WHI – Chapter 15

Chapter 15

It wasn’t until he closed the door, entered the bathroom, and soaked himself in the bathtub that Lin Ting could properly collect his thoughts.

From the moment Gu Yi brought up the gathering at the dinner table, something felt off. Although he’d had that brief moment of delusion where he thought they could get along amicably, the terrible acting of those few people and what happened next clearly indicated it was a Hongmen Banquet targeted at him. As for Han Ziqiu and Ye Shanwen, those pathetic individuals were probably just used to being bullied at school, so they could be disregarded for now.

What was the purpose?

Very simple: humiliation.

The rich heirs, whose brains were still stuck in the Peking Man stage, had nothing better to do all day.

But why use this method? It was as if they were certain he was gay and wanted to test him.

Lin Ting thought and thought, finding the whole affair incredibly strange. He wasn’t gay. To be precise, he had never liked anyone, nor had he harbored any romantic feelings towards anyone since childhood.

When he had asked Gu Yi what the point was earlier, he hadn’t answered.

The entire event, from beginning to end, felt like it was missing a crucial connecting thread, but no matter how hard Lin Ting racked his brain, he couldn’t find its end.

Never mind. He wouldn’t think about it anymore. After all, it was too much to ask a modern person to understand the brain structure of primitive humans.

Lin Ting stood up, drained the bathtub, dried himself, changed into his pajamas, and got into bed.

Ever since he had lain on the large bed at Wen Lan’s club, he felt this bed wasn’t as comfortable anymore. Tsk, what was this called? Indulgence and luxury. Lin Ting thought his recent life had become rather extravagant. Although he had been exercising restraint, the moment he saw the bathtub, he had wanted to take a bath. He couldn’t quite explain why, but the feeling of his body immersed in water was quite pleasant.

Lin Ting glanced at WeChat. The Wen Lan’s younger brother group chat was buzzing with discussions about what food and drinks to bring for Saturday’s adventure, whether to bring a DSLR or a Polaroid, and other such topics. These were also rich heirs with nothing to do, but this group was much more likable than Gu Yi’s crowd.

He thought for a moment and typed a line in the input box:

– (Lin Ting) I suggest everyone tie a Red String on their wrist for protection.

He sent it.

Not long after he sent it, everyone in the group chimed in with agreement, offering sensible points. They also brought up a series of discussions like, ‘one can determine if the other person is human, or if they are in a dream, by whether there is a Red String on their wrist,’ and so on.

Wen Lan’s private message followed soon after:

– Are you serious in the group chat?

– You guys are allowed to be brainless, but I’m not allowed to lower my IQ a little?

– Tsk, I’m just playing along, who actually believes this!

– I’m not sure about you, but they seem to genuinely believe it.

After replying, Lin Ting ignored Wen Lan’s string of dots and exited WeChat, starting to read the physics practice questions PDF he had bought last time.

When he woke up the next day, Lin Ting found that the group chat already had over a hundred messages, all discussing the principle of Red String amulets, what kind of Red String was most effective, and several supplementary ‘documents’ that Wen Lan had screenshotted: The Truth and Falsehood of Red String Amulets from the Perspective of I Ching; The Great Difference Between Wearing a Red String on the Left or Right Wrist; Red String vs. Black String, Which is More Effective? And so on.

As expected, being born into wealth requires brains.

.

On Monday morning, from the moment Lin Ting entered the school gate, walked into the classroom, and sat at his desk, countless eyes were on him, accompanied by pointing fingers.

But the moment he looked back, everyone’s gaze would retreat.

Tsk.

Lin Ting placed his backpack on the desk and, under the pressure of surrounding glances, extended his left leg to kick Wen Lan, who was sitting one seat away, burying his head in eating pan-fried dumplings: “What trick are you playing again?”

“Me?” Wen Lan’s mouth was full of chili oil. Before he could swallow the pan-fried dumplings, he said while chewing, “What trick could I be playing? Don’t make baseless accusations.”

“Tsk, wipe that ‘baseless accusation’ off your mouth first. Why aren’t you eating at home?” Lin Ting found it strange. Logically, rich heirs like them would have an aunt prepare a Western breakfast spread every morning, wouldn’t they? Holding a white plastic container full of pan-fried dumplings with chili oil and eating them so ungracefully, Wen Lan seemed overly down-to-earth in every aspect.

“I had a fight with my dad this morning and ran out. Who knew my stomach would start rumbling with hunger as soon as I left? I saw a breakfast shop, want some?” Wen Lan said, using his chopsticks to pick up a dumpling and intending to stuff it into Lin Ting’s mouth.

Lin Ting, seeing the chili oil about to drip onto him, quickly lifted his foot and pushed the chair away by half a meter: “Wen Lan, I warn you, keep that thing away from me. If you drip a single drop of oil on me, I’ll beat you.”

Wen Lan rolled his eyes from above, popped the pan-fried dumpling into his mouth, and then placed the chopsticks back into the plastic container: “Song Mi!”

“Coming!” Ma Zi, hearing Brother Wen call him, scurried over from the front row, took the plastic container, and then turned to walk away with small, quick steps – discarding the trash on his way back to his seat.

“Seriously, you need someone to help you throw away trash?” Lin Ting shook his head at Wen Lan with a look of disdain.

“It’s just that I was afraid I’d drip oil on you when I passed by. Look.” Wen Lan pulled open the side of his collar and bared his teeth, then rotated his arm to show it, and finally spread out his palms. “See, ever since I met Brother Lin, have I had any good spots left on me? If I drip oil, I won’t have any good spots left for you to beat me with.”

Lin Ting was amused by his string of actions: “You offered your palm yourself, how can you blame me?”

Seeing Lin Ting smile, Wen Lan also started laughing. It wasn’t until the class bell rang and Teacher Yao entered the classroom that the two quieted down.

Lin Ting was, after all, a top student. Although he sometimes slept in class, he also listened sometimes, or pretended to play with his phone while secretly looking at practice questions. Therefore, when he was lying on his desk looking at the physics practice questions PDF, and Wen Lan’s message box popped up for the Nth time above the screen, he finally couldn’t help but interrupt his thoughts, click on WeChat, and prepare to argue with him across the room.

– Look at the group.

– You look at the group.

– Did you mute the group? You’re really brave.

– Let’s settle this after school? First, to beat you for the crime of disrespecting the group, and second, to beat you for stealing my title.

– Damn it, did you mute me too?

Tsk, why was this person so long-winded? Before clicking into the group, Lin Ting first glanced sideways at the person on his left.

Wen Lan’s eyes were wide open at this moment, and he was lying on his desk, making eye contact with Lin Ting, mouthing: Look at the group! Look at the group!

Group, group, group, group! He really wanted to leave the group.

The ‘Brother Wen and His 108 Little Brothers’ group chat had over a hundred messages in just a short while. Lin Ting took a deep breath before opening it.

The 100+ messages started with a link to a Tieba post – The 7th School Hunk and School Bully Competition countdown is less than a day away! The final winner will be announced at noon today.

Based on the current voting results, Wen Lan was in first place for the School Bully votes, far ahead of the second place.

As for the School Hunk, judging by the votes… it was likely himself.

Lin Ting finally understood the reason for the gazes that had been on him since this morning.

He clicked back to the group chat and scrolled through the conversation history. First, a group of people were complaining on behalf of Wen Lan. It seemed he had won both titles for the past two years, but this year, the rules had somehow changed to allow only one entry per person. At this point, the Wen family’s supporters were planning to seek an explanation from the ‘organizing committee’ – Lin Ting suddenly remembered hearing some discussions in the cafeteria earlier, and assumed those were the members of the ‘organizing committee.’

– (Wang Xingzhi) Although Brother Lin is handsome, we are all Brother Wen’s little brothers, aren’t we? There’s no reason to snatch the big brother’s title. @Lin Ting

– (Song Mi) Exactly, Brother Lin, don’t be unconvinced. After all, we all rely on Brother Wen’s protection, right?

– (Yu Zhile) That’s great, we have two number ones in our group.

– (Li Ziyao) Yu Zhile, shut up. Don’t you know how important these two lists are to our Brother Wen? Is it something you can just give away?

Lin Ting’s teeth ached from reading these sycophantic comments.

– (Lin Ting) @Wen, I acknowledge my grave sin and will leave the group as a warning to others.

– Lin Ting has left the group chat.

After this series of actions, he immediately felt the air around him become much lighter. In order to continue focusing on his studies, he also muted Wen Lan with a casual flick of his wrist.

A class passed quickly. Honestly, he hadn’t paid much attention to what the teacher was saying, but he had made good progress on the practice questions. He estimated he would need to buy some more materials next week.

As soon as Teacher Yao left the classroom, four people surrounded Lin Ting’s desk.

They were the Left Guardian and Right Guardian who had been present during the previous fight, along with Da Er and Ma Zi.

The four of them lowered their heads but secretly peeked at Wen Lan.

Lin Ting also looked at Wen Lan: “What’s this? Looking for a beating?”

“Sorry!” The synchronized voices of the four startled Lin Ting greatly.

Lin Ting rested his head on his hand, looking first at Wen Lan – he still had that nonchalant demeanor, his face clearly conveying: See, I’ve gotten so many people to apologize to you, aren’t I awesome?

Then he looked at the quartet – Lin Ting realized that the Left and Right Guardians were also in the same class.

“What’s going on, what do you mean?” Lin Ting was a bit confused.

The Right Guardian spoke: “Brother Lin, we have deeply recognized our mistakes and once again implore you to rejoin the group chat and unblock Brother Wen. As for the group chat, you can mute it if you wish, and we have proposed new group names for you to choose from. Joining today will also grant you exclusive administrator status for a limited time. What do you say?”

Wen Lan seemed extremely pleased, leaning against the wall with a satisfied smile, his legs naturally stretched out. He raised his chin, gesturing for Lin Ting to look at his phone.

Lin Ting opened WeChat.

Wen Lan has invited you to join the group chat: Brother Wen and Brother Lin and Their 108 Little Brothers.

Lin Ting: “……”

There were over thirty messages from Wen Lan. Initially, they were all urging him to join the group, and later, they were all accusing him of why he had muted his messages.

Lin Ting gritted his teeth, but under the stares of the others, he followed their finger movements and joined the group, then unmuted Wen Lan’s messages. Only then did the four people around him disperse at Wen Lan’s command.

“Wen,” Lin Ting said the name through gritted teeth, “Lan.”

“Oh, it’s just that they angered you. I’ve already taught them a good lesson. Don’t worry, from now on, we’ll share the world equally, no distinction between you and me.”

Lin Ting was somewhat amused by his anger: “When was I angry?”

Wen Lan looked confused: “Then why did you mute me and leave the group? It was about that school hunk list, wasn’t it? I just wanted you to see that we both made the number one spots. I didn’t mean anything else. They acted on their own initiative to say those things in the group.”

“Is it possible that I left the group and muted you because I found you guys noisy?”