Huayu: I really am a genuine top star.

Chapter 124 He slipped away without a trace.

These words were spoken with both sincerity and bitterness, carrying a touch of self-deprecation, yet also an air of "I am who I am, what can you do to me?"

Gu Pan opened her mouth as if to say something, but swallowed the words back down.

Shen Li's words, seemingly self-deprecating, were actually a constant reminder to everyone present... Senior, you are looking down on someone who earns their own living.

At Beijing Film Academy, there are plenty of people with wealthy and powerful families, but those who earn their own way through their own abilities are equally worthy of respect.

Tang Tian quickly tried to smooth things over: "Hey, hey, don't say that! Shen Li, you're not just some property worker, you're our 406's personal engineer! A million times more reliable than those old men from the property management!"

Lu Manman rarely spoke up: "If you report a problem to the property management, it will take three days. But if Shen Li places an order, it will arrive in half an hour, and it even comes with a chat function."

Her voice was soft, but her finishing blows were precise and steady.

Just as the atmosphere was about to ease, Gu Pan spoke up again, seemingly resentful of having been at a disadvantage in the previous verbal exchange. This time, she turned her gaze to Xie Shiyun:

"But seriously, this dorm is really in a mess. It leaks and loses power every other day, and there's always endless repairs. Shiyun, didn't you say you could find an apartment off-campus? When are you moving in?"

She then shifted her focus to the dormitory environment.

Xie Shiyun put down her canvas bag and picked up a towel to wipe the sweat from her neck.

The movements were casual and languid as she tidied her sweat-dampened hair in front of the mirror, the open back design of the jumpsuit standing out under the fluorescent lights.

"I'm looking into it. But a single room in an off-campus apartment costs several thousand a month. If you're okay with it, you can move anytime."

With her arms crossed over her chest, Gu Pan's figure was accentuated by the voluptuous curves beneath her tank top.

"A few thousand is fine. It's better than worrying about the tap bursting every day. Besides, some things aren't safe to leave in the dorm... Last time my silk scarf disappeared, I don't know if someone 'stole' it."

As she spoke the last few words, Gu Pan's gaze swept towards Lu Manman, seemingly intentionally or unintentionally.

Lu Manman was leaning against the headboard scrolling through her phone when she heard this. She paused, looked up, and a cold glint flashed in her previously languid eyes.

"Gu Pan, who are you calling a thief? You kept that tattered scarf hidden away in your closet for two months, then found it again yourself. Have you forgotten about it?"

"A tattered scarf?" Gu Pan's voice rose half an octave.

"That's a scarf my dad brought back from Paris for my birthday! You're calling it a tattered scarf? Could your monthly allowance even buy a corner of that scarf?"

These words immediately created a tense atmosphere.

Lu Manman sat up in bed. Two long, white legs stretched out from under the covers, barefoot in slippers. She walked to Gu Pan and spoke slowly and deliberately:

"Gu Pan, who are you calling short of living expenses? Your dad having money is his business, what does it have to do with me? You lost your scarf and blamed it on me, and then you found it in the hidden compartment of your own suitcase, but you didn't even apologize to me!"

The two girls ended up clashing.

The atmosphere was incredibly tense, like two swords drawn and two heads clashing.

Tang Tian paced anxiously to the side, wanting to mediate but unable to get a word in edgewise.

The quiet girl with glasses huddled in the corner, barely daring to breathe.

Xie Shiyun remained calm, slowly wiping the sweat from her hair as if this all-out brawl was a regular part of her daily routine.

"Didn't I apologize?"

Gu Pan gave a cold laugh. The full curves beneath her tank top rose and fell violently with her rapid breathing, and her eyes were slightly red.

"Why should I apologize? You always freeload off my things... Tell me how many times you used the imported shampoo I bought last month? And my face masks! I barely use any of my SK-II masks, and you used them to put on your feet!"

Lu Manman laughed angrily: "I'll put it on my feet? Don't make false accusations! You said you didn't like the smell of that shampoo and didn't want to use it anymore, yet you asked me if I liked it and told me to take it!"

Now you're turning around and accusing me of stealing your shampoo? As for the face masks, you hoarded too many, they expired, and you gave them away because you couldn't use them all… Don't even mention me, Tang Tian took two too!

She turned to look at Tang Tian.

Caught off guard, Tang Tian was dragged into the water and frantically waved her hands, crying, "No, no, no... don't pull me..."

Gu Pan trembled with anger, her eyes red-rimmed, biting her lip. Suddenly, she turned around, pulled her suitcase from under the bed, unzipped it with a "whoosh," and began throwing things inside.

"Fine! Fine! If I can't afford to mess with them, can't I at least avoid them? I'm moving out right now! I can't stand this lousy dorm room for another day!"

Lu Manman chimed in, "Go ahead and move it! Who's stopping you? It's good that you're gone! I can avoid hearing so much sarcastic talk!"

She turned around and started packing her own things. The two girls each stuffed their own suitcases, looking like two cats with their fur standing up, neither willing to give in first.

Just as the situation was about to spiral completely out of control, Shen Li suddenly spoke. His tone was unhurried, tinged with a casual curiosity, as if he were watching a spectacle that had nothing to do with him:

"Excuse me for interrupting. I'm just curious... was that SK-II face mask you two were arguing about the one in the red box?"

The two girls simultaneously stopped what they were doing and turned to look at Shen Li. Gu Pan asked warily, "Why are you asking this?"

"Oh, it's nothing." Shen Li continued packing his toolbox without looking up.

"It was when I came to get my wardrobe repaired last time that I saw the exact same one on Senior Tang Tian's desk..."

She said she bought it for 48 yuan on Taobao, calling it a "budget alternative" and claiming it was even better than the genuine product. I was thinking to myself, "Are domestic products really that amazing now?"

He spoke of it casually.

Tang Tian was taken aback at first, then instantly understood what Shen Li was doing and immediately picked up the act:

"Yes, yes, yes! It's the Taobao dupe! Forty-eight yuan a box! I was saying, Gu Pan, I've used your face mask too, but the effect is just so-so, no different from my dupe!"

She spoke with such conviction.

Now it was Gu Pan's turn to be stunned. She looked down at the box of face masks in her hand, then looked up at Tang Tian, ​​then at Lu Manman, her expression changing from anger to confusion.

Lu Manman almost lost her composure, quickly turning her head away as if to straighten her clothes, but her shoulders were suspiciously trembling. Xie Shiyun's smile widened even more.

Shen Li closed the toolbox, stood up, and patted the dust off her knees.

He walked to the door, glanced back at the two girls still standing there facing each other, and delivered the final blow in that honest, harmless tone:

"By the way, the gasket I just replaced was imported from Germany. It should last two years under normal use. It wouldn't have broken at all unless someone used the force of a gym bottle cap to tighten it. So, in a sense, your argument was... a waste of time."

After saying that, he slipped away without looking back.

A faint, furious voice came from behind: "Who the hell did you say was opening bottle caps at the gym?!"

Then it was drowned out by Lu Manman's gloating laughter.