Chapter 129: The Atmosphere Is a Bit Strange
After returning to campus from their shopping trip, Yun Zijin and Qin Sitong discovered there had been quite a sensational incident at school. A boy named Huang Xueyang, who always bragged about being a "pure and innocent" guy, was exposed for having ambiguous relationships with three different girls, all at the same time—and the three girls had simultaneously published his chat logs as proof. Overnight, he became infamous. Wherever he walked on campus, onlookers stared and whispered.
In the dormitory, Qin Sitong found the original post on the school's online forum that outed Huang Xueyang as a cheater and showed it to Zijin at once.
"Zijin, look! This guy on campus was exposed for cheating—he had multiple girlfriends." She thrived on campus gossip. Having read the three separate exposés, Qin Sitong was excited to share.
Zijin glanced through the screenshots. It was a real-name accusation, with each girl releasing evidence that pinned him down decisively. At least it proved these three girls had some common sense—not blindly clinging to him after discovering his lies.
"Good. It'll stop other people from being deceived by a scumbag," Zijin said simply. In her mind, these victims should also call the police if they'd lost money to him, to see if they could recover anything. No one like that deserved a single penny.
"Exactly—those girls did right by exposing him so publicly." Qin Sitong nodded, then promptly left a scathing comment on one of the posts, cursing the two-timer (or, in this case, three-timer). Zijin found Qin Sitong's fervor amusing.
Just then, the dorm door opened. Ren Hui and Li Cui entered. Seeing them, Qin Sitong frowned and closed the chat page on her phone. She offered no greeting, only a visible sign of displeasure. The rift between them was no secret.
Ren Hui and Li Cui likewise said nothing. Their dorm was essentially split into two hostile camps.
"Um, I'm kinda sleepy. I'll go shower," Qin Sitong muttered. She really had no desire for small talk with those two. She grabbed her things and headed for the bathroom, leaving Zijin, Ren Hui, and Li Cui behind.
Zijin noticed something off about Ren Hui and Li Cui's demeanors. They looked as though they wanted to speak but couldn't get the words out. However, she had no intention of making conversation—she and they were hardly close.
They hesitated for several moments until at last Ren Hui took a small breath. "Er… we—uh… well, we didn't treat you very well before. We just came to, um, say sorry. We hope you can forgive us and not hold grudges," she said, stumbling through an awkward apology. Her usual arrogance was nowhere to be seen.
Zijin was taken aback. Ren Hui had always looked down on her—considering her from an orphanage in G City, a "poor scholarship student," the perfect target for ridicule. Why the sudden apology? Did it have something to do with learning that Zijin was now a VIC client at Hermès?
But then, it was puzzling if that alone led Ren Hui to apologize. Zijin glanced at Li Cui, who avoided her gaze. Maybe Li Cui had dug up more information about Zijin, something weighty enough to terrify them into a white-flag gesture.
Ren Hui, growing impatient, pressed, "Hey, I already said sorry. Why aren't you saying anything?"
After a moment, Zijin answered calmly, "So long as you don't provoke me, we can live peacefully." She thought to herself: if you cause more trouble, don't expect me to stay polite.
Ren Hui nearly retorted, "When did I provoke…" but stopped halfway, reminded by Zijin's sharp look. Indeed, she'd been outright malicious many times in the past.
When Qin Sitong emerged from the shower, the atmosphere was thick. She glanced at Zijin questioningly, but Zijin only shrugged. "I'm off to shower, too," Zijin said, then grabbed her things and headed to the bathroom. Ren Hui didn't try to compete for the shower as she typically would. Qin Sitong found it strange but kept quiet, not wanting to break the current uneasy peace. She also noticed Li Cui had been silent, standing awkwardly.
Thus, the dorm was unusually tranquil for the night. Qin Sitong, though clueless about the cause, was grateful for the quiet.
Early the next morning, someone's phone alarm rang in the dorm, loud enough to wake everyone.
"Five-thirty… who set that alarm? We don't even have morning classes!" Qin Sitong groaned from her bed, refusing to budge.
Ren Hui suddenly sat up, scrambling to turn off the alarm. "Sorry, I forgot to disable it," she mumbled. She'd grown used to early rising at home during break. Everyone else blinked in annoyance.
Zijin opened her eyes, realized she was fully awake, so she yawned and sat up. She saw how sheepish Ren Hui looked, fidgeting with her phone. A second later, Ren Hui plugged in her earbuds to watch short videos.
With two girls awake—Zijin and Ren Hui—everyone else gradually stirred. The awkward tension in the dorm only lifted around seven. Qin Sitong finally dragged Zijin out of the room. "Zijin, what's with Ren Hui? She's acting like a different person," she whispered once they'd stepped outside. "She was never this polite before."
Zijin shrugged. "Who cares. Isn't it better she's not causing a scene? Unless you want to go back to the old feuding ways?"
"No, no, I like it this way." Qin Sitong sighed. So the day began, and though it felt surreal, at least it was peaceful for now.
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