SWHCBB 110

Chapter 110 Extra 2: [Modern] What Should I Do If I Fall in Love at First Sight with My Nemesis? 

Jiang Chuang inexplicably gained a nemesis, and by the time he found out, the school confession board was already flooded with posts about the two of them.

The posts described them as if they would go red in the face and lose control the moment they saw each other, gritting their teeth, fighting to the death, pretending not to know each other on the surface while secretly competing in the dark, swearing to crush the other underfoot!

Jiang Chuang first heard about this from his roommate Huang Guang, who was checking the elective course list and suddenly said, “Hey! Jiang Chuang, isn’t this your nemesis Wen Yu?”

Another roommate, Zhuge Qing, ruthlessly mocked him, “Illiterate! His name is Wen Jue, the ‘jade’ character in absolute beauty, get it?”

“What nemesis?” Jiang Chuang was confused, until Zhuge Qing sent him a bunch of posts from the school’s confession board public account. Only then did he realize he had been the campus entertainment for quite some time…

Wen Jue? Jiang Chuang pushed down the strange feeling in his chest and scrolled through the posts. That was when he found out the other guy was in Business Finance, completely unrelated to his own major in Computer Science. They had no contact whatsoever. How could they be called enemies?

After reading for a while, Jiang Chuang frowned and looked at Zhuge Qing. “I don’t get it. This is all baseless gossip. Isn’t this slander?”

Zhuge Qing tapped away on his keyboard, then spun around in his chair and snapped his fingers. “The full timeline of your love-hate relationship, I’ve already sorted it and sent it to you. You’re welcome~”

“So fast?” Jiang Chuang was startled. Since he wasn’t doing anything else, he might as well eat the melon served to him.

They had enrolled the same year, and thanks to their standout looks, both frequently appeared on the confession board, being spotted, admired, and asked for contact info.

Even though Jiang Chuang had been in university for nearly a year, he had no idea where to even view the confession board. Zhuge Qing always teased him about being a campus celeb, but Jiang Chuang never cared and wasn’t interested in such things. Freshman year was busy, who had time for all that?

But now that he was finally looking at it, he realized: damn, why does it feel like his entire life is being watched? Eating a meal, walking while drinking water, he was constantly being snapped and posted online.

But that wasn’t the point. The point was… he and this person named Wen Jue were constantly mentioned, compared, and scrutinized on the confession board and other public platforms, because of a supposed rivalry for the title of campus heartthrob.

Jiang Chuang: …Wait, the school even has a ranking for that? City folks really play differently.

Scrolling down, suddenly a photo popped into view, a photo so captivating it was impossible to look away. The person in the photo was holding a kitten and smiling gently.

Sunlight poured over his face, spilling into those dark eyes and scattering into tiny glimmers. The corners of his eyes lifted slightly, soft under-eye crescents arched like a smile. Those hook-like eyes stared directly into the camera, so stunning it was unbelievable, radiating a vitality that leapt from the photo.

Jiang Chuang stared at the photo, unable to look away, dazed for quite a while until Zhuge Qing made some noise behind him, snapping him out of it. He looked down and saw that Zhuge Qing had even helpfully labeled the photo: Wen Jue.

An An exquisite beauty.

Indeed, exquisite.

So this was his so-called arch-nemesis… Seems the only thing they were missing to truly be “arch-nemeses” was actually knowing each other.

If it had only been because of this, it wouldn’t have escalated to “mortal enemies.”

What really made them publicly branded as “arch-rivals” was this: Yuan Xiang, the campus belle of the Chinese Language and Literature department, posted a candid shot of Jiang Chuang on her Weibo, swooning over him and declaring her intention to pursue him!

Jiang Chuang remembered that girl, she had indeed once passed him a love letter. He turned her down, and to her credit, she didn’t seem heartbroken. She simply walked away. Not long after, Jiang Chuang discovered she’d gone on to pass Zhuge Qing a love letter instead…

Whether Zhuge Qing accepted it or not, he never told him, and Jiang Chuang soon forgot about the whole thing. Who would’ve guessed that such a trivial matter would be turned into gossip fodder?

The gossip crowd dug up that Yuan Xiang and Wen Jue were childhood friends, grew up together, and came from equally well-off families. Apparently, she had even gotten into the same university just to stay close to Wen Jue, only to fall for Jiang Chuang the moment she saw him after entering college.

That blew the gossip community into a frenzy. Anything involving a love triangle was sure to get picked apart to the last detail.

So the narrative became: Jiang Chuang had stolen someone else’s girl, the campus belle had ditched her childhood sweetheart for a new flame, and Wen Jue had lost to a sudden interloper. This dramatic tale spread like wildfire, and everyone just assumed Wen Jue must absolutely despise Jiang Chuang.

Some even worried on Jiang Chuang’s behalf: Wen Jue’s family is rich and powerful, what if he came after him out of spite?

Jiang Chuang was bewildered, like, Come after me? Wen Jue doesn’t seem like that kind of person at all. Even though he’d never met him, Jiang Chuang just instinctively felt that Wen Jue wasn’t the unreasonable, power-abusing, domineering type.

But the later “evidence” made him even more speechless. For example, during military training, Jiang Chuang had gone onstage as the department rep to deliver a speech. Gossip claimed that Wen Jue, unwilling to lose to him, pulled strings to go onstage as the representative for his entire department too.

Though they were in different majors, public elective classes were shared among departments. Getting into the easy classes was a matter of fast fingers. Jiang Chuang, just to avoid bumping into Wen Jue, even deliberately picked some obscure and hard classes. Two tigers can’t live on the same mountain, huh? Seems even regular folks couldn’t escape the “tragedy” of having a rich rival…

Look at what Jiang Chuang had been forced into!

The original post even helpfully included side-by-side screenshots comparing Jiang Chuang’s and Wen Jue’s elective course selections.

There were even claims that Wen Jue would scowl whenever someone mentioned Jiang Chuang, and had once coldly mocked someone for praising him, leading to no one daring to bring up Jiang Chuang in front of him anymore. And just like that, the so-called “grudge between mortal enemies” was born.

Most of it Jiang Chuang could dismiss as pure nonsense, but that last part made him click his tongue in irritation. No way… Could he really hate me?

That thought left a bitter taste. All of this gossip was made up, and that girl Yuan Xiang didn’t even genuinely like him. So why was he the one taking the blame?

Feeling stifled, Jiang Chuang simply shut his laptop, determined not to think about it anymore. But that was just wishful thinking. That night, he dreamt of that person, smiling beautifully, falling right into his arms…

When he was woken up, he was still dazed. Zhuge Qing gave him a strange look and asked, “What were you dreaming about? I called you and you just kept smiling like an idiot.”

“Screw you! What’re you talking about?” Jiang Chuang instinctively snapped back.

Chen Lin, standing beside them, replied with a blank expression, “I can confirm. Zhuge Qing’s telling the truth.”

Jiang Chuang suddenly felt guilty. Just thinking of the dream made that strange, hard-to-describe guilty feeling creep in again. He hurried to change the subject. “Ahem… So, uh, what time is it? Shouldn’t we be heading to our elective class?”

He rarely stayed in bed late, and never felt groggy from waking early. But this time, even before class began, he was already drowsy sitting at his desk. That had never happened before.

He sat up straight, eyes closed, quietly waiting for the teacher, unaware of the sudden hush that fell over the classroom, or the approaching footsteps that grew nearer and nearer.

A faint scent of flowers, laced with the freshness of green bamboo, drifted into the air. A clear and gentle male voice spoke:

“Hi, I sat here last class. I think I left something behind, could you help me look for it?”

Jiang Chuang instinctively opened his eyes, and in that instant, he froze. For a moment, he wondered if he was still dreaming, how else could someone from his dream be standing right in front of him?

Sunlight poured in behind the young man, outlining him in a glowing halo. Those hook-shaped eyes were looking straight at him, as if hesitating to speak, almost apologetic for the disturbance.

Seeing Jiang Chuang stunned, Wen Jue asked again, “Hey, classmate?”

Jiang Chuang snapped back to reality. “Wh-What? What did you lose?”

Wen Jue bent down so they were eye level, lips curving in a faint smile. “I think I left my power bank here. Could you check if it’s in the desk pocket?”

Jiang Chuang quickly lowered his head to check his desk pocket, there was nothing inside, completely empty.

“Didn’t see anything.” Jiang Chuang straightened up, instinctively ran a hand through his hair, and saw the disappointed look on the other’s face. Forcing a smile, he said, “Alright, sorry to trouble you.”

Seeing that Wen Jue was about to turn and leave, Jiang Chuang didn’t know what came over him, he reached out and grabbed his hand. When Wen Jue looked back at him, he scratched his head awkwardly and said, “Um… want to add WeChat? Just in case I find it later, I can contact you.”

Wen Jue’s eyes curved in a smile. “Sure.”

Right in front of the entire class, the two of them added each other as friends. Wen Jue acted as if he didn’t notice the curious, speculative stares and left the classroom without a second glance.

Jiang Chuang stared blankly at the new friend request notification on WeChat his heart was pounding like a drum. He just kept staring at those two words: Wen Jue.

Zhuge Qing nudged his elbow. “Hey, wanna bet? I guarantee that before the day’s over, the confession wall will be flooded with posts about you two!”

“Huh?” Jiang Chuang looked at him, slow to react. “Posts about what?”

Zhuge Qing grinned. “Probably something like ‘Wen Jue officially declares war on Jiang Chuang, storming the battlefield for the sake of love’! But seriously, I’ve never seen him this close before. Those pics online? Not edited at all, he’s actually even better-looking in person. It’s a different kind of good-looking than you.”

Jiang Chuang murmured, “He really is good-looking.” So much so that it messed up the rhythm of his heart, his whole body flushed with heat.

Completely distracted, he could only stare at his phone. Then, on impulse and after much hesitation, he nervously typed out a message: Hi, I’m Jiang Chuang.

The reply came almost instantly: I know! Hi, mortal enemy~

Jiang Chuang choked. Damn… how can someone be this cute?

Just from that message, he could imagine Wen Jue’s tone and expression, tilting his head, blinking playfully as he said, “Hi, mortal enemy~”

Too cute. It’s criminal. Jiang Chuang clutched his forehead, feeling like he couldn’t even breathe properly.

Meanwhile, outside the classroom, Wen Jue was greeted by his friend Changning. “So? Did you find it?”

Wen Jue smiled and shook his head. “Nope.”

Changning frowned. “Could it be the wrong seat? Didn’t we sit somewhere else last time?”

Wen Jue glanced at his phone and smiled even more brightly. “Maybe. If it’s lost, it’s fine.”