68: Chapter 68: Belated affection is cheaper than grass; sending the ex to harm the rival.

Beneath the men's dormitory building at Jiangcheng University, a few dim streetlights crackled as moths collided with them.

Su Muyang had just parked that eye-catching car model in a secluded spot and was humming a little tune as he walked back.

Just as he reached the shadows at the entrance of the dormitory, a figure suddenly darted out from behind the greenery, like some long-lurking beast, and grabbed his arm.

"Muyang! You're finally back!"

The voice was hoarse, laced with tears, and carried a sour, musty smell of not having bathed for days.

Su Muyang frowned, subconsciously took a step back, and flicked his arm to shake off the hand. By the light of the lamps, he saw clearly who was in front of him.

Qian Li.

That delicate girl who used to wear full makeup and perfume just to take out the trash now had hair as messy as a bird's nest, greasy and plastered to her scalp. Her usually haughty face was full of haggardness, and the bags under her eyes couldn't be hidden beneath that layer of pasty white foundation; she looked just like a female ghost who had just crawled out of a graveyard.

"Don't touch me." Su Muyang brushed off the sleeve she had just grabbed, his eyes filled with nothing but disgust. "Say what you have to say, and keep your hands to yourself."

"Muyang, I know I was wrong… I really know I was wrong!"

Seeing that he wouldn't let her touch him, Qian Li dropped to her knees with a thud, tears and snot streaming down her face. "I spent five days in the detention center! That place is no place for a human! I ate moldy steamed buns and slept on a concrete floor… I was so scared, and every day I thought of you, of the days we spent together."

She looked up, trying to use those eyes that once mesmerized Su Muyang to win his sympathy: "For the sake of us growing up together, for the sake of our dozen years of feelings, won't you forgive me just this once? I was muddled for a moment, I was tricked by that bastard Wang Hao! The only one I love in my heart is you!"

Su Muyang looked down at her from a commanding height.

If this had been half a month ago, seeing Qian Li cry like this, his heart would likely have broken, and he would have been willing to give his life for her.

But now, he only felt disgusted.

It was the same kind of disgust as biting into an apple and finding half a worm.

"Love me?" Su Muyang sneered, hands in his pockets. "Qian Li, you don't love me; you loved that I didn't let you starve. You aren't crying now because you regret it, but because Wang Hao ran away, leaving you with nothing to show for your efforts, and now you have nowhere left to suck blood."

"That's not it! I'm sincere…"

"Enough, stop acting." Su Muyang interrupted her, leaned down, stared into her eyes, and lowered his voice significantly. "You spent five days in the detention center, right? Feeling wronged?"

Qian Li froze for a moment, then nodded frantically.

"Then do you know that, according to the Public Security Administration Punishments Law, for your kind of disturbing the peace, you would have been detained for at most three days?" A cruel smile appeared on Su Muyang's face. "It was me who had a word with them, telling them they must, absolutely must, keep you for the full five days, not a single hour less."

Qian Li's crying stopped abruptly.

She widened her eyes, as if seeing Su Muyang for the first time, and began to tremble all over. "It… it was you?"

"Yes, it was me." Su Muyang stood up straight, his gaze cold. "Also, I've already sent word to the school. A demerit is just the beginning. If you dare to appear before me again, if you dare to bring up that disgusting 'past' to me again, I'll make sure you don't even get your diploma and are kicked right out of Jiangcheng University."

"You… you're so cruel…" Qian Li slumped to the ground, the pity in her eyes instantly turning into venomous resentment.

"Compared to you, this is called mercy." Su Muyang didn't want to waste any more words on her. He turned to leave, then paused, turned back, and delivered one final blow. "By the way, even though Wang Hao ran away, his family still has some scraps left. If you're really short on money, you might as well go take a bite out of him. After all, you two are truly a match made in heaven."

With that, Su Muyang strode into the dormitory building without even looking back.

Qian Li sat on the cold concrete ground, her fingernails digging fiercely into the dirt. She watched Su Muyang's disappearing back, the resentment in her eyes slowly turning into madness.

Su Muyang didn't want her anymore.

Then she wouldn't let these five days of suffering go to waste!

"Wang Hao…" Qian Li gritted her teeth as she hissed the name. She climbed up from the ground and stumbled toward the school gate. Since the path with Su Muyang was cut off, she would take this debt back from the Wang family, with interest!

Dorm 306.

As soon as the door pushed open, a familiar smell of instant noodles mixed with the stench of feet rushed to greet him.

"Yo! Young Master Su is back!"

Fatty Zhang Bo was shirtless, gnawing on a chicken leg. Seeing Su Muyang enter, he immediately tossed the chicken leg aside, crowded in, and circled him twice, his eyes looking as if he were observing some rare animal.

Li Qiang pushed up his glasses and, with a serious expression, held a notebook. "Old Su, confession is lenient. We saw that scene downstairs from the balcony. That Qian Li was crying like Meng Jiangnu, and you didn't even bat an eyelid. You're a ruthless one."

Another roommate, Zhong Le, was lying on his bed playing games. Hearing this, he also poked his head out. "Exactly! Old Su, do you have some hidden identity you haven't told us about? Like… you're the Crown Prince of some conglomerate, and you came to our crappy school to pretend to be poor just to experience the hardships of the common people?"

Su Muyang had just taken a sip of water and nearly spat it out. These brothers' imaginations were wasted if they weren't writing novels.

"What Crown Prince? If I had money, would I have been worrying so much about two thousand yuan that I was losing my hair?" Su Muyang threw his bag onto the bed and smiled bitterly. "I've really been poor. As for Qian Li… there is no greater sorrow than a dead heart; I have absolutely no feelings for her anymore."

"I don't believe it." Zhang Bo wore an 'I've already seen through everything' expression. "Look at you recently, your aura has changed. You used to be timid, but now you walk with a swagger. And that look in your eyes, when you were looking at Qian Li downstairs, that disdain of a superior—that definitely wasn't faked!"

"Right, right, right!" Zhong Le chimed in. "Just like those protagonists in satisfying novels, that 'three-year period has arrived, welcome the Dragon King back to his position' kind of feeling!"

Su Muyang shook his head helplessly. He couldn't exactly say it was because his old man had cheated and given him a billion, could he?

"Alright, stop guessing." Su Muyang pressed Zhang Bo back into his chair. "I just figured things out. It's not worth dying for a gold digger. We're fine men; why worry about not having a wife?"

"Well said!" Li Qiang slapped his thigh. "To celebrate Old Su escaping the sea of suffering, we must play games tonight! No one is allowed to sleep; we fight until dawn!"

"Come on, come on! Log in!" Zhong Le jumped off the bed, holding his phone high. "Tonight I will definitely carry! Whoever throws the game is a total loser!"

"Give it a rest. With your 0-8 Luban, you're going to carry?" Zhang Bo mocked him mercilessly.

"Fatty, screw you! Take this!" The group instantly broke into a scuffle. Zhong Le was pinned to the bed and tickled, laughing like a dying pig.

Su Muyang watched this scene, and the little cloud of gloom in his heart caused by Qian Li instantly vanished.

This is what brothers are. They don't leave you when you're down, they are genuinely happy for you when you're successful, and they use the clumsiest ways to make you happy when you're sad.

"Stop messing around, log in." Su Muyang took out his newly purchased top-tier phone and logged into the account that had been inactive for a long time. "Tonight, I'll carry you all."

"Yo? Su the Jungle King is coming out of retirement?" Zhang Bo's eyes lit up. "Then I'm ready to be carried, please take me!"

The game started. Su Muyang insta-locked Li Bai.

That used to be his best hero, but because his phone lagged, his operations were often warped, and he would get scolded.

Now, with the top-tier screen, top-tier frame rate, and the transformation in his mindset over this period, his fingers traced afterimages across the screen.

"Bring in the wine, don't let the cups stop!"

On the screen, the white-clothed swordsman wove through the enemy crowd like a ghost.

First skill to dash, second skill to draw a circle and dodge damage, ultimate skill 'Blue Lotus Sword Song' exploded in an instant.

"Double Kill!"

"Triple Kill!"

"Quadra Kill!"

"Penta Kill!"

The impassioned system prompt blasted in the dormitory.

"Holy crap! Awesome, Old Su!"

"That hand speed! Must have been trained from twenty years of being single!"

"We won, we won! This team wipe means we can end the game right now!"

Looking at the crystal exploding on the screen, listening to the unreserved exclamations and cheers of his brothers in his headphones, Su Muyang leaned back in his chair and let out a long breath.

He looked at the pitch-black night sky outside the window, the corners of his mouth slowly rising, revealing a long-lost, heartfelt smile.

That humble and cowardly Su Muyang was truly dead. Tomorrow, the sun would rise as usual, and his life was only just beginning.

The next afternoon, the autumn weather was crisp and clear. Su Muyang and his three roommates were walking along the tree-lined path to the teaching building, holding their books.

"Hey, hey, hey! Look ahead!" Zhang Bo suddenly nudged Su Muyang with his elbow and lowered his voice. "Isn't that Lin Wanqiu from our class?"