That evening, while skewering at an off-campus eatery, Geng Liang completely disregarded what the girls around him might think. He wolfed down six lamb testicles and four skewers of lamb eyes, followed by two shots of liquor, and then started chugging beer. Once he got into the swing of it, he'd just belt out "buddies for life," which made Shen Qiang wonder if Geng Liang had spent too much time in the military and had become a bit daft.

Shen Qiang could clearly see what he was thinking.

After receiving Shen Qiang's advice, it was obvious that he wanted to date Zhang Jing.

But the crucial issue was that it was the first time the group had come out to eat together, and Geng Liang's fierce eating and drinking, with such strong tastes, would scare any girl away, wouldn't it?

So Shen Qiang hinted to him several times, "Drink less, or the girls will run off."

But it's as if the guy had a screw loose in his head; he'd just lift his cup and drink.

Just when Shen Qiang thought that with this approach, Geng Liang had no chance,

much to Shen Qiang's wry amusement, Zhang Jing, who had appeared quite proper at the start, got into the spirit after two bottles of beer, and began drinking with Geng Liang.

They started with beer, then mixed liquor with Sprite, and finally turned to red wine to quench their thirst.

Seeing this, Shen Qiang was filled with helplessness and had to admit that he had misjudged; it turned out that the two of them were both lushes.

As they drank, they ended up playing rock-paper-scissors, and with every slap of their hands, they drank.

In the end, Geng Liang proved more adept, and when leaving, he seriously grabbed Shen Qiang's hand and said, "Bro, don't worry, I haven't drunk too much." But as soon as he turned around, he collapsed on the ground. When Shen Qiang tried to pick him up, he mumbled, "Yeah, I'm home."

Shen Qiang had no choice but to take him back to the dormitory.

Later, Miao Xiaoxia decided to take her cousin to her place because both of her parents were at the store, and no one was at home, so it was fine for Zhang Jing to be drunk.

As it turned out, she vomited all the way from the barbecue place back to the residential complex.

This was simply beyond words. What should have been a night of romance turned into a binge-drinking fiasco because of them.

Fortunately, Miao Xiaoxia's home was right next to the new apartment Shen Qiang had just bought, so it was conveniently on the way.

It was just that as soon as they entered the residential complex, Shen Qiang keenly noticed that Dark Department Xiu Ju was standing at the window watching him and transmitted a message: "Come back immediately."

Shen Qiang frowned, not liking her tone very much.

But still, after delivering Zhang Jing to Miao Xiaoxia's place and declining Miao Xiaoxia's offer to have a cup of tea, he turned around and headed home.

The apartment was quite small.

It was only one hundred and thirty square meters. As soon as he entered, Shen Qiang saw that the door shattered in the morning had already been repaired. It was the same style and design as the old one; the only flaw was that it was slightly newer, which made it stand out a bit from the other doors.

"Is there something important?" Shen Qiang asked Dark Department Xiu Ju in surprise.

Dark Department Xiu Ju replied, "No."

Upon hearing this, Shen Qiang instinctively felt displeased.

Zhang Jing was drunk, there was no one else at Miao Xiaoxia's place, and she had asked Shen Qiang to have tea.

What a great opportunity that was! The two of them alone, with a deeply intoxicated person asleep nearby; one needn't even use their navel to think to know that, with the right atmosphere, such a scenario was absolutely a perfect night for some romantic ambiguity.

But now, Shen Qiang had been called back by Xiu Ju from the Dark Department, and going back there would definitely feel wrong. After all, taking Zhang Jing upstairs and into the room, everything had been going smoothly. But knocking on the door again now? How awkward would that be?

So, after hearing no response to his knock, Shen Qiang could only sigh helplessly.

He then turned and headed for the bathroom.

At that moment, Xiu Ju, standing in the room, shifted her tone, "However, I think I must remind you that you are here to obtain academic degrees and the recognition of the medical community, not to show off or chase girls."

Thump!

Shen Qiang closed the bathroom door and quickly stripped off his clothes.

Standing under the somewhat cold shower, Shen Qiang showered and called out through the door, "Listen, you're just the protector appointed for the plan, you're not my mom. Don't lecture me on pointless principles; I'm not your puppet on strings."

Outside the bathroom.

Xiu Ju was taken aback and then said, "Alright, I was being meddlesome. But this lack of ambition will only waste a lot of my time."

The bathroom door opened, and a wet Shen Qiang peeked out from behind it, extending his hand towards her, "I need a pair of briefs."

Xiu Ju was taken aback again, then with a flick of her wrist, she handed over a clearly hand-sewn pair of briefs to Shen Qiang, saying with a cold face, "You should focus on cultivation. How can you afford to waste time mingling with Ordinary people? Do you realize how much the General is expecting from you?"

Thump!

Shen Qiang, after a burst of True Qi that shook off the water droplets from his body, put on the briefs, and said, "I'm not a child, I understand what to do better than you do."

Xiu Ju, leaning against the bathroom door on the outside, scoffed, "Ha? If you really understood, you wouldn't be showing off everywhere because you're not strong enough right now—you are weak. Like today, in your basketball game, you were knocked down three times. If it had been a real battle, you'd be dead, so if you were smart, you would start cultivating in earnest right now."

Thump!

The bathroom door opened, and Shen Qiang, wearing a new pair of white briefs, came out bare-chested.

Standing in front of Xiu Ju, Shen Qiang's right arm leaned against the wall behind her, and he smiled wryly while looking into her eyes, "You're overstepping."

Seeing the smile on the corner of Shen Qiang's lips, his second-growth gleaming white teeth, the muscles bulging on his arms and the angle formed with his chest, all while feeling the heat emanating from his body.

For an instant, Xiu Ju was caught off guard, her breath became uneven, and her freckled face inexplicably flushed.

"His physique is impressive! Ugh, what am I thinking about? He's just a rookie, Xiu Ju, you need to protect him and help him grow quickly—that's your mission! But... he really is handsome and appealing."

Xiu Ju, her mind going blank, her face faintly flushed, stared blankly at Shen Qiang's chest.

Seeing her unresponsive, Shen Qiang who had his hand against the wall reached out with his other hand to gently lift Xiu Ju's chin, and, amid her astonished gaze, he said indifferently, "Everything has two sides; if it hadn't been for that game, I wouldn't have realized my own shortcomings."

"People caged can never become strong," Shen Qiang said with a slight smile. "That's something we both understand, so don't try to control me like a puppet on strings anymore. This isn't a reminder, it's a warning."

Having said that, Shen Qiang got up and walked towards the bedroom.

Xiu Ju, with her heart racing, watched Shen Qiang's tall and fit retreating figure.

"Such a commanding presence! So handsome! Now that's a real man!"

As she blankly watched Shen Qiang enter the room and heard the sound of the door closing tightly, she suddenly came back to her senses and, after a moment of hesitation, took a deep breath to calm her nerves and said in a very cold voice from the other side of the door, "You're too ostentatious, go check the Medical University forum. You've already attracted big trouble."

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.