Chapter Twenty-Two: You'll Have to Pay Tuition If You Want to Know

"Hey! What brings the school belle here? Don't tell me she's here for Jiang Bei!"

"You're right! Zhou Qingyue, if you want to see our pal, Jiang Bei, just say the word. There's no need for you to come all this way!"

When Liu Yue, who bowed her head as she tidied her things, heard these comments, she felt a strong sense of crisis.

Zhou Qingyue would be fierce competition if she were also interested in Jiang Bei. She was the school belle, head and shoulders above every other girl in school.

'What will I do if Jiang Bei falls for Zhou Qingyue?' Liu Yue thought anxiously. Her anxiety only grew when she saw Jiang Bei walking toward Zhou Qingyue. 

Jiang Bei's face was filled with smug satisfaction when he heard the jeers and catcalls around him. He even deliberately smartened up before standing and walking toward Zhou Qingyue.

Zhou Qingyue was used to such situations; the students tended to make a fuss wherever she went. She ignored the others and looked around the classroom for Chen Tianming.

Her eyes swept the room, and finally found him in a corner. Zhou Qingyue walked toward Chen Tianming with something held in her hands.

Jiang Bei stopped when he saw Zhou Qingyue head toward him. To think that the icy beauty, Zhou Qingyue, came to look for him; he would brag about this achievement for a long time!

With this, the others would follow his lead even more readily!

Jiang Bei couldn't help but smile when he thought of how he would become the envy of others.

When she reached him, Jiang Bei was about to speak to Zhou Qingyue, but she didn't even spare him a glance. Instead, she brushed past him and continued toward Chen Tianming.

Jiang Bei looked at Zhou Qingyue with a hint of confusion. 'What's she doing? Isn't she here for me?'

Liu Yue, on the other hand, secretly heaved a sigh of relief. She could stop worrying; Zhou Qingyue wasn't interested in Jiang Bei.

But Zhou Qingyue shouldn't look down on others just because she was the school belle! She would have to teach Zhou Qingyue a lesson on Jiang Bei's behalf. If Jiang Bei was satisfied, he might even reward her.

With this thought in mind, Liu Yue casually extended her leg and pretended she was stretching it out. Instead, she intended to trip Zhou Qingyue up.

However, Zhou Qingyue wasn't a silly naive girl. If she couldn't see the big foot sticking out in her path, then she might as well be blind.

Zhou Qingyue had heard of the relationship between Liu Yue and Jiang Bei; it wasn't hard for her to figure out why the girl was antagonistic toward her.

It was clear that Liu Yue intended to make things difficult for her; if Zhou Qingyue didn't teach her a lesson, who knew what she would do next time?

Thus, Zhou Qingyue pretended she didn't see Liu Yue's outstretched limb and stepped on it.

Just as Liu Yue felt smug that her plan was about to succeed, she suddenly felt a sharp pain in her leg and cried out, "Ah!"

At the shout, the students nearby also looked in Liu Yue's direction.

"Liu Yue, what's wrong?" Su Qing asked with a frown.

Originally, Liu Yue wanted to tell everyone that Zhou Qingyue had stepped on her. However, on second thought, if Zhou Qingyue blamed her, she wouldn't be able to explain herself.

Moreover, she didn't have evidence to prove anything, so if Zhou Qingyue refused to admit to the act, there wasn't much she could do, and her image would be ruined. It wasn't worth it.

Liu Yue hurriedly waved her hand and said, "I just saw a huge black shadow jump across the ground. I was frightened!"

When Liu Yue said this, the others hurriedly comforted her.

Meanwhile, Zhou Qingyue's expression didn't change at all as she looked at Liu Yue. She then walked toward Chen Tianming.

Liu Yue's voice brought Jiang Bei back from his stupor. He realized who Zhou Qingyue was looking for.

'She came here for Chen Tianming!'

Chen Tianming played him like a fiddle yesterday, and now he lost so much face because of him. He couldn't live with himself if he didn't take revenge on Chen Tianming.

Jiang Bei looked at Zhou Qingyue and then at Chen Tianming. Suddenly, an idea came to mind.

Even heroes have a weakness for the charms of a beautiful woman! He didn't believe that Chen Tianming could remain unmoved by feminine wiles.

After quickly fleshing out the plan details, Jiang Bei contacted a gang leader he'd been following.

'With the boss' help, Chen Tianming was going down!' Jiang Bei couldn't help but smile creepily at the thought of Chen Tianming being threatened.

Chen Tianming was bewildered when he saw Zhou Qingyue walking over to him. 'What does she want with me? Is this about the photo?'

'It had only been one night, and she was already asking me for results! Why was this woman so anxious?!'

Just as Tianming was silently complaining to himself, Zhou Qingyue suddenly said, "Your watch."

Chen Tianming looked down at his empty wrist. No wonder he felt he had forgotten something when he left the house in the morning. It was his watch!

'It was just a watch. Why did Zhou Qingyue go through the trouble of returning it to him in person?'

Actually, Zhou Qingyue didn't want to make the extra effort when she could've just mailed it over or some such. However, when she left the hotel, she was informed by the hotel staff that the price of the watch was beyond her reach.

If such an expensive thing were handed over to someone else, they wouldn't be able to pay the consequences should any accidents occur. Therefore, in the end, Zhou Qingyue chose to deliver it personally.

Zhou Qingyue left immediately after she returned the watch. After Zhou Qingyue left, the boys who had been spurring Jiang Bei on earlier all rushed to Chen Tianming's side.

These guys admired and were willing to follow Jiang Bei's lead because he was adept at flirting with girls, and they hoped to learn some of his skills.

But now it looks like Chen Tianming had successfully charmed the most challenging target—the cool and aloof school belle. This meant that Chen Tianming had better moves than Jiang Bei!

Chen Tianming must have unique skills to make the school belle fall for him. Winning over a class beauty should be relatively easy if they learned a move or two from him.

So the guys gathered around Chen Tianming's table and said, "Hey Chen, ol' buddy, ol' pal of mine, hurry up and tell us what's up! How did you get involved with Zhou Qingyue?"

"That's right! We didn't even know you quietly swept the school belle off her feet! We would've acted accordingly had we known she was your girlfriend!"

Chen Tianming thought his heart would be filled with anger when he heard their hypocrisy, but unexpectedly, his heart was calmer than a lake. Some words become meaningless when you listen to them too often.

Although Chen Tianming didn't want to be friends with these people, Jiang Bei would be enraged if he stole the show, and he couldn't say no to that!

So, Tianming leaned back in his chair with a profound expression and stated, "You wanna know? Then you'll have to pay up!"