Stronger by Paying Salaries and I Have 1 Billion Employees

Chapter 35: Chapter 34: I’m Sick, and I’m Seriously Ill

After a simple dinner at QQ-E Family, Chen Yansen walked unhurriedly toward the classroom.

He thought about his meeting with Zhao Maolin tomorrow as he walked.

’I hope that old coot doesn’t do anything stupid.’

Chen Yansen’s eyes narrowed, a vicious glint flashing within them as he mused to himself.

”Oh? Senior, it’s you! Are you going to Building D too?”

A clear, pleasant voice drifted over from nearby, reaching Chen Yansen’s ears.

Chen Yansen snapped out of his daze and looked up. It was Su Meiling, the girl he’d met earlier that day. A few other vibrant young women, clearly her roommates, were with her.

”Yes, I am, Su Xue Mei,” Chen Yansen replied calmly, suppressing a smile.

Most of Su Meiling’s roommates had also gotten their campus cards from Chen Yansen, and they greeted him just as enthusiastically.

Chen Yansen greeted each of them in turn. They chatted as they walked, and soon they arrived at their destination: classroom D408.

To Su Meiling and her friends’ surprise, Chen Yansen followed them inside.

”Senior, you...”

Just as Su Meiling was about to ask, she was interrupted by Meng Xibo’s shout: ”Brother Sen, we’re over here!”

”I have to go, Su Xue Mei. We’ll talk later.”

Chen Yansen waved goodbye and walked toward Meng Xibo and the others.

”Arts majors are the best, huh? Our class has so many girls. What’s the name of that girl walking with Brother Sen? She seems like the prettiest one!”

Zhu Xiaopeng pushed up his glasses and commented in a low voice.

”Don’t stare! That might be our future sister-in-law!”

Meng Xibo gave him a shove and reminded him in a serious tone.

”What’s the use of just looking? If you like someone, go for it! Don’t think your only rivals are the guys in our class. The sophomores and juniors are like a pack of wolves. If you’re too slow, you might be single for all four years of college.”

After sitting down, Chen Yansen reminded them earnestly.

”Huh? What if she already has a boyfriend?” Song Yang shrank back, looking a bit timid.

”Just a boyfriend, not a husband. It’s even better if she has a boyfriend—you only have one rival, so your chances of success are actually higher.”

Chen Yansen slung his arm around Song Yang’s neck and returned the exact words the other had said in their previous life.

”Brother Chen, you... you’re such a scumbag.”

Song Yang looked mortified. He scooted away from him before adding an insincere compliment.

’Me, a scumbag?’

’You’re the one who said those words!’

Chen Yansen scoffed to himself.

Ever since Chen Yansen had entered, the surrounding students had been shooting him curious glances, wondering: why would Senior Brother Chen be at their class meeting?

Chen Yansen sighed softly. He understood that his ’senior’ act was probably over. Rather than be exposed, it was better to strike first.

”Ah Zhe, let me through. I’m going up to help you campaign.”

Chen Yansen patted Tang Zhenzhe’s shoulder, signaling for him to pull in his feet and make way.

”Chen... Brother Sen, don’t joke around. I really don’t want to be class president.”

Tang Zhenzhe grabbed Chen Yansen, shaking his head helplessly and said with a wry smile.

”No! You do!”

Chen Yansen shook off his hand and strode confidently to the podium.

That bastard Tang Zhenzhe, one time at a KTV, he had grabbed him, crying and sniffling, saying that if he had known being class president meant he could be with Su Meiling every day, he definitely would have run for it.

It was just that, back then, he was too much of a poser!

’Brother, this time, I’ll take you to the top!’

He knew Tang Zhenzhe was capable; being class president would be a piece of cake for him. In his previous life, Tang Zhenzhe didn’t run, mainly because some unpleasant experiences in high school had made him underestimate the resources a university class president could command.

Besides, if Tang Zhenzhe became class president, he wouldn’t have to worry about room inspections and roll calls anymore.

”Hello everyone, I’m Chen Yansen. Let me reintroduce myself. Like all of you here, I’m a freshman in Journalism Class 10. First, thank you for trusting me and buying your campus cards from me...”

Chen Yansen stood at the podium, speaking calmly and collectedly.

”What? Senior Brother Chen is actually in the same major and class as us?”

”What senior? He’s a freshman too! So he’s a liar!”

”What are you talking about? What did he lie about? Is there something wrong with your card’s plan or price?”

”Wow! The senior is in our class! We can see him all the time now.”

The moment he finished speaking, the classroom exploded in an uproar, with everyone talking at once.

”He’s a freshman? In my class!”

Su Meiling stared blankly at Chen Yansen, her mind lagging hard. When reality finally hit, she wished she could bury her head in her desk.

This morning, she was calling him ’Senior’ this and ’Senior’ that, and even wanted to be his girlfriend.

She thought the matter was over and done with, but now she was being told she’d have to endure this for another four years. The cruel reality made her break down instantly.

More than half of the students in Journalism Class 10 had gotten their campus cards from Chen Yansen. Hearing him out, there weren’t many hard feelings or dissatisfaction. After all, the cards were legit, the plans were legit, and now they had the main campus rep as a classmate.

”...Secondly, regarding this evening’s class president election, I recommend Tang Zhenzhe. There are three reasons: First, Tang Tongxue is very experienced, having served as a class president for fourteen years since kindergarten; second, Tang Tongxue has excellent organizational and coordination skills, and in the future, whether it’s for student aid submissions or scholarship applications, he will do his best to fight for everyone; third...”

Chen Yansen waited for them to quiet down a bit before continuing.

’Who’s Tang Zhenzhe?’

’And why is Chen Yansen, the main campus rep for the telecom cards, so convinced by him?’

Everyone turned to look in the direction of dorm room 8302.

”Ah Zhe, come up and say hi to everyone!”

Seeing this, Chen Yansen waved Tang Zhenzhe over, treating the classroom completely as his own home turf.

”That son of a bitch Chen Yansen. He’s not running for class president himself, but he’s using his influence to push someone from his own dorm.”

”Wen Hao, why don’t you go up too? We don’t know the girls’ side well. If we let him finish his campaigning, you’ll be at a disadvantage when the counselor arrives.”

”Brother Li, go get ’em! We all support you!”

In another corner of the classroom, the guys from dorm 8316 were huddled together, eyes spitting fire, whispering amongst themselves.

”Forget it. Let’s just see how things go.”

Li Wenhao looked at the podium, a trace of reluctance in his eyes. He waved his hand at his roommates and said, feigning magnanimity.

In reality, he wanted to go up, but he didn’t dare to confront Chen Yansen head-on. Besides, he wasn’t a social butterfly like Chen Yansen!

Tang Zhenzhe forced himself to go up to the podium, muttering inwardly: ’When did I serve as class president for fourteen years? I don’t fucking remember that myself!’

”Fellow students, I’m Tang Zhenzhe, from Luzhou. Thank you to Chen Yansen for the recommendation. When it comes to being class president, I am indeed very experienced, especially when it comes to organizing class activities. I have a lot of ideas for things like hiking, camping, karaoke, etc. I’m very familiar with all the tourist spots around Xucheng...”

Tang Zhenzhe began to speak, his eyes lighting up as he talked about fun and games, his descriptions becoming more and more vivid.

What seventeen or eighteen-year-old doesn’t love to have fun?

But if all they did was play, they wouldn’t have made it into Xucheng Academy.

Hearing him say this, the students below felt that having him as class president seemed like a pretty good idea.

”Tang Tongxue, if you can organize a movie outing for me and Chen Yansen, I guarantee I’ll vote for you!”

a bold girl shouted with a giggle.

”Me too!”

”Senior, I want to go to the movies with you too!”

A few girls chirped in agreement.

”No problem. I’ll look into which movie to watch later.”

Chen Yansen nodded and agreed readily. The movie matter was easy for him to solve—there was a projector in the classroom. When the time came, he’d just organize a screening for the whole class, ensuring no one was left out.

”Oh! You’re all quite proactive, already starting with the self-introductions.”

Just then, Guo Dongchen pushed the door open and walked in. Seeing the two on the podium, he thought they were spontaneously holding an ice-breaking session.

Chen Yansen and Tang Zhenzhe exchanged a smile, greeted the counselor, and then returned to their seats with smiles on their faces.

After that, Guo Dongchen first introduced himself, then took out a roster and had everyone come up to the podium one by one to introduce themselves. In the middle of it, he casually asked, ”Among you, who has experience as a class president?”

Unexpectedly, everyone’s eyes turned to Tang Zhenzhe in unison!

When Guo Dongchen heard that Tang Zhenzhe had fourteen years of experience as a class president, he almost laughed out loud at first, clearly not believing it.

But when Tang Zhenzhe stood at the podium and fluently delivered his campaign speech, he was partially convinced.

How could he know that Tang Zhenzhe had naturally become practiced and proficient after reciting his campaign speech twice in such a short period?

Besides Tang Zhenzhe, Li Wenhao and Su Meiling also ran for class president, but Tang Zhenzhe’s vote count was far ahead.

Among the 18 boys in the class, the votes from dorm 8302 went to Tang Zhenzhe, the votes from 8316 went to Li Wenhao, and the remaining dorm 8324 voted randomly. But among the 41 girls, most of their votes went to Tang Zhenzhe.

Su Meiling’s vote count was surprisingly low!

From this, it was clear that not many people in university were enthusiastic about the position of class president, and at the same time, girls were not particularly fond of their pretty female classmates.

Guo Dongchen thought for a moment, then announced that Tang Zhenzhe would be the class president and Su Meiling would be the Youth League Secretary.

After speaking, he gave a pointed look at Chen Yansen. The fact that this troublemaker hadn’t jumped in to run for class president really made him breathe a sigh of relief.

He then continued, saying that for the next five days, everyone needed to actively participate in orientation activities, such as learning the school’s history, learning to sing the school song, and so on.

To put it bluntly, it was really just a buffer period for this group of kids who were not quite adults yet, allowing them to relax for a few days so they could adapt to university life as quickly as possible.

And from September 9th to September 25th, there would be a two-week period of military training. Students with physical discomfort could ask him for leave in advance.

”Teacher Guo, I’m sick. Very sick.”

The moment Guo Dongchen finished speaking, Chen Yansen’s hand shot up.

’Standing at attention and at ease, baking to death under the sun?’

Chen Yansen had no interest in that. After learning that Meng Yaqin’s younger sister was the school doctor at Xucheng Academy, he had pestered her relentlessly to get a few sick notes.

”You? A lumbar disc herniation?”

Guo Dongchen stared at the sick note, reading it over and over. It had the school hospital’s stamp, proving it was legitimate, but his gut told him that Chen Yansen was definitely faking it.

’It’s probably for the best that this troublemaker isn’t participating in the military training. Saves me the worry that he’ll clash with the drill instructors.’

Thinking this, Guo Dongchen put on a sincere expression and advised, ”Chen Tongxue, in that case, you should get plenty of rest.”