“The top-ranked academic star and department beauty—who wouldn’t know her!” The girl familiarly linked arms with her. “It’s so late, let’s head back to campus together. Safer that way.”
Thinking it made sense, Shen Nanyin nodded.
Along the way, the girl proved to be very studious, asking her many questions about their major. Shen Nanyin patiently answered each one.
The two chatted so engrossingly that it wasn’t until they parted that Shen Nanyin realized she still didn’t know the other girl’s name.
Pushing open the dorm room door, her roommate Liang Wan spared a moment from her intense gaming to check on her.
“Why are you back so late? Where’d you go?”
Shen Nanyin took off her crossbody bag and set it aside, tying up her hair as she prepared to wash up.
“Went to break up.”
“Oh… huh?!”
“What?!”
Liang Wan’s eyes widened in shock.
“You broke up with Gu Zhiyan?!”
After Shen Nanyin recounted what happened at the bar, Liang Wan was even more outraged than the person involved. She stopped playing her game and couldn’t help but unleash a torrent of colorful curses.
“What kind of scumbag is that? Utterly shameless??”
Liang Wan was disgusted to the core. “Those bastards with nothing better to do than eat shit!”
The other two roommates happened to return just in time to hear Liang Wan’s expletives and hurriedly asked what happened. So the story was told all over again.
For a while, the stream of curses in Room 603 showed no sign of stopping.
Fang Yunran cursed up a storm, then took a sip of water to soothe her throat.
“But how did you find out? You’ve always been too lazy to check his phone, haven’t you?”
Shen Nanyin hesitated for a moment, feeling that Lu Jingyan probably wouldn’t want… word getting out that he’d called someone “sis” online.
“Someone saw it at the bar and sent me a message to warn me.”
Liang Wan, standing nearby, nodded with a sigh. “There are still good people in the world after all.”
“Hey hey hey! Can that useless jungler get the hell out of my mid lane?!”
Shen Nanyin stared at the avatar in her WeChat contacts for a long while, wrestling with whether to delete it, when a tutoring message diverted her attention.
The student she tutored was in their second year of high school. Starting next week, they’d have evening self-study sessions, leaving no time for extra lessons. The last session was rescheduled to after nine o’clock.
Shen Nanyin accepted the payment, thinking she’d need to look for another part-time job.
By Friday night, when the tutoring session ended, Shen Nanyin was aching all over.
Leaving the residential complex where her student lived, she saw her silenced phone had dozens of missed calls—all from Shen Dingguo.
Shen Nanyin’s brow furrowed slightly. She calmly called back and, as expected, was subjected to a torrent of abuse.
It was nothing more than the usual insults—useless, worthless, good-for-nothing—things she’d grown accustomed to, so they no longer stirred any emotion.
After Shen Dingguo had cursed his fill, he barked an order. “Go meet Mr. Chen this weekend. I’ll send you the address later. I’m warning you, don’t try any tricks.”
Beep—beep—
Before she could say a word, the other end hung up. Shen Nanyin expressionlessly put down her phone.
Outside, a light rain was falling, threatening to intensify. The wind blew, chilling her to the bone. On the ride-hailing app, 83 people were queued ahead of her.
Fortunately, it wasn’t far from campus. She could walk back if she had to.
By the time Shen Nanyin returned to the dorm, her clothes were soaked through, her hair plastered to her neck and dripping.
The moment Liang Wan saw her, she let out a sharp shriek. “Shen Nanyin! Even if you didn’t have an umbrella, why didn’t you call us to bring you one? Walking in the rain this late at night, are you crazy?!”
She smiled faintly. “It was already so late. If you’d come out, wouldn’t your showers have been wasted?”
Fang Yunran quickly grabbed the remote to turn up the air conditioning temperature, her tone full of concern and frustration. “What does that matter? Is it really such a difficult thing for me to take another shower?”
“Exactly, I can’t believe you! Go take a hot shower right now, don’t catch a cold!” Liang Wan pushed her into the bathroom.
Shen Nanyin couldn’t help but laugh. “Alright, alright, I get it.”
Her roommate’s concern warmed her heart, allowing her to temporarily push aside thoughts of the Shen family.
By the time she finished blow-drying her hair and got into bed, it was almost one o’clock.
The night owls of Room 603 noticed her exhausted state and quietly turned down the volume.
The night was peaceful for Shen Nanyin, but elsewhere, the revelry was in full swing.
“Congratulations, Miss Lu!”
In the extravagant party at a high-end club in Jingbei, champagne sprayed freely, and the atmosphere was one of indulgence.
Male servers, bare-chested and wearing only skimpy aprons, showed off their toned muscles as they moved through the crowd, serving the wealthy heiresses.
On the second-floor VIP level, Lu Jingyan leaned lazily against the sofa, a cigarette burning halfway between his fingers, thin blue smoke curling upward.
Half of his face was hidden in the shadows, his posture casual, yet no one dared approach.
Xu Ying’an, always quick to read the room, stole a glance at him and, sensing his boredom, decided to tease him.
“Your sister really knows how to live it up. How many parties is this for the month? What’s the excuse this time?”
Lu Jingyan lifted his eyelids slightly. “Celebrating her group project getting an A+.”
Xu Ying’an: “…Impressive.”
He said sarcastically, “She really knows how to have fun. Look at all these people—internet celebrities, idols… Hey, isn’t that the top star who loves to act all aloof?”
Just then, a muscular man with an impressive physique walked by, prompting Xu Ying’an to add, “Damn, must be all that protein powder!”
Lu Jingyan couldn’t be bothered to engage. “If you want one, just ask Lu Daiqing. I’m sure she’d be happy to share.”
Xu Ying’an: “…”
“Brother!” Lu Daiqing sat down cheerfully beside Lu Jingyan. “Dongxinglou just released a new dessert, and there’s a couples discount! Come with me, please?”
“Are you out of your mind?” Lu Jingyan had no interest in entertaining her either. “Is the Lu family short on money?”
Lu Daiqing gritted her teeth. “I just want to experience a normal life, is that so wrong?”
“Normal?” He glanced down at the outdoor pool below, where the scantily clad servers had already jumped into the water, eliciting gasps and cheers from the crowd.
He sneered. “Your idea of ‘normal’ is quite unique.”
“Just tell me if you’ll come or not,” Lu Daiqing said, her eyes threatening.
Lu Jingyan looked away. “How long have you been dragging me around to show off? Has he even acknowledged you?”
Beside them, Xu Ying’an shook his head in confusion. “Friend, what’s so great about that pretentious guy? Your taste is questionable.”
She snorted lightly. “If you don’t come with me, I’ll contact Shen right now—”
“Fine.”
Lu Jingyan cut her off coldly.
“Huh? What? What?” Xu Ying’an, sensing gossip, was instantly intrigued but clueless. “What Shen? Shen who?”
Lu Daiqing, finally able to get the upper hand over the great Young Master Lu, narrowed her eyes smugly.
“Tell me!” Xu Ying’an, desperate for the gossip, grew impatient.
Lu Jingyan, annoyed by the noise, pressed his fingers to his temples and stood up. “Have fun. I’m leaving.”
“Hey! Brother Lu!” He chased after him all the way, “Are we still brothers or not? What exactly do you mean…”