The live-action competitive game that Jiang Ren and his friends were playing hadn’t become popular yet that year. However, this group of wealthy individuals knew how to have fun, and they could enjoy quite thrilling experiences in large entertainment venues.
When Jiang Ren put on his black battle armor equipment, several girls turned to look at him. The young man’s silver hair was eye-catching, and he had a great physique. He was tall, with lean, sturdy muscles.
Jiang Ren shouldered his gun and was the first to enter the battlefield.
He Yuan had barely been in for a minute when the simulator shot his heart. On the big screen, the silver-haired youth was shown lurking in the bushes, his dark eyes calm and collected, causing several female spectators to let out a scream.
After getting first blood, Jiang Ren also killed Fang Tan.
Fang Tan sighed, resigned to his fate, and went out to watch the game.
He Junming heard several sounds and was almost scared out of his wits. Not knowing who had died, he tried to hide as sneakily as possible. When he looked up, he saw the expressionless Jiang Ren.
Jiang Ren raised his hand, and He Junming exclaimed, “No way, damn it! We’re teammates, Ren-ge!”
Jiang Ren gave him several shots.
The big screen displayed blood-red letters: “DIED.”
Fang Tan finally noticed something was off, and He Yuan said, “Ren-ge’s in a bad mood, huh?” Wasn’t he fine when they came out earlier?
Fang Tan suddenly thought of Meng Ting.
He had a terrifying guess: “Could it be that Jiang Ren…”
“What?”
“Nothing.”
Fang Tan changed the subject: “He just broke up, so he’s probably in a bad mood.”
He Yuan scratched his head: “Did he care about that Shen Yuqing?”
He Junming came out almost on the verge of collapse: “Damn, I’m not playing anymore. Being brutally defeated is one thing, but Ren-ge’s gone crazy and is even killing teammates.”
Just as he finished complaining, a girl looked up and met He Junming’s gaze. She blushed and smiled.
The girl was very pretty, and He Junming immediately felt his face heat up.
He walked over, leaning on the bar: “Hey beautiful, want to come play?”
The girl nodded and chatted with him for quite a while before asking, “Where’s Jiang Ren?”
He Junming, oblivious as ever, replied, “Changing clothes.”
When the girl came over, He Yuan whistled softly and said quietly to Fang Tan, “She’s looking for Ren-ge, right?”
Fang Tan glanced at her: “She looks alright, not as good as Shen Yuqing, but still decent.”
As soon as Jiang Ren came out, he saw He Junming waving at him. He sat down, and across from him, a slender white hand offered him a lit cigarette.
He lazily looked up and saw Lu Yue’s expectant eyes.
He Yuan remarked, “Tsk, the beauty knows how to play the game.”
Jiang Ren put on his jacket but didn’t take the cigarette.
The girl felt a bit awkward but quickly recovered: “Hello, Jiang Ren. I’m Lu Yue, from Class 1, Grade 12 at No. 7 High School.”
She was one grade above Meng Ting, making her Meng Ting’s senior.
Jiang Ren leaned back on the sofa and looked up at her. After exercising, there was a thin layer of sweat on his silver hair: “No. 7 High School?”
Lu Yue hadn’t expected him to respond to her and quickly nodded.
“Is your school’s Class 1 for top students in the grade?”
“Yes.”
Jiang Ren suddenly stood up, moving closer to her. His height was intimidating, and up close, he had a unique wild handsomeness that made Lu Yue blush involuntarily.
“Class 1 at No. 7 High School, how do you view a vocational school student like me?”
Lu Yue was stunned for a moment before replying, “It’s just different schools; we’re all equal.”
Jiang Ren suddenly smiled: “Get lost.” Liar.
He sat back down, and Lu Yue bit her lip, not knowing how her answer had offended him, so she had no choice but to leave. He Junming watched her walk away and whispered to Fang Tan and the others, “I think Lu Yue is pretty and has a good temperament.”
Jiang Ren’s gaze penetrated through the competitive jungle, landing on some unknown point.
Fang Tan didn’t say anything, vaguely remembering that Meng Ting was also in Class 1. Grade 11, Class 1.
He suddenly had a bold guess.
Meng Ting hadn’t encountered Jiang Ren for several days, and she breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that many things were different from her previous life. In her past life, when the news of her and Shu Lan’s identity swap broke out, she was in a terrible state.
By the time the rumors had mostly subsided, her eyes had healed, and the doctor said she no longer needed to wear sunglasses to school.
The day her eyes got better, Shu Lan got into trouble. She was doused with paint in the girls’ bathroom.
Meng Ting didn’t even have time to go to her school; she went to the neighboring vocational school to pick up her sister.
She wrapped Shu Lan in her coat and protected her as they walked out, coincidentally encountering Jiang Ren.
The weather was pleasant that day, and the young girl’s face was pure and beautiful, with snow-white skin.
He only caught a glimpse of her profile, but his gaze lingered for a moment.
As she passed by him, Jiang Ren suddenly smiled: “Hey, aren’t you the one who was playing the piano that day?”
She looked up, meeting his pitch-black eyes.
Meng Ting knew her sister liked him and thought he was mocking their foolishness. So she said softly, “I’m sorry, could you please move aside?”
After a while, he smiled and said, “Sure.”
That was their first encounter.
Meng Ting had always thought he was easy to get along with until she later experienced his obsessiveness and realized how wrong her perception of him had been.
However, in this life, they met too early, and her eyes hadn’t healed yet.
Meng Ting felt that Jiang Ren probably disliked her, which made her feel relieved.
These days, she had been preparing for the Math Olympics competition.
Zhao Nuancheng saw her practicing problems as soon as class ended and couldn’t help but ask, “Aren’t you tired, Ting Ting?”
Meng Ting shook her head. Eight thousand yuan was at stake; she couldn’t afford to be tired.
Liu Xiaoyi, sitting at the back, was eating cookies. Hearing this, she shared one with Zhao Nuancheng and said, “Although Meng Ting is very good, I heard Lu Yue is also participating. She’s been the champion every year.”
Zhao Nuancheng knew about Lu Yue: “The one from Grade 12?”
“Yeah, she’s quite pretty,” Liu Xiaoyi became interested, “I heard from my cousin that she and Jiang Ren are together now.”
The classroom was noisy, and Zhao Nuancheng’s eyes widened: “No way, is that true?”
“It must be true. Someone saw them walking together a couple of days ago.”
“Damn, that’s exciting. Didn’t Jiang Ren just break up with Shen Yuqing?” Now everyone gathered around to hear the gossip.
Zhao Nuancheng turned back to look at Meng Ting.
Meng Ting was using a ruler to draw a thin line on white paper. She lowered her long lashes, not saying a word.
Zhao Nuancheng muttered, “Ting Ting, how come you’re not interested in any of this?”
Meng Ting curved her lips slightly: “Mm.”
The Math Olympics competition was scheduled for November, coinciding with Thanksgiving Day.
The school held a preliminary round, and Meng Ting easily advanced. However, the second round of the competition was to be held in the city center. Because Lu Yue had recently become the subject of rumors, it unexpectedly sparked unprecedented interest in this Math Olympics competition.
Some even said that Lu Yue was much better than Shen Yuqing.
Not only was she a top student, but she also looked pretty good. The National Primary and Secondary School Olympics was quite challenging, and Lu Yue had been able to take first place every year, earning the admiration of many.
Due to cheating incidents last year, the organizers announced that this year’s competition would be held in public, with the first round taking place outdoors, with contestants answering questions on easels. This made everyone quite curious, wishing they could join in on the excitement.
“No need to say it, Lu Yue will be first again this year. Even if it’s just to show off in front of Jiang Ren, she’ll do her best in the competition.”
In less than two months, almost everyone at No. 7 High School knew about Jiang Ren from the neighboring vocational school.
Handsome, rich, and rebellious – each trait could be a selling point.
Meng Ting had heard these comments too, but she didn’t take them to heart. She had been practicing for a long time, spending all her time outside of classes, meals, and sleep cramming for this competition.
As long as she won a prize, there would be prize money, though the first-place winner would receive much more.
The day before Thanksgiving, which was a Friday, Meng Ting encountered Jiang Ren and his friends at the bus stop.
They seemed to have skipped classes to go mountain road racing.
He was driving a convertible sports car, occupying the bus lane, and students waiting for the bus all turned to look.
Jiang Ren glanced in this direction, and Meng Ting hid a bit behind the bus stop sign.
At this moment, He Junming also lowered his car window and whistled towards the outside: “Lu Yue.”
Meng Ting turned to look, and sure enough, Lu Yue was there.
Lu Yue walked over to greet them: “He Junming… Jiang Ren, hello.”
He Junming said, “Want a ride home?” When this group of people weren’t being difficult, they could be quite generous.
Lu Yue hesitated for a moment: “I have to go to the Math Olympics competition tomorrow. It starts quite early, so I’m going to stay at a hotel near the competition venue.”
He Junming, a poor student who could barely score a few points in math, found the Math Olympics to be like an alien language. Hearing this, he could only say, “Impressive.”
Lu Yue couldn’t help but look at Jiang Ren, her smile radiant: “I’ll win the championship for you all to see.”
Jiang Ren didn’t respond, instead glancing behind the bus stop sign.
Meng Ting was standing there quietly.
Just like that night when she faced him and Shen Yuqing, she felt a bit awkward, not because she cared, but because her shy nature made her uncomfortable when stumbling upon others’ romantic moments.
He casually rested his hand on the car window, lost in thought.
He recalled the blurry, beautiful almond-shaped eyes he had seen that night in the small port town, that heart-stopping feeling at first glance, which still stirred him when he thought about it.
Meng Ting no longer carried a white cane when going out. Her eyes were gradually getting better, and they didn’t hurt much normally, so she naturally didn’t need to keep them closed often.
On this autumn day in November, she wore a white knit sweater inside, still covered by the old-fashioned school uniform jacket of No. 7 High School.
Below that were simple canvas shoes.
The shoelaces were neatly tied in crisscross patterns. Because of her poor eyesight, people around her often looked at her with strange gazes, but she didn’t seem to mind much.
Meng Ting’s long hair was tied back in a ponytail, and as she had been waiting for the bus for a while, her wispy bangs swayed gently in the autumn breeze.
There was an indescribable air of pure elegance about her.
She was holding a book.
Jiang Ren, due to years of not studying, had exceptionally good eyesight.
He saw that the book was titled “Comprehensive Knowledge of Mathematical Olympiad.”
Meng Ting sensed his gaze but didn’t know what he was looking at. She tightened her grip on the book.
Jiang Ren suddenly turned to ask Lu Yue, “When is your competition?”
Lu Yue was taken aback for a moment before answering, “Tomorrow morning at nine o’clock.”
“Where?”
“At the Art Gallery on Fenghua Street in the city center.”
Jiang Ren made a sound of acknowledgment but didn’t say anything else before driving away.
He Junming found it strange: “Ren-ge, are you going to watch?”
He smiled: “Yeah, I’m going.”
Going to torment myself.