Worse Than Being Ignored

At the sound of Fu Haoyao's voice from outside the door, the air inside the studio suddenly turned deathly still.

Su Xingshu, who had just been boasting without a care, froze. He stared at the girl who walked in behind Fu Haoyao, his expression briefly going blank.

His usual slouching posture straightened.

Couldn't outshine them? If she was that fragile, just let her go?

At this moment, all Su Xingshu wanted was to travel back a few minutes and slap his ignorant past self.

Why had he opened his mouth to smooth things over for Bai Yan? Xu Qiuying was Bai Yan's cousin, not his. Why had he butted in?

For the first time in his life, Su Xingshu hated his habit of saving face.

Still, he had misspoken first. Even if he hadn't known the model would be Fu Liangxia, he had to own up to being overheard.

But Cheng Xingzhou—that guy definitely had ulterior motives.

No wonder he, who usually minded his own business, had suddenly come out with that remark. He must have known all along that Fu Liangxia would be shooting with them and had been setting a trap for him.

Su Xingshu shot Cheng Xingzhou a dark look, only to see the man pretending to study his chessboard again, seemingly oblivious to everything around him.

Let him pretend.

"I heard the shoot was about to start, so I came over," Fu Liangxia said, her expression betraying nothing, as if she hadn't heard a word of Su Xingshu's earlier comment.

The picture of composure.

Su Xingshu felt even more uneasy. "I didn't know it was you," he said, by way of explanation.

Fu Haoyao stood at the door, looking back and forth between them, not understanding what they were talking about, a clueless expression slowly spreading across his face.

Fu Liangxia, however, smiled, her eyes curving slightly. Her voice was light and slow: "So Young Master Su is going to tell me to my face that I'm not pretty enough and won't steal your thunder?"

She drew out the last few words, and with each syllable, Su Xingshu's ears grew redder.

When she finished, the studio fell into an even more oppressive silence.

Embarrassment spread wordlessly.

"Young Master Su didn't mean it. He was just joking with me. Please don't take it to heart, classmate." Xu Qiuying had been covertly studying Fu Liangxia ever since she entered. She saw her sharp profile, her features gilded by sunlight, beautiful almost to the point of unreality.

Then she noticed that Su Xingshu and her own cousin had been completely drawn to her since she walked in, and even Cheng Xingzhou, who hadn't glanced her way before, had lifted his eyes. Xu Qiuying gritted her teeth inwardly, trying to pull the spotlight back onto herself.

But no one paid her any attention.

Only Fu Liangxia glanced at her in response, her features soft, though her words were far harder to handle than the other girl's sweet talk.

She said, "Mm, she is quite pretty. No wonder Young Master Su said he was afraid we'd steal the spotlight."

Fu Liangxia had never been one to suffer fools gladly. Since these two had made her uncomfortable, she naturally fired back.

Taken on its own, the comment might not have sounded bad—coming from anyone else, it might even carry a hint of resentment. But Fu Liangxia's tone was perfectly controlled, with no hint of complaint. She might as well have been simply praising Xu Qiuying.

Yet standing right next to Xu Qiuying, the contrast made the once-fresh-faced girl look utterly plain. Combined with her words, the effect was almost sarcastic.

Xu Qiuying knew her own worth, and her face turned green in an instant.

Su Xingshu's expression was no better. That wasn't a jab at Xu Qiuying—it was clearly aimed at him. So she truly did hold a grudge.

And of course, he deserved it.

It was all his fault for running his mouth. He shouldn't have said anything, shouldn't have bothered with Xu Qiuying.

At this point, even the silver-tongued Su Xingshu was at a loss for words, unsure how to salvage the situation and stop Fu Liangxia from being angry.

Bai Yan chuckled. "Pfft."

He had picked quite a sharp-tongued model.

And perceptive, too.

At that thought, he suddenly remembered the bracelet he'd seen on her wrist yesterday. He'd had it checked, and it wasn't a knockoff—it was a private custom piece designed two years ago for an ultra-high-net-worth client. It had recently been resold to an anonymous buyer, which must have been Fu Liangxia.

He breathed a sigh of relief as long as it wasn't a fake.

But seeing Fu Liangxia's current behavior, he hesitated—had he been too obvious in front of her yesterday?

Just when the atmosphere could not have been more awkward, Fu Haoyao, who had finally figured out what was going on after being the last to come in, broke the silence.

He was a full head taller than Fu Liangxia and stood directly behind her, his shadow almost enveloping her entirely.

With a puzzled look at Xu Qiuying and then at Su Xingshu, Fu Haoyao spoke in a tone of genuine confusion: "Xiao Shu, are your eyes broken?"

If his eyes weren't broken, how could he think Fu Liangxia wasn't pretty? And saying she wouldn't steal their thunder?

Nonsense. If they stood together, he'd clearly only see her first.

His eyes must be broken, no doubt about it.

As for what Fu Liangxia had said, he didn't quite get it. It was probably just polite mutual flattery. Though Fu Haoyao didn't agree with her claim that Xu Qiuying was prettier, she was a girl, so he wouldn't comment on her looks.

But Su Xingshu? He deserved a scolding.

Surprised that Fu Haoyao would speak up for her, Fu Liangxia paused and turned to look at the boy behind her, who happened to look down at her at the same time.

Their eyes met, and both were momentarily stunned.

Just then, a voice broke the spell.

Su Xingshu frowned at Fu Haoyao, wondering why he was getting involved too, but since he was the one who had misspoken, he dutifully lowered his head. "Yeah, my eyes are broken."

At that, everyone went wild.

Well, maybe not that dramatic, but the others were at least surprised that Young Master Su would ever admit to being blind. But Xu Qiuying was genuinely furious.

As a villainess with significant screen time in the original novel, she shared the common flaws of her kind, like an inflated sense of self-importance and a murderous level of jealousy.

Having been publicly humiliated by Su Xingshu, she didn't dare take it out on him. She firmly believed that this fox spirit Fu Liangxia had seduced him, and it had nothing to do with Young Master Su—he had been bewitched!

Tears welled up in her eyes as Xu Qiuying shot Fu Liangxia a venomous glare, then turned and ran out sobbing.

Fu Liangxia said flatly, "You're being too harsh, Young Master Su. If you're going to criticize me, fine, but why bring her into it?"

Her tone was indifferent, though she felt nothing inside.

Su Xingshu stared at her without moving, thinking he'd better not give Fu Liangxia any more ammunition in the future. Just that one comment could probably be dragged out and used against him repeatedly for a long time.

But whether out of numbness or depravity, beneath her cold gaze, a flicker of excitement began to stir within Su Xingshu.

What he'd said had been awful, but if she didn't care about him, would she keep bringing it up? After all, why would she care what an irrelevant person said?

The fact that she bothered to keep raking him over the coals meant she cared at least a little.

A small smile crept onto Su Xingshu's lips.

Bai Yan, standing nearby, caught the slight expression. "..."

He didn't understand, but he respected it.

Whatever his friend was smirking about, Bai Yan waved at Fu Liangxia. "Don't worry about her. She's like that. Since everyone's here, let's start shooting."

Su Xingshu's good mood lasted right up until the shoot began.

As Fu Liangxia had suggested earlier, Bai Yan first had each person take a few solo shots in front of the design wall. This went smoothly, because whether or not the model could pose, a face that looked good even from a terrible angle simply couldn't produce a bad photo.

But choosing the group shots proved difficult.

Since the backdrop was Saintland Academy, with its vibrant youthful atmosphere, the promotional photos naturally had to look cheerful and lively.

Just as Bai Yan had noticed earlier, he thought Su Xingshu, Fu Haoyao, and Fu Liangxia looked good together—the two boys each exuding their own charisma, the girl in the middle elegant and gentle, just standing there was striking enough.

But the three of them had just had a falling out.

Most people would have avoided putting these three together, but Bai Yan wasn't like that. Not only did he want the best result, he also enjoyed a bit of drama.

So he reached out to tap Fu Liangxia on the shoulder.

But the moment his fingers brushed her, three weighty stares bore into him from all sides, making him too nervous to follow through, so he quietly withdrew his hand.

Bai Yan: "..."

What, he was just patting her shoulder. What's with those looks like they wanted to chop his hand off?

And Cheng Xingzhou, what are you getting involved for? Even you...?

Fu Liangxia noticed Bai Yan's move and raised an eyebrow. "What?"

Bai Yan, seemingly pondering composition, pointed to a spot near the wall. "Stand over there."

Fu Liangxia obediently walked over and stood there.

Then Bai Yan directed Su Xingshu to stand next to her, even demonstrating the pose—his arm, close to her, reached across her shoulder, hovering over a prop stand behind her.

Watching Bai Yan's demonstration, Su Xingshu felt heat rise in his face and his heart race. It looked overly intimate. He had just angered Fu Liangxia—would she even agree to this?

With that thought, he slowly shuffled over to stand next to her, about to ask first, when she seemed to sense his presence and turned to look at him.

At incredibly close range, they locked eyes unexpectedly.

Fu Liangxia had a faint smile on her lips, but her eyes were icy cold. She looked at him without a word.

His heart pounded against his ribs as her dark eyes bored into him. His arm felt as heavy as a thousand pounds, and simply lifting it was a struggle.

He hated that his usual wit failed him completely in front of her.

But before he could raise his arm, the girl's lips curved up again as she turned to Bai Yan. "Can we switch someone else?"

"I'm afraid I'm too plain to match our Young Master Su."