Abandoning the Dragon-Proud Sky After First Disturbing Him

In the boys' dormitory room 147.

Long Aotian's QQ video call notification suddenly rang out.

He glanced at it and promptly hung up.

But soon, a second video call came through.

Again, he chose to decline it.

Ding-dong~

A message alert sounded: ["If you don't come down, I won't leave."]

["If anyone asks, I’ll say I’m here to confront Long Aotian, the heartbreaker."]

Seeing these two messages, Long Aotian got up and walked to the balcony, where he spotted Shen Mengjie standing downstairs.

She stood out—she was the only one wearing a hoodie with the hood up...

As if sensing his gaze, Shen Mengjie suddenly looked up, locking eyes with Long Aotian on the balcony.

Her stubborn expression made it clear: if he didn’t come down, she’d stand there till doomsday.

Watching Long Aotian pull his head back inside, Shen Mengjie, who had just been wearing a look of defiance, suddenly smiled. "Your kindness is your biggest weakness!"

Sure enough, before long, Long Aotian appeared at the dormitory entrance.

Shen Mengjie stepped forward. "Come with me."

"Stop pulling at me."

Shen Mengjie let go but fixed her gaze on him seriously. "Tell me, what should I do?"

"Do about what?"

Without answering, Shen Mengjie tugged him along to a secluded corner, then took out her phone and played a recording.

After listening, Long Aotian sighed softly. "So?"

"Should I expose this recording or not?"

"That’s your choice to make."

"But... I don’t know..." Shen Mengjie was torn, which was why she’d instinctively sought out Long Aotian. For some reason, she felt only he could give her the right answer.

Amused by her dilemma, Long Aotian said, "Exposing your secret—you should hate Zhang Mengmeng, right? So what’s holding you back?"

Shen Mengjie turned her head away. She sensed a hint of mockery in his tone but had no proof.

"Honestly, when I first found out it was Zhang Mengmeng, I wanted to tear her face off. But strangely, I didn’t. Now, I can’t even bring myself to hate her. I just think she’s... pitiful."

She shook her head. "I must be going crazy."

"Hate comes from caring. Not hating means you’ve moved on," Long Aotian said slowly, admiring Shen Mengjie’s inner strength.

Maybe, as she’d said that night, she hadn’t cared much from the start...

Or if it had been someone else, the recording would already be all over the campus forum.

Call her kind? She’d juggled thirty-eight guys effortlessly.

Call her unkind? Here she was, hesitating over this.

Shen Mengjie was a walking contradiction...

Staring at her phone, she murmured, "If I expose this, it’ll clear my name..."

"That’s for you to decide. But let me remind you—you’re not exactly innocent. All the rumors about you were true..."

"I know, I know. You don’t have to keep reminding me I’m no saint..."

"Your words, not mine."

Shen Mengjie rolled her eyes. "Please. I know exactly what you think of me."

She laughed at herself. Someone like her...

"But... thank you anyway."

At first, Shen Mengjie hadn’t cared much because she’d believed she was exactly what people said.

But Long Aotian had told her: even if her actions weren’t honorable, the guy who’d hit on her while having a girlfriend deserved just as much blame. [The campus post had labeled her: "Homewrecking slut, a seductive fox who steals boyfriends."]

Though things hadn’t turned out as she’d imagined, Shen Mengjie had learned one thing: others might look down on her, but she didn’t have to look down on herself.

"Ah, finally getting to the point. You should thank me." Long Aotian felt fully deserving of gratitude—no question about it.

One sentence from her, one beer chugged by him. If he hadn’t been a good drinker, he’d have worried this lightweight might’ve toppled into the campus lake.

A "thank you" was the least she owed him.

"Has anyone ever told you you’re insufferably smug?" Shen Mengjie itched to punch him!

When serious, he’d down beers without blinking—so damn reassuring.

When not, he’d bicker, argue, and tease like a brat—utterly insufferable!

"Hey... Long Aotian, I..."

"Spit it out. This hesitation drives me nuts."

Shen Mengjie bit her lip and met his eyes. "Long Aotian, I want to know... how do you see me?"

"How do I see you?"

"Yeah."

"With my eyes, obviously. How else?"

"You—you’re impossible!" Shen Mengjie stormed off, flipping her hood down as she turned.

Her long, silky hair cascaded over her shoulders.

Lifting her delicate face, she took a deep breath of air.

In the sunlight, her profile looked striking as she tilted her head slightly. "I couldn’t care less what people think."

Whether that was her answer to Long Aotian or her stance on the matter, no one could say.

Watching her leave, Long Aotian stretched. "What a mess. Shen Mengjie plays around, Zhang Mengmeng stays silent—if they’d just talked sooner, none of this would’ve happened."

"If I opened a counseling service, I’d drag Zhang Mengmeng in first. How much should I charge...?"

"Tsk—better not dwell on it. I’m starting to sound like a life coach..."

Back in the dorm, he’d just lain down when the door opened.

Huang Fei walked in.

"Well?" Xu Shuai and Li Longlong, still in the dark, pressed for answers.

Huang Fei exhaled heavily. "It was Zhang Mengmeng."

"No way! Zhang Mengmeng?"

"Well, that’s a plot twist sharper than a knife..."

"But why? What was the reason?"

Facing their questions, Huang Fei stayed uncharacteristically quiet.

"Where’s Zhang Mengmeng now?" Long Aotian asked.

"She cried for a long time, then went back to her dorm to pack."

Long Aotian nodded, saying nothing more.

Right and wrong were hard to judge here.

Shen Mengjie had erred morally—even without Zhang Mengmeng’s exposure, the truth would’ve come out eventually.

Was Zhang Mengmeng wrong? If we set aside all other factors, if her boyfriend had truly been stolen by Shen Mengjie, Long Aotian could understand everything she did.

But driven purely by selfish desires, to resort to such extreme measures—betraying a roommate and friend she spent every day with—she was actually quite ruthless...

In the end, it was just mutual destruction...