Chapter 17

Lan Xiruo was speechless. She had been standing in the room for quite some time, yet Xu Mei, that delicate little white flower, was still sitting on her bed, refusing to move.

Seeing Xu Mei constantly admiring herself in the mirror, Lan Xiruo’s eyes flickered with mischief. She suddenly reached up and scratched her hair vigorously.

“Oh no, my head is so itchy! Yuqing, come check for me—do I have lice?”

Sun Yuqing, not suspecting anything, quickly came over to part Lan Xiruo’s hair. “How could you have lice? Don’t you wash your hair every day?”

“I don’t know! Oh, right—I’ve been so busy lately that I haven’t changed my bedding for nearly two months.

Maybe fleas have started living in my blankets and jumped onto my head?” Lan Xiruo said while deliberately glancing at the bed.

Xu Mei instantly jumped up, her tone full of displeasure. “This is your bed? So filthy! Why didn’t you say so earlier?”

As she spoke, she frantically patted her clothes and shook out her pants, hopping around like an exorcist priestess performing a ritual.

Seeing this, even Sun Yuqing’s gaze toward Xu Mei changed. She was always straightforward, so she didn’t hold back:

“What kind of attitude is that? You didn’t even ask before sitting on someone else’s bed, and now you think you have the right to complain?

We didn’t say anything about whether you were dirty, and you dare to call the bed dirty?”

Xu Mei’s eyes welled up with tears, teetering on the brink of falling. “I didn’t say anything bad. Why are you being so mean to me?”

Lan Xiruo snorted and pulled Sun Yuqing aside. “Alright, if she finds my bed disgusting, what does it matter to us? Don’t get worked up over someone so insignificant.

Besides, she’s not wrong—my bed is filthy. The other day, I even found a spider as big as my thumb hiding in my blanket.”

“A SPIDER?! AHHHHHHHH—”

Before Lan Xiruo even finished her sentence, Xu Mei shrieked like the wind and bolted out of the room.

Sun Yuqing was stunned before turning to Lan Xiruo in confusion. “Do you know her? Do you have a grudge against her?”

Lan Xiruo didn’t want to say much, so she simply nodded and changed the subject. “We’re heading out to sea early tomorrow morning. Let’s hurry and pack our daily essentials and extra clothes.”

Seeing this, Sun Yuqing didn’t press further and started packing with Lan Xiruo.

Meanwhile, Xu Mei, still shrieking, dashed out and ran straight into Wen Ze, who was leisurely strolling back.

Wen Ze had been lost in thought, reminiscing about Lan Xiruo’s teasing smile that had sent tingles through his whole body. He was so distracted that he didn’t notice anything until something soft crashed into him, snapping him back to reality.

—

On reflex, he caught the person who had lunged at him. Looking down, he was surprised. “Xu Zhiqing? What’s wrong? Did someone bully you?”

Xu Mei took two steps back, her face flushed, and sniffled as she apologized, “Wen Zhiqing, I’m sorry for bumping into you.

I’m fine. I’m just a little timid. It’s not Lan Zhiqing or Sun Zhiqing’s fault—I know they didn’t mean to scare me with the spider.”

Wen Ze felt something was off about her words but didn’t think too much of it. He frowned and said, “They used a spider to scare you? That’s too much! Do the senior Zhiqing think they can bully us newcomers just because they’ve been here longer? Come on, I’ll help you confront them!”

Wen Ze grabbed Xu Mei’s hand, ready to storm up to the female dormitory.

Xu Mei shook her head, refusing to move, looking absolutely terrified.

“Then let’s go to the brigade leader! If they’re acting this lawlessly, how are we supposed to live together in the future?”

Wen Ze was persistent, determined to drag Xu Mei along.

After all, his classmates had warned him that the senior Zhiqing often bullied the newcomers, sometimes even making them fetch foot-washing water to keep them in line.

“No, no, really, it’s fine! I’m okay, Wen Zhiqing, you should go back. I’ll just stay here and get some fresh air.”

Knowing she was in the wrong, Xu Mei didn’t dare escalate the matter. At this moment, she secretly resented Wen Ze for meddling in her affairs.

Just then—

A chuckle rang out above them.

Both Wen Ze and Xu Mei, caught in their struggle, looked up and saw Gu Xizhi leaning lazily against the dormitory entrance, watching them with amusement.

“What a spectacular performance! Don’t stop now—please, continue!”

Wen Ze frowned. “What do you mean?”

Gu Xizhi smirked and pointed at the wooden wall of the dormitory. “Do you think these walls are soundproof? Or do you assume everyone else is deaf?

This is just a thin wooden board. If someone farts next door, you’d hear it loud and clear.”

“All the things those female Zhiqing just said inside—we heard it all over here. Want me to repeat it for you?”

Gu Xizhi’s playful smirk made Xu Mei’s face turn red, then pale.

Such a handsome man, yet he had no tact whatsoever—what a waste of a good face.

Xu Mei cursed Gu Xizhi in her heart before putting on a pitiful expression.

“Gu Zhiqing, we’ve never met before today. We only arrived on the island together. I don’t believe I’ve offended you. So why do you have such hostility toward me?”

Offended him?

Ha!

“You haven’t yet, but I just don’t like women like you—always playing the victim.”

With a cold remark, Gu Xizhi didn’t spare them another glance and swiftly turned back into the dormitory.

Meanwhile, inside, Lan Xiruo had finished packing. Hearing the commotion outside—one voice even sounding vaguely familiar—she curiously stepped out.

As soon as she did, she caught sight of that retreating figure.

She stared at it for a long time, a nagging feeling that she had seen it somewhere before.

She was so lost in thought that she didn’t even blink until she heard a soft snort. Lowering her gaze, she found Xu Mei glaring at her.

“Little White Flower, who were you calling shameless?”

“Who are you calling ‘Little White Flower’? My name is Xu Mei!”

“Oh, right—Little White Flower. Names aren’t important.

What’s important is that if you keep spreading lies about us bullying you, I swear I’ll actually put a spider on you.”

“You—!”

Xu Mei was fuming. Her usual tricks of acting pitiful and fragile didn’t work on Lan Xiruo at all.

For a moment, she didn’t know how to respond. Instinctively, she turned to find someone to stand up for her. “Wen Zhiqing, you see how she’s—”

But before she could finish, she noticed Wen Ze was staring at Lan Xiruo with a dazed, infatuated expression.

Her face darkened. She shoved Wen Ze aside and ran toward the sea in frustration.

All men were shallow!

Wen Ze snapped out of his daze, subtly wiping his mouth, and grumbled, “What’s up with Xu Zhiqing now?”

Meanwhile, inside the male dormitory, Gu Xizhi, upon seeing Wen Ze get pushed aside, silently put away the two peanuts he had been fiddling with and popped them into his mouth.

The way he chewed them—crisp, loud, and relentless—made it sound like he was gnawing on bones.

His roommate, hearing the noise, looked over and saw Gu Xizhi’s menacing expression.

Instantly, he made a mental note: Do not mess with this guy.