Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Shen Luzhou left early because of student council business.

When I came out of the restroom, I ran into Lin Fei at the entrance.

There were teeth marks on her lips, and the moment she saw me, her tears started falling nonstop.

“I’m sorry, Yiyi. I didn’t think things would turn out like this. Can you forgive me?”

I only felt disgusted.

I shook off her hand, took out my phone, and asked, “How much did the hotel booking cost? I’ll transfer you the money.”

Lin Fei froze. “Yiyi… I’m sorry. I forgot to book the hotel for you.”

Her voice sounded as if it were separated from me by a layer of mist.

For a second, I thought I had misheard.

Was this still the best friend I had treated with all my heart?

Back then, she had taken it upon herself to say she would book a hotel for me.

All I had to do was buy a ticket and come over.

And now she was pulling this.

“Lin Fei, you did this on purpose, didn’t you?”

Lin Fei said awkwardly, “I’m sorry. At the time, all the rooms near campus were fully booked, and Chen Ji kept chasing after me so relentlessly that I forgot. How about you stay in my dorm tonight?”

I didn’t want to deal with her anymore, so I turned and walked away.

But Lin Fei grabbed me. “Yiyi, I forgot to tell you-Shen Luzhou already has a girl he likes. Just now, he… he was only helping you out of an awkward situation. Don’t overthink it. I’m afraid you’ll get hurt again.”

Looking at her cautious, fake-innocent act, I suddenly felt irritated and flung off the hand she had on me.

Lin Fei was caught off guard and, looking all “fragile,” fell hard to the ground.

I pulled my lips into a mocking smile.

“What are you, a tapeworm in Shen Luzhou’s stomach? You know what he’s thinking?”

Lin Fei lowered her head and said nothing, but her breathing suddenly grew a little labored.

Chen Ji rushed out from who knew where, shoved me away hard, and caught Lin Fei as she went limp in his arms. In a cold voice, he said,

“Was there mango in the cake you brought?”

Seeing me stare coldly at him, Chen Ji flew into a rage. “Don’t you know Lin Fei is allergic to mango? Are you trying to kill her?”

Only then did I realize in shock that Lin Fei’s lips had turned purple.

I knew she was allergic to mango.

But the mango was something Lin Fei had specifically asked me to add.

She had said, “Chen Ji loves mango the most.”
At one in the morning, Lin Fei was taken to the hospital next door.

The doctor sighed. “If you know you’re allergic, why would you eat it? Do you have a death wish?”

Chen Ji abruptly turned his head, his expression dark as he looked at me standing off to the side.

“Feifei is still lying in there. Are you satisfied now?”

I took a deep breath and asked in return, “Chen Ji, do you not have a brain?”

“Lin Fei knew perfectly well there was mango in it and still couldn’t control herself. What does that have to do with me?”

Chen Ji’s gaze turned even colder.

“Qiao Yi, stop pretending.”

“Don’t think I don’t know why you came here this time.”

“Does it hurt you that much to see me with her? So much that you deliberately bought a cake with mango in it to hurt her?”

Looking at the man in front of me, who couldn’t tell right from wrong, I realized with absolute clarity in that instant that I regretted it.

Back then, when Chen Ji stayed behind after school every day to tutor me in math, encouraged me to get into the same university as him, and joked about what I would do without him, I shouldn’t have thought that Chen Ji liked me.

By now, I hadn’t slept for a day and a night.

The heavy exhaustion made my heart start to palpitate.

I closed my eyes and steadied myself for a moment, then took out my phone and pressed 110 without hesitation.

Just as the call was about to connect, Chen Ji suddenly snatched my phone and smashed it onto the floor.

“Enough. How long are you going to keep making a scene?”

I looked at my shattered phone on the floor, slowly crouched down, and picked up the pieces.

Then I hurled them all at Chen Ji’s face.

I had been secretly in love with him for seven years, but that didn’t mean I had no dignity.

“Doctor, please help me call the police.”

I had already reached my limit. My vision kept going black.

The instant I fell backward, a pair of hands caught me steadily.

A clean scent of soap, tinged with mint, rushed straight into my nose.

Shen Luzhou’s cool, clear voice sounded from above my head.

“She didn’t eat much for dinner. It might be low blood sugar. Doctor, please take a look at her.”

In my hazy consciousness, I seemed to hear the sound of a number being dialed.

Shen Luzhou’s indifferent voice came faintly. “Hello, I’d like to report an incident to the police.”