Heartthrob, Your Image is Crumbling!

Chapter 522: The Secret of the Room

To be honest, Li Shiqi's beauty and figure were considered top-tier across the entire University Town.It was just that the female student population in the university wasn't entirely lacking in resilience. After all, dazzling flowers gradually bewitched the eyes, and with makeup techniques being so well-developed nowadays, completely transforming one's face was a trivial matter.

Some of these girls might not have Li Shiqi's natural foundation, but they knew how to apply makeup and excel at dressing up, making them undeniably more eye-catching than her.

For example, if a group of girls walked by, Li Shiqi would be dressed plainly, not revealing much skin. In contrast, another group of girls might be wearing small camisoles and short skirts, flaunting long legs and padded chests. Most people would naturally look at the latter group.

Therefore, even though Li Shiqi was in her sophomore year, apart from a few observant individuals who would note that Li Shiqi from the Student Union was actually quite beautiful despite rarely wearing makeup, most people simply had not noticed her.

It was only now, when rumors suddenly spread about Li Shiqi and Zhou Yuwen, that more people began to pay attention to her. This was when everyone finally realized that this girl, who frequently visited the library with a bare face, was actually stunning.

She had a straight and delicate nose, rosy lips, and a fair, graceful jawline. Beneath her long eyelashes, her eyes were clear and bright. Dressed so plainly, she was completely different from those girls who dressed up flamboyantly.

More importantly, this girl's grades ranked first in her major at Jinling University.

Good heavens, she was indeed the woman Zhou Yuwen had his eyes on—truly extraordinary.

But speaking of which, that Zhou Yuwen was truly impressive. It felt as though he had dated every possible type of girl.

His first girlfriend was that aloof goddess, Su Qing.

"Please, Su Qing isn't aloof at all. She was incredibly submissive in front of him!"

Someone could not help but complain, though in the eyes of others, Su Qing truly was quite aloof.

The second was that seductive School Beauty, Zheng Yanyan—the one who often danced at events and had exceptionally long legs.

"Right, right! You can just tell that girl plays around a lot."

"The third one was his counselor's girlfriend, whom he completely stole away."

"No, didn't the third one—the teacher's wife—actively pursue him? I heard she was the one who broke up Zhou Yuwen and Zheng Yanyan."

"Is that true?"

"Of course it's true! Besides them, there's also that Tao Dalei."

"Tao Dalei? That name sounds awfully familiar."

"She was the former Minister of the Arts Department at their school. I heard she even tried to jump off a building for Zhou Yuwen in the past."

"???"

Zhou Yuwen's romantic history was dug up once again. They realized that his love life was unbelievably rich. Even though they had all attended university for just a year, this guy was about to achieve a Grand Slam.

And what about them?

It seemed they could only rely on their five fingers to find some relief alone in the dormitory.

Damn it, did reality have to be so harsh?

Dating girls from their own school was one thing—after all, Zhou Yuwen was incredibly excellent.

But how did he manage to conquer the School Beauty of Jinling University without making a single sound?

The consensus that Li Shiqi was a School Beauty had only emerged over the past few days.

After all, now that she was already Zhou Yuwen's girlfriend, wasn't claiming the title of School Beauty a matter of course?

During these first few days of the new term, quite a few people had already started showing goodwill toward Li Shiqi. Both boys and girls were doing it. The girls felt that since Li Shiqi was now Zhou Yuwen's girlfriend, they needed to hurry up and cling to her, perhaps earning a chance to blend into Zhou Yuwen's social circle.

As for the boys, some naturally wanted to curry favor with Zhou Yuwen. Others simply hadn't noticed Li Shiqi's beauty before, and only after the recent surge in discussions did they realize how gorgeous she was. Now they wanted to fawn on her, but it was obviously too late.

Some boys, blind to the situation, even recklessly asked, "Shiqi, do you have a boyfriend? I remember you always being single."

Faced with this situation, Li Shiqi merely replied with one sentence: "Don't you know who my boyfriend is?"

When Zhou Yuwen returned from Xi'an City, the Golden Week holiday had just ended. Upon coming back and hearing this news, he found the situation slightly troublesome. How did he end up with another girlfriend so bafflingly and without rhyme or reason?

Moreover, during the villa dinner gathering after his return, Tao Tian even teased him about it, mentioning that while he was away, this topic had generated a massive amount of traffic on the University Town's forums.

"If we develop Li Shiqi into an internet celebrity, I believe she'd bring in at least a million in traffic,"

Tao Tian remarked while sipping her sparkling wine.

The Qingli Bay Villa—referring to the one he had previously bought with Jiang Xinyi—had largely remained unoccupied since Su Qing left for New York. Usually, everyone just came over to gather, sing, play poker, or hang out. They would occasionally spend the night, but it was rare.

Currently, the company was primarily managed by Tao Tian and Qu Jing on Zhou Yuwen's behalf, so there was nothing wrong with Tao Tian suggesting they cultivate Li Shiqi's popularity.

However, Zhou Yuwen simply told her not to disturb Li Shiqi's life.

Zheng Yanyan was brimming with curiosity about the matter, asking Zhou Yuwen what was going on.

"This Li Shiqi, how did she so bafflingly become your girlfriend? Hmph!"

Zheng Yanyan had read some gossip online, hearing that Li Shiqi herself had admitted to it in front of Jiang Xinyi. Wasn't this just currying favor with the powerful? At a glance, it was obvious she wanted to cling to Zhou Yuwen's mighty tree. There was no way Zheng Yanyan was willing to accept another rival.

Zhou Yuwen did not answer her question, silently cutting his steak. He had seen the online comments as well.

To be honest, Zhou Yuwen didn't think this was a bad thing.

Because the official position of Zhou Yuwen's girlfriend had been empty for a while. Not only were the girls right in front of him glaring like a tiger watching its prey, but many outside girls were constantly dreaming of starting something with him too.

For instance, whenever Zhou Yuwen walked through the school, girls would frequently strike up a conversation and ask if he had a girlfriend.

There were even some who had previously added his WeChat ID but never found an opportunity to advance their relationship.

Late at night, they would even take the initiative to send him highly explicit photos of themselves—the extremely revealing kind. In the beginning, it might have just been a subtle flirtation.

Later, when Zhou Yuwen ignored them, they would escalate to much more explicit levels just to capture his attention.

They would send the image first, then quickly retract it, followed by a playful emoji.

They would claim: "Ah, my hand slipped. I sent it to the wrong person."

In reality, Zhou Yuwen simply didn't have the time to tap on them. On the rare occasions he did notice, he merely gave a brief glance.

After all, Zhou Yuwen was basically immune to girls by now.

Now that the internet was buzzing with discussions about Li Shiqi being his girlfriend, responding would only fuel the fire. Zhou Yuwen decided it was better to just stay silent. Even if she wasn't actually his girlfriend, if people wanted to take his silence as tacit approval, let them. It didn't affect him anyway.

Seeing Zhou Yuwen remain silent, Zheng Yanyan instantly wanted to throw a bit of a temper tantrum. She whined, "Hubby, say something!"

Zhou Yuwen replied that there was nothing to talk about.

"It wasn't me who made it public. Since she said it herself, just let her say it. It doesn't impact me anyway."

Hearing this, Zheng Yanyan instantly grew unhappy. True to her nature, she declared, "Then I'm going out there to say I'm your girlfriend too!"

Zhou Yuwen laughed outright at that. "Say it if you want!"

"Ah!" Zheng Yanyan was starting to go crazy with frustration.

Seeing Zheng Yanyan acting like this, the others couldn't help but laugh as well.

It was rare for Zhou Yuwen to return, so the several women decided to spend the night at the villa. After finishing dinner and taking their showers, everyone changed into their pajamas and sat on the bed to play poker.

Honestly, having reached Zhou Yuwen's level, there was sometimes no need to constantly obsess over affairs between men and women. Gathering with several girls just to play poker or watch a movie like this was one of life's greatest pleasures.

The four beautiful women, each with her own distinct personality and unique charms, all wore their long hair draped over their shoulders after their showers, dressed in pure cotton, form-fitting pajamas.

Zhou Yuwen lay comfortably with his head resting on Tao Tian's thighs, holding his poker cards and playing his hand.

Zheng Yanyan asked Zhou Yuwen why he only rested on Tao Tian's thighs and not hers.

Zhou Yuwen explained that resting on older sister Tao's legs was definitely more comfortable. "Just look at those chopstick-thin legs of yours. You barely have an ounce of meat on you. How am I supposed to rest on that?"

"Ah!" Zheng Yanyan felt utterly miserable hearing that, kicking her long legs playfully on the bed. It was true that her legs lacked extra flesh. Wearing thin pajama pants, she revealed delicate ankles and a pair of perfectly flawless, beautiful feet, her ten toes painted with nail polish.

Besides Zheng Yanyan, there were also Qu Jing and Lu Lin. These two girls were either sitting on the bed or lying prone across it.

This massive, custom-made bed could easily accommodate not just five people, but eight.

With his head resting on Tao Tian's legs and his feet resting on Lu Lin's thighs, Zhou Yuwen was as comfortable as one could possibly be.

While playing poker, Zhou Yuwen suddenly remembered something. "By the way, is that roommate of yours still living at your place?"

"Yeah." Tao Tian knew Zhou Yuwen was referring to Minmin, so she gave a gentle nod of agreement.

Zhou Yuwen asked, "Since you guys aren't going home tonight, what did you tell her?"

Qu Jing retorted with open disdain. "What's there to tell? Since when does a master report their whereabouts to a nanny?"

Tao Tian gently chided Qu Jing, telling her not to talk nonsense. She was still their roommate, after all.

Qu Jing, however, insisted that her description wasn't wrong.

"She's been at our place for two weeks already, and it looks like she has no intention of leaving. Since she throws away her own dignity, why should we respect her?" Qu Jing scoffed coldly.

Observing her haughty demeanor, Zhou Yuwen laughed and teased, "You have the most dignity out of everyone, right?"

Saying this, he stretched out a foot and lightly nudged her chest.

Qu Jing naturally laughed and dodged.

Zheng Yanyan couldn't understand what they were chatting about, so she asked.

After Tao Tian explained, she learned that their former roommate was currently living at their place.

Qu Jing added that the girl was more like a nanny now.

Helping with the laundry and cooking.

"Right before we left, I even told her to clean the floors with a mop. I wonder if she actually did it. No, I have to make a phone call to confirm," Qu Jing said, suddenly remembering the task.

Tao Tian felt she was being a bit excessive and tried to stop her. "Forget it, aren't we still playing poker?"

"I have to check. You can't spoil her. You know perfectly well how much she loves to slack off," Qu Jing scoffed, her tone dead serious.

With that, she dialed the number directly.

As a matter of fact, Qu Jing was right.

During the first few days after Zhou Yuwen left, Minmin had been fairly active with the chores.

But seeing that Zhou Yuwen wasn't returning anytime soon...

And with Tao Tian and Qu Jing heading out to have fun tonight, how could Minmin not feel a sense of disappointment and disparity in her heart?

In truth, Minmin wasn't entirely clueless. After all, half the reason she stayed here was because of Zhou Yuwen. She was always hoping that by lingering around, she might catch a few more glimpses of him and eventually find an opportunity to be with him.

But who could have predicted that Zhou Yuwen would be gone for a whole week?

Today, seeing Tao Tian and Qu Jing meticulously dressing up and putting on beautiful clothes...

She couldn't help but ask out of curiosity where they were going.

Tao Tian had stayed silent, while Qu Jing shot back directly, "Is that a question you should be asking?"

Although they didn't explicitly state it, Minmin gleaned from their chatting that Zhou Yuwen owned a large villa—the very same one where they previously hosted that party.

Every so often, they would gather at this grand villa.

Heavens, what kind of divine lifestyle was that?

A villa gathering?

Minmin desperately wanted to go too.

So she gathered her courage and blurted out that thought.

As a result, before she even finished her sentence, Qu Jing fiercely retorted. Qu Jing sneered, asking her to look at her own status—she wanted to go to the villa? Was she even worthy?

Qu Jing had always had this personality. Every time, Tao Tian would gently step in to smooth things over, explaining to Minmin that it wasn't that they didn't want to bring her along.

It was just that the people attending this time were basically all girls who had close relationships with Zhou Yuwen, so it truly wouldn't be appropriate for her to tag along.

Hearing this, Minmin felt profound disappointment in her heart.

She hadn't imagined that these four girls would engage in anything absurd at the villa. Since Tao Tian mentioned 'several girls', in Minmin's mind, it just felt like a life of decadent luxury within the villa, like enjoying a big meal.

Regardless, she had never experienced a single day of high-society life.

She truly yearned for it.

Now that Qu Jing and Tao Tian had both left, Zhou Yuwen definitely wouldn't be coming over either.

Minmin naturally slacked off significantly. Wearing a camisole and shorts, she slouched on the sofa watching TV.

Until Qu Jing's phone call came through.

Minmin answered the call, only for Qu Jing to scold her severely right from the start. "I told you to sweep the floor. Did you sweep it?"

"Ah, I swept it." Minmin had originally intended to just bluff her way through.

But Qu Jing immediately pressed her. "I'm asking you one more time. Did you really sweep it?"

Minmin froze. She glanced left and right, even compelled to get up and peer out the window, wondering if they were on their way back.

"Um, I just did a quick tidy-up a moment ago."

Through the receiver, the sound of Minmin suddenly bustling about could be heard.

As if she knew Minmin perfectly, Qu Jing let out a cold snort of disdain. "Don't think that just because I'm not home, I don't know what you're up to. Let me tell you, you better finish everything I assigned you properly. If I come home and catch you lying there watching TV, don't blame me for docking your pay."

"Jing..."

Before Minmin could even finish her defense, Qu Jing abruptly hung up with a snap.

Soon, only the continuous beep-beep-beep tone remained on the line.

Listening to the dead line, a wave of misery washed over Minmin.

Tears started falling down her face, inexplicably and without rhyme or reason.

She had no idea how her life had ended up like this.

For the next while, Minmin wiped away her tears while continuing to tidy up the house.

She remained fiercely indignant in her heart.

She didn't understand. Qu Jing wasn't really any different from her. Why was Qu Jing liked by Zhou Yuwen, while she was cast aside?

Harboring this burning question.

Minmin ran the mop along the floor until she reached the area right in front of Qu Jing's room.

Qu Jing's room had always been locked.

She had even explicitly stated that no one was allowed to enter her room without permission.

But today, it seemed Qu Jing had left in too much of a hurry.

She had actually forgotten to lock the door.

Minmin had originally just intended to swipe the mop a couple of times in front of Qu Jing's room.

As a result, the mop accidentally nudged the door open.

Instantly, Minmin was overcome with curiosity.

She found it incredibly strange—why was Qu Jing so obsessed with keeping her room locked?

What kind of secret was hidden inside this room, anyway?