After everything happened, Lin Kexing retreated to her room.

It had all been too sudden, with no buffer whatsoever. She felt both remorseful and mortified, and what little stolen sweetness she’d felt from kissing Jiang Yan had vanished without a trace. Hiding in her room, her first instinct was to run — she didn’t know how to face Jiang Yan, afraid he would demand to know why she had done it, and she didn’t know how to face Jiang Ruoqiao either. Those clear, piercing eyes of hers genuinely frightened her.

She listened to the sounds drifting up from downstairs and moved her numb body over to the window.

At this distance, she couldn’t make out much of their conversation, until one furious shout from Jiang Ruoqiao’s friend reached her—

“Are you keeping him around just to ring in the New Year?”

She froze instantly.

A breakup?

Her eyes filled with terror. How could they be breaking up? How could this happen? Her unease deepened, and without realizing it, her eyes had gone red. She blamed herself — if she hadn’t come here to hang out, if she hadn’t been possessed and failed to pull away or say something to stop him, none of this would have happened.

Lin Kexing had harbored feelings for Jiang Yan for so many years. No one understood better than she did just how much Jiang Yan loved and was devoted to Jiang Ruoqiao.

If Jiang Ruoqiao wanted to break up, what would become of him? What would he do?

Jiang Ruoqiao got into the car and left, and Lin Kexing’s self-loathing only intensified, until tears were streaming freely down her face. She felt she was truly terrible — not only had she failed to lift his spirits, but she had now gone and ruined his relationship, causing him pain and heartbreak. She truly deserved the worst!

If only she could disappear.

Lin Kexing’s eyes were blurred with tears as, for the first time in her life, she despised herself this deeply.

Downstairs.

After Jiang Ruoqiao left, a heavy silence fell over everything. At this moment, Jiang Yan couldn’t spare a single thought to ask Lu Yicheng why he had held him back. He stood in a dazed stupor for quite a while before snapping back to reality, pulling out his phone to call her — only to find the line continuously busy. With trembling fingers he sent her a message, but the notification showed that he was no longer on her contacts list.

Without any doubt, the very moment Jiang Ruoqiao stepped into that car, she had blocked every single one of Jiang Yan’s contact details.

She had made up her mind to end it, and had no desire whatsoever to have anything more to do with this person.

This was the first time Jiang Ruoqiao had ever been so absolutely resolute.

Jiang Yan completely panicked.

The whole world seemed to spin around him. He staggered, nearly falling, and his hand found the car keys in his pocket. Without thinking, he moved to get in the car and chase after her.

This jolt of action startled everyone else into motion.

Du Yu and Wang Jiangfeng both rushed forward to stop him.

Jiang Yan was still struggling. “I’m going after her — she hasn’t heard my explanation yet!”

The scene descended into chaos again. Yun Jia and the other two girls watched with cold detachment. It was Lu Yicheng who finally reached the end of his patience. He stepped forward, seized Jiang Yan in a firm grip, and said sharply: “Have you lost your mind? Getting behind the wheel right now? Do you have any idea how much you’ve had to drink? Nobody’s stopping you from throwing your own life away, but if you drive like this and hit someone else, what then? Can you not take even the smallest amount of responsibility for yourself and others?!”

Drunk driving didn’t just endanger yourself — it endangered everyone else.

At the very least, a person should never harm others.

Jiang Yan’s eyes had gone red with desperation, but he had no words to argue back.

Yun Jia and the other two girls were genuinely taken aback — it was the first time any of them had seen Lu Yicheng truly lose his composure, and the first time they’d seen him speak with such undisguised bluntness.

But Lu Yicheng was right. With as much as Jiang Yan had drunk, getting in a car in this state was simply not an option.

Jiang Yan sank into a crouch and raked his hands through his hair, letting out a crude curse.

Du Yu was thoroughly fed up.

He’d been planning to use this trip as an opportunity to confess to Yun Jia. But now — could that still happen? In this kind of chaos, a confession was completely out of the question, and what made it worse was that Yun Jia’s impression of all of them was now thoroughly ruined.

What a disaster this had all turned into!

Even setting aside the confession, he had just wanted to come out and properly unwind — and instead it had all turned into this mess!

Everyone’s mood was thoroughly ruined.

Du Yu had always been blunt to a fault, and now, glaring at the despondent Jiang Yan, his frustration boiled over. “If I’d known it would come to this,” he snapped irritably, “who told you to bring that person along!”

Jiang Yan stiffened and raised his head. He got to his feet, fists clenched, and lunged for Du Yu — not because of what Du Yu said, but simply because Du Yu happened to be right there in his path.

Du Yu took the punch for no reason at all, and instantly his entire being was consumed with rage. He erupted: “You think we don’t know what happened just now, that we can’t figure it out? Who do you think you’re treating like an idiot? What kind of man are you — stringing two women along without even realizing it!” He grew more and more agitated, jabbing a finger toward the second floor. “And as for that other one — knowing full well that someone already has a girlfriend and not having the decency to keep her distance, insisting on clinging on anyway — does she think no one can see what she’s doing? I couldn’t even be bothered to say anything earlier, but it was the same in the game — all that ‘little sister’ business, who exactly do you think you’re fooling? Jiang Yan, let me tell you, Jiang Ruoqiao breaking up with you today is exactly what you deserve!!”

Those words struck right at Jiang Yan’s core. His eyes went red, his expression taut and utterly terrifying.

He went after Du Yu, and this time he meant it.

He looked at Du Yu like he was looking at his worst enemy.

Wang Jiangfeng sensed disaster. He charged forward to block Jiang Yan, but Jiang Yan’s fury had reached its absolute peak, and the force behind him was far beyond one person’s ability to contain. Wang Jiangfeng was struggling badly, and in desperation he shouted to Lu Yicheng: “Are you going to step in or not? Are we actually going to draw blood today?!”

Lu Yicheng surged forward once more, and together with Wang Jiangfeng, the two of them held Jiang Yan back.

Du Yu, still oblivious to the danger he was in, kept ranting: “You don’t even want to be called out for it, do you? Then don’t do things like this! Jiang Yan, I’m saying it plain tonight — you and that so-called ‘little sister’ of yours are genuinely disgusting!”

Du Yu had always been straightforward and outspoken, and being the youngest in the dormitory, the other three had never held it against him.

This time Du Yu truly was angry. He couldn’t understand — he had said it again and again until his mouth ran dry, so why couldn’t Jiang Yan take even a single word to heart?

Lu Yicheng’s voice came out like a thunderclap: “Enough!”

He turned and looked at Du Yu with an expression that left no room for doubt as a warning: “Du Yu. Not another word.”

Du Yu was startled into silence, though he straightened his spine defiantly — still, he didn’t shout anymore.

People always speak without thinking when they’re angry, saying the harshest things that come to mind. But did they still want to maintain this friendship going forward? They all knew why Du Yu was so furious — it wasn’t just that Jiang Yan hadn’t listened to him, but more importantly, the four girls in Jiang Ruoqiao’s dormitory were extremely close. What Jiang Yan had done had turned them into enemies. If things didn’t deteriorate into outright hatred it would already be fortunate, and knowing Yun Jia’s personality, she would find it very difficult to accept the friends of Jiang Ruoqiao’s ex-boyfriend.

Du Yu was the youngest among them, and this was the first time he had ever liked a girl — and he was taking it very seriously.

Lu Yicheng looked back at Jiang Yan, his gaze heavy and unreadable.

Jiang Yan let the tension go out of him.

The whole scene below had been visible to Lin Kexing. Terrified, she had shrunk behind the curtain, tears streaming silently down her face. It was all her fault, all her fault. With blurred, tear-filled eyes she rose and began packing her things. She needed to leave this place, but she had no idea what to do — her mind was in complete disarray, a fog of confusion. She could only think of someone familiar to turn to. In her panic, she picked up her phone, and her fingers hovered over her contacts for a moment before bypassing her mother’s name and dialing Jiang Yan’s mother instead.

The call was answered, the voice on the other end warm and gentle. “Kexing?”

The moment she heard that voice, Lin Kexing could no longer hold back. She broke into quiet, muffled sobs.

She was in a total state of panic, her whole body trembling. She didn’t know how she had ended up like this. Du Yu’s words had reached her ears too, and she knew all of them must despise her — didn’t they? She had done something wrong, hadn’t she? Yes — he had Jiang Ruoqiao, so why had she followed him here? Why had she gone to his room? Why hadn’t she been able to deny it immediately when he mistook her for someone else?

It was unforgivable.

She only kept crying. Jiang Yan’s mother grew increasingly worried and kept asking questions, but Lin Kexing said nothing.

After some time, she finally managed to choke out: “Auntie, I want to go home. I want to come back. Please send the driver to pick me up!”

Jiang Yan’s mother felt a jolt of dread in her chest, sensing something was badly wrong, yet she remained as gentle and soothing as ever. “All right, I’ll come right away. Kexing, please stop crying.”

After hanging up, Jiang Yan’s mother changed her clothes. After some deliberation, she decided it was best that Lin Kexing’s mother not find out about this.

Nor could she let any of the other Lin family members know — she didn’t yet understand what had happened, and what if Lin Kexing’s mother were to take her frustration out on the wrong people when she arrived?

She forced herself to stay calm, composed her features into her usual expression of serene composure, and made her way to Lin Kexing’s mother’s study. Smiling, she said: “Ma’am, may I ask for a little leave? Something’s come up that I need to take care of — I likely won’t be back until tomorrow morning.”

Lin Kexing’s mother was in the middle of preparations for a charity gala and looked up at her words. “Something important? What’s happened?”

Jiang Yan’s mother replied in a warm, unhurried tone: “Nothing serious — just an old friend who’s been hospitalized with no one to look after them. I’m going to check in on them.”

Lin Kexing’s mother sighed with admiration. “You really are so good-hearted.” She didn’t press for details — she had enough on her plate at the moment. As Jiang Yan’s mother was preparing to leave, she suddenly said: “I wonder how Kexing is getting on over there. I called her and she didn’t pick up.”

Jiang Yan’s mother smiled. “They’re all young people together — bound to be having too much fun to check their phones.”

Lin Kexing’s mother laughed. “I suppose you’re right. I couldn’t be less worried with Ah Yan there — having him around puts my mind completely at ease.”

Jiang Yan’s mother nodded. “Of course. And Ah Yan’s girlfriend is there too — I hear she’s very attentive and caring. Ah Yan treats Kexing just like his own little sister, so between the two of them, Kexing will be well looked after.”

Lin Kexing’s mother sighed warmly. “I couldn’t ask for more. Kexing is such an introverted child — she never tells me anything. I do hope she’ll open up a bit more as she gets older.”

The two exchanged a few more pleasantries, and then Jiang Yan’s mother left the Lin household — left the grand estate of Mingmen Huafu.

She had not disturbed any of the Lin family members, nor could she very well call for their driver. Instead she flagged down a taxi by the roadside and had to offer double the fare before the driver agreed to make the trip.

On the wide road, the Hummer that Jiang Ruoqiao was riding in passed by a taxi going in the opposite direction.

Back at the rural retreat, Yun Jia and her two friends found the whole atmosphere too gloomy to bear, and having no desire to face Jiang Yan downstairs, the three of them returned to their room.

Out in the courtyard, Du Yu had a bruise blooming across his face. Wang Jiangfeng had borrowed a first aid kit from the owner and was applying medicine to the wound while Du Yu hissed and winced through gritted teeth.

Jiang Yan was crouched nearby, mechanically going through the same motion over and over — calling Jiang Ruoqiao again and again.

But he had been blocked.

His eyes were vacant. Lu Yicheng came over to bring him some water, and only then did Jiang Yan look up with a lost expression. “Lu Yicheng,” he said, “she won’t take my calls. She’s blocked me — she won’t even listen to an explanation…”

Lu Yicheng said nothing.

This whole affair was…extraordinarily dramatic. Even he hadn’t anticipated that things between Jiang Ruoqiao and Jiang Yan would end like this.

Jiang Yan murmured, “Lu Yicheng, let me borrow your phone for a moment.”

He wanted to borrow Lu Yicheng’s phone to call Jiang Ruoqiao. The words had barely left his mouth before he smacked himself on the forehead with a look of bitter resignation. “Look at me — I nearly forgot. You don’t even have her number.”

Lu Yicheng felt a dull ache inside.

But things had already descended into this much chaos and ugliness — there was nothing he could do but give a quiet murmur in response. “My phone is dead,” he said.

He couldn’t lend it to him.

—