Why didn't you mention such an important matter sooner!

When Tang Yu received Wang Qing’s call, she had just washed her hands over a dozen times with soap.

She was in the dormitory, neatly folding her clothes and packing them back into her suitcase one by one.

The factory had suddenly suffered a disaster and had been sealed off, so the workers naturally had to leave.

The dormitory was noisy, so Tang Yu took her phone and found a quiet spot before answering.

"Hello?"

Wang Qing’s anxious voice came through the phone, "Why did you turn off your phone! I called several times and couldn't get through!"

"It's fine." Because of this matter, Li Zhizhi had apologized to her repeatedly, but after all, it was for the sake of a police raid, and Tang Yu didn't blame her. "What's wrong? Is there an emergency?"

Wang Qing laughed sheepishly, "Well, there is something—oh no, there are two things I need to tell you. Better brace yourself."

Feeling bored, Tang Yu absentmindedly plucked at a small promotional sticker on the window and asked, "What is it?"

Wang Qing said, "...There is good news and bad news. Which one do you want to hear first?"

Tang Yu thought for a moment, "Today has been full of good things, so let's hear the good news first."

"The good news is that after your reputation as the national top scorer spread online, students not only from our county's high school are scrambling to buy your study notes, but students from neighboring county and city high schools are also looking for me to buy your notes! Now countless people add me on WeChat every day wanting to buy your notes!"

That was why she simply turned off the friend verification feature.

"Business is so good, and I can't handle it all by myself, so in the past two days, I contacted several publishing houses, preparing to officially print your notes. Now the publication number has been approved, which means you are now a legitimate primary author and you're going to have your own published book!"

Wang Qing was genuinely happy for her!

And with things becoming so formal, the financial flow would also be clear and transparent.

She wouldn't even need to do internships in the future; this could be considered a form of entrepreneurship, much more useful than internship experience at any large corporation!

Tang Yu pondered, "This really simplifies things a lot."

Wang Qing wouldn't have to keep running back and forth to the copy shop anymore, and since university was about to start soon, she couldn't let this matter delay Wang Qing's time.

"Thank you, Wang Qing. You've been busy with this from start to finish. From now on, we'll split the profits fifty-fifty."

Wang Qing replied, "Why are you being so polite?" She felt a bit sentimental, "When Meng Shirui bullied you before, I didn't even dare to make a sound, so I've always felt guilty. I don't know how happy I am to be able to help you this time."

"It's all in the past." Tang Yu looked up at the star-filled sky and curved her lips, "Right now is the best moment."

"Yeah, it's all in the past." Wang Qing let out a long sigh of relief.

Her desk mate had waded through the damp, gloomy rainy season and was about to welcome her dazzling, brilliant life.

"So, what's the bad news you mentioned?"

Tang Yu asked again.

As soon as this was brought up, Wang Qing's previous sentimentality vanished instantly, and she stammered, "Well... actually, it's like this."

"Brother Yang called me just now, you know, I'm naturally timid, and as soon as he questioned me, I couldn't help but confess everything—about how you didn't go traveling with me, but instead went undercover in Minquan County by yourself... Anyway, I spilled everything I could, hehe... If nothing goes wrong, he should be on his way to catch you right now..."

Tang Yu instantly caught her breath, "Why didn't you mention such an important matter earlier!" Unable to control her strength, she tore off the small promotional sticker on the window entirely.

Wang Qing said, "...You're the one who told me to say the good news first."

Tang Yu's eyebrows twitched sharply, and she almost passed out from anger.

After hanging up the phone, she bit her fingernails and paced back and forth in the hallway.

Finally, embracing a do-or-die determination akin to heading up to Mount Liang, she nervously sent a WeChat message to Bian Yang.

As a result, he ignored her.

Tang Yu cautiously called Bian Yang, and the other end answered very quickly.

However, there was dead silence on the line.

Through the screen, she could faintly sense a terrifying, chilling aura emanating from him.

Tang Yu swallowed her saliva, carefully and tentatively probing, "Bian Yang?"

The call was connected, but the other person remained silent.

"Bian Yang, are you listening?"

The call duration ticked by second by second, and only her own breathing was clearly audible.

On the other end of the line, Bian Yang held his phone to his ear, his face half-concealed in the flickering streetlights, his gaze growing deeper by the inch.

The raging ferocity surrounding him felt as though it had been whipped up straight from the eighteenth level of hell.

Qin Mingyu could clearly sense that Brother Yang was in an extremely terrible mood right now, and when he turned his head, he saw that the hand gripping the phone was trembling slightly.

"Boyfriend?"

She still received no response.

Amidst her anxiety, Tang Yu muttered to herself tentatively, "Is there nobody there? If so, I'll hang up first?"

"Tang Yu."

His low, raspy voice came through the phone.

Tang Yu's breathing was very shallow.

"If you dare to hang up, just try."

Bian Yang's nasal tone was heavy, as if he were suppressing countless overwhelming emotions.

Afraid that he would get angry, she deliberately softened her tone and immediately said, "I won't hang up, I won't hang up."

He stopped speaking and simply kept the phone call connected.

No matter what Tang Yu said, he didn't reply.

It was over; this was the first time she had ever seen Bian Yang this angry!

Angry was an understatement! To this day, Qin Mingyu's mind was still haunted by the extreme panic and terror Bian Yang had displayed right after hanging up that phone.

He had rushed out of the private dining room, bumping into countless passersby without a care. No matter how much Qin Mingyu yelled from behind, Bian Yang acted as though he couldn't hear a thing, recklessly sprinting toward the parking lot.

Qin Mingyu, uneasy about his state, had dove into the driver's seat the moment Bian Yang climbed in and snatched the car keys right out of the ignition.

Bian Yang's hands gripping the steering wheel had been shaking; there was no way he could drive in that condition.

Finally, enduring Bian Yang's terrifying and frantic glare, Qin Mingyu had coaxed and reasoned with him for a long time before managing to move him to the passenger seat and taking the wheel himself, driving all the way to Minquan County.

His father and Bian Yang's father were childhood friends, and since he and Bian Yang were around the same age, he had trailed behind Bian Yang since he was a little kid.

In his memory, Bian Yang had always been high and mighty.

He had inherited all of his mother's excellence, making everything he did look effortless. He was universally acknowledged as the quintessential "child of other people" within their social circle.

Because of his existence, many aristocratic families had even given up on the idea of political marriages, turning instead to scouring the globe worldwide for high-IQ women, purely to produce children with equally peerless intelligence to inherit their family legacies.

Bian Yang was arrogant, willful, and the ultimate target of their childhood envy and pursuit.

Yet at that very moment,

Qin Mingyu felt that,

he was just like any ordinary person—he could feel fear, helplessness, and even shed tears...

When Bian Yang had leaned listlessly against the seat back, murmuring with trembling lips, "If anything happens to her, what am I going to do..."

Qin Mingyu felt as though all of Bian Yang's proud backbone had been shattered.

Utterly defeated along a thousand fronts.