Feng Ning’s Mandarin was extremely standard—when her long voice message was converted to text, it turned out to be word-for-word accurate. Some busybody took a screenshot of the message and posted it to the forum.

They highlighted the line: [When was the class flower even chosen? How is it not me?] This made the classmates feel their eyes were burning—was this girl’s brain wired wrong? What a weirdo.

Some called her ridiculous, shameless, all kinds of comments came in. In the end, someone, purely to mock Feng Ning, actually opened a two-day voting thread:

Who is the class flower of Qide’s first-year class in your heart—

The candidates were: Cheng Jiajia, Pei Shurou, Feng Ning, Zheng Jinjin.

Pei Shurou’s father was a well-known painter in Nan City, and she herself was an art student, though she always kept a low profile at school. Whenever art came up, she took on an inexplicably melancholic air. Pei Shurou had a good relationship with Jiang Wen and his friends, which added an invisible filter over her. She’d had a large following of admirers since middle school, worshipped by many boys as a goddess.

Less than an hour after the poll went up, Pei Shurou was leading by a clear margin.

Feng Ning’s vote count was probably not even a fraction of hers.

This was about as self-humiliating as it could get.

After finishing his phone call in the hallway, Jiang Wen’s expression had almost returned to normal.

Forcibly suppressing his out-of-control emotions, he went back to the dorm.

Actually, Jiang Wen rarely paid attention to the forum in normal times—he found that kind of thing utterly boring, and he didn’t care at all what other people gossiped about. But today, he felt an inexplicable, enormous anger over this post.

Especially when those people spreading rumors described Feng Ning and Jiang Wen as a bar girl and a delinquent young master.

Bar girl—they typed it so easily. Those three glaring characters, the moment they appeared before his eyes, made the blood vessels at his temples throb. Jiang Wen nearly smashed his phone.

It wasn’t disdain, nor was it pity or disgust toward the term.

—He simply, utterly resisted what lay behind that word.

Whenever he recalled Feng Ning drinking herself into the hospital, and himself being held down, powerless to do anything, Jiang Wen would sink into some kind of oppressive, knotted emotion.

He couldn’t tell what it represented, nor whether he was troubled on Feng Ning’s behalf or his own. But no matter how cold he acted normally, frankly, he was still just a kid not even eighteen years old. His family had a famous father, he’d had smooth sailing since childhood, people had always shielded and doted on him, he’d never encountered any real setbacks.

Regarding this matter, no matter how much time passed, Jiang Wen still resisted thinking about it—the moment he did, it felt agonizing.

This had practically become one of his reverse scales—his one unbearable sore point.

While Xi Gaoyuan and Zhao Binlin were chatting and laughing, they caught sight of Jiang Wen coming in. Xi Gaoyuan asked, “Done with your call?”

Jiang Wen made a sound of acknowledgment.

“Let me play you something, it’s hilarious.”

Jiang Wen said nothing, handed his phone to Zhao Binlin.

A twenty-second voice message played through the speaker. When it reached the line “I suggest everyone on the forum go wash their eyes out,” the dorm room fell into a mysterious silence.

“What is this?”

Zhao Binlin couldn’t help but burst out laughing, gossiping eagerly: “Hahahahahaha, Feng Ning meant to send this voice message to someone, and it ended up in the class group chat instead.”

Jiang Wen: “……”

Since the start of the semester, Feng Ning had done no shortage of earth-shattering, ridiculous things, so this wasn’t really anything special—she never played by the rules, and they’d all gotten used to it.

Jiang Wen sat back down at his desk and opened his book.

The two behind him were still discussing the class flower vote—few boys were as gossipy as the two of them.

He propped up his head, scanning line after line of formulas, listening half-heartedly for a while, then silently picked up his phone again.

The next day.

Feng Ning never studied before exams. She sat in the exam hall, and every few minutes someone would pass by, glancing over—straight on, sideways, or from the corner of their eye.

Having been mocked on the forum last night, discussed as some kind of freak, or as coming from a poor background, Feng Ning didn’t think this was something that would hurt anyone’s self-esteem in the slightest.

When others curiously came to look at her, she felt not a shred of embarrassment—she even, unwilling to let the moment pass quietly, would meet the peepers’ gazes soul to soul, face to face.

However long you stare at me, I’ll stare back just as long.

This instead made the other people feel embarrassed, hastily looking away first.

If this kind of awkward situation had happened to an ordinary girl, she probably would have wanted to dig a hole and hide in it from shame. But Feng Ning? Feng Ning was extremely calm.

She finished the remaining days of exams just like that, completely unfazed.

The last subject was English. When the ending bell rang, Li Qifei was packing up his things. Thinking of the upcoming holiday, he was in a good mood, humming a tune, following the crowd out through the exam hall door.

Just as he stepped down onto the landing, his backpack strap was yanked from behind, and he turned around, confused.

Jiang Wen let go of the strap, leaning against a pillar, tilting his head down slightly before straightening up.

“You are… looking for me for something?” Li Qifei said tentatively.

Jiang Wen said, “Do you know who I am?”

“I do, I do.”

Too lazy to waste words, Jiang Wen didn’t beat around the bush either: “Did you take the photo?”

“Ah… what photo?” Li Qifei froze solid for a moment, pupils dilating. “This… this one.”

“You think studying is too boring, is that it?” Jiang Wen looked at Li Qifei, just staring at him like that.

Li Qifei quickly understood what he meant—the hair on the back of his neck stood up, and he was so scared he stammered, “Wh-what?”

Jiang Wen leaned in closer, lowering his voice, “If you’re bored, I don’t mind making your life more exciting.”

Li Qifei’s smile could no longer hold, he forced out, “Aren’t we… isn’t there some kind of misunderstanding between us?”

“Delete the post and apologize, or transfer schools—pick one.” Jiang Wen’s tone was full of disgust, his expression not shifting a fraction.

Whether at school or outside, he rarely used his family background to pressure people, but at this moment, without even needing to rehearse, Jiang Wen captured the essence of a spoiled, vicious young master with pinpoint precision.

It scared Li Qifei so badly he visibly trembled.

Watching coldly as the person walked away, Jiang Wen turned around and froze.

Feng Ning was leaning against something, looking utterly nonchalant, her whole face full of an “enjoying the show” expression, clapping her hands for him.

Jiang Wen felt a bit awkward, but quickly recovered his composure. “What are you doing?”

“Aiya, you were so impressive just now.” Feng Ning mimicked his words: “Transfer schools or delete the post, pick one.”

Jiang Wen got angry. “Is eavesdropping on other people’s business your hobby?”

“You caught me.” Feng Ning answered seriously.

Jiang Wen was at a loss for words.

She looked thoughtful: “So it was this little bastard messing with me behind my back.”

Jiang Wen said sarcastically, “How can you be so heartless.”

Feng Ning calmly corrected him: “I’m not heartless, I’m just mentally strong.”

She winked once, playfully saying: “You don’t need to stand up for me, this kind of thing doesn’t even register with me.”

He said stubbornly, “I wasn’t trying to stand up for you.”

Feng Ning acted as if she hadn’t heard him, her expression brimming with confidence, “But anyone who offends me, I won’t let them off easy either!” She smiled, “You’re still too green.”

“Watch me.” Feng Ning smiled slyly, pulled out a pink piece of paper from her backpack, and started scribbling on it rapidly with a pen. Jiang Wen glanced sideways, “What are you going to do?”

“Isn’t this what you said? Make this Li classmate’s life more interesting. And let him get a taste of evil forces while we’re at it.”

Feng Ning rubbed her nose, “Did I tell you I’m really good at fighting?”

Jiang Wen: “?”

“Dare to mess with me, hmph!” The person in front of him revealed an expression Jiang Wen was very familiar with, wicked and sly, “I’m going to leave him with psychological trauma for the rest of his life!”

“Come with me.”

Jiang Wen had no idea what Feng Ning was planning, and let himself be dragged forward by her. He hurried down a few steps, wanted to break free, but her grip was too strong. After running a while, Feng Ning stopped.

Jiang Wen shook her off, adjusted his breathing.

She took a deep breath, adjusted her expression, cupped both hands around her mouth in the shape of a megaphone, and roared toward the distance, “Li Qifei!!!”

The sound cut through like a blade, piercing the entire campus.

Li Qifei was startled, his ears nearly deafened. He turned to look, and before he could even make out what was happening, the person came flying at him, delivering a brutal sideways kick to his backside.

With a splash, Li Qifei landed squarely, feet first, into the fountain pool. In the dead of winter, the cold was bone-chilling, the water frigid enough to make his bones chatter.

His glasses shattered from the fall. He struggled to climb out of the pool, face full of terror. Standing one step higher, Feng Ning looked down at him condescendingly, cursing viciously: “You disgusting man.”

“Are you insane!” Li Qifei was furious enough to die, instinctively retaliating.

The people around them all turned to look.

Feng Ning’s face turned murderous, squaring her stance, hands on hips, cursing back even more fiercely: “You perverted creep, even if you died right in front of me I still wouldn’t agree to be with you!”

Li Qifei’s jaw dropped. He was utterly stunned, completely unable to understand what she was talking about, had no idea where any of this was coming from.

Feng Ning held up a pink letter, “This is the love letter you wrote me, and you still dare to deny it?”

The two stood facing off, passersby stopped in their tracks, staring at the dramatic scene, eyes nearly popping out of their heads.

“What nonsense is this.” Furious to the point of incoherence, Li Qifei could barely get his words out: “Me? When did I ever??? “

“You don’t need to say anything else!” Feng Ning cut him off, and amid the uproar, she tore the “evidence” to shreds, hurling it forcefully into his face. “You’re truly shameless! I still haven’t settled the score with you for stalking me back to the dorm last time. And now you have the nerve to go online and destroy my reputation? If you don’t stop this, I’ll fight you to the death!”

The more she spoke, the more vivid the whole story became. Every word she said was loud and clear, and the students who’d stopped nearby began pointing at the scene.

Li Qifei’s face was full of a “what the hell are you talking about” expression of pure absurdity, he forced his voice to stay steady: “Are you having some kind of mental breakdown?”

Feng Ning raised her index finger to her lips: “Shh, don’t talk nonsense.”

She really was a drama queen, playing the victim to the hilt: “You came to our classroom during evening study last time to try to get on my good side, plenty of people saw it, I just didn’t have eyes for you.”

Li Qifei’s eyes squeezed shut, nearly fainting: “Who saw it?”

Feng Ning, forceful and domineering, called out loudly: “Jiang Wen—”

Jiang Wen froze, never in a million years expecting this turn of events.

A righteously indignant bystander was already filming a video; the crowd parted, making a path for Jiang Wen.

Feng Ning was practically a living, breathing villainess. She raised her chin, pointed at the drenched-rat Li Qifei, and asked with utter arrogance: “It was this guy, he asked me for my contact info, didn’t he?”

Under everyone’s watchful eyes, Jiang Wen’s eyelashes trembled, and with a solemn expression, he nodded.