Chen Ning didn't expect to see this scene.
She hesitated several times before finally taking a deep breath, regaining her usual cold and arrogant demeanor.
Knock, knock, knock—
She knocked three times on the classroom door.
The two people inside both turned their gazes toward the doorway.
"It looks like your ex-girlfriend," Lu Wanyin said with a smile.
"She wasn't even my girlfriend, to begin with. How could she be my ex?"
Seeing the two whispering and Jiang Huai showing no intention of coming out, Chen Ning became even more annoyed.
"Jiang Huai, I need to talk to you. Come out for a moment."
"She seems to be calling for you," Lu Wanyin covered her mouth, giggling.
"I'm not going."
"Come on~ just go. I won't get jealous." Lu Wanyin poked Jiang Huai's face with her finger. "A woman like her—if you don't cut ties completely, she'll be a real headache in the future."
"I keep telling you, she and I were never—" Jiang Huai sighed helplessly.
In the end, he still walked to the classroom door.
"Do you need something?"
Chen Ning looked at Jiang Huai. The words she had prepared to say suddenly got stuck in her throat.
She had thought that her involvement with Young Master Zhou would leave Jiang Huai tormented, unable to eat or sleep.
Disheveled, dark circles under his eyes, an unsteady gaze.
That should have been his state.
Every time she ignored him for a few days before, he always ended up like that.
But now, Jiang Huai didn't look miserable at all.
In fact, his transformation was almost terrifying.
First, his height.
Chen Ning remembered clearly—Jiang Huai was barely 169 cm, not even 170 cm.
But now, he looked close to 180 cm.
Even the clothes he always wore seemed a bit too small on him.
And it wasn't because he had gained weight—his physique had grown stronger without him even realizing it...
But the thing that stunned Chen Ning the most was Jiang Huai's eyes.
The once timid and self-doubting Jiang Huai, who used to look at everyone with insecurity, now had sharp, piercing eyes.
When he looked down at her from above, Chen Ning felt as if she were being stared at by a predator.
All of this made Chen Ning's face flush slightly.
Jiang Huai... how did he suddenly become so handsome?
"If you don't actually have anything to say, I'm leaving," Jiang Huai urged when Chen Ning remained silent.
Only then did Chen Ning snap out of her daze, clear her throat, and say,
"Did you block me on WeChat?"
"Sorry, but since you kept texting me and disturbing me during class, I think blocking you was a perfectly reasonable decision."
Disturbing him??
Chen Ning looked at Jiang Huai in shock. He actually considered her sympathy and generosity toward him as harassment?
"I'M the one who's been harassed all these years!"
Yet, as she said this, she completely ignored how she had benefited from Jiang Huai's devotion to her all this time.
Whenever she needed comfort, she would turn to Jiang Huai for emotional support.
Whenever she didn't need him, she would push him aside.
To her, stringing him along had always been an act of charity.
"Oh, well, congratulations then. I won't be bothering you anymore. Are we done here? I'm leaving." Jiang Huai turned to go.
"Jiang Huai! Is it because of Lu Wanyin? That woman seduced you, and now you think you're popular and untouchable, don't you?!"
Jiang Huai sighed, turned back, and looked at her.
"Is love the only thing in your life? Not everyone is as bored as you."
"Jiang Huai!" Chen Ning trembled with anger.
"For years—from high school!—I was the one who stayed by your side! Have you forgotten how self-conscious and withdrawn you used to be? I was the only one willing to talk to you!"
"I wasted my youth on you, and now you're treating me like this?"
"Treating you like what?" Jiang Huai sneered. "I pursued you for five whole years. Five. You could have rejected me, you know. I always said that if you truly didn't like me, just say no once, and I'd never bother you again."
"But you? For five years, you never rejected me. Never accepted me either. You took my insecurities and magnified them to the extreme. And now, Chen Ning, you're already dating a rich young master, yet you still want to torment me?"
It seemed that Chen Ning had completely forgotten how she had dangled Jiang Huai along while chasing after her dream of becoming a wealthy wife.
Some people really have no shame.
Always playing the victim, expecting the whole world to revolve around them.
Chen Ning was momentarily speechless.
Because deep down, she knew Jiang Huai was right. She had strung him along while going out with that rich heir.
But after years of being spoiled by Jiang Huai's devotion, she couldn't possibly admit she was in the wrong in front of him.
"Jiang Huai, are you even a man? You don't have the patience for a few more years? I was just testing you longer, and now you're backing down?"
Jiang Huai scratched his head, feeling utterly baffled.
"Well, I don't want to take the test anymore. I quit."
"Jiang Huai, I know you're angry, but I won't hold it against you. You embarrassed me in front of my friends today, and now they're all laughing at me!"
Chen Ning, with a trace of grievance in her voice, reluctantly said,
"If you go buy me bubble tea right now and apologize to me in front of my friends… I might consider officially dating you."
Jiang Huai rolled his eyes.
He was utterly speechless.
How did I ever tolerate this woman for five years?
Maybe my heart was defective.
Now that Shen An'an has literally taken it out, I can finally think straight?
"No, no, you should go back to Young Master Zhou. Let's just pretend we don't know each other from now on, okay?"
"Jiang Huai, I didn't come here to talk about this nonsense." Chen Ning took a deep breath, crossing her arms over her chest.
"I came to give you this opportunity."
"No thanks," Jiang Huai replied coldly.
Chen Ning hadn't expected him to reject her outright without even thinking.
Her lips trembled, and her voice wavered as she said, "So... you're really serious about this?"
At that moment, a hand wrapped around Jiang Huai's waist.
Then, a lazy voice whispered from behind him.
"Babe… are you done yet? I'm sleepy…"
Lu Wanyin rested her face against his back.
Jiang Huai understood—Lu Wanyin was helping him shake off this woman.
So he smiled, pulled the drowsy Lu Wanyin into his arms, and looked at the stunned Chen Ning.
"Sorry, my girlfriend's tired. Also, please stop saying weird things to me from now on."
With that, Jiang Huai hugged Lu Wanyin and walked past Chen Ning, leaving her standing there in shock.
That night, Chen Ning was drinking with a few girlfriends.
A friend from another school noticed her distracted expression and chuckled, "What's wrong? Things not going well with Young Master Zhou?"
Chen Ning didn't respond.
Another girl laughed. "Not Zhou, she's upset about that junior, her little puppy, Jiang Huai. He suddenly turned into a wolf cub."
"You mean that Jiang Huai?" The friend was surprised. "Didn't he worship you? Now he's ignoring you?"
"He's dating another junior—a real beauty too."
Chen Ning became more and more irritated as she listened.
Her friend leaned in and whispered, "Jiang Huai loves you. That girl is just a fling. I bet she's feeding him all sorts of bad ideas."
Chen Ning suddenly felt enlightened.
Yes—Jiang Huai couldn't have changed this much on his own.
This must be Lu Wanyin's trick.
She wanted to use this tactic against me.
I won't fall for it.