Chapter 57: Nemesis

By the time Li Dong returned to the dormitory from Longhua Plaza, it was nearly 2 PM. The other roommates had already left, so Li Dong grabbed his textbooks and hurried to the classroom, not having the time to dwell on the embarrassing incident that had just occurred.

...

The afternoon class was a Marxist Philosophy class, a large lecture attended by nearly 200 students from four different classes.

Normally, for such non-essential classes, a lot of students would skip, but the attendance rate for Li Dong's year was surprisingly high, with an absentee rate of no more than 5%.

This wasn't because the International Trade students were particularly studious, but because the female professor teaching the course was very strict. She took attendance every class, and if a student was absent when called, their participation grade would be a zero.

It's worth noting that in university, participation grades could account for up to 30% of the final mark. If you got a zero in participation, it was nearly impossible to pass the course.

Although Li Dong wasn't particularly fond of the professor's strictness, he attended almost every class to avoid failing the course at the end of the term.

When Li Dong arrived at the classroom, he was slightly late, and after circling the back rows, he found no available seats.

It wasn't until he saw Meng Qiping waving at him from the crowd that Li Dong quickly made his way over.

The chubby guy waited until Li Dong was right in front of him before shrugging and grinning mischievously, "Sorry, we came a bit late, couldn't save you a seat."

"Damn it!"

Li Dong flipped him off. If there wasn't a seat, why did he wave? So much for that.

With the prime seats in the back taken, Li Dong had no choice but to move to the front rows.

There were still a few empty seats in the front, so Li Dong casually chose an aisle seat and sat down.

After placing his textbooks on the desk, Li Dong glanced at the person sitting next to him.

As soon as he looked, Li Dong was stunned. It really was a coincidence—sitting beside him was Bai Su!

Not only was Bai Su there, but next to her was Huang Shanshan, and further down were all her dormmates, leaving the aisle seat conveniently empty.

Because of the drinking incident and the situation with Xu Chen, Li Dong felt a bit awkward.

Although they usually exchanged greetings when they met, those were brief encounters. Sitting together for two whole periods was going to be uncomfortable.

Li Dong considered getting up to find another seat but worried it might make things even more awkward.

He began to grumble internally—how was it possible that there was an empty seat next to a pretty girl, with no one sitting there? It didn't make sense!

With no other choice, Li Dong decided to tough it out. Fortunately, Bai Su seemed not to notice him, as she was engrossed in her textbook. Seeing this, Li Dong pretended to read as well, feeling a bit more at ease.

When the professor entered the classroom, Li Dong's discomfort started to fade.

Students who had taken Marxist Philosophy before knew that these professors were experts at putting people to sleep.

Afternoon classes were already a struggle to stay awake in, especially since Li Dong hadn't been sleeping well due to being busy the past few days. Under the professor's soothing lecture, Li Dong soon drifted off into dreamland.

...

Bai Su, on the other hand, had been paying attention to Li Dong the entire time.

It wasn't because Li Dong was particularly handsome but because, like him, she felt a bit awkward and was pretending not to notice him.

However, Bai Su didn't think Li Dong had chosen his seat at random; she suspected he had intentionally sat near her to strike up a conversation.

After all, she had encountered situations like this quite a few times recently. She was even pondering whether to initiate a conversation with him later.

But when she glanced over at Li Dong again, she found that he had fallen asleep!

He wasn't pretending to sleep to get attention—he was genuinely asleep!

Bai Su could tell because she saw Li Dong drooling!

Gross! Bai Su felt like crying. Didn't this guy know how embarrassing it was to drool while sleeping? Didn't he care about his image at all?

Bai Su wanted to wake Li Dong up, but seeing how soundly he was sleeping, she felt like waking him would be almost criminal. For a moment, she didn't know whether she should wake him or not.

In the end, she decided to just endure it and tried to focus on her textbook instead.

When the bell rang signaling the end of class, Bai Su finally breathed a sigh of relief. Surely, he would wake up now.

But after glancing back at Li Dong, Bai Su was speechless. Despite the noisy commotion of hundreds of students leaving, Li Dong hadn't woken up. Had he been up all night robbing houses or something?

Since university classes were two periods back-to-back, Bai Su didn't want to spend another class watching this drooling spectacle, so she reached over and gave Li Dong a push.

But Li Dong was sleeping too deeply and didn't wake up.

Bai Su pushed him again, but he still didn't wake. Instead, he just stuck out his tongue to lick his drool, which thoroughly disgusted Bai Su.

Frustrated, Bai Su looked around, and then, suddenly, she stretched out her hand...

...

"Damn it!"

Li Dong, who had been lost in his dreams, finally woke up in pain!

He rubbed his side and gasped—someone had pinched him hard!

Glancing around, Li Dong saw that Bai Su had turned away, avoiding his gaze. Well, that was a dead giveaway—who else could it have been but this annoying girl?

"Bai Su, can I ask you something?"

Although Bai Su had her back to Li Dong, she had been paying attention to his reaction. Hearing his question, she pretended to be confused and turned around, "What is it?"

Li Dong pointed to the other students, who were all sitting at least two meters away from him, and asked irritably, "I just want to know, who here has arms that are two meters long?"

"Pfft!"

Bai Su couldn't help but laugh, then quickly stifled it, her face turning red.

Li Dong rolled his eyes, not wanting to argue with her, and laid back down, ready to sleep again. But he warned, "If you pinch me again, I won't be so nice!"

Seeing that he was planning to sleep again, Bai Su became anxious and said, "I won't pinch you if you don't sleep!"

"Come on, you admit it now, right? Go ahead, keep pretending!" Li Dong rolled his eyes again, thinking that with her intelligence, she was no match for him.

"Admit what?" Bai Su feigned ignorance.

Li Dong didn't bother arguing with her—arguing with a woman was the epitome of foolishness.

He just muttered, "Whoever pinches me again is a little dog."

"Childish!"

Bai Su nearly burst out laughing at Li Dong's remark. After calming down, she said, "You drool when you sleep—it's really gross. Stop sleeping."

"Really?"

Although Li Dong felt a wave of embarrassment, he kept a straight face, pretending to doubt Bai Su, as if to say she was definitely lying.

As if the wealthy and successful Li Dong could drool in his sleep—he couldn't possibly admit to something so embarrassing!

"It's true! Don't you believe me?" Bai Su was annoyed that Li Dong doubted her, and her voice rose a notch.

Noticing that other students were beginning to take an interest in their conversation, Li Dong quickly tried to placate her, "I believe you, okay? I won't sleep anymore."

Only then did Bai Su calm down, feeling a bit embarrassed about her earlier outburst.

But after that, the two of them fell into an awkward silence, not knowing what to say next.

After about a minute or two of quiet, Bai Su suddenly asked, "Li Dong, why did you go to Longhua Plaza the other day?"

"Which day?"

Li Dong frowned. He wasn't particularly fond of Bai Su's inquisitive nature—she had a tendency to ask too many questions.

They weren't that close—just classmates, really. Didn't she realize that prying into someone's personal affairs was crossing a line?

Moreover, how did Bai Su know he had gone to Longhua Plaza? He didn't recall mentioning it to anyone. Could it have been the chubby guy who told her?

Sensing Li Dong's displeasure, Bai Su realized she might have overstepped, but she couldn't help asking, "The day we ran into each other at Pingchuan Park."

Li Dong's mouth twitched, and he replied reluctantly, "I had some business to take care of, so I went over there."

Although Li Dong's answer was vague, Bai Su didn't press further. She knew that asking more would be inappropriate.

...

When the class finally ended, Li Dong wasted no time and quickly left the classroom.

Bai Su watched him leave, lost in thought, until she was jolted back to reality by Huang Shanshan's tap on the shoulder. Turning around, she asked, "Shanshan, you didn't say a word just now—are you still mad at him?"

Huang Shanshan shook her head, replying glumly, "No, why would I be mad at him?"

"But he did beat up Chen Fang that day..."

"Stop bringing that up!"

Huang Shanshan interrupted Bai Su, wanting to say something but ultimately letting out a sigh and staying silent.

Seeing her like this, Bai Su didn't push the issue, but she couldn't help thinking to herself that the guys from Dorm 351 were really their nemeses!