I've been dumped

"Cousin, that throw you used on that big jerk was so cool! You have to teach me sometime." Ouyang Xuanxuan clung to Jiang Ruoyi's arm, her face full of excitement.

"Ow..." As soon as they turned a corner, Jiang Ruoyi began limping. Resting a hand on Ouyang Xuanxuan's shoulder, she grimaced. "Xuanxuan, help me sit down over there for a bit. I strained my back."

"Cousin, what's wrong? Weren't you fine just now?" Ouyang Xuanxuan's expression changed. She hurriedly reached for her elbow, intending to help her to a bench beside the road.

"Don't..." Before Jiang Ruoyi could finish, her eyes went wide. "Ah... ow, ow, ow..." She shoved Ouyang Xuanxuan's hand away and nearly landed on her backside.

"Cousin, what's wrong?" Ouyang Xuanxuan was terrified. She stood beside her, at a loss for what to do, her beautiful big eyes instantly reddening as though she were about to cry.

"No... I'm fine." Jiang Ruoyi waved a hand, then hobbled over to the bench and plopped down.

Then she carefully lifted her elbow.

The smooth, fair skin around her elbow had turned bright red and was badly swollen.

"Oh!" Ouyang Xuanxuan immediately covered her mouth. Staring at the swollen area in shock and distress, she asked, "Cousin, why is your elbow swollen? It's so bad, too. Should we go to the hospital?"

"The bone's fine. It's just a superficial injury." Jiang Ruoyi shook her head, then added with certainty, "That guy just now was definitely an expert."

"Ruoyi, do you mean he was the reason you got hurt?" Ouyang Xuanxuan asked, sounding a little surprised.

"Yes, I hurt this when I struck his ribs." Jiang Ruoyi pointed at her arm and continued, "Anyone else's ribs would have broken, but he acted like nothing had happened."

"Especially that last throw. I nearly broke my back."

"So he's that strong. I thought he just had well-developed pecs," Ouyang Xuanxuan murmured, her face reddening.

"What did you just say?" Jiang Ruoyi hadn't caught her words. "What was well-developed?"

"N-no... nothing..." Ouyang Xuanxuan blushed even harder and hurriedly shook her head.

"Hm?" Jiang Ruoyi frowned, then muttered thoughtfully, "But why didn't he fight back?"

Just then, Yang Weifeng and the others came running past.

They had only gone a few steps before doubling back and approaching the two women with broad smiles. Their eyes gleamed like wolves spotting Little Red Riding Hood.

"Are you two beauties here to register?" Yang Weifeng asked with a smile. "My name's Yang Weifeng. I'm a freshman orientation volunteer. I can take you both to register."

"My name's Sun Kai. I'm an orientation volunteer too. I... I'm nineteen."

"Get out of the way." Zhang Yong shoved him aside. "Who asked how old you were?"

Then he turned to them with a smile. "Ladies, my name's Zhang Yong. I'm single..."

Yang Weifeng and Sun Kai rolled their eyes at the same time. This bastard was way too direct. He might as well have asked, "Hey, beauties, want to date?"

"We..." Ouyang Xuanxuan was just about to refuse when Jiang Ruoyi caught her hand, making her swallow the rest of her words.

Jiang Ruoyi's cool voice rang out. "Do you know that guy from earlier?"

"Of course we do!" All three men's eyes lit up, and they immediately scrambled to answer. "He's the fourth guy in our dorm. His name's Li Yichen."

"Li Yichen." Jiang Ruoyi nodded, committing the name to memory, then asked, "What's your major?"

"Mechanical design," all three replied in unison. Then they exchanged looks, sparks practically flying between them.

"All right, let's go." Having gotten what she wanted, Jiang Ruoyi felt much better now and stood up.

"Okay." Ouyang Xuanxuan nodded, then thought, Li Yichen. His name sounds pretty nice.

"Um... are you ladies sure you don't need our help?" Yang Weifeng hesitated, but asked anyway.

"We won't trouble you. Thank you, but we can manage on our own." Without waiting for their reply, Jiang Ruoyi took Ouyang Xuanxuan's hand and walked away.

"It's no trouble. Helping others is..." The three were just about to follow when Jiang Ruoyi turned around expressionlessly. She pulled a blue ID from her pocket and held it up in front of them. "I said we can manage," she told them coldly.

"A police officer?" Seeing the words on the ID, they stopped awkwardly and forced stiff smiles. "Haha... well... go ahead, then... go ahead."

For the rest of the afternoon, the three had none of their earlier enthusiasm. Yang Weifeng in particular seemed utterly listless.

Li Yichen asked curiously, "Big Bro, what's wrong? You look like you've lost your soul."

"I've been dumped..." Yang Weifeng glanced at him with lifeless eyes.

"Dumped?" Sun Kai and Zhang Yong's eyes widened, and they crowded closer. "When did you start dating? How come we didn't know?"

"I fell madly in love with those two beauties at noon today," Yang Weifeng said dejectedly. "And they just left me like that. I really regret not asking for their contact details. I want to die right now."

"Pfft..." All three scattered.

"Hey, you're just abandoning me?" Yang Weifeng shouted in wounded outrage. "Do you have any humanity?"

As the sun sank in the west, the first day of freshman registration at Jinling University finally came to an end.

"Come on, let's get some skewers! My treat! All the big green bottles of beer you can drink!" With a grand wave, Yang Weifeng led Li Yichen and the others toward the food stalls.

He had been unusually lucky that afternoon and actually gotten a younger female student's contact details. He immediately forgot all about Ouyang Xuanxuan and her cousin.

In a private room at a restaurant not far from the food stalls, a dozen or so student council members sat around a table.

Song Yi, the student council vice president, stood first. Raising his glass, he declared, "Under President Han's leadership, today's freshman welcome event was a complete success. Let's all raise a toast to President Han."

"That's right, that's right. The first toast has to be to President Han." The others stood as well.

Han Wenqi slowly rose to his feet. "It was all thanks to everyone's wholehearted support. The credit belongs to all of you. Cheers..." He drained his glass in one gulp, then turned it upside down for everyone to see.

"That's the spirit, President Han!" Seeing this, the others immediately downed their drinks too, and the room grew lively.

After three rounds of drinks, Song Yi discreetly approached Han Wenqi and asked quietly, "Why do you seem a little unhappy today, Brother Han?"

Han Wenqi looked up and glanced at him. "It's nothing. Just two lovely flowers running off with a pig."

Song Yi immediately caught his meaning and smiled. "And here I thought it was something serious." Then he leaned close to Han Wenqi's ear and whispered, "There's still tomorrow, isn't there? Besides, as long as they're at this university, how could they ever escape your grasp?"

"You have a point." Han Wenqi raised his eyebrows, his earlier gloom vanishing completely.

"Hehe, that's more like it." Song Yi smiled, then his eyes darted around. Grinning, he beckoned to a girl across the table. "Xia, come have a drink with our President Han."