When Su Qian received the call, she was at EF, A City’s most exclusive private nightclub.
Its full name was Emberfall.
At long last, she was finally living the extravagant, champagne-soaked lifestyle she had always dreamed of!
And it had all started with the announcement she had posted on Weibo.
Not long after she made the post, someone messaged her on WeChat.
Zhong Qi: “Su Qian! I heard you’re going to be on Heartbeat Star?! My idol, Bai Xiujing, is going too! Can you help me get his autograph?”
Zhong Qi…
The name sounded familiar.
After thinking for a moment, Su Qian remembered.
She had been one of her classmates at their elite private school. Her family owned several mines and was incredibly wealthy, but they had only become rich within the last decade, making them “new money.” At school, that put her near the bottom of the social hierarchy.
When the original Su Qian had first transferred there, Zhong Qi had spent some time with her. She was a genuinely nice person, though in the novel she had only been a background character.
Later, as the original Su Qian devoted herself entirely to chasing after the Su family and Ji Yuhan, Zhong Qi had quietly disappeared from the story.
As for the Bai Xiujing she mentioned, he was one of the hottest male celebrities of the past two years—ridiculously handsome, with an equally impressive family background.
Su Qian didn’t think much of it and generously replied:
[Sure! I’ll ask him for you when the time comes. If he’s willing, I’ll even get you a few extra signed photos!]
Zhong Qi: “THANK YOU!!!!”
Zhong Qi: “I’ve been so excited these past few days! You have no idea—your legendary deeds have spread all over school!”
Su Qian blinked.
[Legendary deeds?]
Zhong Qi: “The Mop-Wielding Goddess beating up Zhang Yingying, obviously! You don’t know? Zhang Yingying and her gang have been crying and throwing tantrums for days. They haven’t even come back to school and keep demanding that the school do something about it.”
Oh.
Zhang Yingying.
One of Su Muyao’s close followers.
The girls who had cornered her in the restroom and then gotten beaten senseless with a dirty mop.
Su Qian was immediately interested.
[What kind of explanation are they asking for?]
Zhong Qi: “Obviously they want the school to punish you! But how could they? Your brother is on the school board, and the Zhang family can’t afford to offend your family.”
Zhong Qi: “But honestly, I never expected your eldest brother to actually stand up for you.”
Zhong Qi: “I don’t mean anything by that! Please don’t misunderstand!”
Just from the messages, Su Qian could tell Zhong Qi was the straightforward, blunt type.
She liked people like that.
[It’s okay! I’m just curious. What did my brother do?]
Zhong Qi: “Why don’t we meet and talk? Seriously, we’ve all wanted to see you these past few days!”
Su Qian agreed without hesitation.
But there was no way she was going out for some boring coffee or afternoon tea.
Who was she now?
A woman with enough money to crush Su Muyao to death—and then use the leftovers to crush Ji Yuhan too.
How could someone like her settle for quietly sipping coffee?
So Su Qian dragged Zhong Qi straight to Emberfall.
Two other people came along as well, both of whom had once been fairly close to the original Su Qian.
One was Fang Lingxue, the eldest daughter of the Fang Group.
Su Qian remembered her from the novel. She became a minor villain later on, constantly clashing with Su Muyao after inheriting the family business, until the Ji family eventually bankrupted her company.
The other was a male classmate named Jiang Can, the youngest son of the Jiang Group.
He was so beautiful that his features blurred the line between male and female, almost like a seductive spirit.
In the original story, he had been Su Qian’s admirer from the drama club.
Three chapters later, Ji Yuhan publicly humiliated him, and he was expelled from school.
The moment Su Qian saw him, she instinctively sensed kindred spirits.
This guy pursued Su Qian?
Please.
A man this flamboyant probably had a secret crush on Ji Yuhan instead!
Looking around the booth, Su Qian counted the four of them.
What a lineup.
An entire alliance of victims.
Not a single one of them had a good ending in the original novel.
The moment they saw her, Zhong Qi waved enthusiastically.
Fang Lingxue raised her wine glass and said with elegant restraint,
“So you’ve finally come to your senses. About time.”
Jiang Can practically threw himself at her, hooking an arm around hers and dragging her onto the couch like they were lifelong girlfriends.
“I told you ages ago that Su Muyao was a bitch, but you wouldn’t listen! Now you get it, right? Stay away from that cheating couple.”
Damn.
So vicious.
Su Qian absolutely loved him.
Sitting down among them, she grabbed one of the expensive bottles on the table and poured herself a full glass.
“You’re right, you’re right. I was blind before. I’ll punish myself with a drink first!”
She tilted her head back and emptied the glass in one go.
“Ahhh! That hits the spot!”
Everyone stared at her.
“Are you punishing yourself or rewarding yourself?!”
Su Qian laughed.
“Same thing, same thing.”
The club was luxurious, private, and frequented exclusively by the upper class and celebrities.
The band on stage was made up of famous musicians from the entertainment industry.
As for the people dancing on the floor, a quick glance revealed several familiar faces—either heirs and heiresses from wealthy families or popular stars.
After finishing her drink, Su Qian slammed the glass onto the table and waved her hand.
“Waiter!”
Someone immediately came over and politely asked what she needed.
“You guys don’t happen to have male models… uh, I mean…” she quickly corrected herself. “You know… handsome guys. The really good-looking kind.”
Zhong Qi nearly jumped out of her seat.
“Su Qian?! What exactly are you ordering?!”
“Huh? Aren’t we here to have fun?” Su Qian looked at her in confusion. She had practically suffocated living under the Su family’s roof.
“My family checks my bank statements! If they find out I came somewhere like this, I’m dead!” Zhong Qi whispered frantically.
Su Qian chuckled.
She pulled out a black card and slapped it onto the table.
“I want the most expensive and the most handsome ones you’ve got. Two for each of my girls tonight. Put it all on my card!”
Jiang Can shrieked with delight.
“Really?!”
A moment later, the bartender led over a whole line of gorgeous men.
Every single one of them was over six feet tall, each with his own unique charm, but all of them devastatingly handsome.
The group burst into laughter as everyone picked two to sit beside them.
Only Jiang Can bounced around like an excited monkey.
“This one is handsome! That one’s handsome too! Can I order four? Two aren’t enough!”
It was at that exact moment that Su Qian’s phone rang.
“You’ve got quite the appetite!” she laughed while answering the call. “Can you even hug four of them at once?”
Jiang Can snorted and swayed his hips.
“What do you know?”
That did it.
Su Qian’s competitive streak was instantly ignited.
“Fine, fine, you little brat. You think I can lose to you? Get me six! …Hello? Who’s this?”
The person on the other end didn’t answer.
How strange.
Thinking it was just a spam call, Su Qian was about to hang up when Ji Yuhan’s furious roar exploded through the phone.
“Su Qian! Have you caused enough trouble yet?!”
Then, as if he still wasn’t satisfied, he ground his teeth and demanded,
“Su Qian, it’s the middle of the night. Where are you?”
…Why did this idiot always show up to ruin the mood?
Without missing a beat, Su Qian casually pointed at six of the handsome men standing in line while replying into the phone.
“Who the hell are you?”
She spoke without the slightest bit of courtesy.
“I’m surrounded by more than a dozen men right now. I’m perfectly safe.”
“So why exactly do you care where I am?”