Rejected by the Campus Belle, I Find My True Love-Chapter 261 - 259: Go Back on One’s Word

"Ying Ying, I’m sorry. When you asked me the other day, I didn’t tell you the truth. I really didn’t mean to deceive you, I just... I just wanted a job." Wu Xiaoya didn’t dare to look Chen Ying in the eye.

After a moment of stunned silence, Chen Ying regained her composure. She proactively took Wu Xiaoya’s hands and said, "Xiao Ya, this was your choice. You don’t have to apologize to me. Xue Yang and I have nothing to do with each other." 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

It was a matter that seemingly had nothing to do with her, yet it felt as if it was connected to her in every way. Only she knew the bitterness in her heart. The more she’d once despised Xue Yang, the bigger a slap in the face it felt to talk about him now.

Hearing that Chen Ying wasn’t angry, Wu Xiaoya brightened up immediately. "Really? Ying Ying, you’re not mad?"

"Why would I be angry? Xiao Ya, like I said, congratulations on finding a job. Even though we won’t be colleagues, we’re all still in Yancheng, so we can see each other often. Isn’t that great?"

"Mhm." After several days of apprehension, Wu Xiaoya could finally relax.

"Xiao Ya, this Xue Yang you’re talking about... it isn’t the same one who used to follow Ying Ying around, is it?" Su Jinfeng asked suddenly from the top bunk.

"Is there another Xue Yang at our school?" Li Zhaodi chimed in from the side.

"I don’t think so," Su Jinfeng said, shaking her head.

Both of them turned to look at Chen Ying.

The dorms at Yanbei University weren’t meant to hold so many people. It was just that they were all good friends who loved to gossip, so they had decided to room together. In the past, they had often teased Chen Ying, telling her a poor kid like Xue Yang was no match for her. They said she should find a rich heir and become a wealthy socialite someday.

Chen Ying had always thought so, too. No matter how many times Xue Yang confessed his feelings, she never gave in. Then, after he stopped, she found herself starting to develop feelings for him. Nevertheless, she still believed she should find a rich man, just as her friends said. That was, until she met Wang Doudou, an encounter that nipped the idea in the bud.

"I don’t like Xue Yang. That’s not going to change just because he has money now. Please don’t bring him up again."

"..."

Su Jinfeng and Li Zhaodi immediately knew to drop the subject.

「On Monday, classes officially began.」

Xue Yang was up early. Now that he didn’t need to squeeze onto a bus, he wasn’t in such a rush for class. He left his apartment building at a leisurely pace.

"Young man, good morning."

As soon as he stepped out, he ran into the elderly couple from next door, who were also leaving. It had been a long time since Xue Yang had seen them. He had thought they’d moved away, but apparently not. It seemed they had just returned from their hometown.

"Good morning, Grandpa, Grandma," Xue Yang greeted them with a smile.

"Off to class?"

"Yes."

The three of them walked downstairs together.

The weather was a bit gloomy, and it looked like it might rain.

When the old woman saw Xue Yang walk up to an Audi, she praised, "Young man, we haven’t seen you for a little while and you’ve already bought a car?"

"Grandpa, Grandma, I have to get to school."

"Ah, alright. Drive safe."

Xue Yang smiled and nodded before getting into the car, starting the engine, and driving off toward the university.

"It’s true what they say, other people’s children are always more outstanding," the old woman remarked with a sigh, watching the Audi disappear into the distance.

Halfway there, while waiting at a red light, a fine drizzle began to fall.

"Oh no, it’s raining! I told you to bring an umbrella. See? Now you know I was right, don’t you?" A young couple playfully bantered as they hurried across the intersection, the boy holding his jacket over their heads as a makeshift umbrella.

"My fault, my fault. I didn’t think it was going to rain."

"If you do this again, we’re breaking up."

"..."

What the boy said next was inaudible, but Xue Yang could guess he was surely begging the girl not to break up with him.

Xiao Xi would love this kind of weather. She’d love it even more if we were running through it together like that.

He even pictured the scene of him and Lin Xi running through the rain together. He pulled out his phone, considering whether to snap a picture to send her. But on second thought, she was probably in class. He decided against it.

Just five more days until my little girl is back. These five days feel agonizingly long.

The light turned green. Seeing that his car hadn’t moved, the cars behind him began to honk impatiently.

Xue Yang snapped out of his daze and quickly drove off.

After parking in the university lot, Xue Yang headed for his classroom.

「Meanwhile, in Gong Lee’s office.」

"Professor Gong, there’s a problem with this year’s university-corporate partnership," said a teacher named Lu Guolin, who was in charge of such collaborations.

This matter had been causing him a major headache recently. He couldn’t understand it. Everything had been settled before the New Year, so why did the other party suddenly back out of the deal? They did it without any warning, catching him completely off guard. If not for this, he wouldn’t have rushed to find Professor Gong before the semester had even officially started.

Besides being the advisor for the finance program and a professor, Gong Lee was also the university’s Vice-Chancellor. When a problem this big came up, he had no choice but to consult her first.

"Teacher Lu, what’s the problem?"

"Professor Gong, before the New Year, we finalized the agreement with Trendy Apparel Company. They were supposed to establish a base on campus this year to provide a platform for our fashion design students, allowing their work to reach a wider audience. But now, they’ve completely backed out."

Lu Guolin grew angry just talking about it. Going to his contact, Zhang Yao, had been useless. He’d heard they had a new person in charge and that, lately, everyone at the company, including Zhang Yao herself, was just trying to keep their own head above water and couldn’t help him.

"Teacher Lu, please arrange a meeting with their new person in charge. I’ll speak with them personally and find out exactly what’s happening."

"Alright, Professor Gong."

With Professor Gong personally stepping in, Lu Guolin breathed a huge sigh of relief. He had arranged the facilities and the students, only for the company to simply not show up. They were playing the university for fools. Yanbei University may be an academic institution, but they weren’t pushovers. What angered him most was that the other party was clearly stonewalling him, giving him no room to negotiate. That was why he’d had no choice but to ask Professor Gong to intervene.

The students she mentored were elites in their respective industries. On top of that, she was a financial advisor to the Lin Corporation. The other party wouldn’t dare to slight her.

"I’m heading to class. Let’s see if anyone was bold enough to skip the first lecture of the semester," Gong Lee said, gathering her books and heading out the door.

When Xue Yang walked into the classroom, the noisy room fell silent, as if someone had hit a pause button.