Xiao Yun nearly spat out the water in his mouth when he heard the answer.
“Brother Heng, you don’t even know what your girlfriend looks like. That’s honestly ridiculous.”
Si Yiheng simply replied, “Mm.”
Xiao Yun: “…”
The curse words circling in Xiao Yun’s throat were automatically censored, and what came out instead was calm and polite.
“You don’t even know what your girlfriend looks like, so what kind of relationship are you in? An online relationship?”
Si Yiheng answered briefly, “You could say that. Shen Qinghan introduced us. He knows her background well.”
“Shen Qinghan introduced her?”
Recently, Shen Qinghan had been constantly talking in their group chat about a girl named Xie Mengying.
He praised her endlessly, saying how resilient and pure she was. He had even shared her photos in the group.
All the brothers who had grown up together assumed Shen Qinghan liked Xie Mengying and wanted to pursue her.
But Shen Qinghan stubbornly denied liking her.
A bold thought suddenly occurred to Xiao Yun.
Could Shen Qinghan be planning to introduce Xie Mengying to Si Yiheng?
He tested the waters.
“Your girlfriend isn’t Xie Mengying, is she?”
Si Yiheng’s expression remained indifferent.
“No. Her name is Shu Yu.”
The name sounded oddly familiar to Xiao Yun, but he couldn’t remember where he’d heard it before.
“Who’s Shu Yu? When are you meeting her? Send us a picture so your brothers can help you check her out.”
Si Yiheng ignored him, clearly unwilling to entertain the topic.
Xiao Yun said confidently, “Shen Qinghan isn’t reliable at all. The girl he introduced must be average-looking.”
“If she were pretty, she’d have sent you a picture right away. Maybe she’s too ugly to show herself.”
Si Yiheng frowned.
“Xiao Yun.”
Xiao Yun slapped his own mouth.
“My bad, Brother Heng.”
Since childhood, Si Yiheng had been raised as the heir to his family. His upbringing and manners never allowed him to discuss a woman’s appearance or character behind her back.
He hung up on Xiao Yun.
Then he blacklisted him.
Lowering his eyes, he opened his chat with Shu Yu.
There were no new messages from her.
A moment later, he turned off his phone and returned to his experiment.
Art Studio
Wearing a simple white dress, Xie Mengying sat before her easel painting.
The sunlight seemed to favor her alone, making her look like a girl straight out of an oil painting.
She tilted her head slightly as her brush moved gracefully across the canvas, her expression gentle and focused.
Shen Qinghan stood at the doorway, watching her paint with tender eyes.
Gu Yunjing held her aching waist as she complained,
“Now that Shu Yu has latched onto Si Yiheng, she really thinks she’s somebody.”
“She actually dared to hit me yesterday.”
Just thinking about being kicked to the floor by Shu Yu in the dorm that morning made Gu Yunjing furious.
She had gone back looking for Shu Yu afterward, but Shu Yu had already left.
Not only that, she’d apparently moved out of the dorm.
“She’s so lucky. That little country bumpkin managed to hook a rich man and now has a private place to live in expensive A City.”
Gu Yunjing blurted out everything she knew before suddenly saying,
“She moved out… Don’t tell me she moved in with Si Yiheng?”
“Like she’d deserve that! She should take a look at herself first. Does she really think she’s worthy of Si Yiheng?”
Xie Mengying lowered her eyes, looking slightly disappointed.
“Yunjing, don’t say that about Shu Yu. She is Yiheng-ge’s girlfriend after all.”
Instead of calming down, Gu Yunjing became even more indignant.
“You’re just too kind.”
“Only someone as beautiful, talented, and accomplished as you deserves Si Yiheng.”
“He’s the campus heartthrob, and you’re the campus beauty.”
“The two of you are a perfect match.”
“Standing beside you, Shu Yu is nothing but a joke.”
After listening for a while, Shen Qinghan walked into the room.
Looking gently at Xie Mengying, he said,
“Gu Yunjing is right. Shu Yu isn’t even worthy of being compared to a single strand of your hair.”
“Si Yiheng will fall for you sooner or later.”
Xie Mengying lowered her head, bitterness filling her heart.
But at the moment, Shu Yu was still Si Yiheng’s girlfriend.
She couldn’t understand why Shen Qinghan hadn’t simply introduced her to Si Yiheng directly.
Why had he arranged for Shu Yu and Si Yiheng to get together first?
Sometimes she even wondered whether Shen Qinghan had realized she was only stringing him along.
Was he deliberately introducing someone far inferior to her to Si Yiheng just to embarrass her?
But she couldn’t afford to offend Shen Qinghan.
With tears glistening in her eyes, she softly said,
“Qinghan… maybe we should forget it. I don’t want to ruin someone else’s relationship.”
Shen Qinghan admired her even more.
What a pure-hearted girl.
Even though the man she liked had become another woman’s boyfriend, she still refused to interfere.
“I’m not asking you to steal anyone.”
“Mengying, your family isn’t well off. It’ll be hard for you to marry into the Si family.”
“But if Si Yiheng first has an ex-girlfriend who’s unattractive, mediocre in school, and lacking in character…”
“…then everyone’s standards—including the Si family’s and Si Yiheng’s—will naturally be lowered.”
“When you appear beside him afterward, your beauty, purity, and excellence will be much easier for everyone to accept.”
“Shu Yu is basically your comparison piece,” Gu Yunjing concluded excitedly.
“She’s plain-looking.”
“You’re in the same major.”
“Whether it’s appearance, grades, talent, or character, she’s inferior to you in every way.”
Hearing the two of them say this, Xie Mengying felt much better.
For the first time, Shu Yu’s existence didn’t seem so unbearable.
Still pretending to be distressed, she asked,
“But… they’ve already moved in together.”
“If they… then won’t Si Yiheng no longer be… clean?”
“I have a bit of a cleanliness obsession.”
In truth, she really couldn’t accept a man who had been with another woman.
Even though she wanted to marry into a wealthy family.
Si Yiheng was the highest-status man she believed she could possibly marry, and he appeared to be very self-disciplined.
That was why she always acted as though she were deeply in love with him.
Whether he was still “untouched” or not didn’t matter at the moment.
The important thing was to establish her standards early.
That’s how you trained men.
You had to make your boundaries clear from the very beginning.
Hopefully Shen Qinghan, this devoted simp, would also remain “clean.”
Shen Qinghan reassured her,
“Don’t worry.”
“There’s no way Si Yiheng would live together with Shu Yu.”
“I’ll go check right now.”
“Shu Yu is just a gold digger.”
“In less than a month, Si Yiheng will definitely break up with her.”
Meanwhile…
The very Shu Yu they were talking about was happily nibbling on a popsicle while researching painting tools and online commission platforms.
She planned to build up a portfolio first before applying to open an online storefront.
She also intended to create social media accounts across different platforms to gain followers.
In real life, Shu Yu was socially awkward.
Online, however, she could be… just a tiny bit of a social menace.
If enduring a little online awkwardness meant avoiding most real-life workplace interactions, she considered it worthwhile.
Suddenly, Tie Dan’s voice popped up.
“Yu-baby, you haven’t gone to get money from Si Yiheng today.”
Only then did Shu Yu remember that Si Yiheng was still her assigned mission target.
Her cheerful face instantly drooped.
“How am I supposed to ask for money today?”
“Hehehe.”
Tie Dan produced a pair of white lace gloves.
Shu Yu quickly put them on.
Layers of delicate lace stretched from her wrists to her fingertips, each finger decorated with an elegant little bow.
She flexed her fingers.
The tiny bows trembled slightly.
Her fair fingers looked like polished jade.
Her naturally pale pink nails peeked out beneath the white lace like seashells hidden beneath flower petals.
“Isn’t this pure yet seductive?”
“Isn’t it super flirtatious?”
“Doesn’t it make you want to send money immediately?”
Shu Yu nodded.
If she were the one looking at them…
She’d transfer money too.
“I get it.”
She made an “OK” gesture.
Then she snapped a photo of herself wearing the gloves and sent it to Si Yiheng.
A Little Fish Swimming: [Photo.jpg]
A Little Fish Swimming: “Big Brother, do my hands look pretty?”