100,000/Hour Professional Stand-in - Chapter 53.1

Chapter 53.1: What About the Time You Have Spent With Me? (1)
(Rewinding time a day back from Ji Fanyin and Song Shiyu’s date.)

Bai Zhou thought that he had taken to heart Ji Xinxin’s request for him to never meet Ji Fanyin again. He couldn’t stop himself from checking that darned little app from time to time, but he did hold himself back from making a reservation.

Who could have thought that a bastard would reserve Ji Fanyin’s entire day in a single breath?

Bai Zhou felt like an indignant shopper on Single’s Day. He had already added a heavily discounted big-ticket item into his shopping cart and was considering whether he should confirm it or not when the item suddenly ran out of stock.

Was it Song Shiyu? That disgusting man I met at that banquet? That wheelchair guy in Greece? Or did she further expand her client list, just like how she brought me in as a client?

Bai Zhou watched as the reservation schedule turned from a pending light green into a confirmed olive green within less than a minute.

Goddamnit! Ji Fanyin must be online! There’s no way she could have approved it that quickly otherwise! Is she in such dire lack of money?

In a fit of anger, Bai Zhou selected all fifteen hours available for the day after tomorrow, but his finger stalled to a halt before he could confirm his reservation request. Ji Xinxin’s words surfaced in his mind, pouring a pail of cold water over his heated mind.

In the end, he threw his phone on his bed out of sheer frustration.

He couldn’t break a promise that he had already made.

He stomped to his study table, dragged out the chair noisily, and flipped open his textbook to begin revision.

It was approaching the end of the academic semester, and all of the Year 2 students were going to face an onslaught of examinations. Bai Zhou was no exception to the rule.

Bai Zhou’s roommate looked at him curiously and asked, “Didn’t you say that you can pass the exams without revising?”

For some reason, Bai Zhou found himself recalling how Ji Xinxin said that Ji Fanyin used to be incredibly good at her studies, but she had given up on herself somewhere along the way.

He used to believe those words at face value, but right now, he felt that even Ji Fanyin’s diffident appearance was feigned!

“Is passing all that matters?” spat Bai Zhou with gritted teeth. “I’m aiming for full marks!”

The roommate was baffled by Bai Zhou’s sudden declaration. He clasped his fist with feigned respect and said, “Wow, I never thought that you would have that in you. All the best… Are you sure that you aren’t just agitated over something you saw on your phone?”

“Agitated your head!” Bai Zhou flipped a page on his book. “Why can’t I be passionate about my studies?”

Only those who were born with a good temper could become Bai Zhou’s roommate and still get along with him.

The roommate scratched his head. “Alright alright, whatever floats your boat. Ah right, didn’t you ask me about Chen Yunsheng a while back?”

“Who?” asked Bai Zhou. His eyes were still fixed on his textbook.

“Chen Yunsheng. That senior who’s a year older than us. You marched up to me the other day looking like you were going to murder someone and asked me a bunch of questions about him. You forgot about it?” The roommate was dumbfounded.

Those words successfully evoked Bai Zhou’s memories. He immediately turned his head over and asked, “What’s wrong with that fellow?”

“Someone in my chat group said that it’s his birthday tomorrow.”

Bai Zhou widened his eyes in realization.

Right… How could I have forgotten about Chen Yunsheng?

Another roommate from the upper bunk bed peeked down and joined in the gossip session. “I also heard that a senior confessed to him earlier today, but he rejected her.”

“Now that I think about it, Chen Yunsheng is pretty popular, but I don’t think he has ever had a girlfriend”

“Don’t we have someone like that in our room too?”

“Hahaha! Truer words have never been spoken! Actually, don’t you think that the two of them are quite similar to each other?”

Being compared with Chen Yunsheng sent Bai Zhou’s anger shooting through the roof. “Shut up!”

The two roommates exchanged glances and shrugged nonchalantly. “Well, Chen Yunsheng already has someone he likes. Didn’t the basketball team win the championship a while back? I heard he gave his champion medal to that person.”

Those words spurred a premonition in Bai Zhou’s mind.

Could the person he gave the medal to possibly be…

Their fourth roommate, who coincidentally happened to return at this moment, overheard their conversation and excitedly joined in, “I heard that it was a babe. Such a pity that the competition wasn’t held in our school, or else I would have headed over to take a look.”

“I know who it is,” said the roommate on the upper bunk bed with a gleeful tone. “It was trending on our school forum. Tsk tsk, looks like the two of you don’t know how to do your research.”

“Amazing, my bro. No wonder people call you the gossip king! Quick, tell us who it is!”

“Heh! Think about it, why would I say that they are similar? Doesn’t our Lil’ Bai like Senior Ji Xinxin? The woman Chen Yunsheng fancies is Ji Xinxin’s twin sister! I saw the photo they posted on the forum, and the two of them look exactly the same!”

“Holy shit, are you serious? You know, the last time we went to the mall to have hot pot―”

With his premonition confirmed, Bai Zhou was no longer in a mood to continue listening to his roommates’ gossip. He quickly accessed the forum page to check that old trending post.

By searching for the keywords, ‘champion medal’, the very first result was a post titled 《Enlighten me, please. What does it mean for a man to give the champion medal he painstakingly won to a woman?》.

Bai Zhou tapped into the post and impatiently scrolled all the way down till a photo appeared. Without enlarging the photo, he could easily recognize the women standing by the railings of the spectator stand.

Ji Fanyin has never smiled at me in such a way before, be it during or outside of service hours.

After an intent stare at Ji Fanyin, he turned his attention to the jarring medal around her neck, followed by Chen Yunsheng’s face. His eyes slowly narrowed as he murmured, “Chen Yunsheng… I feel like I’ve seen him somewhere before.”

One of the roommates shot him a peculiar look. “Yeah, didn’t I just say it? Do you remember the day we had hot pot at the mall? We bumped into him and Senior Ji Xinxin’s older sister. She treated us to ice cream.”

Bai Zhou: “…”

Bai Zhou gripped his phone tightly as he mentally berated himself for being an utter idiot.

“Speaking of hot pot, I’m getting a craving for it again. Shall we head there again tomorrow? I need to drop by the bookstore and buy some reference books anyway.”

“Ah, I also need to buy a set of drawing pencils. Lil’ Bai, why don’t you come with us? You’re close with the manager of that art studio. Hehe, you might just be able to get a discount for me.”

Bai Zhou felt incredibly irritated. He shot to his feet and grunted, “I’ll take a puff.”

“Hey, smoking is banned in the dormitory building…”