Zhai Feiyang ran off. Seeing that there was no more gossip to be had, the other onlooking students also began to disperse.
Still, just what had happened tonight alone was enough for them to discuss with great relish for quite some time.
Watching the bushes where Zhai Feiyang had fled into, Jiang Mian yawned, looking a little bored. When she turned around, she came face to face with the two lumps that had been planted beneath the camphor tree from beginning to end, Lin Qian and Xu Xingming.
Jiang Mian recalled how the novel had introduced these two.
Because his father was excessively womanizing and promiscuous, Xu Xingming had never believed in something as empty and illusory as feelings.
His family background shaped him into someone aloof, cold, and emotionally detached. Even though during high school he and Jiang Mian had mutual feelings for each other, one was reserved and timid while the other deliberately ignored it. Neither of them ever took the first step, and so they kept missing each other.
They had thought things would improve once they got into university. Who would have expected Lin Qian to appear instead.
This young woman’s family background was also complicated beyond measure. Her mother, though beautiful and a graduate of a prestigious university, had set her heart on being a rich tycoon’s mistress. Even after giving birth to Lin Qian, she still never found the chance to become legitimate. Yet she accepted her status as a kept woman with complete peace of mind.
From a young age, the ideas Lin Qian’s mother drilled into her were simple. Marry a rich man, and mother and daughter would live the very best life together.
Having grown up steeped in this mindset, once Lin Qian encountered a prized catch like Xu Xingming, there was no way she would let him slip through her fingers.
Even though she had long seen through the fact that Jiang Mian and Xu Xingming liked each other, she still used becoming friends with Jiang Mian as her point of entry, making sure to appear by Xu Xingming’s side at every possible moment.
At the beginning, Xu Xingming found women who proactively stuck themselves to him extremely off-putting, and he even ended up venting that irritation on Jiang Mian as well.
Yet Lin Qian paid no heed to his coldness at all. She even chased after him to the city he was in during the New Year, only to unexpectedly run into Xu Xingming after he had had a huge fight with his family and left home.
On that night of wind-driven rain and snow, the stubborn-looking Lin Qian followed closely behind Xu Xingming, staying outside with him for an entire night.
It was precisely that one night that successfully pried open the door to Xu Xingming’s heart.
By the time the new term began, while the foolish Jiang Mian was still happily looking forward to seeing the Xu Xingming she loved so dearly again, Lin Qian and Xu Xingming appeared before her with their fingers interlaced, and even asked her for a word of congratulations.
The whole affair was enough to break the heart of anyone who heard it and draw tears from anyone who listened.
As for these two dumb pieces of trash, it was not that Jiang Mian had never thought about teaching them a lesson. But she was a pacifist after all. They had not actually crossed her yet, so she really could not just go up and beat the two of them for no reason.
Her steps paused slightly before Jiang Mian slowly continued forward.
Just as she passed by Xu Xingming, the boy suddenly grabbed her wrist.
Xu Xingming could not even spare the thought to ask how Jiang Mian, who had always been soft and weak, suddenly had so much strength. There was only one thing he wanted to know.
“Is it true? What Zhai Feiyang said just now. About you at the Jiahua Hotel a week ago. Ah!”
That filthy bastard really managed to spew stench the moment he opened his mouth.
Jiang Mian casually twisted Xu Xingming’s wrist, listening to the crisp sound of bone, and thought this to herself.
As Xu Xingming sucked in sharp breaths again and again from the pain, Jiang Mian remained completely unmoved. Lin Qian, on the other hand, was instantly shocked.
“Mianmian!”
Lin Qian hurried forward and wrenched Xu Xingming’s wrist free, otherwise with Jiang Mian’s strength, she was afraid it might have been twisted clean off.
But since she had never liked squabbling with other girls, Jiang Mian went with the flow and loosened her grip.
“Xingming, he… he was just worried about you. After all, you two have been good friends for so many years. He was afraid you might be deceived by people outside. In matters like that, girls are always the ones who suffer more in the end.”
The moment Lin Qian spoke, the scent of green tea was overflowing.
“What kind of matters?” Jiang Mian raised an eyebrow and asked in return.
“Huh? Just… just that kind of thing…”
Lin Qian stomped her foot in embarrassment.
Hearing this, Jiang Mian frowned slightly and put on a thoughtful expression.
“Oh. You mean the kind of thing that happened between you and Zhai Feiyang in the private room next door at the KTV on your birthday?”
Jiang Mian revealed a small look of sudden realization.
Zhai Feiyang’s family was wealthy, though not excessively so. The key point was that he was willing to spend money on Lin Qian. Not only that, wherever Lin Qian pointed, he charged straight ahead. He was the most obedient person in the world when it came to Lin Qian.
Such a handy tool, with Lin Qian’s personality, there was no way she would let it go.
But even a bootlicker is still human and can feel anger and resentment. That was how, at the last birthday celebration, the original host had accidentally seen Lin Qian just stepping out of a private room, only to be dragged by the drunk Zhai Feiyang into the pitch-dark private room next door.
At the time, Xu Xingming seemed to be separated from them by nothing more than a single wall. Just thinking about it was thrilling.
No one knew what the two of them did inside the room. They only knew that when Lin Qian returned to her own private room, her lips were vividly red. One look was enough to tell that something interesting must have happened earlier.
Even after learning this kind of news, the foolish Jiang Mian never thought of tattling on her. On the contrary, because Lin Qian was her friend, she worried that Lin Qian might have been threatened in some way. She even secretly made up her mind to muster her courage and give Zhai Feiyang a scolding.
Who could have guessed that those two were actually in it together, secretly joining forces behind her back to scheme against her instead.
The moment Jiang Mian spoke those words, a flash of disbelief and panic swept across Lin Qian’s face, but she quickly steadied herself.
At the instant she met Xu Xingming’s suspicious gaze, her expression had already transformed into pure innocence and confusion.
“I didn’t…”
Lin Qian lowered her voice and denied the matter to Xu Xingming with a wronged tone. Her expression was so innocent and pitiful that no one could find fault with it. Yet only she herself knew how massive a storm had been stirred up in her heart at that very moment.
What was going on? How could Jiang Mian have seen what happened that day? Just how much had she seen? She and Feiyang really had nothing going on. That day, it was only because he accidentally drank too much. Other than kissing and hugging, nothing else happened between them. Why was Jiang Mian spouting such nonsense in front of Xingming?
Fine. She had known it. Jiang Mian was never as simple and pure as she appeared on the surface. She had seen tricks like this plenty of times before. Did Jiang Mian think that by making Xingming misunderstand, she could seize the chance to slip in?
In her dreams.
A flash of sharp malice passed through Lin Qian’s eyes and vanished in an instant.
Seeing that Lin Qian kept her head lowered the whole time, Jiang Mian had no intention of pressing the advantage.
What she had just done was merely a small counterattack in response to Lin Qian’s sharp tongue. It was not as if she would really fight with her over a pile of crap like Xu Xingming.
She, Jiang Mian, never did anything so undignified.
“If you say there was nothing, then there was nothing…”
Jiang Mian did not care at all. She turned around and was about to head into the dormitory building.
Just as she was about to enter.
“Wait a moment, Mianmian.”
Lin Qian’s voice rang out behind her once again.
“There’s something else. Today I heard from a friend that they saw you also sign up for 《Heart-Pounding Idol》, and it seems you even got a yes card. That’s amazing. Congratulations. Actually, yesterday Xingming and I, and Fei… we also went to sign up, and we got yes cards too. Looks like we’ll be able to take part in the same show next. If the few of us can sign a contract and debut together then, that would be wonderful.”
Lin Qian’s attitude was very gentle, as if the earlier argument had never happened at all.
It was precisely because of this that Jiang Mian admired girls like her.
No matter how ugly things had gotten just moments ago, as long as she wanted to, Lin Qian could cast all the unpleasantness aside at any time and smoothly move on to a brand new topic.
Hearing this, the corner of Jiang Mian’s lips curled slightly, then she tilted her head in surprise.
“You all? Including that Zhai Feiyang, he got a card too?”
Lin Qian smiled and nodded.
“Oh, then this show really is not picky at all.” It takes in every kind of broken pot and cracked lid.
Jiang Mian could not help but sigh sincerely from the bottom of her heart.
Lin Qian: “…”
Xu Xingming: “…”
To hell with sincere.
After a few seconds of silence.
“What’s there to talk to her about? Let’s go.”
Xu Xingming, whose wrist finally did not hurt as much, grabbed Lin Qian’s hand and turned around to leave without hesitation.
Whether they left or not had nothing to do with her. She was not going to keep them.
Jiang Mian also turned around with brisk efficiency.
At the instant she turned, she subconsciously lifted her head, only to discover that the so-called good roommates she had first met after transmigrating were all leaning out of the window, watching the drama with great relish.
The five of them were caught off guard when Jiang Mian spotted them. In that split second, they froze on the spot like hamsters encountering danger.
Very quickly, they shrank back at lightning speed, afraid that Jiang Mian might get a clear look at them.
Meanwhile, Xu Xingming, who had only walked a few steps away, could not help himself and subconsciously turned his head to look back. Not only did he see that Jiang Mian had no intention of turning around at all, she had even broken into a light run, disappearing from sight in an instant.
This left Xu Xingming, who had always been used to seeing Jiang Mian standing not far behind him whenever he turned around, suddenly flustered. He felt as if a piece of his chest had inexplicably been hollowed out, with cold air whistling straight through it.
It was not until Lin Qian tugged at his hand that he came back to his senses a little.
At the same time, Jiang Mian on the other end had already run straight up to the fifth-floor dormitory in one breath.
Almost the moment footsteps sounded outside the door, the people inside had already pulled it open early. They stood on either side, each of them smiling like hotel greeters as they welcomed Jiang Mian back.
“Jiang… Jiang… Jiang Mian, we have already wiped down your desk inside and out, carefully and thoroughly. We even sprayed orange blossom perfume, so there is guaranteed not to be even a hint of any strange smell. Your clothes have already been washed too, and we even dried them for you.”
“We’ve also returned everything we borrowed from you earlier. Things like shampoo and body wash that were already used have all been replaced with brand-new ones, and we put them directly on your desk.”
“And your bedpost broke, right? If it feels inconvenient, you can just pick any one of our beds to sleep on. Whichever you like is fine. The five of us absolutely won’t have any objections!”
With how resolute they sounded, they were practically one step away from swearing a poisonous oath on the spot.
Hearing this, Jiang Mian glanced at the original host’s desk.
In the past, it had often been cluttered with various odds and ends belonging to the other five. Now they were all gone. Not only were they gone, her books and belongings had all been wiped until they shone and neatly arranged. At a single glance, it looked indescribably pleasant.
So they could be this capable after all.
“Good job.”
Jiang Mian nodded in approval.
Hearing this, the five people in the dormitory had not even had time to feel secretly delighted before they heard the second half of Jiang Mian’s words.
“Since you’re so capable, from now on you five can take turns doing dorm duty!”
The five of them: “……” can’t smile.jpg
“What’s wrong? You all look like you’re not very happy. Don’t you like doing dorm duty?”
Jiang Mian frowned and asked sincerely.
“We do, we do!”
“We love cleaning the most!”
“Exactly. No one better fight me for it. Labor is the most glorious!”
“Ha, hahahaha…”
The five of them kept forcing out awkward laughter.
They laughed until the corners of their mouths were practically cramping before they finally saw Jiang Mian’s brow relax.
Only then did the five of them feel a weight lift off their chests.
It was at this moment that Chen Yufei seemed to suddenly remember something. She took Jiang Mian’s phone from the side and handed it over with both hands.
“Oh right, Jiang Mian. After you left, your phone rang several times. We didn’t answer it, but we saw from the caller ID that it seemed to be your aunt. She’s already called four or five times, and she also sent a bunch of messages on WeChat. It looks like something urgent came up.”
Hearing this, Jiang Mian reached out to take the phone and opened WeChat.
No surprise there. It was another request for money.
Absolutely unbelievable.
Seeing that, Jiang Mian typed a few words with a playful expression and sent them, then tossed the phone aside and went off to take a shower while humming a tune.
At this moment, more than 500 km away from Yanjing, in Song County, inside a smoky, filthy mahjong parlor, a plump woman with a short head of permed curls and bright red lipstick heard her phone notification chime and subconsciously glanced at it.
The moment she saw the three words “deadweight” displayed on the screen, the fat woman was so excited she did not even bother touching her mahjong tiles anymore. After losing so much money, she was counting on that damned girl to show a bit more filial piety.
It might not be much, but no matter how small a mosquito is, it is still meat.
She hurriedly slid the phone open and tapped into WeChat, only for the smile on her face to freeze solid.
【So fond of money? How about I burn some joss paper[1]Joss paper: Paper offerings burned in traditional Chinese rituals to honor the dead or send money and goods to them in the afterlife. jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_1659043_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_1659043_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], }); and send it to you?】
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