For three consecutive days, Xu Yueyao hadn’t seen Fu Xiao Si at school. Watching Shen Yi head to the rooftop alone, she followed him up.
It was Xu Yueyao’s first time on the rooftop, and the entire school was laid out before her. No wonder all the main characters in stories liked to come up here—the view was truly impressive.
“What are you doing here?” Shen Yi stood behind her, his expression impatient and displeased at her intrusion into his space.
Xu Yueyao admired the school’s scenery and casually asked, “Where’s Fu Xiao Si? Why hasn’t he come to school?” She hadn’t seen him these past few days and wondered if his attitude toward her had changed.
Shen Yi walked over to her side, mimicking her posture as he looked down at the campus below. “Probably kneeling in the Fu family ancestral hall,” he said.
Xu Yueyao was shocked. “Huh? Why?”
“His mother used to be his father’s secretary. Old Madam Fu never liked his mother, and she doesn’t like him either. She believes he offended the Zhan family, so she punished him by making him kneel in the ancestral hall for three days and three nights without food or water. The 10% shares the Fu family transferred to you originally belonged to his mother. Now, he and his mother have nothing left in the Fu family.” Shen Yi spoke calmly, as if telling a story.
But Xu Yueyao was anything but calm. She paced back and forth anxiously, her words stumbling. “What about… what about his older brother? Fu Zheng? Didn’t he speak up for him or explain the situation?”
“His older brother has always hated Fu Xiao Si’s mother, believing she ruined his parents’ relationship.” Shen Yi gazed into the distance. He knew that despite Fu Xiao Si’s outwardly rebellious demeanor, he was emotionally sensitive and fragile.
Xu Yueyao was furious. Fu Zheng was as cunning as ever—using someone else’s shares to curry favor, killing two birds with one stone. He had taken revenge on someone he disliked while also using her to climb the social ladder by aligning with the Zhan family. Well, well, he certainly knew how to play his cards right.
So this was the male lead—a business tycoon, elegant and always smiling, yet often scheming behind the scenes, using others to achieve his goals. Meticulous and elusive, this was the persona the author had crafted for him, the author’s beloved archetype of a domineering CEO. Fine. This time, it had ignited Xu Yueyao’s fighting spirit. She decided then and there: she would protect Fu Xiao Si.
“Will Fu Xiao Si come to school tomorrow? If he does, tell him to come find me right away.” With that, Xu Yueyao left the rooftop.
After she left, Shen Yi stood on the rooftop for a long time. He didn’t know what Xu Yueyao would do, but if Fu Zheng intended to step on Fu Xiao Si to climb higher, he shouldn’t blame him for undermining his plans.
When Xu Yueyao came down from the rooftop, her classmates pointed and whispered as she passed. Puzzled, she returned to the classroom. Zhang Beilu hurried over to her as soon as she entered, but before she could say anything, Gao Yuyan sneered sarcastically, “Must be nice to cozy up to the nouveau riche—so easy to swindle a hotel from the Shen family and 10% of the Fu family’s shares.”
“Exactly, and she got away with it too!”
“What a despicable opportunist, acting like a bandit.”
“Yeah, her greed is just too obvious.”
“No wonder she’s from the lower class—her manners are appalling.”
“What does Zhan Shao even see in her?”
“Isn’t it obvious? She knows how to seduce people…”Everyone began to murmur, their words growing increasingly unpleasant to hear. Xu Yueyao’s hands, hanging by her sides, clenched into fists. By chance, she caught the gloating in An Zhiyi’s eyes and understood everything. The Shen and Fu families would never go around broadcasting such matters. The only one who could know such details so precisely was An Zhiyi.
Xu Yueyao gave a contemptuous smile. Stripped of their protagonist halos, they were nothing special after all.
Xu Yueyao smiled at Gao Yuyan and said, “Do you have any evidence for what you’re saying? Are you certain the Shen family gave me a hotel? Are you sure the Fu family gave me 10% of their shares? If not, are you going to make up the remaining shares to me?”
Gao Yuyan was momentarily speechless. She didn’t know; she had only heard it from others. The Shen family owned hotels all over the country—given Shen Yan’s relationship with Zhan Shao, it was entirely possible he had gifted a few. As for the Fu Group, it was a family business, and shares were not easily given to outsiders, let alone 10%. To her knowledge, Fu Xiao Si’s mother had worked hard for the group for half her life and only held 10% of the shares after giving birth to Fu Xiao Si. Thinking this, Gao Yuyan began to doubt the accuracy of the rumor. Could it be false?
Gao Yuyan turned to her little followers behind her and said, “Who said it? Step forward.” The followers began pushing and shoving each other. Everyone in the class had heard the rumor, but no one knew who had started it.
“Wu Haolin, Xiao Beichen, do you know? Is this true?”
Wu Haolin and Xiao Beichen shook their heads. They genuinely didn’t know.
Fu Xiao Si wasn’t there, so someone ran to the rooftop to ask Shen Yi. Soon, they returned with a flushed face.
“What did Shen Yi say?” the classmates asked eagerly.
With a red face, they replied, “He said, ‘Get lost.'”
Hahahaha…
The crowd burst into laughter. Xu Yueyao smiled as she looked at An Zhiyi, her mood gradually lifting, her smile growing brighter, because she noticed An Zhiyi could no longer smile.
“By the way, An Zhiyi was there too, wasn’t she? Why not just ask her?”
“That’s right. I remember seeing her get into Chairman Fu’s car and go to the hospital together.” A classmate recalled seeing An Zhiyi ride in Fu Zheng’s car to the hospital that day. Wu Haolin also turned to look at him, certain that An Zhiyi had been there.
“An Zhiyi, is this true? Did the Shen family compensate with a hotel, and the Fu family with 10% of their shares?” asked the classmate who had just returned from the rooftop.
An Zhiyi’s delicate brows furrowed. She didn’t want to get involved, but she hadn’t expected Xu Yueyao to effortlessly pass the ball back to her with just a few words. An Zhiyi bit her pink lips lightly, pretending to be troubled, and said, “I’m sorry, Xu Yueyao, but I can’t lie.”
The crowd erupted in murmurs and discussions. Zhang Beilu looked at An Zhiyi with displeasure and asked, “What do you mean? Either it’s true or it’s not. What’s with the ambiguity?”
Xia Nuannuan, who had never gotten along with Zhang Beilu, chimed in, “Can’t you understand plain speech? She means it’s true—that Xu Yueyao pretended to be injured to extort them.”
Xu Yueyao looked at An Zhiyi and said with a smile, “Oh, really? So it was you spreading the gossip.”
As soon as she finished speaking, all the classmates turned to look at An Zhiyi. She was the class’s aloof goddess, and while everyone loved gossip, someone who spread rumors and then disappeared into the shadows always seemed a bit petty.Xu Yueyao was determined to tear off her disguise and firmly pin the habit of spreading gossip on her, all because her villainous genes were acting up—seeing the female lead suffer brought her immense satisfaction.
An Zhiyi’s eyes reddened slightly; she couldn’t bear the way her classmates were looking at her. Xia Nuannuan, true to her role as a good friend, spoke up: “Xu Yueyao, don’t change the subject. You clearly weren’t hurt at all, yet you extorted so many things from them. Don’t you feel ashamed?”
Gao Yuyan frowned and asked, “Xu Yueyao, we’re not wronging you this time, are we?”
Xu Yueyao smiled and replied, “No, you’re not wronging me. But, An Zhiyi, you were there too. Tell everyone, did I extort them, or did they offer it willingly?”
“You’re saying they offered it willingly?” a classmate asked skeptically. Although wealthy families were generous and money was no object, this seemed excessively generous. Besides, Xu Yueyao was standing right here perfectly fine—she wasn’t even injured.
The classmates began to murmur again, some believing Xu Yueyao might be telling the truth, others thinking she was just boasting.