Chapter 9: I Admit I Almost Believed It

After sorting through everything, Lin Bai approached Zhao Fangting and sincerely apologized.

“Sorry, I really didn’t mean it. I’ve been training these past few days and still not quite used to it.”

Only then did Zhao Fangting stop, circling around Lin Bai.

“Alright, you’ve got a conscience. But Xiaobai, what’s gotten into you today? You’re like a different person! Chen Shuya must be kicking herself, huh?”

Lin Bai smiled mysteriously, saying nothing more.

“No more talking. After a full day out, I’m going to sleep.”

Around eight in the evening, Lin Bai climbed into bed and resumed doing sit-ups.

As he took off his shirt, he finally noticed his gradually defined six-pack abs and chest muscles.

Immediately, he jumped off the bed and stepped onto the digital scale his roommate had bought.

One hundred fifty-eight!

Lin Bai was stunned when he saw the number.

Just three days ago, he was still a skinny guy weighing less than 120 pounds. In only three days, he’d gained nearly forty pounds! Who would believe that?

Looking at his perfect muscle contours reflected in the mirror, Lin Bai grew even more confident.

“Holy crap! Is this for real?” Zhao Fangting reached out to touch him, but Lin Bai gently swatted his hand away.

Back on the bed, Lin Bai glanced at his phone. Qin Ruowei had sent him several messages.

“Are you back yet?”

“I had a great time today, thank you.”

“I’m willing!”

Reading the three messages made Lin Bai smile happily. He replied:

“I’m back, just lying down now.”

“Well, you better remember this: your boyfriend’s name is Lin Bai, a six-foot-tall powerhouse.”

After sending the message, Lin Bai continued doing sit-ups.

During his exercise, his phone chimed with incoming messages. He knew they were from Qin Ruowei but didn’t rush to reply, keeping pace with his sit-ups.

Now, he could easily do over a hundred sit-ups in a row.

During a break, Lin Bai checked his phone again. More messages awaited him.

“Hee hee, got it.”

“But seriously, have you really forgotten Chen Shuya?”

“Why haven’t you replied for so long?”

Lin Bai could almost picture Qin Ruowei’s expression on the other side of the screen.

As expected, Qin Ruowei and Chen Shuya were roommates. At that moment, Qin Ruowei was alternating between lying down and sitting up, glancing at her phone every few seconds, her face full of anxiety.

Among the four roommates, only the three of them were home; Chen Shuya and Li Yu had gone out shopping.

“Hey, my Qin courtyard beauty, are you working out up there?” one roommate teased.

Qin Ruowei was about to respond when she finally received a message from Lin Bai and immediately opened it.

“I was just working out. I have to do 280 sit-ups every night before bed, no breaks.”

“Also, how can you compare yourself to Chen Shuya? Don’t you think that’s unfair to you?”

“To be blunt, no one can replace you in my heart, remember, no one.”

Reading the message, Qin Ruowei’s face brightened with a smile. She lay back down and started typing.

“Seriously? I want to see!”

Nearby, the other two roommates exchanged knowing looks, then stealthily climbed onto Qin Ruowei’s bed.

Feeling their approach, Qin Ruowei turned around.

“What are you two doing, hahaha…”

After some playful scuffling, Qin Ruowei was “coerced” by her roommates.

“Spill it, who’s this guy? Is he from our school?”

Qin Ruowei nodded. “Yes.”

“Is he from our department?”

She nodded again. “Yes!”

Upon hearing this, the two were surprised.

“Wow, what kind of godly person could win over our Ruowei in such a short time? Spill it!”

Qin Ruowei laughed as they tickled her, begging them to stop.

“No, no, I’ll tell you in a couple of days, hahaha…”

Elsewhere, in the boys’ dormitory.

After finishing all his sit-ups, Lin Bai grabbed his phone and took a sweaty selfie of his abdomen, sending it off.

“Here, just finished training.”

[Beep! Congratulations, host, you have completed today’s check-in task. Progress: 3/7. Please keep it up.]

After sending the message, Lin Bai turned to see Zhao Fangting exercising earnestly beside him, cheering himself on.

“I want abs too! I want a girlfriend too!”

But after a few push-ups, he collapsed onto the bed, looking at Lin Bai.

“Hey, be honest with me — who is that girl?”

Lin Bai thought for a moment and decided there was no harm in telling the truth.

“Qin Ruowei.”

Zhao Fangting was stunned at first, then burst into laughter.

“Hahaha… Xiaobai, you’re something else. I almost believed you.”

“Qin Ruowei is the beauty of our department; nine out of ten guys have their eyes on her. You and I? Forget it. That kind of goddess is just for dreaming about.”

Lin Bai didn’t bother to explain, turned over, and said nothing.

“If you don’t believe me, fine, let’s sleep!”

Saying that, Lin Bai took out his phone. Qin Ruowei hadn’t replied, so he assumed she had fallen asleep.

“Must be asleep. I’ll sleep too. Early morning tomorrow. Good night.”

After sending the message, Lin Bai tossed aside his phone, exhausted from a full day, and quickly fell asleep.

Meanwhile, the two roommates, unable to squeeze any useful information from Qin Ruowei, gave up.

Qin Ruowei finally checked her phone and blushed upon seeing the photo of Lin Bai’s abs.

She then snuggled under the covers, secretly looking at it for a while before bookmarking it, falling into a deep sleep.

A smile lingered on her face even as she slept.

...

The next day.

Unknowingly, the holiday had reached its fourth day, and the campus was noticeably more crowded.

In the morning, at the same time, on the south campus track.

Dressed in sportswear and PUMA sneakers, Lin Bai ran along the track alongside the youthful and radiant Qin Ruowei.

The two had confirmed their relationship and had arranged to run together.

After all, running was how they had initially become close.

Lin Bai ran 1500 meters in one go, feeling refreshed and ready to run two or three more laps.

This was a world of difference from the first day’s miserable attempts.

After running came push-ups. Lin Bai was doing push-ups while Qin Ruowei hugged her knees nearby, her eyes fixed on him.

“Lin Bai, I feel like you’ve changed so much from a few days ago.”

Qin Ruowei said sincerely.

Not just her — Lin Bai himself felt the huge difference and grinned.

“So, do you like the old me more, or the new me?”

Qin Ruowei blushed and looked away.

“I’m not answering that.”

He easily finished 120 push-ups, took a big gulp of water handed to him by Qin Ruowei, then she asked,

“What are you planning to do today?”

Lin Bai screwed the cap back on the bottle.

“Keep working my part-time job, you know.”

His answer caught Qin Ruowei off guard.

“Huh? You’re still working part-time? You…”

It wasn’t surprising she reacted this way. After spending the whole day together yesterday, Lin Bai’s image in her eyes had changed — he was no longer the poor kid she had known.

Yet Lin Bai still needed to work part-time, which she hadn’t expected.

What she didn’t know was that it wasn’t that Lin Bai liked working part-time, but that he desperately needed the money!

His system was only level one, and now that he’d paired up with the department’s beauty, his sense of urgency was even greater.