Chapter 103: The Celestial Maiden
TL: Etude
“Siqi, time to get up and eat.”
“You go ahead, I’m not hungry.”
Chu Siqi, huddled in her blanket, replied dully to Wang Huiru. Her voice sounded weak, as if drained by a long illness, devoid of its usual proud and haughty tone.
After a while, she heard the soft sound of the door closing, indicating Wang Huiru and Si Huiying had left. Only then did she climb out of bed.
Outside, the rain had intensified, pattering loudly against the windows. The sky was ominously dark and low, as if it were about to collapse.
It was only three in the afternoon, but their unlit dorm room was as dark as night.
Chu Siqi sat on her bed for a long time, her mind blank, until the sound of a QQ notification brought her back to reality. She checked her phone and looked at the messages in her list.
“Junior sister, I heard you won first place in the campus beauty contest. Let’s go out and celebrate tonight?”
“Chu, the campus beauty, I’ve got two movie tickets. Want to join?”
“Wow, number one campus beauty, that’s awesome. Would you consider dating?”
“First place campus beauty, do you have time for a meal? I’ll take you to a western restaurant in the city!”
Chu Siqi sat silently for a long moment, then exited the incessantly buzzing QQ. She opened a bookmarked link and entered the Zhihu forum. She searched for Jiang Qin’s name and read some exposé posts by people in the know.
As she read, she stumbled upon a series of posts titled “My Unpretentious Life as a Rich Second Generation.”
“Two campus beauties vying for me, Cao Guangyu. Sorry, it’s better to part on good terms.”
“?”
“Military training, celestial maiden from the class next door seeks me out, yi!”
“…”
“Bentley? Sorry, it was me, the ordinary Mr. Cao.”
“????”
“Does wearing Patek Philippe affect driving my Bentley?”
“…”
Chu Siqi had met Cao Guangyu once, knew he was Jiang Qin’s roommate, and recognized the first post’s content. It mirrored the incident at Nanshan Restaurant on the opening day of school.
This meant these posts were actually about Jiang Qin’s life.
Luxury cars, high-end watches, charming beauties, controlling fortunes, offering sage advice, harboring global aspirations, and engaging in philanthropy.
Jiang Qin’s life seemed dreamily beautiful.
Chu Siqi’s face paled slightly, realizing how much more ridiculous she seemed.
The man she thought needed to prove himself, temporarily unworthy of her, though excellent, was seen by others as incredibly outstanding, almost unbelievably so.
But she believed it.
The 300,000 yuan during summer break, the Night Light Bar, the 500,000 yuan for the forum advertisement.
Though Chu Siqi didn’t know the details, she had heard of them all and thus didn’t regard these claims as mere bragging like the commenters did.
Since she rejected him, he had gradually transformed into an idol.
Chu Siqi reopened QQ, intending to chat with Jiang Qin, but then remembered she had been deleted. Feeling a sense of loss, she pursed her lips, feeling as if a part of her heart was hollowed out again.
She began to understand why a proud girl like Hong Yan could fall for Jiang Qin at first sight.
But she had missed her chance…
Since their encounter on the train, she knew what she had missed with Jiang Qin was a lifetime. He would never like her again.
And now, Jiang Qin already had a celestial maiden. She might not be prettier than Chu Siqi, but she must be very good to him.
Chu Siqi thought that if the girl’s beauty was as exaggerated as described in the posts, she surely would have appeared in the campus beauty contest and wouldn’t have remained unknown until now. But, as the saying goes, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Jiang Qin must really like her to think of her as a celestial maiden.
At that moment, the dormitory door suddenly opened, and Wang Huiru, holding an umbrella, rushed back in with two servings of fried rice. She had sensed something was off with Chu Siqi and, worried, had returned with food, bringing a portion for her as well.
“Siqi, time to eat,” Wang Huiru offered her a pair of chopsticks.
Chu Siqi thanked her and took a few bites. “Huiru, I’ve realized something. I probably can’t win him back. I’ve decided to give up.”
“Who?”
“Jiang Qin.”
“…”
Wang Huiru’s eyes glazed over, as if she had heard a fantastical tale.
“I’m serious. I suddenly realized how outstanding he is. I see now how blind I was before. Hong Yan indeed has a better eye for people. If I had been half as discerning, maybe we would’ve been together after the college entrance exams, and now I might have been the one everyone envied.”
After speaking, Chu Siqi gave a self-deprecating laugh, her expression showing resignation yet filled with regret.
“Siqi, it’s great that you can think this way. But how did you come to this realization?” Wang Huiru was happy for her friend but also a bit curious. Her friend was typically the kind of person who wouldn’t admit she was wrong unless she faced a major setback.
“There’s no use in not understanding. Jiang Qin already has someone he likes, a real celestial maiden.”
Chu Siqi’s tone was light, but it was filled with bitterness.
Upon hearing this, Wang Huiru dropped her chopsticks and sighed deeply, almost blurting out an expletive.
“Oh my god, why didn’t you say so earlier? I’ve been keeping this secret for over three months, dying to gossip about it but afraid you couldn’t handle it. Now that you’ve let go, I can finally breathe easy.”
“Siqi, you’re right in your thinking. I support you. Although we’re best friends, I must say, no one can compete with Feng Nanshu for a man. Think about it, that’s Feng Nanshu! You didn’t lose out at all!”
“?”
Wang Huiru kept talking, clearly having held back for too long: “Do you know how I felt when I found out Jiang Qin was with Feng Nanshu? I couldn’t believe it. Feng Nanshu, the moonlight of Chengnan, actually likes Jiang Qin!”
Chu Siqi’s face changed, and her voice trembled: “What are you talking about?”
“Don’t you remember Feng Nanshu? The celestial maiden Feng Nanshu from our neighboring class, the one who never talks to anyone, super aloof, but is especially dependent on Jiang Qin. I even saw him pinch her face on the street. It was adorable!”
Wang Huiru, having held back for three months, finally opened up, leaving Chu Siqi utterly stunned.
Every girl loves gossip, but for the sake of her friend’s feelings and to prevent making a scene, Wang Huiru had really been at her limit. Today, she finally let it all out, feeling relieved.
Chu Siqi’s hands began to tremble.
Was the celestial maiden real? Did she also attend Linchuan University?
What a joke!
Chu Siqi couldn’t accept it. Even if Jiang Qin was outstanding enough, if he had chosen someone less beautiful than herself, she could have comforted herself by thinking they had simply missed their chance.
But what was happening now?
Feng Nanshu…
I lacked vision in the past and missed out on someone who only grew more outstanding and became an idol.
The hardest part to accept was that after missing him, not only did he become more impressive, he also found someone more beautiful than me…
No, this can’t be true!
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