PDGUT - 32

“You!”

Chen Ming was indeed furious and immediately pushed his chair back, standing up to approach Yan Ming.

There were four or five men sitting at Chen Ming’s table, while Yan Ming was alone, clearly outnumbered.

If any physical conflict were to break out, it was obvious that Yan Ming would be at a disadvantage.

Although Yan Ming remained calm and composed, Yu Tian was far more anxious.

Perhaps it was the urgency of the moment that sparked her ingenuity. In the blink of an eye, without hesitation, Yu Tian walked straight to the window and pushed the slightly ajar window wide open.

In an instant, sunlight poured into the dimly lit dressing room, enveloping Yu Tian in its glow.

She stood in the light, her hand resting on her chin, her smooth black hair cascading down her cheeks, accentuating her snow-white skin and rosy complexion.

“Senior Chen Ming.”

Yu Tian rested her cheek on her hand, waving playfully and lazily at Chen Ming.

Chen Ming froze mid-step. His gaze shifted entirely from Yan Ming and fixed onto Yu Tian’s face.

Yu Tian deliberately posed at her most flattering angle, slowly tucking a strand of hair behind her ear with a graceful motion. Her eyes sparkled as she gazed affectionately at Chen Ming: “I didn’t expect to run into you here.”

As expected, Chen Ming quickly reverted to his fake gentlemanly demeanor, flashing a polite smile: “And you are?”

Yu Tian smiled sweetly, her voice soft and alluring: “I’m Yu Tian.”

Chen Ming was a prominent figure at Rong Medical University, but so was Yu Tian’s name.

Though they weren’t from the same year and had little interaction, Chen Ming had heard of a junior named Yu Tian who was said to be stunningly beautiful. During his university years, he was always pursued by women, never single, and had no shortage of girlfriends. He had never met Yu Tian in person, so he wasn’t particularly curious about her.

But he hadn’t expected her to be this beautiful.

Almost immediately, Chen Ming eagerly pulled out his phone: “Junior Yu Tian, I can’t believe you know me too. What a coincidence! Why don’t we exchange contact information?”

Yu Tian simply gave him a flirtatious look and giggled coquettishly: “No, thank you.”

She glanced at him coyly: “Later, there will be an auction for the chance to take me for a drive tonight. If you win the bid, I’ll give you my contact information after the drive.”

Chen Ming chuckled: “Alright, then I must win it at all costs.”

Yu Tian had initially handled Chen Ming with ease, acting confidently and effortlessly. However, when her gaze inadvertently fell upon Yan Ming standing behind Chen Ming, looking at her with a faint, indifferent expression, her composure crumbled. Just moments ago, she had been calm and collected, but now she felt like a student caught cheating by the principal—her heart raced, and she became flustered.

But the act had to go on.

Though Yu Tian was no longer as composed, fortunately, there was only one line left to deliver.

“Then, Senior, hurry and register at the front desk now, don’t miss it,” she said hesitantly.

Thankfully, Chen Ming interpreted her stuttering as shyness. After throwing in a couple of suave remarks, he led his group toward the registration desk.

The situation had been urgent earlier, and Yu Tian hadn’t thought much about it.

But now, with Chen Ming and his group gone and only her and Yan Ming left on the small balcony, Yu Tian felt awkward and unsure of what to do.

The confident and alluring persona she had just portrayed collapsed entirely. Yu Tian became nervous and timid, like a shy and jittery little girl.

Yan Ming stood up, walked over to the window where Yu Tian was leaning, and looked at her silently, lips pressed together, without saying a word.

In the end, Yu Tian broke first.

She sounded defeated and a little aggrieved: “Shouldn’t you thank me? You’re acting like a debt collector. If I hadn’t stepped in to protect you just now, they might have beaten you up!”

It would have been fine if Yu Tian hadn’t said anything, but once she started, all the bitterness and frustration inside her spilled out. She fumed: “Standing up for people with disabilities is commendable, but does your sense of justice really matter that much? No one was even watching! No matter how well you spoke, there was no audience, no resonance—it just made you an easy target for retaliation. Sometimes, you need to be flexible and realistic. Even if you don’t agree with those people’s views, you’re outnumbered and isolated. You should have assessed the situation. It was so dangerous just now—it wasn’t worth it…”

“Not true. Someone was watching.”

Yan Ming clearly hadn’t listened to Yu Tian’s words. He interrupted her, glancing at her briefly before lowering his gaze to the ground: “You were watching, weren’t you?”

Yu Tian shot Yan Ming a glare: “Hey! Is this really the time to nitpick over words?!”

Yan Ming sighed, his tone turning teasing: “Still, you’re right. Next time, I won’t speak up. After speaking up, some people turn into ‘Senior Chen Ming,’ while others become ‘Hey.’”

This man looked at Yu Tian expressionlessly: “It’s truly not worth it.”

He glanced at her again: “Little white-eyed wolf.”

“...”

Yu Tian was utterly speechless. Who was the little white-eyed wolf?!

Just as she was about to retort, Yan Ming continued: “The way you unconsciously roll your eyes at me makes you look even more like one. And didn’t I tell you not to glare at me anymore? Glaring at others isn’t good for…”

“Does glaring at you damage my beauty? I don’t see how.” Yu Tian wasn’t about to back down. She decided to change tactics, resting her chin in her hand and looking at Yan Ming with wide, innocent eyes that shimmered slightly. “I called him ‘Senior Chen Ming,’ so can I call you ‘Big Brother Yan Ming’?”

She deliberately widened her eyes and stared intently at Yan Ming, twisting her voice into an exaggeratedly sweet tone as she retorted: “Big Brother Yan Ming, do I really look less beautiful when I glare at you?”

Yu Tian didn’t expect this to have any effect—she just couldn’t stand always being at a disadvantage with Yan Ming.

But to her surprise, the moment she said that, Yan Ming, who had been looking at her confidently just moments ago, suddenly shifted his gaze. His voice became somewhat unnatural.

“Who’s your big brother?”

True, they no longer had that relationship.

Yu Tian felt a bit foolish for even trying. She glanced at the time—it was almost time for the auction to start, and her counselor had asked her to make an appearance and invite more alumni to participate in the auction.

“I’m leaving.”

Yu Tian didn’t feel like acting anymore. She reverted to her usual expression, threw out these words, and headed toward the dressing room door with a carefree stride. But just as she turned the doorknob, she realized something was wrong.

This dressing room probably hadn’t been used in a long time, and it seemed like the lock was broken. No matter how many times she twisted the handle, it didn’t budge—it was stuck somewhere.

Someone outside seemed to hear the commotion and tried to help open the door from the other side, but to no avail.

Yu Tian started to panic. She glanced at the time—it was almost time for her to meet up with the counselor and make an appearance on stage. But this door…

“You climb out the window.”

Just as Yu Tian was starting to get desperate, Yan Ming’s calm voice came from behind her.

She turned around and saw that Yan Ming hadn’t left. He was leaning against the window, watching her.

Climbing out the window was indeed an option, but…

The dressing room window was a bit high, and the small balcony outside was slightly sunken into the ground. Yu Tian was wearing ten-centimeter stiletto heels and a rented evening gown. If she jumped down and snagged the dress, not only would it be unseemly for her stage appearance later, but she’d also have to pay for the damage…

“I’ll help you down.”

Yan Ming’s expression remained calm and composed. He looked at the hesitant Yu Tian: “Or do you have another plan?”

Indeed, she didn’t. And time was running out.

Yu Tian gritted her teeth and decided not to overthink it. She lifted her skirt, climbed onto the windowsill, took off her high heels, and handed them to Yan Ming. Barefoot, she cautiously extended her arms toward Yan Ming, like a child.

Though there was a height difference between the windowsill and the balcony, Yan Ming was tall with long legs. Standing by the window, he appeared fully capable of effortlessly helping Yu Tian down.

If it had been Qi Sihao standing there, Yu Tian wouldn’t have hesitated to ask for his help. But for some reason, with Yan Ming standing there, she felt awkward and self-conscious.

But she didn’t want Yan Ming to see through her discomfort.

Yu Tian placed her hands on her hips, pretending to be calm: “You carry me…”

Before she could finish saying the word “okay,” a pair of strong hands lifted her waist. Before Yu Tian could react, she was effortlessly lifted off the windowsill. Unprepared, she lost her balance and instinctively felt a sense of danger in the air.

“Yu Tian, I don’t need your protection.”

Because of their close proximity during the embrace, Yan Ming’s voice sounded as if it were right next to her ear. Though his tone wasn’t loud, Yu Tian heard every word clearly.

He said—

“If anyone here needs protection, it’s definitely not me.”

That was all Yan Ming said, without adding anything else.

When Yu Tian finally came to her senses, she realized her hands had instinctively wrapped around Yan Ming’s neck out of fear. While he held her waist, his entire neck was tilted away, as if trying to avoid her.

Soon, Yu Tian was safely placed on the ground.

But for some inexplicable reason, she still felt a little upset. She muttered under her breath: “Is it really necessary? It’s not like I’m bacteria. You act like you can’t even look at me. If you’re so disgusted by me, then why did you offer to help? You could’ve just let someone else assist me…”

It was Yan Ming who had suggested climbing out the window. Yet when it came time to act, he acted as if she were poison.

At first, Yan Ming seemed like he wasn’t going to respond. But as Yu Tian’s complaints grew more exaggerated, he couldn’t help himself. Before she realized what was happening, he stepped forward, lifted her waist again while keeping his gaze averted elsewhere.

“Look for yourself. If I had kept my gaze level, what would I have seen?”

After saying this, he gently set her down again and gave her a disapproving look.

“Can you use your head a little?” Though he was scolding her, Yan Ming didn’t leave. Instead, he walked over to where he had placed her high heels earlier and brought them back to her. “Put your shoes on.”

Though it took her a moment to realize it, Yu Tian quickly understood Yan Ming’s intentions.

When he had lifted her waist earlier, her chest had been directly in his line of sight. If he hadn’t turned his head away at that moment…

So it wasn’t that he was disgusted or unwilling—it was simply his gentlemanly restraint and sense of propriety.

This made her feel foolish and unnecessarily argumentative.

Yu Tian felt a bit embarrassed and avoided eye contact by focusing on putting on her shoes.

But the more nervous she got, the more likely things were to go wrong. The small balcony had wooden flooring, exposed to the sun through the glass ceiling. Despite yearly maintenance, the aging boards had developed gaps due to thermal expansion and contraction.

One of Yu Tian’s stiletto heels suddenly got stuck in one of these gaps.

Just as she was about to pull it out herself, Yan Ming crouched down first, retrieved her shoe, and placed it in front of her bare foot.

“What a hassle.” Though his words sounded dismissive, his tone was calm. He urged her: “Hurry up and put it on.”

“Alright…”

Yu Tian mumbled and bent down to continue putting on her shoe. But before she could finish, Yan Ming snatched the shoe out of her hand.

He crouched down again, clumsily and roughly slipping the stiletto onto her pale foot.

“Are you really a graduate of our school? How can you be so careless?” After helping her put on the shoe, Yan Ming stood up again, his tone still cool and casual, as if he had merely picked up some trash.

Yu Tian couldn’t figure out why she was being scolded again. She looked up at Yan Ming with a puzzled expression.

Yan Ming rubbed his temples, looking somewhat exasperated but resigned.

“Yu Tian, you’re wearing a low-cut evening gown today.”

He frowned slightly: “So don’t bend over in front of men, whether it’s to put on shoes or pick something up. If you absolutely must bend over, at least cover your chest with one hand. Do you understand?”

Yan Ming’s expression looked stern, and Yu Tian obediently nodded: “I understand. I usually don’t dress like this, so I didn’t think about it. It just slipped my mind…”

Her heart still raced from the moment Yan Ming had bent down to put on her shoe. She felt her face flush with nervousness. The sunlight streaming through the glass ceiling illuminated Yan Ming, making him seem radiant. Yu Tian stole a glance at his face and felt a surge of frustration.

Yan Ming was just too handsome.

She was just an ordinary human being, after all, and ultimately couldn’t escape the superficiality of being attracted to someone based on their looks. His appearance stirred unnecessary emotions within her.

Yu Tian tried hard to hide these feelings. She stared at Yan Ming and said dryly: “If my dad were still alive, maybe he would’ve said the same thing to me.”

“…”

Yan Ming looked speechless. He glared at Yu Tian: “Who’s your dad? I’m not that old. Just be more careful yourself.”

With that, the man turned and walked away, his face expressionless.