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Lang Qian Qiu, formerly known as Yong An High School’s ‘Crown Prince’, could be called a naïve person.
He was the epitome of high school popularity - rich, handsome, had good grades, excelled at sports, and was even a candidate for the position of student president (hence his nickname ‘The Crown Prince of Yong An’ by the students).
Until a certain idiot started rumours that the Lang family had bribed the school into awarding him good grades and giving him better treatment. Despite the rumours, Lang Qian Qiu had believed that his friends and followers knew him better and would stand up for him. He was extremely wrong.
Amidst the feelings of goodwill he had once shared with his friends and followers, there was an underlying feeling of jealousy. Once the seed of doubt was planted, the negative emotions towards his impeccable successes overtook the good, and the students never treated him the same way ever since. The rumours left his reputation beyond repair, and he ended up being bullied by his very own friends for being ‘so special’.
However, Lang Qian Qiu, who was badly bullied and looked down upon in high school because of baseless rumours, did not let these troubles get him down. While he was devastated to find himself struggling alone, once he realized that the situation was futile and past the point of no return, he was determined to leave and start anew. Lang Qian Qiu studied diligently, and his hard work got him into Heaven University, a renowned university miles away from his hometown. In this new town, nobody knew him, and he had managed to move away from his past stigma and climb back up. He was now a member of Heaven University’s Student Council, and was well-respected by both professors and students alike, a leap back to his former glory achieved without any help from his family. Lang Qian Qiu was living life pretty well, and could even declare himself contented, until a shadow of his past returned in the form of the dreaded exchange program between Heaven University and Ghost City University.
The cause of his past troubles, Qi Rong, that evil bastard who had mockingly declared that he had started the rumours about Qian Qiu ‘just for fun’, was one of the exchange students from Ghost City University. He, along with three other students, were known as the ‘Four Calamities’ of Ghost City University, the unofficial name given to the top members of Ghost City’s Student Council. The dumbass was titled the ‘Night-Touring Green Lantern’, said to be because he used to creep around the dorms of Ghost City University with a green lantern at night to scare and play pranks on whoever was awake. In the first place, it was a great surprise for the Ghost City students that Qi Rong could even enter the ranks of the Calamities. The hearsay from his vice president Xie Lian, which Lang Qian Qiu found ironically funny, was that Qi Rong, with his lackluster grades and notorious mischief making, was actually unqualified to enter the student council, and that he had threatened the dean into giving him the position. In a bout of childishness, Lang Qian Qiu’s first thought when he heard the rumour was that he was robbed of the chance to get revenge on Qi Rong - he wanted to be there when the rumour started so that he could help fan the flames!
Even more disturbing was the fact that that foul creature was Xie Lian’s cousin. Xie Lian, who was kindness and gentleness personified, the beloved vice president of Heaven University’s Student Council who had mentored Qian Qiu ever since he entered the school. Compared to Qi Rong’s crass and lacking personality, the two cousins were worlds apart. In fact, Xie Lian had gotten a mouthful of water spewed at his face when he revealed their relation to Lang Qian Qiu at the first meeting between the exchange students. Although he had apologized profusely and Xie Lian was nice enough to forgive him, Ghost City University’s president Hua Cheng seemed to be highly annoyed at the incident and was throwing glares across the table throughout the meeting.
Lang Qian Qiu, also the newly elected representative of the dorms, could be considered a vengeful person. He took the opportunity to use his position of power to get revenge on Qi Rong by picking on him for every little thing he does. He knew that it was petty, but he could not help the small feelings of satisfaction he gets when subjecting Qi Rong to his criticism. For all the suffering he had to endure during his days in Yong An, such treatment towards Qi Rong were nothing more than ant bites.
“You are late again. It’s two hours past curfew.” he shot a questioning look at the criminal who was in the midst of climbing over the gates of the dorm. It was the third time he had caught Qi Rong being late in one week. Lang Qian Qiu was triumphant; Qi Rong would be penalized this time!
Qi Rong groaned in frustration. That moron was relentless! He jumped down the gates and tried to run off but was caught by the arm. Qi Rong shrieked and tried to shake him off but Lang Qian Qiu’s fierce grip latched on and refused to let go.
“Oioi, you!!! Do you have nothing better to do? Well I’m not as free as you, can’t you see I’m very busy here!!” Qi Rong yelled and thrashed about madly, but was unable to free himself. With some force, Lang Qian Qiu managed to get his arch nemesis on the ground and sat on him as he opened his notebook to write down Qi Rong’s offence.
“HOW DARE YOU SIT ON ME, YOU CORRUPTED MORON! DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM? I AM THE MMMFFFH-!!! MMMGGFH!!” The loudmouth was silenced by Lang Qian Qiu stuffing his tie into his mouth. The pair of them were quite a remarkable sight, a struggling boy gagged by a tie being flattened on the ground by a student council officer. Lang Qian Qiu only let him off after he finished jotting down every detail of Qi Rong’s tardiness. He watched as Qi Rong scampered off, almost rat-like in his movements.
After the incident, Lang Qian Qiu does not let up on putting Qi Rong in his place. However, even after being penalized, Qi Rong still continues to come back late. Lang Qian Qiu is exasperated. Even though he didn’t like Qi Rong and would be happy to penalize him every day, he was a student council officer after all, and needed to make sure everyone followed the rules.
Knowing that Qi Rong would never be willing to sit down for a heart-to-heart talk with him, as well as Lang Qian Qiu himself probably being unable to maintain a proper conversation without strangling him, the upright student council officer took it upon himself to correct the evildoer of his misdeeds. His plan was to follow Qi Rong to see what no good deeds he was up to when he was out of the dorms and confront him about the matter.
Putting his plan in motion, Lang Qian Qiu did some snooping and found out Qi Rong’s schedule. He waited outside the lecture hall for the last class to end, and saw Qi Rong walking out of the class. He trailed his target silently, acting as if he was taking a very casual walk in the hallway. He kept a reasonable distance, slipping on a cap, sunglasses, and mask as he followed Qi Rong onto the bus heading for the neighbourhood. Lang Qian Qiu carefully darted around the walls and pillars, feeling rather proud of himself for being such an excellent spy as he followed Qi Rong down an alley. Qi Rong was none the wiser to the fact that someone was very obviously following him, humming to himself as he strolled towards his destination.
Qi Rong took a left turn and entered a building. Lang Qian Qiu was unsure if he could go in, and so he crossed to the café opposite and sat down, keeping a watchful eye on the people exiting the building. It took a while before Qi Rong came out, but he was not alone. Bundled in Qi Rong’s arms was a small boy whose big eyes and smile were directed at Qi Rong as they headed off. Lang Qian Qiu was caught by surprise by the seemingly gentle look in Qi Rong’s eyes. Gentle and Qi Rong were two things he would never associate with each other. Qi Rong and Gu Zi (assumed to be the boy’s name from what he had managed to hear from the pair’s not-so-soft chattering) then disappeared into a small apartment block a few minutes away from the building they came from. Lang Qian Qiu had a strong feeling that this was where they were staying. He debated between returning to the dorm or to continue his secret investigations, and decided that it was too late to give up after coming this far.
After waiting for what felt like hours, Qi Rong finally emerged from the apartment, Gu Zi nowhere in sight. Lang Qian Qiu got up from his hiding spot immediately, and continued his pursuit of Qi Rong. Their destination this time was a quaint little cafe in the neighbourhood. He checked that his disguise was still in order before he seated himself in one of the few tables outside the cafe. Peeking through the glass windows, he saw Qi Rong’s figure moving around the tables.
The bell hung on the door of the café rang as Qi Rong walked out with an annoyed expression.
“Can’t you see how hardworking I am?! I have my family’s Gu Zi to feed! Who cares about my attitude?! I served the food to the customers as expected!!! Stupid boss!! Stupid customers!! Just wait until I become rich!! I’ll come back as a customer and get you to clean my shoes!!!” Qi Rong muttered agitatedly under his breath, sporting an almost cute green little apron tied around his waist as he dragged out a trash bag and flung it carelessly into the bin before heading back in.
Lang Qian Qiu, despite his unfortunate and troubled past, and now a stalker of his arch nemesis, was still a naïve person. As he watched the back of his sworn enemy scuttle back and forth the establishment and serving the customers with his much-to-be-desired attitude turned down a few notches. He was not that obtuse to guess that Qi Rong’s lateness in returning to the dorms was due to this very reason. He felt something in his heart stirring, a hint of a very very slight change in his attitude towards Qi Rong.
Maybe his arch nemesis wasn’t that bad a person after all.