Lin Jianqing naturally went to Shen Huaixue’s home in the afternoon. He really hadn’t wanted to go in the first place, but she could help him suppress the buzz around this incident.
With her air of having nothing to fear, plus the fact that she was his Financial Backer, Lin Jianqing had no choice but to come.
And… about that photo collection, he needed to confront Shen Huaixue about it.
Although Shen Huaixue claimed it had nothing to do with her, Lin Jianqing’s intuition kept telling him that this was Shen Huaixue pulling some sort of trick.
That photo collection had already been scrolled past by his roommate, and Guan Ju had seen it too. If it stayed up another day, who knew if other people in his class would come across it?
If someone left a comment saying, “Doesn’t he kind of look like that Lin Jianqing from Lin University?” — if it really came to that, then he might seriously consider moving to another city.
As the elevator went up, Lin Jianqing stared at the floor numbers, getting angrier with each one.
Shen Huaixue was really outrageous.
The night before, she’d been all serious, saying, “I didn’t post that draft” and “I’m not someone who goes back on her word.” Then, the very next day, she turned around and said she could help suppress the buzz.
‘What was that supposed to mean?’
Lin Jianqing felt like he was being roasted on a grill. As for who was roasting him, Lin Jianqing couldn’t say for sure, but Shen Huaixue was definitely the one adding firewood.
The more he thought about it, the tighter his chest felt.
The elevator doors opened. Shen Huaixue’s door had already been unlocked ahead of time. He’d barely pressed the doorbell before the door swung open from the inside.
Shen Huaixue stood at the entrance, wearing a light-colored shirt, her hair casually tied up, no makeup on her face. She looked cold and clean, as if nothing had happened at all, as if she wasn’t the person who’d kept him up half the night yesterday.
‘Ugh.’
Seeing her like this, his anger flared right back up.
‘Why does she get to look so indifferent?’
“You’re here?”
Shen Huaixue looked at him calmly, her tone as natural as if she’d just invited him over for afternoon tea.
Lin Jianqing stepped inside, his shoes barely switched before he looked up at her. “Was that photo collection your doing or not?”
Shen Huaixue blinked. Very lightly, but her dark pupils radiated innocence. If Lin Jianqing hadn’t been burned by her too many times, he might’ve actually been fooled by that face.
“Which photo collection?”
Lin Jianqing nearly laughed in frustration. “Shen Huaixue, still playing dumb? The one I told you about at noon, of course.”
“I’m not playing dumb.” Shen Huaixue leaned against the entryway, her tone flat. “Are you talking about that same-city photo collection? I already explained it to you yesterday.”
“I didn’t post it, I didn’t use a burner account to post it, and I didn’t have Spirit Jade’s official account or anyone around me post it directly. Are you going to pin every problem with this whole thing on me?”
Lin Jianqing was caught off guard by that string of words. Each of her words could stand on its own, but when put together, they were so infuriating he wanted to throw a punch.
“Then how did that photo get in there?” Lin Jianqing stared at her. “Don’t tell me it was really taken by some random passerby. Shen Huaixue, do you really think there are coincidences like that in this world?”
Shen Huaixue looked at him, her expression serious, and even let out a light sigh, as if his suspicious demeanor was doing her an injustice.
“Lin Jianqing, there were so many people at the competition yesterday.”
“After the director’s camera swept over you, someone was bound to take a screenshot, someone was bound to take a picture of the big screen, someone was bound to post it on their Moments or submit it to a same-city account. Is that really that hard to understand?”
“You saw it yourself — that photo wasn’t particularly clear, and only one was included in the video.”
“If I really wanted to embarrass you, that draft I showed you yesterday would’ve been more than enough. The cover was you, the title was even more direct, and I could’ve even cut in those few seconds of your ears turning red when the camera caught you. But I didn’t do that.”
Lin Jianqing frowned. What Shen Huaixue said did make some sense, but it flowed too smoothly, as if she’d prepared all her explanations in advance.
“Don’t try to fob me off with that.” Lin Jianqing lowered his voice.
“Last night you threatened me with that draft to keep my hair long. The moment I agreed, a different compilation was posted on the same-city account, and my photo was mixed in. Are you really going to tell me you have nothing to do with this?”
Shen Huaixue didn’t answer immediately. She just looked at him.
In that instant, Lin Jianqing suddenly felt the sounds in the living room grow fainter.
It wasn’t silence — it was something invisible brushing past his thoughts, like a very thin thread, picking out a few strands from the tangled mess in his mind and slowly laying them out before him.
There really had been a lot of people at the competition yesterday, and the director really had swept the camera over the VIP Seating.
In that video, there really was only one photo of him. If Shen Huaixue really wanted to mess with him, there was no need to go around in such circles.
These thoughts surfaced one after another, as if he’d figured it out on his own. And… they’d appeared right after their conversation.
Even if Shen Huaixue really wanted to do something like that, she wouldn’t be so blatant about it. After all, she wasn’t stupid.
Lin Jianqing’s fingers tightened slightly.
‘She’s scheming…’
He couldn’t follow Shen Huaixue’s line of thinking. This woman’s special ability seemed to be psychic type.
‘What?’
Yesterday, at the competition, a single glance from her had been enough to change people’s judgment. Now she was standing here reasoning with him — who knew if she was secretly pulling something?
“Shen Huaixue.” Lin Jianqing looked up at her. “Did you use your ability on me?”
Finally, a slight change appeared on Shen Huaixue’s face. It wasn’t panic. It was more like she’d heard something very interesting.
“You think I was controlling you just now?”
“I don’t know,” Lin Jianqing said. “But just now, I almost thought you were making sense.”
Shen Huaixue let out a low laugh at that. “That’s because I was making sense to begin with. I have no reason to lie to you about this.”
“Cut it out.”
“Lin Jianqing, if I really wanted to use my ability to make you believe me, I wouldn’t need to say all this to you.” Shen Huaixue walked into the living room, picked up the cup on the coffee table, and took a sip of water. Her tone was light.
“The fact that you can still stand here arguing with me, still doubt me, and even think of me as that much of a villain — that shows I’ve been respecting your autonomous will.”
Lin Jianqing: …
‘How could she say something like that with such a clear conscience?’
“Should I thank you for not just brainwashing me?”
“If you’d like to thank me, I wouldn’t mind listening.”
“Shen Huaixue!”
“Mhm, I’m here, I’m here. Don’t be mad. At least we still have a way to fix this.” Shen Huaixue set down the cup and looked at him, at the tips of his ears red from anger. Her voice softened.
“I didn’t ask you to fully believe me. I just wanted you to calm down and think it over, instead of rushing to pin the blame on me the second you saw that video.”
“You didn’t sleep well last night, and today the teacher asked you about it too. It’s normal for your head to be a mess. I just pressed down some of those useless emotions for you. That’s not too much, is it?”
Lin Jianqing looked at her and said nothing for a long time.
‘Too much? Of course it’s too much. But her words are so neatly evasive.’
‘This woman is really sick.’
Lin Jianqing took a deep breath, not wanting to go in circles with her anymore. “Who’s ‘we’ with you? Forget it. Just tell me — can you suppress the video’s popularity or not?”
Shen Huaixue nodded. “Of course I can.”
“How?”
“Use other hot topics to cover up the photo collection about you. But there’s a simpler way. If that photo collection account is willing to cooperate, we can also have them delete or edit that photo.”
“Then do it now.”
Shen Huaixue looked up at him, her expression suddenly turning a bit innocent. “Why would I do it now?”
Lin Jianqing nearly choked on his anger at her words. But little did Lin Jianqing know, Shen Huaixue, standing right in front of him, had a mischievous smile curling at the corner of her lips — her cat tail was practically about to show.