Reunion

After leading Bai Kewei into the teaching building, Fu Liangxia finally explained everything, including that no message had ever come from the dean's office.

Bai Kewei didn't seem surprised. She paused briefly, then smiled gratefully. "I'm Bai Kewei, newly transferred to Class 10. Feel free to find me if you're ever free."

With that, her expression cooled, and she followed Li Yuanfan, who had been trailing behind, around the corner.

Whatever they discussed after that was none of her business.

Task complete, Fu Liangxia withdrew her gaze and was about to check her rewards when a shadow fell over her.

She looked up. There stood Cheng Xingzhou—the same Cheng Xingzhou who had vanished without a word years ago—by the window ahead. Sunlight streamed in, catching faint glints on his gold-rimmed glasses.

He stood straight ahead amid the flowing crowd, his crisp figure lending the uniform a graceful line. His phoenix eyes tilted upward, and the warm light softened his silhouette, painting a striking portrait against his deep features.

Handsome. But no longer any of her concern.

They'd always belonged to different worlds, intersecting only briefly. Since he'd already chosen to retreat to his parallel line, she'd be tactful and follow suit.

"Fu Liangxia?" His gaze heavy, he walked toward her slowly.

Though phrased as a question, his tone was flat, certain. "You're not meddling again, are you?"

Meddling?

Fu Liangxia's brow furrowed almost imperceptibly. The distance between them had long since breached normal social bounds. His broad shoulders blocked curious stares from behind, and for a moment, she nearly felt enveloped by his presence.

"No," she said.

A cold scent of juniper gin drifted at her nose—faint, yet it forcefully invaded her senses, wreaking havoc.

"Is that so."

He tilted his head, but the next second, he seized her wrist, leaning in until the gap between them shrank to nothing. His warm breath brushed her cheek as his voice turned cold and hard.

"You'd better not."

His breath lingered, entangled.

He said, "Fu Haoyao isn't one of those Lower City rats you can push around so easily. Cross him, and it won't just be you—your parents will suffer too."

He glanced sideways. "The Fu family hasn't grown strong enough to withstand a single blow from Fu Corporation, has it?"

His grip on her wrist tightened, leaving distinct red marks on her fair skin.

A dull pain shot through her, and tears reflexively welled up in her eyes, but her expression remained cold, her tone even.

"I understand. Thank you for the reminder, Young Master Cheng."

Her slender brows knit, eyes rimmed red, yet her gaze held only calm, as if she were looking at a stranger. Her words sounded respectful, but they reeked of perfunctory dismissal.

"You took time out of your busy schedule to worry about someone as irrelevant as me—how exhausting," she said, her gaze no longer carrying the joy it once had, as placid as a still lake. "Is there anything else, Young Master Cheng? If not, I'll take my leave."

They stared at each other in silence. Fu Liangxia watched him, half expecting him to crush her on the spot.

But Cheng Xingzhou merely held her gaze for a long moment, then abruptly released her wrist, turned, and walked away as if nothing had happened.

*

Following the information on her admission notice, Fu Liangxia found the classroom for Class 2. It was still before class, so few people were inside. When they saw her walk in, they cast veiled, appraising looks at her.

She felt their gazes slide from her hair accessories to her bracelets, then to her shoes—as if confirming something. From the cluster of girls by the door, a short girl with a bob haircut stepped out, flashing a sweet smile. "Hi, you must be Fu Liangxia, the new transfer student. Nice to meet you. I'm Xu Cai."

That seemed to break the ice. As soon as she spoke, a few classmates immediately swarmed over.

"Is that the new item C family released last month? I asked my consultant about it—you have to buy a ton of other stuff to get it. It's so pretty!"

"Look at you, so easily impressed. A hairpin that requires a little matching purchase, and you're making a fuss."

A skinny boy covered his mouth in an exaggerated gesture, seemingly casually revealing the matching bracelet on his own wrist.

Satisfied to see the girl who'd spoken earlier change expression, he switched to a warm smile at Fu Liangxia. "Where did you get those shoes, Classmate Fu? I heard L's private custom orders are booked up through March..."

"That's what they tell outsiders, you bumpkin!" Xu Cai gave a light snort. "I saw those shoes last week when I went to pick up my custom order at L. Good taste."

The last sentence she said while looking directly into Fu Liangxia's eyes. More than praising the shoes, Fu Liangxia felt she was saying, "You're not bad—worthy of hanging out with me."

Fu Liangxia had anticipated the crowd's reaction... or rather, she'd orchestrated it.

You see, the original owner's family had recently struck it rich. They might not be short on money, but among all the nobles at Saintland, they ranked at the bottom.

Society has always drawn clear lines: the privileged look down on old money, old money looks down on new money, new money sneers at the nouveau riche, and the nouveau riche disdain mingling with the poor.

That was exactly why the original owner, who never bothered with appearances, was treated as a special admit and cruelly bullied in the original novel.

Since Fu Liangxia knew what was coming, she naturally wouldn't sit idly by.

After all, she wasn't some sheltered young lady raised in a greenhouse who barely interacted with people.

Quite the opposite—the environment she'd grown up in her past life was even worse than the Lower City where the original owner had lived.

It was a place so dark it felt like sunlight had never touched it, where all kinds of filth bred. Those without use didn't deserve to live. Plundering was instinct, and lying was second nature... She had crawled out of that place, entered a top university like an ordinary student, fiercely fought for a spot at a leading conglomerate—and she'd succeeded.

In this life, she started from a higher point, and she intended to climb even higher.

No longer willing to scramble for a position as some conglomerate's lackey, she thought she'd become the conglomerate herself.

That required not just stellar grades, but allies—many allies.

As she'd said at the beginning, people came here seeking two things: a beautiful resume and broad, refined connections.

Fu Liangxia wanted both.

So when the System offered her a choice between money or grades as her reward, she chose the former without hesitation.

After all, grades were never handed down from heaven—they had to be fought for.

Of course, she was also grateful the System delivered her rewards in physical form. Otherwise, with the Fu family's resources, there was no way they could have outfitted her this way.

The fate of being bullied in her past life should now be avoidable.

Fu Liangxia curved her lips in good spirits, unaware that an even bigger trouble was about to find her.

...

"You'd rather trust a stranger than me?!"

The potted plants on the balcony concealed Li Yuanfan and Bai Kewei. His expression was agitated, his voice kept low.

"At Saintland, the F4 are the rules. Anyone who defies them gets punished. That's why I was thrown around in front of the school gate in broad daylight! What exactly are you doubting? Is it because of that girl's words?"

By the end, a trace of viciousness crept into his eyes. Recalling how Bai Kewei had just demanded her money back, layers of gloom settled over his heart.

"It has nothing to do with anyone else," Bai Kewei said, looking at the dejected boy. In the end, her heart softened. "There's no rush for you to pay me back. And please, don't do anything bad anymore..."

But it still has to be paid back!

That was the only thing Li Yuanfan latched onto from her words. He suddenly felt like Bai Kewei had changed. Before, she'd always been kind, generously lending him money without ever asking for it back. But now... what exactly had changed?

Seeing that his attempt to pin it on the F4 was useless, and that her tone was full of defense for that girl, Li Yuanfan's expression stiffened. So, this was the real reason, huh?

That meddlesome little bitch.

Lost in his emotions, Li Yuanfan didn't notice when Bai Kewei left. Only when his phone suddenly buzzed twice did he snap back.

A text message came through. One glance, and his face changed.

"If you can't scrape together the money by this weekend, you know what happens."

An ultimatum from the gambling den.

Thinking of what might happen, Li Yuanfan's legs nearly gave out. He barely managed to grip the balcony railing for support when he heard laughter drifting over from the classroom next door.

He looked up and saw that meddlesome girl surrounded by a crowd of admirers, apparently discussing her accessories.

In a flash of inspiration, a thought struck him, and he suddenly knew how he could survive.

You like playing hero, don't you? Then savor the consequences!

His eyes, slick and cold like a snake's, fixed unblinkingly on the smiling girl at the center. "Fu Liangxia? Hah..."

He stared hard for a few moments, memorizing her face, before finally dragging his battered body away.

Elsewhere,

"Achoo—"

A sudden tickle in her nose made Fu Liangxia sneeze uncontrollably.

It made her already slightly pale face look even paler, her eyes clouded with a watery sheen. When she looked up, her gaze was utterly captivating.

That was the sight Su Xingshu saw as he stepped in through the doorway—a beauty with tearful eyes, pitiful and charming.

Almost instantly, his heart pounded uncontrollably twice.

Beside him, Fu Liedong had already squeezed through the crowd and pulled the girl at the center out, tugging her along as he said, "I had something to take care of this morning and couldn't look after you. Didn't expect you to make it here on your own—and without getting lost."

Fu Liedong said that not because she had a bad sense of direction, but because Saintland was just that huge. Just looking at the building area and the layers upon layers of structures, it hardly seemed like a high school.

Each class had its own classroom and study room. The Student Council, office buildings, and club activity rooms all had their own spaces. On top of that, there was a ten-thousand-square-meter gymnasium, a shell-shaped theater, a castle-style library, and an entire greenhouse garden... No wonder Fu Liedong thought she might get lost.

But—

"I can read signs," Fu Liangxia said, recalling the gilded "Main Teaching Building" plaque outside. She wondered if he thought she was illiterate.

Fu Liedong, who had never noticed it before: "..."

Fu Liedong turned to Su Xingshu beside him. "Really? How come I never noticed?"

Wang Ziwei, the other follower of Su Xingshu, chimed in casually, "Huh, I don't think I've ever noticed it either."

He even furrowed his brows in confusion. "Since there are signs, why do people still keep asking Su-ge for directions..."

Fu Liedong thought hard for a long while. "Bad eyesight."

Though, that was understandable. Smart as he was, he hadn't noticed it either.

Of course, those were all unimportant little details.

Fu Liedong didn't take it to heart. Instead, he looked around the room and finally stopped at the only seat without a nameplate. "Hey, sis, how about you sit there?"

The moment the words left his mouth, the noisy chatter came to a simultaneous halt. The entire classroom fell deathly silent.

Everyone stared at him with a complicated, almost terrified look, as if he had just uttered some dreadful curse.

"What's wrong?" Fu Liedong asked, puzzled.

Wang Ziwei's face went pale. He opened his mouth, then hesitated, and only managed to squeeze out, "You've only been here half a year, so you don't know. The two people next to that seat... eh, forget it. They're still in Europe anyway, won't be back for a while. Should be fine..."

His voice grew softer until that last sentence was almost inaudible.

Fu Liangxia didn't catch it. But even if she had, it wouldn't have changed anything, because the teacher was already walking in to start class, and that was the only empty seat left in the entire room.

She had no choice but to walk over and set her bag down on the chair.

As she turned, she accidentally met Su Xingshu's gaze from the seat behind her. Fu Liangxia froze for a moment, then watched him flash her a polite but utterly hollow smile.

"Damn, he's so hot!"

"Being in the same class as Young Master Su is such a blessing. My face gets healed by that angel-kissed visage every day."

"Young Master Su is so gentle, ahhh, he was totally looking at me just now!"

"Stop flattering yourself! He was obviously looking at me!"

...

The whispers erupting all at once nearly drowned Fu Liangxia. If she hadn't seen the complete lack of emotion in his eyes, she might have believed those girls' words, too.

But gentle?

Recalling how he had treated her like air when they ran into each other at the school gate not long ago, Fu Liangxia suspected the truth was quite the opposite.

After all, truly gentle people don't just put on a show for others.