So according to you, I should be thanking you?
Zhang Fan smiled. She knew Jiang Manning was sharp, but she didn’t expect her to lie through her teeth without even blushing.
“Classmate bond—do we have one?”
She glanced outside the lobby and saw a police car pulling up.
“You asked why I don’t go back to the dorm and instead stay at a hotel. Let me tell you—because I hate waking up in the middle of the night to you knocking on the window, begging us to open the door. I also hate how you take over every public space, and I especially hate listening to you brag about which celebrity you met today or where you’re going for a fancy dinner tomorrow.”
Two police officers walked in, scanning the room. “Who called the police?”
“I did!”
Zhang Fan walked over barefoot. “I called the police—they’re bullying me!”
She raised her hand and pointed. Jiang Manning’s eyes went wide on the spot. “When did I ever bully you?”
This was a sensitive time—whether at school or in society, that word was taboo.
Once it got dragged into the picture, even small matters became serious.
“Officers, here’s what happened.”
If you can spout nonsense about classmate bonds, then I can twist the narrative and blow this out of proportion too, right?
Zhang Fan explained to the police: “We go to the same school. Just because a guy they like bought something from my flea market stall, she came running over to threaten me, saying she’d tear me apart!
At night, they locked me out of the dorm and wouldn’t let me in—other students in the building must have heard it.
I came to stay at a hotel just to get away from them, but they barged in here, taking photos and grabbing at me. I was terrified, scared they’d throw me off the building!”
She lowered her head with a pitiful look, and everyone followed her gaze, just in time to see her bare feet.
She did look pretty rough.
“No, that’s not it!” Jiang Manning panicked and quickly explained. “It’s a misunderstanding—it’s not what she said!”
“Not what?”
Zhang Fan turned around, facing Jiang Manning directly. “Yesterday when Qin Jiawei came to my stall to buy something, didn’t you come warn me right away? Don’t lie—the school has surveillance cameras!”
“Yes… but—”
“At night, didn’t you lock the door early and keep me out?”
“That’s because you came back late yourself!”
Before Jiang Manning could say another word, Zhang Fan immediately turned to face the officers:
“Officers, you heard that! Usually, they give me the cold shoulder and isolate me—I never said a word about that. All I want now is justice. Please, officers, issue me a police report so I can hand it over to the school!”
With an official police report, this matter would be out in the open and had to be handled by the book.
The officers’ expressions turned serious. In such a sensitive climate, this kind of thing had to be dealt with strictly.
“We can issue the report, but we need to investigate and understand the situation first.”
One of the officers walked toward the hotel front desk. “We need to pull the surveillance footage—please cooperate!”
“No need!”
Jiang Manning rushed forward to stop him. “No need. We admit to what she said. But we only took videos—we didn’t do anything worse. And we realize we were wrong—we can apologize.”
Graduation was right around the corner. If she got expelled or had this written into her file over something like this, it just wasn’t worth it.
She took the initiative to have everyone hand over their phones and deleted the videos in front of the police officers.
Even if she was still unconvinced, she took the lead in bowing to Zhang Fan: “I’m sorry, please forgive us!”
“I didn’t bring my phone. You record one yourselves and post it online to eliminate the negative impact this incident has had on me!”
Zhang Fan didn’t say whether he forgave them or not; he simply raised his demands further.
This was a humiliating disgrace!
She was a pampered young lady—how could she possibly be posted online for everyone to humiliate?
Jiang Manning gritted her molars. Things had already reached this point; she had no choice.
Following Zhang Fan’s requirements, she filmed an apology video and uploaded it to the school forum.
Seeing that they had voluntarily reconciled, the police officers gave Jiang Manning a verbal warning and left.
As soon as the police were gone, Jiang Manning’s expression changed instantly. She shot Zhang Fan a fierce glare before leaving with her people, still unconvinced.
“Don’t judge a book by its cover—so you actually have a brain after all?”
Zhou Wenzong smiled, and in that smile there was a hint of mockery, a hint of contempt, making it hard to tell what he truly meant.
He was still quite annoying!
Zhang Fan glanced at him, too lazy to say another word. She was starving.
“You’re just leaving like that?”
“What else? Stand there and keep being mocked by you?”
“I just praised you for having brains, but it seems I spoke too soon!”
Zhou Wenzong grabbed her arm and pulled her back, then coldly asked the front desk: “Is this the service your five-star hotel provides? Are the security guards just idle? Someone barges into a guest’s room, and the guest still has to come down herself to call the police?”
The two receptionists exchanged glances, not knowing what to do, and could only call for the manager.
After the manager understood what had happened, he quickly apologized: “To express our apologies, we’ll waive this young lady’s room fee for today and give you two meal vouchers for tonight. Would that be acceptable?”
So that’s how it worked?
Zhang Fan looked at the meal vouchers the manager handed over with both hands, somewhat bewildered.
Would a big boss like Zhou Wenzong really care about such a small compensation?
“Not quite acceptable!”
Zhou Wenzong took the vouchers with two fingers, his expression indifferent: “If this incident gets exposed online, how much would you have to spend on PR to salvage your reputation? Especially for certain client groups—would they still come to your establishment? You can’t even guarantee basic privacy!”
Certain client groups naturally referred to those who valued privacy highly.
And those people were not few in number.
“Yes, yes, you’re absolutely right!”
The manager looked very nervous, thinking it over: “How about this—we’ll compensate you with thirty free room vouchers. Would that be acceptable?”
Thirty free room vouchers, at roughly seven hundred yuan each, came to a total of twenty-one thousand.
If it were Zhou Wenzong himself, he wouldn’t think much of such compensation. But Zhang Fan’s eyes widened.
“Hmm, passable. Send the electronic version up later!”
Zhou Wenzong turned around, glanced at the stunned Zhang Fan, and reminded her impatiently: “What are you spacing out for? Did your brain fall out again?”
“I… I don’t think we’re that familiar, are we?”
Zhang Fan followed barefoot: “Do you always talk to people like that? Aren’t you afraid of getting beaten up?”
“I’m a black belt in karate!”
Zhou Wenzong pressed the elevator button with a blank expression.
Zhang Fan was speechless and could only snatch the vouchers fiercely: “This is compensation for me!”
“I helped you get it!”
“You’re a jewelry tycoon—do you have to be so petty?”
“You’re so poor you’re selling off your family heirlooms, and you still have the nerve to be this vain?”
“I…”
Zhang Fan was at a loss for words, guessing that Zhou Wenzong thought she’d spent all the money from selling her gold hairpin on this outfit.
“What’s wrong with being vain? You wear haute couture and that’s not vain, but when I wear something nice, it’s vain?”
“I have money, I can afford it!”
“So what, am I spending your money?”
Her point was, I’m spending my own money—how is that vain?
But Zhou Wenzong just lowered his head slightly, giving her a meaningful smile.
Here’s a look—figure it out yourself!
Zhang Fan felt a chill run down her spine under his gaze. Fine, if she only had two hundred thousand to her name, that money really did come from Zhou Wenzong.