The Unraveling Persona

You’ve got to be kidding me! Was the iron-clad straight-girl image she had maintained for over twenty years about to crumble?

This sudden turn of events left her feeling utterly awkward.

What was there to get to know?

She certainly wasn’t looking to lay any foundations.

“Are you insane?”

She promptly unleashed the classic ‘straight man’ triple rejection.

“Don’t know you, won’t add you, not interested.”

To her surprise, the boy didn’t back down; instead, he seemed invigorated.

He pulled out his phone and tentatively held it forward.

“Then… then adding me on WeChat should be fine, right? Just to make a friend…”

Still at it?

A sudden blaze of irritation flared within Zhou Yi.

“Add your…”

The words had barely left her lips when she suddenly froze.

“Wait!”

She abruptly lifted her head, her gaze sharp on the boy.

“What did you just say?”

Stared at by her, the boy’s heart began to race.

His ears burned crimson.

He repeated in a low voice, “I-I said… can I add you on WeChat?”

‘…Add WeChat?’

‘Ah, that’s right!’

A bold, even somewhat audacious plan, began to gradually take shape in Zhou Yi’s mind.

This plan required meticulous orchestration, and a little… “luck”!

Having grasped this crucial step, the irritation on Zhou Yi’s face vanished instantly.

She suddenly curved her lips, revealing a brilliant and radiant smile, and reached out to firmly pat the boy’s shoulder.

“Thanks… bro!”

With that, she turned and walked away.

The boy, whose face and ears were flushed, stood rooted to the spot, watching her flowing hair as she departed.

“Hey, classmate! My name is…”

The boy’s self-introduction faded into the wind.

Recalling her fleeting, stunning smile from moments ago, the boy unconsciously touched his shoulder, where a faint warmth lingered, then turned to his companions, a dazed, foolish grin spreading across his face.

A few people who had witnessed the entire scene from nearby immediately swarmed over:

“Holy crap! She just touched you?!”

“Confess! Did you get her WeChat?”

…

Buoyed by high spirits, Zhou Yi’s steps became much lighter.

As she walked, she refined her new plan, a plan that required the cooperation of one person: Jiang Chen.

In truth, she had to thank the courageous, though somewhat unobservant, guy who had just tried to pick her up; otherwise, she truly wouldn’t have thought of such a brilliant idea.

“Haozi, oh Haozi, for your sake, your buddy is practically twisting herself into a pretzel.

If you don’t wise up soon, you’ll have to call the police on yourself.”

Excitedly, she hurried towards the teaching building, her sole focus on finding Jiang Chen as quickly as possible to put her plan into action.

However, upon rushing to the classroom door, she belatedly realized that in her fervent excitement, she had forgotten to check the time.

She had arrived too early; classes hadn’t even ended yet.

Frustrated, she could only stand stiffly outside the door, waiting, occasionally checking her phone for the time.

Yet, she had only stood there for a mere five minutes, when the fervent gazes emanating from inside the classroom made her so mortified that her toes felt like they could carve a lotus flower into the floor tiles.

It was all Chen Hao’s fault, that scoundrel!

If it weren’t for trying to save him, would she really be in such a state, dying of social embarrassment right outside her own classroom?

In truth, from the moment the first person glimpsed the graceful figure outside the door and exclaimed “Holy crap!”, the commotion had spread like ripples.

“Look! This girl is stunning! From the art department?”

“She’s pure yet alluring, with a hint of scholarly charm—her aura completely captivates me!”

“She seems to be waiting for someone? Who, for crying out loud… I’m so jealous!”

Just as everyone was whispering amongst themselves, a mischievous gust of wind swept through the corridor at just the right moment.

The hem of Zhou Yi’s delicate chiffon skirt was lifted by the wind, forming an elegant and captivating arc, forcing her to quickly use one hand to hold down the unruly fabric, while her other hand instinctively tucked her wind-tousled long hair behind her ear.

This unintentional gesture, imbued with a touch of shyness and fluster, unfailingly drew a chorus of suppressed gasps and exclamations from within the classroom.

“Holy crap! That move! I’m dead!”

“Wait! Why does that face look more and more familiar the more I look at it?!”

Suddenly, someone held up their phone, the bright image of the campus beauty queen (number one on the list) glowing on the screen.

“Case closed, brothers! It’s Senior Zhou Yi from the business school! The one who’s number one on the campus beauty list!”

“It really is her! The campus beauty is even more stunning in person than in her photos!”

“I bet five bubble teas she’s definitely here for Jiang Chen!”

“Bullshit! I bet on Han Yan! The academic god is here today too!”

Hearing these discussions, Zhou Yi’s cheeks instantly flushed crimson.

She quickly pulled back, hiding behind a pillar in the corridor, to escape their burning gazes.

Meanwhile, she muttered furiously to herself, ‘What the hell are you staring at?! Can’t you just focus on class?’

The professor at the podium clearly lost the rhythm of his lecture, yet even more outrageous discussions erupted from the classroom.

“Place your bets, place your bets! Jiang Chen, 1.5 to 1! Han Yan, 2 to 1! Anyone else in?”

“Taking any dark horse bets? I’m betting on Zhao Lei!”

“Get lost!”

Damn it, did these people have any respect for the professor at all?

Zhou Yi leaned against the pillar, a speechless expression on her face, finally understanding how a teacher felt when facing a chaotic classroom.

The old professor at the podium cleared his throat for the third time, but no one paid him any mind.

“Don’t you guys think Senior has a certain fragility about her?”

“Like a white Epiphyllum flower under the moonlight!”

Zhou Yi’s head began to pound from listening.

She now deeply regretted it; if she had known, she would have hidden in the stairwell first…

Just as the bell for class dismissal finally rang, the boys, who had long been restless with anticipation, immediately swarmed forward like zombies besieging a city, encircling Zhou Yi so tightly in the blink of an eye that not even a drop of water could pass through.

“Senior, would you like bubble tea? My treat!”

“Are you waiting for a friend? We can help you make an announcement to find them!”

“I’m from the Student Union’s publicity department.

Would you like to participate in our street photography event?”

A cacophony of voices rose and fell.

At first glance, all those who had swarmed around her were familiar faces.

They were either comrades she usually played games with, trash-talking each other, or brothers who copied homework side-by-side in class, and even those ruthless individuals who snatched chicken drumsticks in the cafeteria!

“Do you really have to be so enthusiastic?!”

Startled by this sudden display of refined eagerness from the “hungry wolves,” Zhou Yi took half a step back.

“Classmate, you look so much like my high school deskmate!”

Zhou Yi cast a glance, and scornfully thought to herself, ‘Like hell your high school deskmate was a 220-pound fatty, as if I wouldn’t know!’

“Senior, are you free this weekend? There’s an academic salon…”

Another one?

‘My dear classmate, you still haven’t returned the game account you borrowed from me last time!’

“Senior… how about adding me on WeChat? I can help you carry books in the future!”

‘Oh please, last time I asked you to help carry a bucket of water, you complained it was too much work!’

“Senior…”

‘Shut up! Don’t say another word, you copied my homework and still haven’t bought me bubble tea!’