As dawn broke, drivers steered their luxury cars one after another into this famously affluent neighborhood, ready to pick up their respective employers for work.
Or to send young ladies like Shen Zhili to school.
The slender figure that had stood there all night finally stirred.
Jiang Xianzhuo lowered his head once more, glancing at his phone.
The low-battery warning had already begun flashing.
In the message list, the avatar of the chibi-style young lady sleeping soundly on a blanket, even drooling, had not sent another message.
His narrow eyes narrowed further.
“Hah.”
He shoved the phone back into his pocket and turned to leave via the small path.
In the cool morning air, only a faint whisper, scattered by the wind, remained.
“So it really was sent to the wrong person.”
…
When Shen Zhili woke up, her eyelids were badly swollen.
Startled, she quickly pulled an ice-cold eye mask from the small refrigerator in the corner, put it on, and lay back down on the bed with a sigh:
“I cried too hard last night and almost forgot that at this point, I still have to go to school.”
It was pure torture.
A wealthy young lady who had been pampered and cherished for so many years, only to open her eyes and find herself forced to return to school and study again.
What difference was there between this and a favored concubine who, after years of waiting, finally saw the emperor die, only to be suddenly informed she would be buried alive with him?
Shen Zhili glanced at the date on her phone again, followed by a “Tuesday.”
“Ugh, it’s only Tuesday. This awkward, in-between feeling is truly suffocating.”
The Qinzhou Academy she attended was a prestigious aristocratic institution ranked among the top in the country, operating under a combined high school and university system.
The interpersonal relationships were intricate and complex, comparable to a battlefield.
In name, the academy gathered the most elite teaching staff from home and abroad, boasting elite education and the pursuit of academic excellence.
But in reality…
It was merely a social platform for the children of wealthy and politically influential families to exchange resources and expand their networks in advance.
To put it bluntly, no fool actually came here to attend classes seriously.
Everyone was preparing to inherit their family businesses in the future, busy with social networking and relationship-building.
Rather than an educational institution, it was more like a meticulously packaged rehearsal for power.
However, there were exceptions.
Like Jiang Xianzhuo.
He had been admitted to the school as an illegitimate child and was, over the years, the only illegitimate child who had actively sought to enroll in Qinzhou Academy.
When Shen Zhili heard a friend casually mention this, she thought the guy must be out of his mind.
An illegitimate child, living in the shadows, daring to step into the territory of legitimate heirs from prominent families?
Did he find life too comfortable and deliberately seek trouble?
Not to mention others, even she herself was part of that circle.
Even if Jiang Xianzhuo’s face was so handsome it could make one’s legs go weak…
At that time, Shen Zhili couldn’t help but feel a wave of disgust at the thought of his illegitimate status.
She despised illegitimate children.
Just as stock traders despised Trump.
At this thought, Shen Zhili’s eyes darkened, and a tightness gripped her chest.
She shook her head forcefully, forcibly cutting off this unpleasant memory, and rolled over to climb out of the soft, large bed.
Whatever.
Since she had already traveled back, what else could she do?
Just get through it.
On the bright side, no matter how much she spent on skincare each year, how could it compare to the natural, youthful glow of this body now?
Shen Zhili pulled off her eye mask and walked barefoot to the full-length mirror in the room.
The girl in the mirror was tall and slender, her skin glowing white in the morning light.
She stared at her own face and couldn’t help but sigh.
“Sigh, how did I end up looking like this… so striking.”
The face in the mirror could be perfectly summed up in two words: mature beauty.
With a classic oval face, a high and straight nose bridge, clean lines, and clear, bright eyes that tapered slightly at the corners, she naturally carried a hint of lazy allure.
Yet, the inner corners of her eyes curved slightly downward, adding a touch of aloofness and coolness to her features.
It was hard to imagine how one face could simultaneously carry such contrasting vibes—world-weary yet captivating.
Shen Zhili clicked her tongue and pushed her cheek with her fingertip.
“So this is what I looked like at eighteen… no wonder.”
No wonder, later on, after Jiang Xianzhuo had worn her out in a passionate frenzy, he held her close, exhausted, and whispered in her ear.
In a hoarse voice, he confessed that he had fallen for her long ago.
But when she pressed him for details, he just tightened his arms, buried his face in the crook of her neck, and refused to say exactly when.
Thinking about it now, it must have been around this time, right?
At the thought of Jiang Xianzhuo, Shen Zhili’s lips curled upward uncontrollably, and even her eyes sparkled with a smile.
She casually pulled open the wardrobe beside her, ready to pick out a stunning outfit that would dazzle him.
“Let me think… Jiang Xianzhuo once said he loved seeing me in dresses the most…”
As she rummaged through the clothes, Shen Zhili quickly formulated her battle plan for the day in her mind.
After a whole night of restless tossing and turning, she had finally sorted everything out.
If things followed the original timeline, she would humiliate Jiang Xianzhuo relentlessly because of his illegitimate child status, trampling him into the mud.
And it was precisely her continuous humiliation and bullying that drove Jiang Xianzhuo to his breaking point, turning him completely dark.
A few years later, Jiang Xianzhuo would transform into a business tycoon who could turn the world upside down, returning with a heart full of hatred to take revenge on her.
First, he would ruin her family’s business, driving her father to bankruptcy. Then, he would forcibly keep her by his side, day and night, doing things that would never pass censorship…
Commonly known as forced love.
Also known as love-hate.
But somehow, whether it was because they did it too much or something else, Jiang Xianzhuo suddenly saw his own heart clearly one late night and broke down, confessing his feelings to her.
At first, Shen Zhili was a bit confused.
But since she was quite satisfied with his… skills… well, no, since she enjoyed it… no, since she appreciated his level of expertise… actually, that’s not quite right either.
Anyway, she just foolishly nodded.
After that, she lived a shameless life as a wealthy young mistress.
Utterly melodramatic.
Shen Zhili sighed.
This plot was a bit too old-fashioned, and she wasn’t really into it anymore.
Now that everything had returned to the starting point, there was a lot of unnecessary pain between her and Jiang Xianzhuo that could be avoided. There was no need for him to hate her to the core anymore.
Mainly… she didn’t want to change husbands either.
She was such a difficult person to please—even she found herself annoying—yet Jiang Xianzhuo took care of her perfectly.
Both emotionally and physically.
It would be a lie to say she didn’t like him, and she wouldn’t find a better husband even if she tried.
And to take it a step further, even if she wanted to change husbands, she couldn’t.
Her father, as clever as a ghost, couldn’t outplay Jiang Xianzhuo in the future—how could she possibly avoid his revenge?
Better to strike against him early, cutting out the middleman’s profit.
Consider it… a reward for Jiang Xianzhuo.
Jiang Xianzhuo had cherished her dearly for so many years. Given a second chance, let her have him sooner.
And let him have her sooner too.
Let’s understand each other and make it happen early.
After all, on that candy-strewn path they would eventually walk hand in hand…
There shouldn’t be so many shards of glass mixed in.
…
Shen Zhili finally chose an expensive Chanel-style suit as her battle attire for the day, applied delicate light makeup, and then descended the stairs in her stiletto heels, putting on an air of pretentiousness.
She hadn’t wanted to dress like this for school—it was a bit too flashy.
Since most students at Qinzhou Academy wore uniforms, dressing this way was essentially announcing to everyone, “I have special privileges.”
But there was no other choice.
Jiang Xianzhuo had said he loved seeing her look pampered and utterly arrogant.