Chapter 145: Chen Junjie
An Han’s school was located in the university town. Although the university town was far from the city center, because so many students lived there, there were plenty of rental rooms available.
After class that evening, she went out alone, looking for rental ads posted on electric poles and walls outside the campus.
The best thing about renting here was that she didn’t have to worry about being scammed by real estate agents, there were ads everywhere. But that also meant most rentals here weren’t very official or properly managed.
Full of hope, An Han contacted several landlords and checked out a few rooms. But by the time she returned to her dorm, her mood had dropped completely.
“Where did you go?”
As soon as she entered, Long Xing asked curiously.
He hesitated. Because of his awkward feelings toward someone he thought was a guy, he hadn’t dared to get too close to An Han lately. But he still couldn’t help wanting to know more about her.
“Just went out for a walk.” An Han sat down sadly on Wang Sheng’s bed.
Wang Sheng’s eyelid twitched. He opened his mouth to say something, but then closed it again.
“You’ve been keeping a lot of secrets lately,” Chen Junjie leaned over with a teasing grin. “Don’t tell me you went out crossdressing again?”
“What do you mean again?” An Han had been feeling down, but suddenly she perked up and snapped back confidently, “I’ve never worn women’s clothes in my whole life!”
“Whoa, why are you getting so worked up?”
“Worked up, my ass! I’m not worked up!”
She kicked at him without hesitation. Chen Junjie dodged quickly, laughing in that annoying, mischievous way of his. An Han honestly didn’t know how someone like him had survived into adulthood.
After he moved away, she lay back down on Wang Sheng’s bed, lost in thought about how to make money.
Her monthly allowance was two thousand yuan. If she didn’t have a girlfriend and didn’t spend money on games, it was more than enough. But if she wanted to rent a place off-campus, that money wouldn’t be enough at all.
Even the worst rooms outside school cost at least five hundred yuan a month. With extra charges for water and electricity, seven or eight hundred a month was normal. That would leave barely enough for food, phone bills, and internet fees.
“At this rate, I won’t save a single cent… I’d have to live really tightly,” she muttered softly.
And that didn’t even include the deposit required for the first month. Paying both the rent and the deposit upfront made it impossible for her to afford.
Besides, those rental rooms were too shabby!
Some were so rundown they didn’t even feel safe, the thin doors looked like they could be kicked open with one foot.
Even though An Han had acted like she didn’t care when Ren Chi said he wouldn’t let her live off-campus for safety reasons, deep down, as someone who used to be a man, she understood perfectly well how attractive her current appearance was to men. So she was extra cautious about her own safety.
Sure, society was relatively safe now, but what if something did happen…
Borrow money from Su Peng? Of course, that was the first person who came to mind.
She sat up immediately and subconsciously started to stand, ready to go to the next dorm to find Su Peng, but then she stopped halfway.
Since when did I get so comfortable with borrowing money from others? That must be the effect of his affection score again!
No matter how broke she was, An Han hated borrowing money from friends. She didn’t like the feeling of owing anyone, not even the small debts from online apps.
Besides, she already owed Su Peng a lot. Who knew how much he had spent on that medical check-up last weekend?
If she kept borrowing more, at this rate she might as well sell herself to pay him back.
Sitting down again, she turned to Long Xing and asked, “Brother Long, if I borrow money from Su Peng, do you think he’d mind?”
“Huh? You short on cash?”
“Yeah… I’m thinking of renting a place outside campus…”
Long Xing finally remembered that An Han had mentioned this before. He scratched his head and asked, “Can’t you just stay in the dorm?”
“Chen Junjie keeps bullying me every single day. I can’t take it anymore.”
Chen Junjie immediately jumped up.
“What the hell does that have to do with me? You’re the one who keeps picking on me! What are you even upset about?”
An Han turned her head away, ignoring his excuse. To be fair, they both bullied each other, though most of the time, it was Chen Junjie who started it.
“Junjie! Can’t you just stop bothering Xiao Han for once?”
Long Xing frowned and interrupted him, clearly taking An Han’s side.
“That guy is the one who keeps bothering me!”
Long Xing didn’t even bother trying to mediate, or maybe he just knew it was impossible. He turned his gaze toward An Han.
“Did you get things sorted out with the counselor?”
“Pretty much. Just short on money…”
“I see.” Long Xing’s tone instantly grew more disappointed.
Chen Junjie looked annoyed too.
“Seriously? You’re graduating in a year. Why move out now?”
“I just am! What, got a problem with that?” An Han said provocatively.
“Your damn—!”
The two started arguing again. The dorm was filled with loud “sweet talk,” full of bickering that somehow still felt like a friendly routine.
Long Xing rubbed his temples, sighed, and silently put on his headphones to drown out the noise with music. After a few years, he was used to it.
“Hey, hold up a sec.”
Wang Sheng, who had been quiet the whole time, finally interrupted the chaos.
“The competition starts next week,” he said to An Han.
An Han froze for a moment, then looked up.
“Competition? What competition?”
“The e-sports tournament,” Wang Sheng said, eyes still glued to his screen, clearly unhappy that An Han was lying all over his bed.
“Oh~ I almost forgot about that.”
Right, that was a task. The reward was a limited-edition PS5...
If she could finish the task and sell the PS5, that would cover her rent.
Her eyes lit up immediately, she had found a way to get money without borrowing from Su Peng.
“Is there a CSGO event?” she asked excitedly, standing up.
“I think they said they’re still missing sponsorship funds.”
“So basically, it’s going nowhere. Can’t you just change the game? You don’t have to play CSGO to experience a tournament! Why not Peacekeeper Elite instead?”
Wang Sheng went quiet, imagining himself standing on stage, awkwardly tapping away on a phone instead of using a keyboard and mouse.
“Well, it’s all games anyway,” An Han muttered softly with a sigh. “But they still need to find a sponsor, right?”
Wang Yu’s really not doing his job! He’s supposed to be the head of the gaming club, has run plenty of events before, and he still can’t even get a sponsor? And I trusted him to handle it!
She pictured Wang Yu’s stiff, expressionless face while he awkwardly tried to talk to sponsors about money.
No wonder it wasn’t working. Unless the club actually had someone dedicated to finding sponsors, there was no way it’d succeed.
“I’ll go ask Wang Yu about it,” she sighed.
She really didn’t want to deal with his cold attitude, even though she had already used the chest wrap’s “side effect” to raise his affection toward her to the “close friend” level. Still, Wang Yu never showed her a pleasant face.
With a tired look, she left the dorm. But just as she stepped into the hallway, she noticed Chen Junjie following right behind her.
An Han instantly became alert, scanning him up and down.
“Why are you following me? You wanna start something?”
Chen Junjie closed the door, lit a cigarette, and stood there awkwardly, not daring to meet her eyes.
“No… that’s not it…”
Don’t tell me he likes me too?!
The way he was acting made alarm bells ring in her head. Her heart started pounding, and she quickly asked the system to check his affection score, but it showed nothing unusual.
Wait, no! Someone doesn’t have to hit 80 affection points to like a person, right?!
“I was wrong, okay? I won’t mess with you anymore.” Chen Junjie looked away, pretending to sound careless. “Why do you have to move out? Just stay.”
As soon as he said that, An Han noticed something rare. Embarrassment, and even a faint blush, on his face.
This guy… actually apologizing to me?!
Did a ghost possess him or something?!