“Them being ground well is so I can bite you—scram!”
The moment those words left his mouth, Lin Jianqing froze himself.
What did he just say?
It had only been a harsh retort that popped into his head after being annoyed by Shen Huaixue.
But now that it had actually come out of his mouth, combined with his current women’s clothing, that face enhanced by makeup, and the group of VIP guests occasionally glancing his way, the entire sentence instantly started feeling very wrong.
Lin Jianqing’s ears grew hot.
Great. His mouth had moved faster than his brain, and karma had arrived.
Shen Huaixue froze for half a second at first, then, as if she’d just heard something particularly amusing, a hint of a smile gradually surfaced in her eyes.
“Bite you?”
Lin Jianqing immediately turned his face away and lowered his voice: “A slip of the tongue. Forget it.”
“I don’t think so. That feels like your true feelings.” Shen Huaixue moved a little closer, her voice slow and drawn out.
“Student Lin, when the camera was on you earlier, you were all ‘scared, scared, scared,’ and now you’re already thinking about biting me?”
Lin Jianqing was nearly undone by that “scared, scared, scared.”
“Can you not bring that up?”
“Why can’t I bring it up?” Shen Huaixue’s smile was insufferably smug. “I think the way you admitted it earlier was pretty quick. Pretty cute, too.”
“That’s because you forced me!” Lin Jianqing lowered his voice.
“The big screen was still lit up, a crowd of people around us were egging it on, and you were leaning in that close asking if I was scared. What else was I supposed to do? If someone recognized me, what would I do?”
Shen Huaixue thought for a moment and nodded candidly: “That’s fair. So, do you think I did it on purpose?”
Lin Jianqing: “…”
She wasn’t even trying to pretend.
Just as Lin Jianqing was about to unilaterally end the conversation, his phone vibrated.
He looked down. It was the dorm group chat. For some reason, seeing that made Lin Jianqing’s heart skip a beat.
‘Where exactly are you today?’
‘That girl standing next to Shen Huaixue at today’s superpower competition really looks way too much like you.’
‘We’re not just saying that randomly. Whether it’s the face shape or the temperament, it’s genuinely identical to yours. I even took a photo.’
Lin Jianqing stared at those messages, his whole body freezing up. His roommates were all uniformly tagging him. Do you all have facial recognition systems or something? You could recognize me even like this?
And Lin Jianqing remembered the screen had been pretty blurry—you could call it mosaic image quality. Normally when he asked them to help check his homework for composition or other issues, every single one of them had eyes like they were blind.
But now, when it came to a girl who looked like Lin Jianqing, they started analyzing frame by frame. The more the group chat spiraled, the more panicked Lin Jianqing became.
His fingertips hovered over the input box for a long time, and in the end, he couldn’t hold back and sent a message.
‘What are you guys talking about?’
He regretted it the moment he sent it. The optimal solution for this kind of situation was to just play dead.
‘We’re talking about the girl on the big screen. Why did you suddenly jump out to explain that you’re out doing something?’
Lin Jianqing stared at the screen, his vision going dark. This was like self-detonation… wait, they were the ones who tagged him first, right?
Forget it. Lin Jianqing’s brain was completely overloaded. He simply stopped looking at his phone.
Let them think whatever they wanted.
But just then, Shen Huaixue tilted her head to look at him, her gaze sweeping across his phone screen, the corner of her lips curling up bit by bit.
“Dorm group chat?”
Lin Jianqing immediately tucked his phone against his chest: “No.”
“Your roommates came to watch the competition too, and they vaguely recognized you?”
“Then your lying skills really need some work.” Shen Huaixue was holding back a laugh.
“I was only guessing at first, but now I’m sure of it. Though you’re in big trouble this time—the more you explain, the less they’ll believe you. My suggestion is… mm, you’d better just play dead, and when you get back to the dorm, act like nothing happened.”
“Shut up.”
“Want me to reply for you?”
“Don’t touch my phone.”
Lin Jianqing refused almost immediately. With how malicious Shen Huaixue was, who knew what she might say.
In the end, Lin Jianqing could only steel himself and add another line: ‘I just watched the live video, so I know a little. Don’t read into it.’
“If you beg me, I could secretly modify their memories. Need that?”
“No!”
The group chat didn’t keep calling him out this time, only sending a few meaningful emoticons.
Lin Jianqing looked at those emoticons, wishing he could die on the spot.
Of course, not in the literal sense. It’s just that his phone was still buzzing, and those emoticons in the dorm group chat looked like they were lining up to pay respects at his grave.
Lin Jianqing turned the screen face down on his lap and shrank back into his seat.
He no longer cared about who won or lost after the competition, whose superpower had performed beautifully, or who the commentator had praised. He only cared about one thing: when the event ended, whether he’d run face-first into his roommates at the exit.
With his rotten luck, Lin Jianqing felt it was genuinely possible.
Just thinking about that scene made his scalp go numb.
Several roommates squeezed out of the crowd, possibly still holding unfinished drinks, and when they looked up and saw a pretty girl standing beside Shen Huaixue who looked a lot like him, they would definitely come over for a closer look.
Just from those few glances, he, Lin Jianqing, would be exposed.
No way.
That scenario was too horrifying. Lin Jianqing was honestly a little scared.
“When are we leaving?” Lin Jianqing asked in a lowered voice.
Shen Huaixue tilted her head to look at him, as if she’d already had enough of watching him squirm: “What’s the rush?”
“It’s over.” Lin Jianqing suppressed the urge to throw his phone.
“The exit is definitely going to be packed with people, and my roommates are in there too. What if we run into each other?” Lin Jianqing felt that with his current luck, they absolutely would run into each other.
“Then don’t take the regular exit.”
Lin Jianqing was stunned for a moment, then slowly turned his head to look at her: “What do you mean?”
“The VIP Area has a private passage that leads directly to the parking lot.” Shen Huaixue said it very naturally, as if this wasn’t something that needed to be explained in advance.
Lin Jianqing looked at her, silent for several seconds, before squeezing out from between his teeth: “You… why didn’t you say that earlier?”
Shen Huaixue picked up her handbag and let out a very light laugh as she stood: “You didn’t ask. And it’s common sense. Also, what are you in such a hurry for?”
Lin Jianqing nearly ascended to heaven on the spot from anger. How could he not be in a hurry?
He could already feel how close he was to social death. Just moments ago, his mind had been filled with thoughts of how to flee the city overnight if he got caught.
“Shen Huaixue, you’re really something else.”
“Mhm.” Shen Huaixue wasn’t angry at all, even seemed to be in a good mood. “Let’s go. Your lacking-in-morals Financial Backer will take you out.”
“Don’t say that kind of thing like you’re so proud of it.”
Forget it. The most important thing now was to leave this place normally.
But leaving from the VIP Seating wasn’t so smooth either.
The moment Shen Huaixue stood up, people came over to make small talk—about event sponsorships and Linzhou City’s future cooperation—and by the end of the conversation, their gazes would always land on Lin Jianqing.
“The friend Miss Shen brought today was very eye-catching on the big screen.”
When Lin Jianqing heard the words “big screen,” his fingertips tensed slightly.
Could they just leave the big screen alone? Or leave him alone? Those three words had practically become his mental pollution source today.