After all, He Ying was someone who had conquered a hundred worlds. When she decided to be serious, she would truly commit—and appear exceptionally earnest.
Liu Ruyan simply didn’t dare to answer He Ying’s question directly; in fact, she was utterly terrified.
She never imagined her lies would be exposed in such a manner, nor did she expect the lofty Miss He to actually take notice of her. Even more unexpected was that her offhand remark meant to intimidate Xia Shuyue had been overheard word for word.
What should she do? Would He Ying tell her family? Would her parents, who worked under the He family, be implicated? Would she become the next Xia Shuyue to be bullied?
Liu Ruyan thought of many, many things, but in the end, all she could manage to say was, “I… I’m sorry.”
He Ying then shifted her gaze to the accomplices—those well-bred young ladies who had grown up emulating their parents and were adept at reading the situation. Without any attempt to argue, they immediately apologized.
“We’re sorry, Miss!”
He Ying: “…”
“Don’t call me ‘Miss.’” He Ying nearly lost her composure.
Her toes were practically digging a castle into the ground.
She couldn’t understand how these people could utter such an embarrassing title with such a straight face.
The cringe was no less than when those school fangirls called Shangguan Mingyu “Demon Prince” to his face, addressed Chi Jingsheng as “Gentle Prince,” hailed Nangong Xiao as “Cold Prince,” or referred to Gu Bei as “Flirtatious Prince.”
Perhaps this was just what it meant to attend a school with the F4.
He Ying’s gaze finally returned to Xia Shuyue.
When Xia Shuyue met He Ying’s eyes, she saw no malice in those chestnut-colored irises, yet she inexplicably felt ashamed of herself.
She had never felt this way when she was with Shangguan Mingyu—no, to be precise, she hadn’t felt this way when she saw He Ying before either.
But today, of all days, she wanted to hide because of her own wretched state, not wanting He Ying to see her like this.
Xia Shuyue herself didn’t even know what she was thinking at that moment. By the time she regained her senses, she had already uttered three words to He Ying: “I’m sorry.”
After saying it, she felt as though she were apologizing for the incident with Shangguan Mingyu, so she quickly corrected herself, “No, that’s not what I meant… I wanted to say thank you.”
He Ying didn’t respond to Xia Shuyue’s words, and her attitude toward her remained unchanged from before.
“Don’t flatter yourself. I wasn’t doing this for you.”
With that, He Ying turned and walked away without looking back.
After only a few steps, as if remembering something, she turned back and said to Xia Shuyue, “You’re filthy. Go change into clean clothes immediately. What do you think this school is?”
Xia Shuyue stood frozen in place.
Although she was initially hurt by He Ying’s words calling her “filthy,” she quickly sensed another layer of meaning behind them.
He Ying’s words seemed to be a warning to the others not to interfere with her going to change her clothes.
Xia Shuyue was deeply shocked by the absurd thought that crossed her mind, but upon further reflection, it made perfect sense.
[Inflicting pain on others to divert one’s own frustration over failure is an act of extreme cowardice, pettiness, and cheapness.]
So this was what the legendary young lady was really like.
How nice.
He Ying returned to the classroom, and thanks to her protection, Xia Shuyue was no longer harassed and could go to the locker room to change into clean clothes.
On her way to the locker room, Xia Shuyue took out her phone and sent a message to Nangong Xiao.
[It’s all over now. Thank you for being willing to help me.]
Earlier, when Xia Shuyue realized she was about to be bullied, she had sent a message to Nangong Xiao.
That day, Nangong Xiao had told her that if she encountered any problems, she could contact him. He would use the student council’s supervisory authority to document the issues of those students and report them to the teachers.
Evidence submitted through him would not be tampered with by anyone.
Xia Shuyue knew that this young master, who had joined the student council as a freshman, had ulterior motives for approaching her, but she didn’t mind.
She had nothing to lose anyway—what more could she possibly lose?
All she could do was live her life well, making every second count.
[If you sense danger again next time, you can still call me.]
[Okay, thank you so much.]
Nangong Xiao had actually arrived just moments after He Ying.
When Nangong Xiao saw He Ying, he didn’t reveal himself immediately. Originally, he had intended to hide and gather evidence of He Ying bullying classmates, but he ended up recording a completely opposite scene, overturning his long-held impression of He Ying.
Not only did He Ying not bully anyone, but she wasn’t even familiar with those so-called followers?
And the meaning behind her words—”Don’t do anything in my name again”—was she implying that the rumored misdeeds were actually done by these people on their own initiative?
He Ying had even protected Xia Shuyue, allowing her to change her clothes to avoid punishment.
Though her words hadn’t been very pleasant.
Thinking of this, Nangong Xiao suddenly felt that he had never truly understood He Ying. His impression of her had always come from the words of others.
The only time they had interacted directly, He Ying had simply said he was a boring person.
In the past, due to his dislike for He Ying, Nangong Xiao had always felt that their brief interactions were unpleasant. But now, after his image of He Ying had been overturned, he couldn’t help but reexamine their first meeting.
He and He Ying had first met at a banquet hosted by the He family. Back then, Nangong Xiao was even more reserved and awkward than he was now. At the banquet, aside from eating, he mostly just spaced out.
In fact, he would have preferred to go home and read rather than eat meaningless desserts at the He family’s event.
It was during his most bored moment that his father brought over a young girl.
That girl was He Ying.
After introducing themselves, He Ying suddenly said to him, “You’re so boring.”
He had remembered those words to this day.
It was also the sole reason he had stubbornly disliked He Ying all these years.
But after today, Nangong Xiao thought about it more carefully. That day, he had indeed been bored, his mind filled with thoughts of going home.
And right after He Ying said those words, he had indeed left with his father shortly after.
At this realization, Nangong Xiao’s eyes widened suddenly. He finally understood something.
He Ying had been helping him back then.
She had deliberately spoken harshly to make his father leave sooner.
Once he realized this, Nangong Xiao stood frozen in place.
It wasn’t until the class bell rang that he snapped out of it, his face slightly flushed as he hurried back to his own classroom.
The teacher was surprised that Nangong Xiao, who was usually extremely disciplined about his schedule, had been late.
He Ying was surprised that despite clearly having nothing wrong, she felt as if ants were crawling all over her body, inexplicably getting goosebumps.
Xia Shuyue was surprised that He Ying had actually helped her ask for leave.
Even though she was late, the teacher didn’t scold her, and her clothes were clean again.
How nice.