A Lesson

By the time Fu Liangxia reached the classroom for Class 2, the situation was already brewing.

The moment Su Xingshu turned to glare at her yesterday had been captured on camera and posted to the school forum. Within minutes, it had been pinned as a hot topic.

Sure enough, at Saintland, anything related to the F4 was pure traffic gold.

She didn't even need to tap the post to imagine the bloodbath inside.

The title was deliberately sensational: [Fan Club, Assemble! We've Got Work—Someone Dares to Anger Our Lord Su, and Distance Won't Save Them!]

The exaggerated tone made her hand tremble slightly.

That said, the girl Su Xingshu had brought along yesterday was a decent photographer.

In the photo, she stood at the doorway of the room, while Su Xingshu was on the stairs, a step lower. He looked up, his gaze level with hers, and the two strikingly handsome faces shared the frame, creating an inexplicable sense of compatibility.

…Why did she think that girl took it?

Please—yesterday, only four people were present: the two involved, her brother, and that girl. A shot this skilled couldn't possibly be Fu Liedong's handiwork. The answer was obvious.

Still, Fu Liangxia could only confirm the photographer. The inflammatory post itself might not have been written by her—possibly by someone in Su Xingshu's Fan Club responsible for copywriting and promotion.

As it stood, the effect was excellent.

Especially since the whole incident had been embellished with dramatic flair, with Su Xingshu's fragility and hurt heavily emphasized. The fine writing almost made Fu Liangxia feel sorry for him.

If she weren't the one involved, she'd have thought the girl in the story was a thoroughly wicked villain.

The comments had clearly been led astray.

[Melon Runnin' Wild in the Field: Big guts! Daring to talk to our Lord Su like that? You want to die?!]

[Hates Straight Girls Faking Queerness: So pretty… wait, I mean, so outrageous! Who's so bold?! Where's the morality? Where's the bottom line? Where's the decency? And where's the sister's contact info?]

[Daily Derangement: Tripped over a panty liner the moment I walked in—rein it in, folks up there.]

[Avada Chomp-a-Melon: So who's the girl in the photo anyway? Never seen her before—could she be that newly transferred special admit everyone's talking about?]

[Shut Your Dog Mouth: Don't disgust me. What right does a lowly special admit have to talk to Lord Su like that? She's lucky we even grace her with attention.]

[Online Just to Chew Cables: I've got a wild idea—God, just thinking about it shocks me. What if she pissed him off on purpose to get his attention…? How insidious, that poor trash.]

[A Certain Rich Auntie: Ahhh, so sinister! Lord Su won't actually fall for her, will he?!]

These remarks were actually among the friendlier ones. Plenty of rabid fanatics had already moved to personal attacks, and some were even vowing to teach her a lesson.

That was to be expected. By all appearances, Su Xingshu should be utterly disgusted with her—even Fu Liangxia herself had thought so before seeing the Affinity Points.

So it wasn't surprising that numerous fans immediately pledged to punish her on his behalf.

To them, angering Su Xingshu was tantamount to committing an unforgivable crime, deserving of public condemnation.

Fu Liangxia walked at a steady pace, her finger flicking rapidly across her screen. Thanks to her excellent dynamic vision, even a quick swipe let her take in all the information at once, and one thread caught her attention.

[Marquis Hou Ain't Worried 'Bout Nothin': Huh? That girl looks familiar—I think I saw her in the cafeteria once, and Lord Su was with her then too.]

[momo: I remember that too, it was definitely the two of them! Because Cheng Xiaoran showed up then and dumped a plate of food on them in full view… I remember it clearly because I was so shocked.]

[Someone's Typing: Wait, that means this girl knows Lord Su—if they could eat together, their relationship must be pretty decent, right? I suddenly have a different theory. Given that Cheng Xiaoran's been dumped and humiliated enough to douse them, can we infer… this girl might be the reason they broke up?]

[Stop Grinding, Everyone: So we're just part of the little couple's play?!]

[Not Changing My Name 'Til I Get Into Class 2: How could that be? Lord Su would never fall for someone like her!]

…

The exchange was quickly shut down by fans and buried under the flood of comments, drawing little attention.

Most people were too busy eagerly plotting how to give the girl in the photo a memorable lesson.

The post was causing a stir, and Fu Liangxia could feel the stares and whispers around her as she walked.

Information truly spread fast.

But Bai Kewei coming to find her was something Fu Liangxia hadn't anticipated.

The girl seemed to have run all the way over—a fine sheen of sweat clung to her smooth forehead, and she was still panting when she stopped in front of Fu Liangxia, her eyes filled with urgency. "Don't go back to the classroom yet. Come with me."

"What's wrong?" Fu Liangxia raised an eyebrow in mild surprise.

She could roughly guess what was waiting for her in that classroom, but she hadn't expected Bai Kewei—who had only met her once—to want to help.

"I heard them talking about doing something bad to you," Bai Kewei said, reaching out to take her hand with a gentle yet firm grip. "Let's report it to the teachers and make sure they get what they deserve."

"Why?" Fu Liangxia didn't move, asking instead.

Why help her?

Bai Kewei paused mid-step and turned to look at her quizzically, then seemed to understand the question. She broke into a bright smile. "Because we're friends. You helped me before, didn't you?"

Bai Kewei wasn't naive. She'd transferred in just yesterday, so she hadn't known the situation at first, but through Li Yuanfan's words and the attitudes of those around her, she'd figured out what kind of school Saintland was—and what the F4 meant there.

Angering them was anything but a good thing, something she couldn't possibly afford.

It was only after realizing that that she understood how precious Fu Liangxia's step forward had been.

Seeing the hint of fluster on Fu Liangxia's beautiful face only strengthened her conviction. "I can't just watch my friend get bullied."

Even if it meant putting herself in danger.

Despite being stabbed in the back by Li Yuanfan not long ago, when she saw a friend in trouble again, Bai Kewei hadn't lost the courage to step forward.

…

Around her, classmates looked on with cold, superior gazes. In front of her stood a girl she barely knew, panting from the run, all just to keep her out of a trap. Fu Liangxia felt something in a corner of her heart soften, wrapped in warm currents—aching, yet somehow joyful.

She finally understood why she'd hated Li Yuanfan so much when reading the book.

Not just because he was vile and had done countless harmful things, but because he'd been given the female lead's favor—a friend who would stand up for him against the powerful—and he hadn't treasured it. Instead, he'd groveled like a dog at the feet of the powerful.

He didn't deserve it.

He didn't deserve such beautiful friendship.

Did she, then?

Looking at Bai Kewei's clear eyes, Fu Liangxia sneered internally. No—she had helped Bai Kewei only because of a System task. She wasn't nearly as good as Bai Kewei thought.

Lost in thought, she didn't notice that Bai Kewei was leading her toward the faculty office building.

Neither of them saw that, not far above their heads, several figures had appeared at a third-floor window of that same building.

"Just as you guessed—tell the special admit about Boss Qiang going after that girl, and she comes running right over," Kang Jin said, squinting as he shot a sideways glance at the person beside him. "You even predicted she'd bring that girl to the office building, exactly. Truly the same lowborn trash, knows how they think."

The early autumn weather was fickle—one moment clear and crisp with cloudless skies, the next dark clouds rolled in and a fierce wind kicked up.

Fu Liangxia tugged at her cardigan, feeling the chill in the air.

Her constitution was poor, far more sensitive to cold than the average person.

Bai Kewei seemed to sense her temperature dropping. She halted her steps into the building and looked her over with concern. "Are you okay? You look awful."

Under the gloomy sky, the girl's face was almost as white as porcelain, her shoulders thin, her whole frame looking as if a gust of wind could carry her off.

Bai Kewei tightened her grip on Fu Liangxia's hand.

Sensing the other girl's worry, Fu Liangxia instinctively offered a reassuring smile. "I'm—"

Before she could finish, she saw Bai Kewei's expression shift violently, her hand yanking her away from her spot.

But her speed could never beat gravity. With a heavy splash, Fu Liangxia felt a shock of cold wash over her—she was soaked through.

Bai Kewei, not far away, hadn't escaped either.

Her hair clung messily to her face, but her eyes blazed with fury.

From overhead came a burst of gleeful laughter.

"Oops, my hand slipped… ah, it's you two? Well, that doesn't really matter. Just a special admit and a girl Lord Su despises—who's going to stand up for you anyway?"

Fu Liangxia fought through the cold to look up and saw a face twisted with arrogance. She didn't recognize it, but the face beside it was all too familiar—

"Li Yuanfan?"

Bai Kewei cried out in disbelief.

Fu Liangxia had some vague recollection of this scene in the original book. Around this same point in the timeline, Bai Kewei had angered Fu Haoyao and been issued the Joker card. To curry favor with Fu Haoyao, Li Yuanfan and his cronies had ambushed her on her way to report to a teacher, dousing her with filth.

In the original book, this was also the turning point where the female lead formed a bond with one of the F4. She remembered that the one who'd rescued her then was—

"What are you doing?!"

A sharp cry rang out. Fu Liangxia slowly lifted her gaze to see a chubby young man wearing a Student Council badge striding over, shouting as he came.

The tall youth following behind him had wind tousling his hair, revealing deep, brooding eyes. And now, those eyes held something she couldn't quite parse.

—It was Cheng Xingzhou.