Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Song Cheng and I were alumni. He was a law major, while I was a bottom-tier student in the art department.

During our freshman year, the university organized a lecture on fraud prevention and legal rights awareness for students.

We had just finished military training back then. After standing under the scorching sun all day, all we wanted was to go back to our dorms and sleep. Being forced to attend some boring lecture left everyone grumbling and nodding off.

That was until Song Cheng took the stage. The professor leading the lecture had been called away by an emergency and sent his star student to fill in.

As soon as Song Cheng stood there, I snapped wide awake.

I couldn’t help it-I’ve always been a sucker for a handsome face. He was tall and lean, a sight for sore eyes just standing there.

He had a cold demeanor and deep-set eyes. When he spoke, his voice was steady and composed. Somehow, he managed to make a dry lecture on fraud prevention and legal rights sound fascinating.

Watching him shine on that stage, my heart started racing like a trapped bird. Just like that, I fell for him head over heels.

The result was predictable: I spent the next six months chasing him, and he spent those same six months doing everything he could to avoid me.

I was young then, passionate and reckless in the name of love, possessed by the kind of stubborn courage that refused to turn back until I hit a dead end.

But it never occurred to me that my “courage” was actually a burden to someone else.

One day, I blocked Song Cheng’s path again, smiling as I offered him some pastries I’d made by hand. He stared at me with those dark eyes and asked, “Don’t you have anything of your own to do? You spend every day chasing someone who doesn’t like you, wasting your time and your education.”

I didn’t catch the underlying meaning in his words yet. I just said foolishly, “My job is to catch you.”

After saying that, I held up my hand to show him the blister I’d gotten while baking. Pouting slightly, I said, “Look, it really hurts.”

His gaze swept indifferently over my finger before settling on my face. His brow furrowed slightly, and he let out a cold, soft sigh of frustration. “Nothing you do moves me, Yang Jie. You’re just indulging in self-satisfaction. And this performance of yours is becoming a massive burden to me.”

He looked at the tiny tears welling up in my eyes, choosing his words carefully before speaking again. “And I truly do not like you.”

“You’re a good person, but I will never, in this lifetime, like a girl with your personality. Do you understand?”

A girl with my personality.

I sat on a roadside flowerbed, resting my chin in my hand, knowing exactly what Song Cheng meant. I was ordinary, unremarkable, just another face in the crowd. I lacked self-discipline, loved to eat and sleep, and had no goals or plans.

The kind of person he liked had always been a girl like Qin Xingyun. They were the twin stars of the law department, shining in perfect harmony.

She was brilliant, independent, and had her own thoughts and insights. She certainly wouldn’t be like me-shamelessly and pathetically chasing after a man who didn’t love her.

After that day, I vanished from Song Cheng’s world.

A person has to know when to take a hint, after all.