Heartthrob, Your Image is Crumbling!

Chapter 528: Confession

Zhou Yuwen made the immediate decision to let Li Shiqi work at his company to gain experience. Naturally, the others were incredibly envious. After all, who wouldn't be when Li Shiqi had such a fantastic boyfriend?As Li Shiqi's roommate, Wang Meng also wanted to ride her coattails and get some practical experience at Zhou Yuwen's company.

Zhou Yuwen simply smiled and replied that if they were willing to join his company after graduation, he would definitely welcome them with open arms.

"Everyone sitting here is included. If you genuinely want to interview after you graduate, you can come straight to me," Zhou Yuwen said with a smile. He was not just being polite. Two of the girls at the table were his women, and the others were either Shen Yu or fellow Jinling University students who were also part of the Student Union. Taking them on as management trainees would not be a loss for him at all.

"Hey, talk about double standards! Li Shiqi gets to join right now, but we have to wait until after we graduate," Wang Meng joked.

Zhou Yuwen countered that such special treatment was perfectly normal.

His blunt response brought another round of laughter from the group.

The dinner lasted until ten o'clock. Since they were all young, they had plenty of topics to discuss. They might have been a bit reserved at first, but the conversation gradually grew lively. Paradoxically, Shen Yu, who had been the one trying to spark conversation at the beginning, eventually found herself unable to join in.

When the gathering was drawing to a close, Zhou Yuwen footed the bill.

Li Shiqi's classmates felt somewhat embarrassed. The main issue was that their meal could actually be reimbursed. When Wang Meng suggested earlier that Zhou Yuwen should treat them, she had really only been joking.

No one expected Zhou Yuwen to actually pay.

Even if he was wealthy, he did not have to do that, right?

However, Zhou Yuwen waved it off and said it did not matter.

"Just consider it my way of thanking you all for taking care of Shiqi," he said.

This gave Li Shiqi a massive boost in face and reputation.

In the eyes of those classmates, Zhou Yuwen was Li Shiqi's boyfriend. Therefore, he had to keep up appearances properly; he could not just separate from her the moment they finished eating.

The group of students from Jinling University also stated that they did not want to be third wheels and act as a light bulb, encouraging Zhou Yuwen and Li Shiqi to walk around together a bit more.

This was originally out of good intentions.

But the problem was that Zhou Yuwen was not Li Shiqi's boyfriend at all. Because of this, Li Shiqi felt extremely awkward but found it hard to refuse.

On the other hand, Zheng Yanyan chimed in, "Hey, Zhou Yuwen, since they already said that, shouldn't you take some initiative?"

"Linlin and I will escort Shen Yu back to school first. Why don't you two take a stroll?" Zheng Yanyan winked playfully at Zhou Yuwen.

Zhou Yuwen felt that Zheng Yanyan was acting slightly out of character.

But before he could say anything, Zheng Yanyan asked him for his car keys, grabbed Lu Lin and Shen Yu, and practically dragged them away.

As Shen Yu was being led away, she kept turning her head back to look at Zhou Yuwen.

She had wanted to say something, but with Zheng Yanyan pulling her along, she did not get the chance.

She felt a bit strange right now.

But she could not quite put her finger on what exactly was so strange.

Zhou Yuwen had many women; Zheng Yanyan and Lu Lin were both among them.

Yet in name, it seemed Zhou Yuwen had truly broken up with Jiang Xinyi.

In other words, Zhou Yuwen did not officially have a girlfriend right now.

So that meant Li Shiqi really was his girlfriend!

Then what if?

Shen Yu suddenly thought to herself: 'What if I hadn't distanced myself from Zhou Yuwen back then?'

'Would I be Zhou Yuwen's girlfriend right now?'

Realizing this, a strange feeling washed over her.

For some baffling reason, Shen Yu felt a profound sense of regret and pity in her heart.

With Zheng Yanyan and her group leaving first, Wang Meng also sensibly took the hint and quickly led the other classmates away.

Seeing Wang Meng trying to leave, Li Shiqi hastily tried to stop her.

'I already told you what the real situation is. Why are you still leaving?' she thought frantically.

But Wang Meng just grinned, thinking to herself, 'You might say it's fake, but it's obvious there's mutual affection here. Why not just give it a try?'

Li Shiqi tried to chase after Wang Meng but failed to catch up to her.

And just like that, Zhou Yuwen and Li Shiqi were the only ones left in the shopping mall.

Being alone with him once again caused a deep blush to spread across Li Shiqi's face.

She felt like she had completely lost all face and could not even bear to look at him.

Not only had she pretended to be his girlfriend, but she had also caused the whole matter to blow out of proportion and become public knowledge.

Taking it a step further, didn't that make her look like a vain woman using Zhou Yuwen's name to swagger around and deceive people?

'How am I supposed to explain this to him?' she worried.

Li Shiqi kept her head down in silence, anxiously twiddling her ten fingers back and forth.

Zhou Yuwen stared at the girl in front of him. Eventually, he sighed and said, "Let's go."

They were not far from Jinling University, so Zhou Yuwen suggested they walk back so he could escort her. It was already past ten at night, and there was barely anyone outside the shopping mall. The only people on the sidewalks were the occasional hurried pedestrians who had just gotten off the subway.

Li Shiqi barely spoke the entire way. Perhaps she genuinely did not know what to say to him. Knowing she was in the wrong, she could only keep her head down and march forward silently.

Zhou Yuwen simply followed behind her without saying a word either.

This continued until they navigated through the newly lit streets and alleys, entering the Jinling University campus. As they walked along the campus's Sycamore Avenue, the European-style black iron streetlights cast a somewhat pale, dim glow over their path.

At ten o'clock at night, Jinling University was incredibly peaceful.

Li Shiqi continued to lead the way while Zhou Yuwen trailed closely behind.

The two of them passed streetlight after streetlight. They had walked this exact path once last year, on the very first day of school. Back then, they had even made plans to watch a movie together.

Yet, even to this day, they still hadn't watched a single movie together.

The girls' dormitory was just up ahead. Through the shadowy silhouettes of the sycamore trees, Li Shiqi could already make out the distant outline of the building. She hesitated for a moment before finally gathering the courage to speak to Zhou Yuwen.

She turned around and looked at him.

Zhou Yuwen asked curiously, "Why did you stop walking?"

"I'm sorry," Li Shiqi murmured.

Those words caught Zhou Yuwen completely by surprise.

But seeing the sheer guilt plastered across her face, he could not help but chuckle. "And what exactly are you sorry for this time?"

Li Shiqi replied that she shouldn't have caused him so much trouble.

She genuinely had not expected to run into him today.

"About what I said earlier regarding working at your company... if that puts you in a difficult spot, you can just ignore it completely," she said.

"As for them thinking I'm your girlfriend, I'll find a time to clear things up with them. Really."

"I'm so sorry..."

As Li Shiqi spoke, she genuinely felt too ashamed to even face him.

She felt that she had brought entirely too much trouble into Zhou Yuwen's life, and she had no idea how she could possibly make up for it.

Zhou Yuwen gazed at the girl standing before him and found the situation somewhat amusing.

"Li Shiqi," he said, "I've realized you can actually be quite manipulative."

"Huh?" Li Shiqi froze, completely failing to grasp his meaning.

Zhou Yuwen pointed out that she was the one who started this whole mess, and she was also the one who brought up wanting to work at his company.

"I've agreed to it now. Do you really think a simple 'I'm sorry' is going to put an end to this?"

His words made Li Shiqi want to crawl into a hole and disappear. She knew she was in the wrong, but she was entirely clueless about how to fix it. Of course she regretted pretending to be his girlfriend back then; it was the exact reason why everyone now believed they were dating.

"You said you're going to find a time to explain it to them," Zhou Yuwen continued. "How exactly are you going to explain it? Are you going to tell them you were just vain and pretended to be my girlfriend?"

"I..." Li Shiqi opened her mouth, wanting to share her idea.

But Zhou Yuwen cut her off. "You're forgetting that I'm a public figure."

"If you don't explain it right now and wait until later, then regardless of whether you tell the truth or not, people are going to assume that I acted like a scummy guy again. They'll think I slept with you and then forced you to publicly deny our relationship. Wouldn't that cause a second wave of damage to my reputation?"

If Zhou Yuwen hadn't mentioned it, Li Shiqi never would have considered that angle. Reminded by him, it finally dawned on her. She pondered for a moment before saying, "Then I'll just go and make it clear to them right now."

"How are you going to make it clear?"

As he spoke, Zhou Yuwen closed the distance between them, stepping right up to her.

Li Shiqi was not short by any means, standing at about one point six eight meters. Yet, standing in front of Zhou Yuwen, she appeared rather petite. He looked down at the girl before him.

Li Shiqi knew she had made a massive mistake, but she had absolutely no way of fixing it. With her head up, she looked at him pitifully. At this moment, she was genuinely feeling incredibly anxious, convinced she had brought a catastrophe down on him. Then, Zhou Yuwen spoke up, stating that there was only one way to solve this now.

"What is it?" Li Shiqi was bewildered.

Gazing at her delicate, moving face...

Zhou Yuwen reached out and gently cupped her cheek. Li Shiqi possessed a textbook oval face. Perhaps out of nervousness, a faint blush colored her cheeks, complementing her rosy lips and the elegant curve of her nose.

Staring at her cherry-like lips, Zhou Yuwen told her that the best solution right now was to let what started as a pretense turn serious.

"You directed this play."

"So you have to take responsibility for it until the end."

"Why don't you just become my actual girlfriend?"

Zhou Yuwen suggested with a soft chuckle.

"Huh?" Li Shiqi was utterly stunned, unable to process his words.

Looking at the panicked young girl, Zhou Yuwen had originally planned to warn her that he was not a good person before discussing anything further. However, seeing how vulnerable and easily bullied she looked, he simply could not hold back and leaned in to kiss her right then and there.

A kiss was just a kiss.

He might as well...

Collect a little interest up front.

And so, on the dim Sycamore Avenue of Jinling University, bathed in the faint light of the streetlights, The young man lowered his head and gently captured the girl's lips.

In that instant, Li Shiqi's brain practically short-circuited.

She had not even managed to react yet.

But this intoxicating sensation...

It made her instinctively close her eyes.

Her long eyelashes...

Fluttered under the glow of the streetlights.

Initially, there had been some distance between them.

But as they continued to kiss, they drew closer and closer.

Zhou Yuwen blindly reached out, wrapping his arms around Li Shiqi's slender waist.

"Mmph."

From the clothes Li Shiqi was wearing, it was hard to tell how slim her waist was. It wasn't until he pulled her into his embrace that he realized just how incredibly slender it was.

People often said women were made of water, and Zhou Yuwen genuinely felt that way holding Li Shiqi. He wasn't sure why, but he had gone from hoping they could just peacefully go their separate ways to suddenly having this overwhelming urge to tease and dominate her, especially after watching her stumble through a series of blunders only to stand there looking completely helpless.

During the kiss, Zhou Yuwen even deliberately coaxed her in before giving her lip a sudden, playful nip.

Feeling a sharp pinch of pain, Li Shiqi hastily tried to pull back from the trap.

Instead, her reaction only made her cling to Zhou Yuwen even tighter.

Resting his forehead against hers, Zhou Yuwen chuckled and asked, "Trying to run away already?"

"No..."

"I'm not running away..."

Li Shiqi murmured weakly.

But Zhou Yuwen simply told her that it was too late to run now anyway.

"You chose this path yourself. Since you want to be my girlfriend, I'll grant your wish."

"However, I'm nowhere near as good a person as you might think. Are you sure you've thought this through?" Zhou Yuwen warned.

All of his past girlfriends had left him because they couldn't handle being jealous of the other women. Truth be told, after breaking up with Jiang Xinyi, Zhou Yuwen hadn't even wanted to take on another girlfriend.

But seeing how Li Shiqi's situation had spiraled out of control, Zhou Yuwen figured that as long as she didn't cause him any extra headaches, he would gladly indulge her in a pure romance.

"You really need to think this through."

Zhou Yuwen slowly released his grip on Li Shiqi.

Li Shiqi wiped her lips and looked up at him. "Is it because of Zheng Yanyan and the others?" she asked.

Zhou Yuwen nodded. "Yeah."

"I don't care about that," Li Shiqi stated earnestly.

"My connections with them run far deeper than you can imagine," Zhou Yuwen reiterated.

"..."

Li Shiqi fell silent for a moment before asking, "If I say no... are you going to disappear from my world entirely?"

Observing her guarded expression, Zhou Yuwen replied, "Maybe the two of us were never from the same world to begin with."

"In that case, I want to try being in a relationship with you," Li Shiqi declared with absolute firmness.

She didn't demand any grand commitments from him; she only said that she wanted to date him.

She wasn't sure if she could truly accept such a complicated dynamic, but if they were just dating, it should be fine.

"As long as I don't harbor any expectation of getting married to you in the future, it should be completely fine," Li Shiqi said with a faint smile.

Zhou Yuwen smirked. "My kind of dating involves a lot more than just holding hands and kissing."

"Does it involve... sleeping together?"

When she uttered those last two words, Li Shiqi was far too embarrassed to even look at him, keeping her head down and darting her eyes away. However, when Zhou Yuwen didn't immediately respond, she couldn't resist sneaking a quick peek at his face.

Watching Li Shiqi's bashful demeanor, Zhou Yuwen truly didn't know what to say for a moment.

Amidst the silence, Li Shiqi finally mustered up all her courage. "Let's go!"

With that, she turned in the opposite direction of the girls' dormitory, fully prepared to lead Zhou Yuwen right off campus.

Zhou Yuwen asked her what she was doing.

Li Shiqi stammered, "To... do that."

Zhou Yuwen raised an eyebrow. "Do you always do that on the very first day of a relationship?"

"Ah?"

Seeing Li Shiqi's baffled expression, Zhou Yuwen couldn't help but laugh out loud. He reached out and lightly flicked her forehead.

Even though Zhou Yuwen hadn't used much force...

A distinctly loud thwack still echoed out.

Li Shiqi winced in pain as a red mark quickly bloomed across her forehead. It hurt so much.

She felt like tears were about to spill from her eyes.

She shot Zhou Yuwen an incredibly resentful glare, entirely unable to understand why he had hit her.

Zhou Yuwen just told her, "You should head back to your dormitory and think about it first. There's no rush. Once you're absolutely sure you can handle it, let me know."

What he meant was that his complicated relationship dynamics extended far beyond just Zheng Yanyan.

There were several other girls involved.

"Are you sure you've thought this out?"

"Is Su Qing one of them too?" Li Shiqi asked.

"And others," he confirmed.

"More than one?"

"Yeah. Come on, let me walk you back to your dorm first." Zhou Yuwen gently signaled for Li Shiqi to turn around and stop walking in the wrong direction.

They continued their walk toward the girls' dormitory.