Chapter 159: Leaving Youth Without Regrets (Part II)

"So tell me, what kind of method do you think I should use to confess my feelings?" Wang Tao asked, feeling out of his depth in this area.

Upon hearing Wang Tao's words, Yuan Weiye coughed deliberately twice and opened his mouth to speak, only to be silenced by a sharp glare from Xiao Lin that left him too frightened to utter a word.

"All of your suggestions are terrible ideas, so just keep them to yourself," Xiao Lin said indifferently.

"I object, I seriously object! Why is the idea I suggested a terrible one? I am a man with experience, alright? Otherwise, how do you think Annie ended up with me?" Yuan Weiye argued with a smug and boastful expression.

"Oh, please. That was only because you stumbled into good luck. Otherwise, based on your dorky appearance, do you really think Annie would have given you a second look? To be honest, you still need to thank Xiao Lin for that. If he hadn't let you take the credit for being her savior, do you honestly think your relationship with Annie would have progressed so quickly?" Lin Xudong exposed Yuan Weiye's background in just a few sentences.

"Aiyo, we're talking about my problem right now! What should I do?" Wang Tao asked anxiously.

"Xiao Lin, what do you think?" Lin Xudong turned his head to ask Xiao Lin.

"What does Kang Yan like the most?" Xiao Lin countered with a question. When confessing to a girl, tailoring the approach to her preferences yielded a very high success rate.

"What does she like the most? Singing? Dancing? Traveling? Gourmet food? Clothes..." Wang Tao ticked them off one by one on his fingers, but Xiao Lin continued to shake his head incessantly.

"Aiyo, Wang Tao, what Xiao Lin means is: what kind of confession style does Kang Yan like best? Look, if you really can't remember, we can just call Wang Yuqing or Tan Linlin and ask them. They should know," Lin Xudong prompted Wang Tao.

"I don't know... Ah, I know! I know! That time when we were singing at Prince, didn't I ask Kang Yan a question? I remember her saying back then that the boy she likes must understand romance, that guys with a sense of sentimentality are her type, and that she loves surprises." Wang Tao suddenly recalled something and shouted with an excited look on his face.

"Romance, sentimentality, surprises," Xiao Lin repeated softly. Then, he and Lin Xudong let out a simultaneous, light exclamation, "Got it."

"You two figured it out? Aiyo, tell me quickly! Hurry up and tell me!" Wang Tao jumped up, burning with impatience.

"Doctor, why don't you tell him?" Xiao Lin nodded toward Lin Xudong, signaling for him to explain.

"Hehe, it's actually very simple. Since Kang Yan likes romance and grand surprises, we can simply mobilize all the students in the school to pull off a massive confession for her! Just imagine that scene—I don't think any girl could possibly say no to that!" Lin Xudong pushed up the glasses on the bridge of his nose and slowly laid out his idea.

"Are you kidding me, Doctor? You aren't joking, are you? There are nearly five thousand students in the whole school. Can you actually mobilize all of them?" Wang Tao asked, his mouth agape in astonishment.

"Doctor, you're ruthless. I surrender." Yuan Weiye gave Lin Xudong a thumbs-up. Even Xiao Lin's expression shifted slightly. He had indeed thought of staging something on a grand scale, but he hadn't expected Lin Xudong's plan to be a level higher than his own.

"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing. Never underestimate the connections and capabilities of our little group here. First of all, with our social network, we can easily rally a majority of the senior grade. Furthermore, Xiao Lin's charm makes him deeply admired by many freshman and sophomore girls, and quite a few of the younger guys have a lot of respect for this formidable senior brother of theirs. So if Boss Xiao lets out a battle cry, scraping together over a thousand people won't be a problem at all. Also, Xiao Lin, you need to go talk to Chai Yuan and have him organize students with literary talent to recite a love poem. I think the one written by Tsangyang Gyatso, *That Life*, is quite fitting. No problem with that, right?" Lin Xudong asked Xiao Lin.

"This..." Xiao Lin hesitated. It was difficult for him to lower his pride and beg people for favors, especially when some of them were his junior schoolmates.

"Boss Xiao, please help your brother out just this once! From now on, I'll burn incense and worship you every single day." Wang Tao made a pleading gesture with cupped hands toward Xiao Lin.

"Alright then." For the sake of his brother, Xiao Lin had no choice but to bite the bullet.

Seeing that Xiao Lin agreed, Lin Xudong nodded with satisfaction. "That's only the first step. Next, Wang Yuqing will need to step up. Hehe, with Wang Yuqing's charm that slays people of all ages, with just a casual wave of her hand, pulling in another two thousand or so students will be a piece of cake. Add those up, and we're looking at over three thousand people. After that, I'll have a word with Tan Linlin. Given her fierce and bold personality, the remaining students won't dare refuse to show up either. Tsk tsk, I'm really looking forward to that scene," Lin Xudong said with a wicked smile.

"But if that many students show up, with a scene that big, the teachers are bound to step in and crack down hard," Wang Tao pointed out, highlighting a potential flaw.

"Hehe, that won't be a problem. I've already factored that in. Tomorrow, I'll have Wang Yuqing talk to Gao Zheng. Gao Zheng knows the school's senior administrators; we can have him stall them for an hour or two, and I think that should do the trick," Lin Xudong said with absolute confidence.

"Doctor, I really underestimated you. I always thought you were a refined and polished young gentleman, but I never expected you to be a darkly brilliant mastermind," Yuan Weiye said, looking completely stunned.

"Yuan Weiye, you aren't getting off the hook either. Isn't Annie from the Beijing Film Academy? You can get her to round up some good-looking guys and girls with strong acting skills to put on an impromptu performance when Wang Tao makes his confession. Also, if you can get one or two minor celebrities to hold down the fort, the effect will be even better," Lin Xudong said with a sinister grin as he looked at Yuan Weiye.

"Weiye! Weiye..." Wang Tao called out to Yuan Weiye in a drawn-out tone.

"Uh... Fine, fine, I'll do my best. I'll call Annie in a minute," Yuan Weiye gritted his teeth and nodded in agreement.

"Mission accomplished. Now let's go over the specific procedures..." Following that, the four of them huddled together and began discussing the concrete details.

...

At noon the next day, Wang Tao used every trick in the book to summon Tan Linlin, Xu Tong, and the others to a secluded spot. Naturally, he did not call Kang Yan.

Wang Tao first bowed deeply to the group, scaring Xu Tong into taking several steps back in bewilderment, completely failing to understand what Wang Tao was up to.

"Wang Tao, if you have something to say, just say it. Don't scare us like this," Xu Tong said, clutching his chest.

"Kang Yan is leaving. You all know about that, right?" Wang Tao said in a heavy tone.

"We know. Kang Yan told all of us; she's going to the United States to study after graduation," Tan Linlin nodded.

"I've liked her for three years—a full three years—and I never dared to confess my feelings to her. Now she's leaving, but I don't want my youth to end with regrets, so I've decided to do something for her that she will never forget for the rest of her life. I want her to remember that I, Wang Tao, truly, truly loved her," Wang Tao said with a solemn expression. He swept his gaze across the group and then bowed deeply once again. "I'm counting on all of you."

"Hold on, Wang Tao, what is going on with you?" Tan Linlin asked, completely baffled by Wang Tao's behavior.

"Ahem, let me explain. This grand event, which is destined to make history at Innovation High School, was designed by yours truly!" Lin Xudong let out a smug laugh.

"What grand event? What are you designing?"

"Ahem... Here is how it goes..." Lin Xudong detailed his plan to the group from start to finish. At first, Tan Linlin and the others were unimpressed, but as they listened, their surprise grew, until finally, they were all looking at Lin Xudong with looks of absolute adoration.

"This plan is brilliantly badass!" Xu Tong exclaimed from the bottom of his heart.

"Haha, Doctor, you're amazing! Haha, when do we start executing this? I can hardly wait." Tan Linlin slapped Lin Xudong's shoulder hard; this grand plan had thoroughly ignited her innate love for excitement and commotion.

"Yuqing, are you alright with this?" Seeing the hesitation on Wang Yuqing's face, Lin Xudong asked her.

Wang Yuqing was feeling torn. If she were merely asked to recruit people, she could grit her teeth and pull it off, but Lin Xudong's plan also required her to persuade Gao Zheng, and that put her in a difficult position. Although she knew that as long as she spoke to Gao Zheng, given his habit of spoiling her, he would definitely help, Wang Yuqing didn't want to owe Gao Zheng a favor. The relationship between her and Gao Zheng was already ambiguous and hard to define. If she helped out with this, would she really end up agreeing to be with him after the college entrance exams? However, if she didn't help, what about Wang Tao? Hearing Lin Xudong's inquiry, Wang Yuqing looked at Xiao Lin nearby and found that Xiao Lin was also looking right back at her. Wang Yuqing cast an inquiring glance at Xiao Lin.

Seeing the troubled look on Wang Yuqing's face, Xiao Lin had no idea why she was struggling. Could it be that she was too shy to recruit people? Then, seeing her questioning look, Xiao Lin was slightly stunned for a moment before shaping his mouth into a silent word—an affirmative gesture indicating agreement. If Xiao Lin had known what was truly troubling Wang Yuqing, it was uncertain whether he still would have signaled his consent.

Wang Yuqing saw Xiao Lin's silent reply, and it finally helped her make up her mind.

"Doctor, I have no problem here," Wang Yuqing said firmly to Lin Xudong.

"Phew." Hearing Wang Yuqing's words, Wang Tao let out a long sigh of relief.

"Good. There's no time to waste; we'll spring into action immediately. Tan Linlin, you'll come with me to the freshman year later. Yuqing, you go talk to Gao Zheng first. Xiao Lin, you..." Seeing that everyone had agreed, Lin Xudong immediately began assigning tasks.

"Uh... Doctor, what about me? What am I supposed to do? Why don't I have any tasks at all?" Wang Tao waited and waited, but Lin Xudong hadn't assigned him anything.

"Who says you don't have a task? Your task is the most important one of all: to accompany Kang Yan well. From now on, you must stay by her side every single second. Remember to keep a close eye on her and make sure she doesn't figure out our plan," Lin Xudong told Wang Tao solemnly.

"Yes, sir!" Wang Tao gave a crisp, proper military salute.

"Alright, let's all split up and take action."

"Wait a minute," Wang Tao called out to the others as they were about to leave. Then he extended his palm and motioned for everyone to join in.

"You guy," Xu Tong cursed with a smile, then placed his hand over Wang Tao's extended palm, followed one by one by the rest of the group.

"Come on, let's all shout it together: No regrets for our youth! No regrets for our youth..."