Sweet Temptation: After Rebirth, The Campus Heartthrob Can’t Hide His Feelings Anymore - Chapter 10

Shen Yu was completely panicked.

He had downed half a dozen beers, empty bottles scattered at his feet. The more he drank, the angrier he became.

“Blocking and deleting me, how dare Xu Zhizhi? Who does she think she is?” Shen Yu grabbed Hu Chen by the collar and yanked him closer. “When I let her follow me around, she should’ve been grateful. Right? Isn’t that how it works?”

Hu Chen, Shen Yu’s childhood partner-in-crime, had grown up causing trouble alongside him. Seeing Shen Yu like this, Hu Chen quickly tried to calm him down. “Brother Yu, she’s just switching up her tactics. Don’t fall for it.”

“She used to be a clingy, annoying pest, impossible to shake off. There’s no way she’d just let you go so easily.”

“If you ask me, she’s just trying to play hard to get. Don’t fall into her trap. She might seem all innocent and harmless, but she’s probably scheming behind that sweet face.”

Shen Yu shoved Hu Chen away and shook his head. “No. She just… doesn’t care about me anymore.”

Her eyes had been cold and distant.

This was the first time Shen Yu had seen Xu Zhizhi like this, so detached.

In the past, no matter how much she had suffered, she had never looked at him with such indifference.

Her words, leaving each other alone, she meant them.

“Damn it! Brother Yu, isn’t this a good thing? You used to hate her the most. Now that she’s not clinging to you anymore, you should be burning incense and thanking the gods!” Hu Chen said matter-of-factly.

Shen Yu seemed momentarily appeased, forcing a smug smirk. “Yeah, you’re right. Without that nuisance bothering me, I should be celebrating! If it weren’t for my dad liking her, I wouldn’t have given her the time of day!”

“Hahaha!” Hu Chen patted Shen Yu’s shoulder in relief. “Then congratulations, Brother Yu! Finally free from that pest, rebirth!”

Before the words even settled, smash! Shen Yu shattered the beer bottle in his hand against the ground.

“Xu Zhizhi, how dare she block me?!”

Why didn’t he feel even a little bit happy?

Swaying unsteadily, Shen Yu stood up, only for his vision to black out as he collapsed.

“Brother Yu!”

Hu Chen scrambled to catch him, hauling Shen Yu back to the dorm.

While Shen Yu drowned his sorrows in alcohol, Xu Zhizhi felt like she could finally breathe.

The weight that had pressed on her heart for years loosened just a little. For the first time in a long while, she didn’t feel suffocated.

Back in her dorm, Xu Zhizhi sat at her desk, intending to study. But after flipping through several pages, she couldn’t focus on a single word.

She pulled open the drawer and took out a thick diary, only for her fingers to brush against a stack of unsent love letters.

All of them were addressed to Shen Yu.

Not a single one had ever been delivered.

Xu Zhizhi had always been sensitive and insecure. She had relied on growing up with Shen Yu to shamelessly trail after him, but she had never mustered the courage to confess her feelings outright.

So she wrote letters. Over and over.

Hiding all her affection between the lines, treasuring them carefully in secret.

Once, she had naively believed that the boy she loved would remain as bright and untamed as he had been in their youth. But everything had changed.

Xu Zhizhi pulled out all the letters, thirty in total, and opened them one by one.

Her fingertips traced the delicate handwriting, memories flashing before her eyes, Shen Yu’s endless parade of exes, one after another, too many to count.

Shen Yu was reckless, so reckless that he’d even made Xu Zhizhi deliver condoms to him and his girlfriend in the middle of the night…

The more Xu Zhizhi thought about it, the more she felt she was pathetic, hurt countless times, yet she kept convincing herself over and over that the boy she once liked had merely lost his way temporarily. She stubbornly refused to believe that the bright, radiant boy from her memories had rotted to the core.

The more she dwelled on it, the more ironic it seemed. Xu Zhizhi opened all the letters and began tearing them apart, one by one. Her hands trembled slightly as she shredded them with fierce determination.

Half an hour later, the letters were reduced to a small mountain of tiny scraps.

She threw the scraps into the trash, along with the youthful infatuation of her adolescence.

After finishing, Xu Zhizhi opened WeChat and saw two new friend requests.

One was from Zhou Xuci.

The other was from Shen Yu.

Xu Zhizhi accepted Zhou Xuci’s request, opened the chat, transferred him the money for the stomach medicine, and thanked him once again for his help.

Zhou Xuci bid her goodnight.

Xu Zhizhi replied with a simple “Goodnight” before turning off her phone.

She took out a fresh sheet of paper, deftly mixed her paints, and began to draw.

Xu Zhizhi loved oil painting, using vibrant colors to create meaningful imagery.

She painted the first snow.

In the painting, there was no Zhou Xuci, nor Shen Yu.

Instead, it was a desolate, snow-laden night, illuminated by a lone streetlamp. Beneath it, an unnamed wildflower braved the cold, its buds tightly closed yet poised to bloom.

Xu Zhizhi was like that wildflower, seeking light in the darkness, daring to bloom despite the biting frost.

Cheng Xiaoxin pushed open the dormitory door and found only Xu Zhizhi inside.

“Zhizhi, why are you back alone? Where are Shuangshuang and Jiajia?” she asked.

Xu Zhizhi set down her brush and smiled faintly at Cheng Xiaoxin. “My stomach was bothering me, so I came back early.”

Cheng Xiaoxin walked over and stood beside her, studying the painting. “You’re still pushing yourself to paint even when you’re not feeling well? Xu Zhizhi, can’t you learn to love yourself a little?”

“I already took medicine,” Xu Zhizhi said, looking up with bright eyes. “I do love myself… very much, in fact.”

Cheng Xiaoxin rested a hand on Xu Zhizhi’s shoulder and studied her for a long moment. “Zhizhi, I feel like you’ve changed.”

“How so?” Xu Zhizhi asked.

Cheng Xiaoxin grinned, radiant and bold, and pointed at the latest painting. “Your work used to lean toward darker tones, but now there’s more light in it. It feels brighter, more alive.”

Just like her, as if she, too, had begun to glow, slowly illuminating from within.

The old Xu Zhizhi had been too meek, too docile, like a lamb led to slaughter.

Now, she was growing more confident, no longer resigned to suffering in silence. She voiced her opinions, dared to say no.

Cheng Xiaoxin cupped Xu Zhizhi’s face in her hands, scrutinizing her with a playful smile. “Our little campus belle is becoming even more beautiful.”

Xu Zhizhi laughed, her eyes crinkling. “Nowhere near as stunning as the great campus belle.”

They were the twin flowers of the art school.

Cheng Xiaoxin, bold and dazzling, was known as the “Great Campus Belle.”

Xu Zhizhi, delicate and refined, was called the “Little Campus Belle.”

“See? Staying away from men really makes you shine,” Cheng Xiaoxin remarked.

At the mention of men, Xu Zhizhi knew she was referring to Shen Yu. Instantly, her mood dimmed, the light in her eyes fading.

Sensing her misstep, Cheng Xiaoxin quickly backtracked. “Zhizhi, I didn’t mean it like that about Shen Yu. I just-”

Xu Zhizhi grasped Cheng Xiaoxin’s wrist and said earnestly, “Xinxin, what do you think of Shen Yu?”

She didn’t want Cheng Xiaoxin to repeat the mistakes of her past life.

Based on her memories from the previous life, the dissolute Shen Yu had treated Cheng Xiaoxin as prey. They had briefly dated for just over a week.

No one knew the reason for their breakup, but afterward, Cheng Xiaoxin changed completely. She was no longer the bright, vivacious girl she once was, instead, she became irritable, suspicious, and eventually lost all self-respect, playing with emotions and descending into a chaotic personal life.

The once-privileged heiress had been dragged through the mud.

Xu Zhizhi often recalled the image of Cheng Xiaoxin at the school gala, dazzling in a red dress as she danced gracefully on stage, radiant, confident, and full of life.

She believed a girl like Cheng Xiaoxin should grow freely and bloom brilliantly.

Yet, in the end, things had turned out far from ideal.

“Him?” Cheng Xiaoxin frowned. “Can I be honest?”

She knew Xu Zhizhi liked Shen Yu and didn’t want to badmouth him.

“Please, tell me the truth,” Xu Zhizhi insisted.

“Arrogant and self-absorbed, just a spoiled playboy,” Cheng Xiaoxin gave her honest assessment. “Nothing special, definitely not my type.”

Xu Zhizhi stared deeply at Cheng Xiaoxin but said nothing.

If that was the case, why had Cheng Xiaoxin ended up with Shen Yu in the end? Xu Zhizhi’s mind flashed to the previous life, Cheng Xiaoxin’s self-destructive spiral, the loss of herself, the humiliation and disgrace.

She refused to let that happen again.

Cheng Xiaoxin shrugged nonchalantly and declared, “What’s so great about Shen Yu? If I were to like anyone, it’d definitely be Zhou Xuci.”

Xu Zhizhi burst into laughter. “Good point!”

Zhou Xuci was ten thousand times better than Shen Yu!

…