Just as Jiang Ruoqiao was repeatedly savoring the life post titled “It’s a Star” on social media, Jiang Yan’s video call came in again.

Ever since she had dreamed about that novel, Jiang Yan’s standing in Jiang Ruoqiao’s eyes had plummeted.

When she said she had misjudged him, she didn’t only mean Jiang Yan’s family circumstances.

Strictly speaking, she was still so young right now, and no matter who she dated, marriage wouldn’t even cross her mind — it was far too distant a thought. So whether Jiang Yan was poor or rich, she didn’t particularly care. Put another way, if none of this had happened, even if she had found out that Jiang Yan wasn’t some wealthy second-generation heir, she wouldn’t have broken up with him as long as she still liked him and had feelings for him.

What she had misjudged was the kind of man Jiang Yan was — he was no man at all!!

His character was rotten to the core.

Lu Yicheng left Jiang Yan in the dust by miles. It wasn’t that she was deliberately comparing the two of them — it was just that the only man she had been in contact with recently was Lu Yicheng, so she pulled him in for a side-by-side comparison.

Setting aside her own intelligence-diminished behavior in the novel…

In a relationship, if one party cares more about family background and money, does that automatically make them wrong?

Fine — breaking up over incompatible values was acceptable. But did Jiang Yan, a grown man, really need to perform such a display of devastating heartbreak?

Had he never enjoyed anything in that relationship?

Was it not him who held her hand, held her, kissed her??

And yet look at the villainess in the novel — portrayed as a shallow, gold-digging materialist. But here’s the thing: had she ever actually taken any of the male lead’s money? Had he ever lavished money on her??

Going out for a meal, buying a gift — wasn’t that just what people do when they’re dating?

So how was it that from the male lead’s perspective, he came across as someone who had been thoroughly taken advantage of, someone whose feelings had been deceived?

Had he received no emotional value from her at all?

Fine — all of that could be set aside. Right and wrong were hard to assign, and when two people couldn’t make it work, a clean break was the most sensible thing. But the male lead — he kept brooding over it, even plotting revenge against the female lead. To prettify his behavior, the author wrote it so that he never went through with the revenge himself. Yet the people around him took it seriously and actually went after the villainess. Could anyone honestly say that had nothing to do with the male lead?

Thinking about all of this made Jiang Ruoqiao furious!

She felt like dedicating the song “What Kind of Man Is This” to Jiang Yan.

The villainess was the truly pitiful one — she got nothing out of it. She had simply been in a relationship that ended in a breakup. And yet she wound up with that kind of ending.

Jiang Ruoqiao: What terrible luck. What utterly terrible luck!

Carrying that mood, she accepted Jiang Yan’s video call.

On the phone screen was Jiang Yan’s face.

Jiang Ruoqiao did her best to compose herself and gave him a smile.

Jiang Yan: “It’s been raining on the island these past few days, so I don’t have to go out shopping with them.”

Jiang Ruoqiao genuinely had no interest in making conversation. But she already had a breakup plan forming in her mind, already taking shape. Truthfully, she had dated three people before, and it wasn’t that she loved comparisons — but Jiang Yan really couldn’t hold a candle to the other two ex-boyfriends. If it weren’t for the male lead’s protagonist halo, Jiang Ruoqiao would have told Jiang Yan to get lost long ago. Get lost sooner rather than later — forget a peaceful breakup.

Could she go head-to-head with the male lead?

It wasn’t that she couldn’t — but she had to consider the people behind him.

Who stood behind Jiang Yan? Lin Kexing.

Having read the novel from beginning to end, Jiang Ruoqiao felt not the slightest admiration for Jiang Yan. If anything, the more she looked at him, the stranger he seemed — because no matter how the author tried to glorify or gloss over the story of Jiang Yan’s rise to success, anyone who read between the lines could see it clearly: Jiang Yan had built his career by relying on the Lin Family, by relying on Lin Kexing.

He had ability, yes. He had means, yes. But in this day and age, there were far too many people with those two things.

What made him luckier than everyone else was that he had a Lin Kexing who loved him.

Jiang Ruoqiao almost felt envious of Jiang Yan.

How come there wasn’t a wealthy second-generation heir like Lin Kexing who was hopelessly, silently devoted to her??

It was safe to say that with Lin Kexing around, Jiang Yan was destined to rise, sooner or later.

Jiang Ruoqiao considered herself someone who could bend when she needed to and stand firm when she could. Now that she knew how the novel unfolded, she would do everything she could to steer clear of that ending. Going up against Lin Jewelry — she backed down without hesitation. She wasn’t even the “egg” in the saying “smashing an egg against a rock.”

So be it. Cowardice it was.

“The Qixi Festival is coming up soon, and I’m planning to put together a compilation,” Jiang Ruoqiao said suddenly. “My fans all know I’m in a relationship, right? Some of the younger girls send me private messages sometimes with questions, and I thought — since the timing is right, why not just put together a compilation? Just documenting everything between us. Do you mind?”

“Of course not.” Jiang Yan was absolutely delighted. He knew how popular his girlfriend was, and he would have loved nothing more than for the entire world to know about their relationship. “I’m thrilled, actually.”

Jiang Ruoqiao blinked. “I’ll be recording all the bank transfers, the red envelopes, and the gifts you’ve given me to share with my fans.”

Let everyone take a good look at exactly how much he had spent on her throughout this relationship.

She was definitely going to break up with him — but no one was ever going to pin the label of “shallow, gold-digging materialist” on her head.

If she had ever accepted any valuable gifts from Jiang Yan, then fine, she’d own that. But she hadn’t received a single thing — so why should she accept that accusation?

And to think the male lead in the novel really did carry on like someone who had been thoroughly schemed against. Utterly nauseating.

“No problem.” Jiang Yan smiled.

Jiang Ruoqiao said: “It’s really just about spreading some positive energy. You know how some students these days do all these extreme things to surprise their boyfriends and girlfriends — I want to tell them: we’re all still living on our parents’ allowances, we don’t put much stock in those things when dating, and if you really want to give your partner something valuable, earn it yourself.”

Jiang Yan nodded slowly. “It sounds like you’re hinting at something.”

Jiang Ruoqiao laughed. “You caught on? When I looked back at our chat history, you were thinking about buying me a bag, weren’t you? I don’t really like that kind of thing. Honestly — if I want something, I’ll work hard and buy it myself. Or wait until after graduation when I’m earning a salary. I’ve always felt that spending your parents’ hard-earned money on luxury gifts for a partner is… not quite right.”

Jiang Yan pushed back: “You’ve got it wrong — it’s money I earned myself.”

“That’s still not okay!” Jiang Ruoqiao replied. “I know how hard you work, and that money doesn’t come easily. Better to save it — buy something for yourself, or buy your parents something meaningful. Jiang Yan, listen to me: in the future, when we have lots and lots of money, if you don’t buy me things, I’ll pick a fight with you.”

Jiang Yan fell silent.

He felt rather useless.

It was true — buying his girlfriend a single bag required cobbling money together from here and there.

Jiang Ruoqiao’s words had sunk in.

“I already bought it,” Jiang Yan replied. “I got someone else to buy it — it was cheap.”

Jiang Ruoqiao shot him a look. “Do you think I’m three years old? Even buying that kind of bag through a reseller isn’t cheap. Return it — I genuinely don’t want it. If you give it to me I won’t carry it anyway, so isn’t that just a waste?” Her voice softened. “Jiang Yan, I think when a couple gives each other gifts, it should be to make the other person happy — not to leave them feeling burdened. That’s right, isn’t it? You understand me, don’t you?”

…

After a long and patient conversation, Jiang Yan finally gave up on the idea.

Of course, at the same time, he also felt that he and Jiang Ruoqiao were growing increasingly close — because they could now talk openly about money.

Jiang Yan was deeply moved.

Jiang Ruoqiao had decided: however the breakup with Jiang Yan eventually happened, it must not be over money.

It wasn’t that she was denying her own personality — it was more that no one should be allowed to dump that particular bucket of filth on her head for something she had never done.

Otherwise, how infuriating would that be.

She was supposedly in it for the money — and yet after all this time, she had gotten nothing??

If she had accepted a house, a car, a check — then sure, say whatever you want about her, she’d have no objections.

What Jiang Ruoqiao hadn’t anticipated was that this whole exchange had left Jiang Yan deeply moved and greatly inspired. Especially after he went downstairs and saw a brand representative who had been specially sent by the sponsor company with their current season’s new collection for Madam Lin to browse at her leisure — and Madam Lin pulled Lin Kexing over, telling her to pick out a few she liked to send as gifts to her university dormitory friends, as a way of building closer ties. In that moment, Jiang Yan’s guilt toward Jiang Ruoqiao reached its peak.

At the end of the day, it all came down to the disparities of the world.

He and Ruoqiao had argued at length — over a single bag.

And yet Madam Lin and Lin Kexing could casually pick out new arrivals at will, simply as casual gifts for dormitory friends.

He had said he would lay the whole world at Ruoqiao’s feet. And yet he couldn’t even give her a single bag without Ruoqiao worrying in quiet, anxious fear that buying it would leave him without living expenses.

No expression crossed Jiang Yan’s face. Lin Kexing had been happily browsing just moments before, but when she saw his expression, unease crept over her instantly.

Jiang Yan said nothing. No one but Lin Kexing noticed him. He turned and went back upstairs.

Driven by a surge of resentment and guilt, he impulsively posted to his social media moments feed:

“I didn’t understand before, but now I do. For our future — yours and mine — I will work hard. Building a warm little home together with you, having an adorable child someday — just thinking about these things fills me with drive. In all the world, I will only ever love you.”

He had attached a photo.

The photo showed two hands intertwined, fingers tightly laced together.

…

After Jiang Ruoqiao saw it: [Exasperated face GIF]

As the female lead of this particular social media post, she felt not a single flicker of emotion. Her heart remained completely unmoved. She was even thinking to herself: If I hadn’t read the entire novel, I might have actually believed you.

Men’s mouths — nothing but sweet deceptions.

She treated it as though she hadn’t seen it at all.

Of course, the other two people who saw that post at that moment were both feeling rather complicated about it.

After Jiang Yan went upstairs, Lin Kexing lost all heart for picking out bags. Forcing a smile, she returned to her room and lay there listlessly scrolling through her phone. When she saw that Jiang Yan had posted to his moments feed, she opened it immediately — and when she did, her mouth curved into a bitter smile once more. She didn’t know which part of her behavior downstairs had struck a nerve with him, but whatever it was, he had apparently felt sorry for his girlfriend.

Unrequited love is a private celebration of one.

One person in rapturous devotion, one person in heartbreak — from beginning to end, unknown to anyone else.

In this entire world, the person Lin Kexing envied the most — even resented the most — was Jiang Ruoqiao.

Lu Yicheng didn’t have a chance to scroll through his phone until past ten o’clock that night, only after the little beast at home had finally fallen asleep. He flipped through the social media moments feed, and his long, clean fingers came to an abrupt halt — his thumb had landed directly on that photograph of two hands intertwined, fingers laced together.

He realized with a start that his emotions were off.

They shouldn’t be.

He knew he didn’t have feelings for Jiang Ruoqiao. Years of deeply ingrained principles made it utterly impossible for him to covet his good friend’s girlfriend.

That would be unconscionable.

Lu Yicheng turned his head to look at Lu Siyan, lying fast asleep beside him, and felt that he had simply been influenced by this child.

Because of this child, he knew that in some future, he would marry Jiang Ruoqiao — that they would have an adorable child together.

Seemingly to prove something to himself, and to affirm something to himself, Lu Yicheng pressed “Like.”