To build up her courage, Mu Qiansè could tuck a movie ticket into her pocket late at night and go watch a Horror Movie at the Movie Theater, so she was unquestionably a decisive woman of action.
After finishing her visit at the hospital and returning to school, she headed straight for a certain Campus Belle's Dormitory.
It was around four or five in the afternoon. Her luck was fairly good—she happened to run into Lin Xiaoyi and Xia Wen as they were leaving together to have dinner, and the two groups met right at the door.
Though they were not from the same department, they had gotten to know each other during club activities before, so the meeting was pleasant enough.
"I heard you and Bai Zhi are dating, is that true?"
After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Mu Qiansè, driven by a desire to save someone from misery, got straight to the point and asked Lin Xiaoyi.
Photos of Lin Xiaoyi in a white dress walking with Bai Zhi to get food had been taken by gossipmongers and posted on the school BBS. Bai Zhi had been busy preparing for the Novice Quest and knew nothing about it, but the matter had already spread like wildfire throughout the school.
Some bored students had even placed bets on the BBS over when the Campus Belle and that scumbag Bai Zhi would break up. Reportedly, more than a thousand people had participated. Even the incident involving the fifteen unlucky students sent to the hospital had been overshadowed by the buzz... This was an age entertained to death.
"...That's right."
Her face faintly flushed, Lin Xiaoyi nodded openly, then added,
"But I was the one who pursued him."
"But you should know about that guy's bad reputation... Wait, you pursued him?"
Mu Qiansè stared at her in astonishment.
"Mm. Actually, you may not know this, but Bai Zhi has quite a lot of good qualities. For example, regarding—"
Before Lin Xiaoyi could finish, Xia Wen hurriedly coughed several times beside her and discreetly reached out to tug her.
When Lin Xiaoyi shot her a baffled look, Xia Wen returned a fierce glare that clearly said, If you want to pursue him, don't give yourself more rivals and make things harder.
Lin Xiaoyi: "..."
"Good qualities? Aside from being somewhat handsome, that guy is obviously nothing but flaws... Fine, I understand."
Covering her forehead with one hand, Mu Qiansè let out a helpless sigh.
"A Young Girl in the throes of romance always finds it hard to listen to correct advice from others. I was just like you back then, bewitched by that peerless face. Only after spending time with him did I realize that guy was utterly useless."
"He isn't—"
Lin Xiaoyi tried to speak up indignantly, only to be stopped by Xia Wen again.
Thus, over the following stretch of time, determined to keep her friend from falling into a pit and being unable to escape after having her feelings deceived, Mu Qiansè went through Bai Zhi's flaws from beginning to end.
For example, after confirming their relationship, they could barely meet a few times a day. Even when she finally managed to arrange a meal together, she always had to pay. He spent long periods pulling all-nighters at the Internet Cafe without a care for the world, and whenever he ran out of food and water, he would think up excuses to scam money out of her... And so on and so forth.
What left Mu Qiansè extremely frustrated, however, was that the more she said, the more determined the other girl seemed to become.
Halfway through, the Campus Belle had even specifically gone to find a Notebook and, as if she had found a treasure, carefully recorded the daily habits Mu Qiansè described. She even wrote down in meticulous detail what he liked to eat and what he disliked... This script was obviously all wrong, wasn't it!?
She was clearly talking about that bastard's flaws, so why was the other girl completely unmoved? Did a Young Girl's IQ really plummet to rock bottom once she fell in love?
When Lin Xiaoyi held the Notebook and began humbly asking her for that bastard's phone number, QQ, WeChat, and other contact information, Mu Qiansè finally could not take it anymore.
She had originally intended to leave that bastard a little dignity, but in order to snap Lin Xiaoyi out of it, she could no longer care about such things. She directly recounted what she had seen at the hospital that day, then wrapped it up with a conclusion.
"No one understands that bastard better than I do!! It's obvious that he came out of the Internet Cafe after pulling an all-nighter, pale-faced and broke again, so he shamelessly stole the care packages meant for the students who had been attacked and hospitalized! That guy is a selfish Villain!! Believe it or not, before long, he'll take the initiative to contact you and then use all kinds of excuses and methods to borrow money from you!! He's nothing more than a Villain who cheats people out of both money and feelings!!"
After blurting out that entire speech in one breath, Mu Qiansè paused to catch her breath. Seeing Lin Xiaoyi suddenly stop writing and fall silent, she relaxed slightly.
She had put it so bluntly—surely the other girl could listen now, right?
What she had said was not some baseless malicious speculation. It was a conclusion she had genuinely drawn from her past experiences.
Back when that guy had still been her boyfriend, he had used this exact routine to scam several hundred yuan from her. Then, when she thought he had finally turned over a new leaf and wanted to watch a movie with her at the Movie Theater to nurture their relationship, he had already scammed enough money to keep gaming and had unhesitatingly stood her up...
What she never expected was that her words not only failed to work, but had the opposite effect.
"He's not as unbearable as you imagine!! You don't understand him at all!!"
Lin Xiaoyi suddenly raised her head, unmistakable anger burning in her eyes.
"Anyway, I can't stand this anymore!! Everything you said before was just your own subjective opinion!! He's a Hero secretly protecting everything—you don't know anything at all!!"
"A Hero...? Him?"
Looking at the Campus Belle who had suddenly exploded in anger, Mu Qiansè was utterly dumbfounded, almost wondering whether she had misheard.
"..."
Rolling her eyes, Xia Wen pressed a hand to her forehead in helpless resignation, looking as if she had known this would happen all along.
lsp.jpg
Before you continue