You Yuexuan’s face alternated between pale and flushed, making her red lips appear particularly out of place.

“You… you, where does your confidence come from?” Her breathing was unsteady, and she finally regained some composure. “I don’t like you? Why would I not like you?”

“You know why.”

“Hmph, you’re really funny. Someone like you, I couldn’t even be bothered to look at!”

“That would be best.”

As soon as Ruan Yu finished speaking, she started walking away.

“Hey! Ruan Yu!” You Yuexuan raised her voice, like an enraged beast, the scarlet of her lips spreading to her eyes.

Ruan Yu turned her head.

“Don’t think you’re anything special. Apart from good grades, what else do you have?” You Yuexuan sneered, “I heard you haven’t paid your tuition fees in full this semester. Huh, what are you trying to do? Force your way through school?”

“That’s none of your concern.”

“Concern? Of course, I won’t concern myself with you. Someone like you – father dead, mother gone, a penniless nobody – I don’t even consider you worth noticing!”

The sunlight that filled the sky and earth suddenly turned into a bone-chilling coolness, heavily surrounding Ruan Yu.

She clenched her fists, but when she turned around, she still smiled confidently at You Yuexuan.

“Yes, I have nothing, but at least I have the ability. That’s enough to make you jealous, isn’t it?”

“You…”

“Hey! Teng Yi!”

The greeting from the corridor startled both confronting girls.

Ruan Yu reacted first. She turned her head and the moment her eyes met Teng Yi’s, the last thread of willpower she had been maintaining completely crumbled. She knew he must have heard everything.

How was this situation any different from when Teng Hao had dumped a bucket of water over her head?

Her privacy and dignity were like an onion, peeling away layer by layer in front of Teng Yi until finally, nothing remained except tears.

Ruan Yu sniffled as her nose began to sting, wanting to leave quickly. She turned too hastily, her shoulder hitting the osmanthus flowers, causing the full, small blossoms to shower down. Their mellow fragrance followed her, becoming overwhelmingly intense.

Teng Yi caught up and blocked her path with his body.

Ruan Yu stepped left, and he followed left. She stepped right, and he followed right.

“Move!” She looked up and glared at him.

Indeed, he hadn’t done anything wrong.

But perhaps understanding everything was already a mistake.

“I came specifically to find you,” Teng Yi smiled at her.

Ruan Yu realized this person loved to smile. Every time his eyes curved, his pupils would turn into stars, and that handsome face would become a healing medicine.

“What did you want to find me for?”

“I heard you fainted.”

“I faked it.”

Teng Yi clicked his tongue: “I’ve seen people pretend to faint before the three-kilometer run started, and I’ve seen people fake it halfway through, but you – running the entire course and then pretending to faint – that’s truly an unprecedented approach.”

Ruan Yu could tell he was roundaboutly calling her foolish.

Wait, that meant he had watched her complete the whole course. So her persistent laps around the track had meant something after all.

You Yuexuan was also coming in their direction.

Ruan Yu wanted to leave but was once again blocked by Teng Yi.

“Teng Yi, what exactly do you want?” Tears were already welling up in her eyes. She was afraid he would see them, and afraid that if she didn’t hide them soon, they would fall.

Distress always seems to magnify in front of someone you like, and so does humiliation.

“I want to treat you to a meal.”