The next day, Shang Yan slept for less than four hours, feeling completely drained. While eating breakfast at the restaurant, Shang Yuanlin was furious at the sight of her.
“What were you doing last night? Your dark circles are practically falling into your bowl!”
Shang Yan said, her face like a zombie, enunciating each word clearly, “The casino incident.”
She told him the truth, but Shang Yuanlin hadn’t suspected his youngest daughter had gone to a real casino. He assumed she’d stayed up all night watching movies, so he gave her another good scolding.
He could scold her, but Shang Yan didn’t have the energy to argue back. Her sleep schedule was disrupted, and she felt completely wilted.
The good news was that Shang Yi got into the car on his own today, without her having to call him. She fell asleep instantly, but before long, the car stopped again.
The driver woke Shang Yan, “Miss, we’ve arrived at school. It’s time to get off.”
Still groggy, Shang Yan opened her eyes weakly. “Uncle Chen, please take me back. Even if I get beaten to death by the old man if I go back, I won’t be able to go to school today.” She was so sleepy.
Hearing Shang Yan call him “Old Man Shang,” the driver disagreed. Although he was responsible for transporting Shang Yan and Shang Yi, his salary came from the old man, and he knew who to listen to.
So he could only give Shang Yi a meaningful look, hoping he would help.
Receiving the signal, Shang Yi was silent for a moment, then said to Shang Yan, “Get off.”
The driver: …
He must be crazy to ask the young master for help.
In the end, Shang Yan got off the car. She looked at the driver with disappointment, as if he were a villain who had betrayed the alliance.
The driver: I’ll just pretend I didn’t see that.
Unsurprisingly, Shang Yan slept all morning again. If her stomach hadn’t woken her up with hunger, she wouldn’t have opened her eyes at all. The school cafeteria wasn’t to her liking, so she went to the supermarket again and bought a box of strawberries.
Learning from her previous experience, even if it was crowded, she would take the elevator to avoid the strawberries ending up in the trash.
Back in the classroom, Xia Wen came to her with a pained expression, asking why she hadn’t told her beforehand that she needed to take leave. Shang Yan was still half asleep and hadn’t remembered their plans to go to the dessert shop yesterday.
“I’m sorry, I caught a cold yesterday. I thought I’d be better by morning, but I still wasn’t feeling well in the afternoon.”
Speaking of this, Shang Yan cursed Shang Yuanlin in her heart again. That old man was practically the King of Hell; he beat her up and only asked the teacher for leave in the morning. Shang Yan skipped class in the afternoon.
Xia Wen still seemed a little unhappy, so Shang Yan shared half of her strawberries with her. “I’ll go with you this afternoon.”
“Okay, it’s a deal then.”
Xia Wen took the strawberries, smiled gently, and went back to her seat to read. Not long after, she received a message, glanced subconsciously at Shang Yan who was sleeping, and silently left the classroom.
Club study room.
Lü Yan sat on the sofa, playing with her violin bow, and glanced unhappily at the girl standing opposite her.
“Yesterday afternoon, they told me Shang Yan didn’t go. Why?”
Her tone was cold; she glanced at Xia Wen and then refused to look at her again, as if she had offended her eyes.
Xia Wen was a little scared and stammered. The next second, the girl next to Lü Yan threw a piece of rosin about half the size of her palm at her face.
With a smack, a red blush appeared on Xia Wen’s face. She couldn’t help but cry out, and then another girl grabbed her hair and dragged her to the ground.
“Are you stuttering? You can’t even speak clearly. Did you hear me? Why didn’t Shang Yan go yesterday!”
Xia Wen pulled her hair back with her hands, tears streaming down her face from the pain. Her voice was trembling with sobs, “She took the day off yesterday afternoon, and I only found out in the afternoon…”
“Tsk.”
Lü Yan turned her head away impatiently, “You said you would help us, and this is how you help us?”
She looked at the crying, pathetic person on the ground and wondered if she had lost her mind to believe this person.
She couldn’t even handle such a small matter, causing the people she had found yesterday to leave empty-handed, and making her happy for nothing.
But even a blunt knife can still draw blood if it’s free. If things are investigated later, what wrong did she do? She was just complaining about a classmate in the restroom and someone overheard, and that person, bursting with a sense of justice, insisted on standing up for her and dealing with the person.
Thinking about it that way, it was actually a kind gesture.
Lü Yan picked up her bow, wearing a pair of spotless, brand-new luxury leather shoes, and stepped into Xia Wen’s lowered gaze. She gently lifted Xia Wen’s chin with the bow, her tone gentle.
“What can we do then? If we can’t find her, we’ll have to turn to you. Is that what you want?”
She was smiling, but it sent a chill down Xia Wen’s spine. Beautiful things always have a hidden danger, especially when disguised as harmless. Xia Wen began to regret her impulsiveness, but what’s done is done, and there was no turning back.
So she said, “I…I’ve arranged to meet her today. This time, everything will be fine.”
The girl pulling her hair let go. “Not bad at all. Tsk, your hair is so rough; it’s rubbing my hands raw.”
The other girl laughed, giving Xia Wen a disdainful look. “Poor people can’t afford anything good. It’s normal for them not to take good care of themselves, right, little genius?”
Xia Wen lowered her head and remained silent.
Faced with such humiliation, her carefully maintained self-esteem was about to shatter.
Because they were right; her family was indeed poor. Compared to these people who were born with everything, an ordinary family was like a grain of sand in the Gilbanton Gut.
She was only admitted to the school based on her grades. Initially, she didn’t care about these rich kids because she considered herself academically gifted. However, after arriving at Beijing No. 1 High School, her arrogance crumbled.
In her previous school, she never ranked below the top ten, but at No. 1 High School, she was pushed out of the top 100. She found it impossible, attributing it to poor performance.
But her efforts only brought repeated setbacks. The truth was, she couldn’t compare to those ahead of her. It wasn’t just their family background; even her once-proud grades were a disadvantage. Why did fate always favor those who had privileged families and brilliant minds?
Fortunately, there was a fool like Shang Yan, with a bad temper but easily manipulated. No one in the class wanted to play with her because of her fiery temper, so she easily became Shang Yan’s friend through a few tricks.
Later, when she learned that Shang Yan’s family wasn’t well-off, she even treated her to meals—incredibly foolish, but it did offer some solace. It turned out that not all rich kids were excellent.
But then, Shang Yi’s appearance disrupted this balance.
How could a fool like Shang Yan know Shang Yi, let alone be so close to him! When she heard the phrase “we’ve known each other for a long time,” she was so jealous she almost wanted to grab Shang Yan by the neck.
She wouldn’t allow that to happen, so when she heard someone was going to teach Shang Yan a lesson, she was relieved. She hoped these people would make Shang Yan leave, get far away, and never come near Shang Yi again.
The cool bow of the zither gently patted her face twice. Lü Yan looked down at her, a faint smile playing on her lips. “Alright, help her up. Don’t bully a good student.”