Chapter 31: The Dark Lord’s First Attempt at Kindness Rejected

Song Ning looked at the innocent girl in front of her, whose eyes sparkled with sincerity, and felt a twinge of shame. “You really are special,” she said, offering a somewhat apologetic and self-deprecating smile.

“I’m sorry. My actions during this time must have caused you a lot of unnecessary troubles. I truly apologize,” she continued earnestly, pausing slightly to gather her thoughts.

“Rest assured, I won’t add to your troubles anymore. I won’t cling to misguided feelings that hurt others while belittling myself. Besides, Jiang Cheng only likes you; no one else can replace that.”

With a relieved smile, she concluded, “I came today to apologize and ask you to help keep this a secret. Alright, I’ve said what I needed to say. You should hurry to class now. If you ever need help at school in the future, feel free to find me.”

Ji Shuyi stood there momentarily stunned. She hadn’t expected Song Ning to come and say these things to her. Combining what had happened that night with Jiang Cheng’s words and the discussions she had overheard about their clothing styles over the past few days, it finally clicked for her: Song Ning’s imitation was based on the belief that Jiang Cheng liked her, prompting her to try and attract his attention by becoming like her.

She was willing to subject herself to public scrutiny just to capture the heart of someone she liked. A girl going this far was indeed cautious and humble in her unrequited love.

Ji Shuyi couldn’t bear to see a girl so humbly pursuing love in such a one-sided way; it made her heart ache.

“Senior Song Ning,” Ji Shuyi suddenly said with genuine warmth, smiling at her.

“Do you know? The first time I saw you at the start of the semester, I was completely mesmerized. I thought you were so beautiful—like the kind of beauty that can’t be ignored—and incredibly talented too. Many people in our class were vying to watch your dance videos from various school events.”

“You are already the best, so excellent that you never need to become someone else. And those who can’t be together aren’t because we’re not good enough; it’s just that our energies don’t match.”

Song Ning was momentarily taken aback by Ji Shuyi’s words. She had always thought Ji Shuyi was a spoiled heiress from a wealthy family, often hearing rumors about her having a bad temper and being quick to retort whenever someone said something unpleasant—like a typical bully who relied on her status. But now, this heartfelt statement made her see the girl before her in an entirely new light.

She was someone with an abundant heart and sound values.

No wonder Jiang Cheng, who had such high standards, would fall deeply for this girl.

Feeling inspired by Ji Shuyi’s words, Song Ning’s mood brightened instantly as she smiled back. “Thank you.”

She added playfully, “If you don’t leave now, you’ll be late for class! I need to head to my own class too. Bye!”

Ji Shuyi waved goodbye and turned towards the teaching building when suddenly someone yanked her backpack from behind, causing her to stumble backward with an unexpected gasp.

“Hey?! Σ(⊙▽⊙)a”

Jiang Cheng pulled her into his embrace with a frown on his face and said discontentedly, “When are you going to stop running away every time you see me?”

Hearing this made Ji Shuyi snap around angrily and retort, “You jerk! When are you going to stop being so rough and obnoxious every time you show up?”

She hadn’t even seen him earlier; if she had known he was there, she would have run even faster!

This was off to a bad start—she had let An Nuo return to the company after hearing complaints about how having a bodyguard affected other students and realizing she hadn’t encountered any danger for quite some time. And now on the very first day back at school, this guy had caught up with her.

Jiang Cheng didn’t have time to care about her angry remarks; instead, he hurriedly asked, “What did Song Ning want with you? Was she looking for trouble?”

He had seen them talking from afar and rushed over only to find Song Ning had already left.

Ji Shuyi turned back crossly and shot him an incredulous look. “Are you so self-centered that you think everyone else has bad intentions? She wasn’t looking for trouble! I think it’s you who’s looking for trouble!”

What could that beautiful Song Ning possibly see in this guy?

“I…”

Jiang Cheng was left speechless after being bombarded with several retorts from Ji Shuyi. He quickly raised the cup of milk tea he had waited in line for ages to buy and held it up in front of her eyes.

“I came here kindly to bring you milk tea.”

Ji Shuyi was momentarily surprised but then suddenly recalled the nightmare from that evening and stepped back warily as she questioned him in alarm: “Did you… put something in it?”

“Damn!”

Jiang Cheng was infuriated by this ungrateful girl’s accusation; he gritted his teeth as he glared at her.

“Yes! I put a love potion in it! Are you brave enough to drink it?”

Ji Shuyi blinked in shock, feeling chills run down her spine as she hurriedly replied, “Of course not! I… I’m not ready to die yet!”

With that, she spun around and dashed away without hesitation.

Just moments ago, Song Ning seemed like someone who liked him; now it felt more like she was just trying to bully him—thinking this way only made her run faster.

As classes were about to start, students rushed towards the classroom in droves.

The crowd blocked Jiang Cheng’s path as he tried to chase after Ji Shuyi; he could only stand there sulking in the cold wind as he watched her disappear into the throng.

Was he really so untrustworthy that she couldn’t even believe his words?

———

Just as Chen Xingyi exited the campus supermarket, he was suddenly handed a cup of milk tea by Jiang Cheng’s lackluster voice saying:

“Here’s some milk tea for you.”

“What?! Since when did you start liking this stuff?” Chen Xingyi asked incredulously.

Jiang Cheng sighed lightly but didn’t hide anything: “I bought it for Ji Shuyi; she refused it because she thought I might poison her.”

As he spoke, he casually grabbed a bottle of water from Chen Xingyi’s shopping bag and took a sip.

Chen Xingyi couldn’t help but laugh out loud at this revelation. Unable to contain himself, he asked teasingly: “Did you tell her there’s poison inside?”

Jiang Cheng replied flatly: “Yeah.”

“Pfft!” Chen Xingyi burst into laughter again and patted his buddy on the shoulder sympathetically: “Don’t be sad bro; being single is fine—it’ll pass quickly! Love isn’t really your thing…”

“Then stay single yourself!” Jiang Cheng snapped irritably as he swatted away Chen Xingyi’s hand off his shoulder. “There’s nothing I’m not suited for!”

As they walked along chatting, they suddenly noticed classmates passing by cautiously glancing their way while whispering among themselves—each expression resembling someone who had just witnessed earth-shattering news.

Jiang Cheng paid no mind and continued walking.

But Chen Xingyi seemed excitedly curious as if he’d discovered something groundbreaking: “Bro, where did you get rejected while delivering that milk tea?”

Jiang Cheng replied curtly: “Downstairs at the ‘Fluffy Bunny’ classroom.”

“Looks like there’s going to be some drama,” Chen Xingyi said eagerly while pulling out his phone. “You must have taken over the forum today! Let me check what stories everyone has spun about you!”

Normally uninterested in campus forums, Jiang Cheng found himself intrigued today and wanted to see how people were discussing him and Fluffy Bunny.

So when Chen Xingyi opened the forum page, Jiang Cheng pretended not to care while stealing glances at his screen.

To his surprise, the first post read:

Shock! Our prestigious law school Dark Lord’s confession rejected!

As Chen Xingyi clicked on it, he saw the original poster’s first comment:

【I can’t post pictures but trust me; if I’m lying I’ll eat my words standing on my head!】

The post quickly gained traction and became wildly popular.

【I saw it too! If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn’t have believed it!】

【But isn’t Dark Lord supposed to be enemies with so-and-so? Why did they suddenly make nice?】

【They haven’t been enemies for ages; didn’t they already share milk tea once before? Wonder why they got rejected this time?】

【You should have seen Dark Lord’s expression—it was unbelievable! He looked nothing like that arrogant god we all know!】

【Not gonna lie; only so-and-so dares challenge Dark Lord like that!】

【Quick question: Is so-and-so who I’m thinking of? Three characters? JSY?】

【To answer above: Yes! Can’t mention names directly or we risk getting banned!】

【Everyone please refrain from using real names here; let’s protect this thread from deletion!】

【I have a bold guess: Did so-and-so reject Dark Lord because of that TY from Medical University next door? Last time we got banned for mentioning something suspicious…】

【I think so too; honestly feel like so-and-so is better suited with TY from Medical University!】

【Me too! The spoiled heiress matches perfectly with the stoic male god!】

【No way—I still think they match better with Dark Lord; Dark Lord is perfect for Fluffy Bunny!】

【I believe stoic male god is better suited—how about we vote on it?】

One comment led the thread spiraling into a voting frenzy.