Chapter 14: The Mysterious Number One on the Leaderboard

"Shurui, you're back! Quick, come here! Jiang Chen's roommate is claiming that Jiang Chen is chasing you! The whole school is going to know about this!"

Seeing Li Shurui push the door open and enter the room, the girls lounging on the balcony watching the drama immediately waved to her with excitement.

"Shurui, I think you should go and have a clear talk with Jiang Chen."

Seeing that a fight wasn't actually going to break out below, Xu Siyi lost interest in watching and walked back from the balcony. "If you let them keep spreading these rumors outside, it might not be good for your reputation."

Xu Siyi's words seemed well-intentioned, but they actually carried a hidden motive: to create an opportunity for Jiang Chen.

The reason Jiang Chen was so famous was because of his stubbornness; if he were the type to back down easily when faced with difficulty, he wouldn't be known as the school's most notorious "simp" today.

If Li Shurui truly went to persuade Jiang Chen to give up on her, it would certainly be a waste of effort. On the contrary, it would only make the relationship between the two more ambiguous.

Xu Siyi's goal was to make the two of them "entangled indefinitely."

"Shurui, I actually think Jiang Chen is alright. Even though he doesn't have much money, he seems reliable. His ex-girlfriend was clearly using him, yet he hasn't said a single bad word about her even now. He was even apologizing to Liang Zhenlun just now. To be honest, I actually admire him."

The girl speaking was named Zheng Jingjing; she spoke with a hint of emotion and a sincere tone.

"If you think he's so great, why don't you let Shurui have him instead?"

Another girl with a bun, Guo Ran, said with a half-smile.

"Never mind, then."

Zheng Jingjing immediately shook her head with a bitter smile.

She did indeed think Jiang Chen had good character, but the flaw of having no money was simply too fatal.

Li Shurui offered no opinion. She quietly placed the shopping bags on the table and took out the items inside.

"Wow, SK-II!"

Li Shurui pulled out three luxurious skincare sets from the shopping bags one after another. The market price for one set was around three to four thousand yuan.

The girls' eyes lit up, and they immediately crowded around.

"Shurui, why did you buy so much? Can you even use it all?"

Li Shurui said softly, "They're for you guys."

The girls were stunned. Even though they had expected something given there were three sets, hearing with their own ears that they were actually gifts made them burst with joy.

"Shurui, I love you so much!"

Zheng Jingjing was not polite at all, snatching a set and hugging it tightly to her chest.

Xu Siyi and Guo Ran were not to be outdone, each taking one set.

Although their own skincare products weren't cheap, they couldn't afford SK-II, which cost thousands, on a regular basis.

"Shurui, why are you suddenly giving us gifts?"

Despite her joy, Xu Siyi felt somewhat strange. If she had insisted on watching that entire livestream yesterday, she probably wouldn't have asked such a redundant question.

Although Li Shurui was somewhat cold toward men, she was not ignorant of social graces.

As a woman, she naturally understood how complex female psychology could be. She didn't want to live in an environment of constant scheming, so whenever she could, she would treat them to meals or give small gifts to maintain harmony in the dormitory.

Of course.

A "grand gesture" like today's had never happened before.

After all, three sets of SK-II skincare added up to a total value of ten thousand yuan.

Previously, no matter how generous she was, she wouldn't have been this extravagant. It was all because her income last night had been incredibly substantial.

The revenue share from Xingkong could be withdrawn instantly; there was already an extra 600,000 yuan in her bank account.

Compared to last night's earnings, these so-called brand-name skincare sets were practically negligible.

"Is it not okay for me to want to give you gifts? If you don't want them, give them back to me."

Li Shurui made a motion to take the items back, but Xu Siyi deftly dodged her.

"Once something is given away, how can you take it back? Thanks!"

Xu Siyi appeared jubilant as she treated the SK-II set like a treasure, taking it back to her desk. In reality, however, she couldn't help but feel a sense of disparity in her heart.

Everyone has pride.

Strictly speaking, her family's financial situation was actually slightly better than Li Shurui's, yet the result was that she was always receiving benefits from Li Shurui.

On what grounds?

"Shurui, I'm so lucky to be your sister!"

Zheng Jingjing said sweetly.

To Xu Siyi's ears, these words sounded even more grating.

After distributing the gifts, Li Shurui sat down. As her roommates began testing their new skincare products, she took out her phone and opened the Xingkong app.

"The tree that stands out in the forest is the first to be broken by the wind."

She understood this simple truth perfectly well.

This was also why she hadn't explained the truth.

If she told her roommates that she had earned over 600,000 yuan in a single night, they might not necessarily be happy for her.

On the contrary, they might feel that her giving gifts was only natural, or even think that one set of SK-II was too cheap.

Her private messages showed 99+ as usual. Li Shurui didn't look at them or clear them; instead, she first checked her current follower count.

260,000.

Over 100,000 new followers in one night.

Li Shurui took a soft breath, then opened the chat box and clicked on the interface for "Han Jiang Gu Ying" (Solitary Shadow on the Cold River).

As it turned out, the other party had not replied at all.

After dropping over a million yuan, the person seemed to have vanished.

Since she started her career in social media, Li Shurui had seen all kinds of people—the strange and the bizarre. Everyone on her fan contribution leaderboard had some ulterior motive toward her, didn't they?

It wasn't that she didn't know, but that was just how this industry worked. There were no free lunches; who would give you money for nothing?

The purpose of those fans sending gifts and supporting her was simply to seek further development with her.

Li Shurui had even encountered some very direct people who would get straight to the point and ask how much she charged per night.

At first, she would reject them coldly, but as time went on, she gradually learned the rules of the industry and began to change her approach, playing along with them.

However, this "Han Jiang Gu Ying" was undoubtedly a unique specimen she had never encountered before.

Li Shurui had already prepared herself mentally for the possibility of the person making unreasonable demands, but the result had completely defied her expectations.

The person seemed to truly just have too much money with nowhere to spend it. After dropping a million in her livestream, they had gone silent, and even when she proactively suggested adding them on WeChat, she was ignored.

Just what kind of person was this?

Curiosity killed the cat.

And it also killed women.

Li Shurui clicked on "Han Jiang Gu Ying's" personal profile and found it exceptionally clean. The dynamic page was actually empty; they had never posted a single piece of content.

Forget finding any clues about their background; she couldn't even judge how old they were.

Clicking on their following list, she found they only followed her.

Could they be a die-hard fan?

Li Shurui couldn't make sense of it and couldn't help but wonder if this "Han Jiang Gu Ying" was actually one of her pursuers?

Setting aside the boys at school, there were plenty of people interested in her outside of campus as well.

But as Li Shurui searched through her "suspect list" in her mind, she couldn't find anyone who fit the description.

There were indeed many wealthy sons among her pursuers, but no one "threw money around" like this.

After all, this was over a million, not ten or twenty thousand.

Those wealthy sons certainly liked to show off, but they definitely weren't lacking in brains.

Taking a step back.

Even if they were trying to woo some small-time third or fourth-tier celebrities, they probably wouldn't need this much money, right?

"What's wrong with Shurui? Why is she spacing out?"

Zheng Jingjing looked at Li Shurui, who was staring blankly while holding her phone, with curiosity.

"She's definitely thinking about a man," Guo Ran joked.

"Who is it? It couldn't be Jiang Chen, could it?" Zheng Jingjing muttered.

Xu Siyi joined in the fun, giving a faint smile. "Who knows?"