Wen Jiayan stood by the floor-to-ceiling window, watching their silhouettes walking side by side.
That eyesore of an arm was draped across the girl’s shoulders, utterly lacking his usual air of restrained self-discipline.
The girl suddenly tilted her head to say something to the man, and sunlight streamed through the space between them, creating an almost cinematic atmosphere.
As if they were already a picture-perfect couple that others could only envy.
Wen Jiayan watched quietly, his face completely expressionless.
Even after the two figures had long since disappeared from his sight, he remained standing by the window, his tousled bangs slightly shadowing his brows and eyes.
…
Yu Shiyan escorted her back to Fontainebleau.
After they arrived, he gave her a calm, level look, left without a single word, and walked off with an unruffled demeanor.
Yu Jinyao felt her entire shoulder had gone numb, because she had been so stiff the whole time that she hadn’t dared to move an inch.
Actually, she felt she hadn’t broken character—but Yu Shiyan definitely had.
After all that fuss, she could finally rest. Yu Jinyao lay on her bed, feeling that the morning’s sandwich had more or less been digested.
She first ordered some food—well, it wasn’t exactly takeout; more precisely, it was the delivery service from Xingyao Academy’s cafeteria.
Then she opened Do, wanting to check if there were any posts about her.
So many things had happened in just one morning, and any one of them being exposed would have been enough to land her in hot water.
But strangely, there was nothing.
Xingyao Academy’s campus forum was calm and undisturbed. Today’s events hadn’t stirred up any waves at all.
Though it was unexpected, Yu Jinyao still breathed a sigh of relief.
Maybe it was because of Wen Jiayan’s and Yu Shiyan’s influence that no one dared to gossip.
However, the number of unfamiliar accounts trying to add her had suddenly increased—she couldn’t scroll to the bottom of the list.
She didn’t even find Wen Jiayan’s account among them.
She hadn’t wanted to add him anyway. With a clear conscience, Yu Jinyao cleared all the unread messages and switched accounts to check Shen Xinghe’s messages.
Her account called “Jinjin” was spotless—the persona she’d built was that of a working professional woman striving in the imperial capital.
Shen Xinghe had sent her many voice messages. Just then, the doorbell rang, and Yu Jinyao went to answer the door while listening to the messages.
“Baby, good morning. Another day of missing you.”
“Last night you didn’t agree to a video call, so I dreamed about you. I was wearing your favorite necklace, kneeling in front of you, moaning wantonly…”
Yu Jinyao immediately pressed the phone off.
She found herself face-to-face with the delivery person at the door.
The delivery person had a handsome, familiar face—they had just seen each other a few hours ago.
Xu Xinze glanced at the phone in her hand, then handed over the packaged meal box: “Your delivery.”
“…Thank you.”
Yu Jinyao took it with a blank expression and shut the door with lightning speed.
She was so embarrassed she could practically steam!
What kind of Mercury-retrograde day was this?!
Xu Xinze stood at the door for a while before snapping back to reality and heading off to deliver the next order.
But the image of the girl sitting on the ground with an annoyed expression, that conspicuous blush spreading across her fair cheeks, kept replaying in his mind.
And just now—the way she had arrogantly ignored him.
Was that voice on the phone her boyfriend?
Sounded like some pretty-boy gigolo.
Did she like such frivolous and dissolute men?
After finishing that delivery, Xu Xinze ordered a bowl of boiled noodles at the special admittees’ basement cafeteria.
As he ate, he looked at the messages on his phone.
It was from Ruan Zhi.
【Aze, can you speak up for me on the forum? They’ve gone too far.】
Xu Xinze typed back matter-of-factly.
【But she didn’t actually hurt you—she just ended up soaked herself.】
The reply came quickly, sent as a voice message.
“Her? Are you talking about Yu Jinyao? I’m not targeting her.”
“I just think I can’t keep enduring this anymore. Why should they treat me like this? Just because I talked a few extra words with Yu Shiyan?”
“Why should I have to pay such a heavy price for those rich girls’ jealousy? Even if—even if it’s Yu Jinyao, she’s still Xia Muyan’s lackey. Her intentions are bad. You’re not sympathizing with her, are you?”
Xu Xinze had already finished his noodles.
He and Ruan Zhi had grown up together as childhood friends, and he knew her temperament and character all too well.
She always appeared pure, innocent, upright, and kind, but there was always an abacus clicking away in her mind.
The special admittees were ostracized by the upper class, so they were exceptionally united.
Ruan Zhi had used this to her advantage, gradually becoming the de facto leader among the special admittees.
He had always helped her out of their old friendship, and also because Ruan Zhi was, after all, a girl—he was afraid she might suffer.
But this time, he hesitated.
Xu Xinze was an upstanding young man who had risen from the bottom rungs of society. Even in a harsh environment, he always did what he believed was right.
He had brains, he had principles, and he valued loyalty.
He should have helped Ruan Zhi, because those people really were in the wrong.
But that face—beautiful as a peach blossom, looking up at him with a hint of indignation—kept appearing in his mind.
It made him feel that she was already pitiful enough, and perhaps shouldn’t be blamed any further.
The prolonged silence made Ruan Zhi understand his decision.
“Fine, I won’t force you. I won’t say anything about the bathroom incident.”
Ruan Zhi gave up on winning him over.
But then he suddenly thought of that sticky male voice, dripping with lust and seduction.
A plan slowly took shape in his mind.
Yu Jinyao learned from the System that Xu Xinze was the true young master of the Shen family.
In other words, just now, the villain’s words as the fake young master had been overheard by the protagonist, the true young master.
What a coincidence…
But fortunately, they didn’t know each other yet.
Shen Xinghe had originally been a member of the F4, but because he went abroad to study, he hadn’t shown his face at Xingyao Academy for a long time.
The outside world didn’t know about him and assumed he was still studying overseas.
In the original owner’s memories, Shen Xinghe seemed to be someone aloof and cold, brilliant and talented, with his nose in the air.
Every time he appeared before the crowd, he was dressed in exquisite formal attire, either sitting on stage playing the piano or conducting beautiful classical music.
But now…
Yesterday, he had sung her a popular ancient-style song.
Behind that voice message that had mortified her to death was a video.
Before she tapped it open, it just looked black, impossible to tell what it was.
After tapping it open, the scene shifted, the camera panning from bottom to top.
It just happened to capture a patch of gray pants, the guy’s legs slightly parted, his whole body leaning back.
The black hoodie was repeatedly lifted up and dropped down to the beat of the music, his abs trembling slightly with the twisting motion of his waist.
The hand gripping the black hoodie was large, with long fingers and clearly defined knuckles, even the veins winding over them visible.
He wore a cap and a mask, covering his face completely, and danced for her with a teasing hint of exposure.
Bare-faced seduction.
Yu Jinyao projected that proud, exquisite face from her memories onto him and suddenly understood those emperors who had been bewitched by beauty.
A handsome guy who is icy cold to the outside world but only acts like a shameless flirt in front of you—who wouldn’t be tempted by that?
Yu Jinyao’s way of showing she was tempted was—
[Transfer 10000 yuan]
Keeping her persona in mind, she followed up with a text message.
[Star is so clingy, when will you let sister see Star’s face?]