They acted as if nothing had happened, their whispered discussion abruptly halting. Their stares made Zhao Mingyue feel disgusted. When she walked in the door, she had clearly heard them discussing her name.
She didn’t greet them, nor did she put on an awkward smile and pretend she hadn’t heard, just letting the matter slide.
Carrying her schoolbag in one hand, she simply walked directly towards those few classmates, a serious expression on her face.
These people clearly didn’t expect Zhao Mingyue to walk straight over to them. After all, they had just been whispering about her, and here she was, the person in question, heading their way. They felt their faces burning with embarrassment. For a moment, they didn’t know whether to leave or continue sitting there, pretending nothing had happened.
Zhao Mingyue gave them no time to react. She stopped right in front of them, stood up straight, and put on a smile that looked very gentle. “I thought I heard everyone discussing something about me just now. I wonder if you could share it with me? Perhaps there’s been some misunderstanding.”
Zhao Mingyue was very polite. At this moment, there were more than just these seven students in the Classroom; others were sitting in their places. With Zhao Mingyue’s words, the gaze of the others in the room immediately turned towards them.
Most of the female students’ eyes held curiosity, while many male students let their gazes linger on Zhao Mingyue briefly before hurriedly looking away, feigning disinterest. Yet the actions of their hands had already stopped.
With the attention of nearly twenty students in the Classroom focused on them, the few gossip-mongers truly began to panic.
Some remained silent. Some quickly waved their hands, saying it was nothing, just idle chat. Others gave awkward smiles, advising her not to take hearsay from their little group seriously.
But the girl right in front of Zhao Mingyue stood up directly, her eyes staring unwaveringly at Zhao Mingyue.
“What we say, what we discuss—that’s our freedom. Why must we tell you? You say we were discussing you. So what? Did you hear us clearly?”
The girl wore light makeup, had single eyelids, and long, narrow eyes. Her cheekbones were high, her jaw wide. Her long hair was slightly curled, and the scent of a certain perfume drifted from her.
“Really, Zhao Mingyue? Don’t you feel embarrassed yourself?”
“And what was that, ‘Oh, perhaps there’s a misunderstanding’? How ridiculous. As if we’re spreading rumors about you. Who are you putting on that face for?”
“If you don’t know how to talk, don’t butt in. I really don’t get it. Ruining the atmosphere of someone else’s circle—does that make you feel good? It’s not just you who’s embarrassed, we’re embarrassed for you, you know?”
The girl was just getting warmed up when someone behind her gently tugged her arm. “Niannian, stop it.”
Zhao Mingyue was unfazed. She waited until Zhu Niannian finished before speaking, still smiling. “If you don’t want to say, fine. I’m not forcing you. You just now called out my name. It’s perfectly normal for me to ask what’s going on, right?”
“I was just worried you’d believe those rumors floating around outside. I wanted to tell you those rumors aren’t credible. Like the one going around that you confessed to Li Nan and got rejected, and you tearfully threatened to drop out of school.”
“Any smart person would think for a second and know it must be a false rumor, because I believe Student Zhu here knows full well the principle that we, as students, should prioritize our studies.”
“But you’re right, I was disturbing you all. I apologize.”
With that, Zhao Mingyue turned and left, not even giving Zhu Niannian a chance to counterattack, basically ignoring the girl’s face turning green with rage.
Worth mentioning was that Zhu Niannian had once publicly expressed her feelings to Lu Liangting, only to be flatly rejected with the four words “prioritize my studies.” This had circulated around school for a long time, practically becoming a running joke.
Returning to her own seat, Zhao Mingyue sat down and picked up the heart-shaped Love Chocolate from her desk with both hands.
She naturally knew who had sent it. But she just loosened the bow tied with pink ribbon, took out the book underneath, and placed it on the desk.
At this moment, most of the male students in the class had shifted their attention over. They were very curious to see what Zhao Mingyue would choose to do: accept the chocolate or ruthlessly throw it away.
Zhao Mingyue picked up the note on top and carefully read its contents.
Immediately after, in front of everyone, she directly opened the box of chocolate. Very calmly, she took out a piece, peeled off the wrapper, and popped it into her mouth.
At this moment, not just the other students, but even Bai Yu didn’t understand this girl’s moves.
Earlier, her counterattack against Zhu Niannian proved she wasn’t some blockhead completely clueless about matters of love. Yet instead of throwing the chocolate away, she started eating it without a care?!
This box of chocolate represented someone’s feelings! It wasn’t for her to just snack on!
Accepting it meant agreeing. Refusing meant returning it. Two choices.
“Mingyue, the school you’re at now is different from your previous one. It’s best not to eat that, don’t accept it.”
Bai Yu’s voice echoed in the depths of Zhao Mingyue’s heart. Zhao Mingyue replied while chewing.
“Why can’t I eat it? Isn’t this for me? The note on it only said it’s compensation for borrowing my book, hoping I’d accept it.”
“And besides, this box of chocolate is expensive! A hundred ninety-eight a box! That’s two, maybe three days’ wages for me!”
Bai Yu didn’t answer for a long time. She felt she might have been overthinking things.
This girl was far from as dumb as she’d thought. In reality, she was cunning as a fox. On the surface, she looked like an honest, easy-to-bully person, but careful observation revealed she definitely wasn’t the type to swallow a loss silently, and her mouth wasn’t clumsy at all.
To say this honest persona was completely faked by Zhao Mingyue, deliberately playing the pig to eat the tiger—that wasn’t right either.
From Bai Yu’s understanding of her, when she got insulted and proactively fought back, it came from a pure, simple thought.
Namely: ‘Why should I just let you bully me for free? Wouldn’t that mean I lost out? No way!’
And coming back to why this girl ate the Love Chocolate right in front of the whole class, the reasoning was actually quite similar.
‘I told you not to give it, but you insisted. Well, since you insisted on giving it to me, it’s mine now. Such expensive chocolate—if I don’t eat it, I’d be losing out!’
As for what others thought or said, that wasn’t important.
Who said Love Chocolate absolutely had to be a confession of feelings? Li Nan wasn’t even here, and the note he left didn’t say that either.
If Li Nan came to her about this later, thinking he had a chance, she’d just reject him if it came to that.
The only risk was the other party asking for the chocolate back.
As for other risks, when Bai Yu thought it over carefully, there really weren’t any.
Li Nan getting angry from embarrassment and seeking revenge? Or becoming the new hot topic for the whole class?
Honestly speaking, none of that mattered.
Just as Zhao Mingyue was still enjoying her chocolate, Lu Liangting walked in. His gaze landed almost instantly on Zhao Mingyue.
At this moment, he had many things he wanted to ask Zhao Mingyue.
For instance, what had happened during the second half of last night.
And whether Zhao Mingyue knew the whereabouts of that Female Ghost.
