The original owner couldn't see through Yue Lingling's little tricks, but Xu Zifan saw them clearly. He recounted Yue Lingling's schemes during the original owner's two relationships, then hesitantly asked the two girls, "Do you think there's a problem?"
The two girls exchanged a shocked look. "Yeah! Absolutely! There are so many things about her that are inappropriate. If we were your girlfriends, we definitely wouldn't be able to stand it. We would definitely think you're having an affair with her."
The group of boys exchanged bewildered glances. Li Dong said speechlessly, "Really? Are you that sensitive? I feel... I feel like..."
"What else do you feel? Facts speak louder than words. Both of Zifan's breakups were because of Yue Lingling. I bet she likes Zifan. What kind of nonsense is this? If she likes him, she should just say so. Why is she resorting to underhanded tactics to harm Zifan?"
Wei Yan frowned slightly and said, "Don't say that. How many years have we known Lingling? She's probably just afraid to say it, afraid that if Zifan rejects her, she won't even be able to be friends with him anymore. Besides, isn't there a saying that goes, 'A relationship that can be destroyed isn't true love'? Zifan's two girlfriends probably aren't very suitable for her either."
Xu Zifan looked at him and said unhappily, "Wei Yan, you're wrong about that. You're the one who introduced Zhao Xin to me. Even if we're not a good match, she shouldn't have to put up with Lingling's temper. How many couples aren't afraid of being ruined? I haven't even developed feelings yet, let alone true love. According to you, I deserve to be a bachelor for life. Who told me I'm not truly in love?"
Li Dong quickly tried to smooth things over, saying, "Wei Yan, you should say less. It's obvious that Lingling tricked Zifan. No matter what her reasons were, she just did something wrong."
The two girls immediately expressed their disgust, echoing, "Of course she's wrong. When Zifan had his first girlfriend, she was such a great girl. Back then, Zifan even broke up with her to avoid breaking up with Lingling. Thinking about it now, it's so disgusting!"
Li Dong looked at everyone and tentatively said, "How about we call Lingling over and talk to her? It's been so many years. Let's talk it out and turn the page on this."
Xu Zifan downed his beer in one gulp and said in a deep voice, "Have you forgotten why she was arrested by the police? She was watching outside my house because I left with Sisi that night, right? What does she want? I don't know what else I can say to her. There's nothing to say. You all know I'm going to have a girlfriend, get married, and have children. I won't let her ruin my third relationship. Tell her for me that we should each live our own lives from now on and not look for me again."
Wei Yan exclaimed in surprise, "You're going to break up with Lingling just to start a relationship? You've been friends for almost thirty years!"
Xu Zifan looked at him with a puzzled expression and said, "Wei Yan, if it were you, would you rather never get married or have children, disappoint your parents, and just be friends with Lingling? You... you really love Lingling, don't you?"
Everyone looked at Wei Yan. One girl said, "Wei Yan, don't talk like that. It's not like you're the one whose relationship was ruined. What are you doing here? Trying to morally blackmail me? That's not reasonable either. What was Yue Lingling doing waiting outside Zifan's apartment complex for over ten hours?"
"Yeah, you can know a person's face but not their heart. You keep saying we've known each other for so many years, but why don't you say that none of us have noticed that Yue Lingling likes Zifan? She's too good at hiding it, isn't she? Who knows what else she's hiding? Nobody in the world would stay single forever just because they're afraid of upsetting their crush. Is that crazy?"
Wei Yan said sullenly, "That's not what I meant. I just think Zifan and Lingling have a deep relationship. Aren't they a good match? Why can't we let Zifan try to see if he can fall in love with Lingling? That would be a happy ending for everyone. It just so happens that Uncle and Aunt have a good relationship with Lingling, so there won't be any conflicts between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law in the future."
Xu Zifan said with a half-smile, "Thank you, Wei Yan. I'm a coward, and Lingling staking out my house really scared me. Whether it's an open or secret crush, it's fine, but using petty tricks to provoke my girlfriend into breaking up with us is a character issue, isn't it? You're ignoring all that and only saying she likes me, isn't that putting the cart before the horse? Anyway, if my partner was that scheming, I probably wouldn't be able to sleep. Besides, I don't like Lingling, and there's absolutely no way I could be with her, so there's no point in trying."
He stood up. "I have nothing more to say. If you think I'm heartless, I accept it. Anyway, I can't ruin my entire life. What did I do to deserve this? You guys talk, I'm leaving."
Li Dong and the others hurriedly tried to persuade him to stay, but Xu Zifan was very angry and left directly.
Li Dong couldn't help but complain to Wei Yan, "What's wrong with you? You've been taking Lingling's side the whole time. Look how angry you've made Zifan! How can you not tell right from wrong?"
One girl scoffed, "After knowing you for so long, I only just realized that Wei Yan can't tell right from wrong. He speaks up for Yue Lingling and even introduced that pretentious Zhao Xin to Zifan. I really don't know where your values have gone. Fine, we're leaving too. Go ahead and look for Yue Lingling if you want. Anyway, we two girls don't want to be friends with such scheming women. Bye-bye."
The two girls left, and the other boys looked at each other. Because of Wei Yan's twisted logic, the atmosphere was not good, and no one wanted to get involved. They gradually dispersed.
Wei Yan rubbed his temples, feeling a headache coming on. He probably sided with Yue Lingling because he'd known for a long time that Yue Lingling liked Xu Zifan, and he'd witnessed firsthand how much Yue Lingling suffered because of Xu Zifan's girlfriend. Meanwhile, Xu Zifan, oblivious to this, was in a relationship and even distanced himself from Yue Lingling for her sake, causing her distress. Therefore, he felt more favorably towards Yue Lingling and thought Xu Zifan was too heartless.
To be honest, he knew Xu Zifan hadn't done anything wrong, so he couldn't criticize him. He could only say a few words in Yue Lingling's defense. Who knew...
Instead, he had a falling out with Xu Zifan.
He frowned and called Yue Lingling. "Lingling, Zhao Xin saw you being arrested by the police. The police are questioning everyone at our gathering that day, and Zifan knows about it too. Zifan is very angry now and wants us to tell you not to contact him again. You... sigh, what were you doing waiting outside his apartment complex for so long? Now they all think you're very scheming. Were you drunk that day?"
Yue Lingling exclaimed in shock, "What did you say? Brother Zifan found out? He's going to break off our friendship? Impossible, he wouldn't do that to me, I don't believe it!"
Yue Lingling hung up the phone as soon as she finished speaking and immediately called Xu Zifan, but couldn't get through. She tried to video chat with him on WeChat, only to find that he had deleted her as a friend. Anxiously, she logged into all her social media accounts and was heartbroken to discover that Xu Zifan had completely blocked her, cutting off all possibility of contact.
She hurriedly called Wei Yan, "Wei Yan, can you help me arrange to meet Zi Fan? He blocked me, and I need to explain things to him."
Wei Yan responded and contacted Xu Zifan. He thought it would be better for them to talk things out face-to-face since they were friends. Even if Xu Zifan rejected Yue Lingling, it would be better than things being like this. But Xu Zifan had blocked him too, and he couldn't contact Xu Zifan at all.
He called Yue Lingling and said with a wry smile, "Zifan has blocked me too. I spoke up for you just now, and Zifan got very angry. I didn't expect it to be this serious. I can't help you anymore."
Yue Lingling hung up on him immediately and then called Li Dong and the others one by one. Li Dong helped to sound out Xu Zifan's attitude. As soon as Xu Zifan heard him mention Yue Lingling, he said that if he mentioned her again, they would no longer be friends. Li Dong and the others then decided not to get involved in this mess.
He advised Yue Lingling to give up. If you don't like someone, you don't like them. It's not like it's been many years. If they are both doing well, maybe when they meet again in a few years, they can let bygones be bygones and continue to be friends.
But why would Yue Lingling listen? She ran to Yuhu Residential Complex and begged the security guard to let her in. The guard recognized her and immediately called the police, saying she had come again. The police took Yue Lingling back to the station for questioning, but still got nothing out of her. However, they warned her not to appear suspiciously near Yuhu Residential Complex again.
Yue Lingling was as anxious as an ant on a hot pan. She hadn't rested well for two or three days in a row, and then she heard such terrible news. She was hit hard and looked extremely haggard.
She had no choice but to call Xu's mother, crying bitterly, "Aunt Xu, I did something wrong. Zifan is ignoring me. Aunt Xu, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I'm so sad. I know I was wrong. I'll never do it again..."
Xu's mother was startled. "Lingling? What's wrong? Don't cry, please don't cry. Tell me slowly, what happened?"
"Aunt Xu, I... I like Zifan. Seeing him with other girls makes me so sad, and I couldn't help but say some things I shouldn't have. But I really didn't mean to break him up. You know, I was even planning to move out myself. I know I was wrong. It's just that I got drunk a couple of days ago and did some things I shouldn't have done. Zifan said it was scary that I kept it a secret for so long, and now he's ignoring me. Aunt Xu, I really know I was wrong. I was afraid to tell everyone because I was afraid of rejection. I didn't mean to hide it from everyone. I know I was wrong..."
Xu's mother was stunned and didn't quite understand. Yue Lingling liked her son? How come she didn't realize that? She immediately thought of how Xu Zifan's two ex-girlfriends had been unhappy because of Yue Lingling, had argued with Xu Zifan a lot, and had even broken up with him. What kind of situation was this?
She had always felt sorry for Yue Lingling, but this time, she felt an immediate sense of disgust. Her womanly intuition told her that Yue Lingling wasn't telling the truth. If Yue Lingling liked Xu Zifan, then there was a high probability that Yue Lingling had done something to cause the conflict between Xu Zifan and his girlfriend.
She didn't know much about what had happened between the young people, but she knew her son. Xu Zifan was definitely not a cold-hearted person; he wouldn't have blocked Yue Lingling unless he was truly angry. As a protective mother, she unconditionally stood by her son's side. She was skeptical of Yue Lingling's words, offered a few words of reassurance, and then hurriedly contacted Xu Zifan.
When Xu Zifan heard her ask about it, he said directly, "Mom, just leave it alone. I met a really nice girl. The other day, Yue Lingling saw us walking together, and she actually took a taxi and followed us, even waiting outside my apartment complex for over ten hours. The police found her suspicious and took her to the police station, but she lied and said she went to the wrong place. If she didn't have any bad intentions, would she rather be locked up for a day than tell the truth? Mom, people change when they grow up. She's not that cute little girl anymore. Just leave it alone."