The second period was the art history lecture.
Shen Jinxin sat in the aisle seat, her Hermès Birkin resting on the armrest.
Several well-connected young ladies gathered around her, flipping through her freshly done manicure.
Mu Suihe came back from the restroom and walked down the aisle toward her seat.
Shen Jinxin caught sight of her from the corner of her eye and gave a light nudge with her elbow. The bag tipped off the armrest and fell to the floor.
Shen Jinxin glanced down, then raised her head and looked straight at Mu Suihe. “You knocked it off.”
Mu Suihe froze in place, her slender white fingers curling slightly. “I didn’t touch it.”
“You didn’t?” Shen Jinxin stood up and picked up the dirtied Birkin.
“You were the only one who walked past me just now, and the bag fell right next to you.”
“If you didn’t knock it off, did I throw it down myself?”
She tilted her head. “Besides, this bag is a limited edition. I waited forever to get it.”
The surrounding students turned their heads to look.
Mu Suihe looked toward Song Shiqian in the back row, feeling wronged. He was leaning back in his chair, twirling a pen in his hand, watching the scene.
Shen Jinxin followed her gaze to Song Shiqian as well, biting her lower lip.
Song Shiqian set his pen on the desk, stood up, and walked over.
He glanced at the bag on the floor, then at the angry Shen Jinxin and the aggrieved Mu Suihe. “That’s enough, Jinxin.”
“It’s just a bag. She didn’t do it on purpose. This afternoon I’ll take you to pick out another one.”
Shen Jinxin’s mouth turned down.
A young lady in a royal blue dress in the back row gave a soft laugh and closed her fan. “Jinxin, when did you become so petty?”
“Look at your little follower, all pitiful and teary. I bet you’ve been bullying her plenty behind the scenes.”
The girls nearby laughed along, their eyes darting back and forth between Shen Jinxin and Mu Suihe.
These young ladies moved in the same circles as the Shen sisters. They were warm on the surface, but secretly they relished any chance to see the Shen Family humiliated.
Add to that the fact that the two Shen sisters had both won Venus Gold Awards and were riding high on their fame.
Watching Shen Jinxin lose her composure in public, they were more than happy to fan the flames.
Shen Jinxin’s face went from pale to flushed. She took a deep breath, turned to Mu Suihe, and reached out to brush off her shoulder.
“I clearly saw you do it on purpose just now. Shall I go check the security footage?”
Mu Suihe was stunned. The security footage should be what Shen Jinxin feared—why would she bring it up herself?
She looked at Shen Jinxin blankly, not understanding what checking the footage would gain her.
Shen Jinxin leaned in closer, her voice lowered so only the two of them could hear. “Big sister said that if you don’t behave, she won’t protect you anymore.”
“Which matters more—you figure it out yourself.”
The color drained completely from Mu Suihe’s face.
Father Shen’s drunken face, that rough hand gripping her wrist—the scenes surged up one after another, and she began to tremble slightly.
Song Shiqian saw her reaction.
That snow-white little face had gone pale with fright, her lashes fluttering, as if she’d been terrified out of her wits.
He reached out and pulled Shen Jinxin away from Mu Suihe. “Jinxin, you’re being too harsh. Look how scared she is.”
There was a protectiveness in his tone that even he hadn’t noticed.
Song Shiqian turned around and took Mu Suihe’s wrist. “Come on, let’s go to the security room right now.”
“Whether she knocked it off or not, the footage will tell us.”
Mu Suihe didn’t move.
Her wrist was so slender it barely filled his palm, yet he couldn’t pull her along.
Song Shiqian turned back, his eyes full of confusion: “Suihe?”
Mu Suihe’s eyes were red. “We can’t go… to the surveillance room.”
Song Shiqian’s grip loosened.
He looked down at her, disbelief written across his handsome face. “Why can’t we? Could it be that Jinxin was telling the truth? You did it on purpose?”
Mu Suihe lowered her head, her lashes falling to shadow her eyes, saying nothing.
Shen Jinxin stood behind Song Shiqin, chin slightly raised, proud and defiant.
By now, everyone finally understood the drama unfolding before them.
“A poor orphan girl living off someone else’s charity, turning around to lie and frame the real young lady—she must have the gall of a bear and the nerve of a leopard.”
“An ungrateful ingrate. The Shen Family fed her, clothed her, put her through school, and this is how she repays them—by biting the hand that feeds her.”
“Maybe she deliberately seduced Young Master Song. Tsk tsk, shameless.”
Mu Suihe stood where she was as the voices surged at her from every direction.
Tears swirled in her eyes, but she held on and refused to let them fall.
By the time they returned to the Shen Family villa, night had fallen.
Shen Jinxin kicked off her high heels and fluttered into the living room like a gaudy butterfly.
Shen Wanyue was sitting on the sofa reading a magazine and nearly spilled her tea from the collision.
“Big sister!” Shen Jinxin plopped down beside her, hugging her arm, her face brimming with barely contained excitement.
“You have no idea—Shiqian misunderstood me today.”
“That Mu Suihe refused to go check the surveillance footage, and Shiqian’s expression changed in an instant.”
“He realized he’d wronged me, so he offered to take me out to dinner, and said he’d take me shopping for a new bag tomorrow.”
Shen Wanyue set down the magazine and glanced at her. “You did as I taught you?”
“Mm-hmm!”
Shen Jinxin lifted her chin and shook her head smugly.
“That faint guilt in his eyes, I’d never seen it on his face before.”
“Big sister, you were so right. Getting Shiqian to change his opinion of me on his own works better than saying ‘I love you’ a hundred times.”
Mu Suihe walked in from the entryway, her footsteps light, head lowered as she headed toward the stairs.
Shen Wanyue rose from the sofa, stepped past the still-chattering Shen Jinxin, walked up to Mu Suihe, and took her hand.
That hand was ice-cold, like a viper’s tongue, sending a chill down one’s spine.
“Suihe, dear.” Shen Wanyue’s voice was ever so gentle.
“That’s just how Jinxin is spoiled rotten from childhood. Don’t take it to heart.”
Mu Suihe raised her head and looked at Shen Wanyue’s gentle, smiling face.
“She’s loved Song Shiqian since she was little, all these years, with all her heart.”
Shen Wanyue’s thumb stroked lightly across the back of her hand, twice. Her tone sounded like an apology on her sister’s behalf, but it carried an unspoken warning. “Suihe, dear, you’ll grant her this, won’t you?”
She paused, her smile deepening. “She may have done some small things poorly, but don’t hold them against her. After all…”
“In other matters, your big sister will always protect you.” Shen Wanyue reached up to tuck a stray lock of hair behind Mu Suihe’s ear, the gesture intimate.
“As long as you’re obedient.”
Another threat.
Mu Suihe’s lashes trembled. She lowered her eyes. “Suihe understands.”
Shen Wanyue patted the back of her hand and let go.
Mu Suihe turned and, head bowed, climbed the stairs one step at a time.
Shen Jinxin curled up on the sofa, watching the scene, the corners of her mouth turning up despite herself: “You really know how to handle her. Look at her—she didn’t even dare say a word.”
Shen Wanyue picked up her teacup and took a sip, then opened her magazine and continued reading: “Don’t you have to go pick out a bag with Shiqian tomorrow? Get to bed early tonight. How are you going to see anyone with a bad complexion?”
Shen Jinxin gave a sound of acknowledgment and hopped up the stairs, humming the tune of “Butterfly.”