My Romance Game Updated – Chapter 28

Birthday

The older she got, the more Mu Ning disliked the matchmaking-like birthday parties her family held for her. After starting university, she simply chose to live in the school dorms. She never again returned to that home, which felt like a luxurious, giant birdcage.

Her family sent people to urge her to return a few times, but she always refused on the grounds of a heavy academic workload. Gradually, her family began to ignore her, because her older brother’s son was born, and their focus shifted to this precious great-grandson.

            

Only occasionally, when they considered the interests of the family, would they remember her. But so what? A City was so far from S City that they couldn’t be bothered to send someone to drag her back. Besides, for the sake of the family’s reputation, they wouldn’t do anything too unsightly.

It was only after starting university that she finally obtained true freedom.

Back when she was still with the Mu family, they had been extremely strict with her, never allowing any boys to get close. After all, Mu Ning was a bargaining chip for the Mu family. She was expected to secure greater benefits for them in the future, so how could they allow such an important chip to be won over so early by some ordinary person?

            

However, after she started university, the Mu family’s control over her loosened. To be more precise, it was much harder for them to control Mu Ning, who was far away at S University. As a result, many suitors appeared around Mu Ning at S University, and Ren Muhui was one of them.

He was also the most persistent, the most tenacious, and the only one who ever entered her heart.

When Ren Muhui first started pursuing her, Mu Ning had no good impression of him. To put it more bluntly, she had no impression of him at all. It wasn’t until that day, when she overheard his arrogant boast backstage, that her first impression of Ren Muhui became extremely negative.

            

Logically, Mu Ning should never have given such an arrogant and conceited person who had designs on her any chance to pursue her. Afterward, she completely ignored all his self-important attempts to look cool and his greasy confessions.

But she didn’t know when it started; Ren Muhui’s methods of pursuit began to change. They shifted from the aggressive tactics that disgusted and annoyed her to a gentle and measured approach, with meticulous care and cautious attempts to please her. And just like that, in this tenderness that was like boiling a frog in warm water,​¹ she fell for him without even realizing it.

Ren Muhui had celebrated two birthdays with her.

            

The first time, she was in a terrible mood after receiving a call from her family. She walked along the school’s Luling Lake for a long time, until late into the night when all the surrounding students had gone back to sleep. Then, Ren Muhui appeared. That time, he just stood far away, at the other end of a bridge, and played “Happy Birthday” for her on his guitar. After he finished, he placed a small, wrapped gift on the bridge’s railing and shouted across to her, “You should be happy on your birthday! As long as you make a wish, all your unhappy troubles will go away~”

Under the streetlight, Ren Muhui smiled like a beautiful spirit of the night. He appeared from the darkness and quietly retreated back into his depths. That day, Mu Ning suddenly realized that what people always said about Ren Muhui being handsome was actually correct. In the past, her prejudice and dislike for Ren Muhui had led her to deny his good looks as well. However, her initial impression of Ren Muhui was certainly not as stunning as he was that night.

What was the initial Ren Muhui like? Mu Ning couldn’t remember anymore, but there was one thing she did recall: he was greasy. It seemed like that person always had a slanted, self-satisfied smirk plastered on his face.

            

But that night, Ren Muhui felt like the moon—so bright, so pure. Even the gaze he directed at her from afar was like gentle moonlight.

That night, Mu Ning felt a flutter she had never experienced before. The unfamiliar feeling panicked her so much that she didn’t even take the exquisitely wrapped little gift. When she went back the next day, the gift was already gone, probably taken by a passing student.

Facing the empty bridge railing, Mu Ning was surprised to feel regret and disappointment. These emotions were caused by someone she once detested.

            

After that, Mu Ning became very resistant to Ren Muhui’s advances.

On one hand, she warned herself that this person was no different from those in her family—they all had ulterior motives, all saw her as a trophy to show off. He was only pursuing her to prove his own charm to others.

But on the other hand, she found herself irresistibly paying too much attention to him, secretly observing his every word and action, and his every smile.

            

This internal conflict reached its peak on her birthday a year later.

To be honest, when Ren Muhui, with a hint of shyness on his face, carefully and softly asked if she would go somewhere with him, Mu Ning felt an unexpected sense of joy and anticipation. And after arriving at the small grove he had decorated—simple, yet romantic—she couldn’t help but feel jubilant.

For her birthday this time, Ren Muhui once again played “Happy Birthday” for her. The lively and cheerful notes wrapped around Mu Ning’s long-frozen heart, warming it and thawing it bit by bit. That heart, which had been cold and hard for years, was now beating at a fierce rhythm she wasn’t used to. Especially when Ren Muhui presented her with a delicate and beautiful little cake, along with his soft and gentle confession, the pounding of her heart was so intense it could almost burst through her eardrums.

            

His clear and gentle voice was like the alluring hum of a siren, tempting Mu Ning to the point of losing her mind and accepting his confession. This seemed… to be the first time Ren Muhui had ever confessed to her, right?

In a daze, Mu Ning recalled all the little things Ren Muhui had done for her. His gentle protection, his meticulous care, and the small surprises that would pop up from time to time—everything had subtly hinted at his feelings for her, but the actual words of affection coming from his mouth, this was the first time… right?

Just as Mu Ning was lost in a haze of infatuation, an unfamiliar, arrogant boast suddenly echoed in her ears: “Mu Ning? That Iceberg Goddess? Just you wait! With my charm, winning her over is just a matter of minutes~”

            

Those words… Ren Muhui had said them before!

Mu Ning’s expression froze, and her rationality instantly returned. At that moment, she suddenly remembered many things from the past.

This was not the first time Ren Muhui had confessed to her; it was just that she had selectively ignored his countless previous confessions. How had he confessed back then? He would, regardless of her wishes, rush up to her in public​² with a bouquet of roses and confess passionately. Or, in a large lecture hall during a public class, in front of all the students and the professor, he would dash to the blackboard and brazenly scrawl “Mu Ning, I love you.” Or, when she was eating in the cafeteria, he would act overly familiar,​³ sitting across from her and placing a piece of meat from his plate onto hers, then offering some self-important words of concern.

            

All of Ren Muhui’s past confessions had disgusted her.

The memories of being watched by so many people, of being pointed at like a clown, caused Mu Ning’s expression to turn cold again. She stared intently at the still-shyly-smiling Ren Muhui across from her, unable to understand how this person had managed to figure out her likes and dislikes in such a short time, and how he had so quickly shed all his greasy arrogance.

But even if he had changed, so what? Mu Ning hadn’t forgotten his original reason for pursuing her—wasn’t it just to use her to prove his charm? And just a moment ago, she had almost let him succeed!

            

The gentle smile before her overlapped with the greasy, roguish smirk of the past. Mu Ning’s heart pounded erratically, and finally, with a furious slap, she knocked the exquisite cake to the ground.

“Enough!”

Enough of this hypocritical affection. She really didn’t need it!

            

That night, she said many hurtful things. But as she relentlessly wounded Ren Muhui, her own heart was bleeding profusely.

Mu Ning had naively thought that by driving Ren Muhui away, by freeing herself from his soft yet tenacious vine-like entanglement, she would be liberated. In reality, from the moment Ren Muhui lost contact during the summer break, she grew more anxious and restless with each passing day. It wasn’t until two months after the new semester started, with still no sign of his return, that she finally realized how deeply she had fallen.

That day, she had managed to get through to Ren Muhui’s phone, and Mu Ning had thought about so many things. She had even wanted to tell him that as long as he came back, came back to her side, she wouldn’t care whether his feelings for her were real or fake.

            

Unfortunately, a busy tone cut off all the feelings Mu Ning never had the chance to voice.

From then on, Mu Ning was plunged into endless self-blame. While constantly searching for Ren Muhui, she was also constantly regretting. Why, on that night, did she have to say those things to him!

Now, Ren Chenxi had brought Mu Ning’s memory back to that very night.

            

Mu Ning stared deathly at Ren Chenxi. Her eyes held pain, regret, and bewilderment, but also, a tiny sliver of hope.

“How do you know all this? Or… are you actually Ren Muhui?”

But Ren Chenxi only sneered, cruelly extinguishing Mu Ning’s last flicker of hope.

            

“I’ll say it again, I am Ren Chenxi, not Ren Muhui! As for why I know all this… you should ask yourself why a cold-blooded woman like you would say such hurtful things to my brother!”

If you don’t like someone, you don’t like them. Can’t you just reject them normally? Do you have to be so heartless to feel satisfied? If your favorability value hadn’t been fluctuating so much back then, would she have summoned the courage to try and confess?! Ren Chenxi’s eyes were red. She dug her nails fiercely into her palms, desperately trying to suppress her emotions. She lowered her head and blinked, and when she looked up again, her tone was much calmer. But it only sounded calm.

“Before my brother went traveling, he gave me a call. That day, he told me a lot. He told me about his sadness, his sorrow, his pain, and his despair…”

            

“But he was the one who used me first! He used pursuing me as a way to show off his charm!” Mu Ning interrupted Ren Chenxi, agitated. Compared to Ren Chenxi’s level tone, Mu Ning’s voice was much higher. “If it weren’t for him—if it weren’t for the things he said… I wouldn’t have…” If I hadn’t heard Ren Muhui’s arrogant words back then, I wouldn’t have been so conflicted, so indecisive, so unable to ever open my heart to him!

“But he did so much for you later! All that effort, all that devotion, couldn’t it change your initial impression of him?!” Spurred on by Mu Ning, Ren Chenxi’s hard-won composure was shattered by a surge of irritation. Yes, my idiot brother did say that one scummy thing, but are you really going to negate all the effort that came after because of a single sentence? Can’t you tell if someone’s feelings for you are genuine or not?! If I had known that one sentence had already given me a death sentence,​⁴ why would I have poured my heart out​⁵ with such genuine effort afterward! Why did your favorability value have to rise and fall like that, giving me hope!

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The author has something to say:

            

Xixi: It’s not that I didn’t work hard enough, but my pig teammate is too good at dragging me down…

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