Chapter 101: Ji Xian, You Are Bullying Me Too

Qiao Zhen thought he was being utterly unreasonable, and she was just about to speak when he abruptly cut her off.

“What can Qin Yichi give you? I can give you all of it.”

Ji Xian’s usually cool voice had turned hoarse, the corners of his eyes reddening with unwillingness, as if he were on the verge of losing control.

“Jewelry? Diamonds? Bags and lipstick? Or cake and milk tea? I can give you better than all of that.”

His fingers clenched tighter and tighter, as though he were desperately grasping at a lifesaving rope. “Qiao Zhen, come back to me. Whatever you want, I can give you!”

But Qiao Zhen’s gaze was astonishingly calm. Without the slightest trace of emotion, she said, “No. You can’t.”

Blatant favoritism, pure and fervent affection, as well as respect, understanding, and support.

Those were things Ji Xian would never understand.

As though he had thought of something, Ji Xian lifted his head again and stared into her eyes, trying desperately to hold on.

“You don’t like the guys around me, do you? They always sneer at you. I swear, from now on I’ll never let them bully you again. Come back, okay? I promise they—”

“Ji Xian, you’re really despicable.” Qiao Zhen suddenly cut him off.

His voice stopped at once. He looked at her in a daze.

In the empty classroom, only Qiao Zhen’s reasoned voice remained. It was calm in tone, yet every word struck straight at the heart.

“Every time they belittled me and made sarcastic remarks about me, you clearly heard them. But you pretended not to hear and never once stopped them.”

“It wasn’t once or twice. It was countless times.”

Qiao Zhen stared fixedly into his light-colored eyes as if she were mercilessly interrogating his soul.

“You were indulging them. In truth, you were bullying me too.”

“Or rather, you were the one who bullied me the most.”

Because she had him in her heart and in her eyes, he used that to bully her again and again.

But Qin Yichi would never do that.

Qin Yichi’s friends were always respectful and warm toward her. As long as she stayed by Qin Yichi’s side, no one dared say a bad word about her, let alone lay a finger on her.

At the thought of this, Qiao Zhen’s heart softened, and her eyes grew a little moist.

Before, she had never seen the sun, so she thought such darkness was normal.

Now that she truly had the blazing warmth of sunlight, how could she possibly be willing to return to the past...

A buzzing rang in Ji Xian’s ears. His mind was in utter chaos, and it felt as though a heavy stone were pressing hard against his chest, leaving his entire body sluggish and exhausted.

He saw that in Qiao Zhen’s beautiful eyes there was now disgust and mockery, nothing like the stars and adoration they had once held for him.

Ji Xian even dared not meet her clear gaze. His grip on her hand loosened, and his voice, thick with bitterness, came haltingly.

“Qiao Zhen, I’m not bullying you. I just... I just...”

Just testing whether you would never leave. Just making sure that no matter what happened, you would still burn for me without hesitation.

But no flame burns forever, and even the hottest heart will grow cold.

Qiao Zhen used all her strength to pry his hand away. “I’ll marry Qin Yichi in the future. I’ll be with him forever.”

“Ji Xian, stop clinging to impossible fantasies. I won’t turn back.”

“All of this is what you deserve. It’s your own fault.”

In the empty classroom, Qiao Zhen’s words echoed again and again in Ji Xian’s ears, shattering the dream he had woven for so long.

Especially that one sentence—

“I will marry Qin Yichi.”

Marry?

Ji Xian’s pupils contracted sharply, bewilderment and confusion surfacing in his bloodshot eyes.

Marriage between them—why did it feel so familiar, as though some memory were surging up beyond his control...

In an instant, a suffocating pain twisted through his organs and viscera, and every ounce of strength in his body vanished.

Dizzy and reeling, Ji Xian collapsed weakly onto the empty floor beside him, the pain driving him nearly mad.

Seizing the moment while he was down, Qiao Zhen quickly opened the classroom door and ran, not looking back. She ran to the restroom in another building and washed her hands.

She scrubbed away every place Ji Xian had touched.

Her fingertips trembling slightly, she opened her phone. The next second, two messages leapt into view:

Chi: [I just ordered you a bubble tea delivery]

Ten minutes passed.

Chi patted my head: [What are you doing? I miss you so much]

Qiao Zhen hesitated for a moment, afraid he might worry. After thinking it over, she decided not to hide it and briefly told him what had happened.

Barely after sending the message, Qin Yichi replied instantly. His urgency was plain in every word:

[Where are you now? I’m coming to find you!]

In the classroom, Ji Xian lay powerless on the floor, while fragments of memories from his past life surged over him like a tidal wave.

It was something he had never dreamed of, something that happened after Qiao Zhen had liked him for seven years:

After he got together with Qiao Zhen, he still stood high above her, enjoying her devotion, and allowed the people around him to mock her, even undermining her career in secret.

Certain that Qiao Zhen would never leave, he always felt valued and pleased whenever he saw the disappointed, lonely look in her eyes.

Until, pressured by his mother, he broke his promise and missed Qiao Zhen’s birthday concert to go pick up another woman and bring her back to the country.

[Qiao Zhen, stop being unreasonable]

Qiao Zhen liked him so much that she never got angry at him.

But when he checked his phone again, he saw the breakup message.

He dismissed it with a cold laugh.

Break up? How could Qiao Zhen really break up with him?

He was self-assured and certain, utterly convinced that Qiao Zhen would never leave, that she would, as always, take the initiative to lower her head and admit fault.

Yet this time he waited, and waited, and waited. Half a year later, what arrived instead was the trending topic announcing Qiao Zhen’s marriage:

Qiao Zhen and Qin Yichi Officially Announce Their Marriage
Top Racing Driver vs. Top-Charting Female Singer
Qin-Zhen Romance Is So Sweet