[Congratulations, Host! Congratulations, Host! The livestream has concluded perfectly, and you’ve earned five hundred thousand Points. The exchange store will soon be unlocked.]
Although the words of gratitude and the gifted Points were mixed with some strange languages, it didn’t matter. With money and Points now available, the store could finally open—hahaha!
“!!”
Qiu Yunzheng was ecstatic internally. Was it really this simple? Just a casual stroll through the Forbidden City, and it was perfect—hahaha!
“Wow, wow, wow! Host, you’re amazing! So great! You completed the mission so quickly. I’ll go arrange the store now and then transmit our livestream data back to Interstellar space. I’ll contact you later.”
288 was so happy it felt like bouncing, if only it could actually bounce.
“Bye~Bye~.””
Qiu Yunzheng also happily bid farewell to 288. After all, her mission was accomplished, and it was still early. Earlier, she had only focused on the livestream issues and answering the various questions from the Interstellar viewers.
She hadn’t had the chance to truly appreciate the grandeur and magnificence of the Forbidden City. How could that be? Since she rarely had the opportunity to visit, she definitely needed to enjoy it properly.
Qiu Yunzheng began to slowly savor the beauty of the Forbidden City.
What she didn’t know was that someone in the distance had spotted her and seemed to make a call to someone before approaching her.
“Qiu Yunzheng? It really is you! What are you doing here at the Forbidden City?”
A fair-looking woman in the distance called out to Qiu Yunzheng, who was about to leave. Turning around, Qiu Yunzheng realized it was her former roommate.
“Liu Zelan? Oh… I’m here to visit.”
“Is that so? What a coincidence! Earlier, I saw many netizens who visited the Forbidden City posting photos of you online. I thought I might have been mistaken.”
Liu Zelan replied with a gentle smile, explaining that she had seen Qiu Yunzheng online.
“Online? Maybe some tourists took photos for keepsakes and accidentally captured me in them.”
Qiu Yunzheng was momentarily stunned but then reasoned that with the large crowd in the morning, it was normal for people to accidentally appear in others’ photos.
“Really? That could be it. You’ve been moved out of our dorm for so long now. About what happened before, I’m sorry. We were a bit scared of Wang Wende too; he pressured us, and we had no choice.”
“The people in our dorm thought of treating you to a meal—as both a farewell and an apology. You’re about to graduate, and it might be hard to find you later.”
Liu Zelan still wore a warm smile and spoke softly, though a faint hint of something unreadable flashed in her eyes, which Qiu Yunzheng didn’t notice.
“No need. Besides, you didn’t really do anything. Given the circumstances at the time, I was planning to move out anyway. It has nothing to do with you all.”
Qiu Yunzheng waved off Liu Zelan’s apology. She hadn’t dwelled on the past incident, and regardless of whether Wang Wende had pressured them or not, she had no intention of deepening her ties with her former dormmates.
Thinking back, Qiu Yunzheng vaguely remembered how Liu Zelan had repeatedly urged her to give in to Wang Wende, all under the guise of caring for her.
Don’t think Qiu Yunzheng was foolish; she had seen through it. Either Wang Wende had offered benefits, or Liu Zelan wanted to see her make a fool of herself. And now she comes with an apology?
It all seemed suspicious, like a weasel paying respects to a chicken—harboring ulterior motives.
“I’m sorry, do you refuse to forgive us? We just wanted the four of us to get together for a simple meal at a small restaurant near the Forbidden City. It’s not far.”
“We only want to ease our conscience. After this, we’ll all go our separate ways and won’t bother you again.”
Liu Zelan, who had been smiling gently, suddenly withdrew her expression.
With a strained smile and an air of deep sorrow, she looked at Qiu Yunzheng, her eyes brimming with tears on the verge of falling.
“I… alright. I don’t have much time; I need to hurry back to my teacher. I came here today for an assignment my teacher assigned.”
Noticing the passersby casting what seemed like reproachful glances, Qiu Yunzheng instantly guessed Liu Zelan’s intention, though she didn’t care.
Initially planning to refuse outright and leave, she then seemed to recall something, a sly glint flashing in her eyes, and she agreed straightforwardly.
Of course, Qiu Yunzheng knew Liu Zelan had some scheme in mind, and she had a rough idea what it was.
But right now, she was more curious about whether Wang Wende would show up. If he did, could she take the opportunity to beat him up first to vent her anger?
Even if she hit him a bit hard, she could claim self-defense. Sometimes, when overly frightened, hitting a little harder shouldn’t count as excessive defense, right?
“Great, great! Let’s go, I’ll take you there.”
Liu Zelan immediately brightened up, her tears vanishing. The speed of her mood shift left Qiu Yunzheng marveling.
However, Qiu Yunzheng didn’t notice that after Liu Zelan smiled, she slightly lowered her head, her eyelids hiding a flicker of triumphant satisfaction.
To understand what happened between Qiu Yunzheng and Liu Zelan, we need to go back three years.
Three years ago, Qiu Yunzheng had just arrived at Capital University and met her three roommates. They were all from different departments: Liu Zelan was in the arts.
The other two were Meng Fei from the economics department and Wang Xuecha from the literature department, along with Qiu Yunzheng from the history department.
Strangely, Qiu Yunzheng’s dorm was the only one in their school where all roommates were from different departments, mostly in the humanities. No one knew how the school had assigned them.
At first, everyone was unfamiliar but hoped to get along well, since they would be living together for four years. It started off friendly enough.
Unfortunately, this good beginning was disrupted during an incident when Qiu Yunzheng went to the cafeteria alone to eat.
It was quite late, and there weren’t many people around. Coincidentally, in a cliché turn of events, she ran into Wang Wende, who rarely ate in the cafeteria.
That’s when trouble started. At the time, Wang Wende didn’t directly approach Qiu Yunzheng while she was eating. Instead, he had his lackeys investigate her first.
Upon learning that Qiu Yunzheng was an orphan who had come to the capital alone and supported herself by tutoring while studying, Wang Wende made his move.
He started by offering money—to Meng Fei. At first, Meng Fei thought Wang Wende liked her and even played a little hard to get. Just when she expected him to confess,
Wang Wende asked her to help arrange a meeting with Qiu Yunzheng, promising benefits in return. This was awkward.
Meng Fei’s family was local to the capital and not short on money. She had been drawn to Wang Wende’s generosity and decent looks, only to find herself the butt of a joke. How could she tolerate that?
Furious, Meng Fei stormed off on the spot, ignoring Wang Wende. To this day, Wang Wende still doesn’t understand why she got angry. Even if she was upset, why refuse to help after accepting so many favors?
But wanting to leave a good impression on Qiu Yunzheng, he decided to try someone else. This time, Wang Wende was smarter—he investigated first and found that the most financially strained in their dorm was Liu Zelan.
Yes, Liu Zelan from the arts department. Surprisingly, it wasn’t obvious at first glance. Liu Zelan had a chronically ill mother at home, so she was truly in need of money.
So Wang Wende approached Liu Zelan. He noticed she was quite pretty too, but compared to Qiu Yunzheng’s striking beauty, Liu Zelan’s looks seemed somewhat plain and lacking.
Upon hearing that Wang Wende only wanted to pursue Qiu Yunzheng, Liu Zelan didn’t overthink it—she genuinely needed the money. She began subtly praising Wang Wende in front of Qiu Yunzheng.
Of course, Liu Zelan never did this when Meng Fei was around; she wasn’t blind.