The real young master thought he was hated by everyone

After finishing their meal, they went to queue for their campus cards before heading back to the dorm. 

The other two roommates had apparently returned. Li Heng found a pile of shiny candy wrappers on his desk, along with a cute cartoon character holding a large acrylic plate and a pen next to it, probably meant as a memo holder. 

“Why don’t you put the gift box on their desks?” Mrs. Xie was covering the bed, and after cleaning the bed board, she installed the blackout curtains, allowing Xie Duzhi to pass her the bed sheets and duvet cover. “They’ll be here later, so it’s fine to get to know them then.” 

Seeing the candy and the cartoon character on the desk, she felt much more at ease. No matter their personalities, the fact they were offering kindness meant there was a chance they could get along harmoniously. Even though one of the roommates hadn’t shown up yet, which was an unknown factor, it likely wouldn’t affect the overall atmosphere of the dorm.

Li Heng nodded, and in addition to the cookies Mrs. Xie had prepared, he placed chocolates on each desk. He sat back down at his desk, unwrapped a candy, and began staring blankly at the wrapper. 

He didn’t need to help with tidying the dorm; when he tried to make the bed himself earlier, Mrs. Xie had even shooed him off. 

“I’ve never made your bed,” Mrs. Xie had her reasons, “It’s usually your job to make it, but I’ll do it just this once.”

Xie Sizhi was still busy picking up books, and it looked like it would be a while before he returned. Li Heng waited while texting Gu Mingyue and his former desk mate, his eyes occasionally flicking back to the candy wrapper on the desk. 

After a while, he reached out, smoothed the candy wrapper flat, and decided to fold it into something—like a paper crane. 

By the time Mrs. Xie finished making the bed, he had folded four or five paper cranes. 

“Mom, do you want some fruit-flavored candy?” He grabbed a few candies and offered them to her. “They taste really good, I tried them earlier.” 

Mrs. Xie took the candy but didn’t actually try it. Instead, she put it into her bag.

“What about Third Brother? Does he want some?” He asked, turning to Xie Duzhi, who had just finished helping. 

“I don’t eat candy,” he declined.

“Then I’ll give your share to Second Brother,” Li Heng said without pushing him further.

However, he thought that if he replaced the candy with chocolate, Xie Duzhi might accept it. Based on his observations, he preferred complex flavors, like those of different coffees, rather than sweet ones. 

“Just give me the paper cranes,” Xie Duzhi said, pointing to the small paper cranes made from candy wrappers, which were casually placed on the desk.

He merely gestured without taking them, his tone flat. But Li Heng still felt an inexplicable sense of happiness.

“I’ll fold more then,” he said, quickly unwrapping another candy.

This one was strawberry-flavored.

In addition to the paper cranes, he also folded a small heart and brought them all together, offering them to him.

The candy wrappers were only a quarter the size of the square paper typically used for origami, making the paper cranes tiny and barely visible. 

He wanted to fold more but was stopped by Mrs. Xie, who advised, “Don’t eat too much candy at once, it’s bad for your teeth.”

“That’s enough.” 

Xie Duzhi received more than he expected, even being gifted a heart-shaped one. He was satisfied. “I just wanted to prove that I accepted the candy.”

“Does that make me a candy-eating substitute?” Li Heng blinked, half-joking.

Before he could think deeper about the meaning of his words, Xie Sizhi walked in, carrying a large stack of books, breathing heavily.

He  quickly stood up, offering his seat and handing the remaining candy to Xie Sizhi. “Second Brother, you worked hard, have some candy.”

Xie Sizhi put the stack of books on Li Heng’s desk and collapsed into the chair, unmoving for a long time.

After a while, he spoke with a dazed tone, “You can’t feed me, can you?”

Li Heng picked out a few candies of the same flavor, unwrapped them, and fed them one by one to him, thanking him and expressing his admiration.

Xie Sizhi, slightly embarrassed by the flattery, grumbled but remained slouched in the chair.

He truly felt like he had pulled a muscle from carrying all the books. Even though he immediately put on some medicated patches as soon as he got back to his room, he expected the soreness to last for days.

“…I told you to bring a suitcase,” Mrs. Xie said, sounding a bit exasperated. “You’re going to university, you should’ve known.”

Didn’t he know how heavy those books were?

“Who knew it would be so far?” Xie Sizhi weakly protested. “I thought the books were at the nearby teaching building, but it turned out to be in the warehouse beneath the library.”

He had never actually picked up books before. When he first entered university, he had run errands for others and only got caught later. If it hadn’t been for that, he might have managed to avoid this responsibility altogether.

But of course, if he mentioned this, Mrs. Xie would bring up old stories, so he kept quiet, even though his body was exhausted and his mind was blank.

Li Heng adjusted the air conditioning slightly lower. While charging the campus card downstairs, he had also paid for the dormitory’s utilities and received the air conditioner remote control from the dorm manager.

The sun was higher now, and the temperature was much hotter than in the morning. When Xie Sizhi entered the room, his bangs were drenched with sweat, dripping down his face.

He slumped for a good ten minutes before finally coming to life. “Where did you get these candies? They taste good, not too sweet.”

“Roommate gave them to me, but he hasn’t come back yet,” Li Heng replied. “If you like them, I’ll ask him about it tonight.”

“Why ask him? I don’t like candy.”

Xie Sizhi raised an eyebrow. “I’m just commenting on the flavor because you’re still being kind.”

Mrs. Xie almost rolled her eyes but stopped herself when she saw Xie Sizhi’s exhausted state. She decided to go outside to check the balcony.

“I was planning to ask him anyway, just telling you,” Li Heng quickly corrected, trying to avoid any misunderstanding.

“Too much candy could stop you from growing taller,” Xie Sizhi teased, a smile playing at the corners of his mouth. He grabbed a handful of candy and stuffed them into his pocket.

“…You still remember you said height is all about genetics?” Li Heng couldn’t help but tease, “Why are you taking my candy if you don’t like it?”

“Of course, I’m just helping those big, white carrots in the field grow tall,” Xie Sizhi stretched lazily.

He finally stood up from the chair. “By the way, is everything packed up? If there’s nothing else to pick up, I’m going to head home to rest.”

Before leaving, he ruffled Li Heng’s hair roughly and took a few red fruit candies. Then, slowly, he left the dorm.

But to Xie Duzhi, who had been quietly observing him since noon, this trick didn’t work. He already had a vague idea of what might be happening and just needed confirmation.

Perhaps tonight, he would find the answer. 

When Mrs. Xie returned to the room after cleaning the balcony, she noticed one person was missing. “Where’s Xie Sizhi?”

“He’s got sore arms, went home to rest,” Xie Duzhi answered briefly.

“Second Brother said you should count it as a work injury and let him rest before going back to the company,” Li Heng said with a hopeful expression, “He worked really hard today, queuing for hours and carrying so many books.”

Mrs. Xie chuckled, “He doesn’t want to go to the company, should I force him and lock him in the office?”

“Why not take me out to see other places? I heard your school has a famous little garden,” she suggested, “If it’s as beautiful as the pictures, take some photos for me.”

Li Heng agreed right away.

However, he didn’t bring his camera, so he had to temporarily substitute with his phone’s professional photography function.

“Don’t turn off the air conditioning, it’ll be hot when we come back, and we’ll have to turn it on again,” Mrs. Xie slightly raised the temperature. “What about Duzhi? Are you going back early like Xie Sizhi, or do you want to stroll around the school with us?”

Xie Duzhi chose the latter, citing relaxation as his reason.

They strolled until it was evening.

Li Heng returned to the dormitory only after eating in the cafeteria. S University has three cafeterias. The first one is cheap but not very tasty, except for the famous limited-quantity roast duck rice, which is said to be the main support for the cafeteria’s popularity.

Even though he arrived before peak hours to queue up, he still had to wait nearly half an hour.

The taste was indeed good, the duck meat was tender and not too gamey, and most importantly, half a duck with rice only cost a bit over ten yuan, making it especially cost-effective.

If it weren’t for the long lines and the limited quantities, he thought he might frequent this stall for his future meals.

There was still an empty bed in the dorm, while the other two roommates had returned. They were both sitting at their desks—one playing games on a computer, the other watching a drama on a tablet. The atmosphere was harmonious.

Li Heng unlocked the door with his key. When he entered, he froze for a moment.

The other two roommates, surprised by the sudden door opening, took off their headphones and greeted him.

“Hello.” After a brief moment of awkwardness, he greeted them back, expressed his thanks, and exchanged names.

The one watching the drama was Lin Mo, who was quiet and slender, giving off a somewhat feminine vibe, and his voice was soft and delicate.

“Thanks for the cookies and chocolate.” He blushed as he thanked him, appearing quite shy. “I still have a lot of candy…”

The candy was homemade by him. He had bought silicone molds and colored sugar paper online, making a large batch all at once, and stored it in a big glass jar. When Li Heng complimented his skills, he became nervous, even stuttering, and offered to give him the remaining candy. He had a very good-natured personality and was easy to get along with.

In contrast, Wei Zhuowei, who was playing games, was much more relaxed. He jokingly chimed in, “Wow, you’re so biased. I also praised your fruit candy.”

This flustered Lin Mo so much that he almost ended up pouring most of the candy into one big jar and splitting it between them.

“He’s just shy like that,” Wei Zhuowei casually explained for him, taking the chance to introduce himself. “I’m Wei Zhuowei, but you can just call me Ah Wei. Yeah, the same Ah Wei who died.”

He had a very upright appearance with square brows, and when he referred to himself as “Ah Wei,” it created a strong contrast. Li Heng almost laughed, and was about to say that his name had a good meaning when Wei Zhuowei quickly added, “Of course, you can call me Wei Brother if you like, although I don’t really like it. But since it’s a ‘Big Brother,’ I guess I can accept it.”

Even Lin Mo, who had been a bit awkward just now, couldn’t help but laugh.

“The memo board is really useful, and the character is very cute,” Li Heng also thanked him.

“Well, she’s my wife,” Wei Zhuowei responded.

Although Li Heng didn’t recognize the character, no one dislikes hearing compliments about their favorite characters. “The Valkyrie is really great!”

“Is she a Valkyrie?” Li Heng didn’t recognize her.

He had played a series of games with Valkyrie as the main character. He even went back to replay one while making video guides, recording a full S-level tutorial. But from his impression, none of the games featured a Valkyrie with a pink bow and skirt as part of the equipment.

Including the game Wei Zhuowei was playing when he entered—*King of the Borderlands*—Li Heng had also made a very detailed beginner’s guide for players who had never encountered this type of game before, since Xie Duzhi couldn’t defeat the first guard no matter how hard he tried, and even thought about contacting the game studio for help.

“Is this equipment from a hidden level?” he asked Wei Zhuowei, curious. If so, he’d need to update his guide next time.

“…No, it’s from the Yuan Shen mod.”

Wei Zhuowei reflexively answered, then couldn’t contain his excitement and stood up from his chair. “Heng, you’ve played it!”

“I think this series is really interesting,” Li Heng replied, then asked, “What is Yuan Shen?”

He knew that mod was short for “modification” in gaming, a way to alter a game.

“This is a hard one for me to explain,” Wei Zhuowei said, his mood shifting as he spoke. “Just,  Heng, you can think of her as an anime character.”

“A show called *Puella Magi Madoka Magica*,” Lin Mo added. “I watched a bit, but it was too depressing, so I stopped.”

Wei Zhuowei almost said that it was a very healing anime but realized he couldn’t get along well with “normies” who didn’t play along with his jokes.

Li Heng had heard of *Madoka Magica* but hadn’t watched it. He hadn’t had time before, and later, he just forgot about it.

“Anyway, it’s not a big deal… Should we add each other as game friends?” Wei Zhuowei decided to seek common ground despite their differences. “But I haven’t finished the Valkyrie series yet. I’ve only read the guides for the later parts, and I haven’t had time to buy them.”

The reason he hadn’t bought them was simple—schoolwork and exams kept him busy, and during the holidays, he had to shuttle between cram school and school lessons, leaving him no time for games.

He first played the Valkyrie game during the summer of his last year of middle school.

“Sure, I’ll open my computer in a bit,” Li Heng said. “If we have time, we can play together online.”

He sat down at his desk, unlocked his drawer with his fingerprint, and pulled out his computer.

As he turned around to wait for Wei Zhuowei to log in, Wei Zhuowei let out an involuntary “So rich!” when he saw the startup animation.

He felt that if he got any closer with his new roommate, he might end up saying something cheeky, like calling him “rich boy” and asking him to pamper him.

Li Heng didn’t know how to respond, so he just pretended not to hear.

“By the way, I think your voice really sounds like someone I know,” Wei Zhuowei said while waiting for the friend request to go through.

“He’s a game streamer, not very famous, but his guides are really good. His name is Pythagorean Theorem.”