Chapter 41: Declaration Post

Hah, she had always wondered how No. 2 High School could possibly have no girls who liked him. Turns out, he just never went to school. Back when she was annoyed with him, she had even specifically searched for posts about Chen Ciyi on No. 2 High School’s forum, only to find not a single thread mentioning him. At the time, she found it baffling—after all, within just a few days of transferring to No. 8 High School, girls were already flocking to his classroom between classes to catch a glimpse of him, and even more so during the morning exercises. How could someone like him have left no trace at all during his over-a-semester stay at No. 2 High School?

Thinking of the forum, Xu Yannuo took out her phone and opened No. 8 High School’s campus forum.

She suddenly remembered the shocking and fake photos in the post the girl had shown her earlier, which involuntarily flashed before her eyes. She needed to check if there were any similar posts. If there were, these would all be security risks, and she had to be mentally prepared in advance—better safe than sorry—to avoid going to those less crowded places like today.

Xu Yannuo logged into her account and began scrolling through the posts one by one. It wouldn’t have been a problem if she hadn’t looked, but once she did, she felt utterly unsettled. No wonder the girl with black eyeliner had come to pick a fight earlier—she must have been holding it in for a long time, only finally snapping and bringing her friends to confront her after the library photos blew up.

Xu Yannuo found a total of six posts. Chronologically, the first four were all secretly taken at the back door of their classroom. One showed Chen Chiyi nudging her with his elbow during class to talk to her—though she couldn’t remember what he’d said, given their rivalry at the time, it definitely wasn’t anything friendly. Another showed the two passing notes insulting each other, though the words on the notes were completely illegible in the photo. To an outsider, it might even seem like they were endlessly chatting, in and out of class. Another post was about Chen Chiyi stirring up drama to gauge her reaction, pretending to be pitiful and claiming he’d been bullied in the grove, begging for protection. She had ignored him, and he’d given her those aggrieved puppy-dog eyes—which, incidentally, had drawn a crowd of girls to the back door of their classroom that day to gawk at him. Someone with too much time on their hands had snapped a photo and posted it.

The remaining two posts weren’t from the classroom. One was from the morning Chen Chiyi had just shaved his head, taken on the school playground—a series of consecutive shots. He kept his gaze forward, expression icy, but in one frame, he glanced up, eyes gleaming and lips curled, looking straight toward the back window of their classroom. The post was titled “Who is Chen Chiyi looking at?” The caption read: Is it his deskmate? Ever since he transferred here, he’s refused love letters, ignored advances, and when girls go to his classroom to see him, he just chats nonstop with his deskmate.

Xu Yannuo’s face darkened. Are those two chatting endlessly? No, they’re endlessly messing with each other! And staring at her? Sure, he was looking at her that day, but the gleam in his eyes wasn’t radiant—it was downright provocative!

Worse yet, these photos were all taken from tricky angles, only showing Chen Ciyi’s face while completely obscuring Xu Yannuo’s annoyed, furious, or downright explosive expressions. With the right framing, it almost looked like the two were on great terms.

Xu Yannuo felt like kneeling in despair. With photos like these and such suggestive captions, who wouldn’t misunderstand? If she weren’t one of the parties involved, even she might start reading too much into it.

The last post was the one Black Eyeliner had just shown her. She couldn’t bear to click on it again—it was downright eye-searing.

After this series of events, even she herself began to doubt that their relationship was anything but ordinary.

Moreover, she had just glanced at the comments under these six posts, each with at least hundreds of replies. As for what exactly was said, Xu Yannuo didn’t want to read further. Just thinking about how the dark eyeliner girl was driven green with envy and how her friend spewed the most vicious insults, it was easy to imagine the nature of the comments. She didn’t want to subject herself to that kind of misery.

Xu Yannuo looked at Chen Ciyi and handed over his phone. “Take a look for yourself.” After all, as the other party involved, it was better to exercise his right to know sooner rather than later.

Chen Ciyi took the phone with a puzzled look, following Xu Yannuo’s instructions to glance at the screen. With Xu Yannuo’s help, he opened all six posts one by one.

After reading everything, Chen Ciyi couldn’t help but laugh in disbelief. “Do all of you from Class 8 have such wild imaginations? If this keeps up, won’t the next few posts have us married with kids?” No wonder the girl who stopped him at the door earlier had asked if the photos were real. At the time, he had been baffled—what photos? Where did they come from? Had she mistaken him for someone else, or was she just delusional? Turns out, there really were photos.

Chen Ciyi enlarged each of those photos one by one to take a closer look. After viewing them, the corners of his mouth unconsciously curled up. “Tsk, my looks are truly impressive. Even with such blurry photos, I still look this good.”

Xu Yannuo’s face darkened. “Did I ask you to look at these just to hear you narcissistically praise yourself? I got beaten up earlier because of that last post—you’re nothing but trouble!”

Xu Yannuo snatched his phone back, logged out of the account, and then turned to Chen Ciyi. “Alright, enough. It’s not your fault—you were just caught in the crossfire. To avoid such unnecessary trouble in the future, log into your account and post a public statement clarifying our relationship. Whether you say we’re on bad terms and at each other’s throats or whatever, it’s up to you. Just make sure those girls stop causing me trouble from now on.”

Chen Ciyi picked up his phone, logged into the campus forum, tapped the text option, typed a few lines on the screen, and hit “post.” Then he looked at Xu Yannuo. “Done.”

Xu Yannuo immediately opened her phone to check. Although she had just logged out of her account out of habit, she could still view new posts as a guest. Xu Yannuo looked at the top post—even though she knew he probably wouldn’t say anything reckless now, she was still curious to see what he had posted.

The avatar is a sun with a black line on its face, and the name reads: I am Chen Ciyi.

As for whether the sun has a black line on its face, Xu Yannuo had no idea, but she herself was now covered in black lines all over her face. With such a name that practically screams “nothing to see here,” who could believe it was really him?

Xu Yannuo took a deep breath and turned his attention to the title and content again. Title: Important Notice. Content: I am Chen Ciyi from Class 8. Recently, I’ve noticed someone spreading rumors about me and Xu Yannuo, which has already caused serious harm to the other party’s life. Here’s what I have to say: she is my brother—brothers are like limbs. If anyone dares to mess with her again, you’ll face the consequences. Don’t blame me for being ruthless!

After reading this final solemn declaration, Xu Yannuo went from initial disdain to bursting into laughter in the end. “Face the consequences” and “don’t blame me for being ruthless”? Every day he acts so weak—what could he possibly do to anyone even if he wanted to be ruthless?

However, Xu Yannuo was kind-hearted. Once she stopped laughing, she wouldn’t tease him anymore. This cute yet fierce act—well, it had quite an impact. Anyway, as long as he kept a low profile and stayed out of trouble at school, she could always have his back outside campus. Whatever he said didn’t really matter.