"You've got to be kidding me!" Zhang Xuan was the first to exclaim. "She talks about you more than anything else in the dorm—how could she not have agreed?"

"Zhang Xuan, stop talking nonsense." Lin Ke’er lightly smacked her arm.

I chuckled. "She said she needed to think about it. I suppose I’ll just wait a few more days."

Seeing that today's matchmaking attempt was destined to fail, Wang Yao waved her hand. "Alright, break it up, break it up. Training starts soon."

The morning passed without incident. Whenever we had a break, Wang Yao would bring the Thirteen Roses over to where I was, as if my spot had become their designated meeting place. I knew she was doing this on purpose—to deter the Ninth Prince from causing trouble for me—and for that, I was genuinely grateful.

At noon, I packed two meals at the cafeteria and brought them to HOUZI and Huang Jie. When I arrived at the internet café, I found them in the middle of a heated argument, glaring at each other with flared tempers, trading insults about each other's lack of skill. Since they were from the same province, they couldn’t resort to the usual insult of "everyone from your province is an idiot," so they had modified it to "everyone from your city is an idiot."

I tried to mediate, but somehow, my own city got dragged into their feud. That was the last straw—I slammed the food onto the table.

"Are you eating or not? If not, I’ll toss it."

Only then did they stop bickering, lowering their heads and ravenously devouring the food.

As he ate, HOUZI glanced up at me. "I heard Big Cat wants you to be the Tenth Prince?"

I was stunned. "What the hell? How do you even know that?"

HOUZI smirked. "What do you think I do? I have my own intelligence network."

My respect for HOUZI grew—until Huang Jie snorted. "Intelligence network, my ass. Someone from our dorm told me."

Ah. That explained it.

HOUZI looked disgruntled at having his mystique shattered but had no choice but to let it go. He continued, "I heard you turned him down?"

I nodded. "I want to take him down, not join him."

"God, you’re such an idiot!" HOUZI clapped me on the shoulder. "You should’ve joined him!"

I narrowed my eyes. "What are you getting at?"

HOUZI chuckled slyly. "Think about it—Big Cat clearly admires you. If you pretend to go along and join the Ninth Prince, we could set up an inside job. When the time is right, we’ll wipe them out completely!"

Huang Jie leaned in as well. "Exactly! With Zuo Fei’s brains, he could have them dancing in the palm of his hand. We might even recruit a few of the Princes as our lackeys. That Xing Qiu guy seems promising—he could be in charge of polishing our shoes!"

Judging from their expressions, I could tell they had already discussed this plan in advance. I gestured for them to come closer, and just as they leaned in, I grabbed the backs of their heads and smashed them together.

"Ow! Ow! What the hell?!"

I smirked. "HOUZI is obviously smarter than me, and Big Cat likes him more. Why don’t we send him in as the mole?"

HOUZI rubbed his head, grumbling, "If you don’t want to do it, just say so. Why drag me into it?"

"Cut the nonsense," I said. "Think of a real plan. Who needs undercover agents for a bunch of petty gangsters?"

HOUZI let out a mischievous chuckle and didn’t bring it up again. I knew he was just messing around. The so-called ‘Princes’ weren’t worth such elaborate schemes.

While they continued eating, I recounted how I had been ambushed the previous day and was saved by Wang Yao.

HOUZI clicked his tongue. "She really does look out for you."

I smirked. "More like she looks out for you. She even said that if you ever need help with revenge, you only have to ask."

HOUZI fell silent, his expression unreadable, lost in thought.

I continued, "She’s pretty formidable. What’s her story, anyway?"

HOUZI remained deep in thought, so Huang Jie chimed in. "Of course she’s formidable. You see that street outside?"

I glanced out the window at the straight road lined with shops and restaurants, bustling with students from our school.

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"Half of that street is under her brother’s protection."

I slapped my thigh in realization. "No wonder she’s so fearless! Big Cat is nothing more than a house cat in front of her!"

Huang Jie let out a sly laugh. "And it’s not just her brother—she herself is no pushover. When she first came to school, no one knew her background, and a ton of guys were after her. Big Cat was one of them. And that idiot, thinking he could rely on his status as the leader of the Ninth Princes, didn’t even try to woo her properly. He straight-up ambushed her under the dormitory building. Guess what happened next?"

I raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"Wang Yao grabbed a machete and chased him across half the campus."

"Holy shit! That fierce?!"

"Believe it. This was back in our first year. Most of us hadn’t even seen a real machete before, and she put on a show we’d never forget!"

I pointed at the still-dazed HOUZI. "Then why is she so different when it comes to him?"

As I asked the question, my heart pounded inexplicably. Even I didn’t know why.

"Oh, that’s a long story—"

"Hey! Old Wang!"

Just as I was about to hear the tale, Huang Jie spotted an old acquaintance and immediately jumped up to greet him. The two chatted away, seemingly catching up after a long time. I didn’t want to interrupt, so I could only wait on the side.

"Alright, alright, let’s exchange numbers. Keep in touch!"

As they finished exchanging contact info, Huang Jie suddenly blurted out, "Hey, I haven’t eaten yet. Lend me five bucks for lunch?"

I nearly spat out my drink. "What the hell!" I shot up, pressing him back into his seat and turning to the bewildered Old Wang. "Don’t mind him—he’s just messing with you. You should go."

Once Old Wang left, Huang Jie huffed, "Zuo Fei, you just cost me money!"

"Cost your sister’s ass," I snapped. "Now get back to the story—what’s the deal with Wang Yao and HOUZI?"

"Alright, alright." Huang Jie sighed dramatically. "Do you know when the Twelve Roses—oh wait, now Thirteen Roses—were founded?"

"When?"

"Six months ago." He then pointed at HOUZI. "Because of him."

I was utterly stunned. The Thirteen Roses were formed because of HOUZI?!

Curiosity burned inside me. "Tell me everything!"

Huang Jie paused for a moment, then said, "You’ve been at this school long enough to get a feel for what the Ninth Princes are like, especially through people like Zhou Kun and Xing Qiu, right?"

I nodded. "A pack of perverts and scumbags—shameless to the core."

That’s more like it. These fools, calling themselves the Nine Princes, truly believe they are royalty, as if all the beauties of East City No. 1 High belong to them. To win a girl over, they will resort to any means necessary—like Xing Qiu drugging Lin Ke’er the other day. That’s practically routine for them. After all, not every girl is as formidable as Wang Yao.

During my three years at East City No. 1 High, I’ve seen countless girls fall victim to their predations. But Wang Yao is someone who cannot tolerate injustice. Whenever she encounters such situations, she steps in without hesitation. However, she is but one person, and the Nine Princes are both ruthless and cunning. There have inevitably been times when she was unable to intervene in time.

Once, she tried to rescue a girl, only to fall into Da Mao’s trap—a classic case of "luring the tiger from the mountain." Just when she believed the girl had been thrown to the wolves, Houzi appeared and escorted her safely back. Overwhelmed with gratitude, Wang Yao showered him with thanks. Houzi simply replied, “You can’t handle this alone. Why not form a group?” And thus, the Twelve Roses were born.

Of course, in the beginning, it wasn’t the Twelve Roses—it started as the Three Roses, then the Four Roses, gradually expanding over time. Whenever Wang Yao saw a girl being harassed by the Nine Princes, she would bring her into the group. Out of respect for Wang Yao, the Nine Princes would then back off.

There were exceptions, of course. Take Zhang Xuan, for example—a complete airhead. She had finally freed herself from Xing Qiu’s clutches, only to later realize she liked him after joining the group. Wang Yao couldn’t control cases of mutual attraction. However, her reputation preceded her—foul-mouthed, ruthless, with a no-nonsense demeanor—earning her the label of a delinquent. Consequently, the Thirteen Roses were also seen as a gang of unruly girls. But in a way, this worked in their favor. Few dared to target them, allowing Wang Yao to protect these girls without interference.

After hearing Huang Jie’s account, my admiration for Wang Yao deepened. She was not just a girl with guts; she had a sense of justice and loyalty—almost like a modern-day heroine.

I glanced at Houzi, feeling a mix of emotions. I respected him for his past actions—even the founding of the Roses could be traced back to him—but there was also a twinge of jealousy. Before I could stop myself, I blurted out, “Does Wang Yao like Houzi?”

Huang Jie froze for a moment. “What did you say?”

“I asked if Wang Yao likes Houzi.”

Instead of answering, Huang Jie grabbed Houzi’s face and turned it towards me. “You think Wang Yao would be into this?”

Houzi sat there with his disheveled hair sticking out in all directions, his eyes large yet lifeless, his frame so frail he looked as if a gust of wind could knock him over. I burst into laughter, feeling an inexplicable sense of relief.

Then Huang Jie added with a smirk, “If anything, Wang Yao should be into me.”

I took one look at Huang Jie—who was in no better shape than Houzi—and couldn’t help but laugh even harder.

When my laughter subsided, a strange sense of guilt crept in. Wasn’t I already with Lin Ke’er? Why was I even thinking about Wang Yao? But could I really be blamed? A girl like Wang Yao was someone any guy would find himself drawn to.

With that in mind, I asked again, “Then does Houzi like Wang Yao?”

The moment I spoke, I regretted it. I felt like a gossiping old woman, and I was certain Huang Jie would see right through me. To my surprise, he didn’t seem to care. Instead, he leaned in with a mysterious expression. “Give me five bucks, and I’ll tell you who Houzi actually likes.”

The offer was too tempting to resist. I immediately pulled out five bucks.

Pocketing the money with satisfaction, Huang Jie whispered, “Listen up—Houzi likes girls with a slim waist and a full chest. The one he’s into is none other than…”

“Liu Yina!” I blurted out. Among the Thirteen Roses, she undoubtedly had the most striking figure.

“Where? Where?” Houzi suddenly snapped to attention, scanning his surroundings with nervous excitement. Huang Jie and I erupted into laughter.

Realizing Liu Yina was nowhere in sight, Houzi slumped back in disappointment.

I teased him, “You awake now? Where were you spacing out just now?”

“Spacing out, my ass,” Houzi muttered. “Didn’t Wang Yao say she’d help us? I was just trying to figure out what exactly she could do.”

“So, did you come up with anything?”

“Obviously. Unlike you two idiots, who are only interested in talking about Wang Yao—‘Wang Yao this, Wang Yao that’—let me tell you something. Stay away from her. She once had a boyfriend, and within three days, her brother dragged the guy out and beat him half to death.”

I shuddered. Huang Jie nodded furiously, confirming the story was true.