Chapter 2: It's Hard to Transition from Extravagance to Frugality

"But honestly, despite all those you've turned down, isn't there anyone you could at least give a try?" Ning Xuan couldn't help but be curious.

"You're still young, you don't understand. It's easy to go from frugality to luxury, but difficult to go from luxury to frugality," Yan Yan answered Ning Xuan with all seriousness.

"I'm still young? In our department, there's no one younger than you," Ning Xuan just couldn't accept Yan Yan's frequent "you're still young" remarks.

"Although you've eaten more rice than me by a year and three months, your mental age must have been starving from a young age, severely stunted," Yan Yan looked at Ning Xuan with especially sincere eyes.

"You're the one who's stunted! Which eye of yours sees me as stunted?" Ning Xuan was both speechless and angry.

"You can't judge this kind of thing just with your eyes. How about you let me feel?" Yan Yan said, as she stretched out her "Devil's Claw" towards Ning Xuan's chest.

"Why don't you just try and feel!" Ning Xuan decided to "kill" Yan Yan with her gaze.

"I'd better not. I'm afraid if I touched you casually, you'd cling to me, not only offer yourself to me but also cry and scream for me to take responsibility. Rejecting people is absolutely one of the least favorite things I have to face in life," Yan Yan said with a face full of apprehension.

These days, Yan Yan was particularly busy. Aside from studying, her remaining time could basically be summarized in one sentence: If she wasn't rejecting someone, she was on her way to reject someone.

Though it's true that Yan Yan had her fair share of pursuers before, she had never encountered a situation in her freshman year like now, where people came in groups to confess.

Before university, Yan Yan basically had no suitors at all.

Before Yan Yan turned eighteen, the total number of people who pursued her, while not zero, was just a pitifully scant one.

Despite the saying "a woman blossoms at eighteen," Yan Yan's appearance hadn't undergone any earth-shattering changes upon starting university.

Yan Yan herself couldn't fathom what was going on.

If anything had changed significantly, it would be Yan Yan's presence.

Before she turned eighteen, Yan Yan tried very hard to make herself an "invisible person."

Though it was all an act.

But in any case, the old Yan Yan had no sharp edges, no aura.

She was the kind who, in the classroom, whether she walked in or out, seldom drew a glance from anyone.

Except for when she was seventeen.

The School of Journalism's student council was not elected by general vote but first by nomination, then by campaigning, and finally, by secret ballot from forty student representatives, with preferential voting. The person with the highest number of votes would become the president, and the person with the least would be eliminated.

Nominations could be put forward by the teacher in charge of the Youth League Committee, or by any member of the current student council's executive committee.

Of course, those who did not receive a nomination could still enter the student council through self-nomination.

Yan Yan was nominated, and subjectively, she had no interest in joining the student council.

From the bottom of her heart, she felt that the student council was not a suitable place for her.

The nomination was also anonymous. Without her knowledge, Gao Yu, the senior student council president, and Lu Feng, the junior vice president, both nominated Yan Yan.

Yan Yan was essentially forced "into the battlefield."

Gao Yu nominated Yan Yan because he was trying to curry favor with her at the time.

Lu Feng nominated Yan Yan because of her strong logical approach to tasks, her ability to handle several issues efficiently and effectively simultaneously.

Barring any surprises, Lu Feng would become the next president of the student council after the election.

Lu Feng truly hoped that Yan Yan would be among his student council staff.

But the results of the election left Lu Feng quite puzzled.

Each student representative could vote for more than one candidate, so apart from Lu Feng's unanimous election with forty votes, the rest mostly had twenty to thirty votes each, not much difference among them.

There was only one person who got just one vote.

The person who got one vote was Yan Yan, and the one who cast that vote was Lu Feng himself.

It wasn't until much later that Lu Feng found out that the day before the election, the outgoing student council president, Gao Yu, had inadvertently revealed a "truth" to the student representatives.

The implication of Gao Yu's words was that Yan Yan had been continuously giving gifts to the Youth League teachers in order to join the student council, which was why she was nominated as an exception in her freshman year.

In the School of Journalism, which aspired to "fairness and justice," Yan Yan's "behavior" was easily targeted by everyone.

At this time, Lu Feng still didn't know the truth, but he felt he especially needed to console Yan Yan, thinking her fall was so miserable, her loss so unsightly, all because of his nomination.

"I didn't know they would do this to you," said Lu Feng, feeling particularly embarrassed to Yan Yan.

"What do you mean?" Yan Yan was clueless.

"I think your campaign speech was quite good. It's excessive the way they treated you," Lu Feng tried to comfort Yan Yan.

"This matter? It's no big deal. I've been targeted since I was little. Starting from when I ran for class leader in elementary school, I've been nominated every time but received zero votes each time.

If someone hadn't made a mistake about the situation and voted for me, my name wouldn't even have been written on the blackboard during the vote counting, and I could have left quietly," said Yan Yan.

As Yan Yan spoke these words, she did so with a smile, as if the recent voting results really hadn't affected her mood.

Lu Feng didn't know what to say, so he could only speak the truth, "I'm sorry, that one vote was mine."

"It was you? Please don't tell me you're also the one who nominated me," Yan Yan was a bit surprised. She didn't have much interaction with Lu Feng, and under normal circumstances, Lu Feng should have nominated a sophomore rather than her, a freshman.

"I'm really sorry, I had no idea this would happen," Lu Feng still felt extremely guilty.

So much for good intentions paving the road to hell, he thought, this must be the situation now.

"What do you have to be sorry for? It's not your fault. I just attract negativity. You better keep your distance from now on, so I don't drag down your popularity," Yan Yan said, and then walked out of the election classroom.

At this moment in the classroom, there were plenty who wanted to see Yan Yan's embarrassment, but her misfortunes weren't just for anyone to see, were they?

.........

Back in the dormitory, the "embarrassing" results of Yan Yan's election had already spread. After all, every student in the School could potentially become a journalist in the future.

The definition of news starts with "reporting on recent facts."

Timeliness is the lifeblood of news.

Gossip at the School of Journalism spread at the speed of light.

"I told you to be careful yesterday, how did it end up like this?" Ning Xuan saw Yan Yan return to the dormitory after the defeated election, her face full of concern and a tad bit of frustrated competitiveness.

"Haha, what do you mean? Although I only got one vote, I still have the highest number of votes among freshmen. Besides me, who else was voted for?" Yan Yan comforted Ning Xuan in return.

"You can still laugh, they're all saying you're involved in an improper relationship with the teacher," Ning Xuan said, her anger clearly simmering.

"An improper relationship? The rumor has escalated again? Do you believe it?" Yan Yan asked curiously.

"Of course, I don't believe it," Ning Xuan replied, still looking concerned.

"Then that's settled. I don't care what they say. They're not you," Yan Yan said as she playfully pinched Ning Xuan's cheek.