Chapter 7

That won’t do? What did that even mean?

This was so irritating. Either she said nothing, or she spoke in riddles and dragged things out without ever getting to the point.

Yan Can let out a sigh. Fine—Su Ci was willing to be friends with her, and that was already pretty good.

Even if she still seemed distant, as if she weren’t close to her at all.

At the very least, she wasn’t treating her like a plague anymore, avoiding her the way she had that morning as if Yan Can were something awful.

As long as Su Ci wasn’t ignoring her, as long as she could still talk to her, that was already enough.

“Then we’re friends now. From now on, your business is my business; feel free to rely on me.”

She didn’t press Su Ci any further about the person who had bullied her. She would look into that herself.

Rely on her?

Aside from her parents, who had died when she was young, and Aunt Wei, who treated her like her own daughter, this was the first time a classmate had ever said something like that to her.

An unfamiliar warmth brushed across her heart. Su Ci pressed her lips together and said nothing.

Yan Can didn’t expect a response anyway; this girl had always been quiet. She took out her phone and looked Su Ci in the eye. “Add me.”

Su Ci lowered her gaze. Her hand rested near the hidden pocket of her plaid skirt, and her expression shifted slightly.

Noticing her reaction, Yan Can raised a brow, silently asking, What’s wrong?

“I didn’t bring mine.”

“It’s fine. I can add you instead.”

She handed over her phone and motioned for Su Ci to enter her number.

Su Ci took the phone. Her slender, pale fingers tapped quickly a few times before she handed it back.

After they exchanged contact information, Yan Can was even happier. “Wait for me in the classroom after school this afternoon; we’ll go together.”

Wang Hui’s problem still hadn’t been solved, and she wasn’t comfortable leaving Su Ci alone.

Su Ci didn’t know what Yan Can was thinking; she only felt that it was troublesome. They weren’t even in the same grade, and their dismissal times were different.

She had been to Yan Can’s home before, and the two of them didn’t even take the same route. Once they left the school gate, they were headed in completely opposite directions.

She didn’t think it was necessary. “No need.”

“Come on, we’re friends now. Isn’t it normal to go to and from school together? If two people are really close, they even hold hands going to the bathroom. I’m only asking you to wait for me after school and walk out with me; you still want to refuse that?”

Ever since she had brought Su Ci home last time, she had realized this woman responded better to softness than to force.

But this time, Su Ci wouldn’t even accept softness. She still refused with a blank expression. “We’re not on the same route.”

Besides not being on the same route, there was another reason: she didn’t like waiting for people.

She didn’t like the feeling of having something holding her back.

“How are we not on the same route?” Yan Can glanced at her and said at once, “It’s a long walk from the classroom to the school gate.”

Su Ci still said the same thing. “No need.”

Yan Can…

Yan Can clenched her teeth and finally stopped insisting. “Fine. Then remember to tap through the verification when you get back.”

She had already copied Su Ci’s phone number and added her on an app.

Su Ci gave a quiet “Mm.” For a moment, neither of them spoke.

Taking her silence as the end of the conversation, Su Ci turned and walked away.

The moment Yan Can saw her leave, she immediately followed after her.

When they reached the covered corridor, Su Ci sensed something was off. The third-years were clearly in another building. She stopped and turned back, looking at Yan Can in confusion, as if wondering why she was taking this route too.

Yan Can smiled. “I’m seeing you back to your classroom.”

The person bullying Su Ci was Wang Hui, but when she went to Su Ci’s class today, she found that quite a few people were gossiping behind her back.

It was obvious that Su Ci wasn’t having an easy time in her class either.

She wanted to personally escort Su Ci back and let everyone know that Su Ci was under her protection.

But the person involved had no idea what she was thinking. Even if she did, she probably wouldn’t agree to it.

Su Ci’s brows drew together slightly. She looked very unwilling, as if she were extremely unhappy about Yan Can following her.

Seeing that, Yan Can immediately softened her tone and said pitifully, “Can’t I even see you back to your classroom?”

Su Ci…

Yan Can took a step back. “I’ll leave the moment I see you go into the classroom.”

This time, Su Ci still didn’t say anything, but her expression was no longer as cold as before. Yan Can knew that meant she had agreed.

With permission to follow her, Yan Can became like a happy little dog wagging its tail behind its owner, and she trailed after Su Ci all the way to the door of Class Two, Year Two.

After escorting her to the door, Yan Can thought that since she was already here, she might as well go in with her and stay a little longer so those people would know Su Ci was under her protection and nobody was allowed to bully her.

Who would have thought that Su Ci, seeing that she had no intention of stopping, would turn and look at her coldly. “I’m here. You should leave.”

Why was she cold again? Yan Can almost wanted to ask, Are you like this with all your friends, or just with me?

But when she saw the people in the classroom looking over and remembered how many people had seen them walking together on the way here, she decided her goal had already been achieved. She didn’t want to make Su Ci angry, so she raised a hand in surrender. “Okay, okay, I’ll go. Don’t be mad.”

…

The moment she left, the people who had been leaning against the corridor railing and pretending to chat while actually keeping an eye on them all let out a breath of relief.

A few of them started speaking in low voices.

They were all talking about how the famous Miss Yan from the third year was hanging around with some nobody from the second year like Su Ci, saying that Su Ci must have somehow gotten on Miss Yan’s good side, and things like that.

Su Ci ignored the voices behind her. Only after she confirmed that Yan Can had truly left did she turn and walk into the classroom.

The class was still as noisy as ever, but the moment Su Ci stepped through the doorway, the atmosphere oddly quieted down.

Another prank?

No.

Her desk and chair were exactly as they had been when she left.

Su Ci faintly felt that something was off, but it wasn’t until the last class of the afternoon that she suddenly realized.

Ever since Yan Can had appeared in their classroom, not only had those unfriendly stares decreased a lot, but even the people who used to badmouth her behind her back now avoided her when they saw her.

Only then did she understand why, before leaving, Yan Can had so intimately hooked her arm, walked a few steps with her, then turned back with a reluctant expression and said goodbye.

She had been doing it on purpose for other people to see.

Realizing this, Su Ci’s heart warmed. Her usually expressionless face rarely showed it, but the corners of her mouth lifted slightly.

After Yan Can returned to the classroom, she was in a very good mood as she patted the person bent over her homework.

Zhang Ru was frowning over a math problem when she was interrupted and looked up in annoyance. Seeing that it was Yan Can, her expression softened at once.

“What is it?” The young lady looked unusually happy. She had clearly been angry like that at the cafeteria earlier.

On the way back, Yan Can had searched through the original host’s memories in her head, but she had absolutely no impression of this Wang Hui.

“Do you know someone called Wang Hui?”

“Wang Hui?” Zhang Ru blinked, not quite sure whether the Wang Hui Yan Can meant was the same Wang Hui she knew. “You mean that Wang Hui from Class Six, Year Two at our school?”

Yan Can had only asked casually; she hadn’t expected Zhang Ru to actually know. “How much do you know about her?”

She wanted to teach this person a lesson, but she couldn’t think of a suitable way.

From what those two girls had said, her family wasn’t easy to deal with either. She didn’t know whether reporting her to the principal would work, or how much it would help.

Zhang Ru found it strange. Yan Can was a pure grades-first person; aside from studying, she had no interest in anything else. Why was she suddenly asking about this person? Wondering what Yan Can was thinking, she asked directly.

“Why are you asking about her?” The two of them had no connection at all.

Yan Can: “I’m going to bully her.”

Just then, Yu Ting, who had come back from the bathroom and was passing by, heard that and looked at Yan Can with a baffled expression. “Bully who?”

Yan Can crossed her right leg over her left in a shameless, lounging pose that stunned both of them.

Combined with what she had just said, she looked nothing like a young lady at all; she looked exactly like a school bully.

Zhang Ru and Yu Ting exchanged a look, both completely bewildered.

Apparently realizing she had ruined her original character design, Yan Can immediately sat up properly again.

“Wang Hui bullied my friend. I’m going to teach her a lesson.”

She didn’t say which friend it was. Zhang Ru and Yu Ting immediately became curious and asked in unison, “Who?”

Someone actually dared to bully the friend of Miss Yan? Both of them looked incredulous.

Yan Can had no intention of hiding it from them. In the original host’s memories, these two had truly been good to her from the heart.

Although they were both wealthy young ladies, they weren’t spoiled or overbearing; otherwise, the original host’s mother, the school board member, wouldn’t have allowed her to associate with them.

She told them everything about Su Ci being bullied, word for word. Then, when she asked about Wang Hui again, Zhang Ru told her the problem was easy to solve; one phone call would do.

“Wang Hui’s family does business with your Yan family. Her father depends on the Yan family’s business. Just call your dad and mention it, and this will be settled.”

When Zhang Ru finished speaking, Yan Can froze.

Yu Ting, sitting to the side, couldn’t help complaining, “Is Wang Hui’s brain full of holes? She even dares to offend you. If her family didn’t rely on the Yan family, that’d be one thing; but she knows your two families do business together and still doesn’t try to flatter you, then goes and provokes you anyway. There’s something seriously wrong with her head!”

Yan Can…

So this was the joy of being rich and powerful?

Yan Can immediately got up and went to the corridor to make a phone call.

The other side picked up at once.

Her father’s warm voice came through. “Can Can, what’s wrong?” His tone was full of surprise.

The original host had always been an independent, strong-willed child and had never made her parents worry. Because she knew they were busy, she was considerate and rarely took the initiative to bother them.

So when Yan Can called during class time, her father was a little startled.

“Dad—” Her voice trembled slightly.

“What’s wrong? Is something wrong with Can Can?!” Her father was so alarmed that he immediately paused the meeting. “Is someone bullying you?”

Seeing that she had achieved her goal, Yan Can deliberately put on a stubborn front and said softly that it was nothing.

When her father heard that aggrieved tone, that suppressed sniffle, his heart hurt so badly he wanted to fly back immediately.

After the mood had been set and they’d gone back and forth for a while, Yan Can finally told him what had happened.

“Your daughter doesn’t like Wang Hui…”

Afraid her bargain-bin dad might go easy on Wang Hui because the victim was her friend, Yan Can simply made herself the victim instead.

When her father heard that, how could he possibly stand for it? She was bullying his daughter! He immediately said, “All right, I understand. I’ll handle it.”

After comforting her a few more times, he hung up.

Yan Can returned to the classroom in a very good mood.

Given the bargain-bin dad’s level of care for the original host, she was sure Wang Hui would be thoroughly disciplined; from now on, she definitely wouldn’t dare use her family’s power to bully others again.