Gloria Rong stared at Evan Lin, the atmosphere tense and rigid.
"Gloria... maybe let him leave first?"
Ray Lei, standing beside her, beads of sweat rolling down his forehead, spoke up nervously: "He still has so many friends here. You should at least give him some face."
Ray Lei was terrified that Evan Lin would stay and bring up how Ray had dragged Dylan Hu into trouble before. If that came out, Ray Lei wouldn't be able to survive in this circle anymore.
"Shut up."
With just those three words, Gloria Rong cut off Ray Lei's attempts, leaving him to shrink back in embarrassment.
"Give me a straight answer—are you going to eat or not?"
Gloria's voice was cold; after all, this was Beijing.
Though she claimed it was just a dinner, in reality, she'd been tricked into coming for a matchmaking meeting.
The dining circle was full of young talents, and plenty of them had their eyes on Gloria Rong.
But no one ever succeeded.
Gloria had suddenly decided to drag Evan Lin along—not to pretend he was her boyfriend, but to knock some sense into him, to show him the gap between himself and the Beijing elite.
Evan Lin was proud and a bit rebellious, relying on his talent and skills. Gloria understood that, but being too unruly wasn’t a good thing.
Gloria didn’t want Evan getting into too much trouble in the future. If he really messed up, she knew Allen Ju would probably pay a huge price for this kid he always talked about.
"Coming with us?"
Evan didn’t refuse, and asked Lynn Chen and the others.
"We’ll pass, we should just head back."
Jenny quickly replied, pulling Lynn Chen away from Evan’s side.
Seeing Lynn hesitating, Jenny nudged Zoe Zhao, who was still dazed.
"Yeah, yeah, we shouldn’t join the crowd. Plus, we already ate a lot, so let’s just go back."
Zoe nodded repeatedly, then stepped forward, hooked Lynn’s arm, and urged her: "Lynn, come on, let’s go back."
"Uh... you still have some homework left, right? It’s due next week."
She added this as a reminder.
Lynn Chen looked at Evan for a long moment, holding back her feelings, and finally spoke quietly: "Take care of yourself."
"Call me when you’re heading back."
With that, Lynn was dragged away by Zoe and Nana.
On their way out, Lynn kept glancing back at Evan.
They finally reached the entrance and hailed two taxis.
Jenny helped the still-dazed Guo Feng into one car and had Nana look after him, sending him to the hospital. Then Jenny, Lynn, and Zoe took another taxi.
Once the cars started moving, Jenny, Lynn, and Zoe finally felt a sense of relief.
"Did you want to stay just now?"
Jenny looked at Lynn and asked.
"Yeah."
Lynn turned her head, gazing out the window at the fading Scholar's Court entrance, and nodded without trying to hide it.
"How could you stay in a situation like that? Good thing we pulled you out."
Jenny let out a long breath: "Did you see that woman who showed up at the end?"
"She came in so aggressively—nothing good was going to happen after that."
"And that Ray Lei guy, who used to act tough in Tony Tao’s circle, got scared out of his mind by Evan, but then that woman called him back. That just shows she’s no ordinary person."
Jenny looked worried: "What’s up with your friend Evan? He’s not from Beijing, but he acts so bold?"
Zoe Zhao also glanced at Lynn, puzzled: "Does he have some special identity you don’t know about?"
"I saw Ray Lei and Eric Yu were both afraid of him—why is that?"
"He beat them up."
Lynn thought for a moment: "Back in high school, Evan beat Eric Yu up a bunch of times."
That answer stunned Jenny and Zoe—they exchanged looks. It actually made sense.
It was just a little hard to believe.
After all, Eric Yu has been famous for a year or two, and was already a star in high school.
Getting beaten up but never making the headlines—that’s pretty rare.
"What about his background?"
Zoe was still confused: "He doesn’t seem scared of those people at all."
"That last woman had such a strong aura—she’s definitely not ordinary. Is Evan just fearless?"
If Evan had stubbornly refused Gloria's invitation, she probably wouldn't have really forced him to go.
But that would have cost Evan some face.
Still, Evan chose to accept the invitation. There were too many twists behind it—Jenny and Zoe couldn't figure it out, but at that moment, Evan seemed different.
"His background..."
Lynn hesitated: "His mom used to be a teacher in Whitewood County, then moved to Oceanport City—maybe she has relatives there. That's all I know."
"That's just what my mom told me."
She shook her head. "But none of that really matters."
"It doesn’t matter?"
Jenny put her hand on Lynn’s shoulder: "It matters a lot!"
"Just look at what happened—if Evan doesn’t have some special background, there’s no way this ends well. We could even get dragged down with him!"
"And then?"
Lynn looked at Jenny, who expected her to panic—but Lynn was surprisingly calm.
Especially the way Lynn looked at Jenny—so calm, with a hint of coldness, it sent chills down Jenny’s spine.
Zoe Zhao didn’t say anything more, just opened her mouth, unsure what to add.
"If it weren’t for Evan, we might not have gotten out tonight."
"Even if he really dragged me into the mess, or whatever, I’d go down with him."
Lynn shook her head, her tone softening: "I know you all came for me. Tonight was my responsibility—if not for me, you wouldn’t have gotten caught up in any of this."
She paused: "Sorry."
"I promise this won’t happen again."
She apologized, and Jenny and Zoe exchanged glances, not knowing what to say.
After speaking, Lynn Chen leaned back, saying nothing more, just checking her phone from time to time, waiting for a call from Evan.
Just now, facing Gloria Rong, Lynn had to admit she felt a deep sense of inferiority.
Lynn had wanted to stay by Evan’s side, but in the end, Jenny and Zoe pulled her away.
In that situation, Lynn had no choice but to leave.
It wasn’t that she was scared—she just didn’t want to make things harder for Evan by being there.
If Gloria Rong was interested in Evan...
Lynn’s presence could easily stir things up.
But is that really possible?
Maybe... it’s possible?
After all, Evan was getting more and more popular.
Lynn’s thoughts raced, her mind full of anxiety and unease.