Chapter 78

*Campus IF Line — “Like”*
Qin Sang and Liu Chengcheng were on their way back to the dorm when they were stopped halfway.
Qin Sang instinctively shielded Liu Chengcheng behind her, her gaze slightly wary as several male classmates suddenly crowded in.
The one in front asked, “Are you Qin Sang?”
Qin Sang exchanged a look with Liu Chengcheng. She didn’t admit it outright; instead, she stayed cautious and asked evasively, “Y-you’re looking for… her? What for?”
“Oh.” The boy laughed exaggeratedly. “Of course it’s a good thing. Our boss has taken a fancy to her. From now on, forget just No. 1 High—she’ll be able to swagger sideways through the entire A District.”
Liu Chengcheng was speechless. She muttered to Qin Sang, “Is something wrong with their brains?”
She pointed at her temple. “Such a chuunibyou line. It’s exactly like the novel I read this morning.”
The novel she’d been reading was called something like *The Overbearing School Bully Falls for Me*. When the confession happened, a group of people blocked the heroine in the classroom, and the bully’s lackey said: “Woman, our boss likes you.”
The oddly perfect overlap gave her goosebumps.
“This is bad,” Liu Chengcheng whispered. “I’m returning that novel to Xiao Zhou. I can’t keep reading it.”
“Hey!” The lackey frowned in displeasure. “What are you two chattering about? I’m asking you—who is Qin Sang?”
Liu Chengcheng cleared her throat. “Who’s your boss?”
“Our boss?”
The lackey laughed like he’d heard the funniest joke. “You don’t even know our boss? Our boss is Teng Wenbiao of Class Seven—main player on the school basketball team. He’s going pro in the NBA one day.”
Liu Chengcheng asked in confusion, “Have you heard of him?”
Qin Sang shook her head. “No.”
It wasn’t their fault. Breaks between classes were short, and their activity range was limited. Although they were both first-years, Class One and Class Seven were actually far apart. They weren’t even in the same area for morning exercises.
Who was Teng Wenbiao?
Main player on the school basketball team—neither of them cared about basketball games. Who would they know?
The two of them looked bewildered. After exchanging a glance, Qin Sang coughed and said, “Sorry, I don’t know the person you’re talking about. Maybe you’ve got the wrong person?”
“Huh? You’re not?”
The boy scratched his head and muttered, “Boss didn’t say which one. He only said the prettiest one. You really aren’t?”
“I’m not.”
Qin Sang shook her head firmly.
“Then you’re Class One, right? You’re in Class One and you don’t know the people in your own class?”
Qin Sang froze. Only then did she realize their uniforms had class badges to distinguish which class they were from.
She was in Class One—there was no escaping that.
Qin Sang was still brainstorming at high speed, thinking how to fool her way out, when the other party seemed to seize on a loophole and instantly “woke up.” He narrowed his eyes, swung up his fist, and said, “Fuck—are you messing with me?”
Qin Sang instinctively protected Liu Chengcheng and took a step back. Her body trembled, but she forced her voice to stay steady. “This is school. Are you going to hit someone?”
“What are you doing?”
Before the boy could move, a person coming from behind raised his hand and slapped the back of the boy’s head. “Show some respect to your sister-in-law. What are you yelling for?”
The speaker was tall and broad, muscles well developed. Just standing there, he was like an unmoving mountain.
“Sorry—I scared you.”
Teng Wenbiao looked at Qin Sang. He was a little shy and awkward, scratching the top of his head. “I came as soon as I got the letter. I didn’t mean to make such a big scene. Don’t be mad.”
Qin Sang was even more confused. A question rose in her eyes. “A letter?”
Teng Wenbiao grinned foolishly. This was the first time in his life he’d received a love letter from a girl—and she was very pretty.
“I came to tell you… I like you too.”
“If we get together, I’ll never bully you, and I won’t let anyone else bully you either. Don’t worry. From now on, I’ll listen to you about everything.”
Liu Chengcheng was thoroughly shaken. “Are you sick in the head? You suddenly blocked us and started talking to yourself. If you’ve got delusions, go to the hospital and get a number. Don’t bottle it up and end up harming other people.”
Teng Wenbiao immediately got anxious, eyebrows raised. “Who the hell are you? If you weren’t a girl, I—”
He swung his fist, as if to hit.
Liu Chengcheng instantly pulled her neck back in fear. Qin Sang was confused too. She frowned. “Sorry, classmate. I don’t understand what you’re saying. What letter?”
“A confession letter.”
The lackey at the side felt indignant and spoke up for his boss. “Wasn’t it you who gave our boss the love letter? You even secretly stuffed it in his locker—afraid he wouldn’t see it.”
Teng Wenbiao trained regularly. Today after training as usual, he’d been about to head to the basketball court for his appointment. But the moment he opened his locker, he saw an exquisite letter placed atop his clothes. The cover was pink and carried a faint fragrance. One look and you knew a girl had put it there.
He opened it and read it. Every line was full of admiration for him, saying that ever since she saw his agile figure on the basketball court, she’d fallen deeply for him.
It also said: if he was willing, then after school today he should come wait downstairs by the girls’ dorm building. She wanted to hear his answer in person. It was signed with the name Qin Sang.
Teng Wenbiao did have an impression of Qin Sang. He often saw her passing near the basketball court. Sometimes she would even stop and stand quietly outside the fence to watch.
There was no other reason: she was too pretty, like a delicate doll. In all his life, he’d never seen a girl so beautiful.
When he occasionally saw her come by, he’d even try harder to show off. But back then, he didn’t know her name—only that she was from Class One.
Until by chance he heard someone call her “Sang-sang.” So her surname was Qin—Qin Sang. What a nice name.
The moment he got the confession letter, he stopped caring about anything else. Even the PK match at the basketball court didn’t matter. Being a “deserter” once was no big deal.
A meaningless PK match—how could it be more important than getting what he wanted?
Teng Wenbiao’s skin was dark from the sun. But right now, though he stood nearly 188 centimeters tall, in front of the person he liked he instead looked awkward and restrained—like a young girl with first love budding, even his dark skin showing a suspicious flush.
Seeing that Qin Sang seemed frightened by him, he reined in his temper and immediately explained, “Classmate Qin, don’t be afraid. I was only scaring her. I wasn’t really going to hit anyone.”
“No—” The more he explained, the more tangled it became. Anxious, he raked a hand through his hair. “I don’t hit people. I don’t usually fight either. Don’t be afraid of me.”
He’d never interacted with girls. Privately, he just felt that a soft, delicate girl like Qin Sang probably wouldn’t like brawling and fighting.
“If you don’t like it, I’ll have them disperse right now. The two of us can sit down and talk properly. I like you, and I’m willing to agree to your request. You said to come, so I came. I…”
Even though Qin Sang was still muddled, she managed to sort out the beginning and end. She looked at Teng Wenbiao. “You mean you came to find me because you received a confession letter from me. Is that right?”
Teng Wenbiao smiled honestly. “This really shouldn’t have been something a girl had to bring up first. But since we like each other, it doesn’t matter who confessed first.”
“I’m sorry.” Qin Sang frowned, apologetic. “I don’t know what went wrong in the middle, but…”
“I never sent you a confession letter. And that letter wasn’t written by me.”
Before Teng Wenbiao could respond, the lackey beside him couldn’t hold it in and immediately shouted, “What do you mean? Are you messing with our boss?”
“I’m not messing with him. Maybe there’s some other misunderstanding in the middle.”
Qin Sang had been in the classroom all day. She didn’t even know who Teng Wenbiao was.
That letter…
A letter sent in her name—that was what was suspicious.
“What do you mean?” Teng Wenbiao knitted his brows. “Explain it clearly.”
Liu Chengcheng was fed up with his pestering. “Isn’t it clear enough? It means we didn’t send the letter. And who knows whether what you’re saying is even true.”
Teng Wenbiao’s face flushed in embarrassment and anger. He glared at Liu Chengcheng. Seeing the two girls about to leave, he reached out and grabbed Qin Sang. “Explain it clearly. If you don’t explain it clearly, don’t think about leaving. What do you mean the letter wasn’t from you? The letter has your name on it. You even asked me to come here to meet you. If it wasn’t you, who was it?”
He was strong. He gripped Qin Sang’s arm hard, nearly crushing her wrist bone.
She winced in pain, but still tried to stay calm. “Classmate, can you please let go of me first?”
But Teng Wenbiao seemed not to hear. He only held on tighter. “Do you even like me?”
Suddenly, a hand reached in from the side and clamped his forearm. The boy’s features were clear and cold, his voice low and heavy. “She told you to let go. Do you not understand?”
Teng Wenbiao’s arm muscles tensed, but the other party’s force made it so he had to release.
He cursed under his breath. “Fuck.”
Qin Sang’s skin was fair. Where she’d been grabbed, a red ring was obvious.
Xie Yuncheng frowned and asked gently, “Are you okay?”
Qin Sang rubbed the spot that had been squeezed. She lowered her head to hide her reddening eyes, and only shook her head lightly. “I’m fine.”
Teng Wenbiao wasn’t doing well either. He shook his left hand hard twice, as if to shake off the humiliation of being forced to let go because it hurt. He lifted his face and cursed impatiently, “Xie Yuncheng, stop sticking your nose into other people’s business. What does this have to do with you?”
Jiang Mingyi, who had rushed over, wanted to punch him the moment he heard that. “Teng Wenbiao, don’t go too far. You bullied our classmate and you still have the nerve to ask.”
Teng Wenbiao’s face was red, brows drawn in anger. He looked like he wanted to hit someone, yet feared something. His expression was dark. “How the hell did I bully her? She wrote me a love letter herself. If not for that, who’d care to look at her twice? Don’t think I don’t know—you’re just some bumpkin from a poor backwater. If you hadn’t thrown yourself at me, I wouldn’t even bother to look at you. What are you, anyway? Don’t you have any self-awareness?”
Qin Sang’s face went pale. She trembled with anger, but her throat felt like it was choked; no matter what, she couldn’t make a sound.
After school, there were already people coming and going under the girls’ dorm building. The commotion was big enough to draw the dorm supervisor over.
People around them pointed and whispered, stabbing at Qin Sang’s back. She had a hundred mouths and still couldn’t defend herself.
She even hated herself for her useless mouth—getting worked up and then being unable to speak.
Perhaps because the dorm supervisor had come and they feared being on the losing side of public opinion, the Class Seven students began vividly describing how Qin Sang had written their boss a love letter. They even quoted the content of the letter with convincing detail.
“Don’t be afraid.”
Suddenly, she heard a gentle voice—strangely soothing her taut emotions.
“The innocent stay innocent. You don’t need to prove yourself to others.”
Qin Sang jerked her head up. The acidic mist in her eyes gathered rapidly, but she held it back and didn’t let it fall.
No matter what age, in something like this, it was always the girl who lost out—having reason but no way to explain.
Maybe the other side had been tricked; maybe they were deliberately picking a fight. But no matter what, the one dragged into it was ultimately her.
Liu Chengcheng was furious. “We already said we didn’t write it, and we didn’t send it! You open your mouth and splash dirty water on us. You say it is and so it is—what are you, some local tyrant? Making things up costs nothing, does it?”
Teng Wenbiao’s temples throbbed. He glared, his whole body taut with muscle, looking as frightening as possible.
Perhaps he was too enraged and felt he’d lost face. He craned his neck, his attitude brutally unreasonable. “Damn it, this is the first time I’ve been played. If this doesn’t end with an answer today, we’re not done. You’re going to be my girlfriend—whether you want to or not.”
“What?” Xie Yuncheng scoffed. “You want to force yourself on her?”
Teng Wenbiao jutted his neck. “Xie Yuncheng, stop playing the hero here. Move aside! This is between me and her. It’s mutual. It’s not your place to interfere.”
Xie Yuncheng’s eyes were cold, his tone laced with mockery. “What if I say I’m going to interfere?”
“No—” Teng Wenbiao truly didn’t understand. “Who the hell are you to her? Why do you get to stand up for her?”
“Because I like her.”
Xie Yuncheng didn’t shift an inch. His expression stayed calm, only with a trace of sarcasm and provocation in his eyes. “What? Fair competition—are you scared?”