When Lin Zhi returned to her dorm room, only one of her roommates was there, doing her makeup. Seeing Lin Zhi, the roommate muttered, "Bitch," under her breath. Lin Zhi frowned, intending to ignore her, but the girl continued to whisper, "Acting all innocent, but you still slept around anyway. Disgusting."
Lin Zhi closed the distance in two strides. Her eyes were icy. "Say that one more time."
Li Ke hadn't expected the usually gentle girl to suddenly flare up. She froze, her face flushing bright red. "What did I say? Lin Zhi, don't think you can just bully people because you have a rich boyfriend!" The more Li Ke thought about it, the angrier she got. She was the one who had been chasing Zhou Ye all this time, yet he had confessed to Lin Zhi instead.
Lin Zhi looked at her impassively. "If you're jealous, go find a rich man yourself. Stop staring at me all day. If I hear you curse at me one more time, I'll send the voice recordings of you badmouthing everyone in this dorm straight to them."
Li Ke was shocked. "Recordings? What recordings? Lin Zhi, you dared to record me?!"
"You curse at me behind my back and talk trash about me everywhere. Am I not allowed to fight back?" Lin Zhi turned and sat down at her desk. "From now on, every time you insult me, I'll send out a clip."
There were four girls in the dorm. The original owner of this body had gotten along well with the other two, but this Li Ke was exceptionally malicious. She would run around the classroom and the student council calling other girls her "besties," while madly trash-talking them behind their backs—calling them shameless for hanging around men, or saying they dressed like hussies. Naturally, the other three roommates disliked hanging out with her.
She also seemed to like Zhou Ye. She had frequently tried to give him water and snacks when he played basketball, only for Zhou Ye to reject her in disgust. Later, when Zhou Ye confessed to the original owner, Li Ke completely despised her and had spread countless rumors behind her back.
Li Ke was furious. "Lin Zhi, you sneaky bitch! I can't believe you recorded me. This is an invasion of privacy, believe it or not, I'll call the police..."
Lin Zhi took out her phone, tapped the screen a few times, and waved it at her. "Sent."
Li Ke's eyes nearly popped out of her head. She lunged forward to snatch the phone, but her own phone suddenly began to ring—BEEP BEEP BEEP. A senior from the student council had just messaged her, telling her to forget about the job opportunity.
Li Ke panicked. She had worked so hard to build a good relationship with this senior, begging for a recommendation to enter her company, but now... She hurriedly tried to explain, but the senior had already blocked her.
"Lin Zhi!!" she screamed, her eyes red with rage.
Lin Zhi held up her phone. "Want to try again?"
Li Ke gritted her teeth, but she didn't dare to utter another insult. Lin Zhi's lips curled into a smirk as she opened her laptop.
In truth, there was only that single recording. A few days ago, the original owner had been preparing for an online interview and, fearing she would perform poorly, had set up a camera to practice. The camera had coincidentally captured Li Ke's tirade. Li Ke loathed the original owner, and it was entirely possible that she was the one who had anonymously posted those nudes on the campus confession wall.
Even if she hadn't, she had still cursed the original owner behind her back. Teaching her a lesson now was just getting even.
Lin Zhi opened her email to check her messages. Behind her, Li Ke was slamming her things around with deafening crashes. Just as Li Ke put on her shoes and was about to storm out, Lin Zhi caught sight of something and called out, "Wait!"
Li Ke was livid. She spun around violently. "Lin Zhi, are you done yet?!"
Lin Zhi walked over and yanked the bag off Li Ke's shoulder. "This is mine. You've been carrying it around for weeks without asking. You didn't actually think it was yours now, did you?" The original owner had a soft personality and hadn't been able to bring herself to call Li Ke out, but Lin Zhi wasn't going to tolerate such entitlement.
She dumped the contents of the bag out—CLATTER—and casually tossed the empty bag onto her desk.
Li Ke exploded. "Lin Zhi, I'll kill you!"
Lin Zhi raised her phone. "Calm down. If you do anything impulsive, I'm hitting send." The screen displayed the contact of a local Beijing girl from their class. Li Ke was jealous of the girl's wealth and had often insulted her in the dorm, calling her as fat as a pig.
If that girl found out, Li Ke would be in for a world of pain.
Li Ke trembled with rage, her eyes practically shooting daggers at Lin Zhi.
Lin Zhi smiled faintly and sat down. She found the interview invitation from Dongning Group that had arrived a few days ago. The company's CEO was none other than Zhou Congli. At the time, Zhou Ye had immediately vetoed the idea of her interviewing there. The original owner hadn't understood why, but looking at it now, it was obvious he was terrified that if she met Zhou Congli, it would ruin his plans.
She glanced at the bag on the desk. Zhou Ye had always considered the original owner to be a gold digger—materialistic and calculating. In reality, aside from this sixty-thousand-yuan Chanel bag, she had refused all other expensive items, only accepting a few small gifts.
The original owner came from a single-parent household. Her mother ran a small supermarket, and their financial situation was entirely average. However, she had never felt inferior when facing the wealthy Zhou Ye. During his courtship, she had firmly rejected every gift he tried to give her.
It was only after they officially started dating that she accepted this bag, figuring it would be inappropriate to refuse a gift from her boyfriend. Even then, she had bought him a pair of sneakers worth thirty thousand yuan in return, using the New Year's lucky money she had saved up since childhood.
Though Zhou Ye had never worn them even once, she hadn't minded. She had also insisted on splitting the bill every time they went out to eat.
But Zhou Ye didn't appreciate her virtues; instead, he thought she was just playing hard to get. As for splitting the bill—his meals cost thousands, sometimes tens of thousands of yuan. Could she even afford to go fifty-fifty?
Regardless, he only ever came to see Lin Zhi when he couldn't see Li Ruoyao. He only looked at her face to ease his lovesickness. Actual dates between them as a couple could be counted on one hand.
She was just a body double. Not worth his effort at all.
Lin Zhi tossed the bag into her wardrobe, her contempt for Zhou Ye deepening. To think a piece of trash like him was fit to be the male lead.
The email was still there, but three days had already passed. After a moment of thought, she sent a reply, apologizing and explaining that something had come up over the last few days, and requesting another chance to interview.
The original owner was a senior in college majoring in accounting, with only two months left until graduation. Her classmates were already preparing for their futures. Since she hadn't planned on pursuing a master's degree, she had started sending out resumes like everyone else.
When no reply came immediately, Lin Zhi shut her laptop and climbed into bed. The original owner hadn't gotten any decent rest since the previous night. Lin Zhi fell asleep within two minutes and didn't wake up until evening. When she checked her phone, she found a reply. The HR department at Dongning Group had scheduled her for an interview the following morning. She couldn't help but feel delighted.
At that moment, her other two roommates returned. They had already found jobs and had been leaving early and returning late for their internships. Seeing Lin Zhi, their eyes lit up. They huddled close with wicked grins, asking how far things had progressed with Zhou Ye last night.
As the second young master of the Zhou family, Zhou Ye was quite famous on campus. The fact that he had been single since birth was a frequent topic of gossip, earning him a lot of goodwill from the female students. A wealthy heir as innocent as him was a rare breed nowadays.
So, when he had confessed, the roommates had urged the original owner to lock him down quickly before anyone else could snatch him away.
As for his clubbing and street racing? Weren't those just standard hobbies for the ultra-rich? As long as he didn't do anything too outrageous, everyone was quite forgiving of him.
No one could have predicted that Zhou Ye's heart had long belonged to someone else, and that he was merely playing with the original owner.
Lin Zhi shook her head. "Something happened. We'll probably break up soon." Seeing their eyes widen with further questions, she quickly mentioned her interview tomorrow, making it clear she didn't want to talk about it anymore.
The two roommates had no choice but to hold back their curiosity, though they silently guessed that something major must have occurred.
The next day.
Lin Zhi changed into a light blue crew-neck blouse and a black skirt. Looking exceptionally fresh and neat, she took the bus to Dongning Group.
After giving her name at the front desk, she was directed to wait on a chair outside an office. Suddenly, she heard a commotion. Following the sound, she saw a tall young man in a tailored suit striding out of a conference room, flanked by an entourage. He possessed an understated elegance and was breathtakingly handsome.
As if sensing her gaze, he lifted his eyes and looked over. His deep gaze was calm and indifferent.