Ch 17: How To Be A Good Lackey

Shao Ye let out an “oh,” his whole demeanor drooping, like a piece of buttered bread about to go moldy.

He still couldn’t figure it out. He had clearly removed obstacles from the president’s path to love, so why was he being punished?

There was no reason at all.

He puzzled over it again and again. After walking several steps out of the office, he turned back, poked his head around the doorframe, and asked, “President, you’re really going to punish me?”

He put on a pleading expression, even clasping his hands together in a begging gesture. But with his tall, broad build, the gesture looked strangely out of place.

Xi Guanming picked up his phone from the desk, glanced at a message, then looked up and said, “If you don’t leave now, I’ll punish you immediately.”

Shao Ye gave a startled “ah,” pulled his head back, and shut the office door.

He didn’t leave right away. Instead, he paced back and forth in the hallway, trying to guess what kind of punishment awaited him.

Would he be made to run laps around the track? Or stand as punishment in the dorm hallway? Surely it wouldn’t be something like reading a three-thousand-word self-criticism in front of the entire school?

The last time he wrote a self-criticism was in sixth grade, when he got caught climbing the wall to skip class. It had been years. He’d already forgotten the format.

None of those punishments really worried him. What he feared more was that the president might grow tired of him. His great “career” might end right here.

Thinking it through, the only explanation he could come up with was that the president didn’t want any more fights happening on campus. Even if this one had been small in scale, with no serious injuries, and even if the president could benefit from it, he still refused to cover for him.

The president really was a selfless, upright person.

Though, honestly, Shao Ye kind of wished the president would bend the rules for him just once. It seemed his importance in the president’s eyes was still far from enough. He needed to keep working harder.

Following that line of reasoning, his mistake didn’t seem that serious. Translated on Hololo novels. After all, he hadn’t organized the fight, hadn’t chosen the location, and had even come to confess voluntarily, even if that wasn’t his original intention.

Maybe Jiang Yan could put in a good word for him? Not only had he helped the president eliminate rivals, he had also helped her drive away those annoying pests. She should at least give him that much face.

Shao Ye gave himself a silent thumbs-up, then crept back to the door. He carefully pushed it open a narrow crack and asked tentatively, “President, how about I set up a dinner with Jiang Yan for you? You two could go out and eat together?”

Xi Guanming’s gaze shifted from his phone screen to the face peeking through the door, wearing an obvious ingratiating smile. He curled his lips and repeated, “Dinner?”

Shao Ye nodded rapidly, like a pecking chick. “Yes, yes! It’s Friday. Jiang Yan must be free.”

At some point, the buttons of his shirt had come undone again, revealing a large expanse of his chest. Xi Guanming’s gaze lingered there several times, acutely aware that he was getting hungrier by the moment. Dinner, of course, was necessary—but what did it have to do with whether Jiang Yan was free?

Shao Ye only saw his lips move, without hearing any sound, and asked in confusion, “President, what did you say?”

“Nothing,” Xi Guanming waved him off. “Button up your shirt and go back. If you don’t leave now, don’t come looking for me again.”

“I’m going, I’m going!” Shao Ye slammed the door shut with a bang, his footsteps quickly fading down the hallway.

Xi Guanming set his phone down and pressed his temple. Still so dense—he hears the second half and forgets the first.

Not long after Shao Ye left, Si Xu stormed into Xi Guanming’s office, slammed his hand heavily on the desk, and demanded, “Xi Guanming, that Shao Ye—he’s your man, isn’t he?”

Xi Guanming looked up. Si Xu had clearly changed into fresh clothes before coming here, and even styled his hair, but the bruises at the corners of his eyes and lips couldn’t be fully hidden. It seemed Shao Ye hadn’t held back at all, completely disregarding his status as the son of the richest family.

A strange sense of pleasure spread through Xi Guanming’s chest, tingling and satisfying.

That beating hadn’t been wasted.

“What do you mean, ‘my man’?” Xi Guanming said with a polite smile, the same one he wore when greeting teachers and students in the morning. “Student Si Xu, within the academy, every student belongs to themselves.”

Si Xu was sick of that fake, refined tone of his. Every time he spoke, it felt like he was being mocked.

“Cut the crap!” Si Xu snapped. “Whether he is or not, Xi Guanming, I’m telling you—I’m going to make him get out of the academy!”

Zong Xingze and Jin Feng followed in behind him. Though they didn’t speak, the fact that they came together already made their stance clear.

Xi Guanming opened the lower left drawer, took out a copy of the Academy Student Code of Conduct, and placed it in front of Si Xu.

“If you want to expel a diligent, friendly student, you’ll need a reasonable justification,” he said calmly.

Diligent? Friendly?

Who exactly was he talking about?

Si Xu almost laughed from anger. He was certain this whole incident had been orchestrated by Xi Guanming. He couldn’t touch Xi Guanming for now, but dealing with Shao Ye was no problem.

Leaning forward with both hands on the desk, he locked eyes with Xi Guanming and said through gritted teeth, “The Shao family goes bankrupt, can’t afford his tuition, and he withdraws voluntarily. Tell me—does that sound like a good enough reason?”

Xi Guanming’s smile didn’t change at all. He patiently analyzed, “Bringing down a well-running nationwide restaurant chain in a short time might be a bit troublesome. And generally, with sufficient capital, such a business can recover. Even if, as you wish, it truly collapses, if a kind benefactor appears willing to pay Shao Ye’s tuition, I believe he could still continue his studies at the academy.”

Si Xu narrowed his eyes, his expression turning vicious. No one dared interfere with someone the Si family wanted to destroy.

“So you’re going to stop me?” he asked coldly.

Zong Xingze added from behind, “President, that guy said he’s your man. None of us believed it. You’re not actually planning to protect him, are you?”

Jin Feng also looked at Xi Guanming with suspicion.

Drawing this much hostility all at once—impressive.

Xi Guanming smiled faintly. “Of course not. If the three of you join forces, even if I wanted to stop you, it would be difficult.”

Si Xu let out a cold laugh. “Good. At least you know that.”

“However…” Xi Guanming trailed off.

“However what?” Si Xu’s expression darkened.

Xi Guanming said to him, “It’s nothing. I’ve just always felt that the learning environment at the academy isn’t very suitable for Jiang Yan. Over the past few days, I’ve contacted several other schools, and they all said they’d be happy to accept her. I don’t think Jiang Yan would refuse.”

At this point, Xi Guanming seemed to realize he had misspoken. He paused and added, “Sorry. This has nothing to do with you, Si Xu. I shouldn’t have told you.”

Si Xu clenched his fists, the veins on the back of his hands bulging, breathing heavily as he demanded, “What do you mean, Xi Guanming? You’re going to transfer Jiang Yan to another school?”

Xi Guanming smiled. “It doesn’t mean anything. Just a small, immature idea based on Jiang Yan’s current situation at the academy.”

Si Xu’s face twisted with anger. “For that Shao Ye, you’re using Jiang Yan to threaten me?”

Didn’t Xi Guanming like Jiang Yan? What was he doing now? What benefit did he get from transferring her? Was he betting that they wouldn’t dare take a risk with Jiang Yan?

Xi Guanming looked surprised. “How could that be? What does Shao Ye have to do with Jiang Yan? Don’t mix them up, Si Xu.”

After a while, Si Xu loosened his grip, nodded, and once his breathing steadied, he raised a thumb at Xi Guanming. “Xi Guanming, well played.”

Hearing this, Xi Guanming pulled an A4 sheet from the drawer and handed it to him. “Thank you for the compliment, Si Xu. Here’s a student council satisfaction survey. Would you like to fill it out?”

“Fill your whole damn family!” Si Xu cursed and stormed off.

Jin Feng watched Si Xu leave, then glanced at Xi Guanming. The matter about transferring Jiang Yan didn’t seem fake. Jiang Yan hadn’t been particularly happy at the Academy. If Xi Guanming could offer her a better option, she probably wouldn’t refuse. But if she really left, it wouldn’t be easy for them to follow. Jin Feng didn’t dare gamble on this.

He greeted Xi Guanming briefly and left as well.

Of the three who had come to demand an explanation, only Zong Xingze remained. His eyes shifted as he stepped forward and asked, “President, can you tell me what Shao Ye is to you?”

Xi Guanming glanced at him, his smile fading into a colder expression. “I’m simply fulfilling my duty as student council president.”

Zong Xingze rubbed his arm as if brushing off nonexistent goosebumps and took two steps back. “That answer makes me sick.”

“Do you want to see the school doctor?” Xi Guanming asked with concern.

Zong Xingze twitched his lips. “I can’t deal with you. I’m leaving. You’d better keep a close eye on your little darling. Si Xu won’t let him off so easily.”

Xi Guanming said, “If he doesn’t care about Jiang Yan either, then what I can do isn’t limited to just transferring her.”

“Was that meant for me too?” Zong Xingze asked.

“Up to you,” Xi Guanming replied with a smile. “Want to fill out a student council satisfaction survey as well?”

“I’ll pass,” Zong Xingze waved him off, then imitated a TV drama tone and asked in a pinched voice, “So what exactly is the relationship between you two? It doesn’t look very normal to me.”

Xi Guanming chuckled lightly. “Not normal? I think it’s quite normal.”

Zong Xingze was speechless.

Under the heavy night sky, the quiet lake reflected the colorful lights along the shore like a giant pearl. Walking along the stone path toward the dormitory, Xi Guanming thought that tonight, he would have to get enough “compensation” to make up for his losses.

In the dorm room, Shao Ye sat at the bedside desk writing a self-criticism. After two hours, he had managed only five words, three of which were the title.

Hearing the door open, he threw down his pen and sprang to the entrance, putting on a flattering smile. “President, you’re back?”

Xi Guanming glanced at him without speaking, casually closed the door behind him, and walked inside.

Shao Ye’s heart jumped into his throat. He followed nervously, wanting to test Xi Guanming’s mood but not knowing what to say.

He opened his mouth, then closed it again. Maybe he should admit his mistake in advance. The punishment might be lighter.

Hesitating, just as he was about to speak, Xi Guanming suddenly stopped, turned back to look at him, his dark eyes deep and dangerous.

“Go to the bed and take off your clothes,” he said.

Author’s note:

[????????????????????????]

: ????

: ????????

: ???????????

: I really don’t understand this development

: President, you’re serious?

: This isn’t great… it’s late at night, even the two swans at the artificial lake have gone off duty. If something really happens, I won’t even get to see the swans

: I bet the president is making No. 6 take off his clothes so it’s easier to clean up after killing him (doge)

: Where are all the people who swore No. 6 would be eliminated today? Come out and walk it off!

: The experts all deleted their accounts overnight

: LOL, someone next door posted saying he has a junior who’s always acting smart but doing stupid things and making enemies. Translated on Hololo novels. Everyone told him to fire the guy, but he kept patching it up, saying he wants the junior to suffer a big loss later, so he won’t fire him yet and even stopped others from doing it. Then everyone replied saying “you love him a lot,” and when the OP suddenly decoded it as the president and No. 6, the whole thread went silent

: Can you people stop having such dirty thoughts? Taking off clothes doesn’t only mean that

: Oh? Then what’s your brilliant theory?

: Maybe he suspects No. 6 is his long-lost brother and wants to check for a birthmark or something

: True, the president’s parents seem to have left quite a few illegitimate children

: That makes sense! The logic checks out! I knew the president wouldn’t be into men!

: Ah, my heart can finally settle. I was scared they were about to get into bed

: Thank goodness, the fifty bucks I bet with my roommate is safe

: I’m going to contact the experts and tell them it can still be salvaged

: Wait, aren’t you all being a bit delusional?

: Let them be. With their mental state, even if they really did it, they’d say the president was giving No. 6 acupuncture

: How dare you! Calling the president a “needle”!

: President: I’m calling the police to arrest all of you