049 Defending Security at All Costs
Waiting and waiting, the Saturday afternoon of the scheduled mixer finally arrived.
More than half of the male students from the Computer Science and Technology major, Class One, participated in this mixer. The rest either had wallets that were too shy, had gotten cold feet, or disdained such a vulgar occasion. Wang Heng also wanted to be like these students who had detached from lowly pleasures, but his roommates were too enthusiastic, making it difficult for him to refuse.
For today, Tang Hexing and Fu Hanwen had ordered new clothes online early on, chosen from the ‘Stylish Man Zone’ on Taobao. Now, not only had they changed into nice new clothes, but the two of them had also pooled their money to buy a can of hair wax, styling their hair into what they thought was the most handsome look. They were extremely flamboyant.
Wang Ke’s mindset was more normal. After all, he had been confessed to by girls more than once since he was a child. He just tidied himself up simply, looking very fresh and natural.
But Wang Heng was different from all of them.
Limited by the rule of “not acting too abnormally,” he couldn’t go in a beggar’s outfit, nor could he deliberately not shower for five days to build up a scent. So he changed into a dark-colored tracksuit he had bought in his second year of high school, which was the oldest outfit in his suitcase. In addition, he specially bought a pair of thick, clumsy black-framed glasses. This way, he should be able to eliminate the possibility of any newly met girls falling for him, right?
But Wang Heng was still a little worried, so when he saw the small stall at the school gate, his eyes lit up.
At this moment, a dozen or so boys had just walked out of the school gate and were heading towards the coffee shop not far away under the leadership of Sun Xingsi. They weren’t walking very fast, which gave Wang Heng enough time to run to the stall to buy a small item and then rejoin the main group.
What Wang Heng bought was a string of Buddhist prayer beads.
Tang Hexing had the sharpest eyes. Seeing the new prayer beads on Wang Heng’s wrist, he couldn’t help but be astonished. “Are you kidding me? You’re wearing this to a mixer?”
Wang Heng: “I’ve said it before, I’m not interested in 3D girls. If you guys hadn’t dragged me here this time, I definitely wouldn’t have come.”
Fu Hanwen squeezed in between the two, putting one arm around Tang Hexing’s shoulder and the other around Wang Heng’s.
He said earnestly, “Little Tang, you have to understand Teacher Wang’s good intentions! Think about it,with Teacher Wang’s level, what if he accidentally snatches the girl you like later? So, wearing prayer beads is to tell everyone that he has no worldly desires.”
Wang Heng nodded in agreement. “That’s right. The prayer beads are to declare my intentions. The ‘ming’ from ‘declare,’ the ‘zhi’ from ‘intention,’ get it?”
“Teacher Wang is really…” Tang Hexing looked moved. “So loyal to his friends!”
Fu Hanwen suddenly turned to look at Wang Ke beside him and asked, “So are you planning to compete with us for girls today?”
Wang Ke: “I have no such thoughts… Haven’t I told you guys? I’m not interested in these old women.”
“Alright, wait a minute!”
Fu Hanwen turned and ran, sprinting to the small stall. He bought another string of prayer beads and then returned, panting.
“Be good, put this on. You declare your intentions too!” He stuffed the prayer beads into Wang Ke’s hand.
And so, the handsome, over-1.8-meter-tall young man, Wang Ke, dazedly put on a string of prayer beads as well.
Then, the dozen or so boys walked into the coffee shop, laughing and joking.
Sun Xingsi had already made a reservation with the shop in advance, having them arrange a dozen square tables together to form a long table. The boys sat on one side, the girls on the other. In theory, it was perfect.
The boys all took their seats, but the other side was empty.
“Didn’t we agree on four o’clock sharp? It’s already 3:50. I thought we were a bit late!” Soon, a more impatient boy voiced his protest.
“Wait a moment, wait a moment. I’ll hurry them along.” Sun Xingsi picked up his phone and went outside to make a call.
Wang Ke lamented in a small voice, “It’s really not easy for this guy, just to be a class officer…”
Fu Hanwen pouted. “This is his business. Of course, he has to handle it himself. Hey, Wang Heng, what are you looking at now?”
Tang Hexing also craned his neck to take a look. “It’s not code this time. Is it an all-English webpage?”
Wang Heng came back to his senses and replied, “It’s news, some news reports from foreign websites.”
“Bitcoin,” Tang Hexing read out the word in the bolded headline. “You’re looking at Bitcoin?”
Wang Heng: “Yeah, I’m a little interested in this.”
Fu Hanwen: “Really? I’m also quite interested in Bitcoin…”
Wang Heng said in a low voice, “I bought a few last month.”
Fu Hanwen conceded defeat. “Teacher Wang is truly amazing! A few Bitcoins, that must be several thousand yuan, right?”
Wang Heng nodded. “That’s why I said I’m very optimistic about it.”
Wang Ke, who was beside them, looked completely bewildered. “What are you two talking about… several thousand yuan?”
Tang Hexing hadn’t heard much about Bitcoin either, so for the next ten minutes, Fu Hanwen introduced Bitcoin to the two newbies, while Wang Heng continued to read the news on the side.
Nearly ten minutes later, the girls from the University of Finance and Economics finally arrived.
There were a total of nine girls, including Sun Xingsi’s cousin. They sat down on the other side of the long table, and when compared to the 18 boys opposite them, they immediately seemed like a rare commodity. More importantly, these girls were all good-looking and well-built, and they were wearing makeup, which immediately made many of the boys feel inadequate.
Wang Heng, on the other hand, breathed a sigh of relief—among these nine girls, there was no Han Yixuan.
It seemed that the power of the worldline’s correction mechanism was not so strong as to be terrifyingly like a plot-kill.
After feeling at ease, Wang Heng lowered his head and continued to look at his phone. He had specifically chosen a seat in the corner when he sat down, and now with his head down, it was naturally not easy for the girls opposite him to notice him. There were also the tall and handsome Wang Ke and the active Fu Hanwen to attract attention, so Wang Heng was even safer. The two chairs opposite him were empty, looking very deserted.
Of course, the self-introduction part was still unavoidable.
It was the first time for almost everyone to experience a ‘mixer’ like this, and they were all a little nervous when introducing themselves, just dryly stating their names and hobbies. Including Wang Ke, although his appearance made the girls’ eyes light up, his self-introduction of being an “otaku who likes 2D” was really unremarkable.
When it was Fu Hanwen’s turn, this guy suddenly had a flash of inspiration. “Good afternoon, beautiful ladies. My name is Fu Hanwen, gender male, hobby female. I’ve been a warm-hearted person since I was a child and like to help my classmates solve their problems. If you need anything, you can come to me, including but not limited to fixing computers, online shopping, and downloading movies.”
Wang Heng covered his face, unable to bear watching. “What a self-aware simp… and a cloud simp(licking dog) at that.”
