The winter twilight cast a faint light, and the sky quickly darkened. The bluish-gray night gradually pressed down, and the chill of the evening swept in.

Inside the boutique coffee shop

"Sis, what should I do? Someone reported me to the school. The college knows about my posting slanderous things about Su Xun." A girl with a pointed face was fidgeting, her expression full of unconcealed panic, and she asked the girl sitting opposite her for help.

Lin Nuoyu frowned, a sudden, inexplicable panic washing over her.

"Sister, I won't get fired, will I? I don't want to get fired. I did all this for you. You have to help me." She and Lin Nuoyu are cousins. She had always known that her cousin was pursuing Pei Ke. Last time, she accidentally saw Su Xun and He Chengzheng walking together and had some ulterior motives.

However, she simply wanted to embarrass Su Xun at the time, and she only posted that message with Lin Nuoyu's permission. She never thought things would turn out this way, and she certainly didn't expect that the man was from the He Group and happened to know Su Xun.

After the matter was clarified, she thought that as long as she didn't give herself away, no one would realize that she was the one who posted it, and everyone would forget about it after this period of time passed.

But someone not only found out her name and student ID number, but also reported the matter to the school. Last night, her counselor came to her, which scared her so much that she ran to find Lin Nuoyu early this morning.

"The school hasn't issued any punishment notice yet, so don't worry."

"That's why I'm anxious. Who is it anyway? Why are you keeping harping on the person who posted this?"

Lin Nuoyu rubbed the cup with both hands, feeling somewhat irritated.

The phone on the table vibrated for a moment. Lin Nuoyu rubbed her head, which was a little dizzy from the noise. She was tired after being called out so early in the morning and having such a long conversation.

He grabbed the phone from the table at random, swiped it open, and saw a few words on it. His face turned pale instantly. In his panic, his left hand knocked over the coffee cup on the table, and the dark brown coffee spilled onto the clean table, staining the light-colored printed tablecloth dark.

"The school already knows about Zhao Jingjing's situation."

A short sentence, yet it was like a pebble thrown into calm water, creating countless ripples.

It was sent by Pei Ke.

However, the school has not announced this matter at all, and she only found out about it today when Zhao Jingjing hurriedly contacted her.

Could it be that Pei Ke reported it to the school?

Why would he send her such a message? Did he guess that she was also involved in this? This sentence seems insignificant, but it is actually a warning to her?

"Sis, what's wrong with you?" Zhao Jingjing looked at her cousin who suddenly lost her composure, not even noticing that she had spilled her coffee cup, as if the sky had fallen.

Lin Nuoyu had been praised by the adults in her family for being steady and composed since she was a child. She always appeared gentle and dignified in front of others, so she would never do such a thing.

She quickly took out tissues to absorb the liquid on the table, but the tissues were no use at all, so she gave up and let the coffee flow to the edge of the table and drip onto the floor.

"I have something to do, I'll be going now." After saying this, Lin Nuoyu picked up her bag and left in a hurry.

Zhao Jingjing was left in a panic, asking, "Sister, what should I do?"

After leaving the coffee shop, I realized that my neck was bare, and the cold December wind blew directly into my body through the gap in my collar, as if all the warmth in my body had been sucked out.

She then realized that she had forgotten to wear the scarf she had casually tied when she left the house, but she didn't care about such trivial matters now. She forced her stiff hand to dial a number.

Anxiously waiting for the other party to answer.

The call was connected in two seconds.

"Hello." A cold, emotionless male voice came from the other end, instantly making one feel as if they had fallen into an ice cellar.

“Pei Ke, I…” He opened his mouth only to find that he had no idea how to explain.

Actually, there's nothing to explain. Zhao Jingjing is his cousin, and Pei Ke knows that she often follows him around.

If she were to explain that this matter had nothing to do with her, even she wouldn't believe her. Zhao Jingjing probably didn't even know who Su Xun was, let alone slander her on the school forum. The reason she did this was naturally inseparable from her cousin who disliked Su Xun.

Anyone with a discerning eye could immediately guess the reason, and Pei Ke was no exception.

Indeed, when Pei Ke saw Zhao Jingjing's name, Lin Nuoyu was the first person he thought of.

"You've gone too far this time," he said calmly.

"I..." Lin Nuoyu murmured something, her eyes glazed over and her body trembling as she listened to the other person's cold and emotionless words.

This time, there really won't be a future between her and Pei Ke. Last time on the mountain, he rejected her. Yet she could still pretend nothing had happened and continue to stay by his side.

Now that he has discovered she did this out of jealousy, she no longer has the courage to pretend nothing happened.

At eight o'clock in the morning, students left their dormitories one after another and went to their classrooms for classes. The campus gradually became more crowded, and the shouts of the school's simulated early training camp could be heard.

She felt as if she were drowning in the ocean, desperately trying to grasp at the last glimmer of hope, but she grasped nothing.