“Su Mu, what a coincidence.”
Su Mu had just ended her phone call when a young man’s clear, resonant voice sounded beside her ear. He stood with his head slightly bowed, displaying the striking profile of his face.
The sharp angles of his features blended the youthfulness of a boy with the quiet resolve of a young man—though a few faint bruises still lingered on his skin.
“Mm, what a coincidence. I have somewhere to be, so I’ll catch up with you next time.”
Su Mu gave a faint nod, her eyes sweeping over his face without lingering for a single second.
Bai Xiu’s fingers instinctively clenched into tight fists. A thousand words rushed through his mind, yet none found their way out of his throat.
“A-Alright then.”
“Bai Xiu!”
Just then, Xiang Qing hurried over from behind, a sweet smile resting on her face.
Su Mu paused just as she was about to take a step away.
She swept a slow, critical glance over Xiang Qing from top to bottom. Feeling the gaze, Xiang Qing subconsciously touched her own cheek.
“Mumu, is there something on my face?”
w-444: “HOLY CRAP, this woman is absurdly shameless!”
System w-444 screeched in disbelief. She was caught in bed red-handed just a few days ago, and she can still call out ‘Mumu’ with a straight face?!
“No, I’m just envious of the skin on your face—it’s so remarkably well-maintained and thick.”
Xiang Qing froze. “…What do you mean by that?”
She blinked, failing to catch the insult immediately.
Beside them, Bai Xiu couldn’t help himself and let out a snicker.
Only then did Xiang Qing realize she had just been insulted.
“Mumu, why are you cursing at me? Did I do something wrong that caused a misunderstanding between us?”
With eyes brimming with unshed tears, Xiang Qing looked at Su Mu with a deeply aggrieved expression. She was gambling on the belief that Su Mu wouldn’t bring up Shen Yeyi’s name in public.
After all, whenever the original host had clashed with Xiang Qing in the past, she had never brought Shen Yeyi into the argument. She still cared about the fact that Shen Yeyi was her fiancé, so no matter how fierce their conflicts were, she kept his name out of it.
As a result, the students on campus had always been completely in the dark about the root cause of their feud. Over time, the narrative had spun into Su Mu using her wealth to bully others, while Xiang Qing played the role of the innocent, pathetic white lotus.
Countless onlookers would jump in to defend Xiang Qing, leaving the original host fuming in anger for days on end.
“I just felt like cursing someone, not specifically you. Please don’t force yourself into the role.”
“H-How can you say something like that…?”
Xiang Qing understood this line crystal clear. In an instant, tears overflowed from her eyes, leaving Su Mu momentarily stunned.
In all her previous world missions, she had genuinely never encountered a creature quite like this.
“Is your brain completely dysfunctional? It’s sloshing with so much water that even after being told you aren’t being addressed, you still insist on making a scene.”
Bai Xiu couldn’t stand watching it any longer either. What kind of person was this?! Su Mu hadn’t even said anything substantial, so who was she putting on an act for?!
“Su Mu, how dare you bully Qing’er like this! Don’t think you can do whatever you want just because your family has money! Let me tell you, this is a society governed by law!”
A fiery young woman suddenly burst out from the side. Su Mu lifted her eyes to look—it was none other than Xiang Qing’s best friend, Song Shan.
Whenever Xiang Qing was supposedly “bullied,” this girl was always the first to charge to her defense.
A crowd began to gather around them. A confrontation between two of the campus’s most prominent beauties was naturally a spectacle everyone wanted to watch.
Su Mu glanced at the two of them and suddenly let out a cold snicker.
SLAP!
“Ah…!”
Just as the crowd prepared to watch the drama unfold, Su Mu had already raised her hand and delivered a heavy, resounding slap straight across Xiang Qing’s face.
Xiang Qing’s head jerked violently to the side. The tears she had been holding back instantly spilled down her cheek, making her look pitiably tragic.
Yet behind her lowered eyes flashed a hidden gleam of triumph.
“Since you insist I’m bullying her, then I’ll bully her right in front of your eyes. What are you going to do about it?”
Su Mu glared at Song Shan, instantly fanning the flames of her rage.
“How dare you lay a hand on Qing’er?!”
Song Shan raised her hand to strike. Bai Xiu instinctively lunged forward to shield Su Mu, but Su Mu shoved him aside. The next second, a sharp, resounding slap echoed through the air.
Song Shan was knocked sideways from the sheer force of the blow.
“Your skin is so absurdly thick it’s exhausting just to hit you.”
Su Mu shook out her hand, her cool gaze sweeping across the surrounding students before settling on Xiang Qing, who was still weeping bitterly.
“No wonder you shed so many tears—your brain is completely empty and sloshing with water.”
With a look of pure disdain, Su Mu turned and walked away. This was probably the exact definition of ‘brainless’ in romance novels.
The second the female lead dropped a single tear, all logic flew out the window. I cry, therefore I am the victim; I cry, therefore I am in the right.
What absolute garbage.
The airport was an hour’s drive from the university campus. After grabbing a quick bite to eat, Su Mu headed straight for the airport.
As for the Su family’s adoptive son—Male Supporting Lead Number Two—Su Mu had no intention of letting him fall into Xiang Qing’s hands.
A talent nurtured with such effort would stay right here with the Su family to work like a horse!
Well… work like a horse after she finished exploiting his value, that is.
On the way, traffic ground to a halt… again.
Su Mu pulled out her phone to check the time. Even though she had left two hours early, she had gotten stuck in an earlier bottleneck, crawling along for over an hour.
And now, gridlock had struck again.
Rolling down her car window, Su Mu leaned out to ask a taxi driver who had just stepped out of his vehicle up ahead.
“Driver, what’s going on up there?”
“Ah, another car accident up ahead! Nothing too severe, but both parties are negotiating right now. Once they settle it, traffic might start moving again.”
The taxi driver shook his head. This stretch of road was naturally prone to traffic; even if they cleared it now, it would take at least half an hour for gridlock to ease.
“Thank you.”
Su Mu pulled out her phone intending to send Su Chen a text, only to discover…
The original host didn’t even have Su Chen’s contact information saved on her phone.
Recalling how much the original host had despised this adoptive brother, Su Mu couldn’t help but palm her face.
Even if Su Chen was adopted, just how terrible was the relationship between these two siblings?!
“Dad, I’m stuck in traffic. Send me my brother’s contact info.”
After obtaining Su Chen’s contact details from her father, she promptly dispatched a message.
Only then did she realize the road ahead remained completely blocked.
Frowning, Su Mu pushed the car door open and stepped out.
Three hundred meters ahead, at the traffic light intersection, a Rolls-Royce and a minivan had collided. The owner of the Rolls-Royce was a slightly plump, middle-aged man dressed in a sharp suit. Looking utterly agitated and impatient, he was frantically making one phone call after another.
Both vehicles had sustained heavy damage. The front hood of the Rolls-Royce was crumpled upward, while a massive dent was crushed into the side of the minivan.
The minivan driver, on the other hand, appeared meek and submissive. He stood to the side timidly, not daring to utter a single word.
The traffic police had yet to arrive, and a small crowd of onlookers had gathered around.
Before Su Mu even reached the scene, she overheard snippets of gossip from the crowd.
The accident had occurred because the Rolls-Royce driver ran a red light and broadsided the minivan. The man in the suit seemed to be in a desperate hurry, unwilling to waste time waiting for police, so he insisted on settling the matter privately on the spot.
They had agreed on a compensation amount, but the minivan driver possessed neither online banking nor WeChat Pay—he demanded cold, hard cash, settled immediately.
Lacking enough physical cash on him, the suited owner was currently on the phone ordering someone to deliver money.
Su Mu hadn’t paid much attention at first. But as her eyes swept across the minivan once more and lingered on its driver, her expression suddenly froze.
Squeezing her way through the crowd, Su Mu initially only meant to double-check her suspicion. Yet as she drew closer to both the minivan driver and the suited owner, an odd, peculiar light flashed deep within her eyes.