As everyone knows, Gu Hantian, the Pride of Jingda, comes from a good family, has good looks and excellent grades—it’s just that his temper isn’t very good.
As everyone knows, although Gu Hantian has a bad temper, he still maintains some courtesy toward female students, unless that female student has done something extremely inappropriate.
Gossip spreads through the university at a speed comparable to a tornado. In just half an hour, even Jiang Sui, who had no morning classes, found out.
Qiao Man ignored the messages from her ex-husband, exited the chat page, and directly clicked into the Jingda Forum—
“Shocking! What Did the South District School Beauty Do to Make Young Master Gu Show a Cold Face on the Spot?”
“Has Qiao Man Offended Gu Hantian Before? The Way Gu Hantian Looks at Her Is Like Looking at an Enemy”
“The Innocent Little White Flower Is About to Shatter, Young Master Gu Please Look at Me One More Time”
…
Every post was enough to make one’s eyes go dark.
Qiao Man expressionlessly opened each one, and after reading them, she put on a pseudonym and returned to the first post, clicking on the comment that said, “The South District School Beauty is Bai Xingyu, okay? Qiao Man, stop trying to ride on her coattails.”
Her reply: Are you blind?
A minute later, Jiang Sui sent another message: Is that “If Your Eyes Are Useless, You Can Gouge Them Out” you?
Qiao Man continued to ignore him.
Jiang Sui: Now many people are guessing that you’ve been pestering Gu Hantian.
Jiang Sui: They also say you must have used some underhanded methods.
Jiang Sui: Your new name: Scheming Abandoned Woman.
Jiang Sui: Not bad, sounds better than Jingda Live-in Son-in-Law.
Qiao Man: Shut up…
After successfully provoking her, Jiang Sui contentedly shut up.
Qiao Man put away her phone, ignoring the brewing storm around her, and focused on attending class.
The class ended quickly. During the break, the lecture hall was as lively as boiling water.
Jia Xin and Yi Yuanyuan urged each other several times before Jia Xin finally stepped forward: “Manman… well, it’s too far from the podium here, we want to move to the front…”
Qiao Man paused, and when she looked up, she met Jia Xin’s guilty eyes.
“It’s a new semester, we want to study hard,” Jia Xin said with a dry laugh.
Yi Yuanyuan quickly nodded: “Yes, we want to study hard.”
Qiao Man stared at them for three seconds, then slowly revealed a smile: “Okay, then I’ll go with you—”
“No, no, you can stay here,” Jia Xin said, pulling Yi Yuanyuan away quickly.
The two seats next to Qiao Man were instantly empty, standing out prominently in the fully occupied central area.
The gazes of those around her drifted over faintly. Qiao Man calmly finished her notes and casually glanced in Gu Hantian’s direction.
Young Master Gu was a natural male lead. Even sitting there doing nothing, he was eye-catching enough, especially with a bunch of his dubious friends around him.
One of the novel’s laws: the male lead’s friends are all handsome—either gentle and refined or flamboyant and naive.
Qiao Man’s gaze shifted from Gu Hantian to the purple-haired guy next to him, confirming that this person belonged to the latter category.
“Hantian, Hantian!” Xiao Chen whispered, “That girl has been staring at you… no, wait, it seems like she’s looking at me? Damn, she really is looking at me!”
Gu Hantian raised his eyes displeased, but Qiao Man had already averted her gaze.
“She was really looking at me just now!” Xiao Chen said with an innocent expression.
Gu Hantian couldn’t be bothered to respond.
“Hantian, when did she offend you? How come I didn’t know you two knew each other?” Xiao Chen couldn’t resist gossiping.
As soon as he said this, the ears of those around perked up.
But Gu Hantian didn’t answer, only saying lightly, “Class is starting.”
The isolation and discrimination in the fictional world always came inexplicably.
Because of Gu Hantian’s undisguised dislike, Qiao Man had become the scheming woman in everyone’s eyes.
Jia Xin and Yi Yuanyuan were so afraid of being associated with her that they hurried away the moment the class ended.
Qiao Man enjoyed the solitude, ignoring the occasional strange glances as she calmly went to the cafeteria to get some cheap food.
“Is that her?”
“Shh.”
Whispers were everywhere, but Qiao Man paid no mind. Taking a bite of cabbage and tofu, she suddenly felt her life was truly bitter.
After picking through the plate of cabbage and tofu and managing to finish her lunch, Qiao Man stood up with her tray.
As soon as she rose, someone sat opposite her.
Their eyes met. Her thought: Jingda Live-in Son-in-Law.
Jiang Sui’s thought: Scheming abandoned woman.
Mutual dislike evident, Qiao Man turned away expressionlessly.
Although September had already entered autumn, the weather remained scorching hot. The moment Qiao Man stepped out of the cafeteria, she was hit by a wave of heat.
Carrying her satchel, she jogged all the way. Just as she reached the dormitory building, Jia Xin, as if she had installed a surveillance device on her, promptly sent a message: “Darling Manman, don’t forget to pick up our packages~”
People may distance themselves, but they still want to keep using you, right? Qiao Man took a deep breath, calmed herself, and turned toward the package station.
When she saw two boxes weighing over ten pounds each, Qiao Man finally understood why these two had been waiting for her to collect them.
“Classmate? Classmate…”
Qiao Man snapped back to reality: “Hmm?”
“Will you sign for them now?” the staff member asked.
Qiao Man really wanted to turn and leave, but after some thought, she still picked them up for them.
Carrying so many packages in the sweltering heat, Qiao Man was drenched in sweat by the time she reached the dormitory door.
Faint giggles from Jia Xin and Yi Yuanyuan could be heard inside. Instead of opening the door immediately, she waited outside for a moment before taking out her key.
Hearing the noise, the two in the room looked over simultaneously.
When Yi Yuanyuan saw Qiao Man holding the packages, she cheered and rushed forward: “Thank you, darling Manman! You’ve worked hard!”
But Qiao Man suddenly stepped back, letting the packages in her hands fall to the ground.
Yi Yuanyuan hurried to pick them up: “Ahhh! There’s food in here, you can’t drop it! Manman, why weren’t you careful…”
Before she could finish, she noticed Qiao Man’s unusual expression and gradually fell silent.
Jia Xin coughed lightly: “Manman didn’t do it on purpose, Yuanyuan, don’t blame her.”
Yi Yuanyuan pouted: “But this was from my mom…”
“I heard everything you said earlier,” Qiao Man interrupted calmly.
Jia Xin and Yi Yuanyuan quickly exchanged glances, both looking guilty.
“W-what did we say?” Jia Xin forced a laugh.
How would I know what you said. Qiao Man’s gaze swept over their faces as she countered, “Are you distancing yourselves from me because you’re afraid of offending Gu Hantian?”
Yi Yuanyuan quickly stood up, wanting to speak but unable to find the words, her face turning bright red.
“We… didn’t,” Jia Xin said weakly.
She had known these two chatterboxes would definitely discuss this matter after returning. The exact timing didn’t matter at all.
“I considered you friends…” Qiao Man closed her eyes briefly. When she looked at them again, her eyes held unconcealed disappointment. “But this is how you treat me.”
“Manman…” Yi Yuanyuan hesitated, unable to continue.
“Forget it. Let’s just be ordinary roommates from now on.”
After speaking, Qiao Man walked directly to her desk, sat down, and swiftly wrote twenty dormitory rules.
“Since we’re just ordinary roommates, we’ll interact as such from now on. From Monday to Sunday, each person is responsible for cleaning for two days. On Sundays, we’ll do a thorough cleaning together. Lights out at 10 PM—no noise or video calls after that.”
“Handle your own affairs. I have no obligation to help you anymore. If you stay out overnight during room checks, figure it out yourselves. If it causes point deductions for roommates, either provide financial compensation or report the responsibility to the department.”
“No shouting or screaming, no disturbing others’ studies, no touching others’ belongings without permission, and absolutely no leaving leftover trash on others’ desks. Manage your own alarms. If you need to wake up early for special circumstances, inform your roommates a day in advance.”
Qiao Man slapped the rules onto the wall and turned to ask, “Any questions?”
Jia Xin and Yi Yuanyuan stared in stunned silence.
After a long pause, Jia Xin hesitantly spoke up, “N-no problems…”
Yi Yuanyuan also shook her head stiffly.
Qiao Man gave a perfunctory curl of her lips and returned to her desk.
Jia Xin and Yi Yuanyuan exchanged glances, nudging each other a few times before Jia Xin finally shuffled forward: “Manman darling, we just now…”
“Rule fifteen,” Qiao Man coldly reminded.
Jia Xin froze: “Wh-what?”
“Rule fifteen: No disturbing others’ studies,” Yi Yuanyuan whispered.
Jia Xin: “…”
Thanks to Gu Hantian, Qiao Man went to bed early that night and wasn’t awakened by anyone’s phone ringtones.
The gossip had fermented overnight and intensified. When Qiao Man checked the forum the next morning, people had already started spreading malicious rumors about her.
After reading through all the posts, just as she was about to exit, she noticed an unread message and clicked it open—
‘The South District School Beauty is Bai Xingyu, okay? Qiao Man should stop trying to ride on her coattails.’ The content involved inciting conflict and has been reported and deleted.
Qiao Man: “?”
Meanwhile, in the boys’ dorm, Jiang Sui lounged lazily in his chair, long legs casually propped on the AC outdoor unit.
“Brother Jiang, time for class,” his roommate called.
Jiang Sui ignored him, suddenly chuckling while staring at his phone.
The roommate paused: “What’s so funny?”
“Nothing. Just thinking some people got lucky with their timing,” Jiang Sui drawled. “If she were truly 20 now, every single one of these people would end up in jail.”
The roommate looked confused: “What do you mean? What are you talking about?”
Jiang Sui didn’t respond, lowering his gaze to screenshot several posts.
Then he clicked, reported, and deleted them.
Ten minutes later, the forum was cleared.
“The posts are all gone!” Yi Yuanyuan exclaimed.
Jia Xin quickly signaled her to drop the subject.
But Yi Yuanyuan, missing the hint, immediately tried to tell Qiao Man. Jia Xin hurriedly pulled her back.
Yi Yuanyuan looked puzzled, silently asking what was wrong.
Jia Xin shook her head and typed: Probably the school deleted them because of the negative impact.
The posts being deleted didn’t mean the online comments were false—after all, they’d witnessed Gu Hantian’s disdain for Qiao Man themselves.
Yi Yuanyuan suddenly understood. She had considered using this chance to reconcile with Qiao Man but now hesitated.
With no one bothering her, Qiao Man enjoyed the peace. As for how to handle the next plot development—she’d cross that bridge when she came to it.
Based on her two experiences with following the plot so far, Qiao Man realized the storyline didn’t impose strict requirements on supporting characters—it even allowed considerable room for improvisation.
Take this current plot point for example: it only demanded that Gu Hantian glance at her. Whether it was an appreciative glance or a disgusted one didn’t matter. The only consequence was that deviations in the male lead’s emotions might influence the next plot development.
But that was fine. She just needed to correct Gu Hantian’s attitude toward her before the next storyline began.
The next segment would occur on Monday. Today was Friday, leaving her with an entire weekend in between.
With a solemn expression, Qiao Man tapped open her phone and began studying food maps beyond the ten-kilometer radius of the university town.
Saturday, in a private room at an upscale restaurant far from the university town.
The braised pork belly was tender and flavorful, the crystal shrimp dumplings translucent, the fermented rice balls sweet and delicious. As for the West Lake vinegar fish… she’d ordered it out of curiosity, wondering if the fictional version would taste better than reality.
The answer was: no.
She elegantly signaled to the server, “Please dispose of this fish—plate and all.”
“…Certainly.” The server promptly removed the dish.
Just as Qiao Man picked up her chopsticks with renewed delight, her phone chimed.
She initially ignored it, but after the first chime came several more in rapid succession. Annoyed, she unlocked the screen.
It was Jiang Sui again: May I ask—is Gu Hantian’s dislike of you also part of the plot?
Jiang Sui: The plot now requires me to comfort the female lead who’s drowning her sorrows in drinks out of jealousy.
Jiang Sui: Here’s the problem: she isn’t jealous, and she isn’t drinking. What should I do?
Jiang Sui: No reply? I’m going off-script then.
Qiao Man: “…” She’d been too focused on enjoying her meal and had forgotten about this troublemaker.
Jiang Sui: Initiating chaos.
Qiao Man: …Behave yourself.