Outside the cafe, it was already bustling with people.
“Holy cow! She really knelt! Am I seeing things?” A boy rubbed his eyes hard, then nudged his companion next to him, “Old Wang, pinch me, am I dreaming? Zhang Yining, our Chinese Department’s candidate for campus flower, knelt down to Lu Xuan?”
“Hiss—” The boy called Old Wang gasped, forgetting to bite into the roujiamo in his hand, “This Lu Xuan… who exactly is he? Why didn’t I realize he was so awesome before?”
Among the crowd, many boys beat their chests and stamped their feet, their young hearts shattering like dumpling filling.
That was Zhang Yining! The goddess who usually looked down on everyone and ignored them, was now as humble as dust.
“It’s over, it’s over, my youth is over!” A boy wearing glasses wailed, his voice choked with tears, “My Yining goddess… how could she do this!”
Of course, there were different voices too.
Several girls gathered together, whispering.
“I think Zhang Yining is quite brave. For love, she put aside her pride, what’s wrong with that?” A girl with pigtails argued, her eyes sparkling with longing for romantic love.
“Exactly, exactly,” the girl next to her immediately chimed in, “And don’t you think Lu Xuan is really handsome? He was too low-key when they were choosing the campus heartthrob. If he had stepped up, there would have been no one else’s turn! Zhang Yining has good taste!”
“Handsome is handsome, but this is too…” Another girl pouted, muttering softly, “It feels like a TV drama, too much drama.”
Various waves of discussion surged, some sympathetic, some puzzled, some disdainful, and even some purely enjoying the spectacle.
Lu Xuan stood at the center of this uproar, yet it was as if he was separated by an invisible barrier.
He lowered his gaze slightly, looking at Zhang Yining, who was still clinging tightly to his calf, crying with snot and tears, his brow furrowing almost imperceptibly.
Was this woman not embarrassed enough?
He wasn’t being chivalrous; he just felt that crying in public like this was a bit shameful.
“Don’t you think you’re being very embarrassing right now?” Lu Xuan’s voice was not loud, making her crying stop abruptly.
Zhang Yining looked up with tear-filled eyes, meeting Lu Xuan’s unfathomably deep gaze, which held no pity, only indifference.
Her heart trembled, and the chill was more intense than the pain from her knees hitting the ground.
“Get up quickly!” Lu Xuan’s tone was still flat, but it carried an undeniable command, “Go back and find your dad, and get things done quickly!”
He paused slightly, his gaze sweeping over Zhang Yining’s tear-streaked face, a faint sneer playing at the corner of his mouth: “Don’t blame me for not giving you a chance. This is the last time.”
He said these words very softly, as if they were lovers’ whispers, yet they carried immense weight, and only Zhang Yining, clinging to him, heard them clearly.
Every word was like a heavy hammer striking her heart.
Zhang Yining trembled all over, as if a faint electric current had been injected into her.
She knew this was Lu Xuan’s final ultimatum.
The instinct for survival overwhelmed all shame and embarrassment.
Lu Xuan impatiently shook his leg. The force wasn’t strong, but it was enough to make the distraught Zhang Yining release her grip.
He didn’t look at her again, turning to push through the crowd and leave.
“Lu Brother Xuan!” Zhang Yining shrieked, ignoring the sharp pain in her knees, scrambling to get up from the ground.
She knew she had to grasp this last straw.
Seeing the main character speak and one of the protagonists about to leave, the surrounding crowd let out ambiguous jeers and catcalls.
“Holy cow! Lu Xuan is too handsome! He just dumps such a beautiful goddess?”
“A real man never looks back at an explosion… ah no, never looks back at a kneeling goddess!”
“He’s simply a role model for us! This move, can’t be learned, truly can’t be learned!” A boy shook his head, his face full of admiration.
Zhang Yining wiped the tears and snot from her face, no longer caring about her image.
Listening to the harsh discussions around her, her heart was filled with extreme humiliation, but she forced a stubborn expression onto her face and turned back to yell at the onlookers: “What are you looking at? Haven’t you seen a beautiful woman chasing a handsome guy?!”
After speaking, she ignored the stunned expressions of those people and limped, looking disheveled, in the direction Lu Xuan had left.
Louder laughter and whistles erupted from the crowd.
“Holy cow, what a twist! Goddess turns into a simp, and still talks tough!”
“She’s got character! I like it! Even though she knelt, her spirit is commendable!”
This farce temporarily ended with Lu Xuan’s indifference and Zhang Yining’s desperate pursuit. But the storm on the internet had just begun.
Zhang Yining jogged all the way and finally caught up with Lu Xuan in the parking lot. She didn’t dare to get closer, only watched from a distance as Lu Xuan opened the car door and got into that eye-catching BMW M4.
Only after the blue sports car disappeared from sight did Zhang Yining lean against a tree, as if all her strength had left her, gasping for air.
After she calmed down, a huge wave of fear and regret washed over her.
She tremblingly pulled out her phone from her bag; the screen still had tear stains from when she was crying earlier.
Her fingertips trembled, pressing the wrong numbers several times before she finally managed to dial her father, Zhang Jianguo’s, number.
The phone rang for a long time before it was answered, and Zhang Jianguo’s slightly tired and impatient voice came from the other end: “Hello, Yining, what’s up? Dad’s busy here!”
“Dad!” As soon as Zhang Yining heard her father’s voice, all her pretense and strength instantly collapsed, and her choked sobs could no longer be suppressed, “Dad, you… you must help me! Please!”
“What is it now? Crying like that, what kind of behavior is that!” Zhang Jianguo frowned, his tone a bit stern, “Didn’t I tell you I couldn’t handle that matter? Why are you still…”
“Yes, and no… Anyway, Dad, this time you must help me!” Zhang Yining was incoherent, so anxious she almost jumped up, “Lu Xuan, he’s my boyfriend! I love him very much! You must help him!”
To add persuasiveness, she once again brought out the term “boyfriend,” and even added the nauseating embellishment of “love him very much.”
Zhang Jianguo on the other end of the phone was silent for a few seconds, clearly bewildered by his daughter’s sudden “boyfriend” and “love him very much.”
He cleared his throat, his tone still serious: “Nonsense! How can something like replacing a college entrance exam score be casually interfered with? Besides, when did you get a boyfriend? Why don’t I know? Who is this Lu Xuan? What does his family do?”
“Oh, Dad!” Zhang Yining stamped her foot in exasperation, “Now is not the time to talk about that! Anyway, he is very important to me! You must help him with this matter! I’m begging you, Dad!”
Zhang Jianguo sighed, his tone softening a little, but still firm: “Yining, it’s not that Dad doesn’t want to help you. This kind of thing, the water is too deep, there are too many complexities involved. If it’s not handled well, it’s easy to get burned. Do you know how many people are watching my position?”
“Let your so-called boyfriend’s family figure it out themselves! Don’t get involved blindly, and don’t drag your old man into this!”
Hearing her father refuse again, Zhang Yining’s heart sank to rock bottom.
She took a deep breath, knowing that further pleading would yield no results.
Her voice suddenly became calm, with a desperate tremor: “Dad, if… if I say, Lu Xuan… he knows everything about my college entrance exam?”
“What?!” Zhang Jianguo’s voice on the other end suddenly rose, like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, his usually steady tone instantly becoming sharp, “What did you say?! What does he know?!”
Zhang Yining closed her eyes, tears gushing out again: “He knows my college entrance exam score was faked, Dad! He knows everything! He even… he even has detailed evidence, made into a PPT… If, if you don’t help him this time, he… he’s going to expose my situation! At that time, not only will I be finished, you… you will also be implicated, Dad!”
“You… you idiot!” Zhang Jianguo was so angry his voice trembled, almost roaring, “My foolish daughter! How could you tell him such a thing?! No matter how much you love him, you can’t hand over such leverage to someone else! You’re digging your own grave! And you want to drag me down with you?!”
He simply couldn’t believe his ears.
He had worked so hard to climb to his current position, being cautious and fearing any mistake, only to have it ruined by his good-for-nothing daughter!
“No! Dad! I didn’t tell him!” Zhang Yining cried so hard she was incoherent, gasping for breath.
“I don’t know how he found out either! He knows everything in such detail, every step, every number, so clearly! He has a PPT, Dad! That’s not a joke! If it really gets exposed, our family will be completely finished! Your life’s hard work will be wasted!”
Listening to his daughter’s cries, filled with deep fear and despair, Zhang Jianguo felt a sudden dizzy spell.
PPT… evidence…
What was the background of this Lu Xuan? How could he have obtained such secret and detailed information?
A chill ran from the soles of his feet straight to the top of his head.
Zhang Jianguo’s hand, holding the phone, trembled uncontrollably for the first time.
He realized that this time, they were probably in big trouble.