“I’ll teach you to toy with people’s feelings!”
Chang Hao straddled Xu Bowen, his fists pounding down relentlessly. Each punch carried the weight of his bottled frustration, his pent-up anger from days of helplessness. With a swing, Xu Bowen’s glasses flew off, landing sowhere under a desk.
But Xu Bowen wasn’t a pushover. Though initially stunned, he quickly recovered. Gathering his strength, he bucked his hips and managed to throw Chang Hao off.
“D*** it, where the hell did this lunatic co from?!”
Yet Chang Hao wasn’t ready to back down. Fueled by righteous fury, he scrambled to his feet and lunged at Xu Bowen again, ignoring the small crowd forming around them.
The only other person in the Student Union office—a timid girl who had been looking at photos with Xu Bowen—was frozen in place, too scared to act.
anwhile, back in the classroom, Liu Yue was still crying, her face wet with tears. She couldn’t understand why Xu Bowen, soone she trusted so deeply, could betray her like this.
Suddenly, Jiang Chao burst into the room, panting as he shouted, “Guys! Chang Hao is at the Student Union beating the crap out of Xu Bowen!”
The room fell silent for a mont before erupting into a cacophony of gasps and exclamations.
“No way! For real?”
“Chang Hao? Our Chang Hao?”
Without waiting for answers, most of the class sprang to their feet, rushing out to witness the commotion.
By the ti Jiang Chao and Li Qiang arrived at the Student Union, the scene was absolute chaos. Chang Hao was still swinging punches, his knuckles raw and bloody, while Xu Bowen tried and failed to shield himself.
Li Qiang, ever the opportunist, decided to intervene. He grabbed Chang Hao from behind, pretending to restrain him while sneaking in a quick kick to Xu Bowen’s side.
“Stop, Hao! Calm down!” Li Qiang yelled, playing the peacemaker.
But even as Li Qiang held Chang Hao back, he couldn’t resist throwing another sly kick.
Students from the Gardening Engineering class and others nearby crowded into the office, their whispers filling the space as they speculated on what had triggered the fight. The noise and commotion quickly escalated, drawing more and more onlookers until the office was packed to the brim.
Amid the chaos, Liu Yue finally arrived. Her eyes were still puffy from crying, but when she saw Xu Bowen lying on the ground, bruised and battered, her first instinct was to run to him.
“Bowen! Are you okay?” she cried, kneeling beside him.
Her voice trembled with concern as she gently touched his face, her fingers brushing against the bruises. “Does it hurt?”
But instead of gratitude, Xu Bowen shoved her hand away. His eyes, bloodshot and filled with frustration, glared at her as he spat, “Don’t pretend to care! This is all your fault!”
The words hit Liu Yue like a slap, her lip trembling as tears welled up again. “I didn’t…”
Before she could finish, a voice from the crowd called out mockingly, “Bowen, your other girlfriend is here!”
The room went dead silent as the crowd parted, revealing a slightly overweight girl with a cold, furious expression. She was clearly older than the rest, her mature deanor commanding attention as she strode toward Xu Bowen.
“Lili!” Xu Bowen’s voice cracked as he scrambled to his feet, his face a mixture of panic and fear.
Li Li had arrived.
Li Li didn’t waste ti. Her gaze darted between Liu Yue and Xu Bowen, piecing together the scene with practiced ease.
“Explain. Now,” she demanded, her voice icy and sharp.
Xu Bowen’s mind raced as he desperately tried to co up with an excuse. “Lili, listen to ! It’s not what it looks like!” He gestured wildly toward Liu Yue. “She’s the one who kept chasing ! I didn’t want any of this!”
His words stunned the room. Liu Yue’s mouth fell open, her tears stopping mid-stream as she processed the accusation.
“What?” she whispered, her voice barely audible.
Xu Bowen continued his tirade, his words tumbling out in a panicked rush. “She wouldn’t leave
alone! She kept throwing herself at , and I didn’t know how to say no—”
SLAP!
Li Li’s hand connected with Xu Bowen’s face, the sound echoing through the room. The force of the slap sent him stumbling, his cheek red and swelling almost instantly.
“You think I’d believe that?” Li Li sneered, her voice dripping with disdain. “I know exactly what kind of scumbag you are.”
“Lili, please, you’ve got to listen to —”
“We’re done!” Li Li snapped, her voice cutting through his pleas. “And I’ll make sure your parents know exactly what kind of disappointnt you turned out to be!”
The events of that night spread like wildfire across the campus. Within hours, Xu Bowen’s reputation was in ruins.
Whispers of his exploits filled the air:
“He used to invite girls to his apartnt to ‘take pictures.’ Gross!”
“I heard he threatened to leak photos of a girl when she tried to break up with him.”
“He deserved to get beaten up! What a creep.”
By the next morning, Xu Bowen had beco the school’s most infamous figure, his face a
on the student forums.
anwhile, Chang Hao was summoned by the school administration to account for his actions. Despite the potential consequences, he stood his ground, unapologetic for defending Liu Yue’s honor.
When the school attempted to diate, Liu Yue stepped forward. Her voice was steady as she announced, “If Xu Bowen insists on pursuing charges, then I’ll report him for assaulting .”
Xu Bowen paled, his bravado crumbling under the weight of Liu Yue’s words. His father, who had been summoned to diate the situation, quickly intervened, smacking Xu Bowen upside the head.
“Enough! Do you want to ruin your future entirely?”
In the end, the school handled the matter quietly. Xu Bowen was suspended, and Chang Hao received a minor disciplinary note, which would be expunged before graduation
As the campus returned to normal, Chang Hao found himself hailed as a hero. His classmates cheered him on, showering him with praise for standing up to a bully.
But for Chang Hao, the incident left a deep scar. He couldn’t forget the humiliation he had endured at Liu Shuo’s hands or the burden of the secrets he carried.
In the following weeks, he withdrew from his usual social circles, focusing instead on his studies and personal growth. He spent his mornings jogging, his evenings in the library, and his nights reflecting on the choices he had made.
One day, as he sat alone in the library, a shadow fell across his table. Looking up, he saw Liu Yue standing there, her eyes soft but determined.
“Can I sit here?” she asked.
Chang Hao hesitated, then nodded. As she sat down, the autumn sunlight stread through the windows, casting a warm glow over the scene.
For the first ti in a long while, Chang Hao felt the faint stirrings of hope.
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