Xu Zeyuan’s eyes were wide open. He took off his mask, showing his face without any disguise. His expression was somewhat ferocious, his face flushed, with veins bulging at his temples.

He seemed to harbor an intense hatred toward Shu Nian.

Using words as weapons to inflict pain on her.

Every syllable he spat out, every word he uttered, was extreme. It was as if he had run out of options, had reached a dead end, and wanted to make Shu Nian feel humiliated too. He wanted to transfer all his emotions onto her.

He hoped to see some disturbance appear on her calm expression.

To find some satisfaction in that.

The gentle and sunny image he had cultivated in public was completely overturned at this moment.

But Shu Nian couldn’t understand where his emotions were coming from.

From the beginning until now, Shu Nian never felt she had done anything wrong to Xu Zeyuan. At least at this moment, standing in front of him, listening to his barrage of accusations, she didn’t feel embarrassed.

She was just too shocked by the words he could say to respond.

Getting together was his suggestion.

Breaking up was also his suggestion.

After reuniting, he had proposed getting back together.

Shu Nian hadn’t given an ambiguous answer; she had seriously refused. Then she had gone on living her own life, not actively bothering Xu Zeyuan, just spending time with the person she liked.

Yet this became his reason to attack her.

Shu Nian had never been spoken to so harshly to her face before. She lowered her head, her lips drawn into a straight line, using her other hand to pry at his fingers, struggling with effort to break free.

His grip showed no sign of weakening, squeezing Shu Nian so hard she felt like her bones might break.

But she still didn’t make a sound.

The more calm Shu Nian appeared the angry Xu Zeyuan became.

He stared at her face, speaking words that may not have passed through his mind, completely lacking in decency: “If I had known you were this kind of person, why would I have bothered? I should have just slept with you earlier, instead of letting that murderer have the advantage.”

Hearing these words, Shu Nian’s movements stopped.

Seeing that her expression had finally changed, Xu Zeyuan felt a surge of satisfaction, though his mood remained inexplicably blocked: “Why aren’t you saying anything?”

“Xu Zeyuan.” Shu Nian looked up and asked softly, “Do you know what you’re saying?”

“I’m saying it precisely because I know.” Xu Zeyuan said word by word, “Making me look like an idiot, recording shows outside while still thinking about you constantly, fuck.”

The words had barely fallen.

Shu Nian suddenly raised her other hand and slapped him across the face with all her strength. The corners of her eyes reddened, her features tensed, and her appearance still seemed to lack any aggression, yet her entire body was bristling with thorns. Her fear dissipated in this moment, her tone cold.

“You’ve insulted me.”

Because of her unexpected action, Xu Zeyuan’s head jerked to one side, and the strength in his hand unconsciously loosened. He was stunned for several seconds, then pushed his tongue against his cheek and laughed angrily: “Am I giving you too much face?”

Shu Nian seized the opportunity to break free from him, acting as if she hadn’t heard his words, and walked over to pick up her phone.

This slap brought some rationality back to Xu Zeyuan.

As if feeling wronged to the extreme, Xu Zeyuan raised his voice: “Shu Nian, what did I do wrong? Just because I broke up with you back then?”

Shu Nian examined her phone; one corner of the screen had already cracked and several fracture lines had appeared. She sniffled and walked toward the recording studio while turning on her phone.

Xu Zeyuan followed her, his tone extremely agitated: “You think you were the only one who was upset? I was upset too, okay?”

“…”

“You didn’t communicate with me, you didn’t tell me what happened, I heard everything about you from other people,” Xu Zeyuan said. “And such things aren’t pleasant to hear. When I heard those words, I also felt humiliated.”

Shu Nian tightened her grip on the phone and refuted him: “I didn’t feel humiliated.”

“If you didn’t feel humiliated, then why didn’t you come to school?”

“…”

“Breaking up with you was an impulse. I kept calling you afterward, but you didn’t answer. Isn’t that too unfair to me?”

Shu Nian didn’t want to say more to him and quickened her pace.

Xu Zeyuan stopped following her and stood in place. He stared at her back and suddenly blurted out: “Your current boyfriend, A He, does he know what happened to you?”

Hearing this, Shu Nian turned back and said calmly: “He’s different from you.”

“Different from me?” Xu Zeyuan laughed. “So he knows?”

“…”

“Different because the situation now is also different from before,” Xu Zeyuan’s eyes were dark and gloomy, speaking as if he had nothing left to lose. “What if the situation becomes the same?”

Shu Nian withdrew her gaze and repeated: “He’s different from you.”

“I heard from Ruan Xitong,” Xu Zeyuan’s tone was light. “You have some mental problems?”

“…”

“Your boyfriend can accept it now, but can he accept it for a lifetime?”

Shu Nian looked at him expressionlessly: “What are you trying to say?”

Xu Zeyuan said seriously: “Break up with him and come back to me.”

Half of his face had already turned red from her slap, looking somewhat disheveled. Perhaps because he had quickly risen to fame, Xu Zeyuan’s tone of speaking was as if he were superior to others.

Shu Nian felt an inexplicable sense of nausea and was about to quickly walk back to the recording studio.

Suddenly, from the corner of her eye, she noticed someone standing not far away.

Shu Nian instinctively turned her head.

It was Miao Man.

No one knew how long she had been standing there. At this moment, there was no expression on her face, she just stared fixedly at the two of them, looking like a storm was brewing.

Following Shu Nian’s line of sight, Xu Zeyuan also noticed Miao Man. His gaze paused, and as if nothing had happened, he casually said: “Manman, I’ve been calling you, why didn’t you answer?”

The air stagnated for a few seconds.

“I was recording, didn’t I tell you? Why do you keep calling?” Miao Man immediately revealed a sweet smile, walked up to Xu Zeyuan, and said, “Do you miss me that much?”

Xu Zeyuan raised his hand as if wanting to pat her head: “Mm, I miss you.”

Before he could touch Miao Man, she suddenly grabbed his hand, and at the same time raised her other hand and slapped him hard across the face: “I miss your mother!”

“…” Xu Zeyuan looked at her in astonishment.

“You think I’m a stupid little girl just because I act like one?” As if not satisfied, Miao Man slapped his other cheek, “I’m truly blind, and dealing with a fucking male chauvinist, I give up. How dare you bully a young girl?”

Xu Zeyuan understood her words, and his expression became very ugly.

“Have you said enough?”

“I’ve said enough.” Miao Man sneered and raised her hand again. “But I haven’t slapped enough.”

Xu Zeyuan quickly grabbed her hand: “Are you fucking crazy?”

Miao Man’s hand slipped, grabbed his arm, and then turned her back for a shoulder throw.

With a thud.

Xu Zeyuan was slammed to the ground.

Shu Nian stared blankly at the scene before her, not knowing how to react for a moment.

Miao Man kicked him triumphantly, then exhaled and said with a grin: “Idiot, don’t you know I transitioned from athlete to actor?”

“…”

After saying that, Miao Man grabbed Shu Nian’s wrist: “Let’s go, Teacher Huang is looking for you.”

Shu Nian followed her, feeling at a loss about this development, and cautiously said: “Thank you.”

Miao Man said: “No need.”

Shu Nian had originally thought Miao Man would misunderstand and might then become difficult toward her as well. She hesitated, then asked softly: “Aren’t you upset?”

“Upset?” Miao Man thought for a moment. “Maybe a little.”

“You shouldn’t be too…”

“Finally someone pursues me, and he turns out to be scum.” Miao Man sighed. “What kind of luck do I have? I even carefully acted like a white lotus, wasting my energy.”

“…” Shu Nian suddenly remembered Ke Yiqing’s words.

—”The two of them seem to have hit it off. But I feel it’s mostly one-sided from Miao Man. Sigh, she’s also a pitiful person.”

Miao Man released Shu Nian’s wrist, lowered her head to take out her phone, doing something unknown: “Don’t mind what that scum said, he’s a terminal male chauvinist. I hate this kind of man the most, he stepped on my landmine, and makes me want to vomit just thinking about it.”

Thinking of Xu Zeyuan’s words just now, Shu Nian’s mood was still very bad: “Mm, thank you.”

Miao Man’s fingers tapped on the screen: “I know about you.”

Shu Nian looked up: “Ah?”

Miao Man said: “My daughter has mentioned you to me.”

“…” Shu Nian swallowed, looking at Miao Man’s young face, not having learned about her background before, she said slowly, “You have a daughter?”

“Hmm? She hasn’t mentioned me to you?”

“It’s…”

“Ke Yiqing.”

Shu Nian’s expression froze: “You two seem to be about the same age.”

Miao Man said: “Hmm? Yes. She just insists on calling me daddy, I have no choice.”

“…”

Miao Man stared at her face and smiled: “I heard from her that your boyfriend is A He?”

Shu Nian nodded slightly.

She tilted her head and winked at Shu Nian: “Can I get an autograph?”

“…Of course.”

When they reached the door of the recording studio.

Since Miao Man and Ke Yiqing’s relationship seemed quite good from what she’d heard, Shu Nian thought for a moment and couldn’t help asking: “I heard from Ke Yiqing before that you were on a variety show together, and you had a one-sided crush on Xu Zeyuan…”

“She said that?” Miao Man interrupted her, speaking frankly: “She says anything. She just couldn’t chase that police officer herself and wanted to drag me down with her to lose face.”

“…”

“Ah, stupid daughter.” Miao Man arrogantly blew on her nails. “Being so ugly yet daring to chase someone, isn’t that just asking to be humiliated?”

“…”

Miao Man’s recording hadn’t been completed. But she seemed to be in no hurry now, feeling that her performance had been too poor and would take up a lot of time, she proactively suggested letting Shu Nian finish recording before she started.

After the fall, Shu Nian’s phone screen had become somewhat unresponsive. She managed to reply to Xie Ruhe with a WeChat message and then entered the studio to complete the remaining scenes.

Since there wasn’t much left to record, Shu Nian quickly finished all her work. She left the recording room, took a sip of water, and checked her phone again. Then she packed up her things, ready to leave.

Shu Nian sent a message to Xie Ruhe: [I can leave now, I’ll come downstairs to find you.]

Xie Ruhe immediately replied: [I’ll come up.]

Shu Nian replied: [Then I’ll wait for you by the elevator.]

Shu Nian shouldered her bag, said goodbye to the others, and left the recording studio. Because of what had happened earlier, she felt as if something was blocking her chest, always feeling that something bad would happen.

She instinctively looked around and, not seeing Xu Zeyuan anywhere, finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Shu Nian walked to the elevator.

She noticed that one of the elevators was already ascending from the first floor.

Shu Nian stared at the number, counting with its rhythm: “Four, five, six…”

With a “ding” sound.

She said softly: “Boyfriend has arrived.”

The elevator doors slid open to both sides.

As she expected, Xie Ruhe walked out from inside. Seeing Shu Nian, he looked up, about to take her hand. In the next second, his gaze paused, noticing that a ring around her right wrist had turned blue.

Xie Ruhe’s eyes darkened: “What happened?”

Shu Nian licked her lips and said in a muffled voice: “I just ran into Xu Zeyuan.”

Xie Ruhe held her wrist, gently rubbing it with his fingertips, not making a sound, but his aura turned cold. After a while, he looked at Shu Nian, like a parent standing up for a bullied child, and asked softly: “He did this?”