner had he awakened the "Imperial Sign-In Intelligence System" than he was assassinated by a Son of Destiny—a classic villain's opening. The Great Zhou, ravaged by the former emperor's excesses, was in national decline. The great families within its borders harbored their own treacherous schemes, martial sects began to defy the imperial court's decrees, and border armies, their pay and provisions in arrears, grumbled incessantly against the central government. Fortunately, the central capital was still held secure by the half-million Imperial Guards and fifty thousand Imperial Forest Army who obeyed the court's orders, along with the royal family's hidden reserves of power, barely managing to suppress the realm. As the Great Zhou's finances worsened and supernatural activities grew ever more frequent, the court sat atop a volcano. Ambitious plotters everywhere dreamed of overthrowing the dynasty, and even some reclusive ancient powers emerged, attempting to sway the tides of the world. At the first grand court assembly, the civil and military officials nearly came to blows, fighting tooth and nail over the allocation of fifty million taels of silver from the summer tax revenues. The spectacle opened Wang Hao's eyes—the Great Zhou's bureaucracy was not only corrupt but also martially proficient, a cabinet of all-rounders. Some officials even had the audacity to suggest the emperor release funds from the imperial privy purse to address the emergency. Wang Hao suddenly felt weary. Let it all burn.