Chapter 42: Art Springs from Life

"Where's Jingjing?"

Seeing Li Shurui return alone, Guo Ran, who was watching a TV drama, asked nonchalantly.

"Still recruiting."

Li Shurui sat in her chair, looking somewhat restless.

"This should be the most bustling recruitment session for the Mountaineering Club, right? How many people signed up?"

Guo Ran teased while following the Mary Sue Korean drama playing on her computer.

But Li Shurui seemed not to hear, offering no response.

Guo Ran turned her head in confusion, finding the other girl looking deeply preoccupied.

"Shurui, what are you thinking about?"

Li Shurui snapped back to reality, her gaze falling on the computer screen.

Guo Ran had watched countless episodes of the common Korean drama tropes—wealthy CEOs and "sweet and silly" female leads—and never grew tired of them.

A thought struck Li Shurui. She shifted her gaze to Guo Ran's face and asked calmly, "Ranran, let me ask you a question."

Guo Ran nodded. "Go ahead."

"A college student gets into a fight with a rich heir over a girlfriend. The heir holds a grudge and hires someone to teach the student a lesson. But in the end, the person the heir hired doesn't just fail to teach the student a lesson—he actually stabs himself in front of the student. Why do you think that happened?"

Guo Ran was stunned for a moment before asking in confusion, "Shurui, is that college student a friend of yours?"

"No," Li Shurui denied quickly.

"Is it... a brain teaser?"

Li Shurui fell silent, then explained, "It's just a story I saw online."

"Oh."

Guo Ran didn't think much of it and began to ponder.

Although the story was somewhat nonsensical and lacked context, her years of watching melodramatic dramas hadn't been in vain.

"Shurui, is that student from a very poor family?" Guo Ran suddenly asked.

Li Shurui's heart skipped a beat. She asked instinctively, "How did you know?"

If Xu Siyi were here, she certainly could have deduced something from Li Shurui's reaction, but Xu Siyi was not in the dorm.

Guo Ran was clearly not that shrewd. She gave a triumphant smile. "Look who you're talking to. I could guess just by looking."

Seeing this, Li Shurui, realizing it was a false alarm, breathed a secret sigh of relief.

Clearly, Guo Ran had not guessed who the protagonist of the story was.

"Actually, the answer isn't hard. There's only one possibility."

"What possibility?"

"That the poor student is playing the 'pig to eat the tiger' routine. He's actually a very, very powerful heir to a wealthy family—at least much more powerful than that rich heir!"

Guo Ran said dismissively, "I've seen this kind of plot on TV plenty of times."

Li Shurui was dazed.

"Think about it. The thug's brain isn't broken, so how could he stab himself? There's only one possibility: he discovered the actual background of the 'poor student,' got terrified, and had to stab himself to apologize. Yeah, that's it!" Guo Ran declared decisively.

Li Shurui hesitated, but finally couldn't help but say, "What if the poor student really is just poor?"

"Really poor?"

Guo Ran frowned, then shook her head decisively. "In my experience, that's absolutely impossible! Shurui, you have to trust a professional's judgment."

"..."

Li Shurui remained silent.

Jiang Chen, a wealthy heir?

Wasn't that pure nonsense!

Who at Donghai University didn't know his family was destitute, penniless, and that his parents were both deceased? That couldn't be faked, could it?

Who would joke about something like that?

"Shurui, don't you believe me?"

Li Shurui's silence made Guo Ran feel as though her authority was being questioned.

"No," Li Shurui shook her head, explaining further, "It's just that this student is truly just an ordinary person. His parents aren't even around anymore."

"His parents aren't around?"

This added detail made Guo Ran pause, but she quickly dismissed it.

"Not having parents doesn't change anything. You've seen the movie *Hello Mr. Billionaire*, right? Who says you have to be poor just because your parents are dead? In TV dramas, some wealthy heirs wish their parents would kick the bucket sooner so they can take power. Maybe his parents left him a massive inheritance, or maybe he has incredibly powerful relatives. You never know."

The speaker was casual, but the listener was attentive.

That's right!

Who said having no parents meant being poor?

That was just the conventional thinking of ordinary people; the two were not necessarily equal.

"...Then what if he's constantly applying for scholarships and working part-time jobs off-campus?" Li Shurui still found it hard to accept.

"Then it just means he's very good at deceiving people."

Guo Ran answered without thinking, but suddenly, as if something had occurred to her, her gaze became suspicious, staring intently at Li Shurui.

Feeling guilty under her gaze, Li Shurui's eyes drifted.

"Why are you staring at me like that?"

"Wait a minute, Shurui. Why does the person you're describing sound so much like Jiang Chen?"

The girl's reaction wasn't entirely dull.

*Thump.*

Li Shurui's heart raced violently. She quickly forced herself to appear natural, regaining her usual cold elegance.

"Do you think that's possible? Jiang Chen being a wealthy heir? You believe that?"

"True." Guo Ran nodded, muttering, "If he's a wealthy heir, then I'm a princess of the royal family!"

"Just go back to your show." Li Shurui tried to divert her attention.

Guo Ran turned her gaze back to the computer, continuing her drama with gusto.

Li Shurui became even more distracted.

Guo Ran's words echoed in her mind. At the same time, two faces seemed to appear before her eyes—both were Jiang Chen. One was wearing a waiter's small suit, a face she was familiar with; the other was elegantly dressed with a noble temperament, like a stranger.

The two images interlaced and cycled repeatedly. Li Shurui closed her eyes tightly, feeling a sense of inner turmoil.

*Bang!*

The dorm door was pushed open.

"I'm exhausted!"

Zheng Jingjing walked in, looking worn out. Seeing Li Shurui, she couldn't help but complain, "Shurui, you're such a slacker, sneaking back here alone and leaving me there to do all the hard work."

"Is it over?" Guo Ran turned to ask.

"Not yet. There were too many people, so I stopped caring and let them handle it."

"Where is Jiang Chen's application form?" Li Shurui suddenly asked.

"Didn't you tell me to throw it away?"

"Where did you throw it?"

"In the trash can in the hallway..."

Zheng Jingjing answered casually, but before she could finish, Li Shurui had already rushed out.

What was going on?

Zheng Jingjing paused, exchanging a bewildered look with Guo Ran.

The two of them followed her out of the dorm out of curiosity, only to have their eyes widen in unison!

Li Shurui—the girl with severe germophobia who would never wear the same pair of stockings twice—was actually rummaging through a trash can!