As soon as they stepped out of the door, that heavy smell of alcohol vanished at once. The air was filled with the damp scent of soil, and compared to the nauseating stench inside the house, it felt exceptionally fresh and pleasant.
Zhu Feifei didn’t walk far from the back door—she just stood on the steps.
“What is it?”
She didn’t intend to talk to Zhu Shuiwen for long.
Three minutes. Just three minutes.
To be honest, she was a little annoyed at her own lack of principle—she had clearly vowed earlier that after Zhu Shuiwen moved in, she wouldn’t say a single extra word to her. And yet…
How could she be this spineless?
It was just making someone stand there for a bit. What was there to feel bad about?
But then…
The moment she thought of the girl’s slightly hunched posture, her timid gaze, and the sudden burst of anger when she heard Deng Xujie spouting nonsense—she only grew more irritated.
What are you doing, Zhu Feifei?
She figured Zhu Shuiwen would probably say something pointless, like complaining about the noise, or saying she shouldn’t have brought in so many “rough, shady types” (her father’s words), and so on.
She had already made up her mind: if Zhu Shuiwen started complaining, she would shut her down with the same logic—
“You can live here, so why can’t others come in?”
“If you don’t like it, then leave yourself!”
She was like a hedgehog with its spines raised, ready to die together with the “enemy” in front of her—of course, before “dying together,” she would make sure to sting them until they were bleeding.
Hurry up. She wanted to finish this fight and go back to rest.
Before Zhu Feifei’s patience ran out, the girl finally spoke—
“Sister, your injury… I’ll go to the hospital with you.”
“What does it have to do with you…”
The moment she realized the response wasn’t what she had expected, her voice abruptly went hoarse.
Arguing is most taboo when your momentum collapses.
The girl showed no sign of panic. She only said seriously, “It may not be my business, but you don’t need to make things hard for yourself, right? Showering will be troublesome, and if you don’t treat it, it might get infected or worse. It’ll be inconvenient when you have PE class too.”
In reality, both of them knew very well that the most damaging line would be: “What will you say when your parents see it?”
If that had been said, Zhu Feifei could have turned around and left with full justification.
But the girl didn’t say it.
Because of that, cutting the conversation off forcibly would only make her seem unreasonable.
The girl added, “Of course, some people might praise you, like ‘you fight really cool,’ but I don’t think those people will help you get dressed, do your homework, or grab lunch for you at the cafeteria.”
Zhu Feifei looked a bit irritated. “I didn’t do it to hear people praise me.”
“Then why do something that isn’t good for you?” the girl asked, widening her eyes. “Because you’re a good person?”
Zhu Feifei: “……”
If this had been the first day they met, she would have thought the girl was mocking her.
“You can just say I’m a fool.”
The girl shook her head. “I don’t think being good to friends is foolish.”
—It was just that their definition of “friends” seemed to differ.
“Deng Xujie… he’s not a very suitable person to be a friend.”
Zhu Shuiwen finally said it.
Even though she knew she was overstepping, she really couldn’t hold it in anymore.
Her memory came in fragments, but vaguely she recalled hearing something about Deng Xujie after the college entrance exam.
He was one of those rare “problem cases” in their school’s admission history. There weren’t many students who failed to get into university, and he just happened to become one of them—so much so that it reportedly dragged down Eagle Head’s performance that year by quite a lot.
After graduating high school, he went to help out at his family’s auto shop and stayed quiet for a while.
And later, news came that he had been arrested.
It was said that he got into a conflict with a customer who came to wash their car. Nothing happened at the time—his father pressed his head down and made him apologize.
But that night, unable to let it go, Deng Xujie waited until no one was around, turned off the surveillance, and smashed the customer’s luxury car with a wrench.
On a bleak New Year’s Eve night, he was taken into the police station.
At first, he was extremely arrogant. But later, the police told him that because the owner’s losses were severe and refused any settlement or compensation, he was very likely going to prison. Only then did he panic.
At that time, he was dating a girl. He used the same attitude he once had toward Zhu Feifei—pleading endlessly, trying to get her to lie for him and claim the car window had shattered on its own.
When forensic evidence proved otherwise and there was no way to deny it, he even resorted to all kinds of sweet talk, trying to convince her to serve the sentence for him.
The girl, furious, slapped him ten times on the spot and left.
In short—
Sister, it’s not worth paying for someone like that!
Zhu Shuiwen could already imagine it: once it came time to actually demand money, he would probably switch back from a domineering “boss” into a desperate “son.”
But the person involved seemed to understand this even better than she did.
“Stop talking.” Zhu Feifei kicked the step in irritation. “It’s not like I wanted to… forget it, there’s nothing to say.”
…
Although Zhu Feifei didn’t have a good opinion of Deng Xujie, Yuan Xiaxian actually liked him a lot.
Just now in the bar, after a chaotic fight, the glasses-wearing guy had deleted Zhu Shuiwen’s photo and even recorded a tearful apology video.
If he ever dared to gossip behind her back again, she guaranteed that the next day a truck with an external display screen would park at the school gate and loop his video 24/7.
Even so, it probably still wouldn’t be as widely circulated as Zhu Shuiwen’s photo.
From the man’s chaotic explanation, she learned that Zhu Shuiwen’s photo had even spread to the neighboring school, Fuhai No. 6 High School.
Every few days, posts would appear on forums asking—
“Which class is this pretty girl from?”
After a wave of explanations and introductions, those busybodies would get excited and start stirring things up.
“We’re sister schools—can’t someone capable bring that girl from Fuhai No. 6 over?”
“Support. Let her try our cafeteria’s braised shrimp and spicy octopus. I hear Fuhai No. 9’s food is basically pig feed [laughing emoji].”
“I can confirm that’s true—the beer duck is basically inedible. I suggest the pretty girl come eat at Fuhai No. 6 more often. I can guide her and even swipe my card for her. If you see this, pretty girl, add me—contact info XXXX.”
Zhu Feifei: “……”
Even though she had beaten the guy up, seeing these messages only made her more furious.
“Isn’t Fuhai No. 9’s anniversary coming up? If she performs, we can borrow uniforms and sneak in to take a look.”
“Also check whether she’s really that pretty in real life.”
Zhu Feifei’s expression remained blank.
It was all just undeserved fame.
The Zhu Shuiwen in the photos looked artistic and gentle, with a hint of playful cleverness—but the real person was basically a clueless little rabbit. This was practically a fraud!
Don’t come over. People from No. 6, stay out of No. 9’s campus!
“Yeah, yeah! By the way, what flavor of milk tea does my sister like? Let’s bring a few extra cups.”
Stop calling her your little sister! She’s not your sister!
By the time she came back to her senses, she had already reported the post.
Expressionless, she locked her phone and turned her gaze to Gu Jinyan.
Gu Jinyan said he wouldn’t hold her responsible for the broken drinks.
Why?
Because—
While the glasses-wearing guy was groaning in pain, Gu Jinyan kicked him and said, “If you like her that much, then go chase her. Calling her a country bumpkin while secretly saving her photos—are you a pervert?”
As compensation, he said he would cover Zhu Feifei’s additional expenses.
However—
The booth fee still had to be paid by Deng Xujie.
Zhu Feifei had no objections.
Just then, someone completely unexpected appeared.
Yuan Xiaxian bit her lip and looked tearfully at Gu Jinyan.
“Ah Fei… he really didn’t mean it. He just believed what other people said… Young Master Gu, you’re so rich and kind-hearted—could you please be magnanimous and let him go?”
Gu Jinyan paused.
Under the light, Yuan Xiaxian’s eyes were slightly red-rimmed, making her look even more weak and pitiful.
Three seconds later, he turned to the follower beside him and asked, “Who is she?”
In the end, it was Zhu Feifei who paid.
Because Gu Jinyan said mockingly, “You’re so generous—why don’t you pay for him then?”
Seeing her friend completely flustered and at a loss for words, Zhu Feifei really couldn’t stand it anymore and had no choice but to pay just to shut Gu Jinyan up.
—She didn’t pay everything, though, only one third, because Gu Jinyan said he wanted to “keep part of it as creditors rights.”
She suspected this guy was just looking for excuses to come have fun with Class Six.
Seeing Yuan Xiaxian sobbing nonstop, Zhu Feifei couldn’t hold back anymore and turned to him. “Can you have a bit of decency when dealing with people?”
Gu Jinyan looked confused. “Why should I show decency to a stranger on the street? Do I look like a sucker?”
The “sucker” who had just paid: “……”
“Oh right, cover yourself up. You’re covered in blood—I’m afraid you’ll go home and scare your little sister.”
The boy pulled off his jacket, lifted his hand, and pressed it onto Zhu Feifei’s shoulders.
Before she could protest, Gu Jinyan had already kicked his motorcycle and left.
Yuan Xiaxian, who had been crying just moments ago, suddenly went silent.
She said faintly, “Ah Fei, does he like you?”
Zhu Feifei fell silent.
…You’re such a hopeless romantic—don’t assume everyone else is one too!
Her friend really was a hopeless romantic, and a top-tier one at that.
Zhu Feifei thought.
Otherwise, she couldn’t explain why her friend had suddenly stepped in earlier to plead for Deng Xujie.
—The result was that she nearly got verbally crushed by that young master.
Even though Gu Jinyan’s words were harsh, Yuan Xiaxian kept persistently pleading, even asking to add her contact details, clearly willing to act as a guarantor for Deng Xujie.
In short, the whole scene was rather tragic.
Afterward, when Zhu Feifei tactfully implied that “Deng Xujie isn’t worth it,” her friend’s expression became unreadable.
—It wasn’t shyness; it looked more like she had just swallowed something disgusting.
Romance was too hard to understand. If only it were as simple as math problems.
That was Zhu Feifei’s only thought.
What was even harder to understand than romance… might be “little sisters.”
Zhu Feifei felt very unfamiliar with herself right now, and the reason was—
She had actually talked for more than ten three-minute segments worth of nonsense.
Why she agreed to go to the bar, what was in the bar, what she ate and drank, Gu Jinyan arriving, Gu Jinyan leaving…
What even was all this!
Previously, she had more than once wondered why people gathered just to waste time talking nonsense.
What was the point? What value did it have?
—Fine. Now she understood.
But…
Why did it have to be Zhu Shuiwen who made her understand?
A surge of irritation rose in her heart, as if she had “betrayed her former self,” but her mouth didn’t stop moving. She casually brought up the glasses-wearing guy and even showed her the apology video.
After the video ended, the girl said nothing for a long time.
Just as Zhu Feifei was puzzled, she saw her sister raise a hand and quickly wipe her eyes.
But in the next second, a new teardrop fell, splashing onto the marble steps.
—She was crying.
Zhu Feifei thought she should be very calm about it, just like when Deng Xujie had been crying and begging at Gu Jinyan’s feet earlier, she had felt nothing.
But in reality, she was frantically digging through her pockets for tissues.
Where were they?
Then she remembered: oh, the jacket was Gu Jinyan’s.
…Gu Jinyan, why did you go out without tissues?!
Before her irritation could fully erupt, the girl suddenly stepped closer in small, hesitant steps, closing the distance between them to an unprecedented degree.
Then—
She reached out and gently hugged her.
Zhu Shuiwen, what are you doing?!
Let go!
Are you insane?!
These three sentences flashed through her mind at the same time—but in the end, what came out of her mouth was:
“I already beat him up for you. Don’t be sad.”
The girl’s body trembled slightly.
Probably trying not to dirty her clothes, she pressed her forehead against Zhu Feifei’s shoulder, leaving a small gap, crying softly against her.
…Somehow, Zhu Feifei started to feel uneasy too.
Even Deng Xujie’s screaming hadn’t made her this irritated.
Zhu Feifei suddenly regretted not hitting harder—she hadn’t even smashed the guy’s glasses. Why did she go easy on him?
She said, “I’ll take you to him on Monday. You can beat him again.”
“It’s not because of that.”
The girl’s voice was thick with a nasal tone. “Because my sister protected me, and got hurt… I just, feel both happy and sad…”
It’s not for you.
She just thought Gu Jinyan was asking for a beating—she only used it as an excuse.
She couldn’t say it out loud.
The girl’s arms around her were very careful and tentative, as if afraid of being pushed away at any moment, yet her body leaned in with dependence.
So stupid. How could someone get rejected so many times and still never learn?
Zhu Feifei froze for a long time. Just as her hands instinctively started to move as if to hug her back—
The door suddenly opened.
“Ah Fei.”
Yuan Xiaxian was holding a deck of cards, acting as if nothing had happened. “Are you done? We’ve been waiting a long time.”
She emphasized the word “we.”
…
Bang—the door shut.
Zhu Shuiwen stood outside, feeling only one word in her heart: desolation.
Originally, she had almost said the words “go to the hospital.”
Zhu Feifei had been cut by flying glass shards from a broken bottle. It looked scary, but wasn’t serious—the bleeding had already stopped quickly. That was probably why others didn’t pay much attention.
After all, Zhu Feifei getting into fights was a common occurrence.
However, Zhu Shuiwen was worried there might still be glass fragments embedded in the wound and thought a doctor should check it.
Unfortunately—
Zhu Feifei hated hospitals!
Finally getting a chance to talk, she had been interrupted by Yuan Xiaxian again.
She didn’t know if she would get another chance later, especially since…
Her sister’s attitude was really hard to read.
If she disliked her, why did she talk to her for so long?
If she liked her, why did she leave so decisively, as if she had just finished all the words in her life and was cutting ties forever?
She tried negotiating with the system:
“Can you give me another mission? One that can detect the female lead’s affection level…”
The system: […Don’t try to exploit bugs.]
It decided that when it returned, it would add a line to the host manual—
Do not use the patch system as a strategy system.
No negotiation allowed!
No such function!
And so she waited until late at night.
3 a.m.
Zhu Shuiwen was so sleepy she was about to pass out.
After finishing two exam papers, the voices outside finally quieted down, and footsteps gradually went upstairs.
Everything went dark.
She picked up her phone and quietly walked out, switching on the flashlight.
Zhu Feifei hadn’t gone back to her room; she was lying on the sofa with her eyes closed, her chest rising and falling faintly.
Only then did she realize Zhu Feifei had probably given her own room to Yuan Xiaxian and the others.
…At least cover her with a blanket.
The girl walked around several people lying scattered on the floor, placed the medical kit down, held her breath, and pointed the light toward Zhu Feifei’s arm.
Fortunately, there didn’t seem to be any visible glass shards.
Did her older sister handle it herself first? Then why didn’t she rinse the wound properly?
Zhu Shuiwen thought about it for a while but couldn’t reach any conclusion, so she simply set her phone on her lap, lowered her head, and opened the first-aid kit.
She should at least clean the blood off with alcohol first.
She picked up an alcohol-soaked cotton ball with tweezers. Just as she lifted her phone again, she suddenly met a pair of eyes.
In the darkness, they glowed with a cold, wolf-like gleam.
—Zhu Feifei wasn’t asleep.
“What are you doing?”
At that question, Zhu Shuiwen’s hand trembled, and her phone slipped with a “whoosh,” falling under the sofa.
“You sneak in here in the middle of the night instead of sleeping, just to check whether my arm has glass in it?”
Zhu Shuiwen sat on the carpet like an elementary school student and whispered, “Aren’t you not asleep either?”
…Good. She’s improving. She even dared to talk back to her sister now.
In the darkness, only the phone on Zhu Shuiwen’s lap was glowing, illuminating the girl’s face into something almost unrecognizable—like a horror film scene.
Hearing the commotion, someone nearby rolled over and looked over groggily.
—He happened to lock eyes with Zhu Shuiwen, whose chin was lit up bright like a lightbulb.
“Ah, I think I just saw a ghost.”
With a crash, he fell back down again.
Fainting wasn’t a big deal, but on his way down he knocked over the bowl of melon seeds beside him.
Immediately, crumbs flew everywhere, and the cracked shells of the melon seeds scattered across the carpet.
Zhu Shuiwen felt like she was about to suffocate again and instinctively reached out to gather them, but she heard Zhu Feifei say, “Are you planning to clean this up too?”
Although her voice wasn’t loud, Zhu Shuiwen could feel that Zhu Feifei’s emotions at this moment were heavier than usual.
Zhu Feifei simply walked over and crushed apart the pile of melon seed shells.
One by one, the shells embedded themselves into the fibers of the plush carpet. Even with a powerful vacuum cleaner, it would probably be extremely difficult to clean them out.
—It was ruined.
“Zhu Shuiwen, this is my house, not yours.”
She leaned down, her gaze turning into the familiar coldness Zhu Shuiwen knew so well. “You don’t need to be so helpful.”
The girl finally reacted. “…Were you doing this on purpose?”
Zhu Feifei let out a faint mocking laugh and looked down at her arrogantly. “Yeah. Otherwise, why would I let a bunch of people I don’t even know into my house?”