Chapter 49 – Exclusive Sweet Romance: The Battle to Save the Campus Heartthrob (11)
Huo Wen stammered, not daring to display the contents of her bag for everyone to see. Standing beside her, Ran Yunyun noticed her best friend’s unusual expression and peeked inside. The bag contained Huo Wen’s usual belongings—along with a pink phone.
“Wenwen, what’s wrong? Everyone’s waiting.”
Since the girl who lost her phone never described its appearance, Ran Yunyun assumed the phone in Huo Wen’s bag was just a new backup phone she had recently bought. After all, Huo Wen had been talking about getting a new phone for some time.
Seeing that Huo Wen was hesitating, Ran Yunyun, wanting to prove her friend’s innocence, took it upon herself to display the bag’s contents.
Tissues, lipstick, a mirror, powder, and—
A phone.
“My phone!” The girl who had been robbed immediately recognized it and snatched it from Ran Yunyun’s hand, her sharp nails nearly scratching her skin.
“Hiss—” Ran Yunyun winced, rubbing the reddened area on her hand. “Your phone?”
“So, the thief is you? Accusing others to cover your own crime—I’ve never seen anything like it before!” The girl first felt relief, then rage. Huo Wen had played her like a fool and even made her falsely accuse Bai Mo.
The design instructor spoke up: “Are you certain this is your phone? How can you prove it?”
As the arbiter of the situation, the instructor wouldn’t jump to conclusions without evidence.
The girl immediately recited her phone number and ringtone. A student in the crowd dialed the number, and sure enough, the pink phone started playing its ringtone. If that wasn’t proof enough, the phone’s gallery contained her selfies, and she could even call on her roommates as witnesses.
The truth was now undeniable. Huo Wen had twisted the facts and falsely accused an innocent person. Not even Ran Yunyun could help her now.
Huo Wen’s face turned deathly pale. She couldn’t explain why the phone was in her bag. She had clearly seen it being slipped into Bai Mo’s backpack—so how did it end up here? She glanced toward a certain spot in the crowd. The girl she fixed her gaze on shrank back, lowering her head, not daring to meet her eyes.
She had personally placed the phone in Bai Mo’s bag, so how had it changed places? She had no idea. But there was no way she could step forward to defend Huo Wen now—otherwise, the design instructor would label her an accomplice.
“If today we had only checked Mo Mo’s bag and not Huo Wen’s, wouldn’t that mean we had a thief hiding among us all along?”
Jian Haocang, usually gentle and kind, was truly angry this time. Again and again, people tried to bring Mo Mo down. This time, they didn’t succeed. If they let it slide, wouldn’t they just escalate their tactics next time?
Jian Haocang understood the saying, “If you don’t eliminate the snake, it will strike back.” Since that was the case, he would play the villain today. He suggested that the girl who was robbed call the police.
Tears streamed down Huo Wen’s face as she sobbed and apologized. If the police got involved, her record would be tainted forever. Her dreams and future would be ruined.
Huo Wen cried miserably, almost kneeling to beg the stolen girl’s forgiveness. No matter what, she had to get through this first. The girl, pulled off balance by Huo Wen’s desperate grasp, looked troubled. Feeling sympathetic, Ran Yunyun spoke up in her defense.
The design instructor frowned, also considering the situation.
Bai Mo mumbled, “But she stole something… That was the last gift the young lady’s father gave her.”
His voice wasn’t loud, but it was just enough for the people who needed to hear it.
At the mention of her late father, the stolen girl couldn’t stop her tears from falling.
People are emotional beings. While she had been too aggressive, it was understandable. The real culprit here was Huo Wen.
Seeing things spiraling out of control, Ran Yunyun anxiously pushed Huo Wen. “Wenwen, hurry and apologize.”
“Wenwen just lost her head for a moment. Give her another chance—she won’t do it again.” Ran Yunyun pleaded on behalf of her best friend.
Jian Haocang, unwilling to let Huo Wen off the hook, asked coldly, “Can you guarantee she won’t do it again? What proof do you have?”
He turned to the design instructor and suggested, “Teacher, I think we should call the police. This has become a huge issue, not just for us as students. If this spreads, it will also damage the school’s reputation.”
A University was a prestigious institution with over a century of history, producing countless renowned alumni. It was one of the top universities students fought to get into. Graduating from A University was a mark of pride.
The design instructor took this into account and left the final decision to the victim.
Despite Huo Wen’s desperate pleas and Ran Yunyun’s attempts to mediate, the stolen girl steeled her heart and chose to call the police.
Just as Jian Haocang had said, falsely accusing someone while being the real thief was despicable. No one could guarantee that Huo Wen had truly changed, and it would be unfair to those she had stolen from in the past.
At this, Xiao Bobao could only say, “Well done.” If the girl hadn’t called the police, she would have urged Mo Mo to do it—there was no way Huo Wen could get off so easily.
What she had done was truly harmful—and the target of that harm was Mo Mo.
The officer who arrived was the same policewoman who had previously taken Bai Mo’s statement. The boy greeted her with a well-behaved smile, making the officer chuckle. After understanding the situation, she looked at Huo Wen with nothing but disdain for her actions.
The incident finally came to an end as Bai Mo placed the watch on Jian Haocang’s wrist, surrounded by envious and jealous gazes, while Huo Wen and the stolen girl were taken to the police station for further investigation.
The “Jian-Bai Romance” once again trended on A University’s hot topics, and Bai Mo’s information spread widely. However, despite everyone’s efforts, they still couldn’t determine which major Bai Mo was in at C University.
Many were eager to dig up his class details—after all, beautiful women often came from certain fields of study. Meanwhile, single guys were hoping to find a girl as stunning as Bai Mo to pursue, if only to avoid being force-fed Jian Haocang’s daily public displays of affection.
A wave of romantic enthusiasm suddenly swept through A University. It became a common sight to see A University students flocking to C University, much to the alarm of C University’s male students. “Who are you? Where did you come from? What? You’re trying to steal my crush? Which class are you from? Name yourself!”
The social forums of both universities were abuzz with heated discussions. Meanwhile, the two main characters behind all of this remained oblivious to the outside world. They were either busy attending classes and working on assignments or leisurely strolling hand in hand—completely carefree.
As for Huo Wen, although she wasn’t sentenced or detained, she was required to write a formal statement of remorse and publicly apologize to both the stolen girl and Bai Mo. For a long time, she didn’t dare to show her face. Whenever she went out, she wore a hat and mask, covering herself up tightly to avoid being recognized.
After this incident, Huo Wen’s hatred for Bai Mo deepened even further. Jian Haocang, who had shown her no mercy, was also added to her blacklist. It was all because of them that she had been humiliated like this.
She played with a video she had secretly recorded at the mall—footage of Bai Mo being harassed. Since Jian Haocang didn’t care about their former classmate relationship and had even dumped Yunyun, there was no reason for her to hold back either. She was simply waiting for the right moment—the perfect chance for revenge.
Time flew by, bringing joy to some and misery to others. Four months passed in the blink of an eye. Life was peaceful, with no further trouble.
The female lead, Ran Yunyun, either backed down out of fear or felt ashamed because of Huo Wen’s scandal, making her reluctant to face Jian Haocang.
She avoided him whenever possible, and if she couldn’t, she minimized contact and never allowed herself to be alone with him—giving no room for gossip.
Bai Mo was very pleased with this. She had wised up and learned her place. Since she wasn’t actively stirring up trouble, he had no reason to provoke her either. Everyone could coexist peacefully.
As the Youth Design Competition approached, Jian Haocang became increasingly busy, barely having time to reply to Bai Mo’s messages. Bai Mo, not wanting to disturb him, found himself with plenty of free time. He ended up accompanying Xiao Bobao, who had recently become obsessed with dresses, to study dress-making.
But just three days before the competition, a video swept across both A University and C University.
The video featured A University’s “Daughter-in-Law”, who had recently been a trending topic. In it, she was seen messing around with a strange man in a shopping mall—in broad daylight, in public, with absolutely no sense of decency or morality. The impact was severe.
Huo Wen had deliberately edited the video, cutting out crucial context. With just this single clip, Bai Mo was quickly labeled a promiscuous, morally corrupt person.
As Bai Mo walked along the campus path, his appearance in men’s clothing was a stark contrast to his look when he wore dresses. Because of this, no one associated him with the scandal surrounding “Wutong Gate.” However, he frequently overheard passersby whispering phrases like “Jian Haocang’s head must be glowing green,” “Poor guy,” and “What a massive green hat.”
Given the rumors about his dear lover, Bai Mo took the matter very seriously. He politely asked a fellow student for details, and the kindhearted student not only sent him the video link but also shared their own thoughts along with those of many netizens.
After watching the video, Bai Mo and Xiao Bobao trembled with fury.
Thanks to his well-mannered upbringing, Bai Mo managed to suppress his urge to punch someone. Clenching his teeth, he forced himself to thank the passerby before returning to his dorm. But even after downing three large cups of the bitter tea he usually despised, the fire in his chest refused to die down.
“Xiao Bobao, was this Huo Wen’s doing?!” The only suspect that came to Bai Mo’s mind was her. The female lead wouldn’t have the guts for something like this—only someone as rotten to the core as Huo Wen could pull this off.
Xiao Bobao did a quick check—and sure enough, the video had been uploaded by Huo Wen.
This time, she had learned from her past mistakes. She even went so far as to disguise herself—just like Bai Mo did when he wore dresses. She applied makeup, put on a wig, and dressed as a man. Then, she snuck into a shady internet café to edit and upload the video, making sure that no one could recognize her.
“Looks like Huo Wen still hasn’t learned her lesson. Why don’t you just tell the male lead? The thing she fears most is his family’s power. That’s why she deliberately cut out any footage of him from the video—she doesn’t want to provoke him. Let him deal with her.” Xiao Bobao suggested.
“No, we can’t. Brother Haocang’s competition is about to start. The design mentor has already taken their team to a hotel in the neighboring city to prepare. They’re likely running final checks, simulations, and refining their designs before the event. They won’t be checking outside news—we can’t distract him now.”
“We’ll handle this ourselves.” Bai Mo stopped Xiao Bobao from taking action. He pressed his lips together, closely monitoring Huo Wen’s movements.
He soon discovered that she had arranged a meeting with Mo Qun and was planning to use Ran Yunyun’s name to lure him into a trap. Just like in the original storyline, they intended to set him up, gather witnesses, and catch him in a fabricated scandal—ruining his reputation completely.
Although the order of events had shifted, Huo Wen’s malice toward Bai Mo remained unchanged.
Xiao Bobao fumed, calling her vicious and angrily threatening to exchange energy points for a bottle of bad luck potion to splash on Huo Wen’s face.
Bai Mo quickly grabbed Xiao Bobao’s chubby panda paw before it could press the exchange button. “No need to waste energy on her.”
So, she wants to set him up?
Fine, bring it on. Let’s see who outplays who. Life had been getting a little boring anyway.
Before long, a text message written in Ran Yunyun’s tone arrived on Bai Mo’s phone. The message claimed to contain important information about Jian Haocang and requested to meet in person at XXX Hotel.
Huo Wen had observed Bai Mo for a long time and had gained some understanding of his personality. She knew that if the message involved Jian Haocang, Bai Mo would definitely take the bait.
Sure enough, five minutes later, Huo Wen received Bai Mo’s reply agreeing to the meeting.
A sneer curled at the corner of her lips.
“If I can’t bring you down this time, I might as well change my last name.”