Chapter 44: Sparking Controversy

Chapter 44: Chapter 44: Sparking Controversy

Chatting with Zhong Qing slightly diluted the embarrassment brought by Chen Xiuyun and that interview video.

Because of this, Chen Jingle slept fairly well during his afternoon nap.

His afternoon schedule was quite standard: theoretical study combined with practice.

That Little Douding, Chen Qiyun, came over to mooch a meal as usual. The two of them joined forces to polish off the leftover crispy shrimp and plum-braised pig trotters from lunch, finishing dinner with a rich, silky bowl of red date and peanut puree.

Chen Qiyun patted her stomach in satisfaction and left.

"Sure enough, my previous dislike for eating was just because there was no food I loved," Chen Jingle quoted silently, shaking his head. If Little Douding could eat this much every day and grow up fast, he wouldn’t mind cooking an extra portion daily. It was just a matter of convenience anyway.

Besides, cooking for one was actually much more troublesome than cooking for two. It was no big deal.

He had thought he could read in peace tonight, making a list of the books Zhong Qing provided and going through them one by one. Who knew Chen Xiuyun would send another message?

"That video of yours has 300,000 likes now!!"

A laughing emoji followed the text.

Chen Jingle was speechless.

"Is there no end to this?" he grumbled inwardly. "Is this something worth showing off? Let me off! I’m begging you!!"

However, Chen Xiuyun was relentless. "The follow-up part of the interview is out too! I was wondering why you refused to tell me what they asked, so this was your answer, hahaha!!"

Chen Jingle was at a loss for words. Even through the screen, he could imagine Chen Xiuyun laughing her head off, leaning back with her limbs flailing and pounding the back of her chair.

"This is too much!" he thought. "I’m getting a little heated here. I really hate people with no sense of boundaries!"

Chen Jingle silently replied with an eye-rolling meme.

At that moment, Chen Xiuyun was genuinely laughing so hard her stomach hurt after watching the second interview video, just as Chen Jingle had guessed.

Laughing uncontrollably alongside her was Lin Yaoheng.

"Why didn’t he just pretend to be a student at Teacher College? Directly saying he isn’t from Teacher College—that’s hilarious. I can totally imagine the expression on that little host’s face," Lin Yaoheng said, almost doubled over with laughter.

Chen Xiuyun finally managed to suppress her laughter. She thought for a moment and said, "He probably figured that even if he pretended to be a student at Teacher College, people would dig up the truth. After all, the new campus of Teacher College only has three thousand students. Whether someone like him exists in the school or not can be easily found out by asking around. He might as well just be honest."

"That makes sense."

"I’m worried that with him causing such a stir, someone might complain to the school leaders. If that happens, they won’t let outsiders casually enter the school anymore."

"Huh? Doesn’t that mean he won’t be able to go running there anymore?" Lin Yaoheng asked, a bit concerned.

Chen Xiuyun shook her head. "That’s just my guess. It’s hard to say whether they’ll actually impose restrictions."

"If they really ban outsiders from entering, Brother Le will have to find another place to run."

"There’s no other way. At the end of the day, there are just too few university campuses here in Jiangbei, and they’re mostly in remote areas. It’s even more impossible to get into primary and middle schools. He might end up having to get a gym membership."

Lin Yaoheng frowned. "He shouldn’t do that. With those gyms in Jiangbei, the owners might just take the money and run right after he signs up."

"Is it really that outrageous?" Chen Xiuyun asked in astonishment; she hadn’t been aware of this.

Lin Yaoheng nodded. "I heard one of them absconded recently, and it was a gym that had been open for over a year."

"..."

Tsk, alright then. All that could be said was that Chen Jingle was indeed having a bit of bad luck this time around. Being interviewed was one thing, but the published video actually went viral. Now, probably nearly half the people on the new campus would recognize him.

Yikes. He was about to become a celebrity!

Meanwhile, Chen Jingle was feeling thoroughly helpless.

"Fame is as dreaded by men as being fattened is by pigs. It’s not like I want to be some internet influencer or a celebrity," he complained powerlessly.

He opened Doushou himself and searched for the Master’s Words account. He discovered that, just as Chen Xiuyun had said, the first interview segment had already surpassed 300,000 likes and over 40,000 comments. The numbers had multiplied several times over compared to noon.

The popularity was downright ridiculous. It seemed to already be one of the most-liked videos in the history of that account. The only reason it hadn’t made it onto Doushou’s trending list was because today’s list had been completely monopolized by a certain variety show’s production team. Otherwise, it would have easily squeezed its way to the top in minutes.

The subsequent second interview segment was also enjoying quite a lot of traction. It had only been published for a little over an hour and already garnered 16,000 likes. The ratio of likes to comments was even more absurd than the first half of the interview.

It might just hit another 300,000 likes.

Chen Jingle’s scalp went numb as he looked at the comments.

"Ah? So he isn’t a student at Teacher College?"

"I knew it! I’ve been at Teacher College for four years and have never heard of such a handsome student. It was even more impossible for him to be a freshman."

"I’m even more excited knowing he isn’t a student of the college!"

"Aren’t his standards for a partner a bit too high?"

"If he’s really that handsome, I have no objections."

"I meet all the requirements. When are we getting married?"

"Shocking! Did a beautiful, wealthy woman actually take a liking to him?!"

"I bumped into this handsome guy in the cafeteria once. At the time, he was trying to borrow another student’s meal card to buy breakfast. After transferring the money, he even gave that student a carton of milk as a reward."

"Handsome, the next time you come to Teacher College to run, stop borrowing other people’s meal cards! Just swipe mine! I’ll pay for your breakfast from now on!"

"By the way, are outsiders allowed to enter and exit our school so casually?"

"Uh, it doesn’t seem like there’s anything at Teacher College worth coveting, right? Besides, there are surveillance cameras everywhere."

"Well, if he’s just coming in for a run, I have no problem with it."

The comments went on and on.

Sure enough, someone had brought up the issue of outsiders freely entering and exiting the campus. Some people didn’t care, while others were opposed. Both sides had their own valid points.

Putting himself in their shoes, if Chen Jingle were a student at the school, he wouldn’t want outsiders freely wandering the campus either for safety reasons. If some malicious incident truly occurred, the impact would be massive.

As for whether this would eventually escalate to the school’s administration, Chen Jingle had no idea and could only sigh silently.

"If they don’t let me in anymore, I’ll just have to figure something else out," he told himself. A man could always find his way out of a tight corner, right? There were always more solutions than problems!

Later that night.

After taking a shower, he first tackled the 825 Professional Comprehensive postgraduate entrance exam questions he hadn’t finished the night before. Once finished, he checked his answers.

Probably because he had plenty of time tonight, his score was about 10 points higher than his 624 Marxist Principles score from yesterday. Looking at his comprehensive score, he should be able to pass Huagong’s 2024 postgraduate preliminary exam cut-off and even rank in the top ten.

"Not bad!"

Chen Jingle was completely satisfied with this. After all, he was studying across different majors. And how long had he even been studying? Even including the time before the system arrived, it had been two months at most. Achieving this score was already incredible!

Even if Huagong’s Ma Institute wasn’t top-tier, it was still one of only two Project 985 universities in the province. Its reputation in the entire Southern China Region was still highly resounding. If he wanted to aim for Renmin University or Jingda, he would probably need to score another 20 points higher.

Chen Jingle didn’t overthink it; right now, he just wanted to enrich his knowledge reserve as much as possible. Unlike external possessions, knowledge was something he could retain for a lifetime as long as nothing unexpected happened.

It was a lifelong benefit!

Next, he started reading. Today, he planned to start with Mr. Karl Marx’s "Theses on Feuerbach." It was an ideal choice because of its shorter length.

"The chief defect of all hitherto existing materialism—that of Feuerbach included—is that the thing, reality, sensuousness, is conceived only in the form of the object or of contemplation..."