Three idiots.
Having been the leader of the little clique for three years, Yue Shanni could tell from the expressions on Fang Hui and the other two’s faces that they had not taken her warning seriously.
She had wanted to advise them again, but the words reached her lips and she swallowed them back.
In junior high, they were in the same class and spent every day together at school, with everyone getting along famously.
In high school, they attended different schools, so their relationships had naturally grown more distant.
Especially after Yue Shanni was expelled from the high school in Rong City and forced to return to the small county town to continue her studies, the halo from her three years of junior high had mostly shattered. Fang Hui and the other two still kept in touch with Yue Shanni, but they no longer regarded her as the “boss” of the clique.
Yue Shanni’s words no longer carried weight in front of Fang Hui and the other two.
Since that was the case, Yue Shanni simply gave up on trying to persuade them. It would be pointless even if she talked until her mouth went dry. They would only learn to spell “regret” after bumping into that devil themselves.
Thinking of Xie Qian’s terror, Yue Shanni turned and bolted.
“Shanni?”
“…Hey!”
“Why is she running? We’re not going to eat her.”
Fang Hui stomped her foot.
Ma Lingling’s gaze wandered. “Shanni isn’t as close to us anymore. Ever since she got expelled, her courage seems to have been scared out of her. She’s been very well-behaved at school, not participating in any arts activities, and even befriending the bookworms she used to look down on the most. I think her change is real.”
Yue Shanni was tall and slender, and in junior high she was passionate about dressing up and actively took part in all sorts of school arts events. Not only was she a prominent figure at school, but even the young hoodlums outside pursued her. A girl like that did not need outstanding grades. The confidence radiating from her was incredibly attractive and gave her a certain charisma. Ordinary girls would envy and imitate her, willingly “following” Yue Shanni.
Now, Yue Shanni had gone from being special to utterly ordinary, keeping a low profile in everything and no longer standing out. The cool edge she once had was almost entirely gone, and Ma Lingling had no desire to acknowledge such a Yue Shanni as the boss anymore.
Fang Hui sneered. “Well, there’s nothing to be done about it. Shanni’s family is just like that. She must have been warned by her mum not to slack off anymore. Let her play with whoever she wants. I’ll always consider her a friend anyway.”
Was Yue Shanni the type to study seriously?
Fang Hui would not believe that for a million quid.
Once Yue Shanni hit a setback, she would naturally realise that her old classmates were the best.
By then, if Yue Shanni wanted to come back, it would probably take her a long time to adjust to her new position in the clique.
For now, Fang Hui was already vaguely exuding the air of the new boss.
Although Fang Hui’s personal attributes were not as standout as Yue Shanni’s, her family’s circumstances were better than Ma Lingling’s and Liu Yan’s, so she felt qualified to be the boss.
Liu Yan gazed dreamily at the bus carrying Wen Ying and Xie Qian as it drove away, reluctantly withdrawing her eyes. She softly suggested to Fang Hui, “Sister Shanni must have her reasons for not wanting to tell us. We don’t need to make things difficult for her. This is the provincial key school, so surely someone here knows about him…”
Eh?
She was right.
Fang Hui patted Liu Yan. “Your little head is pretty sharp.”
Not knowing his name was no big deal. Wen Ying was a celebrity now, so the boy walking with her could not possibly be a nobody. Just based on that stunning appearance, he must have a strong presence at the provincial key school.
With that thought, Fang Hui felt jealous again.
The dowdy Wen Ying, who had been bullied by them, seemed to have suddenly unblocked her meridians right after junior high graduation.
She became famous writing novels and made a fortune, and her looks had transformed completely. Otherwise, with Wen Ying’s image as a country bumpkin in junior high, how could she deserve to be friends with such a handsome boy?
What galled her most was that Wen Ying had become famous and wealthy on her own, but her parents had also been transferred to the provincial capital for work one after the other. Wen Ying’s dad had been posted to a very important government agency. When the Wen couple came knocking on doors one by one, Fang Hui’s parents did not want to offend them and forced Fang Hui to apologise to Wen Ying.
If even Fang Hui’s family could not withstand the pressure, Ma Lingling’s and Liu Yan’s families were even less able to.
As the three girls decided to properly inquire about Xie Qian, on the bus heading away, Xie Qian also quietly withdrew his scrutinising gaze.
“Those were all your junior high classmates?”
The two sat in the last row of the bus, which swayed and jolted along. Wen Ying shrugged it off indifferently. “Yeah, all my junior high classmates. You have met Yue Shanni before, right?”
Xie Qian had a good memory and would not forget anyone he had interacted with, so Wen Ying did not think he would have forgotten Yue Shanni.
Xie Qian did not beat around the bush. “They did not seem like they were there to catch up with you.”
Wen Ying mumbled, “As if they would come to catch up. They were here to apologise, though without any of the sincerity an apology should have. Still, it barely counts as one.”
Accustomed to fighting solo, having lived two lives and been protected by her parents, Wen Ying felt a bit embarrassed bringing it up.
She was not in the habit of complaining to anyone. In front of Xie Qian and the others, she had not hidden the fact that she had been unpopular before, but she had not gone into detail either.
Now that Xie Qian was probing, Wen Ying simply mentioned a few things, and only then did Xie Qian understand why the letter Wen Ying wrote to Chen Ru had the impact of a nuclear bomb. The hamster had torn open her own wounds to show them. No wonder her parents were moved.
Xie Qian turned to look. Wen Ying’s brows and eyes were relaxed, her complexion rosy and healthy, full of youthful vigour without a trace of the bullied little wretch.
The Wen Ying that Xie Qian knew had never been a little wretch.
She was clever and kind, confident without arrogance, top-notch among her peers.
Reason told Xie Qian that the past could not be changed, yet in this moment, his thinking turned very emotional.
If only he could go back to the past.
Back to Wen Ying’s dowdy junior high days, he would make sure to appear the first time she was bullied and ask if she wanted to be his friend.
Xie Qian’s gaze was too intense, making Wen Ying uncomfortable as she touched her face. “If you have something to say, just say it. This hemming and hawing is weird.”
“It is nothing. I just suddenly feel very glad to be your friend.”
Glad that he had agreed to tutor with his cousin Lin Lin, glad that he had spent the summer after the entrance exam with Wen Ying, glad about transferring to Rong City, glad that over the past two-plus years, their friendship had not drifted apart.
“You…”
You little youngster, do not keep flirting with this old auntie.
Wen Ying turned her head to focus on the street scene outside the window. On the swaying glass, her reflection showed joy spilling from the corners of her eyes and brows, her lips unconsciously curving upwards.
…
Wen Ying and Xie Qian took the bus home, while Fang Hui and the other two stayed at the provincial key school gates to inquire about Xie Qian.
As expected, someone like Xie Qian had a huge presence at the provincial key school, so finding out about him took little effort.
Handsome?
Pah, too superficial.
Xie Qian was not just handsome. His brilliant mind complemented his looks perfectly. He consistently held the top spot in the year group without budging, the “male god” acknowledged by all the girls in the school.
Being smart and handsome were advantages anyone could see in Xie Qian at a glance, but the poise he displayed in his every gesture also subtly revealed that his family background was far from ordinary.
“Someone says Xie Qian’s family is extremely wealthy, though it is hard to say if it is true. Xie Qian himself never flaunts his wealth, but he just looks like the young master from a rich family. A lot of us guess that Wen Ying used Xie Qian as the prototype for the male lead in The Princess’s New Clothes…”
In the milk tea shop at the school gates, Fang Hui and the other two treated girls from the provincial key school to snacks in exchange for information on Xie Qian.
The girls from the provincial key school were used to this sort of thing. People from other schools often came inquiring about Xie Qian. He already had his own forum thread, and these three girls did not even know his name. They had no idea where these country bumpkins had crawled out from.
“I have read The Princess’s New Clothes. You mean the character played by Yun Chen?”
Ma Lingling answered eagerly, and the girl from the provincial key school nodded while sucking on her milk tea straw. “Yes, the male lead played by Yun Chen. Those entertainment reporters dug up that Yun Chen comes from a good family background. No wonder his performance in The Princess’s New Clothes was so spot-on, practically playing himself. Think about it carefully. Does Yun Chen’s aura not resemble Xie Qian’s?”
Fang Hui and the other two nodded in unison.
They had not noticed before, but now that she mentioned it, they really did look alike.
When they had watched the TV drama before, they had not thought much of it, but upon reflection, Yun Chen had skyrocketed to fame with The Princess’s New Clothes. As a newcomer, what acting skills did he have? It was simply that he matched the role too perfectly.
Recently, Yun Chen’s luxury watch endorsement advert had gone live. Of course, Fang Hui and the others could not afford luxury watches, nor could ordinary viewers, but seeing the watch on Yun Chen’s wrist, moving with his gestures, made audiences feel that the high price was justified.
So this was the elegance of the wealthy. Comparing Yun Chen to Xie Qian made Fang Hui and Ma Lingling’s hearts ache with sourness.
Liu Yan suddenly asked out of the blue, “Xie Qian is so outstanding. Is he and Wen Ying…”
The girl set down her milk tea, smiling ambiguously. “You want to ask if Xie Qian is dating Wen Ying? Though they have never admitted it, we all think so.”
The three fell silent as one.
Fang Hui murmured, “God is so unfair. Wen Ying was so unremarkable before, yet she managed to snag a boyfriend like Xie Qian. This is puppy love, and your provincial key school’s teachers do not even care.”
The previously amiable girl suddenly dropped her smile and sized up Fang Hui and the other two.
“They are a match made in heaven, talented and beautiful. Who are you, you little monster, to object? Which school are you from anyway? You lot look so odd.”
The girl, who had been so easygoing moments ago, changed her expression and stopped drinking her milk tea, interrogating Fang Hui and the other two.
Relying on her quick tongue, Fang Hui had said quite a bit about Wen Ying’s “past,” which only made the girl from the provincial key school despise them. “So it is jealousy. The less you say, the better. The more you do, the more I admire Wen Ying. Even an ordinary girl can turn her life around through her own efforts. If even she does not deserve Xie Qian, then ugly narrow-minded freaks like you do not deserve to even inquire about his name. Get lost now, or I will call people to beat you up.”
The girl brandished her fist in warning.
This was the provincial key school’s territory after all, so Fang Hui and the other two did not dare act arrogant there. They slunk away with their tails between their legs.
Fang Hui cursed the girls from the provincial key school as lackeys, unaware that many students there were Wen Ying’s readers, and there were also Xie Qian’s fangirls. These two groups overlapped to a large extent.
If Xie Qian had to date someone, the girlfriend choice could only be Wen Ying.
That was the thought of Xie Qian’s fangirls.
Likewise, if Wen Ying were to find a boyfriend at school, no one but Xie Qian would be suitable.
That was the thought of Wen Ying’s readers.
The readers and fangirls, whose identities overlapped, formed a new group, the Wen Ying & Xie Qian CP fans support club. The CP fans ranks grew daily, quietly shipping the pair in their spare time from studies. The leader of this unofficial underground organisation was Li Mengjiao, the CP fans boss Li the Daft, who kept the other little fans in check, forbidding anyone from disturbing Wen Ying and Xie Qian’s school life while shipping.
