Campus Ace Girl

Zhou Yunchen did behave himself for a while, but only for a while. Very soon he was back to his old tricks.

Shen Congwen really had no way to deal with him. She reached out and patted him: "Go take a shower first."

Of course Zhou Yunchen had to cling to her for a bit, shameless as ever. Shen Congwen truly couldn’t do anything with him, so she could only coax him and muddle through...

After a long while, Zhou Yunchen’s alcohol finally wore off. He slumped in the chair, wrapped up his tie, lazily patted Shen Congwen: "Be good, I’m gonna go rinse off."

Shen Congwen’s voice was a little hoarse: "Later, go have a talk with Duo Duo."

Zhou Yunchen set his tie aside and chuckled softly: "Talk about what? She’s a grown girl now, a lot of things we can’t control anymore. Besides, we know Chen Ming’s character inside out. From what I see, things look pretty good right now."

Shen Congwen leaned back on the sofa, her brows and eyes a little dewy, looking a bit tempting.

He leaned in again and kissed her on the lips, then lowered his voice: "Stop worrying about them. With that time, you might as well worry more about your husband."

He probably hadn’t been intimate with her for quite a while either. After thinking about it, he dragged her into the bathroom with him...

On the other side, Beauty was standing on the balcony, touching her own lips, spacing out for quite a long time.

That night, because Chen Ming had come over, she practically couldn’t sleep at all. In the end she simply went to the nursery to check on the baby. Shen Congwen had a son, named Zhou Mu, who looked more like Zhou Yunchen—quite good-looking, but Beauty privately felt he resembled her a bit more.

In the nursery, the nanny was pretty responsible and hadn’t gone to bed yet, watching the baby sleep. When she saw Beauty come in, she very politely greeted her as Miss Song, her eyes shining; she knew Beauty was a big star.

Beauty was quite easygoing at home and told the nanny to go to sleep first.

The auntie wouldn’t agree. "How could that be, this is my job. And Miss Song, you’re still young, you might not manage a baby well."

Beauty smiled. "Isn’t Little Mu asleep now? I’ll stay with him, that’s enough."

Only then did the auntie leave.

Beauty leaned over to look at the baby. From up close she could smell that milky scent on him; it was quite nice. After a while she couldn’t resist pinching the little guy’s cheeks and giving him a kiss.

She wasn’t exactly a kid person, but looking at Little Mu lying there so quietly, she did start to feel like having a baby of her own... Who would she have one with? She didn’t want to think about it, but still ended up thinking of Chen Ming.

She frowned: If she had a baby with Chen Ming, would the kid be not pretty enough? Just look at her sister-in-law’s genes, and those two from the Bo Family. She’d seen Bo Xichen and Bo An An too—astonishingly beautiful.

The more she looked, the more she found the baby adorable.

Of course, that was only because Beauty didn’t really take care of the baby; that’s why he seemed so cute. If she had to look after him a lot, she wouldn’t feel that way. She was bored alone anyway, so she simply made do and spent the night there...

The next morning, she had a gig to rush to. She walked back to her room yawning, and just so happened to run into Zhou Yunchen coming out.

He looked radiant, full of energy.

Beauty obediently called him "Brother." Zhou Yunchen smiled with squinted eyes. "You watched Little Mu the whole night, huh? Why didn’t you let Chen Ming stay over? Young people shouldn’t be too restrained when they’re dating."

Beauty wasn’t stupid; she heard the teasing, so she snorted softly: "Brother, you should show some restraint too. After all, your body isn’t just your own anymore. King Jingyao is still counting on you to sell your soul for him."

Zhou Yunchen shot her a sidelong glance. "Girls should be more composed."

He straightened his clothes. "If your sister-in-law hears you, she’ll get embarrassed."

Beauty wrinkled her nose and ignored him, heading back into her room. Once the door closed, she couldn’t help but let out a little laugh.

Honestly, living with her brother and sister-in-law was pretty nice. The way Shen Congwen grew up had shaped a very easygoing personality. Sometimes Beauty treated Shen Congwen more like a second brother than a sister-in-law. Of course, this was something she absolutely couldn’t let Zhou Yunchen know, or he’d probably want to kill her.

But that bit of twisted little mindset of his, did he really think she didn’t know? Why was it that Shen Congwen, who after all was married with a child and used to wear skirts, had recently started wearing long pants and shirts at home again? You could tell at a glance whose preference that was.

Beauty cursed her brother as a pervert in her heart, then went to change clothes. When she went downstairs, she discovered Chen Ming in the dining room, having breakfast with Zhou Yunchen.

Beauty froze for a second, then slowly walked over.

Chen Ming stood up to pull out a chair for her, then sat back down and continued talking business with Zhou Yunchen. His attitude was quite familiar, as if showing up here was the most normal thing in the world. Luckily they were talking about work, so it didn’t feel too out of place.

Just then, the servants brought out her breakfast. Because she was an actress, she ate very little—just a cup of oatmeal. It was honestly a bit cruel. Every time Beauty ate low-fat food, she couldn’t help but feel a bit jealous of Gu Anxi—eating like that and still staying that skinny.

Fortunately, she was somewhat used to it by now.

As she used a wooden spoon to scoop the oatmeal bite by bite, Chen Ming glanced over and asked in a low voice, "You’re not going to eat anything else?"

The breakfast on the table was quite plentiful; don’t girls all love good food?

At that moment, Zhou Yunchen started laughing. "She’s dieting—afraid she won’t look good on camera."

Chen Ming wasn’t some controlling type. He respected Beauty’s work quite a lot, so he didn’t say anything; he only looked at her again... He really couldn’t understand giving up food for the sake of one’s career.

But right then, he suddenly remembered they hadn’t eaten together many times. The last time they had vegetarian hotpot, she even scalded her hand.

Bringing up that incident made him think again of that guy at the hotpot place.

Beauty was fine; that guy ended up being released later. Chen Ming had personally gone down to the station to let him go, only after questioning him and finding nothing wrong...

Chen Ming drifted off for a moment. Just then, Zhou Yunchen started discussing work with him again, and he responded.

When Beauty was about to leave the house, he immediately grabbed his coat and chased after her. "I’ll drive you."

"I have a driver." Beauty tilted her head to look at him. "You came over this early just to drive me?"

Chen Ming caught her by the arm, a little forceful. "I came over because I had business. Mr. Zhou called me and asked me to come."

With that, he opened the car door with one hand and pushed her inside. Beauty toppled back against the seat, a bit annoyed. "Chen Ming, what are you doing?"

He went around and got in on the other side. After sitting down, he fastened his seatbelt while giving her a sideways look. "Didn’t we agree last night?"

"Agree to what?" Beauty’s cheeks felt hot; she buckled her belt too. "I didn’t say anything."

At a time like this, a mature man really shouldn’t start nitpicking. Chen Ming only gave a soft laugh, then picked up a folder and weighed it in his hand. "Your gig’s at ten. Come with me somewhere first—I have to deliver some materials."

Beauty looked at him.

He smiled. "For Dr. Lu. Mr. Wang asked me to drop them off."

Beauty leaned back against the seat, lowering her head to play with her perfectly manicured nails. "What’s that got to do with me? Why should I go with you?"

Chen Ming sat there, not moving for a long moment. After a while, both hands resting on the steering wheel: "Beauty."

She hummed in response, unable to help raising her head.

Chen Ming said softly, "We’re both pretty busy, right? I’m a grown man, I can’t quit my job and live off my wife, and likewise, if you like doing what you’re doing I can’t force you to go home. So we don’t have much time, sometimes I can only squeeze out a bit to be with you. There aren’t that many moments when we’re both free at the same time."

Hearing him say that, Song Jia got a little dazed. After a long while she finally murmured, "But I haven’t said we’re going to be together yet."

Chen Ming turned sideways and asked her quite seriously, "Then I’ll ask you now: do you want to be with me?"

Song Jia pressed her lips together without making a sound. She slowly leaned back against the chair, and only after a long time squeezed out, "Weren’t you going to deliver the documents?"

Chen Ming stared at her for quite a while before finally looking away and starting the car.

After that, he didn’t ask that question again. Even though he was a bit of a single‑celled organism, he still understood that with a temper like Song Jia’s, not denying it basically meant admitting it... For a moment his heart was more or less excited, but he forced it down and kept his mouth shut.

Instead, Song Jia kept playing on her phone. Only when the car drove out onto the street did she say quietly, "There’s a breakfast shop up ahead. Go buy yourself a bowl of porridge there, their blood‑rice porridge is pretty good."

Chen Ming smiled. "Sure. But you’re not dieting anymore?"

She gave a soft hum. "Suddenly it doesn’t feel that important anymore."

He didn’t say anything else, just parked in front of the breakfast shop. As he unbuckled his seat belt he said quietly, "Wait in the car for me."

Song Jia looked at him.

Chen Ming picked up his wallet and got out.

After he left, Song Jia noticed his phone was on the center console, and his jacket was draped over the back of the seat.

Song Jia happened to be wearing a skirt, and with the AC on in the car she felt a bit cold, so she tugged his jacket over to cover herself and shield her legs... Just then, a tiny little thing slipped out of his pocket.

Curious, Song Jia bent down to pick it up and took a look.

A neat little square packet, thin.

She froze, not coming back to her senses for a long while.

Why would Chen Ming... have this on him?

Right at that moment Chen Ming came back. As he opened the door he handed her the porridge, and at the same time he saw what was in her hand.

Their eyes met, and the air seemed to solidify.

Men did have thicker skins in this regard. Chen Ming quickly took the little thing from her and casually slid it back into his pocket, his expression calm. "Yesterday I happened to run into someone promoting them on the street, so I grabbed one."

Song Jia forgot to breathe. "But you, you don’t even have a girlfriend, what do you need that for?"

He buckled his seat belt, then asked back with a faint amused look, "Then you tell me, what do I need it for?"

Song Jia’s face felt a little hot. She didn’t ask anything else, just held his jacket with one hand and the porridge with the other, opening it to drink. Chen Ming watched his own jacket draped over her legs, his gaze darkening slightly, but in the end he said nothing.

After that, the atmosphere was clearly different from before. It was as if something had punctured that thin layer between them and the air itself turned restless.

After all, one was just past thirty, the other about to hit thirty...

Luckily, the drive was under half an hour before they reached Lu Heng’s home. Zhou Yunchen picked up the file and turned his head. "Wait for me in the car."

Song Jia got out with him. "I’ll go in too."

He looked at her and didn’t object.

The two of them went in together, and unexpectedly found that they weren’t the only guests today. There was another person sitting in the living room, someone both Chen Ming and Song Jia knew—none other than Gu Anxi’s clown of an uncle, Wang Kefu.

In a while, Wang Kefu would have to go back to Jiangcheng to fight for his future. He’d hitched a ride on Bo Xichen’s private jet, and there was maybe half an hour before he had to leave. Right now was the moment of hard‑to‑part farewells, and even a rough guy like Chen Ming could smell something different in the air the moment he stepped in.

Wang Kefu was also feeling like life was screwing with him—he came to a place like this and still ran into people he knew!?

Lu Heng, on the other hand, was completely composed. Over the past half year he’d already adapted to the prosthetic; with pants and shoes on, you could hardly tell anything was off, and his gait was steady. Of course, the hardship behind that was beyond what ordinary people could imagine.

Today, Wang Kefu had come to visit an old acquaintance. The moment he saw him he lost his head all over again, but he didn’t dare reveal even a hint of those dark little thoughts anymore. He just chatted politely and with decent manners, and casually handed over the gifts he’d brought from Jiangcheng for Lu Heng’s two "sons."

Since they were for the two children, Lu Heng didn’t turn them down. He wasn’t the same as before.

The former Lu Heng had been proud and aloof; people like Wang Kefu would absolutely never have been sitting in his home making small talk. But the Lu Heng now had a calmness radiating from every inch of him, a feeling that made Wang Kefu think he looked familiar... It took him a long time to place it—wasn’t this exactly the vibe of Anxi’s husband, Bo Xichen?

He sized Lu Heng up from head to toe, and finally realized...

The little fairy had come down to earth.

All that obsession from the past suddenly just... deflated.

The little fairy had come down to earth.

As they chatted, he even let go of that idea altogether... Lu Heng didn’t take it to heart. He treated him like a distant visitor from afar—couldn’t say he liked him much, but couldn’t say he disliked him either.

All of a sudden, Wang Kefu felt it was all meaningless, that everything had just been him clinging far too hard.

He felt that Jiangcheng was his real home, that maybe he really should build something of his own there.

What use was a pretty face, anyway?

Just like Shen Wanqing—he’d treasured her like a jewel before, but now... A few days ago in Beicheng he’d seen her again, still young and beautiful, but he didn’t feel the slightest stir in his heart anymore. The only thing that tugged at him was the son he had with his first wife.

Wang Kefu left...

As he was leaving, he said to Lu Heng, "Dr. Lu, sorry for disturbing you."

Maybe if he hadn’t gone to Lu Heng back then, Lu Heng wouldn’t be like this today. Maybe he would still have been whole.

Lu Heng looked at him quietly and said nothing.

Wang Kefu let out a long breath, then rasped, "I’m going."

He finally left. Lu Heng stood watching for quite a while, then turned his head and said to Chen Ming, "Sorry to keep you waiting."

Even a rough guy like Chen Ming could tell something was up, but he didn’t spell it out. He only said quietly, "President Wang really has changed a lot."

Lu Heng sat down, his long fingers wrapped around the teacup, and he smiled. "When your circumstances change, your temperament is bound to change along with them."

Just like him, Lu Heng—a year ago he’d still been... impossibly proud, running around France looking for the girl he’d met there. But a year later he’d become what he was now...