Chapter 284 - 170: Li Zhi: I Have Someone I Like
Ji Ningning hadn’t even had a chance to focus back on her schoolwork when her best friend, Yao Yao, sent her a message.
"Ningning, want to go to the restroom?"
Ji Ningning paused for a second, then nodded.
When Ji Ningning came out of the restroom, she walked right into a dramatic scene.
Li Zhi was cornered in the hallway outside.
More precisely, a first-year had brought two friends for moral support and was confessing his feelings to her.
The corner of Ji Ningning’s mouth twitched as she took in the scene.
After Li Zhi was featured on the school’s confession wall, a stream of first, second, and even third-year students had already been spotted loitering outside Class 15’s door.
The bolder ones had even started asking Class 15 students to deliver gifts for them.
The students of Class 15 knew exactly what these guys were thinking.
And almost everyone refused.
This was partly because they knew about Li Zhi and Shen Yuan, but also because they were reluctant to approach Li Zhi themselves.
If you went to Li Zhi because you couldn’t solve a problem, Young Master Li might question your intelligence, but she would still diligently explain the solution.
But if you approached Young Master Li to deliver a love letter for someone else? If she was in a good mood, she might just ignore you.
If she was in a bad mood, however... you’d better be able to handle the pressure.
It was safe to say that none of the students who came looking for Li Zhi because of the confession wall had ever faced the full force of Young Master Li’s intimidating presence.
The students of Class 15 had protected them well.
"Senior, you’re so beautiful..."
Standing beside Li Zhi, He Zhiyu listened to the first-year’s courageously delivered opening line and offered him a moment of silent mourning.
Sure enough, upon hearing this, Li Zhi’s cold eyes swept over him. Her gaze was as sharp as a ruler, as if measuring his IQ.
Li Zhi paused, then said, "I already like someone."
Without giving the boy a chance to react or explain, Li Zhi walked straight past him.
The moment the words left her mouth—
A few steps away, Ji Ningning sucked in a sharp breath.
Her naturally round eyes flew wide, her pupils frozen on Li Zhi’s retreating back. She even forgot to breathe.
He Zhiyu, who had been right next to Li Zhi, stopped dead in her tracks.
The tissue she was clutching fell to the floor. Her mouth hung open as her eyes remained glued to Li Zhi’s back, too shocked to even gasp.
All that echoed in her mind was what Li Zhi had just said.
’This can’t be right!’
’How could Li Zhi use that line to reject someone?’
’It would have been fine if she’d just ignored him and walked away, but the problem is that she said *that*!’
’This shouldn’t be happening!’
He Zhiyu didn’t even dare to imagine how high that moron Shen Yuan would be jumping for joy if he heard this.
As for the first-year, he was simply left with the sting of rejection.
After all, he was completely in the dark.
Li Zhi stared straight ahead as she walked back to the classroom, doing her best to maintain her usual icy expression as she sat down in her seat.
Only then, with the stack of books on her desk shielding her from view, did the surrounding noise seem to fade away.
The words she had blurted out—"I already like someone"—were like a scalding stone dropped into the lake of her heart, sending out unbearable, overlapping ripples of shame.
A belated blush instantly crept up her cheeks, and her ears began to burn.
She subconsciously pressed a hand to her feverish temple in frustration, her gaze dropping to the textbook on her desk.
The words in the textbook blurred, seeming to swim before her eyes and mock her.
’How... how could she have just said that?!’
Shen Yuan’s face suddenly popped into her head at the worst possible moment.
If Shen Yuan found out she’d used that excuse, he’d be grinning from ear to ear. He’d probably spend the entire day parading around in front of her, looking impossibly smug.
’No, an entire semester, at least!’
At this thought, Li Zhi’s skin crawled. The hand resting on her temple clenched into a tight fist.
"Damn it..."
The curse was a faint whisper, barely more than a breath caught in her throat, betraying her irritation and inescapable embarrassment.
Li Zhi silently cursed the clueless underclassman, and threw in a curse for that moron Shen Yuan for good measure.
By the time He Zhiyu got back to the classroom, Li Zhi was sitting at her desk, radiating a heavy, oppressive aura.
Any curiosity the little author might have had vanished in an instant.
’Approaching Li Zhi to talk about it now would be suicide.’
’It’s best to just lie low.’