Just as she was about to deal with the hot-potato-like expensive bag, she ran into Zhang Hangyu, Guan Qianru's cousin, halfway.
Presumably, Sister Guan's constant lecturing over the past few days had taken effect. Knowing the vast gap between them, Cousin Zhang had completely given up on her. Unlike before, when he would feel timid and inferior at the sight of her, not even daring to meet her eyes, now he walked up to her freely and walked alongside, exchanging a few casual words.
"What a coincidence."
"Just got back from outside too?"
"I heard your college is going to Zhongjin for an internship?"
Cheng Buxi, with her gentle and well-bred nature, would never easily ignore anyone. Even though this person had once pursued her, she answered each question one by one.
Lu Tingzhou happened to witness this scene from the car window.
Perhaps a classmate, or maybe a friend from somewhere else—in any case, she walked side by side with that unfamiliar young man, exchanging a few words along the way.
That young man had come into view later; he didn't see his face, but judging by his figure—not tall, mediocre posture—he could only be described as unremarkable. But his sister—she was completely different. With her stunning features and devastating beauty, her face was so strikingly pretty it was almost overwhelming. And she had been raised with a Confucian saint's heart, treating everyone without discrimination, no matter how noble or ordinary, all the same in her eyes.
In short, they were all lumps of mud, no difference.
Walking and talking with someone of the opposite sex was actually a perfectly normal thing. It wasn't like they were holding hands or being overly intimate. But somehow, her brother felt a tightness in his chest.
What kept replaying in his mind was nothing but Mrs. Bai's everyday nagging: "Your sister is so obedient and sensible, and she's as beautiful as ice and snow. If there aren't any boys in school who like her, that would be ridiculous!" "You should also keep an eye out, watch over her, and keep an eye out for good families." "She's grown up now; eventually, she'll have to marry."
...
Marry.
Marry.
Eventually, she would have to marry.
It felt like there was a clump of stale air in his chest that wouldn't dissipate, sour and swollen, unable to rise or fall. Forcing down his displeasure, he instructed the driver to head back to the company, where a pile of documents awaited his signature.
He drowned himself in massive amounts of work, papering over the cracks. He had always been a coward, an incompetent older brother unwilling to face the desires deep in his heart, never failing in evading his true feelings.
Cheng Buxi, unaware of all this, parted ways with Zhang Hangyu and went straight back to the dorm.
-
The dormitory had a scheduled power outage from 7 to 8 PM that night. She only saw the notice in the group chat after arriving downstairs.
When she returned, the entire hallway was dark, with a few flashlight beams at the end, reflecting off the walls.
The door was open, and the draft blew through with a howl, occasionally accompanied by sharp whistling sounds, like something out of a horror movie.
As she walked, Qu Yijiao from the neighboring class suddenly jumped out from somewhere, making no sound as she moved, and abruptly blocked her way.
Her opening was a sharp interrogation: "Cheng Buxi, who was that man who dropped you off at the school gate in a car?"
"You're riding in a Land Rover, aren't you? Nice."
"Come clean! Is there someone on the outside?"
Damn, the thing she dreaded most had happened.
"Spill it! Have you hooked up with a rich guy?" Qu taunted, as if she had finally caught Cheng Buxi's secret after all these years.
"What are you pretending to be noble for? It's all the same. When will you take me along?"
"Take you along where?"
"To latch onto a sugar daddy, what else?"
"..." Too lazy to respond.
"You'll regret this."
Cheng Buxi stopped in her tracks.
In the dimly lit corridor, with her hair disheveled and a fierce expression, she suddenly had a bad feeling.
-
Qu Yijiao was from Class 9. Technically, she and Cheng Buxi weren't familiar, but they were both in the drama club, so friction was inevitable—at least on one side.
Cheng Buxi was carefree and didn't even know all her own classmates, let alone her.
This elder sister had quite a few shining deeds. During freshman military training, she had hooked up with the second-in-command of the student union, a junior, and through him successfully got elected as a student union officer. Later, she dumped him because he wasn't wealthy enough and seamlessly moved on to a rich second-generation from the finance school. Her reputation had long been tarnished, but she didn't care; she still ate, drank, and flaunted her wealth. Moreover, she was the pillar of the drama club, almost always playing the lead female role, flirting with the male members and bullying new members. Cheng Buxi held no good opinion of her, whether regarding her character or her behavior.
She wanted to ignore her, but Qu clung on relentlessly. Cheng Buxi finally said, "It's a DiDi." She had learned this trick from Fang Xinyi, who often used it to fool her boyfriend, claiming a ride from a senior was a DiDi.
"Are you kidding me? A Land Rover running DiDi?" Qu Yijiao clearly didn't believe her, her gaze sharp. "Don't try to fool me."
Frowning, believe it or not.
Cheng Buxi knew this girl loved gossip and stirring up trouble, like a loudspeaker that never stops. She ignored her, walked around her, and left without looking back.
The dorm was pitch black. The light from the desk lamp was as faint as a distant lighthouse on a faraway shore, almost negligible.
She had just reached the door when she didn't expect Qu to be so persistent as to follow her.
"A DiDi that's a Land Rover? Who are you trying to fool? I've been using DiDi for years and haven't even gotten a Cadillac, yet you can get a Range Rover?"
Her loud voice rang out, heard by everyone in the room. Gradually, some people from the hallway gathered to watch the commotion.
Guan Qianru, as the dorm leader, stepped forward and said, "What's all the noise about?"
Qu Yijiao recounted everything she had seen at the school gate, of course with some embellishments, and concluded, "So what if she's the campus belle? She's still being kept by an old man—"