The Drama Exploded—and His Name Was Dragged In

The evening self-study session had just ended, and the teacher had barely left the classroom when Lu Jing, dragging a boy and several girls in tow, strode into Class 7.
Her steps were much more resolute than at noon; it seemed she had mentally prepared herself.
She found Chen Xintian, who was playing on her phone, and slammed her palm down on an empty spot on the desk.
The sound was loud enough for the entire class to hear.
“Fang Wen, you explain it yourself.”
Lu Jing turned her head and shouted at the boy who had followed her in.

She had spent the entire afternoon thinking about this, not listening to a single lesson.
During self-study, she had mentally rehearsed what to say, how to sound sufficiently aggressive, how to appear dominant enough.
The boy named Fang Wen wasn’t very tall, just over 1.7 meters, with delicate features, a mushroom-cut hairstyle, and an awkward expression.
“Um, Chen Xintian, there’s nothing between us, right?”
His voice was somewhat sharp and thin, his tone carrying a hint of pleading.

Chen Xintian didn’t look up.
She put away her phone and replied indifferently,
“What kind of relationship could I possibly have with you?”
She didn’t want to show even the slightest hint of closeness with another boy in front of Pei Du.
Chen Xintian knew how terrifying male possessiveness could be.
Perhaps Pei Du had a thing for first loves or purity; if she talked too much with other guys, it might tarnish that pure image in Pei Du’s mind.
Then all her efforts would be for nothing.

Hearing this, Fang Wen felt both relief and disappointment.
He was relieved Chen Xintian didn’t mention the vaguely flirtatious things he had said, both openly and subtly.
Yet, he felt disheartened by Chen Xintian’s dismissive attitude towards him.
Clearly, he was quite popular in his grade—good grades, athletic, played basketball, was skilled at games.
Why did she never give him any special attention?

“Jingjing, I already told you there’s nothing between us. Why won’t you believe me?”
Fang Wen tried to brush things off with a vague, non-committal question.
He felt Lu Jing was too sensitive, so sensitive it scared him.
Initially, he had just thought about finding a girlfriend to have some fun and relieve the pre-college entrance exam stress.
But now, he hadn’t even held her hand yet, and she was already controlling him tightly, let alone finding other ways to relieve pressure.
Fang Wen was determined to find an excuse to break up with Lu Jing after this matter blew over.

“Do you two take me for an idiot?” Lu Jing raised her pitch several notches.
To Pei Du, it sounded like nails scraping a blackboard.
“If there’s nothing, why were you asking her if she was asleep at midnight, chatting, playing games?”
“That’s just being regular friends. Mainly because you were asleep, Jingjing, and no one else was online to play games with me…”
“Fang Wen!”
Lu Jing felt her boyfriend was treating her like a fool.
For a moment, a sour, astringent feeling surged in her heart, drowning out the fury.
“You two, make it clear today. Who contacted who first?”
In the end, she still wanted to believe her boyfriend.
She wanted him to tell her that he hadn’t actively betrayed her to chat with another girl, but that the other girl had contacted him first.

“……”
Fang Wen was speechless.
If it were in private, it’d be fine; he could just lie and get away with it.
But now, Chen Xintian was right there.
How could he lie? How could he tell Lu Jing that it was him, itching with desire, never satisfied, wanting to build a harem in high school?
Then he’d be beaten to death by Lu Jing while his reputation in high school went completely down the drain.
But if he lied, he’d be exposed immediately!

The evening weather wasn’t hot, but Fang Wen’s back was soaked with sweat.
He racked his brains and could only think of one way to save himself.
That was for Chen Xintian to… go along with his lie.
If Chen Xintian was willing to sacrifice her own reputation, wouldn’t he be safe?
Thinking of this, Fang Wen suddenly felt confident in his own charm.
He had the guts to flirt while having a girlfriend precisely because he believed his charm was enough to make several women fall for him.
Maybe Chen Xintian would help him cover up the lie?
The more he thought about it, the more feasible it seemed.
Or rather, he had to grasp this last lifeline: to claim that Chen Xintian had initiated the chats, and he was innocent.

“Are you done? I’m going home after this.”
While these two were performing their duet, Chen Xintian had already packed her bag, ready to go home with her sister.
This is ridiculous.
Either start cursing or throw a punch.
What are these two doing here, performing a cross-talk act for everyone to see?
She’d sent that pitiful message to Pei Du for nothing.

“Stop right there.”
How could Lu Jing let Chen Xintian leave at this moment? She was here specifically to give Chen Xintian trouble.
“What exactly do you want?!”
This shout didn’t come from Chen Xintian, but from her sister Chen Xinmei, who couldn’t take it anymore.
She just wanted to hurry home, relax, take a nice bath, and lie in bed playing on her phone.
Chen Xinmei decided to lay things out plainly.
“Use your brain, will you? With that loser’s sorry looks, is it even possible my sister would be interested in him?”

As soon as these words were out, the classmates gathered to watch the drama pricked up their ears.
This was what they wanted to see!
Vicious personal attacks were what made the show worthwhile.
Both Fang Wen and Lu Jing’s expressions darkened.
Fang Wen hadn’t expected the equally beautiful younger sister Chen Xinmei to have such a poor opinion of him.
He thought he was pretty decent, but in Chen Xinmei’s words, he was just a “loser.”
Did that mean Chen Xintian didn’t think much of him either?
Lu Jing hadn’t expected her “treasured” boyfriend to be so poorly regarded by others.
It was as if she thought others were trying to steal her prized possession, but in reality, that pile of junk wasn’t even worth a second glance.
This even made her feel like an overly possessive dog, guarding the leftovers Chen Xintian didn’t want, not allowing others to touch them.
Was she that pathetic? Before, she had had guys chasing her too.
Lu Jing was both infuriated and somewhat bewildered by Chen Xinmei’s offhand comment.

Beside them, Chen Xintian felt her sister had broken character too early.
Although her sister had voiced her own thoughts, wouldn’t it make her seem too arrogant, affecting her image in Pei Du’s mind?
She truly couldn’t be interested in that loser.
Adding him as a friend and occasionally playing games was just to consolidate her position at the top of the grade’s social hierarchy, to build an image of having extensive connections.
Playing games with that loser was always in groups with several guys and girls, just to maintain those relationships together.
She had no idea what made him think she held him in special regard, sending her ambiguous messages every day. So annoying.
With his scrawny arms and legs, looking like a skinny dog, would she flirt with him?
Sporting a grade-schooler’s haircut and a grade-schooler’s face, she really didn’t know what kind of overly maternal girl would fall for someone like that.

“Stop pretending. If you’re not interested, why play games together and chat at midnight?”
Lu Jing pressed on relentlessly, determined to get to the bottom of it, though her tone had softened considerably, tinged with a sense of insecurity.
She knew the Chen sisters wouldn’t have wildly differing opinions; if the younger sister thought Fang Wen was a loser, the older sister definitely wouldn’t be interested in him.
Their tastes were almost certainly identical.

“Classmate Chen, I haven’t offended you, have I? Why say such things about me?”
Fang Wen also felt he should say something; being devalued to nothing certainly didn’t feel good.
He wasn’t familiar with Chen Xinmei, so he had to address her as “Classmate Chen.”
Actually, he quite liked girls of Chen Xinmei’s type; her petulance had a certain charm.
Unfortunately, Chen Xinmei’s reputation for being “man-hating and sharp-tongued” was famous throughout the grade.
Countless boys who confessed to her had been mercilessly berated.
He wouldn’t humiliate himself; his target remained the more alluring and approachable older sister, Chen Xintian.

Ignoring Lu Jing’s questioning, Chen Xinmei looked at Fang Wen with utter disdain.
“What’s wrong with calling you a loser? You’re short and ugly. My sister isn’t even flirting with Pei Du, why on earth would she bother flirting with you?”
Involving a comparison immediately pulled everyone’s attention over.
Even Xu Tong, a boarding student who had been packing her bag to make a run for it, halted her steps.
When Pei Du was mentioned, she couldn’t help but mentally compare the two.
Grades, sports, looks—these seemed to be areas where both Pei Du and Fang Wen excelled.
But in every single category, Pei Du completely outclassed Fang Wen.
By comparison, Fang Wen was like an ultra-inferior version of Pei Du.
Of course, this was purely from an objective standpoint.
Other aspects involving inner soul or whatever weren’t within Xu Tong’s evaluation criteria; she hadn’t interacted much with either of them.
Subjectively, she also leaned more towards Pei Du.
No particular reason; you simply felt more favorably towards a classmate you’d been around longer.

Pei Du, who had been pretending to pack his things while actually watching the show, froze, his hand on his bag zipper.
How did the conversation naturally shift until the fire was burning him?