Fan Club

Fu Haoyao didn't say anything after adding her, as if he'd done it just to cross a task off a list.

Fu Liangxia was more than happy not to have to deal with him.

She parted ways with Fu Liedong after getting out of the car—her first class was an elective, and he wasn't in it with her.

As she said goodbye to Fu Liedong, Fu Liangxia noticed that familiar look on his face again, as if he wanted to say something but couldn't.

She didn't want to explain herself. It wasn't like she could tell him this was all for her own survival.

Pretending not to notice, Fu Liangxia walked straight into the Greek classroom.

Surprisingly, quite a few students had chosen this course. Probably because most students at Saintland planned to study abroad, and Greek wasn't the hardest of the less-common languages.

Luckily, she wasn't too late—there were still seats in the front rows. She picked a random empty spot and sat down, pulling out her tablet and opening her note-taking app.

Five minutes remained until class started, but the teacher hadn't arrived, and the room buzzed with chatter. The girl to her left had been sneaking glances at her for a while, then, as if encouraged by her companion's eyes, she reached over and gently tapped Fu Liangxia.

"You're a transfer student this semester, right? I haven't seen you before."

Everyone knew only two students had transferred into the sophomore class this term, and both had great grades, but one of them was a specially admitted scholarship student.

Aware of the prying gazes around her, Fu Liangxia smiled lightly. "Sort of."

At Saintland, what you wore was your calling card. She wasn't wearing any particularly pricey jewelry today, but the electronics she used were far beyond what a scholarship student could afford.

So Fu Liangxia wasn't worried about being looked down on.

Sure enough, after the girl's gaze swept over her desk, her tone warmed up. "Hi, I'm Tao Zhi. Welcome to Saintland. Are you settling in okay? Have you joined a club yet?"

Tao Zhi fired off a barrage of questions so fast Fu Liangxia almost got dizzy.

She sorted them out and answered clearly. "Thanks. I'm Fu Liangxia, nice to meet you. I'm still getting used to things, and I haven't looked into clubs yet. Is joining one mandatory?"

Hearing she hadn't joined a club, Tao Zhi's eyes visibly lit up. "You know about the comprehensive credits here, right? They're tied to the semester scholarship review. One part of that is club credits. Different clubs give different credits—regular clubs give 1 point, advanced clubs 3, and the Student Council gives 5."

"Of course, to prevent people from gaming the system, each student can only join at most two clubs. And different clubs have different vetting standards—the more points, the stricter the review."

With that, Tao Zhi suddenly grabbed her hand, eyes sparkling. "Want to join Su Xing Shu's Fan Club? We're an advanced club, so you get 3 points, and you also get a chance at Su Shao's concert tickets and signed photos!"

As if remembering Fu Liangxia had just transferred and might not know who "Su Shao" was, Tao Zhi quickly pulled out her phone, lit up the screen, and held it in front of her. "Here, this is him. Isn't he handsome? And he sings amazingly too!"

The lock screen was a photo of Su Xingshu—hair falling slightly over his eyes, hand loosely holding a microphone, gaze lifting toward the viewer, clear and almost bewitching.

Even as picky as Fu Liangxia, she couldn't deny his charm in that moment.

"And you know, regular advanced clubs have super strict auditions, with acceptance ratios from 5:1 to 20:1. The Student Council is even worse—the competition for secretary-general once hit 200:1."

"But we're different! As long as you genuinely love Su Shao and have a heart ready to dedicate yourself to him anytime, anywhere, you can join our Fan Club! So, does that tempt you?" Tao Zhi coaxed, like some kind of pyramid scheme leader.

"Thanks, I'll—" consider it.

The last two words hadn't left her mouth when the System's voice exploded right in her ear:

[Detected that Target No. 3's Affinity Points have reached 30. Side quest triggered.

Time remaining: 6 days 23:59.

Quest objective: Protect yourself from the Fan Club's threat, join the Fan Club, and persuade more "lost sheep" to wake up.

Quest reward: Unknown.]

Fu Liangxia: ...

This "Target No. 3"—could it really be Su Xingshu?

Hadn't he stormed off yesterday, his Affinity Points plummeting? How, after one night, did they go up instead of down?

She hadn't even done anything, had she?

For the first time, Fu Liangxia felt a completely new kind of bewilderment.

She hadn't even put her plan into action, and now the System was suddenly telling her the target had successfully wooed himself?

That was just... bald.

But that "Fan Club's threat"—Fu Liangxia narrowed her eyes slightly.

Just as she'd guessed, word of her angering Su Xingshu would still get out.

She just didn't know when it would blow up.

With that thought, she glanced at Tao Zhi's bright smile across from her, her expression turning thoughtful.

If Tao Zhi found out about her provoking Su Xingshu, would she still treat her this warmly?

The answer was obvious.

Mindful of that, Fu Liangxia subtly shifted a little farther away. Conveniently, the teacher walked in just then, which made her movement seem natural—just her getting ready to focus on the lesson.

Seeing this, Tao Zhi, quick on the uptake, straightened up but still gave her a subtle wink.

Fu Liangxia smiled back.

Greek wasn't easy, so she didn't have much spare attention for anything else. She threw herself fully into the lesson.

The teacher was a gentle middle-aged woman with a soft voice, yet her pronunciation was crisp and clean, with well-placed stresses that were pleasant to listen to.

She was also an experienced instructor who knew how to help students learn faster. After the two-hour class, Fu Liangxia felt not the slightest bit tired—instead, her interest had only grown.

Truly a school with top-tier educational resources, she mused inwardly.

The next class was a required course, which meant Fu Liangxia had to return to Class 2's classroom—

and face Su Xingshu.

She'd been prepared to deal with a Su Xingshu with only 3 Affinity Points, but she hadn't expected to face one with 30.

Fu Liangxia rubbed her brow, uncertain whether she should stick to her original plan.

But as it turned out, the storm wasn't going to disappear just because of Su Xingshu's goodwill gains.