After finishing her coughing fit and seeing Fang Meng’s face covered in sprayed water, Jiang Xueli apologized, “Sorry, I choked! But seriously, what kind of question is that? That’s your idea of a small question?!”

Fang Meng didn’t seem too bothered. She just put down her notebook and stood up. “I’m going to wash my face. Wait for me.”

Jiang Xueli looked at her walking away, totally baffled.

She couldn’t figure out what Fang Meng was up to.

A moment later, Fang Meng returned with a clean face and started wiping the leftover water on the table with tissues. “Alright, let’s continue. But please don’t drink water while answering this time.”

Jiang Xueli had just lifted her drink, but hearing that, she set it back down. “Continue answering what? Why do I have to answer these kinds of questions? If they were really small questions, fine. But I have the right to remain silent on these.”

Fang Meng stared at Jiang Xueli. “Why remain silent?”

Jiang Xueli blushed and argued, “What do you mean why? I just don’t want to say anything, okay? Your question was way too suggestive! How could Zhengran possibly be dating three—no, four girls at once?!”

Why would Fang Meng even care about this kind of thing?

Fang Meng picked up her notebook again and said seriously:

“Then let me ask you—do you like Lin Zhengran? Don’t He Qing and Han Wenwen like him too? I remember Han Wenwen saying something like that on the first day of the semester.”

Jiang Xueli got a little flustered. “So... so what? Just because someone likes him doesn’t prove he’s dating multiple girls.”

“It doesn’t prove it fully, but it confirms at least ten percent. After all, the foundation of a harem is that the girls all like the guy. You can’t deny that, right?”

“Hah, so ten percent. And what of it?”

Fang Meng continued, “I’ve known you guys since high school. Back then, I asked He Qing, and she told me she was Lin Zhengran’s girlfriend. She said it herself. And you weren’t very happy about it, if I remember correctly—you won’t deny that either, right?”

“Tch... so what if I don’t deny it?”

“Well, since He Qing is already his girlfriend, and they haven’t broken up yet, then why are you still being so close with him all the time?”

“I... I want to, okay?! I want to hang out with him! We grew up together—we’re childhood friends!”

“But if a guy already has a girlfriend, and you’re still being so close to him—isn’t that the behavior of a homewrecker?”

Jiang Xueli jumped to her feet in anger but lowered her voice after glancing at people nearby. “Who are you calling a homewrecker?! I’m not a third party! To Zhengran, I’m a proper girl—”

“A proper girlfriend, is that what you mean?” Fang Meng asked back.

Jiang Xueli quickly covered her mouth and sat back down, feeling awkward. She thought to herself, Why did I get so worked up? She’s baiting me.

“I never said that. I said I’m his female friend.”

Fang Meng asked word by word, “So you’re not Lin Zhengran’s girlfriend? You’re just an ordinary friend? A passerby? Not as close as He Qing?”

Jiang Xueli’s face turned even redder until she finally burst out, “That’s nonsense! In Zhengran’s heart, I’m just as important as He Qing! We’re both the people he treasures the most!”

Guess the provocation worked on Lili after all.

“I figured. I remember back in high school I asked you about your relationship with Lin Zhengran, and you also said you were his girlfriend.”

Jiang Xueli’s whole face turned red. “Wait... so you already knew—why did you even ask me all that?! What’s with the ‘ten percent’ nonsense?!”

“I just thought you were cute and wanted to tease you a little.”

Jiang Xueli clenched her little fists in embarrassment, her twin ponytails bouncing with her body. “What’s wrong with you?!”

Fang Meng jotted something in her notebook. “So this counts as admitting that Lin Zhengran is at least dating two girls, right?”

Jiang Xueli sipped her drink and said nothing.

Fang Meng went on, “Our Miss Jiang—the current class advisor—is also Lin Zhengran’s girlfriend. He admitted that himself. So that makes at least three.”

Jiang Xueli looked away.

Fang Meng: “Lastly, there’s Han Wenwen...”

Lili suddenly spoke up seriously, “I don’t know what you’re trying to do, but don’t tell anyone about this. It could cause trouble for Zhengran. We don’t care much, but if you insist on saying something, I can’t stop you. It just means we’re not friends anymore.”

Fang Meng cut her off:

“Don’t worry. Whether it’s for Miss Jiang’s sake or for the sake of our friendship—or even my friendship with Lin Zhengran—I won’t tell anyone. I swear on my body: if I lie, Lin Zhengran can use me however he wants.”

Jiang Xueli’s serious face instantly turned into a sea of question marks. “?????”

What the hell did I just hear.

Fang Meng picked up her notebook. “Alright, let’s continue. So Lin Zhengran really is...” Her face hinted at jealousy. “Dating four girls. That’s pretty scummy.”

Jiang Xueli: “Wait, what did you just say?!”

Fang Meng ignored her. “Okay, let’s begin the second question.”

Jiang Xueli was confused. “You’ve already asked a ton of stuff—how is this only the second question? And what did you say just now?!”

“That was just a punishment pledge—it shows my resolve. Besides, everything I asked before counts as one single question.”

“Bullsh*t! You think I have all day? I’ll answer one more question at most. Then you tell me how to break this bad luck, and we’re done!”

Fang Meng thought about it. “Alright. Last question—what kind of food do you like, what do you like to do for fun, what time do you usually go to sleep, and what do you do when you’re free? Also, what do you like about Lin Zhengran?”

She added, “Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone the answers—except Qianqian. If I do, same punishment as before.”

Jiang Xueli was speechless. “...What’s wrong with you? Why do you want to know all this? You crushing on me or something?”

“I’m not into girls. Though you are pretty cute, I’ll admit.”

Despite that, Jiang Xueli still answered. After all, these questions weren’t exactly secrets.

And besides, Fang Meng kept praising her for being cute and promised to keep it a secret, so she didn’t find her all that annoying.

Fang Meng took notes. “Got it. Matches most of my previous observations, though there were some surprises. Still, these do fit your habits, Jiang Xueli. Just the last part was a bit vague—you said you liked everything about Lin Zhengran. That’s too general.”

Jiang Xueli finished her drink, set the cup down, and said:

“Too general? I don’t think so. Do you know how much courage it takes to say something like that? I’ve liked Zhengran for more than ten years—my feelings for him are one hundred percent!”

Fang Meng paused her writing and asked, “If it weren’t one hundred percent, you probably wouldn’t be okay with the guy you like having a harem. If you didn’t love him that much, you’d have left long ago.”

Jiang Xueli snorted and stayed silent.

“Alright, thanks for your answers. I’ll tell you how to break your mercury retrograde now.”

Fang Meng pulled out a set of divination cards from her pocket and spread them out, asking Jiang Xueli to pick one. Jiang Xueli thought it looked pretty formal and picked one to hand over.

Fang Meng looked at the card and read the answer: “Your solution to mercury retrograde is... to eat chocolate that your boyfriend has already chewed.”

After saying it, she blushed too.

Jiang Xueli’s face burned like fire. “What kind of bullsh*t divination is this?! And chocolate melts when you chew it, doesn’t it?!”

“That’s not my fault. It’s what the card says.”

Jiang Xueli turned to walk away, but after a few steps, she suddenly stopped and, with her back to Fang Meng, said:

“Hey, Fang Meng... you like Zhengran too, don’t you?”