WMSR – QT Chapter 21

 

WMSR – QT Chapter 21

By

siofra

Chapter 21

Song Junchi listened to Bai Yichen’s expression of worry in dead silence, while a cold sneer played out in the depths of his mind. As if that Su Yuanhang character would ever agree to skip making up for his military training—isn’t this precisely the outcome he schemed to bring about in the first place?

Even though Song Junchi looked down on his rival with every fiber of his being, he was forced to concede that Su Yuanhang possessed a terrifyingly deep tactical mind. Setting aside the fact that he had never managed to gain the upper hand across their endless open and covert clashes over the past year, just this military training alone had already trapped him in a double-layered trap.

First came the initial strike: Su Yuanhang, who had tested into A University right alongside them, deliberately timed his public reveal for right after the military training wrapped up—stepping out onto the stage in all his radiant glory just as everyone else was baked to a charcoal-black, haggard mess. Even with his chronic bias against Su Yuanhang, Song Junchi had to admit that a tofu-white, flawless Su Yuanhang at that precise moment held a magnetic pulling power that completely overshadowed even the female freshmen of that incoming batch.

And the second maneuver was precisely this deferred military training. While they had comfortably ascended to sophomores, Su Yuanhang alone got tossed back into the freshman trenches to slog through that grueling drill. How could Bai Yichen possibly find it in his heart to remain unbothered? And so, a standard rite of passage endured by every single student transformed, under Su Yuanhang’s orchestration, into yet another pathetic spectacle designed to wring out maximum sympathy.

Despising someone to the point of grinding your teeth didn’t even begin to cover how Song Junchi currently felt toward Su Yuanhang inside. Yet no matter how deep his hatred ran, the moment he heard Yichen announce his intention to go check on the kid, he had no choice but to obediently tag along—because leaving Yichen alone in private with that surname-Su pest was an even greater risk to his peace of mind.

A gentle breeze drifted past, carrying a rare touch of coolness beneath the shade. While Song Junchi and Bai Yichen stood quietly under the trees watching the training formations, little did they realize that they formed a picturesque scenery of their own in the eyes of onlookers.

Leaving aside the various overtly and covertly stolen glances carrying unmistakable infatuation, a corner of the perimeter harbored several muffled shrieks of excitement. Upon closer inspection, those tiny yet irrepressible squeals of joy all originated from a cluster of enthusiastic younger female students.

Clutching their chests with bright, glittering eyes fixed entirely on the two figures beneath the shade, their burning gazes resembled the lovestruck upperclassmen nearby in intensity, yet differed entirely in flavor. Barely managing to swallow down their surging excitement, they eagerly nudged one another: “Did you catch it? Did you snap it? Did you get the shot of the handsome Bai wiping Su-Su’s sweat just now?!”

“Do you even have to ask? My reaction time is top-tier the second I sense a photo op. Look right here—crystal clear.”

That lightning-fast fangirl eagerly shared the snapshot with her companions. With a high-definition camera lens coupled with flawless timing, the frame captured the moment Bai Yichen leaned down to wipe Su Yuanhang’s brow with absolute clarity. Thanks to the precise angle and lighting, the two squatting figures appeared bathed in a soft, ethereal halo. Even Bai Yichen’s downcast gaze directed toward the person beside him radiated a profound, tender gentleness—to say nothing of the tall, aloof silhouette standing guard right beside them, quietly holding up an umbrella to isolate the pair from the scorching glare of the sun.

Staring silently at the photo, the group of fangirls collectively held their breath for a beat before a deeper flush rushed up their cheeks. One of them pumped a fist in triumph: “Getting this frame means I can die happy now! Ahhh, as expected, the Bai-Su ship is the supreme absolute truth!”

“Hey, hey, hey—don’t you dare forget about the handsome Song standing right over there! How adorable is that silent devotion? Look at him: watching the love of his life plunge straight into another guy’s arms, yet he stays right there standing guard in silence, even holding up an umbrella because he’s terrified Su-Su might get sunburned.”

“Oh, stop fighting over whether the Bai-Su or the Song-Su faction reigns supreme. If you ask me, we should just throw all three of them into a polycule together! Didn’t you see how harmonious their dynamic is? The handsome Song is blocking the sun for Su-Su without intentionally freezing out his rival either—look, the handsome Bai didn’t catch a single stray ray of sunlight either.”

Reminded by that observation, the other fangirls double-checked the image—and sure enough, it was true! Upon closer scrutiny, the shadow cast by the parasol leaned heavily toward the handsome Bai, planting a strange, lingering thought in their minds. Still, since the Bai-Song faction was a heretical cult with virtually zero systemic backing beyond a tiny splinter faction at the very start that got quickly steamrolled by rival ships, the girls merely entertained the whimsical thought for a microsecond before returning to worshiping what was right in front of them, deciding that a slightly skewed shadow was probably just poor measuring on whoever held the umbrella.

“Ahhh, the scene of the handsome Bai and the handsome Song standing side-by-side keeping watch over Su-Su is ridiculously cute too—snap it, quick, snap it!”

The squad of eager fangirls clustered back together, enthusiastically continuing their covert paparazzi enterprise.

As for what these enthusiastic girls meant by factions like “Bai-Su” or “Song-Su,” the whole saga traced its roots back to the very beginning. When Bai Yichen, Song Junchi, and Su Yuanhang—three distinctively striking hunks and gorgeous youths—first stepped foot onto A University’s campus, they created an absolute sensation. Because they constantly traveled as a pack, they earned the collective moniker of the “F3.” From there, the F3 naturally became the targets of an endless wave of romantic pursuits, escalating from ordinary schoolmates up to departmental and campus queens…

Yet not a single member of the F3 ever accepted any of those cascading confessions. The broader student body of A University had initially deemed this entirely normal—after all, top-tier campus hotties weren’t supposed to be easy conquests.

However, as time marched on—with one semester bleeding into two, and even beauties from rival universities occasionally wandering over to cast flirtatious glances—none of the three managed to break away from their single status. They remained perpetually glued together at the hip: hitting the cafeteria as a trio, scheduling social gatherings as a trio, and even reserving seats in lecture halls always meant one person locking down three chairs. Gradually, the general public’s intuition began whispering that something felt slightly off. Were these three conjoined twins or something? Why else stick together this tightly?

While most people simply sensed an abstract weirdness without being able to pinpoint the exact cause, certain specialized subcultures within the student body finally felt their restraint snapping. To be fair, those specific communities had started hyperventilating the very second they laid eyes on the three distinctively gorgeous hunks. But because the trio possessed such lethal, drop-dead gorgeous appeal, treating them purely as internal fodder felt like an absolute waste. Preferring a slow-burn campus idol drama over a quick closed-loop romance, they had patiently held their ground in silent endurance. But who could have predicted that while they exercised self-restraint, the three heartthrobs themselves would remain completely immune to all the gorgeous women throwing themselves at their doorstep?