Lin Qing watched helplessly in the rear-view mirror with her own eyes as drops of orange juice, one by one, trickled from the corner of Liang Meng’s red lips, then fell in translucent amber drops onto her Chanel blazer.

A Chanel blazer cannot be washed.

One orange worth roughly eighty cents from her mother had successfully done in a blazer worth eighty thousand.

Lin Qing had absolutely no idea how to begin apologizing.

Fortunately.

Liang Meng did not explode on the spot. She quietly drew the orange segment into her mouth.

Her face remained as cool and expressionless as before.

Lin Qing noticed that her boss, whenever she wasn’t in front of other people, wore a cold expression most of the time.

Cold-faced, because she was unhappy?

And yet Liang Meng seemed to have everything.

“Is it sweet?”

Her mother was still beside her, undeterred, pressing for an answer.

Lin Qing felt like she was watching someone endlessly poking a tiger in the nostril with a blade of straw.

Heart-stopping.

“Mm.”

Liang Meng gave a noncommittal hum, neither confirming nor denying.

“Young lady, these oranges were ones I bought at the train station this morning! Ten yuan for three catties! I bargained it down to five yuan for two catties!”

Lin Qing couldn’t figure out how her mother could have so much to say.

“I’ll leave the rest of them here for you.”

With that, her mother placed the half-peeled remainder of the orange onto the dashboard of the Ferrari.

“Young lady, once you’ve dropped us off, keep eating!”

Shortly after, they arrived.

The rocket that had been lodged in Lin Qing’s heart finally came down to earth.

Liang Meng stayed in the driver’s seat while Lin Qing unloaded all the luggage.

“Thank you, President Liang!”

Lin Qing bent down and expressed her thanks through the car window.

Only then did her mother finally realize what was happening!

The red Ferrari pulled away with a flourish.

Her mother seized Lin Qing’s arm, pointed at the departing car, and sputtered: “Qing, she, she, she… she’s not a colleague of yours?”

“She’s a colleague.” Lin Qing said helplessly, bending down to pick up the luggage.

They both worked at Longquan, they interacted daily — that made them colleagues.

She was afraid that telling the truth would give her mother another shock.

“Oh, oh, oh! A colleague, that’s fine then.” Her mother patted her chest. “But how come I heard you calling her something like ‘President’?”

“Just joking around.” Lin Qing brushed it off.

Her mother believed it entirely: “That’s right! How could a boss possibly drive all the way out here to give you a ride? Besides, the girl looks so young — how could she possibly be a president! Though I must say, that colleague of yours — she’s actually a really decent person…”

The scene of Lin Qing and her mother getting out of the red Ferrari was photographed by someone from an upstairs window, and shared to the class group chat.

Since Liang Meng had never gotten out of the car, all manner of rumors ran wild and unchecked.

[Photo]

“Whoa~ red Ferrari.”

“Lin Qing, did you latch onto another rich kid?”

“She’s something else. Barely broke up with Zeng Rui and already has someone new.”

“This one looks even richer.”

“Zeng Rui’s the unlucky one. Maybe Lin Qing’s motives were impure right from the start.”

Messages of every kind flooded through group chats.

Before long, the original photo had made its way into the hands of both Zeng Rui and the campus beauty queen.

“Zeng Rui, Lin Qing is a gold-digger! You were right to break up with her!”

The campus beauty queen still hadn’t understood men at all.

Saying something like this at a moment like this was equivalent to pouring salt directly into Zeng Rui’s wound.

Zeng Rui’s face had turned an ashen, iron-grey. He said something completely off-topic as he pointed at the photo: “Bringing that much luggage… who’s the other person with Lin Qing?”

Soon after.

Lin Qing hauled her bags, large and small, back to the dormitory with her mother.

Her mother’s unannounced visit had truly caught her off guard — she would have to figure out how to settle her for the night.

Apart from the school dormitory, they had nowhere else to go for now.

Her dormitory roommates had shared four years with Lin Qing, and there was genuine warmth between them.

So one roommate said: “Lin Qing, it’s so late. Just make do with your mom here in the dorm tonight.”

“That’s right, Lin Qing. When the dorm supervisor comes for rounds tonight, have your mom hide in the bathroom. We’ll all cover for you.”

“Lin Qing, I have an extra blanket in my wardrobe. You can have it. Make do.”

Lin Qing was genuinely moved, but after thinking it over, she declined with thanks: “Thank you all so much. Let me just leave the luggage here for now. I’ll take my mom to the guest house at the school gate tonight.”

“The guest house at the school gate?” Her roommates knew Lin Qing’s financial situation, and one of them reminded her: “I heard it went up in price. Winter, with so many couples renting rooms — I think it’s over four hundred a night now.”

Lin Qing pressed her lips together: “Even if it’s over four hundred, we have to stay there! We’re all fourth years now — we absolutely can’t ruin things at the last minute. Getting caught red-handed by the dormitory supervisor would not be worth it!”

Lin Qing didn’t want to drag her roommates into this.

Her mother was also sensible about such things — she knew which expenses were worth it and which weren’t.

“Here, here, girls, have some oranges!” Her mother’s innate social magnetism kicked in again. “I just came to have a look! You’ve all been so kind to my Qing’er all this time! You’re all good kids, truly! Thank you all so much, these past four years.”

The roommates were embarrassed to be thanked so warmly.

So they all once again sincerely and wholeheartedly insisted: “Lin Qing, really, it’s fine — just one night. The dorm supervisor isn’t that sharp-eyed.”

Lin Qing still shook her head firmly.

At that moment — bang!

The dormitory door was shoved open without hesitation!

The campus beauty queen swept in with the dormitory supervisor in tow, both of them bristling with purpose.

The beauty queen pointed straight at Lin Qing and began demanding answers: “Lin Qing, you’re in your fourth year — don’t you know the school has very strict rules about unauthorized guests staying over?”

The dormitory supervisor was equally afraid of being held responsible, and launched straight into reciting the student handbook the moment she stepped in: “Unauthorized overnight guests are absolutely not permitted!”

At the sight of this, Lin Qing quickly pulled her mother behind her, stepped forward, and said to the beauty queen: “Which of your eyes saw me keeping an unauthorized overnight guest?”

“She’s not a…” the beauty queen pointed weakly at Lin Qing’s mother and trailed off.

Lin Qing had never had patience for people who picked fights without cause. Her spirit was up as she met the beauty queen’s gaze head-on.

“This is my mom! She just came up — she registered downstairs at the front desk when she arrived. She’s just here for a one-hour visit. Which page of the student handbook says parents aren’t allowed to come visit their children in the dormitory?”

When Lin Qing had come upstairs, she had already decided she wouldn’t have her mother stay the night — so on the visitor’s registration form, she had written one hour.

The dormitory supervisor had nothing left to say.

She’d been dragged here by the beauty queen’s aggressive manner, expecting to catch someone in the act, and now she had no choice but to slink away in defeat.

After the dormitory supervisor left, Lin Qing straightened up and took another step forward, her chest pressing against the beauty queen’s.

She said it quietly, but with force: “Please knock next time before coming into our dormitory.”

The beauty queen was so furious she nearly stamped her feet.

Lin Qing’s next words struck her internal organs with even more force.

“You’ve picked fights with me again and again — isn’t it all because of Zeng Rui?” Lin Qing pressed a finger to the beauty queen’s chest. “You’re so devoted to him. Today let me show you exactly what kind of person this idol you think the world of really is!”

Lin Qing understood them both far too well.

The beauty queen was arrogant, but brash people generally didn’t have much cunning.

Zeng Rui was different — as someone with narcissistic tendencies, his greatest skill was triangulation.

Every time the beauty queen came to pick a fight with her, there was really Zeng Rui pulling the strings behind the scenes.

Zeng Rui loved watching women compete over him — and Lin Qing was absolutely not going to give him that satisfaction!

Today, she had decided: debts of grudges would be repaid with grudges, and debts of grievances would be repaid with grievances.

So she picked up her phone and, right in front of the beauty queen, called Zeng Rui without a hint of shyness.

Then, in a tone utterly devoid of embarrassment, she said to the person on the other end: “Zeng Rui~~~ Four Seasons Hotel, tonight. I’ll be waiting for you.”

On the other end, Zeng Rui’s very bones went soft and tingly the moment he heard Lin Qing’s yielding voice.

Sure enough — he’d stirred up the fight between the girls, and now he could reap the rewards while they battled it out.

He quietly congratulated himself.

But what he didn’t know was that the beauty queen was standing directly across from Lin Qing at that very moment.

“Alright. I’ll make arrangements right away.”

Zeng Rui’s voice was played out loud in the dormitory for everyone to hear.

The beauty queen’s face went purple. She stared at Lin Qing in dumbfounded, unbelieving shock.

Lin Qing took her mother by the hand and grabbed only the essentials.

She told the beauty queen, who stood rooted to the spot like a wooden statue: “Good dogs don’t block the road,” and then walked out of the dormitory with airy composure.

Four Seasons Hotel.

By the time Lin Qing arrived, Zeng Rui had of course already arranged the room.

Zeng Rui was a VIP at the Four Seasons.

One phone call from him was all it took — an executive suite was ready and waiting.

Lin Qing checked in with her mother.

Once they were settled, Zeng Rui arrived, fresh haircut perfectly in place.

Lin Qing blocked him at the door.

Zeng Rui’s smile froze on his face, confused.

Lin Qing said coolly: “Zeng Rui, I’ll take the flowers. But you cannot come in tonight.”

“Why not?” Zeng Rui was taken aback, and fired back immediately: “On what grounds?”

“On the grounds of these four years you owe me.”

Standing before her former boyfriend, Lin Qing felt completely calm inside.

Everyone believed that Lin Qing had been punching above her weight with Zeng Rui, but in truth—

“Four years. Every morning I got up early and stood in line to buy you breakfast, never missing a single day.

Every evening I went walking with you, clubbing with you, moonlit strolls and date nights.

During exam week I even went to the library to hold a spot for you and reviewed notes and copied them out for you, day and night without rest!”

Lin Qing said all this without feeling wronged.

Because over those years, she had also received what she wanted in return.

Company was mutual — Zeng Rui had also shown her the glittering surface of the world that wealthy people moved in.

By rights, the two of them owed each other nothing.

But tonight, Lin Qing was going to take one extra night.

Call it a lesson for Zeng Rui and the beauty queen both.

“Lin Qing, how can you be like this…”

Zeng Rui’s dignity as a wealthy and admired young man was being tested to its absolute limit.

He had assumed that Lin Qing, like every other mindless young girl, had fallen for his family background and physique.

She had loved him, and that was why she had stayed by his side so devotedly.

As for her composure after the breakup — he had simply assumed Lin Qing was holding herself together out of sheer stubborn pride.

But looking into her eyes now as she stood facing him at the hotel room door, Zeng Rui finally understood with absolute clarity.

These four years — this woman had never, not once, fallen in love with him.

“How can you be so heartless?!”

Unable to accept it, Zeng Rui raged in the hallway of the Four Seasons Hotel, grabbing Lin Qing by the shoulders and shaking them violently.

All of this, her mother was watching through the peephole with perfect clarity.

She wept, her heart torn, wrestling with herself over whether to burst out.

If she went out there now, she could protect her daughter — but from that moment on, her daughter would never again have a shred of romantic dignity in front of her.

Her mother wept and pressed her hand to her chest, swearing to herself: if Zeng Rui shook her daughter one more time, she was going to rush out and fight this spoiled rich boy with everything she had!

But Zeng Rui didn’t.

In the end — to her surprise — he broke down in tears, let go of Lin Qing in a daze, and simply stood there.

No scheme or tactic could ever work on a person who had never intended to fall in love.

Zeng Rui, his narcissism thoroughly shattered, turned and walked away like a man without a soul.

Lin Qing had gotten the “last night” she had come for.

When she returned to the room, both she and her mother were quiet for a long time.

“It’s all in the past now. Wash up and sleep.”

After a long silence, Lin Qing wiped her face.

The Four Seasons Hotel was the best place Lin Qing could arrange for her mother tonight.

Tomorrow — where would home be?

Lin Qing didn’t know.