The Shocking Humble Kneel of Qingmei

Chen Yusheng found a spot to sit and watched as the others filmed their video.

Honestly, the idea of Su Bai and Jiang Qiuran acting out a romantic scene together struck her as downright hilarious.

Tch. A loser childhood friend trying to pull some cheap tricks?

Such low-tier green tea behavior.

After being roommates with Jiang Qiuran for a while, Chen Yusheng could tell—this girl was cunning.

Not that Chen Yusheng was any good at playing social games herself.

But she wasn’t stupid. In fact, she was sharp as a tack.

“Go ahead, try to flirt with Big White Goose during the shoot. Hmph, he’s already tried every possible way to watch anime with me—you think your little act is gonna work on him?”

Chen Yusheng thought with smug confidence.

That’s just how emotions worked. Once someone saw you as fake, the more you relied on smooth talk, the more it backfired.

Hmm, she wondered what Jiang Qiuran’s next move would be.

Chen Yusheng happily munched on the spicy grilled cold noodles Su Bai had bought her.

She loved anything spicy and bold.

Half an hour later,

most of the shots needed for the video were done.

Soon, they reached the final scene.

The setting was a quaint bridge over a flowing stream, both holding paper umbrellas as they passed each other.

The last shot froze on Jiang Qiuran’s glance back over her shoulder.

The sorrow in her expression was so convincing that even Wang Haoran, the cameraman, couldn’t help but blurt out, “Damn, Jiang, that’s some next-level acting. You could major in performance arts—total prodigy.”

But instead of politely accepting the praise as expected,

Jiang Qiuran’s face remained steeped in sadness, the emotion only deepening.

A few seconds later, tears began streaming down her cheeks.

Full-on breakdown!

“Qiuran, what’s wrong? Why are you crying like this?”

Wan Xinyan pulled out tissues to wipe Jiang Qiuran’s tears.

Truth be told, those tissues were originally packed for Su Bai. As the ever-thoughtful little sister, Wan Xinyan not only carried tissues in her bag but also iodine, band-aids, heart attack pills, and Yunnan Baiyao spray… Well, most of it was just-in-case prep, probably unnecessary.

But Jiang Qiuran’s sobbing was genuinely alarming.

Even Xue Tao and Chu Mingzhe, who had just finished playing the villains, were heartbroken seeing this.

They wanted to step in and comfort her but hesitated, lingering on the sidelines to offer support.

“Jiang, if someone’s been bullying you, just say it. We’re all classmates here—we’ll help however we can!”

“Yeah!”

“No one’s bullying me… sniff… It’s my own fault…”

Jiang Qiuran lifted her tear-streaked face, locking eyes with Su Bai.

Fueled by the raw emotions from filming, she laid bare her true feelings in front of everyone.

“…So, it’s all my mistake. I didn’t cherish Su Bai, and I had ulterior motives. Now, I just want his forgiveness… to stay as his childhood friend. I really can’t lose you! I’ll do anything to make things right!”

With those final words, Jiang Qiuran lunged forward—

and dropped to her knees with a thud, clutching Su Bai’s legs.

The shockwave of that move left the other three girls gaping, minds blank.

Honestly, Chen Yusheng knew some of Jiang Qiuran’s secrets, and Wan Xinyan could guess a bit too.

They expected more green tea antics… but never this level of self-destruction.

Proof that even the most socially adept beauties could lose control when pushed to the edge.

And a testament to Su Bai’s sheer charisma…

Xue Tao was speechless.

Chu Mingzhe, self-proclaimed cosmopolitan “Shanghai elite,” was utterly shaken.

Compared to this, his youth felt bland—while Su Bai was tangled in a dramatic love-hate saga with his childhood friend, Chu Mingzhe had been fiddling with headphones and vintage collectibles, hoping his “refined tastes” would impress girls.

Turns out, raw stats trumped everything.

Jiang Qiuran, the untouchable campus goddess, was kneeling in submission before Su Bai.

What kind of childhood friend act was this? Clearly, she was after his money!

Chu Mingzhe no longer bought the “Su Bai just came into some cash” excuse.

Today’s spending spree proved his family had deep pockets.

He just couldn’t figure out why Su Bai had been low-key before.

The local guy and the Shanghai elite, still dressed as villainous landlords from the shoot, stood there like defeated side characters overshadowed by the protagonist’s aura.

Only Su Bai remained skeptical.

Was this girl genuinely remorseful?

Then, his system suddenly pinged:

[Ding! Jiang Qiuran’s favorability +3. Current favorability: 85.]

Huh?

Jiang Qiuran was the one who pulled the dramatic kneel, yet her favorability toward him went up?

Was she into the emotional torment or something?

Curious, Su Bai decided to test it.

He looked down at her, expression cold, and pinched her chin to force her gaze up.

"Do you think this is enough to redeem your image in my eyes?"

The tone was icy, devoid of any mercy.

[Ding! Detected Jiang Qiuran's favorability +1. Current favorability: 86]

Jiang Qiuran's body visibly trembled.

Her cheeks flushed with an unnatural shade of red.

"No, I know this is far from enough. I just want a chance... a way to earn back your trust."

"Take your time."

Su Bai gave an ambiguous reply.

But in his heart, he already had it figured out.

Clearly, he had been too lenient with her before—she needed to be kept in check, controlled.

It was obvious that Jiang Qiuran now held a certain attitude toward Su Bai, the kind a girl might have toward a domineering CEO.

The worse Su Bai treated her, the more she seemed to enjoy it.

The deciding factor was probably Su Bai’s current financial status.

After all, a domineering CEO had to be rich first.

A broke guy pretending to be one? Pure clown behavior.

"Old Xue," Chu Mingzhe muttered gloomily, "I suddenly feel like this trip has lost all meaning."

"You're right," Xue Tao replied, equally deflated. "Maybe we should just head back to campus. Let that bastard Su Bai handle everything with the girls. It’s not like we’re needed here anyway."

"Nah, the hotel bookings can’t be refunded easily. Hey, Xue, I’ve got an idea... See those girls in hanfu over there? They’re not bad. Sure, they’re not on the same level as the ones in our group, but at least they won’t have any emotional entanglements with Su Bai."

Xue Tao glanced at Chu Mingzhe.

This guy’s spirit must’ve been utterly crushed by Su Bai.

First, he liked Chen Yusheng, only for her to go public with Su Bai.

Then, he fell for Jiang Qiuran, only to find out she was Su Bai’s devoted childhood sweetheart.

Not that Xue Tao was any better off.

"Old Chu, you’ve got a point. Let’s split off from Su Bai and do our own thing."

"Exactly. We’ve already finished filming the vlog, so mission accomplished."

With that, the two excused themselves from the group and promptly made their exit.

As for the "Shanghai guy" and the "local" leaving,

No one had any objections.

After all, nobody really wanted to hang out with them anyway.

The only one who felt a little regretful was Wang Haoran.

Without those two around, there’d be fewer outrageous, meme-worthy moments to witness.

Ah, what a lonely world.

Just as the "local" and the "Shanghai guy" were about to go flirt with the hanfu girls,

A message popped up on Chu Mingzhe’s phone.

It was from his high school classmate.