Chapter 7

Our academic adviser replied coolly.

“Why didn't you think about the consequences before doing all this?”

“Now you're scared?”

“It's too late.”

Song Kehan didn't say another word.

She must have been completely broken.

I read the messages in the group chat without feeling a thing.

This was only the beginning.

The real show hadn't even started.

The next day, Song Kehan's parents came all the way from their hometown.

Her father was a thin, dark-skinned man in his fifties.

He dressed simply and looked like an ordinary laborer.

Her mother had cried until both eyes were swollen.

The two of them went to see our academic adviser first.

Then they were brought to meet me.

As soon as Song Kehan's father saw me, he tried to kneel.

“Miss Lu, I'm sorry. My daughter is the one at fault.”

“I came to apologize on her behalf.”

“Please, could you forgive her this once?”

I hurried to support him.

“Uncle, please don't do that.”

“This isn't your fault.”

Song Kehan's mother was crying, too.

“Miss Lu, we truly had no idea Kehan would do something like this.”

“She was always such a good girl growing up. We thought she'd study hard at school.”

“We never imagined…”

She couldn't finish.

She just kept wiping away her tears.

I looked at this poor couple.

For a moment, I felt sorry for them.

But then I remembered what Song Kehan had done to me in my previous life.

My pity turned to ice.

“I understand how you feel.”

“But Kehan did something wrong, and she has to face the consequences.”

“I won't drop the case, but I'm willing to accept installment payments.”

“As for the school's disciplinary action, that's up to them. I can't control it.”

Song Kehan's father let out a sigh.

“Miss Lu, you're right.”

“We didn't raise our daughter properly.”

“It's fifty thousand yuan, right? We'll find a way to come up with it.”

“We'll pay you back as soon as we can.”

I nodded and said no more.

After Song Kehan's parents left, our adviser told me that the school had decided to give her a formal warning.

They were also canceling her scholarship and student aid for the semester.

It came to about eight thousand yuan.

That amount would go toward her debts first.

“Also, Kehan failed four courses this semester,” our adviser said.

“If she doesn't pass the make-up exams at the end of the term, she'll have to repeat the year.”

“Given her current state, I doubt she'll pass.”

I took in the news without showing any emotion.

This was the trap she had set for me in my previous life.

Now she'd finally fallen into it herself.

Over the next week, Song Kehan hardly came to class.

I heard she was hiding in her rented room, afraid to face anyone.

Zhou Jia moved out and rented a room of her own.

She never spoke to Song Kehan again.

“Wanning, thanks for warning me,” Zhou Jia told me.

“I still got fooled, but at least it wasn't worse.”

“If I'd kept trusting her, who knows how much more she would've taken from me?”

I patted her shoulder.

“Live and learn. Just be more careful next time.”

Zhou Jia gave a bitter laugh.

“Now I understand how complicated people can be.”

“Not everyone deserves your trust.”

“Especially the ones who are always so sweet to your face.”

I nodded.

“Just remember that.”

At the end of October, the school held midterm exams.

Song Kehan showed up.

She'd lost a lot of weight.

Her eyes darted around nervously.

Whenever she saw me, she took another route.

When the results came out, she'd failed all five of her exams.

That meant she'd have to retake five courses at the end of the term.

If she failed again, she'd have to repeat the year.

For her, repeating a year wouldn't just mean losing time.

It would mean another year of tuition and living expenses.

Her family couldn't afford that.

I heard the news while reading in the library.

Sunlight poured in through the window.

I closed my book and looked up at the sky.

On this day in my previous life, Song Kehan had been pestering me for money.

She said she needed it to pay for tutoring before her make-up exams.

I felt sorry for her and lent her another twenty thousand yuan.

And what happened?

She spent a week partying at nightclubs.

She still failed the make-up exams.

In the end, she was expelled anyway.

This time, no one would give her another chance.

**Chapter 7**

By mid-November, the weather had turned cold.

Ginkgo leaves covered the campus.

I kept going to class every day, studying in the library, and living a quiet, orderly life.

Song Kehan had disappeared completely.

She didn't even show up for her exams.

I heard she'd taken a leave of absence, claiming there was trouble at home and she had to help out.

But everyone knew the real reason.

She couldn't stay at school anymore.

She was drowning in debt.

Her studies were a disaster.

Her reputation was ruined.

Staying would only bring her more humiliation.

When Zhou Jia told me, she still sounded a little shaken.

“Kehan really did take a leave of absence.”

“I heard her parents mortgaged their house back home and scraped together a hundred thousand yuan to repay some of the debt.”

“But it still wasn't enough. She owes a lot of other people, too.”