Just a Tool for You to Compare Yourself With

If Song Zhining was a mom fan in entertainment industry terms, then Ruan Mingyi was a dream girl fan and a toxic solo stan.

She wanted Shen Qingling's eyes and heart to hold only her, and she hated other women coveting him.

In Ruan Mingyi's eyes at this point, Shen Qingling was merely prey she had set her sights on. She did not care all that much about his feelings.

This was the key to Shen Qingling winning Ruan Mingyi over.

She did not understand what true love was. If she wanted to figure it out, she would have to pay the price in pain before she could wake up.

077 had already booked Ruan Mingyi a spot in Husband-chasing purgatory.

The day before the banquet, Ruan Mingyi came to Jiang University.

The exquisitely dressed, beautiful woman outside the classroom once again drew the students' attention. Someone recognized her as the woman who had come looking for Shen Qingling last time.

"Look, Miss Ruan is here again."

"Shen Qingling is so calm. His eyes are fixed on that gray-haired professor. Is the beauty outside really less attractive than the professor?"

"Shen Qingling has seen beauties as numerous as fish crossing a river. Of course he's calm."

"I saw our campus belle Ji Yunmiao having coffee with Shen Qingling last time."

"When will I get treatment like that? I'm not greedy. Just give me one of the goddesses around Shen Qingling."

"Give it up. Look in the mirror first."

When the dismissal bell rang, Shen Qingling came out with books in his arms.

Ruan Mingyi had come alone for the first time today. Shen Qingling asked blandly, "Why did you come alone today?"

Ruan Mingyi smiled teasingly. "What, do you like my Qiao Qiao?"

Shen Qingling pursed his lips and said nothing.

Ruan Mingyi burst out laughing. "Oh, I was just joking. Why can't you take even a little joke? Qiao Qiao went on a date, so I can finally spend some alone time with you."

"I don't like being used as a joke."

Ruan Mingyi suddenly took a step back and looked Shen Qingling up and down.

"What are you looking at?"

"You know, when you wear rimless glasses and say something like that with such a serious face, it really has a certain feeling."

Shen Qingling turned to leave, and Ruan Mingyi followed, continuing to tease him. "Do you know what kind of feeling?"

Shen Qingling already knew her well enough. Whenever she opened her mouth, it was bound to be dirty.

Shen Qingling gave a cold laugh. "As if I don't know what's in that head of yours."

Ruan Mingyi's eyes curved. "You."

Shen Qingling responded with silence, his ears faintly red. Ruan Mingyi found it amusing every time she saw him like this.

"Alright, I'll stop teasing you. We're going to a banquet tomorrow night. Let me take you to buy some new clothes."

"No need. I'll dress more formally."

"That won't do. You have to make your entrance in the most dazzling way possible! Let me tell you how important this banquet is."

"How important?"

"There's a woman who's my sworn enemy. I want you to thoroughly outshine her male companion and help me vent my anger. Last time at a banquet, she mocked the male companion I brought as looking like a gigolo. It pissed me off so much."

Shen Qingling's gaze turned cold, and so did his voice. "So I'm just a tool for you to compare yourself with."

Ruan Mingyi paused. "That's not what I meant... No, that is what I meant. Wait, no, that's not entirely what I meant..."

Shen Qingling said directly, his face cold, "I thought you'd chased after me so persistently for so long because you liked me. Looks like I was overthinking it."

"Rich young ladies like you don't have things like sincerity in your eyes. I don't want to become a tool for you to show off. Find someone else."

Ignoring her explanation, Shen Qingling disappeared from her sight in just a few strides.

Ruan Mingyi stood there in a daze. "Why did he suddenly get angry...?"

"I never said I didn't like you. Is liking you and taking you to a banquet to show you off contradictory? They're not contradictory, are they? You're so handsome—if I don't take you, who else would I take?"

No such thing as sincerity? Her heart could not be any more sincere.

Ruan Mingyi looked utterly bewildered.

Men really were hard to understand.

An aloof male god like Shen Qingling was even more so.

Although Ruan Mingyi could not understand why Shen Qingling was so angry, she knew she had to humble herself. She immediately took out her phone and messaged Shen Qingling to apologize.

Ruan Mingyi: Sorry, I was wrong. I didn't mean it that way. I wanted to take you because I like you, and of course because you're handsome too. You're absolutely not just a tool for me to show off. Please believe me.

Shen Qingling: Then what's the difference between me and the male companion you said looked like a gigolo?

Ruan Mingyi: You're more handsome than him.

Shen Qingling: ...

Ruan Mingyi: Can you come back and listen to my explanation? (pitiful) I really didn't mean it that way. I also wanted to introduce you to my friends. Although what I said before did sound like I wanted to show off, I truly wanted them to know that I've fallen for someone worthy of being loved, someone completely different from all those people I was just playing around with before.

On the other end, Shen Qingling stopped replying.

Ruan Mingyi sighed dejectedly.

For some reason, when those boys from before were unhappy, she had only found them melodramatic. Forget apologizing and coaxing them—she was already being nice if she did not verbally destroy them.

But when it came to Shen Qingling, she felt at a loss. She could not bring herself to say those harsh, cutting words, and whenever Shen Qingling put on a cold face, she panicked a little.

Ruan Mingyi called Ye Qiao.

After listening to Ruan Mingyi recount what had happened, Ye Qiao's speechlessness on the other end of the call was practically tangible.

"Qiao Qiao, why are you silent too?"

"Sigh, Mingyi, I'm serious. Shen Qingling isn't a man you can just play around with. He's obviously someone who takes relationships very seriously, which is why he got angry at you."

"If he were like those men from before who only wanted your money, he would have calmly accepted all of this, then used the connections you built for him to climb upward."

Ruan Mingyi lowered her eyes. "I know he's different. I just don't know why he suddenly got angry. I explained so much, but he wouldn't listen."

"He's angry because you seem like you're not serious about him. The things you said came across as very disrespectful to him. Didn't you realize that?"

"Disrespectful... But isn't it a fact that I praised him for being handsome?"

"Then do you like that face, or do you like the person himself?"

"At first, it was his face. Later, it wasn't."

"Then what about him attracted you? Was it his aloof, unruly attitude toward you that made you want to conquer him, or did you want to be with him, treat him well, and make him happy?"

"I... I don't know."

Ruan Mingyi truly did not know.

"Think it over carefully. There are some questions you need to figure out before you can continue."

"I understand."

Ruan Mingyi hung up, and when she looked up, she saw Shen Qingling standing not far away.

Her eyes lit up in surprise. She ran up to Shen Qingling and said with a smile, "You didn't leave."

Shen Qingling said, "Didn't you want to explain? I came to hear your explanation."