The onlookers, curious about what Shang Shiyan had whispered to Su Wenyan, stared intently. Yu Yao felt dissatisfied—she had wanted to see Shang Shiyan and Su Wenyan fight, but the tension seemed to dissolve instead.
Just then, Shang Yunrou entered with her entourage. Though she studied in a different hall, she often came looking for Shang Shiyan, as if she couldn’t bear to be apart from her.
“Sister!” Shang Yunrou approached with a bright smile. “It’s wonderful that you came to the academy.”
Shang Shiyan ignored her cheerful tone, sat down on her mat, and deliberately took out the Tongyan Hui ink her cousin had given her. She held it up in plain view and said to Hubo, “Be careful when using this.”
“Is that Tongyan Hui ink, Sister?” Shang Yunrou’s eyes locked greedily onto the ink, recalling the secret message Qiuyue had passed to her. “Such a fine ink—where did you get it?”
Shang Shiyan continued to ignore her.
Shang Yunrou’s envy grew. Seeing Shang Shiyan treat it casually, she reached out to take it. “Since you don’t care much for calligraphy, why not give this Tongyan Hui ink to me? You can write with ordinary ink just the same.”
Her own handwriting was elegant, and she practiced diligently. Such fine ink, she believed, should belong to her. As for Shang Shiyan, giving her this ink was a waste.
*Smack!*
Before Shang Yunrou could snatch it, Su Wenyan struck her hand sharply with the shaft of a brush.
“This belongs to Shang Shiyan. Why should you have it?”
“This was painstakingly made by her cousin and gifted to her. And you have the audacity to try to steal it!”
Shang Yunrou was stunned. She hadn’t provoked Su Wenyan—why was she interfering?
“You maid really is a traitor! The ink block doesn’t even have ‘Tongyan Hui’ written on it. All ink looks the same. How did Shang Yunrou know it was Tongyan Hui ink?”
Su Wenyan glared furiously at Qiuyue, realizing she had betrayed Shang Shiyan. “You serve her, yet you leak her secrets to Shang Yunrou. A servant like you deserves to be drowned in a pig cage!”
Su Wenyan did not disappoint Shang Shiyan. Once she pieced it together, she exploded like firecrackers, loudly defending Shang Shiyan without pause.
The bet Shang Shiyan had made with Su Wenyan was precisely this: that Shang Yunrou would recognize the ink at once, because her maid had already told her about it—how it was handmade by Shang Shiyan’s cousin, produced through nights of burning oil, and that Shang Yunrou would surely try to snatch it.
Su Wenyan still didn’t quite believe it. In her eyes, Shang Yunrou had always seemed gentle and gracious—how could she do such a thing?
But now, knowing beforehand that the ink block was painstakingly made by Qi Yanyu specifically for Shang Shiyan, Su Wenyan instinctively sided with Shang Shiyan.
So when Shang Yunrou reached for the ink, Su Wenyan immediately thought of her own hypocritical half-sister at home—always pretending to be pitiful and magnanimous, which had caused her to be punished by her father many times.
At this moment, Su Wenyan felt she and Shang Shiyan were practically kindred spirits.
“Qiuyue, you knew that people in the capital believed my request to annul the engagement was just a ploy, yet you deliberately spoke up to ‘defend’ me, making their ridicule even worse. I’ve treated you well all these years, but I never imagined you harbored such intentions!”
“Let me make it clear today: this annulment is not some scheme. I only wish to let the Crown Prince and my sister be together.”
Qiuyue’s face turned deathly pale. She had only spoken as she usually did, but today Shang Shiyan’s mind was sharp, instantly seeing through her true motives.
“Ah! This maid’s heart is truly vicious! I thought she was being kind, but she was plotting all along. Black-hearted creature—she deserves to be drowned in a pig cage!”
“Thank you, Miss Su, for upholding justice. Such a person cannot remain by my side. Since she is so eager to serve my sister, let her go to my sister’s courtyard from now on.”
Su Wenyan froze, then looked at Shang Shiyan in surprise. “That’s all? She betrayed you!”
Shang Shiyan lowered her eyes, tears glistening. “But since my sister wants her, I cannot be too harsh. Otherwise, Father and my brothers will accuse me of being domineering again.”
Su Wenyan gripped Shang Shiyan’s hand tightly. “Shang Shiyan, you are truly kindhearted. I can’t interfere in your family affairs, but here in the academy—if anyone dares bully you, I’ll break her legs!”
As she said this, Su Wenyan glared fiercely at Yu Yao. Yu Yao shivered and quickly retreated behind Shang Shiyan.
“Sister, when I asked Qiuyue about you, it was because I wanted to be closer to you. You misunderstood me.” Shang Yunrou lifted her sleeve, as if about to cry again.
“That Tongyan Hui ink was a gift from Cousin. He gave it only to you, not to me. I just wanted to try it. I thought since you’ve always had fine things since childhood, you wouldn’t find it special. So I acted on my own. It’s my fault for not asking you first…”
“Rou’er is right. Miss Shang’s handwriting is like a dog’s scrawl. Even the finest ink is wasted in her hands. Better to give it to Rou’er. You already treat her harshly—now you won’t even give her a piece of ink? How biased!”
In Shang Yunrou and Yu Yao’s mouths, even when they were in the wrong, they twisted it into sounding justified.
But the Shang Shiyan of today no longer fell for such tricks. She let out a cold laugh and swept Yu Yao with a contemptuous glance. “Even if my handwriting is ugly, this ink was made by my cousin and gifted to me. Just because my writing is poor, does that mean I don’t deserve to use fine ink?”
“Just because these noble sons and daughters aren’t good at studying, does that mean they don’t deserve to attend Shengting Academy and learn from the tutors?”
Shang Shiyan’s words struck a nerve with many of the young nobles present. Especially Su Wenyan—she was never good with books, not suited for study at all. At once, she rolled up her sleeves, grabbed Yu Yao’s wrist, and shouted, “You’re mocking me, aren’t you? Who do you think you are, looking down on me? I’ll beat you until you’re picking your teeth off the floor!”
Several of the noble sons around them also shouted, “Miss Su is right! Are you saying we don’t deserve to study at Shengting Academy?”
Shang Yunrou had never seen such a scene before. Frightened, she stepped back several paces. “Yao’er—Yao’er didn’t mean it that way!”
“I think she did! And you, Shang Yunrou—you’re not even part of our hall. Why do you keep running here every day? Planning to steal Shiyan’s ink or her inkstone? Next time, will you try to snatch her brushes too? I’ve never seen such a shameless girl!”
Su Wenyan promptly drove Shang Yunrou, Yu Yao, and the others out of the hall. After chasing them away, she swaggered back to Shang Shiyan, brushing off her sleeves with a look of self-satisfaction, as though she had just accomplished something grand.
Shang Shiyan couldn’t help but laugh softly, then said seriously, “Miss Su, thank you for helping me today.” She added with a touch of grievance, “If not for your righteous intervention, my ink might really have been taken by my sister. She’s always liked to snatch my things.”
The words “righteous and wise” made Su Wenyan beam with pride. She thumped her chest. “As long as I’m here, she won’t dare steal from you again! Shameless creature—she steals everything, even men…”