Jiang You then realized that Xu Che simply treated all powerful and influential people equally, currying favor with an attitude that was neither servile nor arrogant.
Indeed, his attempts to curry favor didn’t seem fawning, nor were they very obvious.
For example, now that the two of them had arrived at West Road, Xu Che looked at her, his dark eyes cool and detached beneath his half-frame glasses, and spoke softly, "Go sit and rest over there. I’ll take care of the sweeping."
Jiang You paused. She thought he was quite perceptive, proactively taking on all the work without her even having to say a word.
"Hmph." With an arrogant air, Jiang You walked over to a nearby bench and sat down.
Xu Che then took the broom and began to sweep the two-hundred-meter-long West Road.
Fortunately, it was just piles of withered fallen leaves, which were soft and easy to sweep up.
The young man, dressed in a Rose Liss uniform, was tall and slender with a handsome, fair complexion. He wore half-frame glasses, and his movements as he swept were so crisp and efficient that it was clear he was used to manual labor.
Jiang You watched him for a moment. True to her "rich young miss" persona, there was no way she was going to help.
Soon, she looked away and turned her attention to her terminal.
’The mission hasn’t ordered me to steal the female lead’s childhood sweetheart yet.’
Xu Che noticed her gaze shift away. Just a moment ago, he had been deliberately sweeping with his body angled to the side, showing off his chiseled profile. He had even purposely rolled up his sleeves to reveal his lean, powerful arms...
All to deliberately attract her attention.
When Jiang You looked away, his movements noticeably faltered, but he quickly resumed sweeping.
Meanwhile, Jiang You raised her wrist to look at her terminal and saw that someone had @’d her in the ten-person group chat.
So, she opened the group chat to see what those women wanted now, and to finish the video she hadn’t completed earlier. Before playing it, however, she put on her earphones.
Jiang You gave the video a quick watch.
The Deformed Beast in the video was a tall and handsome man. He had a pair of silver-blue wings, silver-white hair, silver-gray fox ears, a chest with eight-pack abs covered in blue fish scales, and jade-like dragon horns sprouting from his forehead.
He was only wearing a skirt, though who knows who put him in it.
’Making a guy wear a skirt... what a weird fetish.’
The Deformed Beast’s limbs were bound with chains, as were his silver-blue wings, and a black collar was fastened around his neck.
The person filming raised a hand and began cruelly plucking the scales from his chest, one by one. Blood dripped to the floor along with the blue scales.
The entire video was filled with the Deformed Beast’s intensely pained gasps.
The Deformed Beast suddenly let out a bloodcurdling scream, startling Jiang You so much that she hurriedly yanked off her earphones.
Goosebumps erupted all over Jiang You’s skin.
’God, what a combination. A bird’s wings, a fox’s ears, fish fins and scales, and a dragon’s horns.’
Nowadays, when Beastmen procreated, there was a small chance of giving birth to such a deformed Beastman. Most offspring were normal Beastmen, however. Deformed Beastmen were considered unhealthy individuals and rarely survived for long.
But the Deformed Beast in the video was clearly not born this way; he was a later creation.
’I have no idea what kind of messed-up kicks these women get from plucking off his scales one by one...’
Jiang You couldn’t believe herself. Part of her found it unnatural and hard to watch, yet her curiosity got the better of her, and she couldn’t resist clicking play.
Lin Li: @Jiang You, everyone else is coming. Are you coming over to my place? Come see this new guy I bought.
Yun Yue: Such a shame I’m in the hospital, otherwise I’d definitely go play.
Xu Mei: Our dear Sister You has latched onto Shen Lan now. She’s too busy being in love to have time for our little get-togethers.
Bai Sisi: @Jiang You, Shen Lan is notoriously hard to handle. I hear his girlfriends never last more than a month. Are you just trying your luck? When do you think you’ll get dumped?
Yun Yue: @Jiang You, oh? When did you get together with Shen Lan? One of my friends got dumped after just two weeks. How long have you been dating? How much time do you have left on your expiration date?
Lin Li: @Jiang You, Perfect! Come over tonight and bring Shen Lan along. Let’s see how much he’s willing to humor you.
Yun Yue: @Lin Li, are you suicidal? You’re telling her to invite Shen Lan to *your* kind of party? Are you trying to get investigated or something?
Lin Li: Tsk, good point.
Lin Li: @Jiang You, just come by yourself. Don’t you dare bring Shen Lan.
...
Jiang You watched the comments scroll past, all of them tagging her.
The mention of Shen Lan had made them all type faster.
They would never be this brazen in front of Shen Lan, but with her, of course, the teasing was relentless.
Jiang You curled her lip. ’As if I’d go to one of their boring parties.’
’Judging from their conversation, what else was it but a party to "admire" that Deformed Beast she bought?’
’And how would they "admire" it? It was bound to be something depraved.’
’I haven’t even replied, so how can she just assume I’m going?’
Jiang You had no intention of going and was just about to refuse.
[OOC Warning.]
Jiang You ground her teeth and replied, "Alright, then! A curiosity like that? This young miss definitely has to go see for herself!"
It was hard to tell if her reply was meant to be a passive-aggressive jab at the system.
Not that the support system would understand it anyway.
After agreeing, Jiang You remembered she had a meeting that evening in a classroom in the research building.
On second thought, one was at 7:00 PM and the other at 10:00 PM. She had enough time to make both.
After all, those women’s parties were usually held at nightclubs.
The sound of rustling dead leaves being swept up ahead drew Jiang You’s attention.
Jiang You lowered her terminal and looked toward Xu Che, who had already swept his way to the middle of the path.
The bench she was on happened to be in the middle of the campus’s West Road, so Xu Che had already finished half the job.
Her gaze swept over the area, and she saw that half of it was indeed clean.
She looked at Xu Che again.
He wasn’t looking at her and didn’t speak, just focused on sweeping the ground.
"Hey, why did you volunteer to take my place?" Jiang You asked, her tone arrogant.
Xu Che seemed to stiffen for a second before quickly lowering his gaze and continuing to sweep, not answering her.
"Hey, I’m talking to you," Jiang You said again.
Xu Che still ignored her.
Jiang You had no choice but to get up, walk over, and grab the handle of his broom. Looking at him, she demanded, "I’m talking to you. Didn’t you hear me?"
Only then did Xu Che seem to lift his gaze to her. As he looked at the girl standing so close, his heart began to hammer in his chest.
But his face remained expressionless.
"There’s no particular reason. I would have stood up for anyone else," Xu Che’s voice was as cool and crisp as a sip of iced soda. "There’s only half left. I’m going to finish sweeping."
As he spoke, Xu Che took hold of Jiang You’s wrist and pulled her hand away from the broom.
She wore a delicate gold chain on her wrist, and as he gripped it, the fine links pressed into his palm, a distinct, almost sharp sensation.
Jiang You froze for a second, then scoffed with disdain. "Oh."
She had only asked on a whim.
’And here I was, thinking Xu Che might have a crush on me. Guess I was just overthinking things.’
’It’s probably the way the other male leads react that gave me that mistaken impression.’
Jiang You shook her head, returned to the bench, and decided not to say anything more to Xu Che.