CH 6

What situation is this?

Wen Le pushed the door of the dormitory to open it, but wasn’t able to do so; it appeared as if the door was blocked by something.

She knocked on the door, and soon a shout came from the dormitory, “Wait! Wait…”

Wen Le waited for a while and heard a rustling sound from behind the door. After a while, the door was opened.

As soon as Wen Le glanced inside the dormitory, she knew why she couldn’t push the door open.

The small aisle of the dormitory was filled up with haphazardly piled-up large and small boxes, enclosed in wrapping paper. Wen Le felt that the path leading from the door to her study desk was heavily obstructed, and there was almost no space for her to step around.

And in the middle of all this mess, there was another person who was still tearing open packages, adding on to the rubbish, while chattering about the origin of each item.

“We left the fashion show, and Zhen Zhen asked if we still wanted to go shopping. There were too many people in Karl Lagerfeld, so we went to the Paris Spring Department Store… This bag is worth tens of thousands; 

Zhen Zhen just gave it a look, and said ‘This suits Ah Mei very much’, then she swiped her card… I saw this dress at a glance and fell in love immediately. 

Although it is a little expensive, how can I let go of the things I like? So I reluctantly bought it, but I don’t regret it. Because it is so beautiful!!!”

Sun Youmei’s mouth was chattering endlessly, and Cheng Hui, who was forcibly pulled aside by Sun Youmei to listen, had a stiff smile on her face, and a trace of agony in her expression. 

Cheng Hui was a tomboy, and the clothes she wore often were those cheap black and white T-shirts with sweatpants. She had no idea about Sun Youmei’s refined life, let alone the desire to explore it.

Man Qingxuan and Bao Xiaofan had long since abandoned their friends and gone to bed to watch dramas with their headphones on.

Wen Le wanted to laugh a little, but resisted the laughter, walked forward on tiptoes looking for a gap, and said, “Hi…this is…”

When Sun Youmei turned her head and saw Wen Le, she took a sweeping glance at her. She saw Wen Le dressed in a white dress, her long black hair tied up into a top bun, accessorised with a shining crystal hairpin. Her makeup was delicate and her neck was slender, overall she was exuding an outstanding temperament.

Sun Youmei’s face couldn’t help but freeze. She had been a beautiful top student since she was a child, and her intelligence together with her beautiful face made her popular wherever she went. In the college entrance examination, she performed exceptionally well and with the added extra points obtained through her independent enrollment, she successfully entered the country’s top A University.

Initially, she had thought that because of her appearance, she would definitely be sought after by her classmates, and regardless of such titles like the faculty-belle or class-belle, they would naturally belong to her too.

With so many top students gathered in one location, how could there be many hunks and beauties? With her face, she would probably be the most beautiful one amongst them.

Sun Youmei had even wondered what kind of attention and fame, being A University’s top student beauty, could bring to her.

But she had never thought that the next few years would be unfavourable to her, as a result of her meeting Wen Le, who became popular throughout the school and internet with her beauty, as soon as she entered the school gates.

The beautiful picture Sun Youmei imagined was shattered by reality. Against the radiance of Wen Le, her beauty seemed to be greatly compromised. It was like the moon concealing the light of stars. As long as Wen Le appeared, she seemed to become a star that was overshadowed, becoming dull and unremarkable.

Since her childhood, Sun Youmei had been the focus of the crowd and was pursued fervently by people around her. This huge disparity in popularity made Sun Youmei unable to accept it in any way.

Sun Youmei didn’t like this overly beautiful girl from the first time she saw Wen Le, and this dislike grew after Wen Le overshadowed her light. She regarded her as a thorn in her flesh. The thing that Sun Youmei hated the most now was having to interact with Wen Le in the same space while breathing the same air, which made her feel suffocated.

(T/N: this girl has some serious jealousy issues….)

Sun Youmei’s excited face had already plummeted when Wen Le appeared. She turned her head and slightly raised her eyelids to look at Wen Le. She became even more out of breath when she saw a graceful, charming Wen Le clad in a white dress, and the expression on her face also worsened by several degrees.

As soon as Wen Le appeared, she spoiled Sun Youmei’s good mood to show off her luxurious bags and clothes. Sun Youmei gritted her teeth with hatred, but still said perfunctorily, “Hi, you’re back?”

After all, the adult world is just so artificial yet harmonious.

Wen Le put the backpack on the table and greeted, “Youmei, when did you return?”

“In the afternoon”, Sun Youmei said perfunctorily. When she chanced upon Wen Le’s backpack, she sneered and cursed her as a poor ghost in secret, but her mood suddenly improved.

Sun Youmei turned her head back in a good mood and fluffed her hair amorously. The four-leaf clover ring from Van Cleef & Arpels on her snow-white fingers was unexpectedly eye-catching.

When Cheng Hui saw Wen Le, the smile on her face finally stopped being stiff, and while Sun Youmei turned her head back, she winked at Wen Le, signalling Wen Le to save her from this boring topic.

Wen Le chuckled in her heart, winked back at Cheng Hui in response and said with a good temperament, “That elegant ring is so beautiful!”

Sun Youmei’s vanity was greatly satisfied, and her attention was diverted. She did not intend to continue holding on to Cheng Hui. Instead, she gently touched the ring on her finger and said in a distinctively arrogant tone, “It’s alright I guess; about two thousand Euros. But he insisted on buying it for me, what can I do?”

Upon hearing this, Cheng Hui rolled her eyes where Sun Youmei couldn’t see.

Sun Youmei was a weirdo in their dormitory.

There were actually six people in their dormitory. In addition to Cheng Hui, Wen Le, Bao Xiaofan, and Man Qingxuan, there were two others. One was the mysterious hardworking and diligent scholar Ai Fei, who left early and returned late, and the other was the little beauty Sun Youmei.

Sun Youmei had white, fair skin with big eyes and a small round face. She looked sweet and lovely, but her temperament was not as simple and cute as her appearance. On the contrary, she was rather scheming.

The young lady was quite vain. From the beginning of their freshman year, Sun Youmei had tried to build the image of a “Ms Perfect”* for herself.

*Ms Perfect is internet slang for saying one is fair-skinned, rich and beautiful.

Her clothes and bags were all from famous brands, and her perfume and skincare products also cost at least thousands and up. She occasionally carelessly showed off her wealth, adding to her “Ms Perfect” image from all aspects.

There were six people in dormitory 307. Except for Bao Xiaofan, the others were all from small cities, whose parents were from ordinary working families. Wen Le came from a remote mountain village in the southwestern province. Initially, Wen Le, who had just entered university, didn’t even recognize the logos of the major brands on Sun Youmei’s clothes and bags. Compared with Sun Youmei, Wen Le was undoubtedly a country bumpkin from head to toe.

Sun Youmei not only paraded around with clothes and bags but also spent money extravagantly. She also intentionally revealed that her family was engaged in the commercial business. All the country bumpkins in the dormitory, who had not seen much of the world, were easily deceived by Sun Youmei. Thus, the “Ms Perfect” image of Sun Youmei was established in the dormitory.

But what Sun Youmei wanted was more than just establishing her status in the dormitory. She wanted her image as a “Ms Perfect” to be established in the class, faculty and even in the entire school and society, basically amongst everyone who did not know her true background.

But the people outside of dormitory 307 were not as gullible as the group of country-bumpkins in the dormitory, and all lies were bound to be exposed one day.

Cheng Hui had a good temper and popularity and had a good relationship with the girls in the class. She carried herself with a unique temperament; although it might not attract boys, it gave the girls a strong sense of security. Hence generally, none of the girls disliked or excluded her.

Once, Cheng Hui went to another dormitory to chat with her friends. While gossiping, the girl in the dormitory next door, who had a fiery temper, directly exposed Sun Youmei’s lies.

“That Sun Youmei in your dormitory is too interesting. Has she always been giving herself the title of a ‘Miss Perfect’? Oh my God, at least 80% of the clothes and bags on her are A-grade counterfeits, please! And she’s still there trying to pretend as if no one can tell? Give me a break!”

Once girls start to gossip, they can have analysis and reasoning capabilities comparable to Holmes, and their analysis at every step can be perfect.

There is no impermeable wall in the world, and her ex-schoolmates knew exactly what kind of family conditions Sun Youmei had.

The university circle in the capital could be considered to be neither too big nor too small. After asking around several local students, there would always be one or two classmates whom they could get in touch with for more details. And it just so happened that the friend of the girl in the next-door dormitory was one such person, and she knew everything about Sun Youmei’s background.

Sun Youmei’s mother was a primary school teacher, and her father had opened a rather big bookstore. Her family conditions were not bad, but they were still rather different from the conditions of the “Ms Perfect” image that she had created for herself.

However, Sun Youmei was indeed liberal with money and spent extravagantly. But this was because she had a boyfriend who drove a Porsche. 

Her branded bags, clothes and even her daily expenses mostly came from this little-known boyfriend who was kept tightly secret.

She was so secretive about it, that all five of them in dormitory 307 thought that Sun Youmei was single.

Then once, she had a terrible fight with her boyfriend. She started bawling in the middle of the night to everyone’s surprise, and that was when she admitted that she had a boyfriend.

Since then, she fell into the vicious circle of showing their affection to others.

She was not a bad person, but she was very competitive and vain. The roommates did not want to make the dormitory atmosphere awkward and thus did not expose her. They were all adults, and there was no need for others to dictate the life one chose.

Her boyfriend did a lot of business for his family and often brought her out to meet people from the rich second-generation circle. It was for this reason that Sun Youmei happened to meet the generous Zhen Zhen who gave her a bag casually, and who was a girl of the same batch but from the art school next door, and was the real “Miss Perfect”.

Two days ago, Zhen Zhen invited Sun Youmei to visit Paris for a fashion show. Sun Youmei requested for sick leave from her guardian and flew to Paris to watch the show with her boyfriend, Zhen Zhen and a few friends from that circle. It was only in the evening today that she returned to the dorm lugging a bag full of items, showing off while unpacking, and making the whole dorm a mess.

Such was her character.

Actually, other aspects were fairly simple, except for her vanity. After getting a sense of superiority from Wen Le, she began to pull her aside to chat incessantly about her trip to Paris.

Wen Le was able to read her thoughts, yet she did not bother to argue with her.

It was indeed getting late. Wen Le pulled the dorm leader along to wash up. The dorm leader took a look at the mess in the dorm, and developed a headache, shouting, “Clean up the dormitory before I’m back!”

Sun Youmei laughed and cursed, “Yeah, I know, you’re annoying.”

The whole dorm appeared to be harmonious.

After Wen Le and the dorm leader finished washing up, they heard Sun Youmei’s shout while holding on to her phone. Her shouts caused the two wearing earphones to take them off and turn their heads towards her.

“Wen Le, you are actually together with Zhou Kao?!”

…

Wen Le looked at Sun Youmei’s shocked and angry eyes and tilted her head. ‘What….situation was this?’