Enrollment Storm

At the corner just inside the school gates, several boys were kicking a short-haired male student around like a piece of trash.

The Saintland uniform on that short-haired boy was already filthy beyond recognition. He curled up, using both hands to protect his head, awkwardly sprawled on his side on the ground. He endured the kicks and punches without making any extra move.

After a pained cry, one of them stepped on his face, and he could no longer make a sound.

Even with most of his face covered by a shoe, the boy's distinctive light-colored pupils made Fu Liangxia recall his identity.

His name was Li Yuanfan—the female lead's childhood friend in the original story, a hypocritical little man.

Li Yuanfan was breathing heavily. A tall boy with platinum blond hair gestured for the one stepping on him to move his foot away, then slowly crouched down and sized him up casually. "Remember what you promised us?"

The moment Fu Liangxia laid eyes on the tall boy, the system's voice sounded in her head.

[Target "Fu Haoyao" has appeared. Current Affinity Points: 5.]

[Task 1 (Activated): Establish a friendly relationship with Fu Haoyao (Affinity Points reaching 60 counts as completion).]

Fu Haoyao—the original male lead. He had a face as pure and spotless as an angel's, but his eyes were filled with arrogance and malice.

Even when facing a classmate he was bullying, a faint smile hung at the corner of his lips, as if he didn't think there was anything wrong with his behavior at all.

"Daring to do whatever you want in my name..." Fu Haoyao rested his elbow on his knee, propping up his chin, and said slowly, word by word, "Did I give you too much face?"

"Please, I won't dare again!" Li Yuanfan spoke with effort, his expression panicked. He grabbed at the other's pant leg pleadingly.

Seeming to notice that more and more onlookers were gathering around, he used the motion to half-cover his face, trying to hide himself so he wouldn't be recognized.

Fu Haoyao glanced at the hand gripping his pant leg. The lackey beside him immediately kicked over. "What are you doing?! You think you're allowed to touch him?"

Another lackey followed up by kicking his thigh, sneering, "Coward! Where's that guts you had before, swindling money in Senior Fu's name? I heard you've got a little girlfriend willing to pay your debts. She a special admit too? Aren't you embarrassed? Did you even spend any of that money on her?"

"I'll give you three days to sort it out," Fu Haoyao said flatly, his patience running out. "Otherwise, you can try me."

With that, he straightened up and strode off with his lackeys, leaving Li Yuanfan sprawled on the ground like a discarded rag.

With the main parties gone, the onlooking students remained where they were, each quickly typing on their phones with heads bowed.

Everyone's screen looked similar. Fu Liangxia noticed that Fu Liedong beside her had also opened the same interface.

It was a social app similar to a forum.

Noticing her gaze, Fu Liedong introduced it to her. "This is Saintland's internal forum. Generally, whenever there's news at school, we post it here. Look at this hot post—someone was live-updating what just happened. But not every post gets this much attention. Only things related to the F4 get instantly bumped to HOT."

Fu Liangxia nodded thoughtfully and didn't say anything.

Seeing that she had no questions, Fu Liedong turned and left with his friends, apparently forgetting he'd said he would walk her to class.

But Fu Liangxia didn't mind. She was recalling the scene that had just happened, which seemed to have occurred in the opening of the original book.

In the original, the so-called "little girlfriend" who paid Li Yuanfan's debts was the original female lead.

But at that time, she hadn't enrolled yet. She didn't know what Li Yuanfan had done; she only thought he was being bullied at school and lent him all the money she'd saved from part-time work.

According to the original plot, the female lead happened to walk through the school gates just as Fu Haoyao and his crew were swaggering off. Seeing her friend on the ground, she immediately rushed to action.

She furiously went after Fu Haoyao, who hadn't gone far, and tore into him, giving him a thorough dressing-down. From then on, a feud was born between the two.

And now, Fu Liangxia had received a timed task from the system:

[Time remaining for task: 02:59

Task content: Prevent "Bai Kewei" from getting into conflict with Fu Haoyao.

Task nature: Optional.

Task reward: Unknown.]

Bai Kewei was the female lead of the original book. What Fu Liangxia needed to do was stop the female lead from provoking Fu Haoyao like she did in the original—and thus avoid being marked with the JOKER card and ending up bullied by everyone.

But where was Bai Kewei right now?

Fu Liangxia discreetly scanned the surrounding students. Unlike these faces watching the show, the female lead should be worried and angry seeing her friend in such a sorry state—not looking down from above...

Found her.

"Stop!"

Before Fu Liangxia could feel relieved, she saw the girl she was looking for run past her like a gust of wind.

Bai Kewei first confirmed that Li Yuanfan on the ground only had superficial injuries and didn't need urgent medical attention. Then, furious, she took a few quick steps and blocked Fu Haoyao and his group. "What right do you have to hit him?"

"I've always regarded Saintland as my dream school. I believed that Saintland, which has nurtured countless pillars of society, is one of the best institutions in the country. The students here should be elite, united, friendly, and diligent in their studies—the cream of the younger generation. But now, I realize I was wrong." Bai Kewei tilted up her fair face, her gaze resolute, and her voice rang out with conviction. "Because you—you don't deserve it!"

The onlookers all widened their eyes in disbelief. Who did she think she was talking to?

"Is she crazy? Has she lost her mind?!" someone whispered to their companion. "Daring to talk to Fu Haoyao like that—who does she think she is? Is her family more powerful than the Fus?"

"I don't know. I've never seen her at any gatherings. Could she be from some old-money family abroad?"

"Don't polish her image. Look at the bag she's carrying—it's clearly a knockoff brand. She's probably a special admit!"

...

All sorts of speculative remarks drifted into Fu Liangxia's ears. From Bai Kewei's position, she should have heard them loud and clear as well.

Yet Fu Liangxia noticed that Bai Kewei only blanched slightly at the words belittling the poor, but her eyes remained steady, unwavering.

She wasn't ashamed of her background.

Almost instantly, Fu Liangxia understood what that look meant.

Bai Kewei kept her chin raised. "In a school as sacred as this, there are still scum like you who bully fellow students. So what if you're rich? Does money mean you can do whatever you want?! Now, apologize to my friend!"

Dead silence.

A crushing silence fell over the entire scene.

Students who had witnessed Fu Haoyao's temper before felt their hair stand on end almost instantly. They stared in terror at the white-haired boy, who hadn't shown a single expression the whole time, as if watching a volcano about to wake from dormancy.

She was definitely insane!

Everyone's expression said as much, plain as day.

Only Bai Kewei, standing at the center of the storm, was completely oblivious. She was clearly too heated to notice that Li Yuanfan had climbed to his feet and shuffled over to her side.

He kept his head low, trembling slightly as he tugged at her sleeve. "Kewei, stop..."

"What did you call me?" A male voice cut in abruptly, interrupting Li Yuanfan.

Fu Haoyao's gaze locked onto Bai Kewei without blinking. He spoke slowly, word by word, his restless rage hidden beneath his eyes—a storm about to break.

This was the precursor to his fury.

Fu Haoyao was arrogant and unruly, but he wasn't someone who lost his temper easily, especially not with fellow Saintland students.

So when Bai Kewei had first charged up to confront him, he'd paid it no mind. The meaning behind her words hinted that she was likely the fool who'd been paying that scumbag's debts.

For the scolding of someone with such poor judgment, Fu Haoyao figured he could just bear with it. Anyone who could lend money to someone like Li Yuanfan was, in a sense, pretty pitiful.

With that thought, he hadn't even bothered to look at her, planning to listen politely and then leave.

But she shouldn't have said that word.

No one knew—it was Fu Haoyao's absolute landmine.

—Scum.

Back then, after being falsely labeled with that word, no one had ever dared to use it to describe him again.

The bad memories flashed through his mind in an instant, and his expression turned two degrees colder.

Bai Kewei was utterly unaware. "I said you were—"

"You must be the other transfer student who came today—the dean wants us!" Fu Liangxia suddenly stepped forward, gently grasping the girl's forearm, cutting off the words about to spill from her mouth.

The stagnant air was broken by the sudden crisp female voice, as if a fresh breeze had been blown into a crack. She gave Fu Haoyao an apologetic nod. "Miss Bai arrived late and isn't clear on the situation. She offended Young Master Fu. I'll apologize on her behalf, and I'll explain it all to her afterward."

After Fu Liangxia quickly and humbly delivered those words, the system text in her mind displayed "Time until task completion: 00:38."

She could feel the gazes drawn by her appearance from all around—appraising, doubtful, assessing, admiring... Among them, one from directly ahead was particularly conspicuous.

But there was no emotion in it.

It was just watching her.

Fu Liangxia looked up and met that gaze. At this distance, staring at Fu Haoyao's face was nothing short of a visual impact.

His platinum hair was combed back loosely, the top two buttons of his uniform short-sleeve shirt undone, revealing his sculpted neck and the clear lines of his muscles.

He tilted his head slightly, and the trees behind him cast their shade over his face, making his expression hard to read.

Fu Haoyao stared at her in silence, as if savoring the hidden meaning behind her words.

Bai Kewei, gently held by Fu Liangxia, was a bit dazed. She looked from Fu Haoyao to Fu Liangxia, clearly not grasping the situation.

But she took in what Fu Liangxia said—"not clear on the situation," "explain"... Could it be that things weren't what she thought, and she'd misjudged them?

Bai Kewei looked at Li Yuanfan, who was standing nearby in a miserable state, and was about to speak when she saw him avert his eyes unnaturally, silently lowering his head to look to the side.

At that reaction, Bai Kewei couldn't help but frown.

Li Yuanfan was feeling guilty. What was he guilty about?

Before she could ask, a male voice floated down from above, tinged with impatience. "Take her away before I change my mind."

The moment those words ended, the "time remaining for task" in Fu Liangxia's mind hit zero.

A pleasant "ding" sounded—the tone of a reward arriving. Fu Liangxia's mood lifted, and a hint of joy showed on her face. Her eyes curved slightly, and a genuine smile blossomed on her ink-wash-painting-like features, her little canine tooth peeking through. "Thank you, Young Master Fu."

With that, she hurriedly pulled Bai Kewei away from the spot.

Fu Liangxia recalled from the original book that Bai Kewei was different from the second-generation rich kids who came here to network. She genuinely wanted to study and get into a good university. But because of this incident at the start of term, she'd offended Fu Haoyao, been given the JOKER card symbolizing F4's enemy, and her life at school afterward was anything but peaceful. She even missed the math competition a week later, losing a precious opportunity to earn extra credit.

Fu Liangxia felt sorry for her.

She hoped that this time, with the wings of her butterfly effect, Bai Kewei would have no regrets—and that she herself would have no regrets either.

Because this time, she was entering that math competition too.

In the original book, the original owner had taken first place, but she didn't want to win simply because the female lead couldn't participate. She wanted to take first place—fair and square, standing tall.