Inside the closet, Lin Ran watched as Lu Feng expressionlessly took out his phone from his trouser pocket and pressed the power button just before Su Wanyu’s call could connect.
Lin Ran raised the corner of her eye. “So afraid of your dear little sister finding out?”
“Do you think she’d burst into tears on the spot if she saw you disheveled and squeezed in here with me?”
Lu Feng remained silent, his gaze sharpening.
Lin Ran continued to provoke him. “Should I make a little noise and test it out?”
“Don’t you dare!”
Lu Feng finally spoke, his voice hoarse and strained.
“Why wouldn’t I dare?” Lin Ran flashed a malicious smile. “Classmate Lu, haven’t you figured out the situation yet?”
“Right now, I’m the one threatening you. If you’re willing to agree to my—”
Before she could finish the word “conditions,” her wrist was seized in a fierce grip.
Lu Feng’s palm was scorching hot, his grip so strong it felt as though he might crush her bones.
“Threatening me?” His breath brushed against Lin Ran’s face, carrying a burning fury. “You think I’m afraid?”
“Whether you’re afraid or not, I don’t know,” Lin Ran winced in pain, but her tone grew even more arrogant. “But I know you just came.”
The words struck like a slap, shattering all of Lu Feng’s composure.
The humiliation he least wanted to admit was laid bare before him.
His breathing grew heavier, and his grip on Lin Ran tightened even more.
Lin Ran’s expression suddenly shifted.
The flirtatious glint in her eyes vanished, replaced by a welling of grievance that spilled over.
“It hurts~”
Her breathy voice was both delicate and soft, the sudden display of weakness startling Lu Feng into releasing her hand abruptly.
Lin Ran rubbed her sore wrist, frowning. “Look what you did—it’ll definitely bruise by tomorrow.”
Her demeanor was exactly like a little fox who had been strutting proudly, only to sulk after being hurt.
Lu Feng suppressed the complex emotions in his eyes, turning his gaze away as his Adam’s apple bobbed, forcing out a lukewarm remark.
“If you know it hurts, then don’t provoke me.”
As his words fell, silence settled in the closet.
Lu Feng was surprised.
Given Lin Ran’s personality, he expected at least some retort, but she chose silence instead.
The atmosphere felt strangely peculiar.
After an unknown number of seconds, Lin Ran moved.
She placed both hands on Lu Feng’s shoulders and leaned her body gently against him.
“Can you feel it?” she whispered.
Lu Feng’s body stiffened, neither pushing her away nor responding.
“I’m trembling.”
She spoke softly into his ear. “Actually… I’m very scared.”
Lu Feng was completely stunned.
Lin Ran continued, “I’m scared my parents will leave me. I’m scared I’ll lose my comfortable life. I’m scared that even after all my efforts, I’ll still meet the same predetermined death.”
She tightened her arms around him. “So I have to seize everything I can, even if the means are dishonorable, even if I’m called crazy or despicable.”
“But no matter what, I have to do it.”
Lu Feng’s mind went blank.
He understood what she was saying, yet he couldn’t grasp what she truly meant to convey.
Why did her tone sound so sorrowful?
If she wanted to win his sympathy, why not choose a simpler, more direct approach?
“You…”
“Shh.” Lin Ran blew a soft breath into his ear. “Now, answer me one question.”
“I’ll cover your foster mother’s monthly medication costs until she recovers, and I’ll help your foster father find a well-paying, easy job. Are you willing to be my servant for a year?”
The inexplicable tenderness that had just begun to stir in Lu Feng’s heart vanished without a trace.
The system witnessed the male lead’s affection value jump from -100 to -80, only to plummet back to -100 in an instant.
He pulled Lin Ran off of him.
Lin Ran had anticipated this reaction, her expression unchanged, as if the vulnerability she had shown moments ago was nothing but a fleeting illusion.
She had no intention of using weakness to win over the male lead. Her earlier display was merely a spur-of-the-moment act, a performance.
Surprisingly, he had fallen for it.
Unfortunately, dominance and conquest were her true nature.
“Angry?” Lin Ran mocked lightly. “Student Lu’s pride is a bit too fragile, isn’t it?”
“Just one year as a servant in exchange for your adoptive parents’ lifelong happiness—such a foolproof deal, and you still refuse. It seems you don’t really love them that much after all.”
Lu Feng gritted his teeth and sneered, “Don’t try to provoke me. I’ll earn the money to secure their future myself. You don’t need to worry about it.”
“Oh? Are you that confident I won’t interfere?”
“You—!” Lu Feng frowned.
“Me, what?” Lin Ran raised an eyebrow.
The air grew thick, and another silent battle of wills unfolded between them.
In the end, it was Lu Feng who yielded. “What do you really want?”
“Haven’t I already told you?” Lin Ran met his gaze. “I want you to become my masterpiece, inside and out, completely and utterly mine.”
Lu Feng clenched his fists, veins throbbing on his forehead. After a long pause, he spat out coldly, “You want to ruin me?”
“No.” Lin Ran leaned forward, capturing his gaze. “I want you to love me.”
Lu Feng’s heart skipped a heavy beat.
“Dream on,” he said coldly.
Lin Ran chuckled, her eyes gleaming like tempered fire. “Then let’s wait and see.”
Lu Feng was stung by the fire in her eyes, and an indescribable emotion began to spread from the depths of his heart.
The system’s notification echoed in Lin Ran’s mind.
[Male lead’s affection value +20. Current affection value (-80). Please continue your efforts, host.]
Lin Ran did not respond to the system.
For a long time afterward, neither of them spoke inside the closet.
They stared at each other, so close yet so distant, the unspoken tension between them even more ambiguous than their earlier physical confrontation.
10:30 PM.
Su Wanyu gathered her things, closed the door, and left.
Bang!
The sound of the door closing acted like a spell, breaking the closet’s seal.
Lin Ran pushed the door open first, and the two stepped out one after the other, neither speaking a word.
The only light in the art studio came from the faint glow filtering through the window.
Just as Lu Feng grasped the doorknob to leave, he paused.
“Lin Ran.” He didn’t turn around.
“Let me give you a piece of advice: if you keep clinging to me, you’ll regret it.”
His voice wasn’t as icy as before, but it wasn’t exactly gentle either—cool and detached, like the clear moonlight outside the window.
In the dim light, Lin Ran’s gaze was profound.
“Lu Feng, let me give you a piece of advice too.”
“Either kill me right now, or—” She paused, a smile blooming in the shadows, bewitching as a flower.
“Be prepared… to be dragged into hell with me.”
Lu Feng stiffened, then pushed the door open and strode away.
The system’s mechanical voice chimed in promptly.
[Host, I must remind you that the original plot force has begun to retaliate. Su Wanyu’s appearance here today was no coincidence.]
“Understood.”
Lin Ran replied casually.
It seemed she needed to speed up her conquest.
The next day, the sun shone warmly as the class bell rang.
Lin Ran stood in the hallway, dressed in a wine-red velvet minidress.
The moment Lu Feng saw her, a flicker of light appeared in his eyes.
Though brief, Lin Ran caught it.
People are sensory creatures, and her efforts to dress up were not in vain.
Students around them slowed their steps to look, but Lin Ran walked straight toward Lu Feng without glancing sideways, handing him the paper bag in her hand.
“For you.”
The paper bag was matte black, with a fine texture and no logo on it.
Lu Feng did not take it, only watching her coldly.
Lin Ran shook the bag. “This is an apology gift.”
Lu Feng narrowed his eyes slightly. “An apology for what?”
“Yesterday…” Lin Ran had just begun to speak when her wrist was seized by him.
Lu Feng pulled her into the now-empty classroom.