Even though the misunderstanding between her and Lu Xun had been cleared up and things were back on track, Qian Wei still had something weighing on her mind.

What about Qian Chuan? Qian Chuan had no idea what kind of person Mo Zixin really was — to him, she was still the gentle, sweet, simple girl he believed her to be. But now that Qian Wei knew about the way Mo Zixin had staged everything, she felt certain that someone so calculating was in no way right for Qian Chuan — and beyond that, whether Mo Zixin even genuinely liked him was very much in question. But should she just tell Qian Chuan everything outright? First, a guy head over heels in love would instinctively want to defend his girlfriend and would likely see things one-sidedly — would he even believe her? Second, the truth would probably be a real blow to him — wouldn’t it hurt his pride even more, coming from someone else?

Qian Wei found this all rather a headache. She racked her brain but couldn’t come up with a solution that would satisfy everyone, yet she also couldn’t just stand by and watch Qian Chuan be kept in the dark, only to eventually break up with Mo Zixin anyway and get hurt all over again.

“Qian Wei! You free? Come have a drink with me!”

What Qian Wei hadn’t expected was that, a day later, she’d get a call from Qian Chuan — and the problem she’d been agonizing over the night before would resolve itself, just like that, without warning…

Qian Chuan and Mo Zixin had broken up!

By the time Qian Wei arrived at the little restaurant they’d agreed on, Qian Chuan had already finished a bottle of beer. His face was flushed red, and he was clearly still worked up.

Qian Wei asked carefully, “Why’d she break up with you?”

“It wasn’t her.” Qian Chuan took another drink, muttering. “It was me.”

Huh?

“I must’ve been blind, falling for someone like that,” Qian Chuan said angrily. “You really can’t judge a person by their face. I thought she was this innocent, pure, perfect girl — turns out she was nothing like that.”

Qian Wei was burning with curiosity. “What happened?”

Qian Chuan downed another couple mouthfuls of beer before spitting out two words, half embarrassed, half furious.

“She cheated!”

Qian Wei was thoroughly shocked. “What?!”

“You know that Nokia you got me? She’d just bought the exact same model. Last night on our date, my pants didn’t have pockets, so I put my phone in her bag — and when we got home, I accidentally grabbed hers instead of mine.” Qian Chuan’s face darkened, clearly reluctant to relive it. “I wasn’t even trying to look through her phone, but a text popped up right in front of me, addressed to ‘baby,’ and the wording was way too flirtatious — so I got curious and opened it up. Turned out she’d been carrying on with some other guy behind my back the whole time. The texts were full of suggestive stuff, and she told him she’d never actually liked me — that she only went soft and agreed to date me because she felt bad watching me try so hard.” At that, Qian Chuan slammed his beer bottle down. “What kind of person does that? Sure, I was the one who chased her, but when she agreed to be with me, that’s not what she said at all — she went on about how deeply she cared for me too… And was I not good to her? I treated her like she was made of glass. I did everything a boyfriend’s supposed to do. Wasn’t that enough for her?”

This turn of events left even Qian Chuan — the person actually involved — utterly stunned, and Qian Wei found it hard to process too. It had all happened so suddenly that she just sat there wide-eyed, momentarily at a loss for words of comfort.

“I really didn’t see it coming!” Qian Chuan was still fuming. “Qian Wei, you were right — us college students should be devoting ourselves to building socialism, not chasing after some stupid romance. We should focus on our studies! College relationships are nothing but childish and foolish! I, Qian Chuan, swear right here and now — I’m going to follow your example and stay single, stay full of energy, and never date again in college! If I ever date again, I’m a dog!” Clearly a bit too far gone from the drink, Qian Chuan started to let loose, grabbing his beer bottle like a microphone and breaking into song about riding off into a carefree life, galloping through the world’s splendor, drinking and singing as a pair of proudly single siblings, seizing every moment of freedom while young — “Ahh~ ahh! Ahh~ ahh~ ahhhh~”

Qian Wei rubbed her forehead. “Okay, okay, hold off on the singing for a second — there’s something I need to clear up.”

Qian Chuan, interrupted right at the climax of his song, looked put out. “What?”

Qian Wei cleared her throat. “I know the timing’s not great, but I figure I should tell you now — sorry, but I can’t exactly ride off into that carefree single life with you. You’ll have to wander the world on your own.”

Qian Chuan: ???

Qian Wei coughed. “I’ve got someone.”

Qian Chuan blinked, and then it clicked. He shouted, “No way!!! Qian Wei! How could you go and get a boyfriend behind my back?! Where does that leave me?! Didn’t you tell me yourself, no dating in college?!”

“Qian Chuan, ever heard the saying —”

“What?”

“Promises too beautiful are made by people too young.”

“…” Qian Chuan was at a loss for words. “Fine, fine, you got a boyfriend, whatever — but did you have to rub it in while I’m going through a breakup? Where’s the sibling solidarity?”

“You were dating when I was still single. Did I say anything then?”

“…” Qian Chuan choked on that. “Never mind that — just tell me, who is it?! What guy managed to break your no-dating vow?!”

By now Qian Chuan’s face was flushed deep from the alcohol, his eyes struggling to focus, his words starting to slur and run together, his tongue growing heavy.

Qian Wei didn’t bother trying to explain anything further to drunk Qian Chuan. She rapped the table decisively. “You free tomorrow? If so, I’ll bring him to meet you, and treat you to a big meal while we’re at it — call it comfort food for your breakup.”

Qian Chuan nodded vaguely while taking another swig of beer. Still steeped in heartbreak, he kept cursing the cheating the whole way back to campus as Qian Wei walked him home, damning Mo Zixin’s new man with all kinds of colorful curses…

Qian Wei finally managed to deliver the thoroughly drunk Qian Chuan back to his dorm, then dragged herself back to her own room, utterly exhausted. But to her surprise, Liu Shiyun — who usually went out on dates almost every night — hadn’t gone out at all today. Even more surprising, the girl who normally spent every evening in the dorm glued to variety shows and Korean dramas was instead lying quietly in bed, asleep.

Qian Wei checked her watch — it was only eight in the evening. Liu Shiyun usually called herself a “creature of the night,” and this was normally right when she’d be getting ready to go out and have fun. Qian Wei started to worry.

“Liu Shiyun?”

After a long moment, Liu Shiyun finally poked her head out from under the covers, her eyes swollen and red like a pair of ripe peaches.

Qian Wei was startled. “What happened to you? Did you cry yourself like this watching some tragic Korean drama?”

Liu Shiyun sniffled. Her voice was still full of its usual energy, but there was a heavy nasal tone underneath it. “I got dumped!”

Qian Wei was stunned. As far as she knew, Tang Lü had always been sweet to Liu Shiyun — just a few days ago the two of them had even made plans to travel together over winter break, looking every bit like a couple deeply in love. She tried to comfort her. “It’s fine, every couple has their little fights. Don’t be too upset — maybe tomorrow Tang Lü will call and try to win you back…”

“I already went ahead and blocked that cheating bastard for good!”

Qian Wei was caught off guard. “Huh???”

Liu Shiyun’s voice turned venomous. “A cheater like that — if I hadn’t dumped him, I’d have ended up wearing a whole meadow on my head.”

Another cheater! Qian Wei thought — was there something in the air lately that made everyone cheat?

Seeing how miserable Liu Shiyun looked, Qian Wei immediately felt a surge of solidarity, ready to roll up her sleeves and go to bat for her friend. “I’ll go find this scumbag and give him a piece of my mind! A guy who cheats when he’s already got a girlfriend has no morals at all — I’ll make sure he knows better than to mess with a law school girl. I’ll curse him out for a solid hour without repeating myself!”

Seeing Qian Wei’s reaction seemed to perk Liu Shiyun up a little. She pursed her lips. “No point going after him — the scumbag’s got his own twisted logic. I already confronted him, and you know what happened? He turned it around and played the victim, going on and on about how the whole thing cheating on me was somehow my fault.”

“What??”

Liu Shiyun rolled her eyes. “According to him, being with me in the first place was basically him getting tricked. He said I’m not actually the gentle, kind, refined, classy type of woman he’s into at all — that I put on some act to trap him, and he just didn’t see through it at first, and only after being with me for a while did he start noticing my ‘true colors.’ As the real victim of deception here, he claimed he’d already been meaning to break up with me anyway!”

Qian Wei couldn’t help getting angry just listening to this. “What kind of garbage logic is that? Even if he’s fallen out of love, the least he could do is break up first before moving on to the next one — that’s just basic respect.”

“Anyway, he had it all figured out — none of it was his fault, all of it was mine, and he’s totally innocent. He said he’s always liked the gentle, refined type, and that being with me, he gradually felt something was off. He didn’t know what it was at first, but then one day he happened to be passing by Lotus Community and remembered I was there for the legal-outreach event, so he came to find me — and caught me right in the middle of describing that drunk guy’s assault to the police. He said the way I was talking loudly scared him, that it wasn’t gentle at all, and then he saw how I normally talked with my classmates, that my word choice wasn’t elegant either, that my whole manner wasn’t graceful — frankly, he called it crude and low-class — and he decided I wasn’t the woman he’d fallen for at all, that it had all been fake.” Liu Shiyun snorted coldly. “So according to him, once he’d ‘seen through my deception,’ it was only natural that he’d fall for someone who was genuinely gentle and consistent — he didn’t owe me an apology, if anything I owed him one, because my deception had wasted his feelings and his money. He even handed me an itemized list of every single thing he’d spent on me during our relationship, and had the nerve to demand I pay him back my share.”

Qian Wei was absolutely floored — she hadn’t known there were men this shameless in the world. “Did you actually pay him back? What a piece of trash. Doesn’t Tang Lü ever look in a mirror? And here everyone in the architecture department at A Engineering University calls him a gentleman god — turns out that whole image was just an act. Some gentleman he is!”

“Paid him back, of course. It’s just money — my family’s never been short on that.” At this, Liu Shiyun finally cracked a smile. “About two thousand yuan total. I had the front desk manager at my family’s hotel get me over two thousand coins, and delivered them to him myself — you should’ve seen it, he was right in the middle of class, and I marched in carrying over two thousand coins and dumped the money on him in front of the teacher and the whole class. I even rounded it up to a nice even number and told him to keep the change — call it a breakup fee.”

Qian Wei couldn’t help clapping in satisfaction.