Because of Jiang Mian’s excessive sincerity, the surroundings fell into a silence so quiet it was almost eerie.
Zhai Feiyang, half-kneeling on the ground and holding up the flowers without moving for a long while, had his expression frozen stiff on his face.
When he did not move, no one else dared to move recklessly either.
Only Jiang Mian, the one who had caused all of this, smiled as if nothing were wrong. She turned her head to glance at the last trace of glow lingering on the horizon and spoke in a surprised tone, “Oh, it’s already dark. I should head back to the dorm. If there’s nothing else, I’ll be leaving first. Bye-bye!”
Jiang Mian politely and courteously waved to everyone, then left the moment she said she would.
It was only after she had walked a little over ten meters away that Zhai Feiyang, whose knees had gone slightly numb from kneeling, finally had his stalled thoughts start moving again.
Just now, he had very clearly been toyed with by that bitch.
The boy lowered his eyes slightly. The fingers holding the rose tightened abruptly, and a storm surged up in his gaze.
Zhai Feiyang had never been someone with a good temper.
Back in high school, he had been the boss of the vocational school. He smoked, drank, fought, dated, and had a temper so foul that if someone rubbed him the wrong way, he would grab a bench and beat them until their head was split open and bleeding.
Later on, it was only after meeting Lin Qian that his temper gradually began to rein itself in.
But his temper was merely restrained, not completely gone.
Who did Jiang Mian think she was, daring to toy with him like this?
He suddenly stood up. Zhai Feiyang casually tossed the bouquet in his hand onto the ground, then strode forward to chase after Jiang Mian.
In just a few steps, Zhai Feiyang had already caught up to her from behind. He reached out and grabbed her arm in one swift motion, using so much force that it was almost as if he wanted to crush the bones of the person in front of him.
Relying on the fact that his back was turned to the onlookers so they could not see his expression, the red-haired youth’s gaze turned sinister. At the same time, he lowered his voice and spoke viciously in a tone only the two of them could hear, “You filthy slut, you played me? Do you believe that I…”
Before he could finish the rest of his threat, the world suddenly spun around him.
“Bang!”
“Ugh…”
With a loud bang, right in front of everyone’s eyes, Zhai Feiyang was sent flying by Jiang Mian with a clean over-the-shoulder throw and slammed heavily onto the ground, letting out a muffled groan.
Before the onlookers, including Zhai Feiyang himself, could even figure out what had happened, one of Jiang Mian’s feet was already planted squarely on his chest.
Before the pain from the fall had faded, Zhai Feiyang immediately felt the foot pressing down on his chest, so hard that he was nearly unable to breathe.
Excruciating pain spread rapidly between his ribs. Having never suffered such a stifling loss in his life, Zhai Feiyang’s face turned pale in an instant.
Yet at this very moment, Jiang Mian, who was stepping on his chest, was actually smiling. The corners of her lips curved upward, her eyes curved as well, her voice soft and sweet.
“Sorry, my hearing isn’t very good. What did you just say? Heh, I didn’t quite catch it.”
Jiang Mian smiled as she continued to increase the pressure of her foot.
The indescribable pain left Zhai Feiyang without even the strength to cry out. His face successfully shifted from white to bluish, then to purple, and it looked as though he was about to pass out.
“Classmate Jiang, you…”
Seeing this, the surrounding students finally spoke up.
Hearing their voices, Jiang Mian slowly moved the foot that had been pressing on Zhai Feiyang’s chest away. “Oh, sorry. The lighting was too dim. I wasn’t paying attention and accidentally stepped on Classmate Zhai. My apologies…”
The tone did not sound sincere in the slightest.
The moment the unbearable pressure disappeared, the newly freed Zhai Feiyang immediately began gulping in air, panting heavily. Violent coughing followed, so intense that he even coughed up reflexive tears.
Through his tear-blurred vision, what he saw was the gentle yet apologetic fake smile on Jiang Mian’s face.
“I’m really sorry, Classmate Zhai. You might not know me well enough. I’ve practiced martial arts since I was young, so I’m a bit unaccustomed to people suddenly appearing behind me. It was a reflex, that’s all. I hope you won’t be angry.”
After hearing Jiang Mian’s explanation, the group of onlooking students, who had not been able to clearly see what had just happened due to the dim lighting, finally relaxed their tense expressions a little.
“So that’s what it was.”
“You really can’t tell, Classmate Jiang. You look so soft and delicate, yet you’ve actually trained in martial arts.”
“Yeah, yeah…”
‘What a load of bullshit!’
Clutching his chest, which hurt so badly it felt like it was about to explode, Zhai Feiyang thought, ‘is this really the kind of strength someone who knows martial arts is supposed to have? This woman was like a mammoth reincarnated.’ He had almost been trampled to death.
“Classmate Zhai, you haven’t said anything this whole time. Are you angry with me?”
Jiang Mian’s soft, ethereal voice sounded once again above Zhai Feiyang’s head.
The moment he heard that voice, Zhai Feiyang reflexively looked up and saw Jiang Mian’s familiar gentle smile yet again. For reasons he could not explain, the former Zhai Feiyang, once the undisputed boss of a vocational school, failed to control himself and actually shuddered in a stress response.
Before his mind could react, his body had already obediently shaken its head in a hurry.
“That’s good. Then I won’t feel too guilty.”
Jiang Mian smiled as she reached out her hand.
Seeing this, Zhai Feiyang instinctively covered his head, thinking she was about to hit him. Only after doing so did he belatedly realize that Jiang Mian had merely extended her hand casually in front of him, clearly intending to pull him up. When she saw him shielding his head, a trace of confusion even flickered through her eyes.
Almost instantly, understanding her intent, Zhai Feiyang felt an overwhelming wave of humiliation rush straight to his brain.
Forcing himself not to look at the gazes of the surrounding students behind him, and without taking Jiang Mian’s hand, Zhai Feiyang stubbornly struggled up from the ground in a thoroughly disheveled manner.
After finally steadying himself, the moment he lifted his head, Zhai Feiyang’s gaze met that of Lin Qian and Xu Xingming, who were standing not far away beneath a camphor tree.
In the instant their six gazes met, Zhai Feiyang felt a loud boom go off in his head, as if something had suddenly been detonated, blasting his mind completely blank.
Qian… Qian…
He had been seen.
Seen in that utterly miserable state, looking nothing like a man.
Seen by Qianqian, whom he had liked for a full six years, and by her boyfriend!
Especially since the look Lin Qian cast his way carried a faint trace of surprise and concern.
That meant she had seen everything, seen him being stepped on by Jiang Mian like a dog, pinned beneath her foot…
This realization made the blankness in Zhai Feiyang’s mind grow worse and worse, until he wished he could just disappear on the spot.
Yet this extreme shame and pain, the moment Zhai Feiyang caught sight of Jiang Mian’s shadow on the ground, immediately fermented in his heart into a thick, seething resentment and hatred toward that woman.
‘If it were not for Jiang Mian, if it were not for that bitch, if—’
Thinking this, the boy’s fingers clenched tighter and tighter, so hard that his knuckles began to turn white.
“Since that’s the case, I’ll be leaving first. It really is getting late…”
Jiang Mian smiled and gave another brief farewell.
Whatever Jiang Mian said after that, Zhai Feiyang could no longer hear any of it. At this moment, there was only a single thought left in the boy’s mind. If he was going to suffer, then he absolutely would not let that bitch Jiang Mian have it easy either.
Absolutely not.
Just as Jiang Mian was about to walk up to Lin Qian and Xu Xingming, Zhai Feiyang suddenly lifted his head. The corner of his mouth curled up in a malicious grin, his voice hoarse and low. “Wait a moment, Jiang Mian. You refused my confession and even made up some excuse about already having someone you like. Heh, that person you like wouldn’t happen to be the one who spent the whole night with you at the Jiahua Hotel a week ago, would it? You should have said so earlier. I originally thought nothing had happened between you two. Now…”
“Bang!”
Zhai Feiyang did not finish what he was saying, nor was he able to.
That was because the instant the final word left his mouth, Jiang Mian, who had been standing with her back to him, lifted her small hand. A red object brushed past Zhai Feiyang’s right cheek and flew at high speed behind him, followed immediately by a loud crash.
In that split second, Zhai Feiyang felt as if the right side of his face had been struck by someone who had swung their arm in a full arc and brought a shovel down on him with all their strength.
The entire right side of his face went numb almost instantly, as if it no longer existed at all.
The red-haired boy stiffly turned his head. Not far behind him was the aluminum can Jiang Mian had thrown, and the metal trash bin it had completely punched through.
Zhai Feiyang: “…”
The onlookers: “…”
Everyone’s lips twitched uncontrollably.
‘Mom, t-there’s a monster here!!!’
“Mm, I just threw out a piece of trash…”
You call that throwing out trash???
Everyone present swallowed hard in unison.
“Oh, the trash bin seems to be broken. I’ll take the initiative to go to the logistics office tomorrow to compensate for the damage. By the way, Classmate Zhai, what were you saying just now? What happened to me a week ago? Go on, say it. I’m listening!”
Jiang Mian smiled at Zhai Feiyang, who was standing not far behind her.
She smiled until the hair on the back of Zhai Feiyang’s neck stood on end.
And even without looking in a mirror, Zhai Feiyang knew that the right side of his face was swelling up at a visibly rapid rate, hurting so badly that he was almost drooling from the pain.
Zhai Feiyang forcefully swallowed, barely managing it, and stared fixedly at Jiang Mian ahead of him.
It was only at this moment that he realized that although the girl was smiling, her eyes were cold.
Those pitch-black pupils were like a large carnivorous beast that had unexpectedly crawled into your tent while you were camping in the wild.
They made one shiver to the bone.
His mouth opened slightly, but under Jiang Mian’s gaze, Zhai Feiyang found that he could not make a single sound no matter what.
“What hotel, staying out all night? Could you be a bit clearer? You know, my hearing isn’t very good…”
Seeing Jiang Mian about to slowly walk in his direction.
Zhai Feiyang could not help but take a step back.
Only after moving did he realize just how tightly every muscle in his body had been tensed. He was afraid.
The oppressive presence Jiang Mian exuded was so strong that even the onlooking students followed Zhai Feiyang and retreated a step backward as well.
And yet just moments ago, they had actually thought that a pretty girl like Jiang Mian staying out all night at a place like the Jiahua Hotel must have meant she was involved in some kind of transactional hookup.
Now it seemed that this female warrior must have spent the entire night in a room sparring and exchanging martial techniques with someone. That had to be it, absolutely no mistake!
They felt deeply ashamed and guilty over their earlier filthy speculations.
Meanwhile, under Jiang Mian’s steady advance, Zhai Feiyang retreated uncontrollably step by step. In the end, with nowhere left to go, he lost control and, without caring about anything else, dove straight into the bushes to one side and fled.
“Hey!”
Jiang Mian chased after him a couple of steps with a look of surprise.
She would have been better off not chasing him. The more she did, the faster Zhai Feiyang ran.
“Why are you running for no reason at all?”
Jiang Mian frowned slightly, her delicate brows knit together in confusion.
‘Do you think you can get away?’
‘You bastard, daring to talk to me like that. Tomorrow I’ll put a sack over your head and send you straight to the afterlife!’
Ptooey!