Wang Qiqi had no idea how long the person beside her suffered until the very end yesterday. There was no helping it; the person first sat by the bedside crying, and the crying only grew louder. Wang Qiqi simply turned off the small lamp by the window and went to sleep. After all, once the bed curtain was drawn, she wouldn't have to see that tear-streaked face, although the sound of the crying was unavoidable.

Initially, Wang Qiqi thought that since they had just fallen out, she didn't need to pay attention to comforting her. Duan Xiaomin, as the dorm leader and a class committee member, should step in to offer comfort. She did offer a few soothing words, but seeing Gong Yiying continue to weep, Duan Xiaomin stopped trying to console her. Wang Qiqi assumed it was because Gong Yiying wouldn't stop crying that Duan Xiaomin couldn't persuade her to cease. In reality, it was because Li Xin and the others were constantly signaling Duan Xiaomin with their eyes to leave Gong Yiying alone.

When Wang Qiqi lifted her bed curtain, she saw that Gong Yiying's ** on the opposite side was empty; naturally, the bedding had already been tidied up. "She was making such a fuss yesterday; I should have just gone back to sleep then." At this moment, Wang Qiqi held significant reservations about Han Meina—not because Han Meina set a trap for Gong Yiying to fall into, but because if one is going to set a trap, one should give a heads-up; this way, no one would accidentally ruin it.

A sigh of helplessness drifted down from the top bunk where Bai Ge slept. "She cried until midnight yesterday; I couldn't stand it anymore." Bai Ge started complaining once she noticed Gong Yiying wasn't in the dorm.

"Cried until midnight?" Several gasps sounded simultaneously.

Bai Ge nodded and hummed in affirmation, "Yes, she was driving me crazy." ** You feel wronged, but I feel even more wronged. "Didn't you hear any of it?" Bai Ge wondered if she had been too ** herself.

Wang Qiqi shook her head. "I stuffed two cotton balls in my ears." Wang Qiqi pulled two cotton balls from her ears.

"I shoved my head deep into my quilt."

"I was wearing headphones."

"I stuffed some tissues in my ears."

In short, everyone described how they managed to sleep through the previous night. Upon inspection, it was clear that only Bai Ge hadn't taken precautions, though perhaps she hadn't buried her head in her quilt. "Heavens, you all didn't warn me; that's too much!" Bai Ge pouted indignantly.

Wang Qiqi looked at the less-than-pleased smiles on everyone's faces and inwardly mused that someone must have wanted to complain about how Han Meina treated her, but she forgot that with the commotion she caused, any potential sympathy for her had vanished without a trace. "I wonder if the noise reached the adjacent dorm." This was what worried Wang Qiqi the most.

"It definitely did. It was so quiet late at night; someone must have heard it," Bai Ge affirmed confidently.

Sure enough, before long, Jiang Xin knocked on the door. She yawned as she thanked Wang Qiqi for opening it. She glanced into the room. "Did anyone in your dorm hear a woman crying yesterday?" Jiang Xin was genuinely annoyed; the middle of the night was for sleeping, but which insensitive soul dared to cry then? What kind of business was that?

Jiang Xin hadn't expected it to be Gong Yiying crying. She was worried it might be a female ghost wailing in the middle of the night, which would truly terrify her to death.

Li Xin and the others exchanged glances. Good heavens, even Jiang Xin from the neighboring dorm heard it. This... "You heard it too?" Duan Xiaomin asked hesitantly.

Jiang Xin nodded eagerly. "Yes, I did! Although it wasn't very loud, it sounded exactly like the weeping of a female ghost from a horror movie—it scared me to death!" Jiang Xin said, patting her chest for emphasis.

A horror movie? A female ghost's cry? Everyone looked at each other. Li Xin thought this sounded utterly exaggerated. "What female ghost? Jiang Xin, you are really overthinking things."

Overthinking? Jiang Xin found that strange. "It wasn't a female ghost crying? Then who was crying so miserably yesterday?" And crying so late at night. If it was a person, then she could rest easy.

"If no one else was crying, it must have been Gong Yiying," Wang Qiqi stated frankly. Even if she didn't say anything, Gong Yiying’s appearance alone would make it obvious to many that not only had she not rested well last night, but she had also cried for a long time; the redness and swelling around her eyes would give her away.

Jiang Xin let out a long "Oh," but if it was her crying, then everything fit. "Yesterday, yesterday... how should I put it, it was quite pitiful, but she didn't need to cry this much, right? If she’s unhappy, must we all be unhappy too? That makes no sense."

Jiang Xin paused to consider, then said angrily, "She often went out to eat before, and people treated her, and she received gifts! How could she not consider how she was behaving?" Yesterday, when Jiang Xin returned to her dorm, after her roommates told her about the selection farce, she hadn't even had time to mention how pitiful Gong Yiying was before her roommates started talking about Gong Yiying’s recent behavior.

Oh, and she accepted gifts? Wang Qiqi and the others knew about the meals; after all, Han Meina often discussed things with Zhang Han or other class cadres and wasn't usually with Gong Yiying. Of course, looking back now, those were opportunities Han Meina created for Gong Yiying. But meals and drinks were one thing; accepting gifts... that was going a bit too far.

Duan Xiaomin was also shocked. "She accepted gifts too?" Heavens, what should be done now? If yesterday she was content to watch the drama unfold, now she was panicking. If this news spread throughout the class, it would truly become a huge joke.

Wang Qiqi looked at Bai Ge and the others. "Did you know about this before?" She often went to the library and wasn't aware of these things. Could it be that everyone else in the dorm was also in the dark?

They all shook their heads. "We didn't know, just that she often went out to eat."

Jiang Xin was stunned. "Ah, none of you knew? I heard it from those who weren't selected, but there might be some exaggeration."

Bai Ge wasn't worried; she wasn't a principal party or a victim. "Let them fuss. She’s the one who’ll be unlucky. Besides, didn't she say her family was quite well-off? How could she not even pass up this little bit of money?" Bai Ge said with great disdain. For someone who looked down on her for buying cheap clothes and often discussed brand-name apparel in department stores with Han Meina, how could she turn out like this? The discrepancy between her image and her actions was too vast.

"Well-off? You only know what she claims about her family's background. If she were truly rich, why would she have bought a bicycle costing only two hundred-plus yuan?" Feng Yanjie picked up her books. "Alright, we still need to go to the cafeteria for breakfast and then head to class."

Bai Ge and the others felt that made sense. Back then, when Gong Yiying had scoffed at Wang Qiqi for buying a bicycle worth a little over a hundred yuan, when Gong Yiying finally bought one, it was only around two hundred-plus yuan, barely much more expensive than Wang Qiqi's. This had also struck everyone as odd, but she had claimed she was following the general trend, so they hadn't suspected anything then. But reflecting on it now, why wouldn't someone so concerned with appearances follow Han Meina’s lead and buy a bicycle worth five or six hundred yuan?

Wang Qiqi listened to their discussion but didn't join in. She quickly packed her things. "Let's go; we still need breakfast." The teacher for the first period was a demon. Unlike other teachers who just called roll, this professor would call names directly from the roster. If the called student didn't answer, or if the answer was clearly far removed from the question, then you were finished. As for someone answering on another's behalf, based on the upperclassmen's experience, it was best not to try. The professor was excellent at recognizing faces; if you answered for someone else, you'd better pray that he wouldn't call on you for the rest of the semester, or both of you would suffer. "You haven't forgotten whose class it is, have you?"

Once everyone recalled the subject of the first class, they stopped dwelling on Gong Yiying's troubles. Her fate was merely something to watch for entertainment, but if they were called upon by the professor, that would be a disaster.

The group rushed to the cafeteria, grabbed some breakfast items, and didn't stay to eat, continuing their run toward the classroom. Upon arriving, Duan Xiaomin surveyed the room and walked toward the class monitor. She knew some immediate measures needed to be taken; otherwise, if the situation escalated, the class would suffer immense public embarrassment.

Bai Ge sat down and looked around, noticing Gong Yiying wasn't in the classroom, which struck her as odd. "Huh? Why isn't Gong Yiying here?" She left so early; it made no sense that she wouldn't be in class. Perhaps she went out to find some delicacy to eat?

Wang Qiqi ate her bun and sipped her milk while looking at her textbook, chatting with Jiang Xin beside her about what they should eat for lunch. Jiang Xin didn't bring up Gong Yiying's situation in front of so many people either. Instead, she talked about some books she had recently read. Jiang Xin had more or less given up on her dream of becoming a translator; she felt it was too exhausting. It would be better to figure out a way to become a tutor; perhaps the work involved being more tired and less free, but at least the pressure was less than that of a translator.

Wang Qiqi and Jiang Xin weren't discussing Gong Yiying, but others certainly were. For example, the groups behind and in front of them were all gossiping about class rumors, mostly focusing on how greedy Gong Yiying was.

Wang Qiqi casually listened in and compared what she heard with what Jiang Xin had said that morning. She wondered why the figures regarding the benefits Gong Yiying received were changing so rapidly, considering the gossip hadn't even left the classroom within twenty-four hours.

Jiang Xin shared the sentiment. "I think Gong Yiying is really done for this time. It's only been this long, and the amounts have changed so much." Perhaps the value of the benefits spread yesterday was only a few hundred yuan, but today it had ballooned to at least a few thousand. That was terrifying; who knew what it would be tomorrow?

Wang Qiqi felt the situation was escalating too quickly, perhaps beyond control. She thought that even if the unsuccessful candidates wanted revenge on Gong Yiying and wanted to humiliate her, they wouldn't need to blow things up quite this much. Could there be unseen hands manipulating things from behind the scenes? Could it be Han Meina? But that didn't seem right either; if Han Meina made a move, people would notice, which would ironically benefit Gong Yiying's situation. Sigh, they were only freshmen, and things were already this messy. Wang Qiqi felt Han Meina was truly an opponent not to be underestimated.

"A woman is an animal not to be trifled with," Wang Qiqi murmured quietly to Jiang Xin before tuning out the gossip. Sighing, Wang Qiqi felt she should be grateful that Han Meina's actions toward her had been relatively mild. Of course, she would never be as foolish as Gong Yiying to fall for a trap, nor would she accept any gifts. RS