Forced Me to Regress, Huh?

In the eight-person group chat between the male and female dorm rooms, the conversation gradually died down as the girls’ responses became increasingly perfunctory.

It wasn’t surprising. After all, the most talked-about member, Cheng Zhu, had only sent an emoji after joining and then went silent.

Liu Feng tried his best to keep the conversation going, but the girls had no interest in him.

In the chat, Zheng Qingfeng still cherished his words like gold and maintained his usual cold and aloof persona.

Cheng Zhu once intentionally observed his chubby hands typing. Despite his messages often being just a few words long, his hands were constantly moving—clearly typing and then deleting over and over.

I have a seat among the best talkers!

As for Dong Dong, he was the most eager to chat. He liked Zhu Yingying, Yao Yina, and even Guan Jiayue.

But he wasn’t blind. He could tell that while Yao Yina and Guan Jiayue were active in the group at first, they gradually stopped participating.

Zhu Yingying was still willing to chat, but she couldn’t be expected to carry the conversation all by herself, could she?

Feeling disheartened, Little Dong put down his phone and suddenly came to a realization. His role as the room leader didn’t mean much anymore. Without anyone noticing, Cheng Zhu had quietly become the backbone of Room 309.

Right now, if someone asked Cheng Zhu to liven things up in the group, the chat would undoubtedly burst into life instantly.

He could already picture it. The girls probably wouldn’t talk much about him, and most of their conversation would likely revolve around Cheng Zhu.

Little Dong’s insight was quite good.

At first, the girls did talk about Dong Dong. After all, he was the one who had added Zhu Yingying on WeChat and organized the mixer.

The other girls bombarded Zhu Yingying with questions, asking her what her impression of Dong Dong was and whether she had any interest in getting to know him better.

A bit shy, Zhu Yingying simply said they were just ordinary friends and told them not to overthink it.

As the conversation continued, it naturally shifted to Cheng Zhu.

Before arriving at the university, they had browsed the school forum and were already familiar with the names Shen Qingning and Lin Lu.

The girls were curious, so after returning to their dorm room, they searched the school forum again.

Guan Jiayue held her phone, becoming more and more shocked as she searched.

“Wow, Shen Qingning drives a Land Rover to school? A Range Rover, no less. That’s, what, around two million?” she exclaimed.

The price threshold of current Range Rovers was indeed much higher than newer models.

This made her more convinced that Cheng Zhu must be incredibly wealthy.

It was strange. After confirming that Shen Qingning’s family was well-off, she instinctively believed that Cheng Zhu’s family must be similar.

As they continued browsing the forum, they came across an extremely popular gossip thread.

—”Shocking! Campus Goddess Shen Qingning Is Taken! And by a First-Year!”

In 2014, clickbait titles with ‘Shocking!’ were all the rage.

And to be honest, linking a campus goddess to a first-year was undeniably attention-grabbing.

Upper-year students would click out of sheer disbelief, wanting to see what kind of nonsense it was. Shen Qingning, with her invincible aura?! No way I’m buying that!

Meanwhile, first-years would want to know which brother was so awesome. Although they didn’t even know what Shen Qingning looked like, the title of campus goddess alone carried weight!

The post vividly described the welcoming scene today but was full of wild exaggerations. The temperature today was only around 30°C, yet the post claimed it was a scorching 42°C!

[Shen Qingning and Lin Lu stood under a parasol at the school gate, braving the blazing 42°C heat to welcome this brother.

The moment this brother appeared, Lin Lu waved at him warmly, looking extremely enthusiastic.

From what she called out, it sounded like this brother’s name was Cheng Zhu? But we weren’t sure which characters his name used, so we’ll call him Brother CZ for convenience.

Clearly, as Shen Qingning’s boyfriend, he had even gained the approval of her equally goddess-level best friend, Lin Lu!

There was no other explanation. Why else would Lin Lu treat him so warmly?

As soon as Brother CZ walked over, Shen Qingning took out a bottle of water from her bag and handed it to him. She had come fully prepared. Who would’ve thought the cold and aloof goddess could be thoughtful?

(Cold on the outside, warm on the inside. I’m crying with envy over here.)

(Damn it, this guy deserves to die!)

In addition, there were eyewitness accounts from the student council. An insider revealed that Pei Yan, the student council’s vice president, had offered Shen Qingning a bottle of water, but she had turned him down. This insider made a point of repeatedly emphasizing that Brother CZ was more handsome than Pei Yan.

But did you think it ended with just handing over a bottle of water?

She even personally held the parasol for him and guided him all the way to find his dorm. She stayed by his side the entire time and only reluctantly parted when they reached the dorm.

Don’t think I’m making this up or exaggerating. Many students helping out with welcoming new students saw it firsthand. If I’m lying, may I get hit by a car the moment I step outside!]

The thread didn’t end here. The original poster added a follow-up.

[**Update: Latest report from the frontlines. They were seen having dinner together in the school cafeteria! Does this confirm Shen Qingning’s attitude? Caught up in the storm of romance rumors, the main character herself steps in to set the record straight: It’s not a rumor, not a rumor, not a rumor!]

In the girls’ dorm room, Guan Jiayue and the others exchanged glances after reading the post.

At first, they thought Cheng Zhu having dinner with them was just a casual meal. Who would’ve guessed there was such juicy gossip behind it?

The girls recalled Shen Qingning’s appearance and demeanor—breathtakingly beautiful, cold and aloof, and so unapproachable it was almost intimidating!

Yet not only did she bring him water considerately, but she even held a parasol for him?

Could this really be true?

Guan Jiayue swiped her phone frantically. She wasn’t sure why, but something compelled her to check the replies below.

Sure enough, many people who helped welcome new students confirmed the incident. It was solid proof!

Of course, amidst the flood of discussions, a few licking dogs chimed in with their protests.

“There can only be one campus goddess. Shen Qingning isn’t the campus goddess. Lin Lu is!”

“No way! Jiang Cen is the campus goddess!”

“Am I, Zhang Qiqi, not good enough?”

In addition, a loud outcry came from a group of frustrated boys, who started angrily cursing. Especially the upper-year students, who were upset thinking about how they had failed to win over the campus goddess during their years at school, only for a first-year to swoop in and steal her attention. What kind of nonsense was that?

Some insiders revealed that Brother CZ was rude to the goddesses in the cafeteria, bossing them around. I heard him loud and clear. “Why are you standing foolishly at the door? Come here!”

Someone else replied, “Yeah, that’s right! In the end, it was Lin Lu who went to get the food. He just sat there without moving, and Lin Lu even brought him a bottle of cola. Fuck!”

“Heh, looks like even goddesses can make mistakes. He’s not a gentleman at all. We good men would never act like that.”

“Crazy, how can he treat his girlfriend and her best friend like that?!”

“Am I the only one who thinks he’s a role model for us all?”

“I’m so pissed off. Shouldn’t lovers treat each other well?”

Of course, some comments said that they might not be a couple. Maybe they were just regular friends.

As the girls in the dorm room read on, they were left utterly speechless.

Yao Yina slumped in her chair, dejected, her long legs stretched out weakly in front of her, looking as if she had broken down.

She really liked Cheng Zhu’s looks. His bad-boy charm was to die for!

At first, she had thought that even though Cheng Zhu had top-tier beauties around him, they might not necessarily end up together. She figured if she tried hard enough, maybe she could eat him up.

As the saying goesf, “When a man pursues a woman, it’s like crossing a mountain; when a woman pursues a man, it’s like lifting a thin veil.”

But after she read the post, it seemed Shen Qingning was really putting in effort too.

She brought water and even held a parasol.

Such a formidable rival… Just thinking about her aura, let alone competing head-on, I can’t even summon the courage to think about being a mistress behind her back!

Meanwhile, Guan Jiayue was still reflecting on the situation and had already determined that Cheng Zhu was definitely a top-tier rich young master. She now wondered if she could find an opportunity to integrate into his circle of rich young masters and then look for prey.

As for going after Cheng Zhu herself, she really didn’t dare to think too much about it. Her little act of pretending to be pure was utterly useless in front of someone with absolute goddess-level looks.

Strangely, the people in Room 309 were at the very center of the gossip vortex, but they found out about the rumors spreading around the school much later than the girls.

By 11 p.m., everyone was already in bed, playing with their phones.

Dong Dong and the others saw Cheng Zhu typing and thought he was chatting with the goddesses. In reality, he was assigning tasks in Keep Coming’s work group chat.

The store operated on a two-shift system. It was so popular that they had customers even at two or three in the morning.

Suddenly, Liu Feng said, “Damn, Brother Zhu, you’re famous on STU’s forum!”

“What’s so surprising about that? Becoming a campus sensation is just a matter of time.” Cheng Zhu continued assigning tasks in the work group without looking up.

The others wanted to retort, but they realized there was nothing wrong with what he said.

It would indeed have been difficult to keep a low profile.

“But Brother Zhu, everyone is saying that you and Shen Qingning are already dating. Damn, could this actually help your relationship progress?” Liu Feng suddenly slapped his thigh dramatically while lying in bed.

“Huh?” Cheng Zhu couldn’t help but look up at him.

He thought he was famous for his looks, but it turned out it was because of rumors.

Although he had anticipated such consequences, he didn’t expect the rumors to overshadow his handsomeness.

The members of Room 309 began browsing the school forum on their phones, looking at the posts and the comments below.

When Dong Dong saw some offensive comments, he said angrily, “I really want to tell them that Brother Zhu even got sunscreen from Senior Sister Shen Qingning. What are they saying? Can’t ordinary friends give each other water? Can’t ordinary friends help hold a parasol?”

“I can tell they’ve never been in a relationship before. Would your girlfriend ever take the initiative to hold a parasol for you? It’s more likely you’d hold the parasol for her, and you’d be leaning towards her the entire time! And if she wants a drink, you’d better run and get it right away!” Dong Dong seemed to have fallen into his memories.

Speaking of which, the three roommates had just suffered from Cheng Zhu showing off. Instead of envying him alone, they wished to make everyone envy him together. They wanted to tell these barking dogs to take a good look. This guy just received a bottle of sunscreen worth three digits before the military training started! Let them see what a high-quality ambiguous stage looked like!

Cheng Zhu, leaning against his pillow, raised an eyebrow and said, “When did I say the sunscreen was from Shen Qingning? I’m warning you not to spread rumors on the forum!”

The three of them: “???”

Phew! So it wasn’t from Shen Qingning. We were just overthinking it. Thank goodness. I knew it. How could the campus goddess do something so considerate? After all, we guys are known for giving gifts on holidays but never receiving them.

Feeling a little more balanced, they felt slightly better.

Dong Dong, however, never learned his lesson. Unable to resist, he asked curiously, “So, who gave you the sunscreen then?”

He sharply sensed it was impossible for a boy to have given this gift.

“Lin Lu,” Cheng Zhu said lightly.

The cold-faced, old-looking, tight-lipped, and chubby Zheng Qingfeng couldn’t help but lose it. “Fuck!”

Liu Feng and Dong Dong felt their scalps tingle. These two words contained a lot of information!

They had never considered that the sunscreen might be from Lin Lu.

Everyone had a bad premonition. They suspected that over the next four years of college, the dorm room would often echo with the sound of the three of them gnashing their teeth in the middle of the night.

Meanwhile, in an exquisitely decorated three-bedroom apartment near Sci-Tech University, Shen Qingning, dressed in pajamas and shorts, raised her smooth, long leg and kicked open the slightly ajar door to Lin Lu’s bedroom.