Looking at Shen Zhuhang, Xu Xinduo felt that he was really hopeless and asked him, “Do you know what green tea is? Li Xinning doesn’t like you at all. She approached you just because she hated Mu Qingyao and used you to retaliate against her.”
“Do you think I can’t tell if she truly likes me or not? You don’t have to stir up problems between us. Besides, you’re not much better yourself since you have done more scheming than anyone else.”
Xu Xinduo sighed before she turned around and asked Wei Lan, “Do you have Li Xinning’s WeChat number?”
“I think I do, since it wasn’t deleted,” Wei Lan said and took out his mobile phone. He opened the WeChat app and found Li Xinning’s number before he gave the phone to Xu Xinduo.
Xu Xinduo began to imitate Wei Lan’s tone of speaking as she typed to Li Xinning.
Wei Lan: [What’s going on? Shen Zhuhang suddenly went crazy and troubled Brother Yan. I just left school and I’m a little pissed off now that I’m on my way home.]
Li Xinning quickly replied: [I’m sorry, I never intended it to turn out like this.]
Wei Lan: [Is he your boyfriend?]
Li Xinning: [No, we’re just good friends.]
Wei Lan: [I thought you came back to the Advanced Class to comfort Brother Yan, but I didn’t think that you would add even more trouble to his plate.]
Li Xinning: [What happened to Brother Yan?]
Wei Lan: [He couldn’t get Master Duo and she’s just ignoring him as well; Brother Yan is in a slump now.]
Li Xinning: [How could Xu Xinduo treat Brother Yan like this?]
Wei Lan: [I think she said that she wasn’t interested in forming a relationship now or something. What do you think about Brother Yan, do you still like him?]
Li Xinning: [Mmhm, yes, I have always liked him.]
Wei Lan: [It never changed? Then what about Shen Zhuhang?]
Li Xinning: [It never changed— the only boy I ever publicly liked has always been Brother Yan; Shen Zhuhang and I are just ordinary friends. I don’t know what he was thinking, like why would he suddenly trouble Brother Yan? Sigh, should I go and apologise to Brother Yan?]
After reading Li Xinning’s reply, Xu Xinduo showed the texts to Shen Zhuhang.
Shen Zhuhang’s expression changed after seeing the texts. Then, he said in a low voice, “She…may think…that because I have a marriage contract with Mu Qingyao, our relationship cannot be made public. Yea, that’s why she said that.”
Xu Xinduo asked, “Then do you want to see what Li Xinning’s true self looks like in person?”
Shen Zhuhang stared at Xu Xinduo and didn’t speak for a while.
Xu Xinduo used Wei Lan’s phone to tell Li Xinning that Tong Yan was sulking in the multimedia building alone. She also told her that she might be able to see Tong Yan if she came over.
Tong Yan reluctantly walked downstairs, standing alone downstairs as he played with his mobile phone.
Xu Xinduo, Wei Lan, and Su Wei were squatting behind the low walls of the stairwell. Shen Zhuhang was still sitting cross-legged in the same spot, but his expression was unnaturally tense.
Within ten minutes, Li Xinning actually appeared nearby. Their position was right above Tong Yan’s and there were no other people around, so they could vaguely hear the voices of the duo.
Li Xinning apologised to Tong Yan aggrievedly, “Brother Yan, I’m sorry. I didn’t know that Shen Zhuhang would do something to you. I never thought that he would do this… I’m sorry…”
When she spoke the second half of the sentence, she actually choked up.
Tong Yan asked coldly, “I couldn’t tell; you and Shen Zhuhang are a thing now?”
Li Xinning quickly explained, “No! I didn’t agree with him chasing me as a love interest. You know it too— he has a marriage contract with Mu Qingyao. Although Mu Qingyao is not that good of a person, I can’t disturb their relationship. I rejected Shen Zhuhang for a long time, but he has been pestering me all the time, so I’m very annoyed as well.”
“Oh, so that’s how it is,” Tong Yan replied vaguely.
“Mm, I’m really sorry. You weren’t hurt, right? Let me see…”
“Do not touch me.”
Xu Xinduo squatted beside Shen Zhuhang and asked him in a low voice, “Why don’t you go down and tell her off?”
Shen Zhuhang didn’t move. He just sat in the same place and stared at the ground stupidly. As he listened to the conversation between the duo, he began to cry. Large tears flowed out of his eyes and fell coherently.
