Chapter 219
In the small grove, Huang Fei heard footsteps, flicked the cigarette butt to the ground, extinguished it with his foot, and turned to look.
Seeing the figure, a smile crept onto Huang Fei's face. "You’re here."
Shen Mengjie glanced around before taking off her hat. "Is there something you need?"
Noticing the coldness in Shen Mengjie's tone, Huang Fei scratched his head. "Is it really that stressful being with me?"
Shen Mengjie let out a light laugh, looked seriously at Huang Fei, and shook her head. "I probably shouldn’t have gotten involved with you from the start."
"Seems like I was the one who approached you first," Huang Fei replied, smiling as he met her gaze.
Shen Mengjie shrugged, amusement flickering in her eyes. "Who knows?"
"Can I know why?"
"There aren't that many 'whys' in this world. If there were, wouldn’t that be great?"
"And you know, if we were together now, how many people would be gossiping behind our backs?"
"What if I said I really don’t care?"
Huang Fei stepped closer, looking directly into Shen Mengjie's eyes. "What if I said I truly, truly don’t care at all?"
Under Huang Fei's intense and earnest gaze, Shen Mengjie suddenly found it hard to meet his eyes.
Seeing her look away, Huang Fei forced a bitter smile. "Liking you is my own business. You don’t have to feel any pressure."
In the past, Shen Mengjie wouldn’t have felt any pressure at all. Even when Long Aotian had scolded her, she remained unfazed, even accepting an invitation from Senior Wang without a second thought.
But after everything that had happened, she was genuinely hesitant now.
"Honestly, I just want a chance."
"You don’t have a boyfriend, and I don’t have a girlfriend. Give me a chance, and I promise I won’t affect you. If after a year you still aren’t moved by me, then I’ll really let go."
Huang Fei poured out his heart.
Letting go now felt so unfair; he really wanted to try hard, to put in the effort. If he did, maybe he could finally move on.
The determination and sincerity in Huang Fei's eyes stirred something chaotic within Shen Mengjie.
"A year, huh?" She was certain that she didn’t have feelings for him beyond friendship.
But facing Huang Fei's sincere gaze, the things he had done for her, and his declaration of not caring about others' opinions...
At that moment, Shen Mengjie found herself at a loss for words to refuse.
If a year passed and she still felt nothing for him, he would surely move on, right?
So annoying...
"If you don’t reject me, I’ll take it as a yes," Huang Fei said with a smile. "So you really don’t need to feel any pressure or try to avoid me."
Shen Mengjie rolled her eyes. "Who’s feeling pressured? Who’s trying to avoid you?"
Her eye roll didn’t upset Huang Fei; instead, it made him even happier. To him, Shen Mengjie was just like that.
Hearing Huang Fei's laughter, Shen Mengjie couldn’t help but chuckle softly.
"If you came to talk about all this, I might as well head back."
"Of course not." At this point, Huang Fei’s smile faded, replaced by seriousness.
He then recounted Long Aotian's suspicions word for word.
Upon hearing this, Shen Mengjie felt a deep reluctance to believe it.
The person who had pinned her to the pillar of shame was her roommate, someone she spent every day with.
How could that be possible?
Yet Long Aotian's guess was the closest to the truth.
To suddenly obtain the chat records of thirty-eight people, it seemed the simplest way was to get them from her own phone.
And who could do that but her roommate?
Noticing the disbelief and turmoil on Shen Mengjie’s face, Huang Fei said, "Long Aotian said that if he shared these suspicions with you, you’d definitely have a target in mind. Whether you believe it or not, you could always do a little test."
Indeed, after hearing Long Aotian's suspicions, even though she didn’t want to believe it, she had a suspect in mind.
After a long pause, Shen Mengjie looked at Huang Fei. "Can you step out for a moment?"
Upon hearing this, Huang Fei realized Shen Mengjie had made up her mind.
He nodded and walked toward the edge of the grove.
Once Huang Fei left, Shen Mengjie took out her phone and dialed a number...
---
Huang Fei didn’t leave right away.
But when he saw Zhang Mengmeng walking toward the grove, his expression was one of utter shock.
For a moment, he wondered if Shen Mengjie had made a mistake.
As Huang Fei was lost in thought, Zhang Mengmeng had already reached the entrance of the grove.
Her figure was undoubtedly enviable, adding many points to her not-so-pretty face, but now her expression looked a bit haggard.
As she stepped inside, she quickly spotted Shen Mengjie.
"Hey, Mengmeng, sorry for making you come here to get me."
Zhang Mengmeng smiled shyly. "It’s fine. We don’t need to say that." As she spoke, she handed a mask to Shen Mengjie.
Shen Mengjie took the mask and looked at Zhang Mengmeng softly. "I found some clues."
"Really?" Zhang Mengmeng paused, then smiled. "What clues?"
Shen Mengjie didn’t answer directly but changed the subject. "Mengmeng, I feel like I’ve treated you pretty well in the dorm, right?"
"Because you’re so shy, everyone likes to look out for you."
Zhang Mengmeng lowered her gaze, her voice soft but audible to Shen Mengjie. "Yeah, everyone is really nice to me."
"But why are you doing this to me? Did I offend you in some way?"
"Why do you want to pin me to the pillar of shame, trying to ruin me completely?"
Zhang Mengmeng took a step back, unable to meet Shen Mengjie’s eyes, her voice shifting from shyness to panic. "M-Mengjie, what are you talking about? Are you saying I’m harming you?"
Shen Mengjie remained unfazed by Zhang Mengmeng’s panic, simply stating, "Remember when we took photos together? I told you the unlock password for my phone after it went to sleep."
"So you know my phone unlock password."
"And every night when we went to shower, you never joined us, always saying you felt shy..."
"Back then, we teased you, saying we’re all girls, what’s the big deal? So you took the chance to mess with my phone while we were all in the shower, didn’t you?"
Zhang Mengmeng stepped back again, shaking her head repeatedly. "I-I didn’t! We’re roommates; why would I want to harm you? It wasn’t me, really!"
"Yes, we’re roommates and good friends. Why would you want to harm me? Probably because of a guy, right?"
As soon as she said this, Zhang Mengmeng stopped retreating and looked up at Shen Mengjie.
This statement exposed the deepest secret in Zhang Mengmeng’s heart, and she couldn’t care about her panic anymore; she just wanted to know how Shen Mengjie had found out.
Seeing the drastic change in Zhang Mengmeng’s emotions, Shen Mengjie was almost certain. "So you really are a silent mosquito, deadly when it bites."
Zhang Mengmeng closed her eyes and let out a light laugh. "I did it, but what about you, Shen Mengjie? Are you really a good person?"
"Do you dare say that the flirty chats in your phone are just my fabrications?"
Shen Mengjie fell silent, for this was a fact that couldn’t be refuted...
Seeing Shen Mengjie’s silence, Zhang Mengmeng continued, "So I didn’t wrong you at all!"
"You could have so many people liking you. Why? Why do you keep Huang Fei hanging?"
Shen Mengjie never expected this matter would involve Huang Fei.
Not only was Shen Mengjie surprised, but Huang Fei, who had been watching from the side, was also taken aback.
His gaze fell on the emotionally crumbling Zhang Mengmeng, and he couldn’t believe that she actually liked him...
"You like Huang Fei?" Shen Mengjie forced a smile. "Then why didn’t you tell me?"
"How could I tell you? He’s completely infatuated with you, and what have you done? You keep him hanging, giving him a glimmer of hope, then turn around and accept invitations from other guys, flirting with them..."
"What you’re doing is completely unfair to Huang Fei, yet he still looks at you with such devotion. What gives you the right? In our hometown, someone like you is just a loose woman..."
"So I wanted to expose everything you’ve done, to help Huang Fei see your true colors..."
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