The Cannon Fodder’s Survival Guide at the Noble Academy - Chapter 6

◎You may start making excuses now◎

“I think…” An Tang swallowed hard, speaking under Fu Jiyu’s icy gaze, “I think you could try trusting me once.”

Fu Jiyu glanced at him without much expression. An Tang immediately turned around, ready to bolt.

“Stop. Come closer.”

For a split second, An Tang hated his own limbs—they obeyed commands too quickly. He walked straight toward him, even closer than asked, and only stopped when he was a meter away.

That feather-light gaze swept across him, and An Tang felt his hair stand on end as if bristling like a cat.

“An Tang? The student council is recruiting assistants next week. Are you coming?”

He hadn’t even known the student council was recruiting, but of course he couldn’t say no. If he refused, would he even be allowed to leave? He lowered his head slightly, hesitated, then nodded, “I’ll come.”

Fu Jiyu gave a nonchalant “Mm” and was about to walk away.

An Tang grabbed his arm, then quickly withdrew, spreading his arms across his chest as if to show he meant no harm.

He wanted to bargain. “Um… President, if I join the student council, could you remove the punishment from this morning?”

Fu Jiyu stood there silently for a few seconds. It wasn’t long, but to An Tang it felt unbearably slow, dragging on until he wanted to retreat. Just as he was about to say “never mind”…

“Fine. The punishment stays for now—if you join, it will be erased.”

“Great!” Pure heaven! An Tang’s eyes lit up. He bowed thirty degrees in gratitude. “Thank you, President.”

Fu Jiyu watched him for a few seconds more, then turned to leave. “No need to thank me.”

Once that irritating figure was finally gone from view, An Tang stuck out his tongue toward his back, made a face, and even thumped his aching waist.

Damn it, why did he have to run into him, and even worse, get remembered by name? Now, whether he wanted to or not, he’d have to show up.

As for that “punishment will be erased once you’re in”? Pure bluff. Everyone knew such paper records were only kept for a week. If no action was taken within that time, they were automatically voided. What a shame—such a perfect plan wasted.

Sighing, An Tang went back to class.

The chaos of the morning made the quiet of the afternoon feel strange, almost uncomfortable, like fleas crawling all over him.

Can’t even enjoy a peaceful day now? An Tang thought, uncharacteristically hesitant.

Deep down, he knew—his head was full of ways to approach the F1, F2, F3 group. F2 was aloof as a chrysanthemum, always fussing with flowers. F4 still hadn’t even appeared, though in the novel his presence was pretty faint anyway.

What started as “preserve all four” had already slipped to “preserve three, fight for four.” By the end of today, it had become “preserve two, fight for three.” If this kept going, it’d be “preserve zero, fight for one.” That couldn’t be good.

Worried sick, An Tang realized that even though he’d made himself into Pei Chengrui’s underling today, everyone knew Pei Chengrui’s temperament was volatile. He might promise something one moment and flip the next—a classic spoiled young master, totally unreliable.

Panicking, he came to his senses only after impulsively ordering several more sets of clothes. As for the outfits he’d already worn, he planned to tag them, mark who had seen them, and recycle them for different audiences. Waste not, want not.

Otherwise, wearing them only once was far too extravagant. It was all money, after all. If he kept spending like this, he’d have to start dipping into his bank savings. Biting his lip, An Tang thought hard. No way. He had to find a way to extract something back from the four of them.

As dusk faded, he grabbed a quick meal in the cafeteria, then returned to the dorm to study. He’d been too careless, too distracted by all these troubles. It was only when classmates mentioned it that he realized—the monthly exams were next week.

One desk lamp, one pen. An Tang prepared to pull a little all-nighter to cram.

The moon grew brighter outside as his lamp seemed dimmer. By the time he lifted his head from the pile of papers, his stomach was already growling.

A light knock came at the door, followed by a phone notification—delivery had arrived. His clothes were here.

Shoulders relaxing, he rubbed his sore neck, then got up and dragged the package inside.

Heavy as hell! Just for a few clothes, how could the box be this tall?

Propping one hand on the box and panting, he fanned his sweaty face with the other.

It had rained tonight, so he hadn’t turned on the AC, thinking it wouldn’t be stuffy. But just moving around left him hot and restless. Electricity was covered by the school, but even so, An Tang rarely used air-conditioning. After living comfortably before, going back to a shabby little room later would be unbearable.

Standing before the fan, he eyed the stack of boxes piled nearly to his height and sighed softly.

His gaze scanned up and down, then focused on the delivery slip.

Floral dress, slip dress… Each time he read one, he unpacked a normal-sized box. Until suddenly—his hand froze. A “fully intelligent home-cleaning robot”?

Who bought that? His tiny shoebox of a dorm had no need for a robot vacuum. What next, have it climb onto his bed to sweep?

His mouth twisted with irritation. Must be some idiot’s wrong address! Great—now he’d have to contact the store, then the buyer, and if the guy couldn’t find his way here, he’d have to lug the heavy thing somewhere obvious for pickup. Such a hassle!

He immediately picked up his phone and fired off a string of complaints to the seller. Only after a while did the customer service finally reply.

While waiting, An Tang unpacked the dresses, holding them up to compare. These were the ones he’d picked that afternoon, based on the most popular “White Moonlight” look—flattering to any body shape, right sizes too.

Stripping off his clothes, he slipped into a floral dress and stood before the mirror, lost in thought at his reflection.

A little loose.

Fortunately, he had some small hair clips. Gathering up the excess fabric to pinch in a waistline, he turned this way and that before the mirror, finally somewhat satisfied.

He quickly snapped a few photos. Just as he finished, the customer service replied:

[Dear~ The address on the order is correct. Looks like a friend prepared a surprise for you (smile).]

Surprise my ass. Frowning, An Tang typed a few words, deleted them, frowning deeper.

He barely had any close friends here. The handful of acquaintances weren’t the type to buy him a robot vacuum.

Then it hit him! Eureka moment. He logged onto the campus forum, posted a screenshot of the store and product, and waited for the rightful owner to show up.

The forum was lively at night. Within moments, two or three people replied. Testing them with a few questions, he realized they were fakes—just opportunists, couldn’t even state the last four digits of their phone numbers.

Unwilling to waste time waiting, An Tang switched to his photo-editing app. After reviewing today, he was convinced—if he wasn’t catching attention, it must be because his body wasn’t good enough!

This time, he exaggerated more—transforming himself into the perfect bombshell beauty.

Looking at the results, An Tang nodded, satisfied. Yes, this was the way.

First target: Roy Shelley. But he couldn’t send him this pure “White Moonlight” look. He’d already decided—“Fallen Cinderella” would tug better at a gentleman’s sympathy.

So he changed into a cropped top that bared his waist, both dimples showing. Yesterday’s rough tugging at his clothes had left intentional red marks near his chest. The shirt was too short to cover them.

Eyes rolling slyly, he tugged the top even higher, letting the marks show. On the bottom, a short puff skirt. Feeling awkward, he fiddled with the hem, then snapped a few shots. He even searched online for pictures of red marks and pasted them onto his knees and wrists.

[Photo]
[Do you like it, gege?]
[Look, I got so tired taking photos. The clothes rubbed me red and sore, it hurts, I’m crying.]

Minutes passed. No reply. Not even the “typing…” indicator. Biting his finger, he turned to his second target—the White Moonlight look was meant for Fu Jiyu.

[Photo]
[Gege, I saw you again today. So happy.]
[I wish I could wake up every morning and see you.]

After sending it, An Tang buried himself back into the photo-editing app like an ostrich. Still had Pei Chengrui left, but he wasn’t sure what style that guy liked. So he just recycled yesterday’s photo, edited a little more—cast a wide net, something would work. He was quite fond of that pleated skirt, anyway.

Hmm—this part isn’t slim enough. That spot shows a bit of neck. And the background slipped in… The more he tweaked, the purer his focus became. Until—“ding”—a message notification.

He froze. Who replied?

Heart racing, he peeked. Oh… just the app’s own system message, not a chat.

His spirits sank, though he wasn’t sure if it was disappointment or relief. Honestly, he was scared the F4 would scold him if they replied. After all… this was kind of shameful. Just a little shameful. Not too much!

Pouting, he tapped into the chat app. He usually didn’t use it much. Was it a discount alert? Or a new video upload from some blogger?

While guessing, he waited for the slow loading—his phone was old, bought secondhand, battery already dying.

Finally inside, he scrolled his contacts. Nothing. Scrolled again. Then spotted a red dot at the top of his contacts list. Someone added him?

Suspicious, he clicked.

A smiling puppy avatar. Note: Pei Chengrui.

His pupils dilated in shock. His hand slipped, nearly hitting “Reject.” Snapping back, he instantly pressed “Accept.” He finally remembered what he’d forgotten.

【Young Master Pei! Good evening! Do you have a basketball game tomorrow?】

【Pei Chengrui: Didn’t expect it. You’re pretty hard to find.】

Two messages popped up on the screen at once. An Tang’s heart bled. He rushed to explain:

【My phone broke (crying cat face). The courier just delivered a new one.】

【Pei Chengrui: [screenshot]】

An Tang enlarged the image and stared. Wasn’t that the exact screenshot he’d anonymously posted on the forum?

【Pei Chengrui: I bought it for you.】

【! Thank you, Young Master Pei! I knew it—aside from you, who else in the world would care for me like this, buying me things?】

His flattery missed the mark. The next moment, Pei Chengrui’s cold question came.

【Pei Chengrui: Go ahead and explain. What do you mean ‘just delivered’? Half an hour has passed since your forum post.】

An Tang nearly fainted.