168: male companion

The shock Carter brought to the people in the room was even greater than Anna's just now.

"Look at her dress, holy crap, it looks like haute couture."

"What? That's impossible, how could she afford haute couture?"

Jenny had arrived at some point; she wasn't participating in the competition today and was dressed quite modestly.

"It's true, that dress is indeed authentic haute couture."

Anna was furious. If it weren't for the many people around, she wouldn't have been able to control the hideous expression on her face.

Carter, why you? Why you? Why you!

What made her even angrier was the way Bruce was looking at Carter.

In the past, Carter would never have dreamed that Bruce would strike up a conversation with her.

Just as Carter was about to shake hands with Bruce, Anna grabbed Bruce's arm.

"Carter, I didn't expect you to actually come."

"Let me introduce you, this is my dance partner."

Anna emphasized the words 'dance partner' with heavy stress.

Bruce felt a bit awkward and subtly pried Anna's hand off his arm.

"Miss Carter, hello."

Carter shyly returned the greeting. All the surrounding students were looking at them. Carter did a quick scan, trying to find a dance partner before Anna noticed.

But it was precisely this behavior that allowed Anna to catch her nervousness and lack of confidence.

Anna asked again:

"Carter, where is your dance partner? It couldn't be that no one wants to be your partner, right?"

Carter suddenly started stammering; it was indeed the case.

"I, my dance partner, um—"

Seeing Carter's reaction, Anna knew she had hit the nail on the head.

"No way, you don't have a partner?"

"The title of campus queen tonight requires performing a program with a male partner. If you don't have one, you can't join the competition."

Carter was suddenly struck with alarm: "What?"

Carter didn't know because she never paid attention to such things. At last year's school anniversary ball, she had just walked a lap and left, staying for less than five minutes total; later, she just heard about who became the campus queen.

If she had known not having a partner was so serious, she would have hired one even if it cost her money.

Carter looked at the crowd with a pleading gaze, trying to see if anyone would volunteer to help her, but Anna spoke again:

"Bruce is my partner. His piano playing is famous throughout the school. Today, he will play a piece for me to accompany my dance."

Hearing this, those who were originally eager to try lost interest.

"Anna's male partner is Bruce; I'd better not go up then, I'd definitely be outshone."

"For a guy to compete with Bruce, isn't that just asking for humiliation?"

"Forget it, I'm sorry but I can't help."

Roy didn't have any special talents, but he couldn't let Carter be so embarrassed. Seeing that no one was helping her, he made up his mind to be her dance partner.

So what if everyone knew he liked men? As long as he was a man, it would work.

Just as Roy was about to speak, the sound of a car engine came from the entrance.

Lu Qingyu hadn't planned on coming today; he was at home studying hard to earn credits.

Su Jixing got off work early today, and the two of them were preparing a long-awaited hotpot meal.

"Boss, are you sure you're not going to the school anniversary?"

Lu Qingyu: "Kids playing around, it's not very interesting."

Su Jixing: !!! Kids? Boss, do you want to check how old your ID card says you are?

"Then have you figured out how to get your club activity credits?"

Lu Qingyu's hand holding the meatballs paused. He needed to earn 18 credits over three years, consisting of three parts: course credits, practical/experimental credits, and club activity credits.

He already had 17 credits, and was only short on the club activity part. He hadn't decided what to do yet because club activities were all troublesome and a waste of time.

"What do you mean? What does this have to do with club activities?"

Su Jixing: "Boss, you didn't look at the information carefully, did you?"

Su Jixing felt like he had caught Lu Qingyu's weak spot; so there were things even you didn't know.

"Participating in the student union, volunteer services, art groups, and other activities all count as club activities. Club activities require at least two people. If you participate in the school anniversary competition, wouldn't that count as a club activity with a companion?"

In his mind, Lu Qingyu shouted a giant 'holy crap!'

How had he not thought of that?

"One credit, just for the time it takes to eat hotpot."

Thinking of this, Lu Qingyu put down his chopsticks and rushed upstairs to change clothes.

Credits, here I come! I'll be able to graduate soon and leave this ghostly place full of foreigners and their body odor.

Lu Qingyu finally drove the Fluorescent Green Ferrari that Qi Fei had prepared for him today.

The car sped along, leaving envious gasps wherever it passed.

When Lu Qingyu appeared at the door in a suit, everyone was stunned.

"Who is that? He's so handsome."

"You don't recognize him? That's Lu Qingyu, the one who fought with Stan."

"Ahhh, I thought he was handsome when I saw the fight video, but he's even more handsome now."

Lu Qingyu walked straight to Carter's side: "I'm her dance partner. I'm not late, am I?"

Carter felt like kneeling down to Lu Qingyu right now.

"No, you're not late. You arrived just in time."

Anna felt that everything had been going wrong since the start of this semester. Lu Qingyu—how could he be Carter's dance partner?

Thinking about how he had been completely unresponsive when she pursued him before, and now he was actually being Carter's partner, she wanted to kick Carter out of this ball.

But Lu Qingyu only had a face; he never participated in any campus activities. What could a nerd who only knew how to study use to win?

Anna said provocatively: "We'll see about that. I'd also like to see what kind of performance you can pull off."

After Anna left, Lu Qingyu, Roy, and Carter walked to the side. Seeing that everyone had started enjoying the ball and not many people were paying attention, Carter finally couldn't help but heave a long sigh of relief.

"Whew, that scared me to death."

"Lu—"

"Lu, thank you so much. You're my savior."

Lu Qingyu: "It's nothing. This counts as a club activity for us, right?"

Carter immediately understood what Lu Qingyu meant: "It counts, it definitely counts! I have my own club. I'll add your name as soon as I get back tonight."

Carter had her own organized club. As long as the activity was reported, credits could be added.

Lu Qingyu smiled happily. To be honest, Carter was quite sharp.

Carter: "But there's still one problem."

Roy and Lu Qingyu looked toward Carter, who said:

"What are we going to perform later?"

Lu Qingyu: "What are Anna and the others performing?"

Roy: "Bruce is playing the piano, and Anna is dancing."

Lu Qingyu asked Carter: "Can you dance?"