TT Chapter 4. Explosive Ting Ting

Zhou Cheng felt like he had just witnessed something incredible. One second, everyone’s favorite sweet-faced Chen Ting, rumored to have been raised on pure cuteness, was cursing someone out. The next, he was back to quietly blowing up balloons as someone walked over, looking every bit like a poor little thing who had just been bullied.

And the person approaching wasn’t just anyone. He had clearly come to back Chen Ting up, glaring at Zhou Cheng with open hostility. “What are you doing here hassling our Ting Ting? If you’ve got something to say, say it properly. This isn’t the Academic Affairs Department.”

Zhou Cheng felt like he couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t get the words out, but he couldn’t swallow them either. Like he’d suddenly developed chronic laryngitis.

Soon, the rest of the publicity team began gathering around.

With a cold snort, he turned and left.

A tall guy from the team flipped him off behind his back. “Fucking poser.”

Cai Duo looked at Chen Ting with concern. “He didn’t mess with you, did he?”

Chen Ting gave a small smile. “No. Thanks, President.”

“If he ever bothers you again, just call me,” Cai Duo said. The other team members who knew Chen Ting nodded in agreement.

One of them couldn’t help but ask, “So that rumor… is it true?”

This time, Chen Ting didn’t stay out of it. He answered clearly, “No, it wasn’t me. But he thinks I’m the one who spread the rumor.”

No one doubted his words. Chen Ting was the kind of recluse who would never show up unless someone dragged him out. He had even turned down the department head’s offer to promote him. There was no way he’d stir up drama just to get attention.

Zhou Cheng must’ve been out of his mind.

Just then, Yang Shulin arrived with freshly permed hair. When he heard what had happened with Zhou Cheng, he got mad too.

“Tomorrow I’m writing an exposé for the campus paper, full bilingual edition, calling out what a dumbass he is. I’ll bury him.”

Chen Ting couldn’t help laughing. “Aren’t you afraid your club president will bash your head in?”

Yang Shulin instinctively flinched, but he held his ground. “Why would I be? It’s a bilingual feature. Very classy. So what if we’re the publicity team? If he really pisses me off, I’ll go next door and bring in classmates from the Japanese, French, and Russian departments. We’ll curse him out in eight different languages. I guarantee he’ll go down in N University history.”

Somewhere on the road, Zhou Cheng suddenly shivered.

Back in the hall, everyone was cracking up at Yang Shulin’s rant. The atmosphere was light and cheerful. Yang Shulin ended up staying to help and even scored a free boxed dinner.

At 7 p.m., the dance officially began.

Yang Shulin went off to meet up with his friends from the journalism club to start working on a feature report.

Chen Ting was left with nothing to do, but he still had no interest in joining the dance floor. So he asked Cai Duo for a staff badge, then took up a quiet spot near the drinks table, sipping on a cup of orange juice to pass the time.

On stage, someone was playing the saxophone. Lazy jazz notes drifted through the air, swaying beneath the blur of colored lights.

Then, all of a sudden, the music turned upbeat, cutting straight through the ambient haze.

“Oops…” A girl in a long dress accidentally stepped on her partner’s foot and blushed furiously. The saxophonist gave her a playful wink, grinning with that harmless-troublemaker look on his face.

Most of the freshmen were still shy, but in this kind of festive space, surrounded by laughter, one by one they worked up the nerve to plunge into the tide of revelry.

Chen Ting actually liked scenes like this. His heart leaned toward quiet, but he was surrounded by life and light. What he liked most was being off to the side, just watching. You were in it, but not really in it. Even the noise felt like a good thing. It was beautiful. It was perfect.

“Hey hey hey, look at this one. This angle is insane, I’m telling you. The composition, the lighting. Pulitzer, here I come!” In another corner, Yang Shulin was showing off to his teammates, full of swagger.

“Yeah yeah, but who cares how pretty your shot is? What we need is something explosive. Give us a headline.”

“Has Pei Yiyao shown up yet? I haven’t seen him.”

“Don’t tell me he’s actually not coming…”

“No way, right? Didn’t someone say they sent people to look for him?”

“……”

Yang Shulin had a hunch that Pei Yiyao would definitely show up tonight. He pulled out his phone and opened a WeChat group called “Winner Takes All”, typing furiously with both thumbs.

YSL: Where’s Pei Yiyao? Anyone spotted him yet?

Dongbei Popsicle: Not at the North Cafeteria.

Triple Monk: Someone saw him at the library café half an hour ago! A girl in our class saw it with her own eyes. The freshman prince got an Americano.

YSL: Gou ge, calling Gou ge!

Gou ge: I’m here.

YSL: Where are you?

Gou ge: Behind you.

Yang Shulin whipped around so fast he nearly dropped his camera. “Gou ge, why the hell do you walk without making a sound?”

Gou ge’s full name was Gou Yi. He was the head of the campus press team. Tough guy, didn’t talk much. He swept a glance across the crowd and gave a simple cue: “Su Luo.”

“What?” Yang Shulin turned his head and instantly spotted Su Luo in a long dress. Even in a crowd, she stood out effortlessly. The dress looked like the night sky, shimmering under the lights of the venue.

Next to her, all the younger girls instantly faded from view.

“The source of the rumor has been found. It came from one of Su Luo’s roommates.” Gou Ge stood with his arms crossed, dropping the news like a bomb.

“You’re amazing, Gou Ge.” Yang Shulin hadn’t expected him to actually track it down. No wonder he was the head of the press corps, not just some gossip chaser. But then a new thought hit him, and he asked, “Did she do it on purpose, or was it just an accidental slip?”

Gou Yi gave a shrug and said nothing.

That silence was all Yang Shulin needed to start imagining a dozen tangled tales of love and betrayal. At that moment, Su Luo finally noticed Chen Ting leaning quietly in the corner. She offered him a faint smile from afar, but didn’t come over.

A stir spread through the crowd behind her. Zhou Cheng had arrived as well.

Yang Shulin stared as the two of them ended up side by side. He grabbed Gou Ge’s arm. “Gou Ge, what is this supposed to be?”

Gou Ge rolled his eyes. “They’re trying to bury the story.”

And just like that, Yang Shulin saw the whole picture.

Gou Ge rolled his eyes. “They’re trying to cover it up.”

In that instant, Yang Shulin understood exactly what was going on.

Zhou Cheng had been having a rough time lately. First, his confession had been rejected. Then he lost his campus heartthrob title. All of that happened in just two days, and ever since, the whispers and mockery hadn’t stopped. He had no one to blame but himself for always being so high-profile.

Su Luo, on the surface, didn’t seem affected. But the person who had actually leaked the rumor was her roommate. And Su Luo had always carried the image of a flawless goddess. With her reputation and popularity, even the smallest stain might be hard to accept.

So if she and Zhou Cheng ended up together in the end, the entire rumor would collapse on its own. There would be no rejection, no confession, just mutual affection from the start.

But what about the third person in that story? They would be left standing there in the middle of it, looking ridiculous.

When Su Luo reached out and took Zhou Cheng’s arm, the murmurs that rippled through the crowd made Yang Shulin’s brow furrow.

“I knew it. As if Su Luo would ever go for someone like Chen Ting.”

“Obviously a pretty girl belongs with a good-looking guy.”

“That Chen Ting must just be looking for attention. Always stirring things up on campus. Why not just become an influencer? Isn’t that whole ‘soft puppy boy’ thing trending now? Hahaha…”

“Keep your voice down. Chen Ting’s here too.”

“He is? Where? Where is he?”

“…”

Yang Shulin couldn’t take it anymore. He was about to step forward and confront them directly, but the moment he took two steps, he caught Chen Ting’s gaze from across the room.

That familiar smile made his heart skip a beat. It was over. Chen Ting was in full-blast mode now.

Still, something about it made him oddly excited. A sudden spark hit him, and he immediately sent Chen Ting a message with the details about Su Luo’s roommate.

Chen Ting gave him a subtle nod from a distance. Gou Ge glanced back and forth between them, then fixed his eyes on Chen Ting.

At that moment, Chen Ting stepped calmly out of the dim corner and into full view. He stood there openly, letting everyone look at him. He wore a plain off-white long-sleeved shirt and a pair of ripped jeans. Compared to the other people dressed up for the dance, he looked far too casual.

In Gou Yi’s mind, this was exactly the kind of person Chen Ting was. He had the kind of fresh, charming face that made him look soft and obedient, but everything about the way he carried himself spoke of calm and detachment.

And now… what was he going to do?

Gou Ge found himself unexpectedly curious. He kept his eyes locked on Chen Ting, as if he were watching a walking headline.

In the low murmur of the crowd, Chen Ting walked straight up to Zhou Cheng and Su Luo. But he wasn’t looking at just the two of them. His gaze swept slowly across the entire room before settling on them.

“I know some people think I was the one who spread the rumor,” he said. “That I did it just to get attention. And now the two of you showing up together is seen as the strongest proof of that.”

Su Luo opened her mouth, as if she wanted to respond, but Chen Ting cut her off.

“I just have one question. Since you’re already together, why didn’t you clear things up?”

His voice was calm, but his clear, direct eyes hit hard.

Zhou Cheng’s expression darkened, but before he could say anything, Chen Ting cut in again.

“And for the record, this isn’t how you get attention.”

He turned around and walked briskly toward the stage.

Zhou Cheng’s face grew stormy. He was about to step forward and stop him, but Gou Ge moved in and blocked his way. And in those few short seconds, Chen Ting had already reached a student near the front of the stage.

“Excuse me,” he asked politely, “would you mind letting me borrow your headband?”

The student looked surprised but handed his headband over.

Then Chen Ting borrowed a vintage silver wolf ring and a black ear cuff from a few others nearby.

Without missing a step, he slipped the ring onto his finger and clipped on the ear cuff. He pulled the black-and-white striped athletic headband tight across his forehead, then bent down and casually tore the rips in his jeans a little wider.

The stage was right in front of him.

Chen Ting placed one hand on the edge of the stage and pulled himself up. By now, the entire crowd had fallen into stunned silence. Even Yang Shulin hadn’t expected this version of Chen Ting.

When Chen Ting sat down behind the drum kit and picked up the drumsticks to tap out the first beat, the room was completely still.

Was he about to play the drums?

Zhou Cheng instinctively clenched his fists. Suddenly, Chen Ting’s earlier words came back to him. If this wasn’t how you sought attention, then what was?

Was it like this?

Tap. Tap. Chen Ting found the rhythm again. He raised the drumsticks and knocked them together, setting off the tension like a coming storm. The stage lights converged above his head, and the boy in the headband no longer looked cute or soft. He had become sharp, striking, like someone who had walked straight out of a comic panel.

In the next second, the explosion of drums made everyone’s scalp tingle. It came fast and heavy, like a downpour with no chance to breathe. With each strike, the black ear cuff caught tiny flashes of light, and the wolf-patterned ring on his finger added its own kind of wildness.

“Chen Ting! Chen Ting!” Yang Shulin shouted, practically shaking with excitement.

The entire hall was in an uproar. The girls, especially, were watching Chen Ting with eyes full of light. What had they just seen? Was that still the same sweet-faced boy?

No. That was a boyfriend.

Forget Su Luo. That boy was ours.

The crowd surged forward, packing tightly around the stage. Zhou Cheng and Su Luo, who had been standing closer, found themselves swallowed up in the crush and unable to break free.

But for the first time, they both desperately wanted to escape the spotlight.

Seeking attention? Chen Ting had already shown them exactly what it meant to draw attention. Something they thought required scheming and manipulation, he had done easily just by being himself. Why would anyone bother spreading rumors when they could do this?

The more they thought about it, the worse their expressions became. The more embarrassed they felt, the more they wanted to leave.

But Yang Shulin was already waiting behind them, lounging there like a bored troublemaker. He and his friends from the press team had casually blocked off every path of retreat.

Meanwhile, Chen Ting the explosive drummer brought his performance to a close with a final strike.

The audience remained frozen in the aftershock, unable to come back to their senses.

Chen Ting stood and walked to the edge of the stage. He crouched slightly and looked straight at Zhou Cheng and Su Luo in the crowd. He was close enough now that everyone could hear his unsteady breathing and see the thin layer of sweat on his forehead.

He smiled and tilted his head, the corner of his mouth lifting.

“Rumors don’t mean anything. Focus on your studies and aim to improve every day.”