Chapter 602 - 379: Aren’t You Afraid I’ll Write a Small Essay?

She stood to the side, curiously sizing up Xue Rui. She had seen plenty of roguish freshmen, but Xue Rui only had a hint of that attitude. In reality, he was both brave and clever, completely unintimidated even when facing numerous upperclassmen.

Now, Xue Rui was facing several people all by himself, yet his presence didn’t falter in the slightest.

Fan Kangjie felt ignored by Xue Rui, who was even ordering a student union officer around right in front of him. A fire of inexplicable anger ignited within him, but thinking of Xue Rui’s connection to Secretary Li, he forced himself to swallow it back down.

"He’s too arrogant. I don’t even order Cheng Nian around like that. If he ends up in my department, I’ll definitely teach him a lesson," the head of the student life department muttered under his breath.

The head of the disciplinary department leaned in. "Exactly. Once he joins, we’ll dump all the menial tasks on him and force him to quit."

"Yeah, and then all the department members can say he’s incompetent. Even the Secretary won’t be able to defend him then."

"Exactly. How can this many of us not be able to handle one guy? It doesn’t matter who’s backing him..."

Xue Rui couldn’t hear what the two were discussing, but he could feel the pure malice wafting from them. He raised his voice and called out:

"What are you two whispering about so sneakily over there? Are you cooking up some kind of scheme?"

"Ahem." Fan Kangjie coughed lightly, signaling for the two to keep their plotting voices down.

Cheng Nian pinched the bridge of her nose. ’Xue Rui just antagonized two more department heads. He’s practically taking on the entire student union by himself.’

’Even if Secretary Li is protective, he’d never go against the entire student union for one person. Where is Xue Rui getting all this confidence from?’

"I can decide which department you join. You won’t need to go through the interview," Fan Kangjie said with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes.

"Then what were you discussing for so long?" Xue Rui asked, displeased.

"I think you’re very adaptable. You can be a vice-head directly. Becoming a full department head requires going through formal procedures, which isn’t possible in the short term."

Fan Kangjie’s words not only clarified the limits of his own authority but also dangled a carrot in front of Xue Rui.

In reality, once they smoothed over today’s incident, Xue Rui would still be under his thumb in the future.

Xue Rui didn’t care about the vice-head position. He suddenly noticed that they were looking at him with a hint of contempt, as if they had found some sort of backbone. But he couldn’t figure out what had changed.

’Aren’t they afraid of me posting a "rant" online?’

’Even I’m afraid of that!’

’Whatever, I can’t figure it out...’

Xue Rui shook his head and said, "The External Relations Department, then."

Fan Kangjie froze for a moment. Xue Rui had actually chosen the External Relations Department.

’He was here to mediate, so wasn’t Xue Rui just slapping him in the face?’

"Anywhere but the External Relations Department," Fan Kangjie said, his tone firm.

He thought that if Xue Rui refused, he could go out later and say Xue Rui was too demanding. Then, no one would blame the student union anymore.

He could already imagine the freshmen’s reactions: "You’re not even satisfied with being a vice-head? What do you want then? To be the student union president?"

At this thought, the corners of Fan Kangjie’s mouth couldn’t help but curl into a smirk. The tables had turned.

"I’m not targeting anyone in particular. I just want to join the External Relations Department," Xue Rui continued.

Sun Xiaoran, who had been silent all this time, asked, "Why?"

"If you had listened to my self-introduction earlier, you would know that I’m the best fit for the External Relations Department. I’m actually..." Xue Rui said with a smile.

’He hadn’t even had the chance to reveal his status as the "big-shot client" yet!’

However, the head of the student life department suddenly interrupted, "Xue Rui, this matter is over."

"Shut up. Can you let me finish?" Xue Rui snapped, irritated. This was the second time he had been cut off.

"You’re disrupting the student union’s proceedings. If you keep this up, I’m calling security," the head of the disciplinary department said coldly.

Calling a teacher would only make them look incompetent, so this was the only threat he could make.

Xue Rui couldn’t help but laugh. He sneered, "Do you really think you can order the security guards around? The Security Office is on the same administrative level as our entire faculty. Not even Secretary Li has the authority to command them, let alone you?"

"Is what he’s saying true?" The head of the disciplinary department, having been shut down, lost some of his confidence. Xue Rui’s argument was sound and well-reasoned.

Facing his subordinate’s questioning gaze, Fan Kangjie gave a reluctant nod. "He’s right. Let him finish what he has to say."

Xue Rui’s mood improved slightly. ’At least there’s one sensible person here.’ Just as he was about to continue, there was a knock on the door behind him.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!

"Who is it?" Having been interrupted three times in a row, Xue Rui was getting increasingly irritated. He turned to see a vaguely familiar short-haired girl with a large backpack.

Cheng Nian covered her mouth to stifle a giggle. She thought Xue Rui was having the worst luck today—he couldn’t even get through his own self-introduction.

The girl glanced around the classroom, closed the door, walked up to Xue Rui, and bent down, gesturing for him to lean in.

"Who let you in? We’re in a meeting."

Fan Kangjie asked. He had no memory of this girl; she didn’t belong to any of the departments.

"The people outside let me in."

The girl flashed the ID badge hanging around her neck, which bore the "All-Purpose Campus" logo.

Fan Kangjie was speechless. All-Purpose Campus had become so integrated into student life that it felt almost "semi-official."

Xue Rui realized she was one of his employees. He asked, "What is it?"

The girl glanced warily at the others in the room. She leaned down, put her face close to Xue Rui’s ear, and cupped her hand over her mouth as she spoke:

"Boss, should I delete the posts about you or not? Last time, you said to delete all posts related to you, and your faculty’s student union has also contacted me."

"But I saw the posts about you after I ate, and it looks like you’re getting the short end of the stick. Deleting them would be bad for you, but not deleting them goes against your orders. I don’t know what to do..."

She didn’t have Xue Rui’s contact information, and reporting it up the chain of command would be slower than coming to find him directly.

Xue Rui slapped his forehead. He had given his employees a strict order in the past: no photos or news about him were allowed to appear on the platform.

That was because he had been two-timing back then, an order given to avoid a Chaotic Scene. But now the two girls had become best friends, so there was no need for it anymore.

’No wonder these people suddenly weren’t afraid of his "rant" anymore. So, he had screwed himself over?’

"I’ve been seriously wronged today. Hurry up and push the story of my suffering to the homepage," Xue Rui urged.

"Okay, right away." The girl started to pull a laptop out of her bag.

Fan Kangjie shot to his feet. "Hey, hey, hey! Why are you listening to him?" he asked anxiously. "Didn’t you just agree to help us delete the posts?"

"Xue Rui is my boss."

The girl took a step back, hugging her laptop. ’The boss is so low-key,’ she thought. ’The students at the University of Posts and Telecommunications don’t even know that the founder of the app they use every day is studying right here on their own campus.’

As the girl’s voice faded, it was as if someone had hit the pause button in the spacious classroom. Everyone froze, their movements ceasing abruptly. Even their breathing hitched.

’Well, that’s that,’ Xue Rui thought. He wouldn’t be able to finish his self-introduction now. His employee’s sudden arrival had explained everything for him.

Cheng Nian’s mouth was slightly agape in a moment of sudden realization. She finally understood the source of Xue Rui’s confidence. It wasn’t some powerful backer—it was Xue Rui himself.

Sun Xiaoran’s eyes looked like they were about to pop out of their sockets. ’So, Xue Rui is the External Relations Department’s biggest sponsor?’

The heads of the student life and disciplinary departments exchanged a look of disbelief, seeing only confusion and shock in each other’s eyes.

Fan Kangjie’s brow was deeply furrowed, and he nervously rubbed his fingers together.

"Boss, I’ll post it right now. And I’ll cut off their sponsorship funding while I’m at it."

The short-haired girl spoke up on her own initiative, standing firmly on her boss’s side. After all, she had to protect her job.

The words "sponsorship funding" were extremely sensitive to Cheng Nian. She reminded Fan Kangjie, "Senior, ever since All-Purpose Campus appeared, the External Relations Department has been all but obsolete. Very few businesses are willing to sponsor us anymore. He is our biggest sponsor."

Cheng Nian didn’t say any more. She knew Fan Kangjie would understand what she meant, because the previous head of the External Relations Department had been Fan Kangjie himself.

Fan Kangjie sighed. He knew better than anyone how he had managed to become the student union president.

Control the source of funding, and you control the narrative.

Fan Kangjie considered himself very capable. Through his relentless efforts, he had significantly improved the External Relations Department’s "performance," thereby gaining greater influence in various activities.

He didn’t know if Xue Rui could improve the External Relations Department’s performance, but he knew for a fact that Xue Rui could make its sponsorship funding plummet.

Often, it wasn’t about who was more competent, but who had more influence.

Whoever had the greatest impact on the group was the most important, even if that impact was negative...

Moreover, it was precisely because of Fan Kangjie’s hard work over the past two years that the External Relations Department’s sponsorship funding had become so abundant. This led the faculty to drastically reduce its own financial support for activities to a pitiful ten percent.

It would be one thing if other faculties were also struggling, but if only their faculty’s funding was cut... the university leadership would inevitably see it as his problem as student union president.

’Why do all the other faculties have it, but you don’t?’

Xue Rui’s importance... was still rising.

Looking at the familiar app icon on the girl’s ID badge, Fan Kangjie’s heart skipped another beat.

’Xue Rui controls a social platform. Does that mean... he can control the direction of public opinion on campus?’

HISS—