Chapter 3: The Art of Faking a Headache

With one task done, Shen Ru moved to the next, which was identifying the wolf. This was a relatively easy task since he just needed to fake some kind of illness and get himself sent to the infirmary. And so, he used the most common tactic known to man: pretend that he had a headache to find an excuse to leave class.

On the next day, he showed up to class unusually silent. Usually, the original Shen Ru would arrive in class exchanging high-fives with his lackeys, his voice so loud as he boasted about his recent escapades. This time, though, he simply walked into the classroom and took a seat in his chair, his gaze empty as he stared at the wall beside him.

[Wow, host, you look really dumb right now.]

Shen Ru inwardly rolled his eyes, resisting the urge to respond with an equally damaging insult. He must remind this stupid system not to talk to him when they weren't alone.

Noticing his change in demeanor, both Gu Haoyu and Jia Hao repeatedly asked him if there was something wrong. He only replied with a small nod, continuing to stare into space. After a couple more inquiries, the two of them just shrugged helplessly and continued talking about the recent school gossip.

Shen Ru was silent until the first period finally started. Since he was going to pretend that he had a headache, he had to do it perfectly and realistically. He wasn't the type to be lazy or perfunctory about his tasks.

While the teacher was discussing today's lesson, he acted out several symptoms of a headache. Sometimes he massages his temples, sometimes he leaned his head on his hand, not too long that it would show that he was just lazy and didn't want to listen in class, but not too short that it would seem like nothing special, while the majority of the time he had empty and sunken eyes like his sight had gone dizzy.

It seemed that he was pretty lucky today, as halfway into the class, the teacher spoke, "Mr. Shen, is there something wrong? I can see that you're not feeling well."

Shen Ru widened his eyes and his body flinched seemingly instinctively. "…Yes, Teacher, my head is hurting and dizzy."

"Mr. Gu, since the both of you are friends, you can escort Mr. Shen to the nurse's office," the teacher called.

"No, there's no need for that, Teacher. I can walk by myself, I don't want Gu Haoyu to miss out on class," Shen Ru reasoned.

The teacher paused but didn't see anything wrong with it, so he just waved him off to head to the nurse's office. Satisfied with this result, Shen Ru walked out of the classroom while massaging his temples.

To completely avoid suspicion, he didn't stop acting even along the way to the nurse's office, nor did he make his acting too exaggerated. A normal person wouldn't think that he had a headache. If you paid attention to his bodily movements though, you would believe otherwise.

Before entering the nurse's office, Shen Ru knocked on the door and opened it. When he entered, he stumbled into the "wolf" chatting with Jun Zixin.

"You shouldn't pull all-nighters again, it's not advisable for your health. If you do sleep late, you have to eat food and drink water. You wouldn't have collapsed today if you had just eaten breakfast—" Li Zhong was about to continue lecturing when he turned his head to the door upon Shen Ru's arrival.

Li Zhong cleared his throat and asked, "Oh, Student, why did you come here?"

Shen Ru ignored Jun Zixin's invasive gaze and continued with his act. He weakly answered, "Nurse Zhong, I have a headache and my head is dizzy."

Seeing the situation, Li Zhong gave some medicinal oil for curing headaches and said, "You can rub it on your head on your own. I have somewhere to go to."

Shen Ru looked down to hide the frown on his face. This result was largely unprecedented. This was his only chance to interact with Li Zhong without attracting suspicion. He couldn't possibly fake a headache on another day, can he? If the teachers see that he's been getting sent to the infirmary multiple times, it's either they'll contact his parents to alert them or they'll think he's faking.

Once Li Zhong left the infirmary, Shen Ru looked at Jun Zixin warily, trying to ascertain if this encounter was merely a coincidence. Jun Zixin chuckled and said, "What are you staring at me for? Don't you have a headache?"

Shen Ru frowned and simply ignored him, grabbing the medicinal oil to apply it to his temples. While he was rubbing the oil, Jun Zixin asked, "What caused your headache?"

Shen Ru paused but still answered, "I didn't sleep well last night."

"Just a suggestion: if you want to skip class by faking a headache, you should learn to act better. Your acting was perfect until you rubbed the oil on your head. You didn't show any signs of reaction to the relief that you should get if you massaged your head while having a headache."

Shen Ru raised an eyebrow. "But you only have anecdotal evidence."

Jun Zixin shrugged. "I'm not pointing this out because I want to report you, it's because I want to know what you're planning this time."

"How…are you so sure that I'm planning something? Are you that suspicious of me?"

The corners of Jun Zixin's mouth quirked up. "I'll give you a clue. The surname of Nurse Zhong's mother is Hua."

After saying those words, Jun Zixin stood up from his seat and headed to the door, leaving Shen Ru alone to wordlessly stare at him. Considering the bright smirk on his face, he was definitely satisfied that he had left him speechless.

Now that no one was around, Shen Ru stopped the act and sat on a nearby seat with a serious expression on his face.

The system spoke, [Host, this surnamed Jun gives me a strange feeling.]

Shen Ru sneered, "Not just strange, he has the words, 'SUS' written all over his face."

[No offense, Host, but you're the same in his point of view.]

[Oh, shut it, you're just angry that I called you braindead yesterday.]

The system felt a little aggrieved. [So, Host, what are you going to do now?]

"No offense, but you sound like Gu Haoyu right now, well, at least without the stupid hair." The system was about to act pitiful when Shen Ru continued, "Jun Zixin definitely isn't suspecting me because of kindness or his duties as student council president. If he really was a nice guy, he would've already informed Hua Xiu or even the guidance counselor about me."

The system was beginning to get curious. "Host, do you think Jun Zixin is related to the grandmother and the wolf?"

Shen Ru stared at the hologram of the system like he was hating iron for not becoming steel [1]. "I'm not even going to talk to you anymore."

[Host…!]

Shen Ru ignored the system's cries, laid on the farthest hospital bed, closed the curtains, and brought out his phone to start scrolling through his contacts. As a rich second generation that always got into fights, the original Shen Ru knew gangsters, delinquents, hitmen, and many other hoodlums. If he really wanted to eliminate, Hua Xiu before she gained a golden master, he would've been successful.

Spotting the words, 'Old Hao', Shen Ru first asked the system, "System, are you 100% that there is no one around us now?"

The system was happy. [Host, you aren't ignoring me now!]

Shen Ru clicked his tongue out of annoyance. "Answer my question."

[Yes, my sensor has a 0% failure rate. I'm perfectly sure that no one can overhear us right now.]

Shen Ru didn't even thank the system before clicking on the 'call' button. It took a few seconds before the other line accepted the call. Old Hao's gruff voice sounded out, "Oi, the little bastard finally called me. Xiao Ru, don't tell me you lost in a fight?"

"Of course, not. Me? Losing? Impossible." Shen Ru perfectly imitated the original Shen Ru's arrogance. "I have a favor to ask you, though. I heard you know some private investigators."

While the original Shen Ru's contacts were vast and diverse, they didn't include private investigators. The original owner was stubborn and trouble-seeking, but he didn't have an ounce of cunningness in him. If he got into a fight, he would settle it in a battle of fists, or if it was a girl, he would just bully her.

Old Hao, however, was practically Shen Ru's godfather. He was the one who taught him how to fight, how to intimidate others, everything that a delinquent should know. He had some connections with the underworld, so it was convenient to ask for a favor from him.

"What? Don't tell me you want to investigate the girl you like?" Old Hao sounded like he was about to laugh. "Ai, our Xiao Ru really has grown up! You've got the domineering CEO image all set up!"

Shen Ru sighed helplessly. He really wanted to just confess that he didn't like women, but the original Shen Ru was as straight as an arrow. "Not a girl, it's our school nurse."

"Oh wow, that's pretty extreme. You're still under 18, are you sure about that?"

"Our school nurse is male," Shen Ru deadpanned.

Old Hao burst into fits of laughter after that. "Haha! Sorry, Xiao Ru. Send me all the information you know about this guy. You can add pictures too if it's possible."

Shen Ru could practically feel relief entering his lungs. "Ugh, if you keep teasing me about girls, someday I'll become gay to take revenge on you."

"If you turn gay, I would just send you some boy toys in exchange, haha!" Old Hao laughed.

After a couple more minutes of pleasantries, Shen Ru finally hung up the phone. For the next two hours before break started, he spent the time compiling all information he could find about Li Zhong from his social media.

When Li Zhong returned, it was already break time. At that point, Shen Ru had hidden his phone and insisted that he already felt fine. Seeing that he now looked refreshed, Li Zhong didn't find it suspicious and simply let him go.

As Shen Ru was returning to the classroom, he stumbled upon Hua Xiu being badgered by his two lackeys. Hua Xiu looked especially pitiful with her lovable appearance as Gu Haoyu and Jia Hao rained a mouthful of curses at her. One more thing: they were all in English. Hua Xiu wasn't good at English, so she was just staring at them in confusion.

"You're ugly as a toad!"

"You fell out of the ugly tree and hit every branch on the way down!"

Shen Ru covered his mouth to restrain his laugh and approached them. "Are you guys done with practicing your English yet?"

"You don't know, boss, I heard from someone in Y University that using English is like showing your dominance!" Gu Haoyu replied.

"If you had a good accent and pronunciation, then yes. Just now, the two of you just sounded like chuunibyous."

Gu Haoyu was about to retort back when they heard Hua Xiu cry loudly. Suddenly, the attention of everyone passing the hallway was attracted by her. Shen Ru was even more confused. In the original plot, Hua Xiu was so cowardly that she was afraid to speak out about the bullying. Why is she crying now?

When he saw Jun Zixin heading towards them, Shen Ru finally got enlightened. He smirked and whispered to Jia Hao, "We're going to see a show, get ready."

Jia Hao looked at him confusedly but didn't say anything.

"What is happening here?" Jun Zixin asked.

Hua Xiu's tears were still falling as she answered, "They were bullying me, especially him!" Then, she pointed at Shen Ru.

Shen Ru who was pointed at: "???"

"He said that I was poor and didn't deserve to be here. They even said that I was a slut!"

Jun Zixin's gaze turned stern. "Student Shen Ru, is that true?"

"That girl is lying! Boss Ru didn't say that at all!" Jia Hao spoke up.

"I wasn't talking to you," Jun Zixin said.

While Jun Zixin was glaring at him, Shen Ru could feel Hua Xiu's disdainful gaze on him. He chuckled and said, "First of all, I just arrived here. I was in the infirmary five minutes ago and Nurse Zhong can prove that. Secondly, these guys didn't even call her poor or something like that. They were just practicing English on her."

"…Practicing English?" Jun Zixin asked, confused.

"Many people were passing by when they were talking to her. They can be witnesses," Shen Ru said.

As Jun Zixin asked around in the hallway about the situation, Hua Xiu's tearful expression slowly turned into one of uncertainness and then one of panic.

"Yes, they were speaking in English. I didn't understand much about what they were saying because of the accent, but the girl seemed like she was about to cry. They didn't say anything about being poor and a slut though."

After that, Jun Zixin turned his attention to the main characters of the matter. "Shen Ru seems to be right. They were speaking in English, but there was a chance that they could be speaking something bad. I'll leave you off with a warning this time. If I hear anything else about this, I'll contact the guidance counselor."

Jun Zixin was about to turn around to leave when Hua Xiu suddenly latched onto his arm. "President Zixin, I was telling the truth! You should've heard the rumors already!"

Jun Zixin stared at her coldly and waved his arm off. "Physical contact between a man and a woman is inappropriate." Then, he left without looking back.

Gu Haoyu and Jia Hao were smiling giddily at each other, whispering about how their Boss Ru was so badass. Meanwhile, Shen Ru was watching the dark expression on Hua Xiu's face. He really liked seeing people's faces when they get face slapped.

When Hua Xiu was already embarrassed enough that she ran away, Jun Zixin spoke, "Let's go to the library."

At once, both Gu Haoyu and Jia Hao were open-mouthed. "The library?!"

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Footnotes:

[1] Being resentful to someone for not meeting expectations