Strolling idly here in the dead of night—it could only be the master of the house.
Ji Jie adjusted her position but didn't leave.
The novel didn't devote much ink to Huo Zhenyan; she only knew he was around thirty and had a powerful aura. Since he wasn't one of the main couple's shipping members and had no eye candy value, his appearance was barely even described.
No matter. She could still gaze.
A mature woman enjoying a look at a handsome man was only human nature.
She wanted to see if the real person looked the same as in that family portrait, but after waiting several minutes, she was getting tired, and he still hadn't turned around.
A low-energy person's battery was about to run out.
Ji Jie sighed silently and prepared to leave. Perhaps because her tired footsteps were a bit dragging, she was noticed instead. "Who's there?"
"…"
A large shadow rapidly approached her.
She inevitably panicked for a moment, her gaze darting. When she looked again, she found he had already tied his robe.
Ji Jie regretfully moved her gaze upward.
A striking face—his short hair, still wet from the shower, was swept back, cleanly revealing his forehead and brow ridges. A casual run-through of his fingers looked more textured than hair gel could achieve.
Ji Jie had a little-known quirk: her favorite features on a person's face weren't the standard features, but the forehead and a nice hairline.
Unfortunately, enveloped in that scrutinizing gaze, she couldn't admire for long. She spoke first, addressing him, "Brother."
She had never had an older brother. To put it bluntly, if her own mother's first pregnancy had been a son, she probably wouldn't even have been born.
Yet right now she called him that quite eagerly. Because she'd read in the novel that in this family, the pocket money for the younger siblings and even the old father was all managed by the eldest.
Huo Zhenyan gave an "mm," neither heavy nor light—the kind that could keep people guessing for ages at a negotiation table. "When did you arrive?"
"This afternoon…" At one step's distance, Ji Jie could clearly feel the heat radiating from him. A mature man's hormonal presence made it hard not to have one's heart race and mind wander.
She took half a step back, reclaimed her brain, and decisively bowed to him. "Working this late? Thank you for your hard work."
The breadwinner responsible for supporting the family always deserved respect.
Huo Zhenyan: "…"
Too sycophantic?
Ji Jie thought his expression was a bit subtle.
Huo Zhenyan was merely surprised. Perhaps with an inscrutable interest as well, he answered her question, "Business trip."
He asked again, "What's your name?"
His father's new wife and her daughter—even if he didn't care, he couldn't have completely failed to investigate them.
At least, Ji Jie didn't believe it.
Of course, it was also possible he considered it inconsequential, gave it a cursory listen, and didn't deem it worth remembering.
Adults always have a certain arrogance of not needing to be equally forthcoming. The elite accustomed to holding power, even more so. It made the current situation feel like a stress test.
She showed no sign of disappointment or awkwardness, and spoke frankly.
"My name is Baoni. Duan Baoni." Then naturally, without revealing any edge, she returned the question, "So what's your name? Brother."
Huo Zhenyan raised an eyebrow. "Give me your phone."
Ji Jie, slightly surprised, complied, handing him the phone she'd been holding at her side, then tilted her head slightly to look.
His WeChat name was simply his own full name.
"The suite on the third floor used to be where Huo Yuxi lived." He said this while adding himself. "In a few days you can move in. No need to keep staying in the guest room."
"Okay." Ji Jie paused, then said meekly, as though she would follow whatever was arranged, "Then I'll go back and sleep first. I still have to go to school tomorrow."
Huo Zhenyan nodded and handed the phone back to her. "Go ahead."
**
The friend request had been accepted.
Back in her room, Ji Jie tapped into Huo Zhenyan's Moments and took a look. Sure enough, there was nothing much—only visible for the past three days.
She exited Moments, changed his contact name to "Big Boss," put down the phone, and sighed.
Maybe he didn't even realize it himself. His tone was imperative—more like "should" than "may," as if you were born to do exactly what he said.
Ji Jie felt there was a hidden reminder in his words, or rather a warning shot—if they hadn't been in such a rush to get through the door early, they could have settled in more unhurriedly.
Why give a warning shot to an innocent little girl like her?
At their first meeting, she felt Huo Zhenyan didn't have much fondness for her.
She hadn't even gotten a sip of water. Fortunately, she had only gone out because she couldn't sleep, and she hadn't really been thirsty anyway.
Talking with the big boss had an even more pronounced effect. A few exchanges back and forth had already drained her completely. She turned over and quickly fell into a dead sleep.
The next morning, the alarm went off promptly at seven.
Ji Jie turned it off and got up right away, changing clothes, washing up, and putting on makeup in a haze of grogginess.
She was quite good at reading people. At dinner last night, she had noticed Huo Jinge's gaze lingering on her face—probably because she looked too plain.
She had originally thought that at this age, a child meeting elders was best off completely bare-faced, but now that she thought about it, children from wealthy families mostly started paying attention to their appearance very early.
Being bare-faced really wasn't that radiant, so she followed her old habit and did light makeup. She looked much more energetic overall.
Breakfast was prepared lavishly, but she was the only one who came downstairs to eat.
Ji Jie sat and waited a little, confirmed no one was coming, then served herself half a bowl of millet porridge and put a crab roe soup dumpling on her plate. She finished eating in five minutes and rode alone in a car to school.
The sky was gray and overcast, with a light breeze—her favorite kind of cloudy day.
She had already been resting and adjusting in this world for several days, but she still felt weak, as if she had brought the physical sensation of her car accident injuries along with her and couldn't fully recover for the time being.
The three-hundred-degree nearsightedness was hers too. This body hadn't been nearsighted before. When she mentioned a couple of days ago that she needed glasses, Duan Feihong had even grumbled about it.
Although fatigue and nearsightedness were hardly good things, this kind of cross-world point of fusion gave her a sense of security that she was still in control. It kept her from being completely at a loss in a strange world and a strange body.
She arrived at school early. Ji Jie discovered that a teacher had actually come to the school gate to pick her up, and she immediately felt grateful to the big boss.
The teacher exchanged a few pleasantries with her and said she would take her directly to the classroom. For someone who often got lost even in shopping malls and couldn't find the main entrance, this was extremely friendly.
Of course, it was impossible for anyone to be so gentle with her for no reason.
Huading's admissions requirements were strict. She had read in the novel that to transfer her mid-term into the second year of high school, the Huo Family had spent at least seven figures.
Just the fact that she could transfer her daughter into Huading was enough to make Duan Feihong proud for a long time.
Although it was an arrangement she had begged Huo Jinge for, Ji Jie knew that the money definitely still came from Huo Zhenyan.
The international school's teaching buildings leaned overall toward European style, with classical porticos and enormous domes.
The campus lawn was also very large, with various garden paths and buildings spaced far apart. Ji Jie walked slowly, taking in her surroundings as she went.
The teacher leading the way noticed she wasn't much of a talker and walked slowly, losing some of the patience she'd had at their first meeting. Pointing across the fountain, she said, "That building ahead is where your classes will be held. Your classroom is on the third floor. I need to get back to the office, so I won't walk you in. Good luck this semester."
Ji Jie glanced over—it was only about a hundred meters away. She nodded her thanks to the teacher and continued strolling leisurely toward the building.
Aside from the car accident, she wasn't a high-energy person to begin with, and stepping onto this luxurious campus for the first time didn't excite her much either. She'd save her energy—she still had to deal with the main characters later.
Some people are strong and healthy, seemingly immune to everything, yet die from a sudden illness. Others look frail, as if they might keel over at any moment, yet end up lingering in a vegetative state well into old age.
Ji Jie figured she was the latter type. Low battery, but incredible endurance.
At this international school, each class had only about a dozen students, and the classroom had few desks, spaced far apart. As she walked in, she spotted an empty seat in the back row, diagonally across from the podium.
A spot with a full view of the room. She sat down, adjusted her glasses, and observed quietly without making a move.
Students began trickling in, and she tried to match them to the characters in her mind. Relying only on the novel's textual descriptions was still quite difficult—everyone looked vaguely familiar, yet she couldn't put names to faces.
Until Huo Yuxi walked into the classroom.
Objectively speaking, this group of trust-fund brats all knew how to present themselves well. But on a school day, everyone dutifully wore their uniforms, and the only differences were hair length and whether they wore glasses—nothing particularly distinctive.
But the main character is the main character. It's hard not to notice her at first glance.
Like an orchid on a high mountain—understated elegance. Huo Yuxi also had bangs, but they didn't make her look obedient. There was no trace of makeup on her face, maybe just lipstick, and a black diamond earring was faintly visible beneath her long hair.
More than cold, Ji Jie thought she looked cool.
She liked cool girls as main characters.
The classroom suddenly grew a bit quieter—more than one or two people were looking her way.
Huo Yuxi wore wired earphones, speaking to no one in particular, and didn't glance in her direction either—she probably didn't know her. She carried her bag in herself, sat down by herself, and looked like she had no intention of taking off her earphones before the bell rang.
Ji Jie judged for only a second and decided this wasn't the right time to strike up a conversation.
"Shiiit…"
A black backpack was tossed onto the desk beside hers.
She instinctively turned her head. The chair was pulled out too, and He Lingfeng sat down next to her, his overbearing eyes meeting hers. "So you really transferred in. Impressive."
The rebellious young master had arrived.
Ji Jie knew him, and Duan Baoni knew him too.
He was the third child of the Huo Family, brought in by Huo Jinge's third wife. After his mother passed away, he didn't go looking for his biological father and simply stayed in the household.
Also a campus celebrity at the school, he was good buddies with the male lead, Wei Chao, and had appeared in the novel as well.
Because Duan Baoni and Wei Chao had some history, she'd met him long ago too.
As for Ji Jie recognizing him, she had the novel's details to thank. The original text had mentioned that He Lingfeng had a streak of silver-white dyed into his bangs—his personal signature.
Indeed. Arrogant and easy to spot.
Adding to that, the blunt tone made it easy for Ji Jie to fit the description. She gave him a slight nod. "Hello."
He Lingfeng let out a derisive snort, tossing his textbook and laptop onto the desk. "Cut the act."
He already knew exactly what kind of crazy things this woman had done.
Taking advantage of living under the same roof, she'd barged into Wei Chao's room to grab his personal belongings and even peeked at him in the shower.
He'd never heard of a stepmother's daughter daring to break into the room of her legal stepbrother in the middle of the night to confess her feelings. And when she was rejected, she kept clinging to him—absolutely disgusting.
It had taken forever for their parents to finally fall out. He'd been happy for his buddy escaping that mess for all of a few days when this menace landed in his own household.
He Lingfeng gave a thin, mirthless smile. "Your mother's quite something."
Not just among the adults—Duan Feihong was notorious even among their circle of trust-fund brats.
She'd bled one family dry and moved on to the next, milking them one after another.
Ever since the news broke, he'd been the butt of his friends' gloating jokes, and he'd been stewing in frustration ever since.
With his current expression as the footnote, Ji Jie suddenly understood the big boss's reaction when they'd crossed paths at home last night.
It was because she had a long, checkered history that wasn't exactly flattering.
Huo Zhenyan definitely knew who Duan Feihong's ex-husband was. He also knew how, two years ago, Duan Feihong had latched onto Wei Chao's father—and how Duan Baoni had clung to Wei Chao the exact same way.
As the male lead, Wei Chao had maxed-out stats across the board—tall, rich, handsome—and his father was no slouch compared to Huo Jinge either.
Except for the first husband, who was a useless gold-digger, Duan Feihong had gone through one Old Money man after another, and she'd successfully married into every single family.
Say what you will, Ji Jie had to admit the mother she'd inherited was genuinely impressive.
By nature, even though her internal monologue was already running wild with a flood of scenarios, her face stayed calm and composed. She sat there steadily, looking inexplicably like she had complete conviction.
He Lingfeng was baffled. The foreign teacher walked into the classroom and greeted the students in the front row. He lowered his voice. "You're not here chasing after Wei Chao, are you?"
After all, now that their familial ties were dissolved, she could cling to Wei Chao all she wanted with no one to stop her.
"Don't say I didn't warn you—keep any inappropriate thoughts in check. Our family isn't a place where you can go crazy. Don't think you can pull the same stunts as before—"
"Yes, yes." Ji Jie murmured in agreement, her tone a total brush-off. "I really shouldn't have."
"…"
No one had said this first class would be taught entirely in English!
Afraid she'd fall behind, Ji Jie couldn't afford to keep debating with him. She flipped through her textbook while assuring him, "Don't worry. Even though I'm a love-struck lunatic, I don't go after every boy in the house. I definitely won't cling to you from now on."
"…"
He Lingfeng said coldly, "You're insane." Perhaps afraid of actually being latched onto by a madwoman, he didn't speak to her for the rest of the class.
Ji Jie strained through the entire lecture, completely focused. Fortunately, with her undergraduate foundation and experience chatting with overseas clients, she managed to understand most of it.
It nearly drained her dry.
The moment the bell rang, He Lingfeng kicked his chair aside and left, as if spending one more minute near her would infect him with bad juju.
Ji Jie had no time for him. She immediately opened the school app to check her schedule.
The international school used a rotating class system, and her next class was in a different teaching building. With only a ten-minute break between classes, this was quite a challenge for a new student unfamiliar with the campus layout.
Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Huo Yuxi was also about to leave. It suddenly occurred to her that when she had originally chosen her courses, Duan Feihong had told her to register according to Huo Yuxi's class schedule. Most of their core courses were the same.
She could simply follow the protagonist quietly!
Having found a shortcut, Ji Jie quickly packed her bag and stood up. But the moment she stepped out of the classroom, her whole body froze, and she stiffly took a step back.
From a god's-eye view, it would look as though she had been stopped by an invisible wall.
Huo Yuxi had already reached the end of the hallway, and after turning the corner, her figure disappeared.
Ji Jie remained standing in place, staring at the few lines of floating text that only she could see.
【To Be Completed — Enter the infirmary and reminisce with Wei Chao】
【Countdown — 1:00:00】
【Current — 10/100】