Chapter Twelve: Campaigning for Class Officers

At eight o’clock in the evening, Su Yuan and the others hurried to the classroom. This was the classroom normally used by their Bioengineering Class One for activities.

By the time they arrived, more than half the class was already there.

“Do you want to go up and give it a try?” Gao Jun pointed at the four words “Class Officer Election” written on the blackboard. Su Yuan shook her head and declined. “Forget it, there are too many courses this semester.”

“That’s really a pity,” Ji Yehao said, surprised by her decision. With her “cute” appearance, Su Yuan had always been quite popular in the class, but perhaps because she lacked a sense of “responsibility,” she had always been too lazy to get involved in class affairs. This semester, the “old Youth League secretary” was stepping down, and he had originally thought Su Yuan would be the obvious choice and might finally step up. Unexpectedly, she had become even more withdrawn and gentle instead.

Ji Yehao looked at Su Yuan, feeling a little disappointed.

Su Yuan lowered her head slightly. She should have been a very popular candidate for Youth League secretary this academic year, but after the changes to her own body, she had made up her mind to reduce high-profile appearances in front of crowds as much as possible, so she voluntarily gave up the competition. Seeing that Su Yuan had no intention of running for a class officer position drew quite a few surprised looks.

The arts and sports committee member Jiang Yuan was once again running for the same position. This thankless job likely wouldn’t have anyone competing with her. The beautiful Jiang Yuan stared straight at Su Yuan with her dark, gleaming eyes, as if trying to discover something on her face.

“See that? Your big sister keeps staring at you,” Gao Jun whispered.

“Get lost! Stay away from me.” Su Yuan lightly punched him on the head and shot the “fatty” an unceremonious glare.

The second character in Jiang Yuan’s name was pronounced the same as the second character in Su Yuan’s name, so many people jokingly called Su Yuan Jiang Yuan’s younger brother. Jiang Yuan did indeed take very good care of Su Yuan, her nominal “younger brother,” and from time to time there would even be some gossip about the two of them. Of course, Su Yuan knew that her so-called “big sister” actually liked Lu Chuan, who was also in their class.

Su Yuan was clearly not interested in running for any class officer positions, so she watched her classmates with the attitude of an outsider.

At this moment, a girl named Lu Wei was on the stage delivering her self-introduction fluently. She was articulate and spoke with confidence and flair, but for some reason Su Yuan found it grating. She frowned and thought for a while before realizing why—her words were subtly barbed, hiding needles in soft cotton.

She figured that this girl’s personality was simply too competitive. Although college class officers didn’t actually have much authority and instead had many tiring responsibilities, a class was still a small society. Some people, consciously or unconsciously, brought the competitive atmosphere of society into the classroom. Used to living in comfort, they were unwilling to fall behind others in anything, resulting in intrigue and rivalry that needlessly polluted the camaraderie among classmates.

Lu Wei was poised and confident during her speech, but her gaze kept drifting toward Su Yuan’s direction. She thought to herself that after not seeing him for a summer, this delicate-looking boy seemed even more pleasing to the eye.

In fact, she was worried that Su Yuan might suddenly change his mind and stand up to compete with her for the position of Youth League secretary. If Su Yuan did compete, there was a good chance he would win.

“Su Yuan, that Lu Wei seems to really care about you,” Yang Xiaowei, sitting beside Su Yuan, joked.

The pen in her hand kept spinning between her slender fingers. Su Yuan kept her head down and didn’t reply, feeling even more irritated. She could more or less tell that although she had no intention of competing for anything, in some people’s eyes she had inexplicably become a rival. She touched her face and thought to herself—was she really that competitive?

At this thought, she suddenly felt amused. This was charisma! She happily basked in her own charm.

“Don’t worry—watch me!”

Feeling her leg being nudged, Su Yuan was startled. She saw that Yang Xiaowei seemed to have made up his mind. After Lu Wei stepped down from the stage, he raised his hand high, stood up, flashed a mouthful of white teeth, and grinned. “I want to run for Youth League secretary!”

Su Yuan was shocked and realized this guy was about to stir things up.

“What’s Xiaowei trying to do?” Gao Jun asked in astonishment.

Su Yuan replied, “Lost his mind…”

Yang Xiaowei had always been eloquent, thanks to the family environment he grew up in. With Yang Xiaowei and Lu Wei competing for the Youth League secretary position, the two had finally met a worthy opponent.

During the vote-counting stage, Yang Xiaowei ultimately lost to Lu Wei by a few votes. Although he missed out on the Youth League secretary position, he was unexpectedly elected as class monitor instead. Just looking at him, though—could he really do a good job as class monitor?

On the way back, the magnolia trees lining the road were lush and green under the streetlights, their forms tall and majestic. Yang Xiaowei beat his chest and stamped his feet, looking full of regret. “Su Su, this is terrible! How did I go and put shackles on myself for no reason? Now the time I can spend alone with my girlfriend has dropped sharply. I brought this on myself… I really brought this on myself!”

“I say, everyone else is scrambling to be class monitor—why do you look like you were drafted against your will? At least you’re a class monitor now!” Su Yuan finally couldn’t stand it anymore and sneered.

“I just wanted to help you vent some anger. Who knew it would turn out like this?” he muttered.

“You’re such an idiot,” Su Yuan said coldly. “With you making a move like that, Lu Wei will probably think it was me trying to mess with her.”

Some conflicts arise for no reason at all. Lu Wei would definitely be hostile toward her. Psychologically speaking, the more someone feels another person is unpleasant, the more they’ll believe that person is deliberately opposing them, whether or not they actually do anything. Su Yuan hadn’t even had a chance to complain yet, and Yang Xiaowei was already crying foul.

“Yehao, look at your Su Su—she’s treating me like this!” Yang Xiaowei complained to Ji Yehao.

Ji Yehao never got involved in these spur-of-the-moment arguments. Seeing Yang Xiaowei ask him for help, he felt a headache coming on and blurted out, “Serves you right.”

“Hey! Who did you just say was ‘his’?” Su Yuan jumped out immediately.

“I was just joking!”

Ji Yehao said seriously, “Don’t make jokes like that in the future.”

“Okay, okay, I won’t, I won’t!” Yang Xiaowei then patted his chest and said to Su Yuan, “Su Su, don’t be afraid of that Lu Wei. I’m a big class monitor now, after all—I’ve got your back.”

Su Yuan was at a loss whether to laugh or cry. “Such a huge official position…”