As dusk deepened, Lin Jinhuan huddled in the corner by the academy’s back gate.
Her stomach hurt terribly, yet she hadn’t gone to the hospital. As if guided by some unseen force, she had ended up here again.
The stray hairs on her forehead were damp with cold sweat, clinging to her pale face.
A month ago, it was also here…
That day, she had just finished a brutal fight—Lin Shan and Lin Zihao had sent people simultaneously, and there were quite a few of them.
Covered in wounds, she had collapsed in this very spot.
As her vision blurred, a pair of polished leather shoes stopped in front of her.
“Hey.” The girl’s voice was delicate and crisp.
She struggled to lift her gaze and saw a girl so beautiful she seemed unreal.
The sunlight formed a halo behind her, making her look like an angel
—if one ignored the fact that she was currently poking Lin Jinhuan’s face with a riding crop.
“What’s this? Still alive.”
The girl pursed her lips, withdrew the riding crop with disdain, then seemed to finally breathe a sigh of relief as she quickly ran off.
At the time, Lin Jinhuan thought, this was no angel—clearly a beautiful demon, utterly cold-hearted.
But just before losing consciousness, she heard someone call an ambulance…
When she woke up in the hospital, the nurse said a driver had brought her there.
After she was discharged, that driver came to see her once more. Seeing she was alive and well, he sighed in relief.
Then he explained helplessly, “My young mistress is timid. She was afraid she’d touched a dead person, so she told me to take you to the hospital.”
“It’s good you’re alive… otherwise, she’d have to hire someone to ward off evil spirits again…”
Lin Jinhuan had been drinking water at the time and nearly choked upon hearing this…
Absurd, yet eerily fitting.
A sharp pain in her stomach pulled Lin Jinhuan back from her memories.
Instinctively, she curled up tighter, cold sweat trickling down her pale cheeks.
“Are you okay?”
An unfamiliar female voice sounded beside her ear.
Lin Jinhuan lifted her head with difficulty, and what met her eyes was a completely unfamiliar face
—Qiu Qing’er was leaning over, looking at her with tightly knit brows, her eyes filled with exaggerated concern.
It wasn’t her.
Lin Jinhuan’s gaze shifted past Qiu Qing’er, searching the dusk for that familiar figure.
Finally, under a parasol tree not far away, she spotted that petite silhouette.
The setting sun cast a golden edge around her, making even her hair seem to glow.
It had been two whole days since she’d last seen her…
“Miss Lin? How are you feeling?”
Qiu Qing’er leaned in closer, the heavy perfume on her making Lin Jinhuan frown in discomfort.
“Not good,”
Lin Jinhuan rasped, her gaze stubbornly fixed on Jing Nian’an in the distance.
“Really not good. I’m dying.”
She deliberately raised her voice, watching as the girl in the distance visibly stiffened, a hint of malicious satisfaction rising in her heart.
And what Miss Jing was thinking at that moment was…
The female lead is dying?
Does that mean I don’t have to die?!
The next second, the girl lowered her head, pretending to adjust her skirt while secretly shuffling two large steps forward, pricking up her ears to eavesdrop.
Qiu Qing’er, completely unaware of the undercurrents between the two, continued chattering:
“Oh, it’s that serious? Should I take you to the infirmary?”
Lin Jinhuan didn’t answer immediately.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw that figure stealthily drawing closer, like a little mouse sneaking toward oil.
This discovery eased the cramping in her stomach slightly.
“It might be a stomach perforation,” she said weakly on purpose, pleased to see the girl who was bowing her head stiffen slightly.
In a place she couldn’t see, Jing Nian’an’s eyes brightened another degree. She even unconsciously rose onto her tiptoes, afraid of missing a single word.Qiu Qing’er anxiously searched for her phone. “I’ll call an ambulance right now!”
No need. Lin Jinhuan raised a hand to stop her, but her gaze remained fixed on Jing Nian’an.
Jing Nian’an had just lifted her face, but upon meeting that gaze, she abruptly turned away.
She pretended to be deeply fascinated by the vines on the wall, but her crimson ear tips betrayed her.
A strange sense of delight stirred within Lin Jinhuan.
This little liar, clearly caring so much, yet putting on such an act.
She deliberately let out another groan. “It’s just… I’ve lost a bit too much blood…”
This time, even Qiu Qing’er, who was holding her phone ready to dial the ambulance, froze.
Qiu Qing’er looked Lin Jinhuan up and down with a skeptical expression, then slowly said:
“But Miss Lin… you’re not bleeding at all?”
As soon as Qiu Qing’er’s words fell, Lin Jinhuan’s expression instantly stiffened.
She looked down at herself—indeed, her clothes were clean, without a single drop of blood.
A miscalculation.
Not far away, Jing Nian’an’s previously bright eyes narrowed sharply, and her little face quickly fell.
Hmph!
She turned and walked away, her small leather shoes tapping loudly on the ground.
Ming Jiahe glanced at Lin Jinhuan, then at Jing Nian’an walking away, unable to suppress the upward curve of her lips.
Then she followed the girl’s steps and left as well.
As dusk deepened, Lin Jinhuan watched Jing Nian’an’s retreating figure, a flicker of gloom passing through her eyes.
If she hadn’t seen wrong, did Baby just look… disappointed?
She was perfectly fine… and Baby was disappointed?!
Lin Jinhuan slowly straightened up, the earlier feigned weakness completely gone.
For a moment, she found it hard to accept her own speculation.
Qiu Qing’er stood in place, somewhat bewildered.
The carefully wrapped chocolate box made a faint crumpling sound in her hands.
Maintaining a gentle smile, she extended the box toward Lin Jinhuan, her expression troubled:
“Miss Lin, Miss Jing didn’t seem to like the chocolates I gave her… If you don’t mind…”
Usually, at this point, a normal person would give her an out.
But now, the person opposite her was Lin Jinhuan, whom she had just exposed.
Lin Jinhuan glanced down coldly at the box of chocolates, her voice icy:
“If she doesn’t like it, do you think I would?”
Qiu Qing’er’s hand, still holding the chocolates, trembled slightly. Her smile faltered, and she pursed her lips instead.
Perhaps I was too presumptuous…
She let out a self-mocking chuckle, her voice so soft it almost dissipated in the wind. “Someone like me… really doesn’t deserve…”
She raised a hand to gently tuck a strand of hair behind her ear, a gesture deliberately fragile, as if holding back grievance.
But Lin Jinhuan couldn’t even be bothered to spare her a glance, saying indifferently, “It’s good that you know.”
Then she turned and walked away, forcing herself to ignore the discomfort in her stomach.
Qiu Qing’er stood completely frozen in place, her meticulously styled long hair tousled by the night wind.
These pampered young ladies, every single one of them… so unreasonable!!