Zhu Yuxing’s face turned ugly in an instant.
The rich woman’s expression twisted as well: “Miss Yan, you can’t put it that way… Give him another chance, please…”
“I’ve given him plenty of chances.” Yan Xia smoothed the wrinkles on her school uniform, tilting her face up with clear, guileless eyes, giving off an utterly well-behaved and honest impression. “This isn’t the first time he’s bullied someone. I have a good temper, so I forgave him again and again, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have a temper.”
Hearing this, the rich woman gritted her teeth and slapped Zhu Yuxing across the face.
The crack of it echoed through the entire classroom, crisp and sharp.
“I sent you here to study, not to bully your classmates!” She shook her head repeatedly, scolding him loudly, looking utterly heartbroken. “You never give me a moment’s peace. Is this how your teachers taught you to behave? Apologize to your classmate properly, right now!”
A bright red handprint quickly rose on Zhu Yuxing’s cheek. He hung his head, swallowing his anger, looking like a beaten stray dog.
“…I’m sorry. However you want me to apologize, I’ll do it.”
Yan Xia said, “Do as you like. I won’t accept your apology anyway.”
Everyone listened in silence, but secretly felt a chill of fear.
Zhu Yuxing hadn’t been the only one who had bullied Yan Xia before. Would she start settling scores with the others too?
Tears welling in her eyes, the rich woman defended him in every way possible: “Miss Yan, please reconsider… He’s still young, he hasn’t learned better—it must be the people outside who led him astray…”
Hearing this, Yan Xia actually widened her eyes, looking baffled.
She asked softly, “Ma’am, why do you keep saying he’s young? He’s almost eighteen, same as everyone else.”
At eighteen, he should know better.
The rich woman’s face stiffened.
“We all had the same teachers, so why is he different?” Yan Xia smiled, her tone innocent. “Could it be that you and his father are too busy to look after him?”
The implication, once again, was blaming the parents for failing to raise him properly.
The System couldn’t help sighing inwardly: Brilliant!
The rich woman’s mouth twisted with rage, but she didn’t dare talk back.
And then Zhu Yuxing, fool that he was, actually asked, “How did you know that?”
Jiang He beside them couldn’t hold it in and burst out laughing.
She linked her arm through Yan Xia’s and said affectionately, “I think it’s been hard on you too, ma’am. You spend all your time on your appearance and have no time left to raise your child.”
At once, the laughter spread as if it were contagious. The people nearby couldn’t keep straight faces either, and wave after wave of laughter rippled outward, filling the whole classroom with a cheerful air.
The woman’s face flushed red and paled in turn, her fingers clenched so tight her long nails nearly snapped.
Zhu Yuxing finally caught on and shot Jiang He a vicious glare: “Who the hell are you talking about?!”
Jiang He ducked behind Yan Xia, eyes curving at him with a smile, embodying the phrase “the fox borrowing the tiger’s might” to perfection.
Zhu Yuxing was so furious his knuckles cracked.
Seeing this, Secretary Lin cut in promptly: “Then it’s settled.” He said to the rich woman, “Let’s go take care of your son’s withdrawal from school.”
Mother and son could only pack up their bags and slink out of the classroom like rats crossing the street.
System: “Ding-dong! Positive Points +100!”
“Whoa, that many?” Yan Xia couldn’t help rubbing her hands together like a fly. “So the points are awarded based on the size of the incident.”
With Zhu Yuxing gone, the others had had their fill of gossip and contentedly began sharing it with friends and family, passing it from one group chat to another. The news spread rapidly across the school forum.
Title: 【Guys!! Come get your gossip! The school’s top student made Zhu Yuxing drop out!!】
0L: As the title says, shook for a hundred years (eating melon.gif)
1L: ????? Which top student? Are you serious?
2L: Don’t doubt it—it’s exactly who you’re thinking of.
3L: Thanks for the invite, I was there. Watching Zhu Yuxing get humiliated was so satisfying hehehehe, I’m dying of laughter.
8L: Holy crap, so how did my goddess even cross paths with that idiot Zhu Yuxing? Can someone summarize the backstory?
15L: Little expert is here! My friend from Class F told me too. Apparently Zhu Yuxing bullied Yan Xia, and Shang Wandong stood up for her.
16L: Damn, Shang-jie is so cool, I’m lying flat…
17L: School beauty, please date me!!! (shouting)
18L: Lol, chicken coop warning.
19L: People upstairs, put some clothes on. Don’t you feel ashamed??
20L: Wait, Yan Xia isn’t the Yan Xia I’m thinking of, is she?
24L: …No way!!! Ugly freak, stay away from my goddess!!
26L: Hiss, I hope it’s not what I think. Besides, aren’t those two not close? Maybe Shang Wandong was just helping someone in need.
Amid all the chaotic speculation, someone left a comment.
30L: I’ll say it—I think Yan Xia doesn’t deserve Shang Wandong at all. Any objections?
The replies below all agreed.
35L: What kind of values do you people have? Yan Xia didn’t do anything, so why are you suddenly bashing her? Victim-blaming much?
36L: Honestly, Yan Xia is pretty pitiful. No need to talk about her like that. This wasn’t her fault—she’s the one who got bullied!
38L: Either way, I can’t accept them being in contact orz
39L: …Fun fact: Shang Wandong lives at the Yan family’s house. I don’t like Yan Xia either, but some of you should at least open your eyes and face reality. They’re not strangers—some interaction is perfectly normal.
…
The school forum gathered students from all three years and had heavy traffic. A tall thread quickly built up over the incident, but a quarter of an hour later, the post was inexplicably deleted.
Of course, Yan Xia knew nothing about any of this.
She simply waited until after school and got in the car home in a great mood.
But her good mood didn’t last long.
Yan Siqiu flung the car door open arrogantly and ordered, “Go sit in the front!”
The driver didn’t dare make a sound, rolling down the window and pretending to look at the scenery.
Yan Xia blinked and asked, puzzled, “Why?”
Yan Siqiu: “Because I want to sit with Wandong-jie!”
Yan Xia pressed her lips together, feigning innocence. “But I want to sit with her too.”
“What does that have to do with me!” Yan Siqiu’s emotions were easily inflamed, and she was now fuming, speaking without thinking. “You’ve sat with her for days already—it should be my turn!”
Yan Xia nearly laughed at how childish she was.
She answered in a honeyed, innocent tone: “But Wandong isn’t your property. Who she sits with is her own choice, so don’t be so selfish, okay? Am I right, Teacher Shang?”
Yan Siqiu was so furious her fists clenched, and she was about to speak again.
Shang Wandong sat there, the afterglow at the horizon spreading wide, the clouds and sunset hues graceful, setting off her profile as lovely as a painting—crimson lips, snow-white cheeks, with the bearing of a celestial being.
She said softly, “You two don’t need to argue.”
Both of them looked at Shang Wandong expectantly.
Shang Wandong pulled open the car door.
Then, she sat down in the front seat herself.
Yan Siqiu: …
She sat side by side with Yan Xia in the back seat, her face written over with utter despair.
Yan Xia looked at her with considerable sympathy.
Poor little sister—if you want to Capture Shang Wandong, you’d better be prepared to be dazzled by her bizarre train of thought.
After dinner, Yan Xia finished her science comprehensive workbook in her bedroom.
The moment eight o’clock arrived, she timed it perfectly and knocked on Shang Wandong’s door.
Shang Wandong’s voice soon came from inside: “The door’s unlocked. Come in.”
Yan Xia pushed the door open. Shang Wandong was sitting at her desk.
She was wearing a loose, pale blue nightgown, two fair, slender calves faintly visible beneath the hem. The sash was tied snugly at her waist, outlining a slender waistline.
At a glance, even her graceful figure from behind was a delight to behold.
Yan Xia couldn’t help sighing inwardly: such a beautiful woman—why did she have to have a mouth…
She walked over and leaned in close. “Teacher Shang, what are you reading?”
Shang Wandong tilted the book up. On the bright red cover, the words “Postgraduate English Exam” stood out starkly.
In that instant, Yan Xia recalled the terror of being dominated by postgraduate entrance exam English.
She trembled almost imperceptibly. “W-why are you reading that?”
“Just looking.” Shang Wandong closed the book. “What is it?”
“…Have you finished memorizing the vocabulary list?”
“I have.”
Yan Xia: …So this is what a top student is like? Her Golden Finger is a bit too overpowered.
In the book, Shang Wandong was practically the author’s darling. Grades, looks, family background—she had it all. The only thing she lacked, emotional intelligence, was more than compensated for by her outstanding personal abilities.
A character like this would shine brilliantly in a strong-female-lead novel, but in a romance-driven story, she would make the other protagonist suffer endlessly.
Because it’s far too difficult for ordinary people to earn her love.
Shang Wandong did feel pity for the original novel’s female lead, and it was precisely this pity that made her agree to the arranged marriage.
But whether she had ever loved the former Yan Xia, no one knew. Many readers had written lengthy essays attempting to prove the female lead’s special place in Shang Wandong’s heart, and the imperfect love between them.
But perhaps even the female lead herself didn’t know whether Shang Wandong treated her well because of the engagement, or because she had truly been moved.
She could only deceive herself, lying until she believed it herself, choosing to believe that Shang Wandong loved her.
But Yan Xia herself leaned toward the view that Shang Wandong did not love the female lead.
And precisely because of that, the System was so insistent that she “Capture Shang Wandong,” making it one of the Clearance Conditions.
“…Even so, that condition is way too hard to achieve.” She propped her chin in her hands, muttering quietly.
Shang Wandong set down her test paper, her gaze falling on her. “What are you saying?”
“Nothing, I’m memorizing a text.” Yan Xia waved her hand, changing the subject. “Oh right, Secretary Lin was the one you sent to the classroom, wasn’t she?”
Shang Wandong nodded.
Yan Xia laughed. “The moment I walked in, Zhu Yuxing chased after me apologizing. Scared me half to death.”
Shang Wandong said, “You won’t be seeing him again.”
“Why?” Yan Xia was startled, then suddenly leaned in close, lowering her voice to a whisper. “You didn’t have someone secretly off him, did you!”
The warm breath landed on her ear, causing a subtle tickle. Shang Wandong raised an eyebrow almost imperceptibly, her tone calm. “Do you think that’s possible?”
She explained, “I simply made the Zhu family leave Hu City.”
Although the Zhu family was wealthy, they were a small company that had only prospered in recent years. Showing off in front of ordinary people was one thing, but in the eyes of a leading enterprise like the Shang family, they didn’t amount to anything.
Not to mention, the Yan family had people on the school board of Hu City No. 1 High School.
Therefore, if the Shang family insisted on deciding whether Zhu Yuxing stayed or went, no one else had any right to interfere.
What kind of “the cold king breaks the sky” plot is this!
Hearing this, Yan Xia smiled until her eyes curved. “I know, I was just joking earlier.”
A blank look appeared on Shang Wandong’s face.
She said, “Sorry, I’m not very good at recognizing jokes.”
Yan Xia said, “You’re always so serious. Don’t you find it tiring to get along with friends?”
Shang Wandong said calmly, “I don’t have any friends.”
Yan Xia was taken aback.
Shang Wandong pondered for a moment, then added, “It’s true that some people have said I’m too earnest, that I don’t know how to empathize with others, and that I’m hard to get along with.”
Her tone was earnest and awkward—awkward in a somewhat endearing way. Something stirred in Yan Xia’s heart, and she said to her, “Then let me be your friend.”
Shang Wandong looked at her, bewildered. “Is that allowed?”
“Of course it is.” Yan Xia extended a hand toward her in a handshake gesture. “When making friends, you start by observing social etiquette.”
But upon hearing this, Shang Wandong reached out, turned Yan Xia’s palm over, then carefully cradled the back of her hand with her palm, as if holding a fragile treasure.
She lowered her head, and a kiss landed as lightly as a feather on the back of her hand, the warm breath there and gone in an instant.
Yan Xia’s ears grew hot, and she widened her eyes in alarm.
She stammered, “W-what are you doing?”
“A kiss on the hand.”
Shang Wandong tilted her head. “Didn’t you say we should observe social etiquette?”