Heartthrob, Your Image is Crumbling!

Chapter 258: Qu Jing Indulges Herself

Zheng Yanyan could not tell anyone how much she missed Zhou Yuwen right now, because she knew she would burst into tears the moment she opened her mouth. She silently followed behind Lu Lin, from the cafeteria all the way to the showers.Wearing a simple crewneck T-shirt that showed off her long legs, she clutched her bath basket like a walking corpse, completely drained of life and energy.

She did not say a single word while showering. The moment she finished, she rushed to her locker to grab her phone, desperately hoping Zhou Yuwen had sent her a message. To her bitter disappointment, the screen remained empty of any word from him.

Lu Lin asked her what was wrong.

Unable to hold it in any longer, she turned and threw her arms around Lu Lin, sobbing uncontrollably into her roommate's embrace.

For a brief moment, Lu Lin felt her heart soften. She could not help but wonder, 'Is Zhou Yuwen being a bit too heartless to treat her like this?'

Fresh out of the shower, Zheng Yanyan cried all over again. With her red, puffy eyes, she looked remarkably pitiful and fragile. Even after returning to the dormitory, she remained completely silent.

Everyone could tell that Zheng Yanyan was acting strange. Shen Yu curiously asked Lu Lin, "What is wrong with her?"

"Nothing," Lu Lin replied calmly.

That night, Zheng Yanyan secretly checked Zhou Yuwen's WeChat Moments again. Unfortunately, his feed was locked. Left with no other choice, she scrolled through her chat history with him instead.

She had never deleted a single message between them, always imagining that she could compile their conversations into a video to play on their anniversary or their wedding day.

From their very first encounter to the moment they fell in love, every detail was preserved in those logs.

Sometimes, when Zheng Yanyan stayed in the dormitory, she would send Zhou Yuwen flirtatious messages late at night. For instance, "I can't wait to be intimate with you."

"I really want to kiss you (Kiss)"

"Do you want to kiss me? (Kiss)"

"Damn it, there are so many mosquitoes in Jinling. My neck is all red from bites [Picture]"

After their breakup, Zheng Yanyan realized that even her everyday complaints had become incredibly precious.

Looking back through the chat logs and the cherished photos in her gallery, she noticed that Zhou Yuwen's responses had always been somewhat lukewarm. Even in their pictures together, she would be making quirky, playful faces while he would not even look at the camera, only showing his side profile.

But even so, Zheng Yanyan loved him dearly.

The word Zhou Yuwen replied with the most was "Oh."

At the time, Zheng Yanyan used to get very angry about it.

So she would reply, "No."

And Zhou Yuwen would tease back, "Kun?"

Reading those old messages now, Zheng Yanyan could not help but laugh under her covers.

The first night after a breakup was always the hardest to endure. Zheng Yanyan could put up a stubborn front for a while, but she could not keep it up forever. In the dead of night, sleeping alone was sheer torture.

Zhou Yuwen's profile picture on her phone screen seemed to grow colder and more distant by the second.

Even though she knew his Moments were hidden from her, Zheng Yanyan could not stop herself from tapping on them repeatedly.

Then, by accident.

She triggered the "Nudge" feature.

Zheng Yanyan instantly panicked, her fingers fumbling over the screen.

However, to her absolute surprise...

Zhou Yuwen replied.

"?"

She had not expected that at all. A rush of mixed emotions washed over her—a little grievance, but also a flutter of sweet surprise.

She missed him terribly.

Yet, when texting him again, she forced herself to sound aloof. "You are not asleep?"

"I am out," he replied.

In truth, Lu Lin had secretly informed Zhou Yuwen about Zheng Yanyan's current state, hoping he would at least offer a few words of comfort to console her.

"She is just too pitiful," Lu Lin had said.

Zhou Yuwen was actually quite unbothered. He had already made himself perfectly clear: they were just taking some time to cool off, not breaking up for real.

During this period, whenever Zheng Yanyan reached out, Zhou Yuwen would still reply.

Let alone chatting, even if they slept together, he wouldn't mind.

It was Zheng Yanyan who had backed herself into a corner, overthinking everything.

"What are you doing out?" Right now, just the simple act of talking to Zhou Yuwen filled her with happiness.

Zhou Yuwen explained that he was out eating with Liu Shuo.

"He is dating Lu Hui now," Zhou Yuwen added, sending over a picture as proof.

The three of them were currently at a barbecue stall. Lu Hui was sitting next to Liu Shuo, sporting her usual deadpan expression, while Liu Shuo was grinning from ear to ear.

Hearing that Liu Shuo was in a relationship, Zheng Yanyan felt genuinely happy. She could not resist teasing, "Our little brother is dating, and you didn't even invite me?"

Staring at her message, Zhou Yuwen felt a bit awkward and did not know how to respond.

On top of that, Liu Shuo was loudly urging him to eat, so Zhou Yuwen temporarily set his phone aside without replying.

Zheng Yanyan had originally sent that message to test his attitude.

But when her words were met with silence, panic quickly set in. She waited for over ten minutes with no response. Being prone to overthinking, her imagination started running wild.

She thought about how, if they had not broken up, Zhou Yuwen would definitely have brought her along to dinner with Liu Shuo. Zheng Yanyan always considered herself a core part of Zhou Yuwen's inner circle. Besides, she loved going out late at night for drinks and midnight snacks, laughing and joking around with him.

The sudden realization that all of this might be permanently gone if they truly split up made her chest ache with inexplicable sorrow.

Truth be told, any other boy could easily satisfy the lifestyle and attention Zheng Yanyan craved.

But the tragic magic of heartbreak was that during this vulnerable period, no one else mattered. Only he would do.

Furthermore, being with Zhou Yuwen genuinely felt much safer than being with anyone else.

"..."

Seeing that Zhou Yuwen was still silent, Zheng Yanyan could only send a string of ellipses.

And Zhou Yuwen remained silent.

Unable to hold back, Zheng Yanyan typed frantically, "I know I crossed the line last night and made you angry. You just want to punish me now, and I accept my punishment. But Hubby, please don't ignore me..."

"I will be very quiet and well-behaved from now on. I won't throw tantrums anymore."

In a matter of moments, Zheng Yanyan had sent a massive wall of text.

Seeing the flood of messages, Zhou Yuwen felt helpless. He replied, "I am not ignoring you."

"I was drinking just now," he explained.

Honestly, Zheng Yanyan would have been better off cutting contact with Zhou Yuwen completely. Staying in touch and hearing about his daily life only made her desperate to be a part of it again. For example, upon reading his excuse...

Zheng Yanyan immediately asked, "Are the two of them ganging up to make you drink?"

"Yeah."

"And there is no one there to help you..." Her implication was crystal clear.

Zhou Yuwen refused to take the bait. He merely replied that it was fine.

"You have had a tiring day as well, so go to bed early. I still have some things to deal with." Zhou Yuwen wanted to minimize their interactions.

Zheng Yanyan desperately wanted to keep talking, but she was terrified of annoying him. She could only meekly reply, "Okay."

Today, Zhou Yuwen was purely keeping Liu Shuo and Lu Hui company. The main reason Liu Shuo had insisted on waiting for Zhou Yuwen to return before looking at apartments was simply that he was running out of money.

His living allowance was a bit more generous than the average student's, and he had made quite a bit following Zhou Yuwen. However, Liu Shuo also spent money like water.

To rent an apartment, the standard requirement was a one-month deposit and three months' rent upfront. At 1,500 yuan a month, that meant he needed 6,000 yuan right off the bat.

Asking Zhou Yuwen for money directly was a difficult thing for Liu Shuo to do.

Zhou Yuwen understood him well enough. So, before Liu Shuo even had to ask, Zhou Yuwen finalized the lease for a two-bedroom apartment in Zhonghai Garden.

When Zhou Yuwen took the initiative to pay, Liu Shuo was left speechless. He was a simple guy. The money he had would have been more than enough if he only spent it on himself. But he had chosen to play the big shot and support a woman, and one who was seven years older than him, at that.

He was not good at expressing his feelings, but he knew exactly who treated him right.

After holding it in for a long time, he waited until Lu Hui was distracted looking around the apartment, then quietly whispered to Zhou Yuwen, "Thanks, bro."

"Bro, when I have money—"

"Save the sweet talk," Zhou Yuwen interrupted. In reality, the Xuhuai Association had raked in quite a bit of profit over the past few months. It was just that the year-end dividends had not been distributed yet, so Zhou Yuwen had not given Liu Shuo a large sum of money.

Not only did he pay the rent, but Zhou Yuwen also handed Liu Shuo an extra 3,000 yuan so he could buy some basic furniture.

This gesture touched Liu Shuo beyond words. He remained silent, but his nose stung as he fought the constant urge to cry.

Zhou Yuwen mentioned that renting long-term was not a viable solution, noting that housing prices in Jinling were guaranteed to rise over the next few years.

"When you head back home for the New Year, sit down and have a proper chat with your dad. Convince him to buy you an apartment in Jinling. It is not like your family lacks the means," Zhou Yuwen advised.

"Yeah!" Liu Shuo wiped his tears and nodded. "Bro, I will listen to you."

Lu Hui was certainly not a good girl, but to Zhou Yuwen, that did not matter. It was good for Liu Shuo to experience the real world and learn a few hard lessons. Regardless of what happened, Zhou Yuwen could always bail him out.

He helped Liu Shuo move in and buy some daily necessities, keeping busy until past nine o'clock at night.

Afterward, Liu Shuo absolutely insisted on treating Zhou Yuwen to dinner.

During this time, Zheng Yanyan tried to chat with Zhou Yuwen, but he brushed her off with vague replies.

Not long after that.

Zheng Yanyan sent another "Nudge" to Zhou Yuwen.

Zhou Yuwen asked her what was up.

She said she could not sleep.

"Can you unblock me from your Moments?" Zheng Yanyan pleaded.

"There is nothing interesting on my Moments."

"But I want to see them..."

Zheng Yanyan told Zhou Yuwen that she had already scrolled through all their chat logs and photos twice. She admitted that she had indeed been too willful while they were together, but she completely understood her mistakes now. She promised to be much more docile and well-behaved in the future.

"Alright." Zhou Yuwen unlocked his Moments for her.

"Are you still out?"

"Yeah."

"I want to go too..." Zheng Yanyan said tentatively.

By this time, Zhou Yuwen had already headed to the billiard hall with Liu Shuo to play pool.

For Lu Hui, who was nearly twenty-six years old, billiards had long since lost its appeal. She sat off to the side by herself, playing on her phone.

Liu Shuo could not provide her with emotional value.

However, Li Qiang from Jingcheng could.

Lu Hui and Li Qiang had a lot of common ground.

For example, Li Qiang would show Lu Hui pictures of his limited-edition sneakers.

"Why the fuck are you taking my sneakers!"

Back in the dormitory, Chang Hao glared at Li Qiang with sheer annoyance.

Li Qiang grinned sheepishly. "I am just taking a picture. Brother Hao, you don't need to be so stingy, right?"

Chang Hao was utterly speechless.

True to his boastful nature, Chang Hao had passionately detailed his collection of sneakers, Evisu jeans, and expensive streetwear brands to Li Qiang the moment school had started.

Naturally, no one memorized that information after hearing it just once.

But Chang Hao made a point to repeat his inventory every three to five days.

Sometimes, he would even brag about mechanical watches in the dorm, rambling on about the top ten luxury brands. He pointed out that the Longines watch Zhou Yuwen wore was worth over ten thousand yuan, and he also owned an IWC that was estimated to cost over two hundred thousand.

Chang Hao boasted that he owned a single watch—a Tissot, which he claimed was also a top-tier brand. Though it was a quartz watch instead of a mechanical one, it had still cost him over three thousand yuan. He added that his uncle owned a Rolex worth thirty thousand.

To Li Qiang, watches worth tens of thousands of yuan felt like a distant fantasy. However, he found Chang Hao's three-thousand-yuan Tissot incredibly beautiful. He firmly believed that if he could afford to wear a Tissot after graduation, he would have officially made it in life.

Like a parrot, he repeated all of Chang Hao's random dorm-room bragging directly to Lu Hui.

And in Lu Hui's eyes, this provided the emotional value she craved.

Lu Hui felt that she was not learning anything by being with Liu Shuo. Chatting with Li Qiang, however, was a completely different story.

Through him, she caught glimpses of a world far beyond her own reach, broadening her horizons.

Li Qiang felt an immense sense of accomplishment every time he finished chatting with Lu Hui. This was the very first time a girl had shown him such enthusiasm. Sometimes, Lu Hui would even initiate conversations with him.

Whenever Li Qiang missed Lu Hui, he would open her feed on the Werewolf app. Her page was essentially a gallery of her gorgeous legs clad in flesh-colored pantyhose and short skirts.

By now, Li Qiang had completely forgotten about Lu Lin. His mind was entirely consumed by Lu Hui, and he eagerly counted down the days until they could finally meet in person.

Zhou Yuwen accompanied Liu Shuo and Lu Hui until the early hours of the morning before driving them to the entrance of their residential complex.

Liu Shuo was clearly reluctant to part ways with him. "Bro, why don't you just stay the night here? There are two rooms anyway. Huihui and I can take one, and you can have the other. We'll even give you the master bedroom."

Hearing this, a look of distinct displeasure crossed Lu Hui's face.

'You are too generous,' Zhou Yuwen thought mockingly. 'You just want me to listen to your woman moaning in the middle of the night, don't you?'

"No need. I have some business to take care of when I get home. You two head up," he declined smoothly.

"Alright then."

After Liu Shuo and Lu Hui went upstairs, Zhou Yuwen picked up his phone to check it. Sure enough, Zheng Yanyan had flooded him with messages again. What had started as simple attempts at conversation had quickly devolved into her helplessly calling him "Hubby" once more.

She kept asking if he truly did not want her anymore.

Zhou Yuwen instantly felt a headache coming on. After a moment of thought, he decided it was best to lay everything out clearly.

He replied, explaining that it was not that he did not want her.

Rather, he was simply buried in work and responsibilities right now and did not want to be distracted by anything else.

"The New Year is fast approaching, and there are more and more exhibition events in Jinling. Combined with the mounting pressure from the courier and food delivery businesses, I really don't have much time to spend with you. The main reason I wanted us to cool off was to take advantage of my youth and hustle. I want to earn more money. I don't want to waste away my days doing nothing," Zhou Yuwen typed.

"Besides, a lot of things have happened recently. I really did book a room with Su Qing that day, and you did catch me."

"No, that is not true, Hubby! Su Qing told me everything. She said she was the one who dragged you into the room, and you had absolutely nothing to do with it. Hubby, it is all my fault. I am so sorry. I should not have doubted you. Back then, even when Tao Tian threw herself at you, you did not fall for it. So how could you possibly do anything with Su Qing behind my back? I really know I was wrong, Hubby. Will you forgive me?"

Before Zhou Yuwen could even finish typing, Zheng Yanyan was frantically scrambling to apologize.

Finding it impossible to continue his previous train of thought, Zhou Yuwen merely reiterated that he genuinely wanted to focus on his career and hustle harder.

"Let's just give each other some time, okay? Not just for me, but for you too, Yanyan. I feel like ever since we started university, neither of us has properly experienced single life. We rushed into our relationship way too quickly. Let's take it slow this time, alright?" Zhou Yuwen coaxed.

Reading Zhou Yuwen's sincere words, Zheng Yanyan thought about it seriously and realized that she had indeed been too impulsive and clingy.

But she was genuinely terrified that Zhou Yuwen would abandon her.

After a brief hesitation, Zheng Yanyan asked, "Do you really mean it?"

"Yeah."

"You aren't throwing me away?"

"How could I?"

"Then... during our cool-off period, can I still text you?"

"Chatting occasionally is fine, but you can't message me constantly, right?"

"But I... I won't be able to hold myself back..." Zheng Yanyan replied pitifully.

Zhou Yuwen sent a "Nudge" to her profile picture and firmly told her that she had to endure it, even if it was hard.

"We seriously need to take a breather. I am just too swamped right now. I really don't have the time or energy to be in a relationship."

"..."

Zheng Yanyan desperately wanted to refuse, but she had no choice but to agree. For some reason, she was plagued by an intense anxiety over losing him. Still, at the very least, Zhou Yuwen had not outright said they were breaking up.

It was just a temporary... return to single life?

Then... fine.

Zheng Yanyan finally agreed, and Zhou Yuwen successfully coaxed her to go to sleep.

In the frigid December air of Jinling, the early morning sky was devoid of stars.

Zhonghai Garden was a massive residential community, home to roughly twelve thousand households spread across mid-rise, high-rise, and skyscraper buildings. At this hour, the scattered lights glowing from individual windows looked like a cluster of earthbound stars.

Having successfully pacified Zheng Yanyan, Zhou Yuwen suddenly felt reluctant to return to his empty apartment.

It crossed his mind that Qu Jing lived right here in this very complex. In the blink of an eye, two whole weeks had passed since he last saw her.

He actually missed her a little.

'Maybe I should go see her now,' he thought.

He just wondered if she had already gone to bed at such a late hour.

Of course, Qu Jing was nowhere near asleep.

Ever since the incident at the billiard hall, Qu Jing seemed like a completely different person. Her mind was entirely consumed by thoughts of Zhou Yuwen.

Back when she lived in the dorms, she would wait until her roommates were not paying attention, imagining Zhou Yuwen while tightly squeezing her thighs against her pillow.

Now that she had a whole apartment to herself, there was absolutely no need for restraint.

Every day, aside from attending classes at the university, she would return alone to Zhonghai Garden. Merely thinking about Zhou Yuwen was enough to leave her flushed and burning up.

Coupled with the various torrents she had downloaded onto her computer...

Almost every night, she would prop her beautiful, high-heel-clad legs up on the desk and watch explicit adult films. With one hand trailing down past her stomach and the fingers of her other hand slipped past her lips, she would whimper and moan, calling out Zhou Yuwen's name, and sometimes even referring to him as "Master."

When Zhou Yuwen knocked on the door, Qu Jing was sitting exactly like that—her legs spread wide over the desk, thoroughly engrossed in a dirty movie.