Reborn in 2006, I met Mr. Zhou from the past.

Now that he has investigated thoroughly, he must know the real motive behind it.

Su Fengnan's frankness and composure only fueled Ye Hua's curiosity. He stopped being coy and said, "She's jealous that you got into the study group."

It turned out that when Huang Mao and his two henchmen blocked Zhang Li in the cafeteria, she was still badmouthing Su Fengnan to the girl next to her.

"She got into the car with a man, who knows what she's going to do! Maybe they're going to a hotel, don't you think?" Zhang Li incited gleefully.

A girl next to her made no attempt to hide her disdain: "Yeah, I saw it too. That guy was quite handsome. She must have done it willingly. She's still a high school student, and she has no self-respect at all. People with such bad behavior don't deserve to stay in school, lest they corrupt the other students."

Another classmate, who was listening to the gossip, shook his head incredulously: "Really? She doesn't seem like that kind of person."

"Don't underestimate her face; many men are attracted to her 'cool and aloof beauty' type."

"You're actually praising her?" Zhang Li said through gritted teeth. "She's nothing but a shameless slut!"

"But she has definitely changed recently. Her clothes and style have become much more upscale. Could it be that man bought them for her?"

The girls were engrossed in their discussion, completely unaware of the approaching danger.

Ye Hua gave Huang Mao a look. Huang Mao understood immediately, threw the cigarette in his mouth on the ground, stomped it out, and snatched the mineral water bottle from Ye Hua's hand, smashing it hard against Zhang Li.

With a muffled thud, the plastic bottle hit her, not fatally, but enough to startle her. Zhang Li screamed, and the surrounding girls' chatter abruptly ceased.

When she realized it was a young man with non-mainstream blond hair who had hit her, the profanity she was about to utter stuck in her throat, and a strong sense of foreboding washed over her. But she still mustered her courage and asked, "Who are you? Why did you hit me?"

The blond-haired man stepped forward, looking down at her condescendingly: "You're Zhang Li? I'd like to have a chat with you."

Then, he turned to the other girls, glaring at them and raising an eyebrow mockingly: "You guys want to stay and chat too?"

The girls were so frightened that they huddled together, not daring to even breathe.

"Get lost," the blond-haired man coldly uttered.

The group felt as if they had been granted a pardon and disappeared in a flash.

Afterwards, Huang Mao and his henchmen dragged Zhang Li to a secluded corner and threatened her until they finally uncovered the truth.

It turned out that Zhang Li was jealous of Su Fengnan being selected for the study group. She felt that Su Fengnan's grades had been mediocre before, and she must have used some underhanded means to get herself into the group by the teacher. Adding to this, she was jealous of Su Fengnan's good looks, and to make matters worse, the boy she had a crush on had fallen for Su Fengnan. These multiple blows combined completely shattered her mental balance, leading her to resort to such despicable methods to ruin Su Fengnan's reputation and force her to leave the school.

"Is Zhang Li mentally ill?" After hearing Ye Hua's retelling, Su Fengnan felt it was absurd and laughable.

"Maybe." Ye Hua shrugged. "By now, her apology letter should already be posted on the school bulletin board."

Su Fengnan's eyes widened in surprise. She hadn't expected Ye Hua to be so efficient and thorough in resolving the issue. She blinked at him and sincerely thanked him, "Ye Hua, thank you for helping me so much. Thank you for your trust."

"Why are you being so polite with me? We're classmates, after all. If you're in trouble, of course I'll help you." Ye Hua's tone was relaxed and casual, as if he had only done a trivial thing.

"Besides you, who else contributed to this?" Su Fengnan pressed.

"Don't worry about that, I've taken care of it. Just focus on your studies and don't let your mind wander."

"Precisely because we're classmates, we can't let you go to all this trouble for nothing," Su Fengnan said earnestly, looking at him. "Otherwise, I don't know how long these rumors will keep spreading before they die down. How about you join us for lunch tomorrow? It's my treat. Let's invite all the classmates who helped. We can't let those who helped feel like I, the beneficiary, haven't even said thank you, okay?"

Since things had come to this point, Ye Hua couldn't refuse any longer. However, he didn't want to involve Huang Mao, so he planned to just ask any classmate to fill in. He nodded and said, "Okay."

"Then after class tomorrow, let's go to that spicy chicken hot pot restaurant in Nanjiang Square."

Just as Su Fengnan finished speaking, the class bell rang.

"It's settled then! You go back to the classroom now." With that, she turned and ran back to the classroom.

Ye Hua stood there, watching her disappearing figure at the classroom door, a smile unconsciously spreading across his face, and a strange sense of comfort washing over him.

Sitting in the classroom, Su Fengnan was still secretly marveling: it turns out that villainous female supporting characters aren't just something found in novels and TV shows; art truly imitates life. And here comes a living example right before her eyes.

However, the matter was nipped in the bud before it could escalate. Was this the legendary rebirth halo? Before she could even retaliate, the crisis was averted.

Actually, even if Ye Hua hadn't intervened, she had her own ways of dealing with it. It would simply have taken some time and money to investigate and gather evidence, which she could afford. However, before she could even act, Ye Hua had already taken care of it.

Since we've saved on this public relations expense, it's perfectly appropriate to use it to treat the classmate who helped us to a meal as a thank you.

At lunchtime, Su Fengnan found Ning Xiaojun, explained that she was treating everyone to a meal the next day, and warmly invited her to come along. Ning Xiaojun was naturally overjoyed; how could she miss out on such delicious food?

"Susu, do you have enough money to treat us tomorrow? If not, I can help you..." Ning Xiaojun asked with concern.

"That's enough, that's enough! My dad gives me a lot more living expenses than before, so I can still afford to treat people to meals. Thank you for your kindness, my dear Shenzhou best friend!" Su Fengnan smiled and held her hand.

"What's the big deal? Your business is my business. We don't need to be so polite between us."

"Okay, I got it. Let's meet at the school gate tomorrow and go together."

After discussing it, the two walked out of the school gate side by side and embarked on their respective journeys home.

……

After school in the afternoon, Su Fengnan first went to a hot pot restaurant to reserve a table before leisurely walking home. As soon as she stepped into the apartment building, her eyes were unexpectedly drawn to a striking sight—Zhou Chenyu was leaning against his car, waiting for her.

His sleek racing suit accentuated his tall, lean physique, exuding a rebellious yet cool handsomeness. This sudden visual impact left Su Fengnan stunned, her feet rooted to the spot.

Catching the girl's fixed gaze, Zhou Chenyu's lips curled into a smile. He coughed lightly to suppress the amusement in his eyes and spoke gently, "Su Fengnan, what are you standing there daydreaming about?"

Su Fengnan snapped out of her daze, smiled shyly, and hurriedly shifted her gaze to the sports car beside him, trying to hide her panic: "Teacher Zhou, are you going for a race?"