Rejected by the Campus Belle, I Find My True Love

"Ah? This..."

Wu Xiaoya didn’t know either; she had forgotten to ask Chen Jiahui.

But it probably doesn’t matter where I sign, right? After all, he just said he needed a signature.

With that thought, she hurriedly rummaged through her suitcase and pulled out a poster of Xue Yang from a trendy clothing photoshoot. "Boss, can you sign here?"

On the poster, Xue Yang looked sunny and handsome, even more dazzling than the most popular celebrities of the day.

If he ever tried his luck in the entertainment industry, no one else would stand a chance. I really don’t understand why Ying Ying didn’t like him back then.

She had advised Chen Ying more than once that their junior was a great guy and that she should at least try dating him; if it didn’t work out, they could always break up. However, Chen Ying hadn’t listened, stubbornly rejecting him at every turn. In the end, she had completely broken Xue Yang’s heart.

"Mm."

Xue Yang’s voice pulled the daydreaming Wu Xiaoya back to reality. Hearing him, she immediately found a pen and handed it over. "Boss, here’s the pen."

Xue Yang quickly signed the poster, handed it back to Wu Xiaoya, and said, "Hurry downstairs. Don’t keep Kexin waiting. I bet she rushed over without even having time to change her shoes."

"Alright, thank you, Boss."

Wu Xiaoya grabbed a change of clothes and her purse, then headed downstairs. As soon as she reached the lobby, she saw Yu Kexin waiting for her. Just as Xue Yang had predicted, she had run over in her slippers, not even having had time to change her shoes.

A wave of warmth washed over Wu Xiaoya. At that moment, all the unpleasantness of the day seemed to melt away.

"Kexin, sorry to trouble you."

Seeing Wu Xiaoya, Yu Kexin quickly walked over. "Senior, honestly, you should have told me earlier that you had nowhere to stay! I came over as soon as I got the call from the boss. My place is a bit of a mess since I haven’t had time to tidy up, so please don’t laugh when we get there."

She had left in such a hurry that she only realized how messy her apartment was after she had already arrived at the company. She had been so busy lately that she hadn’t had a chance to clean.

"Don’t worry about it. I’m the one who should be thanking you. Otherwise, I would have had to sleep at the office tonight."

"If you had nowhere to stay, you could have just booked a hotel. The company would have reimbursed you since you’re technically on a business trip."

"I’d be too scared to stay in a hotel by myself."

"That’s true. It’s not always safe for a woman to stay in a hotel alone." It was less about the location and more a matter of personal feeling.

"Senior, I thought you were rooming with another senior?" Yu Kexin asked. She had a vague memory of the other woman but couldn’t recall who it was.

"I was, but we had a fight, so I moved out."

"Ah? What did you fight about?" Yu Kexin asked, surprised. Do best friends fight like that?

"Just some trivial things." Wu Xiaoya’s enthusiasm waned, a clear sign she didn’t want to discuss it.

Yu Kexin didn’t press further. "Then let’s head back."

"Okay."

Yu Kexin’s apartment was also close to the university, only about a ten-minute walk away. Her rental was similar to the one Wu Xiaoya had been sharing. It was a one-bedroom, one-living room unit with a private balcony, bathroom, and kitchen. An apartment like this wasn’t cheap in this neighborhood, but they could easily afford it with their current incomes.

This is exactly the kind of place I want to buy someday. It’s not too big and not too small—just perfect for one person.

She had no plans to fall in love. Dating was too much trouble and would only get in the way of her earning money. This was also due to her family environment growing up. Her parents had fought for as long as she could remember. Their arguments would often escalate until they started smashing things, and every time her parents fought, her mother would take it out on her.

Sometimes, Wu Xiaoya couldn’t understand why they forced themselves to stay together when there was clearly no love left. If they couldn’t get along, why not just get a divorce? After every huge fight, she would think they were finally going to split up, but they always ended up reconciling. This went on and on in an endless cycle.

Her mother might have gotten used to that life, but for Wu Xiaoya, it was a nightmare. Because of their constant quarreling, her own life was miserable. The worst kind of nightmare was when she needed money for school supplies. That was why, as soon as she had the slightest ability to support herself, she never asked her family for money again.

And it was for this reason that she had decided she would never date or get married. She would just follow Xue Yang, for better or for worse.

But no matter how bad things get, they can’t possibly be harder than what I’ve already been through.

"Senior, you can have this room. Since I don’t normally use it, it’s a bit messy. I hope you don’t mind."

"Not at all, I don’t mind in the slightest. Thank you, Kexin."

"By the way, Senior, are you hungry? We could order some takeout."

"Do you always eat takeout?"

"Yeah, I can’t cook, so I don’t have much choice."

"Eating takeout all the time isn’t good for you. Tell you what, do you have any ingredients? I’ll cook."

"Senior, you can cook?"

"Of course. I started helping with chores at home when I was seven or eight years old."

"Wow, that’s so young! You couldn’t have even been as tall as the stove, could you?" Yu Kexin couldn’t imagine it. She still didn’t even know how to make rice.

"A poor kid has to learn to manage the household early. Even if I wasn’t as tall as the stove, I could just stand on a stool."

"That sounds so tough."

Yu Kexin came from a well-off family. As an only child, she had never experienced any real hardship. She just had to focus on happily learning the things she was interested in. It was precisely because of this that she had become so skilled in computer science.

They say success is thirty percent fate and seventy percent hard work. Without her parents’ support, Yu Kexin absolutely would not have become the lead designer for King’s Game.

"It wasn’t that bad. At least I’m doing well now, right? I’m lucky I met the boss; he’s a really good person."

"Senior, if the boss heard you say that, he’d probably roll his eyes. You can’t just hand out the ’good guy’ card like that, you know."

"Well, he can’t hear us. And so what if he did? The worst that could happen is I’d just give him another one."

"HAHAHA..."

The two young women shared a laugh, and the initially somewhat reserved atmosphere between them vanished completely.

Wu Xiaoya got up to look in the refrigerator and was stunned when she opened it. "You don’t cook, so why is your fridge stocked with so many ingredients?"

The refrigerator was filled with everything imaginable: chicken, duck, fish, meat, and fresh vegetables. Anyone who didn’t know better would think the owner of this fridge must be a true connoisseur of life!

Yu Kexin sighed helplessly. "Those are all from my parents. I’ve told them not to, but they still come by to restock it for me regularly."

"Your parents are really good to you," Wu Xiaoya said, her voice laced with envy.