Chapter 299 - 170: Straight Line (3)
Lu Jia was frozen in place.
It took him a good few seconds to realize Chen Zhuo was just messing with him.
He slumped back into the chair like a deflating balloon.
"Brother Zhuo, please stop making fun of me."
Lu Jia buried his face in his hands. His muffled voice was laced with a profound sense of helplessness.
"What am I supposed to do, then? I can’t even calculate a decent opening line. Am I just supposed to sit on my hands and do nothing?"
Chen Zhuo’s playful expression faded.
He could see from Lu Jia’s miserable expression that the kid had really thought himself into a corner and couldn’t get out.
Lu Jia believed everything in the world followed discernible patterns; if you were capable enough, you could always find the standard solution.
But the one thing in this world you could never calculate was the human heart.
Chen Zhuo reached out and pulled a pen from the pen holder on the desk.
He lightly tapped the tip of the pen twice on Lu Jia’s formula-covered scratch paper.
The sharp taps brought Lu Jia’s attention back.
"Lu Jia."
Chen Zhuo looked at him, his tone turning casual.
"In geometry, what’s the shortest distance between two points?"
Lu Jia blinked, clearly unable to follow Chen Zhuo’s leap in logic.
But his brain still reacted on instinct.
"A straight line."
Chen Zhuo nodded.
He tossed the red pen in his hand onto the desk.
𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦
"Exactly."
Chen Zhuo pointed to the enormous sheet of scratch paper.
"Toss this stuff."
Lu Jia gave Chen Zhuo a puzzled look.
"The shortest distance between two points is a straight line."
Chen Zhuo’s tone was even.
"Asking for a WhatsApp number is the same principle."
"Just walk over to her."
Chen Zhuo drew a straight line in the air with his finger.
"Walk over there. In a straight line."
"Don’t beat around the bush. Don’t engineer some ’accidental’ encounter in the cafeteria line. Don’t worry about whether the lighting in the hallway is good or not. And definitely don’t try to calculate some ’vector approach from her flank at one-point-five meters per second.’"
Chen Zhuo looked into Lu Jia’s clear eyes.
"Just walk right up to her and look at her. Don’t use any fancy, complicated words. Just speak."
Chen Zhuo paused, then taught him the simplest possible line.
"’Excuse me, can I get your WhatsApp?’"
Lu Jia drew in a sharp breath.
"Just be that direct?"
Lu Jia’s eyes went wide.
"What if... what if I get nervous and start stuttering?"
The more he thought about it, the less confident he felt, his hands gripping his thighs tightly.
"The moment I have to face her, my mind just goes blank. What if I blush and I’m stuttering and stammering, unable to get out a single coherent sentence? Won’t my first impression be totally ruined? She’ll probably rate me in the negatives, right?"
Seeing Lu Jia so nervous he was about to break into a sweat, Chen Zhuo reached out and patted his shoulder.
"Stuttering would be perfect,"
Chen Zhuo said softly.
Lu Jia looked up, his face filled with confusion.
"You’re a sixteen-year-old in college."
Chen Zhuo looked at him.
"Stuttering, blushing, palms sweating from nerves... those are your greatest strengths."
Chen Zhuo smiled.
"It shows you’re sincere, that you’re not running some sleazy playbook."
"If you were actually like one of those seasoned players—silver-tongued and smooth, perfectly engineering a ’chance’ encounter and delivering a flawless opening line,"
Chen Zhuo shook his head.
"She’d just think you’re some scheming little creep."
Lu Jia listened, dumbfounded.
It was as if a small window had been thrown open in his brain—a brain crammed with probability and game theory. And through that window blew a gust of spring breeze, one that defied all logic.
"Sincerity is always the ultimate secret weapon."
Chen Zhuo picked up his water glass from the table and stood up.
He didn’t say any more. He had torn down the walls that needed tearing down; the rest of the path was for Lu Jia to walk on his own.
Chen Zhuo turned and walked toward the door.
"Go on."
With his back to Lu Jia, Chen Zhuo waved a hand, leaving him with one last, casual piece of reassurance.
"Now take that stutter of yours and go walk that straight line."