Zhao Lin returned to the dormitory from the bathroom and sat on his seat with a broom for nearly half an hour. Yet, the dorm remained silent without any duck quacking sounds, which infuriated him so much that he threw the broom aside and turned to climb into bed to play video games.

Before he did, he glanced over at Xie Shu, who was also sitting at his desk, and to his surprise, he found him working on CAD!

At first, Zhao Lin thought he was doing homework, but upon closer inspection, he realized Xie Shu had just started and was currently drawing walls. He racked his brain and couldn’t recall any class that was still at such an early stage.

What was he up to…?

Worried it might be some homework he had forgotten, Zhao Lin leaned over and asked, “Is this for a class assignment?”

Hearing a question related to homework, the other two who were playing games and trying not to laugh also put down their phones and looked over at Xie Shu.

Without turning his head, Xie Shu replied, “No.”

“Then what is this?”

“Drawing CAD.”

“…I’m asking why the hell you’re drawing CAD if you’re not busy!”

“Because I’m not busy.”

“…”

Zhao Lin felt like he was about to spit blood, the last time he was this speechless was… well, the last time.

Listening to him is like hearing an echo of his own thoughts.

In the end, it was only after Zhao Lin grabbed Xie Shu by the neck that he got the truth out of him.

Xie Shu had no intention of hiding it and simply told them he was earning some extra cash.

Since it was their first collaboration, the client had some concerns about reliability, so they asked him to draw construction plans first. If they liked his work, they would discuss further collaboration. Even if they didn’t like it, he wouldn’t have worked for nothing; there would still be a fee.

Learning that Xie Shu was already making money using his professional knowledge, everyone was quite shocked.

Of course, they were all very curious about how much one could earn just from drawing construction plans.

Xie Shu waved his hand, indicating it wasn’t much.

After all, it was the first collaboration, and the client was worried he might be a fraud, so the price was set at the market’s lowest rate, just a few tens of yuan per drawing, a bit more for those that were slightly more complex.

He only had to draw a few sheets, which altogether would barely amount to a hundred yuan.

Xie Shu had agreed not because he needed that hundred yuan, but because he was considering the potential for future collaborations.

Just drawing construction plans wasn’t profitable; it was very basic work that anyone with hands could do. If he didn’t play around, he could finish them quickly. But if he had the chance to be involved in planning the entire project later on, that would be a different story money-wise.

Even if he didn’t get to work on the whole project, just producing one rendering could earn him several hundred to a thousand yuan. If he produced several renderings, the money would start rolling in.

Upon hearing that there was only so little to be made in the end, everyone instantly lost interest.

Zhao Lin didn’t pester him any further and climbed into bed with his phone. As he lay there idly, he suddenly sighed, “Life is so exhausting. How can one make a million a month? I’m willing to do anything as long as it’s legal.”

Xie Shu, still looking at his computer, replied without turning his head, “That’s easy.”

Zhao Lin was startled, “For real? What’s the method?”

“Deposit 60 million in the bank, and the annual interest will be about a million.”

“…If I had 60 million, would I need to ask you?”

“I also know how to make 60 million.”

“Spill it!”

“Deposit 4 billion in the bank.”

“…”

Zhao Lin really wanted to hang Xie Shu up and give him a beating!

…

In the afternoon, before the lecture started, the group headed to the gymnasium.

The gymnasium was huge, and the school had already designated which areas were for students from which colleges. Following the instructions in the group chat, they quickly found their college’s spot, somewhere on the second floor of the gymnasium.

Everyone found a seat and sat down, except for Xie Shu, who stood there looking down at the gymnasium below.

He was looking for Ruan Nianxi.

Before coming, he had checked their college’s location, which was in the middle of the first floor of the gymnasium.

Below was the sports field with no seats, so the school had brought out stools. By now, many stools were densely arranged below, and there were many students. He was searching through the crowd for Ruan Nianxi.

As for why he didn’t send a message…

Because of the crowd, the network was bad.

Whenever there was a school event at the gymnasium, the network was particularly poor. Messages took ages to send, and even when they did go through, the network would worsen, making it impossible to receive replies, not to mention knowing when the other party would receive and respond.

Since he was bored anyway, he might as well look from here.

But with so many people below and several majors represented, he couldn’t spot Ruan Nianxi after a long search.

Eventually, it was the class monitor who called Xie Shu to sign in, prompting him to return to his seat.

Sitting down didn’t hinder his view of the first floor, but he felt the distance was a bit farther, and he wasn’t Fiery Eyes; he couldn’t clearly see every face on the first floor from such a distance, especially since most were facing away from him.

A few minutes later, more people arrived.

Although the lecture hadn’t officially started, most had taken their seats, and there wasn’t much random movement.

It was under these circumstances that Xie Shu finally spotted Ruan Nianxi.

On the first floor, amidst the seated students, Ruan Nianxi was moving through the crowd. She approached a student, took the sign-in sheet from him, glanced at it, and then began calling out the names of those who had arrived late and hadn’t signed in, reminding them to do so.

When a student responded, she would take the sign-in sheet to them.

This was all quite normal, except for the fact that a boy was persistently following her…

Xie Shu sat on the second floor, squinting down at everything below.

The distance was too great for him to hear what the boy was saying to Ruan Nianxi, but he knew that Ruan Nianxi was completely ignoring the boy.

She hadn’t looked at the boy the entire time, focusing solely on her tasks, yet the boy continued to follow her, his body language quite expressive.

Xie Shu had thought that after being ignored for a while, the boy would take the hint and leave. However, the boy not only stayed but also, out of nowhere, produced a cup of tea with milk and kept trying to hand it to Ruan Nianxi.

Ruan Nianxi still paid him no mind and walked around the boy to another spot, but the boy persisted and followed…

This was becoming impolite.

With a stern face, Xie Shu stood up from his seat and began to descend the stairs step by step.

“Xie Shu, where are you going? The lecture is starting in ten minutes, don’t you run off, we still need to sign out,” Liu Ping called out to Xie Shu as he saw him heading downstairs.

Without turning back, Xie Shu replied, “I know, I just need to take care of something quickly, I’ll be right back.”

“What’s so urgent?”

“Going to chat with my girlfriend for a bit.”

“?”