My Villainous Persona Collapses as My Family Reads My Mind - chapter 13

Beneath the bold, explosive trending headline was a profile photo of a man and a woman.

In the picture, Meng Zhiyi’s side profile was clearly visible, while Meng Zhizhou happened to be standing under the lights, making his features somewhat blurred due to overexposure.

But even so, that didn’t stop netizens from speculating wildly.

Under the Weibo post, tens of thousands of comments had already piled up.

[Jing Circle Prince? You might as well just post Shen Que’s ID card.]

[Damn, rich people really do play differently. Is this what it means to be part of a wealthy family? A life us commoners can only dream of.]

[Huh??? Isn’t Meng Zhiyi a bit too greedy? She’s got Shen Que and still isn’t satisfied, now she’s hooking up with another man.]

[Wait, does this girl know witchcraft or something? That man’s wearing a full custom suit, his status is definitely not simple. Why would he be interested in her?]

[Tch, just watch. Meng Zhiyi has pulled plenty of stunts to force a marriage before. This is probably another self-directed act.]

[Don’t say it, just don’t.]

[I’m dying laughing. Shen Que is probably the first man in history whose reputation was ruined before he even got married.]

[When is Shen Que going to break off the engagement with Meng Zhiyi? I can’t stand seeing a good man dragged down.]

Song Wei sat at her desk, scrolling through the online comments, unable to hide the smile in her eyes.

She lowered her gaze, the corners of her mouth lifting, thinking that if this incident reached the ears of the Shen Matriarch, she’d probably grow even more disgusted with Meng Zhiyi.

As if remembering something, Song Wei opened Shen Que’s chat and sent a message: Things are blowing up online. Grandma probably already knows. You should go find Meng Zhiyi first, I’ll go home and help you calm Grandma down.

On the other end, Shen Que glanced at the photo expressionlessly, not even bothering to check the comments before exiting Weibo.

Seeing Song Wei’s WeChat message, he lowered his eyes, lost in thought.

A moment later, he replied with three words.

[Don’t worry about it]

As soon as the notification sounded, Song Wei opened it immediately. Seeing those cold three words, she still smiled in satisfaction.

She didn’t care what Shen Que replied; as long as he responded, it meant he’d seen what was happening online.

With this, Shen Que would surely continue to dislike Meng Zhiyi, just as he always had.

Meanwhile, elsewhere-

Meng Zhiyi was still asleep when she was jolted awake by a barrage of phone calls.

Annoyed, she cracked open one eye, saw the unfamiliar number on the caller ID, and hung up without a second thought.

But the caller was persistent and dialed again.

“Who is it! Why do you keep calling me? Are you crazy?” Meng Zhiyi answered the phone with her eyes still closed, snapping immediately.

There was a brief, dead silence on the other end, then an exasperated voice erupted.

“Meng Zhiyi! You didn’t even save my number?!”

“…”

That shout cleared Meng Zhiyi’s sleepiness a little. She brought the phone closer to check the screen, and just then, the System’s voice sounded in her mind, telling her it was Fourth Brother Meng Tinglan’s number.

But Meng Zhiyi always woke up cranky, and she didn’t care who was calling.

“Is your phone number a bank password? If not, why should I save it?”

“Didn’t your mom tell you that repeatedly calling someone is extremely rude?”

“If someone hangs up, it means they’re busy. Don’t you get it?”

Meng Zhiyi unleashed a barrage of scolding, leaving Meng Tinglan stunned on the other end.

No matter how outrageous Meng Zhiyi had been outside before, she’d always shown some respect to the Meng Family, never daring to speak to him like this.

He was silent for a few seconds, then gritted his teeth and said, “Do you even know who you’re talking to? I’m your Fourth Brother!”

But Meng Tinglan hadn’t called to argue about that-he’d seen the Weibo trending topic.

“Meng Zhiyi, can you stop embarrassing the Meng Family?”

“You’re not some country bumpkin anymore. Can’t you behave yourself? Go look at what you’ve done on Weibo. Have some shame, will you?”

Of all the brothers in the Meng Family, Meng Tinglan disliked Meng Zhiyi the most, so he never held back, always saying the harshest things.

Already irritated from being woken up, Meng Zhiyi’s anger peaked as Meng Tinglan started scolding her without even asking for details.

Listening to his tirade, Meng Zhiyi held back her fury, sat up, and opened Weibo to see what had happened.
When she saw the photo of herself and Meng Zhizhou at the hospital, she immediately recalled the sneaky figure from last night.

She had already noticed someone secretly taking pictures, so she deliberately turned her body to let them get a clearer shot.

After all, her task was to increase her Dislike Value. No matter what the person did with the photos, it would only help her.

Even so, Meng Zhiyi was still annoyed by Meng Tinglan’s behavior of blaming everything on her without investigating the truth behind it.

She exited Weibo and yelled into the phone at Meng Tinglan: “Are you brainless and blind too? You can’t even recognize your own Eldest Brother in the photo? Go get your eyes checked at a hospital, idiot!”

After cursing him out, Meng Zhiyi decisively hung up, added Meng Tinglan’s number to her blacklist, and then turned off her phone.

After all that, she angrily tossed her phone onto the bed, only then noticing there was someone else in the dormitory.

Lin Luoluo stood awkwardly at the door, hand still on the doorknob, as if ready to close it.

She wore a pair of jeans faded from washing, and her T-shirt’s neckline was stretched out, clearly showing it had been worn for a long time.

Meng Zhiyi’s gaze drifted down, finally stopping at Lin Luoluo’s nearly unglued sneakers.

Perhaps Meng Zhiyi’s stare was too direct, Lin Luoluo instinctively shrank back, lowered her head in embarrassment, and silently walked toward the empty bed.

Meng Zhiyi withdrew her gaze, having no intention of interacting with Lin Luoluo, and lay down to continue sleeping.

Listening to the soft breathing behind her, Lin Luoluo’s tense body gradually relaxed.

She quietly glanced back, saw Meng Zhiyi still sleeping, and secretly let out a sigh of relief.

Just now, Lin Luoluo had really been afraid that Meng Zhiyi would make things difficult for her because she had accidentally overheard those words.

After all, she’d always heard that Meng Zhiyi was hard to get along with, and since she’d just transferred to this dorm, she didn’t want to offend someone she couldn’t afford to cross.

Meanwhile, after being hung up on, Meng Tinglan could still hear Meng Zhiyi’s last insult echoing in his ears.

His face flushed with anger, he stubbornly dialed Meng Zhiyi’s number again, only to find he’d been blocked.

“Fine, fine, Meng Zhiyi, you’re really something!”

After hitting a wall with Meng Zhiyi, Meng Tinglan turned to call Meng Zhizhou instead.

At noon, after a good sleep, Meng Zhiyi lazily got up and looked at the bed opposite, noticing it was now made up.

She was the only one left in the dorm.

Meng Zhiyi sat in a daze for a while, recalling what Meng Tinglan had said that morning. After turning her phone back on, she opened Weibo to check the trending topic about herself in more detail.

But she found the trending topic had disappeared. Instead, among dozens of inconspicuous posts, she saw one that caught her eye:

[Young Master of the Zhou Family beaten at nightclub, Zhou Family offers a hefty reward for the culprit]

Meng Zhiyi clicked her tongue and skimmed through the post.

Afterward, just as she was about to get out of bed, Lin Luoluo came in from outside.

The two locked eyes again.

After a moment, Lin Luoluo timidly said, “Meng… Meng Zhiyi, someone downstairs is looking for you.”

“Who’s looking for me?” Meng Zhiyi climbed out of bed, puzzled.

Lin Luoluo replied, “It’s Senior Shen from the Finance Department.”

Meng Zhiyi was a little surprised, but thinking of the trending topic from earlier, she figured Shen Que must be here to settle accounts with her.

The thought that Shen Que’s dislike for her would deepen because of the trending topic instantly piqued Meng Zhiyi’s interest.

She quickly washed up and changed, then cheerfully left the dorm.

Watching her leave, Lin Luoluo could tell Meng Zhiyi really liked Shen Que, and thought to herself that Meng Zhiyi probably wouldn’t do anything as outrageous as the rumors online suggested.

Downstairs, Shen Que stood tall and elegant outside the apartment building, holding the bag Meng Zhiyi had thrown to the ground earlier, becoming a striking sight.

With his distinguished family background, outstanding looks, and high intelligence, Shen Que had always been a campus celebrity.

His appearance outside the girls’ dorm immediately drew countless eyes.

When Meng Zhiyi came downstairs and saw Shen Que surrounded by onlookers, she couldn’t help but sigh:

[No wonder he’s the male lead-even his back makes you want to commit a crime.]

[What a pity. If it weren’t for those thirty billion, I’d really want to sleep with him.]

Hearing her inner thoughts, Shen Que slowly turned his head to look at Meng Zhiyi: “?”