21

After that, Leng Yanmi's phone remained unreachable.

Shi Yue suspected that Leng Yanmi was angry and had blocked her, but when she tried calling from another phone, she got the same "phone is off" message. Recently, they had started preparing for their final projects, and Shi Yue was swamped. By the time she had any free time, it was already nighttime, so she couldn't find time to go directly to the Leng Corporation headquarters to look for her.

One day after class, she decisively left the half-finished design behind, planning to take advantage of the lunch break to go out.

Coincidentally, as soon as she reached the bottom of the teaching building, she spotted a familiar face—

Leng Mingchuan was leaning against one of the building's pillars, holding a phone in one hand, with the other in his pocket. He looked bored, as if he were waiting for someone.

Shi Yue hesitated, then changed direction and walked toward him, initiating a conversation. "Leng Mingchuan."

Leng Mingchuan, who had been scrolling through short videos, was startled. Seeing that it was Shi Yue, he was even more surprised.

He frowned and straightened up, "What do you want?"

Shi Yue didn't want to have much to do with him. She cleared her throat and got straight to the point, "Where's Leng Yanmi?"

"Huh?" Leng Mingchuan was taken aback and then asked, "Why are you asking about my aunt?"

Seeing his dumbfounded expression, Shi Yue took a deep breath.

After all, she needed something from him. She forced a polite smile, "I haven't been able to reach her recently, and I want to make sure she's okay."

"My aunt is perfectly fine," Leng Mingchuan sneered, "just being pestered by a thief."

"Let me warn you, stay away from our Leng family. The engagement between us is off, and neither I nor my aunt want anything to do with you."

Shi Yue didn't take his taunts to heart. At least from Leng Mingchuan, she could confirm that Leng Yanmi was safe, and that was enough to put her mind at ease.

But... if Leng Yanmi was safe, why would she have her phone turned off?

Someone like Leng Yanmi would never casually change her phone number. And would she really shut off her phone just because they had a tiff?

Shi Yue changed tactics, "Can you contact her?"

Leng Mingchuan smirked, "Obviously."

Despite knowing it was unlikely, Shi Yue wanted to try once more.

"Can you give me her new contact information? I need to talk to her."

Leng Mingchuan was immediately infuriated by her request, "Didn't I just say that you have nothing to do with our family anymore? Stop pestering my aun—"

Before he could finish saying "aunt," Shen Lingling ran out of the teaching building, shouting, "Mingchuan…"

Shi Yue realized she couldn't get any information from Leng Mingchuan and was about to leave when Shen Lingling stopped her. Running up to them, she immediately turned her attention to Shi Yue, "Shi Yue, what do you want with my boyfriend?"

She spoke loudly, especially emphasizing "boyfriend," drawing the attention of the students passing by.

Shi Yue turned back to explain, "It's a misunderstanding."

"Misunderstanding?" Shen Lingling clung to Leng Mingchuan's arm, flaunting her claim over him.

She sighed dramatically, "I know the broken engagement between you and Mingchuan was a big blow to you, but I'm sorry, it was a forced arrangement by our families. Mingchuan was never willing from the start.

"Now that he's with me, can you please stop bothering him? He has no feelings for you."

Shi Yue resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

She crossed her arms and calmly replied, "I'm glad there's nothing between us. I have no feelings for your boyfriend either.

"It was a mistake for me to come to him today. I apologize for disturbing your lives."

Seeing Shi Yue lower her head, Shen Lingling's confidence soared.

"If I didn't hear wrong just now, weren't you asking Mingchuan for a contact number?" she said smugly. "As his girlfriend, I was bothered by it. Mingchuan has blocked you entirely. Whether it's for personal or business matters, I can't accept you having any contact with him. If you have any questions in the future, you can come directly to me. If it's necessary, I'll pass it on to Mingchuan."

"…" Shi Yue was left speechless.

Normally, she wouldn't hesitate to retort, but today she had indeed sought out Leng Mingchuan, so she had to bear the consequences.

Deciding it was best to just leave, she said indifferently, "I'm leaving now," and turned to head towards the cafeteria.

She also decided not to go to the Leng Corporation headquarters. Confirming that Leng Yanmi was safe from Leng Mingchuan was enough for her. If Leng Yanmi was intentionally avoiding her, she wouldn't be able to find her anyway.

That evening, a post titled "Shi Family Miss Clings to Ling Young Master" appeared on the school forum, quickly shooting to the top of the trending list.

Shi Yue normally didn't follow gossip forums, but she had joined the class group for notifications, and someone reposted the thread there. Shi Yue was browsing through the final course schedule sent by the teacher when she saw the repost.

Realizing that the "Shi Family Miss" in the title was referring to her, she even chuckled before clicking on it.

Sure enough, someone had taken photos of her, Leng Mingchuan, and Shen Lingling standing together and posted them in the first comment, along with a caption:

[Today I witnessed a good show at the teaching building. Shi Yue from the design department saw Leng Mingchuan and went up to him to ask for his number. Luckily, his girlfriend showed up just in time to shatter her delusions, haha.]

Most of the replies below were urging the original poster to spill more details, so the poster added more information in each subsequent comment.

[What's there to say? Just your typical clingy behavior from a young lady.]

[Shi Yue was originally supposed to have an arranged marriage with Leng Mingchuan, but Leng Mingchuan likes his girlfriend. Even though the marriage was called off, Shi Yue still won't give up. Leng Mingchuan blocked her, but she still ran up to him for his number. It's laughable.]

[Exactly, almost became the Leng family young madam, but got cut off. Who wouldn't feel bitter about that?]

[…]

After reading through the posts in a couple of minutes, Shi Yue felt nothing. She even yawned out of boredom.

She wasn't going to let such slander bother her. She closed the post, stretched lazily, and went back to her design work.

The next day, after her usual classes, she packed up to head back to her apartment but was stopped just outside the teaching building.

It was Leng Mingchuan, who looked absolutely furious. When he spoke to her, it was through gritted teeth.

"Why did you block me?!"

Shi Yue was puzzled, "Why wouldn't I?"

Grinding his teeth in frustration, Leng Mingchuan raised his phone, "Add me back."

Shi Yue refused, "No."

Not used to being turned down, Leng Mingchuan asked again, incredulously, "What did you say?!"

"I said, no." Shi Yue was annoyed and tried to walk around him—

She had sought out Leng Mingchuan for information yesterday, but what was this today? A case of running into trouble in broad daylight?

"Hey!" Leng Mingchuan followed, "No, I've already unblocked you, can't you just add me back?"

He was so loud that people started gathering around to watch the spectacle. Shi Yue even noticed someone raising their phone to record.

Leng Mingchuan was blocking her way, so she asked irritably, "Leng Mingchuan, have you lost it?"

Leng Mingchuan: "…"

Realizing this was embarrassing, he stammered, "I-I have something to talk to you about."

"Heh." Shi Yue scoffed.

She flipped her hair over her shoulder, "We had this conversation yesterday, right here. Didn't Shen Lingling make it clear? There's nothing we need to discuss, and there's no reason for us to exchange contacts."

Speak of the devil—just as she finished, Shen Lingling appeared, looking shocked as she saw Shi Yue with Leng Mingchuan.

She grabbed Leng Mingchuan's arm, yelling at Shi Yue, "Didn't I tell you to stay away from my boyfriend?"

Shi Yue stood back, crossing her arms.

She didn't say anything, but someone in the crowd couldn't help but shout, "Who's harassing who? Take a good look."

Another person holding up their phone agreed, "Exactly. Clearly, your boyfriend's the one who's chasing after the beautiful lady. I've got it all on video."

Hearing that, the crowd around them erupted into laughter. "Hahahaha—"