Shortly after they arrived, another group came and sat beside them, each booth separated by the same kind of light muslin. Through the hazy gauze, they could make out the indistinct figures of four young women. Among them, one of their voices seemed somewhat familiar. It sounded like someone they knew.
"Itâs Huoqing and the others," Jiangmeng suddenly said.
Shen Jingbin came to a sudden realisation, but Huajuan and Xiaohe looked as if theyâd swallowed a fly.
Huoqing, Shen Jingbin, and the others were in the same faculty and also lived in dorms that were opposite one another. It was a pity that the inhabitants of both dorms clashed as soon as they started school.
Speaking of which, the reason why they were at odds with one another was very simple: Men. Huoqing came from quite a well to do family. Her father did business and had managed to earn a large sum of money a few years ago, rising in the ranks and entering the B Cityâs upper class. She herself was quite pretty and looked exquisite when she dressed up. During military training, she fell for a male student, but it turned out that the boy liked Shen Jingbin. She couldnât get what she wanted, so she ended up hating Shen Jingbin for it. Later, after military training had ended, she got herself a boyfriend. Unexpectedly, rumours started circulating not long after about how heâd failed to chase after Shen Jingbin, so heâd switched targets and went after Huoqing instead. Feeling humiliated, she immediately rounded up a bunch of people and charged into Shen Jingbinâs dormitory. Coincidentally, only the bad-tempered Huajuan was present that day. Hence, both sides began quarrelling with one another, nearly coming to physical blows. Fortunately, the next door neighbour returned and separated Huajuan and the others. Since then, both dormsâ animosity was set and theyâd had many fights out in the open, and in secret.
After Huoqingâs group sat down, Shen Jingbin heard them speaking in shrill voices and mocking people. The first one to be attacked was her. Women always tended to have this misconception that they didnât speak loudly, yet little did they know, every sentence they spoke clearly reached the ears of those beside them.
"Hey, did you guys hear? Rumour has it that that nutjob got engaged, and the groom-to-be seems to be some impressive person," one woman said.
Just as she finished speaking, someone spoke up. "Engaged? Sheâs so slutty, she even manages to get herself involved with the lecturer during a lecture. Can she really bear getting engaged and tying herself down?"
"Speaking of, the last one who gave a lecture was quite handsome, but I didnât expect him to get involved with that sort of woman. What a waste."
They suddenly stopped talking. Shortly after, another delicate female voice said, "Hmph, with just her looks, I reckon sheâs been dumped rather than engaged... Oh, by the way, how many people in school know about this?"
"There shouldnât be that many people. I only found out about it because I went to the hotel to look for my friend that day."
"When we go back, you guys go to the news society and leak this to them."
"Eh, why?"
"Think about it. The president of the news society has been chasing after that woman for so long without any results, that if he heard that sheâs engaged, what would his reaction be?"
"Haha, Ah Qing, youâre still the one with the plan. That news society president is so petty that heâll blow his top if he finds out about it. After all, being engaged and dating are two different things. Heâll surely think of a way to retaliate and drag her reputation through the mud."
The four women immediately smiled. Off to the side, Shen Jingbin and the others whoâd heard their conversation were stunned, especially Zhao Chengningâs trio.
"Sister Jing, what grudge do those women next door have against you?"
Before Shen Jingbin could answer, Huajuan, who was unable to restrain her anger, slapped the table and rushed over to Huoqingâs group.
"Pui, what nonsense are you cheap sluts spouting?! If you guys speak another word of nonsense, Iâll personally take each and every one of you out tonight!"
Those four women probably never expected to bump into the person in question. They stared blankly for a good long while before they finally responded.
"Huajuan? My, how laughable. We werenât talking about you, so why do you have to be so anxious? Are you that nutjobâs dog? Youâre so eager to show your loyalty."
"Up yours! Canât you be a bit more f*cking civil, Houqing?"
Hearing their voices growing increasingly louder, Shen Jingbin and the others feared that Huajuan might have been picked on by Huajuanâs group and hurriedly went over. Most notably, Xuya led the pack. He looked at the four women who were dressed to the nines and then at Huajuan who was so mad, her face was red. He said, "Big Sister, donât get so worked up. Itâs not worth hurting yourself by getting too angry."
Huoqing didnât recognise Xuya. Seeing his delicate features and appearance that made it clear he was younger than Huajuan, her thoughts momentarily went astray. She gave a cold laugh and said with a sneer, "Say, Huajuan, just how thirsty are you? You couldnât find yourself a man so you went looking for a gigolo instead?" Her gaze swept over the men from Shen Jingbinâs group whoâd rushed over. One of them seemed familiar, but she didnât put too much thought into it and continued, "Birds of a feather really do flock together. Not one of you from that dormitory is a good person! You even grouped up to go looking for gigolos together."
At that time, when Zhao Chengning went to A University to give a talk, Huoqing didnât attend and only saw the few photos on the schoolâs BBS afterwards. So, she didnât recognise him. But, her companions did when they took a good look at him. Thinking back to the long list of impressive positions attached to his name, they nervously pulled at hem of Huoqingâs clothes in a bid to get her to stop talking.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om
However, Houqing didnât understand their âearnest thoughtsâ and continued to mock and ridicule the group.
Seeing the man growing increasingly upset, the three women silently swallowed their saliva and observed a moment of silence for themselves.