"He wouldn't." Ling Wanbai's eyes curved into a faint smile.
Little Wei was about to say something when a familiar figure appeared in her line of sight.
"Little Wei, long time no see! You’ve lost weight, haven’t you?"
It was Zhong Ruyue, who walked over with a bright smile, taking Little Wei’s hand, her eyes shimmering with admiration.
"Of course," Little Wei couldn’t help but preen. "I’m so thin now I could raise fish in my ribcage."
"Don’t overdo it."
Zhong Ruyue chattered away with Little Wei for a while, but Little Wei keenly noticed Zhang Yunxiao stealing several glances at Zhong Ruyue and rubbed her chin thoughtfully.
Ah, right. Before this, Zhang Yunxiao had even given Zhong Ruyue his autograph—something other girls hadn’t managed to get.
Interesting.
Little Wei’s eyes crinkled with amusement.
So Zhang Yunxiao’s crush was Zhong Ruyue.
In that case, playing matchmaker just got a whole lot easier.
Little Wei was about to speak when she noticed Zhong Ruyue glance in Zhang Yunxiao’s direction. The moment Zhong Ruyue saw his hand entwined with Du Ran’s, her expression dimmed slightly.
Little Wei: "..."
Oh no.
She might have just done something terribly unfortunate.
If Zhang Yunxiao and Zhong Ruyue really liked each other, hadn’t she just turned a sweet romance into a tragic love story?
Ugh, this was a real sin.
Amen.
At this point, the only hope was for Du Ran to meet an early demise.
Since things had come this far, it was time to push Du Ran to the edge.
Little Wei shot Zhang Yunxiao a "don’t leave after school" look, and he seemed to understand, nodding quickly.
"Yunxiao-gege, I want some watermelon too," Du Ran cooed, tugging at Zhang Yunxiao’s sleeve with a bashful pout.
Zhang Yunxiao wanted nothing more than to slap her.
Du Ran used to be normal, but what the hell was this nonsense now?
If he had to spend another day with this creature, he’d start having nightmares.
"I’ll buy you some," Zhang Yunxiao replied, his face numb.
It was just a watermelon—hardly a financial burden.
As Zhang Yunxiao and Du Ran passed by Little Wei’s group, Zhang Yunxiao watched Zhong Ruyue walk away, his heart aching.
How many times a year did they even get to meet?
And now Zhong Ruyue was clearly keeping her distance.
Still, there was one silver lining—his junior, Little Wei, was close to the girl he liked. That would make things easier in the future.
"Yunxiao-gege, what are you looking at?" Du Ran tugged at his sleeve, her gaze fixed on Little Wei’s retreating figure, jealousy flickering in her eyes.
Zhang Yunxiao belonged to her—why was he distracted by someone else?
"You don’t like Ning Xiaowei, do you?" Du Ran pressed.
"Huh? I’m not insane," Zhang Yunxiao scoffed. He wasn’t suicidal enough to challenge Ling Wanbai.
Du Ran exhaled in relief, then recalled something Zhang Yunxiao had said earlier.
"Then, Yunxiao-gege, who did you say you liked before?" Her eyes glimmered with a teasing smile as she stared at him.
Zhang Yunxiao: "..."
Before he could even formulate a response, Du Ran suddenly perked up.
"You like me, don’t you? Yunxiao-gege?"
Zhang Yunxiao: ???
Wait, since when had she become this delusional?
Who gave Du Ran this confidence?
Zhang Yunxiao was genuinely speechless.
"Maybe… yeah," he muttered, unsure how else to respond.
"I knew it! You do like me!" Du Ran immediately leaned against his shoulder, beaming with joy.
Zhang Yunxiao had nothing left to say.
Thankfully, the torture only lasted a few more hours. Once he finally managed to drop Du Ran off at her place, he glanced up at the apartment building.
His junior had really screwed him over this time.
Sighing, Zhang Yunxiao trudged upstairs.
Little Wei was in the living room doing yoga when she heard a knock. She glanced at Ling Wanbai, who was busy writing a report, then hurried to open the door.
"Senior," she greeted cheerfully.
"Junior, what did you want to talk about?" Zhang Yunxiao shut the door behind him.
He had tiptoed up the stairs, terrified Du Ran might spot him. He swore he’d had enough of her.
If possible, he wished she’d go jump off a building.
"Important business. I’m going to set you free," Little Wei said, handing him a plate of sliced watermelon. After all this time, he really deserved it.
"Wait, seriously?" Zhang Yunxiao’s eyes lit up.
Damn it, after years of dealing with Du Ran, he was beyond done.
He wanted a sweet, double-S romance—not a life sentence with a lunatic.
"Yep. From now on, just ignore Du Ran. Don’t even explain why. She’ll definitely get mad."
Zhang Yunxiao slowed his chewing.
"She won’t try to kill me, right?" This felt like gambling with his life.
"Of course not. I’ll stop her," Little Wei assured him with a grin.
Zhang Yunxiao: "..."
Even if he was being scammed, he had no choice but to go along with it.
Anything to escape Du Ran’s orbit.
"Got it. I know what to do now." Lowering his gaze, Zhang Yunxiao devoured the remaining watermelon, washed the plate, and left.
Watching him go, Little Wei smiled to herself. It seemed this world’s mission was nearly complete.
"Happy?" Ling Wanbai asked.
Little Wei nodded eagerly.
She walked over and hugged Ling Wanbai.
"Well, of course. It’s because of you," she murmured sweetly.
Ling Wanbai didn’t reply, instead casting a heavy glance at Little Wei’s stomach.
Probably…
This mission wouldn’t end so easily.
"Go to bed early," Ling Wanbai said softly, ruffling her hair.
"Okay," Little Wei agreed, though something felt off.
Normally, Ling Wanbai would’ve already been unable to resist her by now.
Ah well. Some things were better left unasked—especially if it meant sparing her waist.
The next day, Du Ran was met with cold indifference from Zhang Yunxiao.
She couldn’t comprehend what had happened. Overnight, he had stopped acknowledging her.
"Why?" Du Ran chased after him. "How can you just stop loving me like this?"
Zhang Yunxiao’s lips twitched as he shook her off.
"I have a lecture to give to the freshmen."
He was busy. If not for Du Ran, he could’ve earned several teaching bonuses by now.
"You’re lying to me?" Du Ran’s eyes burned with resentment and fury.
She didn’t know what she’d done wrong. The man she loved was treating her like this—just yesterday, he’d claimed to like her. How could he change his mind so suddenly?
Du Ran couldn’t understand. She couldn’t make sense of it.
"Did someone seduce you? Was it Ning Xiaowei? Or Ling Wanbai?" She began listing the women Zhang Yunxiao had recently interacted with.
Zhang Yunxiao: ?
"Are you insane? If your brain’s malfunctioning, take your meds. Stop spouting nonsense."
Zhang Yunxiao was done.
What kind of ridiculous drama was this?
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