Lin Ting almost reflexively snatched her phone back.
For a moment, she didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
She hadn’t expected Lu Hesheng to reply instantly.
She hurriedly typed:
【I was helping my friend send a message to her brother. I sent it to the wrong person by accident.】
Her fingers paused, then—trying a bit too hard to cover it up—she added another line.
【I didn’t lose my phone, and I wasn’t hacked either.】
Lu Hesheng replied with clear disappointment:
【So that’s how it is.】
【I thought my junior liked me and was about to confess.】
Lin Ting’s heart jolted violently. She had at least a shred of self-awareness—if she confessed, she’d probably lose even the chance to remain friends.
She quickly explained:
【No, you’re overthinking it. We’re good friends, aren’t we?】
After that sentence, Lu Hesheng’s WeChat might as well have died.
He didn’t respond at all to her messages about returning the jacket. Lin Ting found it strange, but she didn’t dare ask again.
Fang Zhixiao had witnessed the entire exchange and sighed dramatically from the side.
“That’s it?”
“Listen, your chatting skills are drier than our professional textbooks.”
She immediately pulled out her phone and dug up her bookmarked Flirting Encyclopedia, forwarding everything to Lin Ting in one go.
As the class neared its end, the teacher was still passionately clicking through the PPT onstage.
Absent-minded, Lin Ting casually opened Moments.
Her social circle was small—she didn’t add many people. Back in high school, half of her contacts had been from Lu Hesheng’s circle.
Quite a few of them loved sharing daily life, so she often caught glimpses of Lu Hesheng there.
The latest post was from Shen Xiao—a peace-sign emoji, paired with a big group photo.
Lin Ting spotted Lu Hesheng immediately, seated right in the middle.
He was wearing a black hoodie and a matching baseball cap that covered most of his face. His expression was cool and detached, yet he’d unusually cooperated by making a hand gesture at the camera.
Shen Xiao sat beside him, grinning as he slung an arm around his shoulder.
Lin Ting subconsciously tapped Like.
Just then, a new WeChat notification popped up.
It was from Ji Yunzhen.
The fiancé her family had long decided on for her.
Ji Yunzhen was concise as ever:
【Tingting, there’s an important charity gala this Sunday. We’ll go together.】
【The driver will pick you up from your school at four in the afternoon.】
Lin Ting lowered her gaze. Her fingers hovered over the screen for a moment before, just like countless times before, she smoothly typed out two familiar characters.
【Okay.】
Night gradually descended, and the southern part of the city grew noisy, neon lights flashing everywhere.
Tonight was a welcome-back party specially held for Lu Hesheng. The group moved from a restaurant to Phantom Road No. 33 Bar.
This bar had been opened on a whim by Shen Xiao back in high school.
Originally meant to just support himself, it somehow kept expanding until it became one of the top nightclubs in Jingbei.
Inside a private room on the sixth floor.
From the moment he arrived, Lu Hesheng had looked listless, lounging alone on a single sofa, fingers idly scrolling through his phone.
A stunning beauty was seated beside him, diligently attending to his needs.
One moment she held freshly cut fruit up to his lips, the next she poured him a drink, asking in a sweet, soft voice whether the air-conditioning temperature was comfortable.
The group of men nearby stared with envy.
Ever since being rejected that day, Mu Li had pulled some strings and managed to worm her way into Lu Hesheng’s social circle.
After being ignored for the Nth time—
Miss Mu’s patience finally snapped. She suddenly flung the limited-edition crocodile-skin bag in her hand at him.
“Lu Hesheng, you bastard!”
“You dog of a man! I curse you to be single for life and never get together with the girl you like!”
Lu Hesheng couldn’t even be bothered to lift his head. Calmly, like a gentleman, he placed the bag on the table in front of him.
Resting his chin on his hand, he commented coolly,
“Heh. You actually look like a normal person now.”
If he hadn’t already known Mu Li’s reputation in the circle—for clinging relentlessly until she got what she wanted, determined to sleep with any man she set her sights on—
Based on her earlier behavior alone, Lu Hesheng might’ve suspected she was a honey trap sent by a business rival, here to assassinate him and steal confidential documents.
On the other side of the room, Shen Xiao was playing cards with a few friends.
He glanced at his phone during a break, caught sight of a familiar profile picture, and jumped up in shock.
“Holy shit! Lu Hesheng, has the sun risen in the west? Why did you like my post?!”
Lu Hesheng glanced at him. “What, liking a post is illegal now?”
Shen Xiao was speechless. “Fine, fine. You’re handsome, you’re right.”
It made him look like he was the one overreacting.
This whole thing actually dated back to their second year of high school. Shen Xiao was sociable and loved having fun—he had thousands of contacts on WeChat.
People in their circle knew he was close with Lu Hesheng and often tried to get Lu’s contact info through him.
Once, Shen Xiao got completely wasted and, with a careless flick of his hand, sent out Lu Hesheng’s WeChat contact card.
One became ten, ten became a hundred—Lu Hesheng’s account got flooded with friend requests.
The verification messages were all kinds of ridiculous.
Not only were there sleazy, obscene messages, there was even a self-proclaimed sixty-year-old rich lady with hundreds of properties, asking if he needed a godmother—or a girlfriend.
Lu Hesheng’s face darkened on the spot.
Shen Xiao sobered up halfway just from seeing it, and immediately posted multiple clarifications in Moments that same night—
【I’ve learned my lesson, please spare me! 🙏】
【Brother Lu has changed his number. Anyone who asks me for his contact again will be blocked and deleted on sight!】
Lu Hesheng simply went along with it and created a new work account for adding strangers.
As for his private account—it had been quiet as a grave for three hundred years.
So when it suddenly came back to life today, Shen Xiao’s instincts screamed something’s wrong.
He sat back down, muttering to himself as he scrolled through Moments.
“Let me see what kind of heavenly content could make you like it so much.”
Lu Hesheng turned off his phone, casually slipped it into his pocket, and tossed out a sentence without context.
“Something came up. I’m leaving.”
Watching his cold retreating figure, Mu Li had already moved on and simply went elsewhere to join the fun.
As soon as she approached, a sharp-eyed guy eagerly made room for her.
Feigning casual interest, Mu Li asked, “I heard you guys talking earlier—something about liking a post?”
Shen Xiao was in the middle of messaging Lu Hesheng, asking why he’d suddenly left. Hearing Mu Li probe, he immediately went on guard.
He picked up his cards again and replied curtly, “Nothing. You misheard.”
Mu Li wasn’t interested in cards. She just wanted to know everything about Lu Hesheng’s high school days, shamelessly pestering the easygoing Nan Sanning with questions.
She even asked whether Lu Hesheng really hadn’t had a girlfriend back then.
Nan Sanning answered politely at first, but eventually got fed up and hid behind her brother, face scrunched up in clear refusal.
Seeing this, Nan Jiyun tossed aside his cards.
He pulled the girl into his arms and coaxed her softly, “What’s wrong? If you don’t want to talk, then don’t.”
Some guy chimed in, “Nan Jiyun, you really spoil her.”
Nan Jiyun shot back with a grin, “If I don’t spoil her, are you going to?”
Nan Sanning sighed lightly.
“If only Tingting were here.”
Since starting university, she and Lin Ting attended different schools and met far less often.
But every time they did meet, they always had a great time.
Unlike Mu Li—who seemed warm and proactive but was actually aloof and calculating, every question driven by an agenda, never caring about how others felt.
Mu Li perked up her ears. “Who’s Tingting? She was also Lu Hesheng’s high school classmate? Are both of them studying at Jing University?”
Nan Sanning popped her head out from Nan Jiyun’s arms.
“You bad woman—I’m not telling you, hmph!”
By then, Mu Li was already flirting with a handsome guy beside her, fingers intertwined, occasionally exchanging kisses.
She had her own conclusions anyway.
“Heh, whatever.”
“With Lu Hesheng acting all high-and-mighty, like he wants to wipe out every woman on earth…”
“Whether it’s Tingting, Tingting, or Tingting—none of them stand a chance.”