Chapter 20: Direct ConfrontationYan Yan faced him with an unrestrained air of arrogance. "What are you here for? We're not close, are we?"Wang Fu hung his head, pleading. "Yan Yan, I know I was wrong… Can you forgive me? As long as you let this go and don't cause me any more trouble, I promise I'll never bully you like that again!""When have I ever caused you trouble? You need to be clear. If you're talking about those news stories online, I didn't leak them. What does that have to do with me?"Wang Fu stammered, "I-I know you didn't leak them, but things have turned out this way now, haven't they?"Such a big, burly guy wore a pitiful expression in front of Yan Yan. "My family's business is almost ruined. These past couple of days, a lot of people have even come to cause trouble at our doorstep…"Yan Yan scoffed. "So now you realize your actions were wrong? Why didn't you apologize back when you were bullying me?""I just… I felt like you looked down on us, and it made me really angry, so I… I know this is my own problem. If you help me this time, I'll have your back for anything that happens at school from now on! I'll make sure no one ever bullies you again!"Yan Yan snorted disdainfully. "Do I look like someone who worries about being bullied?"Remembering the pen tip that had nearly pierced his eyeball, Wang Fu swallowed hard. "Right… probably no one can bully you."Yan Yan was someone who repaid every slight. Anyone who dared provoke her would face immediate retaliation, without a second's delay.She would never carry today's grudge into tomorrow.Realizing he had no leverage to demand Yan Yan's forgiveness, let alone her help, Wang Fu slumped in defeat. "I guess this is just the payback for bullying you before… Anyway, I still owe you an apology."Disheartened, he decided to head home first to deal with the family matters. He had no mind to stay at school anyway.Before leaving, Wang Fu offered a warning. "Yan Yan, there's something I never told you. Before, I didn't think it was necessary, but now… including those online news stories, I think it might be those people behind it.""Several people in our class took money to secretly take photos of you every day. I don't know exactly what for, but it's definitely not for anything good. You should be careful. It might be those enemies of yours from the capital."After giving his warning, Wang Fu moved to walk past Yan Yan, but she stopped him. "Wait."She always distinguished clearly between gratitude and grievance. Wang Fu had already been taught a lesson; their feud was settled.And since Wang Fu was willing to tell her this, she could, in return, point him toward a way out."I'll handle the online issues. Once everything's over, you'd better keep your promise and never bother me again. Otherwise, your fate will be worse than that day!"With that, Yan Yan, like a proud white swan, lifted her chin and walked past him into the school.Wang Fu stood there dumbly, watching her graceful, slender figure recede. Recalling everything that had happened these past days, a blush crept onto his cheeks.Perhaps only he himself knew clearly that his previous targeting of Yan Yan wasn't just because he disliked her arrogance, but also because… in Yan Yan's eyes, it seemed he had never existed at all.That casual, inexplicable disregard struck a blow to his youthful heart, making him feel that only by acting this way could he gain a sliver of recognition in Yan Yan's presence.After realizing there was room for the situation to turn around, Wang Fu scratched his head and simply followed her back to school first.The entire process, from beginning to end, fell into the eyes of the man reclining in the nearby rattan chair.The man, whose complexion was as pale as snow, tightened his lips into a taut line.After a long while, he gritted his teeth and muttered, "So young, yet quite the charmer…"Thinking back to Yan Yan's indifferent attitude as she passed by the school gate earlier that day, a wave of restlessness surged in Feng Xiao's chest.What an ungrateful little girl……After the situation took a turn, the school, which had initially planned to expel Yan Yan, found itself in a dilemma.They had assumed Yan Yan was bullying her classmates by leveraging her status as a rich second-generation heiress, only to discover that all her actions were merely acts of self-defense.This rendered all their previous punishments invalid.Moreover, having publicly vowed to handle the matter strictly, Wang Fu couldn't escape either. Under public pressure, he was given a major demerit by the school and forced to apologize publicly on the flag-raising platform, acknowledging his mistakes.However, the school's disciplinary measures were insufficient to quell the public's anger. People wanted justice for Yan Yan.They relentlessly targeted the instigator, nearly exposing every detail of Wang Fu's family background.Wang Fu's image shifted from the previously pitiful victim to the villain who bullied his classmates.But Yan Yan had never intended to rely on public opinion to resolve these matters.She knew that the only way to divert the netizens' attention in the shortest time possible and make them lose interest in the bullying incident… was to shift the blame elsewhere and find something more intriguing for them to focus on.Yan Yan effortlessly traced the IP address from which the initial video was posted and, following the clues, uncovered evidence related to Cheng Qi.The person who had secretly assisted her had been far more cautious, leaving few traces behind—unlike Cheng Qi, whose arrogance had blinded her to the possibility of being exposed.But that wasn't the most pressing issue at the moment.After verifying all the evidence in her possession, Yan Yan decided to go all in and posted the entire truth online.【@ChengQiPrincess, could Miss Cheng please explain why the video was edited from the start to mislead the public into attacking me?】The previously silent party involved suddenly appeared, tagging Cheng Qi's verified account on Weibo.Yan Yan paid to push herself onto the trending list, and with the relevant hashtags, she immediately captured everyone's attention.Thus, the swarming netizens quickly abandoned their focus on Wang Fu and began speculating about the hidden implications behind her words.【Judging from the evidence released, it seems Cheng Qi orchestrated this whole thing from the start, likely to make us believe Yan Yan was bullying her classmates!】【Isn't Cheng Qi's behavior a bit too malicious?】【Is this an open confrontation? I never expected young people nowadays to be so bold!!】【So she deliberately tried to frame Yan Yan, right? She had the full video but chose not to release it… That's just vile…】Under the scrutiny of netizens, some information about Cheng Qi was also revealed.Including her family background, the school she currently attends, and her personal details were all quickly exposed on online platforms, triggering a subsequent butterfly effect.Our Young Master Feng is quite aggrieved.

Young Master Feng, Don’t Cry, Madam Isn’t Playing You This Time