September arrived, and the new school term began. Chen Jia was busy taking Chen Yue to register at the Third Middle School.
The Third Middle School was very close to where Chen Jia currently lived—only a ten-minute walk away. In Anzhou, the school ranked somewhere in the middle tier, and enrollment quotas here were still assigned based on residential address.
Although Chen Yue said she didn’t need one, Chen Jia bought her a mountain bike anyway, just in case Chen Yue ever wanted to ride to school or go out on her own—she’d have a bike ready to use.
There were a lot of people at the school. Basically every kid coming to register was accompanied by a parent. The class assignment lists were posted on the bulletin board by the staircase next to the playground, and a large crowd had gathered around it.
Chen Yue squeezed in to take a look, then squeezed back out and told Chen Jia, “I’m in Class Three, but I didn’t see any of my elementary school classmates. I did spot someone from another class in Class Two, but I don’t really know them.”
“I just heard someone say your grade has eight classes this year.”
Chen Jia took Chen Yue to the office to pay the textbook fees to the teacher. Many parents walked by with their kids, carrying brooms, rags, and other cleaning tools in their hands.
They’re not going to have us help clean, are they…
Chen Jia muttered to herself and asked the teacher. The teacher said it was all voluntary and they used the class’s own tools. Chen Jia figured she’d at least put on a show of helping later.
There were no classes today—just registration. Chen Yue’s classroom was on the third floor, right next to the stairwell in the middle of the hallway. The facilities inside were old, as was traditional for public schools, but slightly better than what Chen Jia had when she was in school. This was the old school district; the teacher said the new district had a newly built multimedia multi-purpose room, and even an indoor sports gymnasium—after all, PE scores mattered for the high school entrance exam.
Chen Jia showed Chen Yue around to get her bearings, then went back to the classroom for one more look. Only a few students and parents were still lingering, so she took Chen Yue home.
Xu An’an had also gone back to C City for classes.
His friends on social media all knew he’d proposed. Word spread from one person to ten, from ten to a hundred, and it was all over the school forum. Even students from other majors were gossiping in the comments.
When he went to class today, many classmates greeted him with cheeky grins. Xu An’an nodded and answered all kinds of questions, but he kept overhearing the occasional person ask whether Chen Jia was already pregnant, which was why they were rushing to get married.
The first to ask was a classmate from the same major who lived in the neighboring dorm room. Xu An’an recognized his face well enough that he couldn’t lose his temper, but the smile on his lips faded as he shook his head in denial.
Not long after, a classmate came up and said, “Congratulations, congratulations—you’re going to be a dad! Who would’ve thought our Brother An would make such a splash? Everyone’s still studying, and Brother An just jumped straight to becoming a parent.”
Xu An’an shot up from his seat, his face darkening, looking furious. “Are you all that close with my girlfriend? How come I don’t even know she’s pregnant, but you all do?”
The classmate gave an awkward laugh, glanced around at the other students who had turned to watch, and realized he’d misspoken. He quickly said, “Hey, I heard it from Ma Chuang and the others.”
Ma Chuang lived in the dorm room below Xu An’an’s.
After class, Xu An’an returned to his dorm, set down his textbooks, and stormed straight over to kick open Ma Chuang’s door.
Only Ma Chuang and one other classmate were in the room; the rest hadn’t come back yet.
Seeing Ma Chuang, Xu An’an walked in and demanded, “So you’re the one spreading rumors that my girlfriend is pregnant, huh?”
At the sight and sound of these words, Ma Chuang’s expression began to panic. Xu An’an directly grabbed his collar, and Ma Chuang tugged at his own arm and shouted loudly, “It was Zhang Zhian from your dorm who said it! I don’t know anything!”
Xu An’an shoved him hard, then let go, watching Ma Chuang stumble back a few steps.
Ma Chuang didn’t bother straightening his collar. He pulled out his phone from his pants pocket and handed it to this demon of a man. “It wasn’t me, An-ge. It really was Zhang Zhian who said it. He even said it in the group chat…”
Ma Chuang knew exactly how vile the words in the group chat were. He didn’t dare read them out loud in front of Xu An’an.
Xu An’an scrolled up and down through the chat history on the phone, reading the insulting speculations and suspicions about himself and Chen Jia that Zhang Zhian and Ma Chuang had exchanged in their small group. He only felt utter disgust.
Before he even finished reading, Xu An’an threw a punch at Ma Chuang, smashed the phone to pieces with force, and turned to leave.
Only after Xu An’an had gone did the other roommate dare step forward to help up the groaning roommate lying on the floor, still shaken. “Why did you have to hang around with someone like Zhang Zhian? Don’t you know how bad his reputation is? He’s such a poser…”
“I already told you it wasn’t me who said it! Why did he still hit me?! And he smashed my phone—I just bought it with three months of my allowance! Is there no justice in this world? I’m going to report this to the counselor!”
“Are you crazy? Do you have parents like his? Do you still want to stay in this university?”
“It’s all Zhang Zhian’s fault. What a piece of trash!”
When Xu An’an returned to the dorm, both Qin Yiming and Zhang Zhian were there.
Qin Yiming was sitting in his chair, leaning back slightly, typing on his computer with focused eyes. Zhang Zhian was bent over changing his shoes, looking like he was about to head out.
Seeing Xu An’an, Zhang Zhian spoke as if nothing had happened. “An-ge, let’s go—let’s grab dinner at the cafeteria together.”
Xu An’an strode over and landed a punch right on Zhang Zhian’s face.
Caught completely off guard, Zhang Zhian clutched his face in pain, shocked. “What the hell are you doing?!”
Before he could even finish his sentence, Xu An’an kicked him in the waist. Xu An’an didn’t hold back, deliberately targeting areas that wouldn’t show blood easily. Without saying a single word, he beat Zhang Zhian into a pathetic, scrambling retreat.
Qin Yiming stood up from his stool, watching coldly with an indifferent air.
By the time Xu An’an finally stopped, the doorway was crowded with students from other dorms, plus people from the floors above and below who had come to watch the commotion. But not a single person dared to come in.
The people in this dorm were mostly wealthy and influential—they didn’t dare go in. Getting caught in the crossfire would be bad.
Although no one dared to come in and break it up, some well-meaning or drama-loving students secretly went to fetch a teacher.
Qin Yiming stepped around Zhang Zhian, who was lying on the ground with his hands over his head, and went over to close the door.
The students at the doorway met Qin Yiming’s pitch-black gaze and flinched back a few steps. Those behind them got their feet stepped on and let out a few yelps. Seeing that he was only closing the door, the front row of retreating onlookers all pressed back up against the door, jostling each other to eavesdrop.
Unfortunately, the dorm door had excellent soundproofing. They couldn’t hear a thing.
Yan Qinggong had just gotten out of class. From a distance, he saw a crowd gathered around the dorm entrance. He pushed through the crowd and walked up, saying, “Why so many people?”
The students who knew what had happened all chimed in at once. “Xu An’an beat someone up!”
“He beat up Zhang Zhian.”
“Aren’t they on good terms? Last semester they used to go to class together all the time.”
“I know. Xu An’an just hit Ma Chuang, actually. I was in the dorm next to Ma Chuang’s—he and Zhang Zhian were spreading rumors about Xu An’an’s girlfriend.”
“Oh, then Zhang Zhian had it coming. If someone spread rumors about my girlfriend, I’d fight them to the death too.”
Yan Qinggong waited for the people at the door to make way for him, then opened the door and went inside, shutting out the crowd of onlookers eager for drama.
Inside the dorm, Xu An’an was bandaging his own hand—his knuckles had been scraped raw and were bleeding from the fight earlier. Zhang Zhian lay on the floor with no visible external injuries, but he was clutching his stomach, unable to get up, his face twisted in pain.
Qin Yiming stood there with his arms crossed, expressionless. When he saw Yan Qinggong arrive, he let out an obvious sigh of relief.
Having already gotten a good picture of what had happened, Yan Qinggong didn’t ask any more questions. He walked over, righted the stools that had been knocked askew during the scuffle, and asked Xu An’an as if nothing had happened, “We’re all classmates here—isn’t there anything that can be settled with words?”
Xu An’an’s eyes darkened, and he let out a cold laugh.
Yan Qinggong then turned to look down at Zhang Zhian on the floor.
Zhang Zhian felt like every organ in his body was aching, yet Qin Yiming and Yan Qinggong—who usually seemed to get along well enough with him—neither one came to help him up. Resentment burned in his chest, but so did a thread of fear.
His family had some money, sure, but he was definitely the worst-off among the four in this dorm.
Yan Qinggong, who was better off than Xu An’an, seemed closer to Xu An’an anyway. And Qin Yiming—forget it, he only ever went anywhere with Yan Qinggong, and no one dared to mess with him. Someone who could be that close with Yan Qinggong couldn’t be an ordinary person…
What had looked like a harmonious dorm relationship—this one incident revealed exactly who stood where. There was no way he could keep living in this room.
Xu An’an was angry simply because he’d insulted Chen Jia and made him lose face. Well, if he felt humiliated, that just proved what Zhang Zhian had said was right!
Zhang Zhian struggled to his feet, using the stool for support, and even tried to smooth things over with Xu An’an, “I was only sticking up for you. You just don’t appreciate my good intentions. You’ll understand when you end up getting hurt.”
Seeing Xu An’an stand up again, looking like he was about to land a few more hits, Zhang Zhian’s survival instinct kicked in. His adrenaline surged, and he yanked open the dorm door and bolted.
Yan Qinggong: “…”
He went and closed the door again, then came back and made Xu An’an sit down. “Want to go to the infirmary?”
“No need, it’s just a scratch. I still have to call Chen Jia later.” Xu An’an checked himself in the mirror and noticed a bruise forming on his cheekbone—probably from when Zhang Zhian had flailed back in self-defense. He touched it. “This is really noticeable. That bastard Zhang Zhian—now I can’t even video call. I went too easy on him.”
Yan Qinggong shook his head helplessly. “You fought for Chen Jia, so you have to video call her. That’s the only way she’ll feel sorry for you.”
Thinking of that meat-selling man hovering around Chen Jia, Yan Qinggong looked at Xu An’an like he was a lovesick fool. “If you do something for her, you have to show her. That’s how you make her devoted to you.”
Only then would Chen Jia realize who truly cared for her the most. If she still couldn’t make a choice, or wanted to have her cake and eat it too, it was destined to end badly. Although Xu An’an was currently love-struck, when the truth came to light, the pride of someone from a wealthy family would be stronger than anyone else’s. At that point, Chen Jia would be walking straight into her own doom.
Xu An’an felt that Brother Qing’s words made a lot of sense, but since she wanted to win Chen Jia’s sympathy, Chen Jia would inevitably learn the truth anyway.
Wasn’t the reason he beat up Zhang Zhian because those people’s words were too harsh? Chen Jia would definitely feel upset seeing those remarks.
“Forget it, there’s no need to let Chen Jia know. She’d definitely be angry if she found out about those rumors. To be honest with you, Brother Qing, she wasn’t really keen on marrying me in the first place. If she found out people were saying such things, she might not even be touched—what if she ends up looking down on me?”
“…” Yan Qinggong watched Xu An’an like this, his eyelids drooping slightly, and said no more.
If Xu An’an was willing to let it be, then so be it. He’d even already proposed—wasn’t he already firmly in Chen Jia’s grasp? What more could one expect from him?
To go this far for a woman.
Beautiful women were merely icing on the cake; those who accomplished great things should not be swayed by feminine charm. No matter what major events occurred, Yan Qinggong would never reveal his emotions openly, keeping others from reading his stance.
Xu An’an insisted on creating a weakness for himself, which was a major taboo in his circle. But the Xu family had no ambitions in politics, so there wasn’t much scheming to worry about—nothing serious would come of it. Still, if he ever collaborated with Xu An’an in the future, he’d need to consider whether Chen Jia might influence Xu An’an’s business decisions.