Just as a new week began, the students of the Romantic Noble Academy were caught off guard by two sudden and major events.
The first event was that the school forum, which had always run smoothly, crashed for an entire night and only barely recovered around seven in the morning.
As students arrived at school, a post from the moderator quietly appeared stating, “Server failure, maintenance complete.”
In reality, only those close to Ouyang Jia knew that their friend had spent the night facing a computer full of code and viruses. She had battled all night to restore the forum to its original state, and even so, several loopholes and bugs remained unfixed.
Who would attack a small school forum? What was there to gain?
Precisely because she could not guess the attacker’s motive, Ouyang Jia was convinced that this was personal. With her high intelligence, she deduced that the attacker must be from their school, likely someone in her grade who knew her and wanted to show off their skills. Since she had defeated the world’s top hacker at the age of ten, she had not faced such a blatant challenge in a long time. Ouyang Jia huddled in the computer room fixing bugs and skipping class as she waited for the hidden hacker’s next move.
The second event unfolded in the second year International Class.
As soon as Chen Shiru entered the classroom, she noticed that the gazes of those around her were unusual. Some were suspicious, some were disgusted, and those who used to follow her around would not even meet her eyes. They seemed desperate to distance themselves from her.
She wondered what had happened.
She instinctively looked at Guan Yinqi, who sat in the front row. The girl still wore that weak expression with her head lowered as if she were studying hard. If something had happened, Chen Shiru felt it must be related to Guan Yinqi.
Chen Shiru rushed to Guan Yinqi’s desk and slapped it hard. “Is it you? Did you do something? Speak!”
Guan Yinqi trembled from the shock and looked up in confusion, her face full of bewilderment. She replied, “I did not do anything.”
Before Chen Shiru could press further, the voices of others reached her ears.
“Chen Shiru is still acting proud. She does not even know her actions have been exposed.”
“She calls others shameless, but she is the one with no dignity at all.”
“Haha, she has been acting like a tyrant for so long. Now that she is in trouble, she finally knows how to be afraid.”
Chen Shiru immediately realized that she was finished. Her actions against Guan Yinqi had finally been brought to light, and she would face the condemnation of everyone.
However, a second later, another thought brought her back to her senses. How did Guan Yinqi dare to do this? She admitted she disliked the girl and had played a few tricks on her, but that commoner always accepted it quietly and never fought back. Even if her actions were exposed, was it not right to teach Guan Yinqi a lesson? The girl had been acting too bold, even daring to flirt with Gu Yingyu.
Thinking of this, Chen Shiru calmed down. She curled her lips into a mocking smile and grabbed Guan Yinqi’s tie, pulling her up.
“Do not think you have won. Even if you told everyone, I am still the eldest miss of the Chen family, while you are just a pet for people to play with. I have my ways of dealing with you.”
The tie tightened around Guan Yinqi’s neck, forcing out a few physiological tears. She gritted her teeth and slapped Chen Shiru’s hand away.
Seeing her resist, Chen Shiru was furious. “You little bitch!”
“Chen Shiru!”
Just as Chen Shiru’s palm was about to hit Guan Yinqi’s face, the classroom door was slammed open. A group of people from the Elite Class rushed in. Chen Shiru instinctively turned around and saw that these were not her classmates, but people from the neighboring class.
The students from the other class started shouting at her the moment they saw her.
“Chen Shiru! Look at what you have done!”
“I think you do not want to stay in this school anymore!”
Chen Shiru was terrified. She had only messed with Guan Yinqi, so what did it have to do with the Elite Class? She felt uncertain, so she tried to act tough. “You have it wrong! What did I do?”
She thought it was a joke. If these people dared to say that bullying Guan Yinqi was a capital crime, then half the people in the International Class would be in trouble.
The people around her whispered.
“She is still playing dumb.”
“Exactly. Does she really not know the video was posted on the forum?”
“Fortunately, I was checking when the forum would recover and happened to see that post.”
“It is already viral. Does she dare to say she did not see it?”
She wondered what video they were talking about.
A sense of unease grew in Chen Shiru’s heart. She wondered if it was a video of her bullying Guan Yinqi. She thought that girl could not have the ability to get a video.
Seeing her continue to deny it, the students from the Elite Class did not say much. They simply held their phones in front of her and played the video. In the surveillance footage, Chen Shiru and her followers entered the restroom laughing and discussed their plan to prank someone. Although they did not mention Guan Yinqi by name, anyone watching could guess who their target was.
The video continued until Guan Yinqi reached the restroom, which seemed like a typical plot where a “white flower” girl is set up by a villain. However, Guan Yinqi stopped because of something she saw on her phone.
Chen Shiru’s attempts to remain calm vanished the moment she saw Wen Xiaoyue brush past Guan Yinqi and enter the restroom first. There was no need to see what happened next. Chen Shiru’s face turned pale, and she trembled. She whispered, “I, I did not know. I did not know Wen Xiaoyue was inside.”
Bullying Guan Yinqi was a minor issue, but if she messed with Wen Xiaoyue, both she and her family would be finished.
More and more people gathered in the International Class classroom. Not only students from the Elite Class, but also Wen Xiaoyue’s “knights,” students from other grades, and even You Xinghai, who happened to be passing by. You Xinghai had woken up late today and had to rush to school with the breakfast her maid had prepared. Now was the perfect time to eat and watch the drama.
“Chen Shiru! You are truly the most vicious person I have ever seen!”
“Acting so recklessly and bullying your classmates, did you think you could get away with it forever?”
“Apologize to Xiaoyue and Guan Yinqi immediately!”
Chen Shiru trembled, looking at Guan Yinqi with eyes that seemed ready to kill. You Xinghai thought that if the girl apologized now, she would likely turn into a villain on the spot.
You Xinghai recalled the original plot. It seemed that after being splashed with water, Guan Yinqi was helped by Fu Dongxue and simply forgot about the incident, which led to her being bullied many more times by Chen Shiru’s group. It was only after Guan Yinqi officially got together with Gu Yingyu that the protagonist took out all the villains at once to show how much she loved her wife.
You Xinghai took another bite of her breakfast. She wondered why their downfall was scheduled later than hers when their actions were much worse. She questioned if there was a difference between “temporary” cannon fodder and “regular” cannon fodder.
On the other side, Chen Shiru was being pressured by everyone and reluctantly apologized to Guan Yinqi. The “white flower” girl had become firm and did not even spare her a glance.
Under the gaze of the crowd, Chen Shiru stumbled out of the classroom and ran to the Elite Class next door. Facing Wen Xiaoyue, who could truly end her life, Chen Shiru’s apology became much more sincere. She knelt at Wen Xiaoyue’s feet with tears and snot running down her face, begging for forgiveness.
“I really did not know you were in there. If I had known, I would never have offended you.”
“Please have mercy and forgive me. I was blind and could not see clearly. I will never dare to do it again.”
Saying these things cost her every bit of her dignity, but she had no choice. The person she had to apologize to was the daughter of the Wen family, who could easily crush her entire clan. Even if she felt otherwise in her heart, she had to put on a good performance.
Wen Xiaoyue sneered and used the tip of her shoe to lift Chen Shiru’s chin. “Now you know how to be afraid? Why were you not afraid when you were doing something wrong?”
Chen Shiru’s hair was stuck to her face by her tears. She murmured, “I am a stupid pig, a blind mouse that could not see you clearly. I am willing to be splashed with water a thousand times. Please, do not take it out on my family.”
You Xinghai, hearing this, thought the scene looked like a strange form of punishment. She mentally slapped herself for the thought.
The morning drama soon ended. Wen Xiaoyue only laughed coldly and did not personally promise to forgive Chen Shiru. She simply let others kick the girl out of the Elite Class. She was not the type to be softened by a few words of apology. She wondered why the girl did not think of forgiving Guan Yinqi when she was hurting her.
You Xinghai carefully observed Wen Xiaoyue’s expression and quietly slipped toward the back door, afraid to cross her at such a bad time. However, just as she was about to reach her seat, Wen Xiaoyue suddenly spoke loudly.
“You Xinghai, thank you for saving me.”
The video she had posted on the forum only showed the beginning and did not include the part where You Xinghai ran into the restroom to save her. This was to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings. You Xinghai was shocked by the sudden thanks and could not react for a moment.
However, everyone around who had been watching Wen Xiaoyue heard the words.
“What? Did I hear that correctly?”
“Was it You Xinghai who helped Xiaoyue again? Is she really that kind?”
“Ah, so it was You Xinghai who saved her?”
“Damn! Why did I go to watch the rain? It would have been so great if I had been there.”
“I also want Xiaoyue to say thank you to me.”
Hearing these discussions, You Xinghai immediately understood Wen Xiaoyue’s intention. To thank her for her help, Wen Xiaoyue wanted to change her image in the eyes of everyone. She had to admit the Eldest Miss was quite thoughtful, even though You Xinghai did not care much about her reputation.
However, since Wen Xiaoyue had taken the initiative, You Xinghai decided to play along. Her feet, which were about to pass Wen Xiaoyue, moved back. She raised her eyebrows playfully and gave a cheeky smile. “Since you want to thank me, how about treating me to dinner?”
After saying that, she gave Wen Xiaoyue a perfectly timed, playful wink.
Wen Xiaoyue and the people around her were speechless. Instead of Chen Shiru, everyone now felt like hitting You Xinghai.