Half a month later, at A University.
Most people in the Art School are handsome men and beautiful women. Even if their looks aren't exceptionally striking, they must possess a certain level of talent to have gained admission, so their overall aura is never lacking.
But among this sea of beauties, Xu Qingqing was undoubtedly the most captivating presence. Under the scorching sun, her expression was cold with a hint of impatience, her arms crossed, her skin so fair it seemed to glow.
Xu Qingqing was truly beautiful, whether in figure or face, one could even say flawless from every angle. In her three years at A University, she had consistently secured the title of campus belle, always crushing the runner-up by a significant margin in polls.
Her notoriously high-maintenance and dramatic personality was widely known, yet her suitors continued to flock to her without pause. The reason was none other than her breathtaking beauty. When a beauty like her acted spoiled or scolded someone, it was a kind of enjoyment for onlookers. Her personality might be a bit much, but it wasn't unbearable.
After entering the school, Xu Qingqing, as expected, drew the attention of many onlookers. The online incident from some time ago had caused such an uproar that many students at the university had also learned about Xu Qingqing's background.
Before this, while A University students generally knew Xu Qingqing was wealthy, they hadn't realized she was actually the heiress of the Xu Group. Due to her stunning looks, there had even been malicious speculation about her being a kept woman, but this rumor was quickly dismissed by many classmates.
Nonsense. Who in their right mind would keep someone so high-maintenance?
Unless they found their middle-aged life too dull and wanted some excitement to spice things up with a bit of high blood pressure.
So not only was this speculation swiftly rejected, but the person who first proposed it was also thoroughly ridiculed by everyone for their lack of intelligence.
Later, after Xu Qingqing got together with Xie Lianqing, public speculation about her background reached a new peak. After all, Xie Lianqing was widely recognized as A University's aloof, unattainable heartthrob—born into an excellent family, possessing outstanding personal ability, and already in control of the Xie Group at a young age.
For Xu Qingqing to have won over this favored son of heaven, and to have him willingly tolerate her various dramas, she must have had something extraordinary beyond just her beauty... Considering Xu Qingqing's usual demeanor, people quickly guessed that her background must be formidable as well.
Someone, based on the Xie family's status, searched through the country's many wealthy families and eventually pinpointed the Xu Group, headquartered in City A.
Unfortunately, according to public information, Xu Changshan only had one daughter surnamed Bai and Xu Tianbao, and Xu's aunt had no children, so this speculation remained unconfirmed, an unsolved mystery. It wasn't until the recent hot search news broke that the onlookers had their epiphany.
So Xu Qingqing really was from the Xu family, and not just any member, but the pampered heir apparent! No wonder she dared to act so capriciously all the time!
Sure, her temper was a bit big, and she dumped boyfriends like discarding vegetables, but she's gorgeous and rich!
A female student looked at Xu Qingqing and whispered to her friend, "Everyone says Xu Qingqing is high-maintenance, but if I looked like her, I'd look in the mirror eight hundred times a day and walk sideways across the street!"
Her roommate immediately nodded vigorously. "Yeah, exactly! And she's so rich too. I heard she's incredibly doted on at home. If that's how she's treated in her own family, she can't just change her personality and put up with nonsense from some guy once she starts dating, right?"
There were quite a few people around sharing similar thoughts. At this moment, the gazes directed at Xu Qingqing were complex, mixed with envy and a sense of... it's only natural.
Xu Qingqing, of course, noticed the subtle, watchful eyes of her fellow students, but she was long accustomed to being the center of attention and didn't dwell on the meaning behind their looks.
Right now, she was preoccupied with the fact that she had failed a course, worried about how she would face her academic advisor later. She could already imagine how the portly advisor would earnestly and sorrowfully lecture her about studying harder.
Unexpectedly, when Xu Qingqing arrived at the office to report to her advisor, she received another piece of bad news:
Her innovation credits were insufficient.
Innovation credits are earned by university students during their time at school through participating in clubs, student council, or other group honor activities, serving as a graduation requirement.
Xu Qingqing had previously joined some random club whose purpose she never quite figured out, relying on it for credits each semester. However, she had just learned that the club disbanded last semester. So, if she didn't want to delay her graduation, she'd better find a way to earn enough credits, such as joining a club or participating in school-organized activities.
The credit issue wasn't urgent yet, as Xu Qingqing was only a junior. The advisor was just mentioning it. In university, the most important thing, of course, is academics. He lectured the bewildered-looking Xu Qingqing earnestly, emphasizing that she must seriously prepare for the makeup exam and absolutely must not fail any courses this semester.
Xu Qingqing lowered her head, pretending to listen attentively. As the advisor's nagging instructions filled her ears, she pondered what to eat for dinner while nodding sincerely and solemnly promising she would absolutely never fail a course again.
Just then, another girl entered the office. Her voice carried a unique, cloying sweetness as she said in a cutesy tone, "Teacher, I'm here to report~"
The moment she walked in, the advisor immediately stopped lecturing Xu Qingqing. He glared at the girl, unleashing his full firepower. "Le Jiaojiao! Tell me, what happened with your last exam last semester? Why didn't you even show up?"
Xu Qingqing looked up and was amused. Wasn't this her old acquaintance, her arch-rival Le Jiaojiao?
Le Jiaojiao was the cousin of Zhou Chenyu, whom Xu Qingqing had infuriated and subsequently blocked last time.
She and Xu Qingqing had known each other since childhood. Both were fair-skinned, beautiful, came from good families, and had tempers bigger than the other's. They were both little princesses in their social circle who were used to getting their way, so it was only natural they couldn't stand each other.
They had competed for little red flowers in kindergarten, and later, upon entering elementary school, they both inexplicably set their sights on the position of art/entertainment committee member.
After two years in the same middle school class, this heated rivalry ended with Le Jiaojiao being taken abroad by her parents. Xu Qingqing thought she would never see this annoyingly cutesy person, Le Jiaojiao, again in her life. But in the blink of an eye, the other had returned as an exchange student, and they had ended up as classmates in the same major at the same university!
Even this final exam, they had both coincidentally failed!
This was truly a fateful, often troublesome, connection.
The advisor, saddled with these two eccentric characters Xu Qingqing and Le Jiaojiao, was currently heartbroken. "If you had taken the exam and failed, that would be one thing, but you didn't even show up. A zero! A zero! Even your name on the exam paper was filled in by the proctor. The academic office called me about it!"
Le Jiaojiao ignored her gloating rival standing to the side, her eyes misty with tears, her attitude of admitting fault quite sincere. "Sorry, teacher, I forgot."
The academic advisor was furious. "You can forget the final exam? Tell me, what can you remember?"
Le Jiaojiao's tears fell in big drops. In a sweet, coquettish voice, she said, "I remembered to come report today."
The advisor was out of steam.
Le Jiaojiao was petite, with a delicate and gentle appearance, long black hair, small and exquisite features, and eyes that shimmered with tears.
She looked so pitiful crying that the advisor couldn't bring himself to scold her further.
Outside the office, Le Jiaojiao continued to sob intermittently, looking utterly heartbroken. Some boys nearby hesitated, their expressions conflicted, seemingly wanting to approach and ask the weeping beauty if she needed help.
Xu Qingqing stroked her chin and suddenly asked, "What brand is your mascara?"
Le Jiaojiao had been crying for ages, yet her eye makeup hadn't smudged at all.
She had actually been looking forward to seeing the other girl's eye makeup run into a mess. To think her foundation hadn't even budged—the waterproofing was too good.
Le Jiaojiao was still crying. Hearing this, she rolled her eyes in anger and whined, "You idiot! I'm so sad, and all you care about is makeup."
Le Jiaojiao spoke with a thick Taiwanese accent, her voice sweet, soft, and perpetually sounding like she was cooing. At first, Xu Qingqing thought this flirt was deliberately putting on a baby voice, but later discovered it was actually her natural, doll-like tone.
While complaining, Le Jiaojiao fished a mirror from her bag, checking her makeup back and forth, and whined, "Ugh, my eyeliner is so perfect today."
From this, it was clear there was a good reason Xu Qingqing and Le Jiaojiao had never gotten along since childhood.
After all, one was naturally coquettish, the other naturally bratty. Their personalities were each more bizarre than the last, and neither was particularly well-liked.
Xu Qingqing was famous for dumping boyfriends as easily as discarding cabbage, with a specialty in being overly sensitive and making unreasonable scenes that were notorious across the whole school. Le Jiaojiao, on the other hand, cooed and acted cute with everyone, her personality a perfect blend of manipulative and innocent.
After reuniting at A University, they spent all day taking subtle digs at each other on social media. That they hadn't come to blows yet was one of the world's great mysteries.
Of course, an actual fight was impossible.
Xu Qingqing had once witnessed Le Jiaojiao, furious after losing an argument to her, punch a table to splinters.
At the time, Xu Qingqing looked at the table's corpse on the floor, measured her own slender frame against it, and concluded she probably couldn't survive one slap from Le Jiaojiao.
She immediately tossed her hair, haughtily declared she wouldn't stoop to the other's level, then turned and fled the school at lightning speed, running faster than a dog. She didn't dare go to school for three days afterward.
In the end, it was Zhou Chenyu who dragged her out of her house, solemnly promising that if Le Jiaojiao ever truly lost her temper and tried to hit her, he would definitely stand in front of her.
This incident left a deep impression on the young Xu Qingqing.
Worried she might inadvertently share the fate of that table, she even specifically took up sprinting for a while, just so she could make a quick escape before Le Jiaojiao resorted to violence during their catfights.
Le Jiaojiao remained completely unaware of Xu Qingqing's mental journey back then, though Zhou Chenyu teased her about it for a long time.
Le Jiaojiao finished touching up her makeup, picked up her little purse, blew a kiss to Xu Qingqing, and said, "I'm off on a date. See you when school starts, you little idiot!"
With that, she made a swift retreat, walking away quickly in her high heels.
She had to run fast. Xu Qingqing was both bratty and troublesome; when she argued, her subtle, sarcastic digs could make you spit blood in anger. Le Jiaojiao, unable to out-insult her, always ended up crying in frustration. Her only option was to run before Xu Qingqing could retort, which counted as a sort of moral victory.
From this, it was evident that both Xu Qingqing and Le Jiaojiao had issues.
After this sarcastic reunion and exchange of barbs with Le Jiaojiao, Xu Qingqing finally felt a bit like she was re-entering the real world.
Ever since she dreamed of that plot, her life had taken on a sense of urgency. She was either worrying about Bai Youlan and her system, or thinking about how to break up with Xie Lianqing and avoid her own deathly fate.
As a result, she hadn't really enjoyed this holiday at all, spending it all on causing trouble for Bai Youlan and Lin Donghan, and observing the changes in their "fortune value."
In the past, she would have been out having fun long ago, not stuck stupidly in City A like she was now.
The more Xu Qingqing thought about it, the unhappier she became. And when she was unhappy, she felt like acting out.
Xu Qingqing thought for a moment, took out her phone, removed Xu Changshan's contact from the blacklist, and dialed a video call.
Xu Changshan was at the office. He was shocked when he received the call. "Xu Qingqing? You're calling me?"
He and Xu Qingqing mutually disliked each other. Unless necessary, they generally didn't contact one another, especially since she had blacklisted him ages ago. Nowadays, to reach his own daughter, he had to borrow phones from other people, and even then, could only say a sentence or two before being blacklisted again.
There was a period where, if he needed to contact Xu Qingqing, he had to have a lineup of people beside him—driver, housekeeper, assistant, subordinates—each handing over their phones in turn.
He'd say one sentence, Xu Qingqing would hang up and blacklist that number. He'd immediately pick up another phone to continue with the next sentence, only to be hung up on again, repeating this process ad infinitum just to finish one conversation.
So, for a moment, Xu Changshan genuinely couldn't fathom why Xu Qingqing would actively seek him out.
Of course, he was Xu Qingqing's father. Though surprised, he still had to maintain his posture. He cleared his throat, secretly pleased, but opened with a lecturing tone. "You finally remember to contact your father? What do you want? Is it about what happened with Youlan last time—"
Before he could finish, Xu Qingqing cut him off. "Forget it, shut up. Just seeing your face is hard enough to stomach. If you say a couple more sentences, I really won't be able to hold on."
She had always wondered where Xu Changshan got the skill to make people feel like throwing up every time they heard him speak.
Xu Changshan: "..."
Xu Qingqing said, "It's nothing special. I just heard you were diagnosed with high blood pressure recently and are on medication. I'm calling to ask if your blood pressure has come down yet? If it has, I'm here to help raise it right back up for you!"
Xu Changshan's temple throbbed.
Xu Qingqing declared proudly, "No need to thank me. It's all a daughter's duty. Sending you off early to kneel and apologize to my mom in the underworld is my life's mission!"
With that, she hung up.
No way was she giving anyone else the chance to hang up on her first.
