The Slacker Academic Always Gets Caught (SLACKER)
The letter bore no signature, and the note was too crumpled to trace its origin.
Chi Ning examined the red cord several times, growing increasingly convinced that its braiding style looked familiar.
But there were only so many ways to braid a cord, and he couldn’t immediately recall where he’d seen it before. Resting one foot on the chair, he tied the cord back around his ankle.
The length fit perfectly, as if measured precisely for him.
He flicked the two golden needle hoops, producing a soft clinking sound.
He had no qualms about wearing the hoops, but the bayberry juice was another matter—he wouldn’t drink it without verifying its source.
In his past life, he’d accepted a drink from a colleague, only to pass out in the lab and wake up to find the experimental data on his computer wiped clean.
That data was meant for a patent application. Later, someone else filed the patent first, forcing Chongning Pharmaceuticals to abandon a long-developed new drug.
Since then, he’d refused to consume anything of dubious origin.
Fortunately, the Chi residence had surveillance. He could check whether the bayberry juice had been delivered by that unlucky kid.
The guy had a leg injury—his gait would be unsteady, making him easy to identify.
Chi Ning headed to the surveillance room and said to the man inside, “Uncle, could you pull up the footage near the mailbox around 9:30?”
In 2001, surveillance systems weren’t yet widespread. They were expensive and required regular maintenance. Installing high-definition color cameras in every corner of the house would’ve cost as much as a luxury car.
So the Chi family had only installed two—one at the entrance and another by the mailbox.
The security guard in charge of the surveillance was the nanny’s son, who also worked as a driver. Rumor had it he was a returnee from overseas, a straightforward man.
Chewing on a toothpick, he tapped away at the equipment, turned the screen toward Chi Ning, and pulled over a chair. “Young Master, have a seat.”
Chi Ning sat and watched the screen.
Within minutes, a figure appeared—a young man in a windbreaker with the hood pulled up, walking slowly and unsteadily. He stopped in front of the milk box, then slipped an envelope and the bayberry juice from his bike basket inside.
It was obvious at a glance that this was the person who got injured yesterday.
Chi Ning stood up. "Uncle, let's stop here."
"Alright." The security guard turned off the screen, hesitated for a moment, and then reminded him, "President Chi didn’t order any bayberry juice for you. It’s best not to drink something of unknown origin."
"I know." Chi Ning responded casually, but as soon as he left the surveillance room, he pried open the bottle cap and took a sip.
The crimson juice, carrying the fragrance of bayberries, flowed down his throat, sweeping away the restlessness brought by the summer heat.
Chi Ning downed the entire bottle in one go and exhaled contentedly.
Delicious!
Why did it taste so similar to the bayberry juice Qin Heng used to make in his past life?
That unlucky guy had been injured the past couple of days and definitely wouldn’t be setting up his stall. Once he recovered, Chi Ning could go patronize his business again.
Chi Ning rinsed the empty glass bottle and was about to toss it into the trash when he suddenly remembered the scar on the man’s forehead—so similar to Qin Heng’s. His hand paused mid-air.
An absurd speculation surfaced in his mind.
Could that unlucky guy actually be Qin Heng?
Chi Ning’s hand, hovering over the trash bin, withdrew. He carried the bottle back to his room and placed it on the windowsill.
Sunlight streamed through the window, filling the empty bottle before refracting onto the bookshelf, casting a curved, colorful halo.
Chi Ning glanced at the blooming yellow roses in the garden below, then grabbed a pair of scissors and mercilessly snipped three of them, arranging them in the glass bottle.
Admiring flowers, dozing off and then basking in the sun.
Suddenly idle, he felt an overwhelming emptiness amidst the leisure.
Chi Ning sat on the recliner by the window, staring at the roses for an hour, feeling utterly wilted from inactivity.
What did other people do when they weren’t in school?
Surely they didn’t just bask in the sun all day?
He mentally reviewed the entertainment options from his past life.
Only three words came to mind: reading research papers.
No, he hadn’t been reborn just to read papers.
Chi Ning rolled over on the recliner, and his phone slipped out of his pocket, hitting the floor with a clatter.
Looking at the phone, a brilliant idea struck him.
His older brother loved to have fun, and their father was biased.
So, if he went out with his brother, wouldn’t their father have no choice but to blame both of them equally when he returned?
That way, without a scapegoat, his brother wouldn’t grow increasingly rebellious.
He could first strengthen his bond with his older brother, then persuade him to quit street racing and pick up safer hobbies—avoiding the tragic fate of dying in a mountain road accident with his reckless friends.
Killing two birds with one stone.
Chi Ning picked up the phone and dialed Chi Yang’s number. "Bro, where are you? I’m so bored at home alone. Take me out with you?"
—
At Yangcheng’s largest entertainment center, Chi Yang listened to his brother’s voice on the phone while taking in the gaudy, tacky decor and the KTV host boys grinding against his friends. He refused firmly, "This place isn’t fun. It’s not somewhere you should be."
Chi Ning laughed.
Not somewhere he should be?
That made it all the more reason to go.
A night out, some paparazzi buzz—what shareholder with half a brain would still think he was fit to be the heir?
Chi Ning snorted. "If you won’t take me, I’ll just find an internet café to hang out at."
In 2001, internet cafés were all the rage. The era hadn’t yet cracked down on minors entering them. Aside from being expensive, a bit chaotic, and having painfully slow internet speeds, there wasn’t much else wrong with them.
"Don’t go." Chi Yang immediately tensed up.
His younger brother had skin more delicate than a minor celebrity's and had never suffered a day in his life since childhood. His brains only shone when it came to studying—other times, he was as naive as a blank sheet of paper, with the stubborn temper of a young lamb. He wouldn’t even realize if someone tricked him into becoming skewered lamb meat.
How could he be allowed to go to an internet café alone?
Even if it was just for fun, he needed to be kept under close watch.
Chi Yang sighed in resignation. "Fine, come to me. I'm at Harbour South Grand Hotel. Wait for me on the first floor."
"Okay."
Chi Ning smiled. His big brother probably thought he didn’t know what Harbour South Grand Hotel was. But in his past life, after inheriting the family business, he had attended a few social events there.
Harbour South Hotel was located within the Harbour South Global Entertainment Center, the largest entertainment hub in Yangcheng, offering all kinds of activities—both aboveboard and underground.
Chi Ning opened his wardrobe, intending to change into something more fitting for an entertainment center. But at a glance, all he saw were white shirts and black dress shorts, identical in style—not even copy-paste could achieve such uniformity.
Chi Ning: "..."
He reluctantly picked out a shirt with looser sleeves and paired it with black school pants, then had the driver take him to his destination.
Yangcheng truly lived up to its reputation as a national hub for foreign trade.
Even back in 2001, Harbour South Global Entertainment Center already exuded the grandeur it would later become known for.
Chi Ning entered Harbour South Grand Hotel and spotted Chi Yang leaning against the front desk.
He was wearing a loose sapphire-blue shirt with the top two buttons undone, revealing the collar of a white undershirt. His hair was messily tousled, but it suited him.
Chi Yang waved at Chi Ning from the front desk. "Come here."
Chi Ning walked over but barely had time to steady himself before his brother pulled five red bills from his pocket and casually tossed them onto the counter. "First floor, add one person."
The woman at the front desk had beautiful curly hair. She glanced up at Chi Ning, her eyes widening in shock, then shot Chi Yang a look that screamed, Are you even human?
Having worked here for years, she knew better than to ask questions. She mechanically fed the bills into the counterfeit detector, tore off a few activity vouchers from the side, and thrust them into Chi Yang’s hand. "Exit, last building."
Chi Ning had never seen these vouchers before.
In his past life, Harbour South had already switched to a card system by then.
Curious, he unfolded one and saw listings for recreational activities—bowling, billiards, and the like.
Chi Ning peeked further into the hotel and caught sight of a woman in a red dress stumbling out of the elevator, clutching her purse and wobbling on high heels.
Just as he was about to take a better look, a hand gripped the back of his neck and turned him away. Chi Yang’s voice sounded in his ear, "Let’s go."
Chi Ning’s eyes curved into a smile.
His big brother wasn’t great at expressing himself, but he had a quiet way of looking out for him.
Hand in hand, they entered the activity center’s first floor like a pair of schoolkids.
The air conditioning was cranked up high, but the lighting was dim, casting an eerie atmosphere. Only the pool tables at the far end were illuminated by overhead lights.
A man in a black shirt with a cigarette dangling from his lips, was jabbing a pool cue aggressively at the black ball on the table. "Damn it, took you long enough to pick someone up."
Chi Yang strode over and kicked him square in the backside. "Didn’t I tell you not to smoke?"
"Shit, who the hell—" The man in the black shirt turned around, his bravado instantly deflating. "Yang-ge?"
Chi Ning quietly lifted his foot, mimicking his elder brother's movement, and gave a light kick to the leg of the nearby pool table.
Pretty cool. Might as well learn it.
Who knows, it might come in handy later?
The man in the black shirt stubbed out his cigarette, opened the window beside him to fan out the smoke, and offered an ingratiating smile. "So this is your younger brother?"
"Mn." Chi Yang pressed Chi Ning down onto the nearby sofa and rang the bell for the server. "Get him a juice."
Chi Ning smacked his lips, thinking of the bayberry juice from this morning. "Do you have bayberry juice?"
"We do." The waitress smiled sweetly and soon brought over a small glass.
Chi Ning took a sip and found it not as good as the one from the morning, so he set it down with a picky expression.
The man in the black shirt glanced at Chi Ning’s prim, school-uniform-like outfit, then at Chi Yang, who exuded a rebellious, trendsetting aura. His mouth started running again. "Does he even know how to play? Bringing a kid who’s barely grown his feathers here?"
Chi Yang paused in chalking his cue.
Among these so-called friends, there was no real camaraderie—just unrestrained, careless banter.
But his brother was the family’s treasure, cradled in their palms for fear he’d fall, held in their mouths for fear he’d melt. Even Chi Baichuan had never said a harsh word to him. Who were these people to speak like that?
"You want to bully my brother?" Chi Yang smacked him with the thicker end of the pool cue. "Did you ask me first?"
The man in the black shirt hissed in pain. "Alright, alright, I get it. Your precious little brother."
Though his words conceded, his heart didn’t. Among the wealthy families of Yangcheng, how could there ever be genuine brotherly love?
This kid looked like a harmless little bunny now, but who knew how he’d fight for the family fortune when he grew up?
"If you’re here to have fun, what’s the point of just sitting?" The man in the black shirt grinned and pulled out a cue, handing it to Chi Ning. "Do you know how to play? If not, I can teach you."
"I don’t." Chi Ning’s eyes curved into crescents.
The man in the black shirt froze.
Having grown up in Yangcheng, he’d never seen such a delicate, pretty boy before. Compared to Chi Ning, the young men selling drinks at KTVs were downright ugly. If he could get his hands on Chi Yang’s brother…
The smile on Chi Ning’s face didn’t reach his eyes.
He really wanted to know—were the people who had called his brother to race on the mountain roads in his past life among this crowd? He wasn’t skilled in scheming, but keeping his brother away from trash was something he could manage.
"Playing is fine, but I only have one brother." Chi Ning stood up, tilting his head. "How about this—you take my surname, Chi?"
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