Holding Xu Xingming, who had been knocked unconscious by a single punch from Jiang Mian, Lin Qian’s tears fell in large drops down her cheeks.
God only knew how much force that vicious woman Jiang Mian had used just now. All Lin Qian felt was a burning pain across both cheeks, along with an indescribable sense of humiliation surging up from deep inside her.
One had to know that even her father’s wife, that crude and short-tempered countryside woman, had never once laid a finger on her all these years.
Yet she had been hit by Jiang Mian…
How dare Jiang Mian?
Why, when she clearly knew Xingming was watching, did she still dare to raise her hand and slap her, even daring to strike Xingming as well!
Lin Qian could not understand it, truly could not understand it.
Had she not been mistaken before?
Jiang Mian loved Xu Xingming to the point of madness, loved him so much that she had even lost herself, becoming utterly stupid.
She had only wanted, before going to the competition, to use this method to deal her a blow, incidentally stockpiling some vicious and hypocritical black material about her on Evergreen Tree, and then take advantage of the opportunity to reconcile with Xingming.
It should have been a plan that killed three birds with one stone, so how had it ended up like this?
As she cried, Lin Qian lifted her head and watched Jiang Mian’s retreating figure as she walked down from the stands without a hint of hesitation or attachment.
A flash of venom passed through her eyes.
Idiot.
After hitting her, Lin Qian, did she really think she could walk away unscathed?
She raised a hand and gently touched her already swelling, reddened cheek. With evidence like this, she refused to believe she could not destroy a Jiang Mian.
Jiang Mian, just you wait. I swear I will never let you have an easy time. I—
“Oh, right…”
Just as the vow in Lin Qian’s heart had only reached halfway, Jiang Mian, who had just gone down two steps, suddenly turned her head.
Caught completely off guard, the hatred in Lin Qian’s eyes had no time to be concealed and was seen by Jiang Mian in full.
“Tsk tsk, that little look in your eyes. Seems like you’re cooking up something nasty again, huh?”
Jiang Mian smiled teasingly.
“Look at you. You’re not ugly, and you’re so good at putting on an act. So why insist on clinging to trash like Xu Xingming and refusing to let go?”
Since her gaze had already been caught red-handed by Jiang Mian, and since Xu Xingming was still unconscious, Lin Qian simply stopped pretending and let out a cold laugh.
“You’d of course want me to break up with Xingming, wouldn’t you? That way you could take the opportunity to slip right in, isn’t that so?”
“Please don’t insult my basic common sense. I still know that shit isn’t something you eat.”
Jiang Mian looked utterly serious.
Lin Qian: “……”
“Forget it, why am I even saying this to you? You’ve grown up now, and even Dad can’t control you anymore…”
Jiang Mian sighed, then slowly pulled her phone out of her pocket.
Lin Qian: “……”
For a moment, Lin Qian had not yet managed to dig up a suitable insult from her painfully limited stock of curse words when she heard Jiang Mian, who was standing just below her, lightly tap her finger on the phone screen.
“Idiot. Do you really think I ever treated you as a friend? Those disgusting things you did back in high school…”
The very words Lin Qian had deliberately used earlier to provoke Jiang Mian suddenly played out from Jiang Mian’s phone. The instant she heard her own voice, Lin Qian’s eyes flew wide open. She immediately flung Xu Xingming out of her arms, letting the back of the man’s head smash into the ground with a sharp bang, and lunged forward to snatch Jiang Mian’s phone.
Jiang Mian slipped the phone back into her pocket. With her back to the staircase, she lightly jumped down, her smile bright and pure.
“So… if possible, I really hope big sister won’t try to make a fuss using that face of yours. Otherwise, even I don’t know what kind of things I might end up doing.”
“Even later on, as long as I see even the slightest bit of negative talk about me, I’ll just put it all on you, Qianqian!”
Jiang Mian said with a giggle.
Put it on, your mother!!!
Standing on the steps, Lin Qian stared at Jiang Mian smiling at her in disbelief.
“I’m leaving.”
Watching her flick her sleeve lightly and hop away in small steps toward the outside of the soccer field.
“Jiang Mian!”
Lin Qian chased down a couple of steps as well and shouted.
The girl’s fists were clenched so tightly they trembled.
Why, why did she have a recording?
Hadn’t Jiang Mian always cared the most about her, this friend of hers?
How could she have recorded her?
Ahhhhhhh!!!
Jiang Mian Jiang Mian Jiang Mian…
Lin Qian screamed in frustration over and over in her heart.
So, had she really been beaten for nothing?
At the thought of this, Lin Qian was so furious that her entire body began to tremble.
But it was not as simple as just taking two slaps for nothing. Did Jiang Mian look like the kind of person who would stand there and take a beating without even fighting back?
She was not an idiot like Xu Xingming.
Jiang Mian continued hopping along in small steps.
Having just beaten up two people she had been sick of for a long time, Jiang Mian’s mood was so good it was practically bubbling over, until the production team of 《Heart-Pounding Idol》 sent her another WeChat message.
What they meant was that Jiang Mian’s popularity was high right now, so if possible, it would be best for her to open a Weibo account. That way, the production team could tag her on Weibo and properly hype things up. In that case, she would benefit, and the production team would not lose out either.
Seeing this message, Jiang Mian felt it made sense.
If she really followed the original host’s wish in the future and entered the entertainment industry to act, then her fans would still need to be managed properly, excluding those who just cursed at her and called her an idiot.
Actually, the original host had always had a Weibo account. It was opened back when she was in high school, and the username was Sleeping Jiang Flower Who Cannot Fall Asleep.
A cute little name.
Rather than a Weibo, it was more like the original host Jiang Mian’s diary.
Ever since she was young, Jiang Mian had liked keeping a diary. After her parents passed away and she went to live with her uncle and aunt, she liked writing even more. In that kind of living environment, if she did not write in a diary, she truly did not know who she could pour her grievances out to.
It was just that ever since something happened in high school, she had never dared to write in a notebook diary again.
Back then, her diary had been dug up by some meddlesome male classmates. They loudly read her diary aloud, including the part about her secret crush on Xu Xingming, and even pasted it on the notice board, mocking her openly.
Even the teacher told her to focus her mind on her studies. Her aunt mocked her even more, sneering that she was already thinking about men at such a young age and might as well stop studying altogether and come back to find someone to marry.
In the end, it was her uncle who stepped in and stopped it, allowing Jiang Mian to continue her education.
However, after the diary incident, for a long period of time, Jiang Mian did not dare to lift her head and look at people. During that time, even Xu Xingming distanced himself from her.
Because of this, she could only secretly open a Weibo account, recording all her thoughts, all her happiness and unhappiness, on Weibo.
Jiang Mian did not look closely at the original host’s diary. She only gave it a casual glance. It was basically filled with teenage girl thoughts so humble they sank into the dirt, and they never strayed from the three words Xu Xingming.
Even though Jiang Mian found this kind of Weibo somewhat hard to stomach, she still planned to let it continue to exist.
She hoped she could leave behind a few more traces of the original host in this world.
After thinking all this through, Jiang Mian paused for a moment, then directly opened another new Weibo account meant specifically for public activity.
And so, very quickly, the staff of the 《Heart-Pounding Idol》 program received the Weibo username Jiang Mian sent over: “Expert, Expert, Super-Expert”.
The staff: “……”
Jiang Mian’s traces had to be left behind, and she could not forget her own past either.
Once upon a time, Jiang Mian had been the number one expert of the NO. 1 Base. She had to forever remember that brilliant and glorious past of hers.
So, just as countless netizens were laughing their heads off under the trending topics on Weibo and felt they had watched this video enough and were about to move on to another battlefield, they suddenly saw the official 《Heart-Pounding Idol》 Weibo tag a bizarre and inexplicable account name.
After carefully reading through the account, they finally realized that this ridiculous Weibo username, “Expert, Expert, Super-Expert”, belonged to none other than Jiang Mian, the mudslide-level contestant who chopped bricks with her bare hands.
In an instant, huge waves of netizens flooded toward Jiang Mian’s Weibo.
In no time at all, under the very first system-generated post that appeared after Jiang Mian opened her account,
【I’ve opened a Weibo account. Come watch together!】
a massive number of comments appeared.
[Ahahahaha, dad, mom, big brother, sister-in-law, third aunt, second uncle, hurry up, hurry up and come watch the goofball together!]
[I suspect I’m going to laugh myself to death on Weibo today because of one person. “Expert, Expert, Super-Expert”, pfft hahaha!]
[I’m laughing so hard I’m about to puke. I’m going to call even more people to follow you. After all, you’ve got both a beautiful appearance and a goofball soul, sister!]
[《Heart-Pounding Idol》, hurry up and release more content. Sister has way too little material. I want to see more jokes, hehehehe!]
…
Because her phone kept vibrating nonstop, Jiang Mian, who had not touched Weibo in ages, subconsciously tapped it open.
Looking at the 999+ notifications in the backend, even though she knew full well they could not possibly be anything nice, her mild obsessive tendencies kicked in and she still opened the comments.
The next second, Jiang Mian pressed with one finger.
The screen cracked.
Jiang Mian cracked too.
Now she finally understood. These people could not be reasoned with. The more you responded, the more excited they got. She endured it… endured it… endured my ass!
So very quickly, a bunch of netizens who were laughing nonstop saw that the account they followed, “Expert, Expert, Super-Expert”, posted a new Weibo.
“Is it funny? Laughing hahahaha all day long. Laugh your Second Uncle off.jpg”
Hahahahahahahaha!
The netizens laughed even harder!
Great.
The good mood Lin Qian and Xu Xingming had brought her was completely ruined.
Furious, Jiang Mian directly tossed the phone in her hand onto the table, making a sharp pa sound.
It scared her roommate Chen Yufei, who was eating instant noodles, so badly that she almost stabbed her freshly done nose with her chopsticks.
“Ji… Jiang Mian, is the instant noodle smell too strong? How about I go to the balcony… no, that won’t do, you’ve got clothes drying there. Then how about I go eat in the bathroom?”
The girl suggested softly.
In an instant, the other four people in the dorm all cast the most admiring looks at Chen Yufei.
‘Eating instant noodles in the bathroom. Sister Chen, you’re truly able to bend and stretch as needed. How could you ever fail at great things in the future!!!’
Understanding her roommates’ looks, Chen Yufei’s mouth twitched hard. Did she want this? Wasn’t it just that she… couldn’t beat her?
Thinking about it made her feel even more bitter. Back in high school, she, Chen Yufei, had been fearless, not afraid of heaven or earth, and had even dared to argue head-on with teachers. And now, a tiger fallen to the plains being bullied by dogs!
“No need. Instant noodles smell pretty good. Just eat here.”
After the apocalypse, instant noodles were practically a luxury. Later on, you could not even smell them even if you wanted to.
Jiang Mian replied weakly.
Then she lowered her head and glanced again at the infuriating comments, only to see that those netizens were laughing themselves nearly insane.
Great. Let them be happy all they want. There was absolutely no need to care whether she lived or died!
No, this stifling feeling absolutely had to be vented. Otherwise, she definitely would not be able to sleep tonight, and if she could not sleep, how was she supposed to show up to the next competition in her best condition?
So Jiang Mian flicked her little finger and unblocked Song Qichen, whom she had previously blacklisted.
Derelict-of-Duty Canary: 【Brother, brother, brother brother…】
Stingy Sponsor Song: 【Cluck cluck cluck, are you about to lay an egg?】
Derelict-of-Duty Canary: 【……】
Derelict-of-Duty Canary: 【Brother, that was so mean of you. You’ve hurt my young and innocent heart! With such a serious injury, it won’t heal unless you wire me a huge sum of money! 5000 yuan!】
Derelict-of-Duty Canary: 【Ape holding out hand.jpg】
Stingy Sponsor Song: 【……】
After waiting two minutes without receiving any transfer, Jiang Mian immediately got even more fired up.
Derelict-of-Duty Canary: 【Fine, so you’re really this heartless. Song Qichen, you bastard. You had a great time with me yesterday, and today you’re pretending nothing happened. Fine, fine, fine, I’ve seen you clearly now. But you don’t care about me, and you don’t even care about the child in my belly? I’m going to jump into the sea right now!】
Stingy Sponsor Song: 【???】
Derelict-of-Duty Canary: 【Send the money. If you don’t, I’ll post everything I just said on my Weibo.】
Stingy Sponsor Song: 【……】 cough cough cough!
“Oh my god, President Song, what’s wrong, President Song? You’re coughing up blood, President Song!”
The subordinate who was still giving a work report cried out in alarm. Just as he was about to rush out to call someone, he was called back by Song Qichen.
One minute later,
Jiang Mian heard the crisp and pleasant sound of a WeChat transfer. She happily accepted the five thousand yuan, the corners of her mouth lifting high.
Sure enough, happiness could only be built on other people’s suffering!
Hehehe.
Derelict-of-Duty Canary: 【Oh my god, I’m so touched. Brother, what should I do, I love you even more now? Brother, are you still working? That’s really so hard on you! [Throwing flowers]】
Stingy Sponsor Song: 【Not hard. Just a hard life. [Smile]】
Jiang Mian: Hehehe.