96: Chapter 97 I felt extremely wronged

The lives of Lin Ruoxi and Chu Yuqing were originally like a calm lake.

Until—that video went viral.

Chu Yuqing's phone had been ringing non-stop since the morning.

WeChat messages, missed calls, Weibo private messages... everything had exploded.

She frowned and opened Douyin, and the top trending search was—

#Buying a bag with 380,000 to flirt#

In the video, Jiang Jing stood in the Hermès store, casually swiping his card to buy a 380,000 limited-edition bag and handing it to them.

The comment section was already going crazy—

["Who are these two women? So lucky!"]

["A rich guy flirting by gifting a Hermès bag directly, what kind of divine plot is this?"]

["Asking for a background check! What's the deal with these two women?"]

Chu Yuqing's fingers trembled slightly.

She slammed her phone shut and looked up at Lin Ruoxi, who was grinding coffee in the kitchen: "Ruoxi, something happened."

Lin Ruoxi didn't even turn her head: "What's wrong?"

"The incident at the mall earlier... it was filmed."

Lin Ruoxi's hand gave a violent jerk.

She thought it was the fact that the two of them were lesbians that had been filmed; although she didn't care about the judgment of others, she was afraid of her family finding out.

After careful questioning, she discovered it was actually about Jiang Jing buying them bags.

Lin Ruoxi let out a faint sigh of relief and went back to grinding coffee.

Seeing that the other party wasn't anxious at all, Chu Yuqing was a bit puzzled: "Ruoxi, aren't you worried? My phone is blowing up with all sorts of messages right now!"

Lin Ruoxi smiled faintly: "What's there to be worried about? They are just jealous of you, it doesn't matter."

Watching her calm demeanor, Chu Yuqing's anxious heart slowly calmed down as well...

After breakfast, when Chu Yuqing hugged her textbooks and walked into the lecture hall, the originally noisy classroom went quiet for a moment, then erupted into even more heated discussion.

["Is that her? The one in the video who was gifted a Hermès by a rich guy..."]

["Oh my god, she looks even better in person than in the video!"]

["Pfft, isn't it just relying on her looks? What's so great about that."]

Chu Yuqing's fingers tightened slightly, her knuckles turning white, but her expression remained calm as she walked straight to a seat in the back row.

Just as she sat down, her former roommate Li Meng, who rarely spoke, leaned over with an exaggerated smile: "Yuqing! Did you know you're famous? The whole school is sharing your video!"

Chu Yuqing gave a faint "Mm," lowered her head, and opened her textbook, not wanting to continue the conversation.

Li Meng, however, persisted, lowering her voice: "I heard that man is the CEO of Xingchen Technology? Is he pursuing you?"

Chu Yuqing finally looked up, her eyes as cold as ice: "I'm not familiar with him."

Li Meng curled her lips, clearly not believing her: "Why are you pretending? In the video, he even gave you a bag..."

"He forced it on us. If I didn't take it, he would have thrown it away. I was just trying to avoid waste." Chu Yuqing interrupted her, her tone stiff.

Li Meng was choked, her expression looking unpleasant, and she muttered under her breath: "Hmph, talking like it's true, just fake high-and-mighty..."

After class, Chu Yuqing couldn't be bothered to deal with the whispers around her and walked straight out of the classroom to head home.

On the way, her phone vibrated; it was a message from Lin Ruoxi:

["Does anyone at your school know too?"]

Chu Yuqing replied: ["Yeah, it's so annoying."]

The matter didn't end there; Chu Yuqing's WeChat exploded.

High school classmates she hadn't been in contact with for a year or two suddenly sent messages:

["Yuqing! It's Xiaoyu! Do you remember me? We were deskmates in high school!"]

This was followed by a series of attempts to get close, and finally, the real intention was revealed:

["That... could you push Jiang Jing's WeChat to me? I'll treat you to a meal!"]

Chu Yuqing was so angry she blocked them immediately.

In the class group chat, classmates who never had a good relationship were being snide:

["Some people pretend to be so high-and-mighty, but in the end, they still hook up with rich guys for money."]

["Exactly, and they even said they hated men. It's hilarious."]

["Don't say that, what if it's true love? Although I think the rich guy will get bored after a few days..."]

Chu Yuqing silently left the group.

As soon as Lin Ruoxi entered the company, she felt gazes coming from all directions.

The receptionist was the first to approach, smiling obsequiously: "Ruoxi! Did you know you're on the trending searches? That video was filmed super clearly!"

Lin Ruoxi frowned: "What video?"

"Oh, don't pretend!" The receptionist pulled out her phone, excitedly swiping across the screen, "It's the video of you and that handsome rich guy at the Hermès store! He's so handsome! Are you two together?"

Lin Ruoxi's expression darkened: "No, don't spread rumors."

She walked quickly toward her workstation, only to find that her colleague Xiao Zhang, with whom she had an average relationship, was sitting in her chair. Seeing her come, she immediately stood up with a fake smile: "Ruoxi, you're finally here! We've been waiting for you for a long time!"

Lin Ruoxi asked coldly: "Something up?"

Xiao Zhang lowered her voice: "That... I heard Jiang Jing is the CEO of Xingchen Technology? Their company is hiring recently, could you... help me get a referral?"

Lin Ruoxi was so angry she laughed: "I have nothing to do with him."

Xiao Zhang curled her lips: "Why are you pretending? In the video, he even gave you a bag..."

"He forced it on us..." Lin Ruoxi repeated the same words as Chu Yuqing, word for word.

During the lunch break, the supervisor called Lin Ruoxi into the conference room.

"Ruoxi," the supervisor smiled and poured her a cup of tea, "I heard you know Mr. Jiang from Xingchen Technology?"

Lin Ruoxi's heart sank, but she remained calm on the surface: "We aren't close."

The supervisor waved his hand: "Don't be nervous! It's like this, I heard Xingchen Technology is very powerful. Our company wants to discuss a partnership with them recently. If you could act as a bridge..."

He smiled meaningfully: "I can consider you for the year-end promotion quota."

Lin Ruoxi clenched her fists, her nails digging deep into her palms.

"Supervisor," she looked up, her eyes cold, "I really am not close to him, I can't help."

The supervisor's smile vanished instantly, and his tone turned cold: "Young person, you need to know how to seize opportunities. Many people would beg for such an opportunity."

Lin Ruoxi stood up directly: "If there is no work-related business, I'll head back first."

She turned and walked away, and behind her came the supervisor's faint, cold snort: "Pretending to be high-and-mighty! Isn't she just a piece of goods to be thrown away once played with!"

In the pantry.

["Did you hear? That Lin Ruoxi video..."]

["Tsk tsk, she usually pretends to be so cool, but in the end, isn't it just for money?"]

["I heard she was messy in college, so it's no surprise she hooked up with a rich guy now..."]

Lin Ruoxi stood at the corner, listening to these foul words, her eyes growing colder.

She suddenly walked over with big strides and slammed her cup onto the table with a "bang."

The pantry went silent instantly.

"Say it, why aren't you continuing?" She looked around at everyone, her voice ice-cold, "Do you want me to buy you a loudspeaker?"

No one dared to respond.

Back home, Chu Yuqing finally couldn't hold it in anymore.

She sat on the bed and buried her face in her knees: "Why... why did it turn out like this..."

Lin Ruoxi hugged her, her voice low: "Because human nature is like this."

"Did we do something wrong?" Chu Yuqing choked up, "We just... happened to meet someone by chance."

"We didn't do anything wrong." Lin Ruoxi gently stroked her back, "It's just that this world has never been fair."

Chu Yuqing looked up at her: "Ruoxi, what should we do?"

Lin Ruoxi was silent for a moment, then suddenly smiled: "Simple."

"Huh?"

"Since they all think we've climbed up to a high branch..." Lin Ruoxi curled the corners of her mouth, "Then why don't we actually climb it?"

Chu Yuqing widened her eyes: "What do you mean?"

Lin Ruoxi took out her phone and brought up Jiang Jing's WeChat: "Since he dared to gift us bags in public, he probably wouldn't mind... helping with another [small favor], right?"