Chapter 9: Rampage

  "'Extreme joy begets sorrow' is an old adage left to us by our ancestors, and it must have some reason. Just like now, Lu Yan spends every day with Lin Xiaoqun in self-study, immersed in a fulfilling and happy life, but the appearance of Wang Tao makes all these happy feelings disappear."

  Time flies, and it's already mid-June. The day of the graduation ceremony on June 22nd is getting closer and closer, and the dormitory of the graduating class has become lively again. These college students who are about to enter society have either worked hard for four years with great harvests or wasted their time in a daze, but now they all have an expectant heart, waiting to participate in the last grand ceremony of university life.

  The School of Journalism is one of the colleges with better employment prospects in Wucheng University. Most graduates of Lu Yan's class have signed job contracts early, and many students used the time before graduation to intern at new units. As graduation approached, these students who were interning outside also rushed back to school.

  Before graduation, there were various gatherings, bragging and photo shoots among the four-year classmates. If Lu Xiaodong hadn't gotten into trouble, Lu Yan would probably be busy dealing with these things every day now. But now, firstly, Lu Yan is not in the mood for these things, and secondly, many gatherings don't invite him either. During this time, he only participated in two such activities, once was when the class took a group graduation photo, and once was when his dormitory roommates had a farewell dinner together. Lin Xiaorong is also a person who doesn't like to be in the limelight, rarely participates in such activities, and the two of them are happy to have some peace and quiet, while others hold gatherings, they go to self-study as usual.

  The recent Wucheng is like the plum rain season in Jiangnan, with fine and continuous rain. Today is a rare good weather in a week, after the rain, the sun shines brightly.

  Lu Yan and Lin Xiao Yun, who had just finished their lunch in the school cafeteria after a morning of self-study, strolled leisurely along the artificial lake on campus at Lu Yan's suggestion.

  "Lu Yan, the Provincial Youth League Committee you applied for must be very competitive, right? What's the admission ratio?" No need to think, this person is definitely Lin Xiaojun.

  "The last data I didn't see, but the day before the registration deadline was 340:1."

  "My goodness, so many people, and you still don't study hard, what are you doing out taking a stroll?" Lin Xiaoyun stuck out her tongue.

  "Haven't been working hard enough, this whole month has been spent studying in the library every day, two books have been worn out, learning also needs to strike a balance between work and rest." This month, Lu Yan has indeed been very diligent.

  Lu Yan and Lin Xiao Yun walked and chatted, discussing the upcoming civil service exam and their plans after graduation. From time to time, bursts of laughter could be heard, indicating that the two were getting along extremely well.

  "Huh, isn't that Lu Yan?" At this time, four boys walked over from the artificial lake, one of whom, with a short haircut, pointed ahead and said.

  These four people each held a coat in their hands, with red faces, the short-haired boy walked with a slight sway, looking like they had just finished drinking.

  "It's really him, this kid. We don't even attend gatherings, and it turns out he's here hitting on girls." A fat boy next to Xiaoping said after taking a closer look, "It's really Lu Yan."

  "Lu Yan, Lu Yan——" shouted Xiao Pingtou in a loud voice.

  Hearing someone call his name, Lu Yan turned around to take a look. Four drunken young men were walking towards him. Seeing them, Lu Yan's eyebrows furrowed involuntarily.

  "Lu Yan, who is he? Your classmate?" Lin Xiaoyun asked, looking at Lu Yan.

  "Uh-huh, it's a few of our schoolmates from the same institute, don't know where they went drinking again." Lu Yan replied.

  "Either you guys chat first, I'll go to self-study class now." Lin Xiao Yun looked at those few people's drunken appearance and didn't want to talk to them much.

  "Alright, you go first and I'll be back in a while." Lu Yan nodded and said.

  At this time, the four boys were already very close to Lu Yan and others. Lin Xiao Jun was about to leave when he heard Xiaoping shout again: "That beauty, don't go first, we are good brothers of Lu Yan, how can we not know each other?"

  When Lin Xiaoyun heard Xiao Pingtou say that, she had to stop in her tracks and turn around to look at Lu Yan, but didn't say anything else.

  At this time, Lu Yan's eyebrows were almost squeezed together. The few boys who came over were from the News Department and were in the same year as him, but now Lu Yan didn't want to see them, especially that little flat head, Lu Yan was even more disgusted with him from the bottom of his heart.

  Xiao Pingtou, also known as Wang Tao, was the son of a deputy county magistrate in a poor county on the west side of Wuzhou City. Relying on his father's official status, Wang Tao had been arrogant and domineering since he entered school, with an attitude that was even bigger than his feet. After learning about Lu Yan's family background, Wang Tao began to try to get close to him everywhere, often inviting Lu Yan to eat together. Lu Yan couldn't refuse the face-saving invitations and ate a few meals with him, after which Wang Tao started spreading rumors that he and Lu Yan were sworn brothers, boasting to others by adding "my brother's dad is the municipal party secretary" after saying "my dad is the county magistrate". After Lu Xiaodong got into trouble, Wang Tao was one of the first to distance himself from him, and didn't hesitate to spread rumors behind his back.

  "Wang Tao, you called me for something?" Lu Yan asked calmly as they approached, his composure and steadiness making Wang Tao feel a gap that made him very uncomfortable.

  "My dad's secretary came to Wucheng on business and invited us to dinner, after drinking three bottles of Wu Liang Ye I felt a bit dizzy, just thinking of taking a walk when I ran into you and this beautiful girl." Wang Tao couldn't stop showing off in his words, trying to demonstrate his superiority through this show-off.

  "Oh, then go back to sleep." Lu Yan's voice was still light and calm, not giving Wang Tao a chance to continue bragging.

  "Haha, I'm not going back yet. Lu Yan, you haven't introduced me to the beautiful woman beside you, so I won't go back yet." Wang Tao was now unclear whether he was truly drunk or just pretending to be, his mouth mumbling incoherently as his small eyes kept darting towards Lin Xiaojun's body.

  "King Tao, this is my friend, you don't need to know him. After getting drunk, hurry up and find a place to sober up, don't linger here." Lu Yan felt annoyed by King Tao's frivolous appearance.

  "What the hell is wrong with you, believe me I'll beat you up." Lu Yan's words were a bit heavy, Wang Tao was originally a second-rate person, and now he was being scolded by Lu Yan, losing face, he threw away the clothes in his hand and was about to go fight Lu Yan, Xiao Pangzi and the other three people quickly held him back.

  "Scared of you, you turtle grandson! After drinking two mouthfuls of horse urine, you dare to come and cause trouble for me!" Lu Yan was also very angry, rolled up his sleeves and was about to fight, but Lin Xiaojun pulled him back.

  Wang Tao is a selfish person, originally had the idea of finding trouble, borrowing some wine courage, now even more unstoppable, mouth picking up unpleasant words to scold. Lu Yan was very angry in his heart, but because Lin Xiaoqun was by his side, he tried his best to remain calm, the scene suddenly became chaotic, although they didn't fight, but both of them were unwilling to give in half a step.

  "Lu Yan, calm down and don't get entangled with them again." Lin Xiaojun saw that the two were at an impasse, so she pulled Lu Yan's arm to signal leaving this place.

  Lu Yan also felt it was pointless to continue entangling with Wang Tao, and turned around to leave.

  At this moment, Wang Tao's words really infuriated Lu Yan.

  "Lu Yan, your father has already killed himself out of guilt, what's so great about you, the son of a corrupt official?"

  "I'll f**k your mother!" - Lu Xiaodong's suicidal guilt was the reverse scale of Lu Yan, Wang Tao said so, and Lu Yan couldn't help but go crazy, shaking off Lin Xiaojun's hand and rushing towards Wang Tao.