After a week-long suspension, Ye Yuhuan and the others returned to school. As punishment for insulting a teacher, they each had to write a three-thousand-word self-criticism essay. It was worth noting, however, that the principal, who had already been discharged from the hospital, quite un-regrettably failed to return to school.
After all, his remarks had fermented on the campus forum, turning him into a representative of toxic education. Under the pressure of public opinion, the board of directors had no choice but to terminate his position. Upon hearing this news, the former principal very regrettably checked back into the hospital.
A new principal was in the process of being hired, with the vice principal temporarily acting in the role. Having learned from his predecessor’s mistakes, the vice principal fully cooperated with the investigation into Chen Guanhua. In short, things were slowly getting back on track.
The moment Ye Yuhuan and Song Zhiqing sat down in the classroom, their minds automatically replayed Tang Xue’s shout from the day they left.
Song Zhiqing was fine with it. She was at a distance, so she could pretend she’d forgotten. In fact, aside from being slightly unscientific, she didn’t see anything wrong with Tang Xue’s words. She actually quite liked hearing them; it just made her a little shy.
The other party involved, Ye Yuhuan, turned to her embarrassed deskmate. She tapped her finger on the other girl’s desk and reminded her jokingly, “Don’t go too overboard with the shipping, Tang Xue.”
Tang Xue was usually a quiet girl. If she didn’t say it herself, no one would know that she shipped nine different CPs online. Although they all ended in tragedy rather quickly, she was fortunate that she always moved on to a new ship even faster.
She had her own passion and persistence when it came to shipping: no matter how brief the love, for the period she was shipping them, she would genuinely and sincerely hope they would get married.
Faced with Ye Yuhuan’s accusation, Tang Xue felt a million grievances. Did she want to ship them? She, who never shipped real people, had suddenly started shipping a real-life pair. Why wasn’t it the two of them who were reflecting on their actions and getting into a relationship already!
Tang Xue weakly raised her hand. “Is it possible that you two are just really, really shippable?”
Song Zhiqing, who was listening with pricked ears from the front row, curled her lips in satisfaction. This was it—the first rule in the handbook for pursuing someone: make the other person realize they have the potential to be bent!
Fantastic. A point for the wingman.
Ye Yuhuan raised an eyebrow in confusion. Weren’t she and Song Zhiqing just friends? Any hint of ambiguity between them should have been cleared away by their mutual understanding.
Besides, Ye Yuhuan thought helplessly, the CP Song Zhiqing wanted was with Shangguan Xianxian, right?
Tang Xue had even supported the two of them before. For her to switch sides now… Ye Yuhuan wondered if Song Zhiqing would be annoyed.
Ye Yuhuan herself was the number one anti-fan of the Song-Xianxian CP, but her official role was that of a die-hard shipper, personally appointed by Song Zhiqing. To maintain her cover and lower Song Zhiqing’s guard, Ye Yuhuan declared righteously, “That’s ridiculous. Song Zhiqing and Shangguan Xianxian are the best match.”
A single sentence wounded two hearts.
Song Zhiqing’s writing hand trembled violently. She realized that an even more urgent problem than getting Ye Yuhuan to bend was getting Ye Yuhuan to stop trying to set her up with Shangguan Xianxian.
To be fair, although Ye Yuhuan’s recent matchmaking attempts seemed to have had the opposite of their intended effect, she had indeed made a breakthrough and become friends with Shangguan Xianxian, entering the second phase of her pursuit.
A jolt went through Song Zhiqing. Could Ye Yuhuan be secretly plotting a big move? Pretending to be friendly with Shen Wei, but actually planning to make a move behind her back and steal Shen Wei’s girl for herself, her boss?
Huh?
The real schemer was me all along!
Even Shen Wei would have applauded the wild leaps of Song Zhiqing’s imagination. Her expression grew solemn as she looked at Ye Yuhuan, her eyes silently conveying a single message: Don’t you dare use some kind of reverse honey trap.
In Tang Xue’s eyes, this was naturally the two of them gazing at each other with deep affection. She mentally bit her handkerchief. And you still say you’re not real!
Devious, scheming lovebirds!
Ye Yuhuan, on the other hand, breathed a sigh of relief. She knew Song Zhiqing was listening. Meeting Song Zhiqing’s “appreciative” gaze, Ye Yuhuan gave a slight nod.
I will definitely make you give up on Shangguan Xianxian, thought Ye Yuhuan, the self-appointed modern-day Queen Mother of the West.
Meanwhile, the heroines’ own Queen Mother figure, Shangguan Chong, was looking down condescendingly at Shen Wei. Beside him stood Ms. Guo Yu, who had just used her pregnancy to return to the Shangguan family.
That’s right. Ye Yuhuan and the others had all returned to Qinglin—except for Shen Wei.
Shen Wei kept her head lowered, maintaining her usual timid and delicate demeanor, until Guo Yu lifted her chin with a cold finger and said with a light laugh, “I didn’t expect you to have a mind of your own.”
The phrase “a mind of your own” was highly ambiguous, capable of being both praise and criticism. Guo Yu’s tone was equally ambiguous, seemingly both complimentary and derogatory.
Shen Wei’s eyes blazed with hatred as she stared at Guo Yu. Her voice was no longer feigning softness; it now carried the ferocity of someone who had fought and clawed her way up in a small town. “Don’t think I don’t know. If it weren’t for you, my mother would never have been forced to send me away. Our family ended up like this all because of you.”
“And now you’re still thinking of becoming the mistress of the Shangguan family. Let me tell you, dream on. Heh, the Shangguan family won’t tolerate a wife who cheats.”
Shangguan Chong’s face darkened. The investigations over the past few days all pointed to this seemingly fragile legitimate daughter before him. She was just as good at pretending as her mother.
“Just because of that?” Shangguan Chong said coldly. “Do you have any idea how much face the Shangguan family has lost? You truly are Jin Yuan’s daughter, always doing things that harm others without benefiting yourself.”
Shen Wei looked mockingly at Guo Yu’s stomach, then turned the same gaze on her father—this slow but shrewd man. After a moment, she curled her lips into a smirk and said, “What else was I supposed to do? Should I have called this homewrecker ‘mother’?”
“Insolent!” Shangguan Chong slapped Shen Wei hard across the face, a cruel thrill rising in his heart.
This kind of face was so satisfying to hit.
“You will reflect on your actions at home from now on. Don’t bother going to school for the time being. It’s clear you haven’t learned anything good there. Instead, you’ve brought your small-town ways to Qinglin. Cursing out the principal? Ha, you’ve really brought honor to the Shangguan family.”
Seeing this, Guo Yu stepped forward and took Shangguan Chong’s arm, gently stroking his back in a perfect display of affection. Her loose, dark green dress revealed a slightly rounded belly. It was a mystery how she had managed to remove the green hat from atop Shangguan Chong’s head.
Shen Wei clutched her left cheek, her peripheral vision coldly fixed on the posturing man and woman. It was obvious, just as Ye Yuhuan had said, that they would always be a pair.
Shen Wei sat silently in the living room until they left, until the surrounding light quietly brightened, then quietly dimmed again.
About half an hour later, Shangguan Xianxian rushed back from school, breathless. Her eyes immediately found the lonely figure. She strode forward and pulled Shen Wei into a tight embrace.
Shen Wei looked up at her, her eyes smiling, the handprint on her face starkly visible. “Sister, now I’ve been slapped, too.”
This time, there was nothing fake about her vulnerability. Even though this scene was the result of her own design, it was too accurate a reenactment. It gave her the disorienting feeling of being back in a late-night nightmare. Heaven knew how she had managed to grit her teeth and stop herself from grabbing the ashtray and smashing it over Shangguan Chong’s head.
Shangguan Xianxian looked down without a word and led her back to the room.
She silently treated the wound, then sat silently to the side.
After a long while, Shangguan Xianxian finally said, “You could have told me.”
Shangguan Xianxian had argued with her about this for a long time, but Shen Wei had never budged. This time was no different.
She shook her head, her eyes holding a sigh forged by time. “I can’t tell you, Sister. You don’t like these kinds of things. You like to help people, not scheme and plot. It’s better to let me handle all the nasty stuff.”
Besides, there were other, uglier truths that Shen Wei didn’t want her to know. Her sister had suffered so much in her past life; if she could have it a little easier this time, she would. The same went for herself. She wasn’t that strong. The Shangguan family was a hardship she had to face, but when it came to her relationship with Shangguan Xianxian, she hoped for fewer complications.
Shangguan Xianxian’s eyes reddened as she stared directly at Shen Wei. She could never see through this person. She knew that apart from the words “I love you,” everything else she said was a lie. But that was all she knew.
Is this what love is like?
Shangguan Xianxian didn’t think so.
So she choked back a sob and said, word by word, “If you don’t tell me anything, how do you know I won’t like it? Besides, who is born liking this kind of thing? Weiwei, what exactly have you been through? You never tell me, and it makes me feel like our relationship… it’s like we’re on the same stage, but we’re both just performing our own one-person plays.”
Shen Wei looked distraught. It was true. Urged on by her own obsession, the two of them had barely even gotten to know each other properly before rushing into a relationship. The Shen Wei that Shangguan Xianxian saw was always the version of Shen Wei that Shangguan Xianxian could accept.
Is this also part of the plot?
The emotional push-and-pull between the main characters, or something like that.
If that was the case, could they please fast-forward? She really didn’t like scenes like this, where she was forced to dissect herself.
Shen Wei was conflicted. Shangguan Xianxian could see that, but she couldn’t tell if she was struggling with whether to tell the truth, or which lie to tell next.
Shangguan Xianxian rested her head on Shen Wei’s lap. She suddenly wanted to be farther away from that face.
“If you don’t know how to say it, then don’t. Let’s just take some time to cool off.”
Shen Wei’s pupils contracted. Did that mean they were breaking up?
“I’m not saying we should break up. I just want to figure out to what extent I can accept you,” Shangguan Xianxian said, still not looking up, but seeming to know exactly what Shen Wei was thinking.
In the silence, time tortured the silence. Shen Wei let out a deep sigh. She could feel a sudden dampness on her pants. She lifted the other girl from the floor onto her lap, pressing her face against the warmth of her neck. In a tone that was part surrender, part relief, she said, “Even if it’s not a breakup, I don’t want to cool off with you. After all, it took me so long to get you. You’re the person I’ve thought about for two lifetimes.”
Shangguan Xianxian thought Shen Wei was just spouting sweet nothings again and ignored her, turning her head to hide her reddened eyes.
Then she heard a long story, one that stretched beyond the timeline of their current lives and connected to a past one.
Shangguan Xianxian turned her head, stunned. “You’re not just trying to placate me?”
Shen Wei let out a laugh. “Not this time, really.”
“Xianxian, I’ve lived once before. That’s the answer to everything.”
Shangguan Xianxian didn’t know how to respond. A tornado seemed to rip through her mind, churning all her previous thoughts, emotions, and ideas together before tearing them to shreds.
If Weiwei had lived once before, that meant she had died in her past life. At that thought, Shangguan Xianxian felt as if a piece of her heart had been carved out.
Shen Wei didn’t reveal every detail. She focused on her experiences in the Shangguan family in her past life, remaining tight-lipped about what happened after she left.
Shen Wei had expected Shangguan Xianxian to be indignant about Jin Yuan’s deception and manipulation, but Shangguan Xianxian was truly too gentle a person. The first thing she did was reach out and hug Shen Wei, asking in a low voice, “Was your past life very hard, Weiwei?”
Shen Wei feigned a relaxed tone and teased, “I had Xianxian with me in my past life, too, so it wasn’t that hard.”
Shangguan Xianxian fell silent, only pressing herself closer to the person before her.
It must have been very, very hard.
After a long moment, Shangguan Xianxian spoke again. “You were acting today, weren’t you?”
Shen Wei looked at Shangguan Xianxian in surprise, but her eyes also clearly showed delight. “How did you know?”
Shangguan Xianxian stroked the uninjured side of Shen Wei’s face and softly offered her understanding. “If you had really been through all that, you should hate Shangguan Chong even more.”
Shangguan Xianxian had her own eyes and ears in the Shangguan household. Besides, Shangguan Chong and Guo Yu hadn’t bothered to be discreet at all. She had gotten the news quickly, which was why she was able to rush back in time.
I should have known better. I never should have taken the risk and left Weiwei at home alone, Shangguan Xianxian thought, lowering her eyelids to hide the icy glint within them.
Shen Wei buried her face in Shangguan Xianxian’s chest and mumbled, “I was setting a trap for him, to make him think I’m smart, but not smart enough. That’s the only way we can wait for the right moment to take him down in one blow.”
Shangguan Xianxian stroked Shen Wei’s soft hair and smiled. “We?”
Shen Wei planted a firm kiss over Shangguan Xianxian’s heart, then said warmly, “I won’t hide anything from you from now on.”
Well, except for the truth about the world.
Shangguan Xianxian’s cool eyes softened until they looked like they could drip water. She kissed Shen Wei’s earlobe in satisfaction. “Good girl.”
On the top floor of the Shangguan Group tower, Shangguan Chong, feeling refreshed after hitting someone, sat in his large office chair. He gazed out at the prosperous city below, took a deep drag from his cigar, and closed his eyes. His massive body was coiled like a monster in the coldly decorated chairman’s office.
Of course he knew about Shen Wei’s little tricks.
In fact, he had been secretly guiding her little tricks.
Jin Yuan had secretly left people behind for her daughter. How could he not have discovered them after all these years? And since he had discovered them, it was simple enough to infiltrate them.
Just let this group of women who saw the Shangguan family as their prize fight it out. Shangguan Chong slowly curled his lips into a smile, which looked particularly sinister on his increasingly plump face.
It wasn’t certain which of them would win.
But he was certain that he would not lose.
At this moment, Shangguan Chong seemed to have forgotten his infertility and his ever-unimproving sexual performance.
He believed he was in control of everything. But then, everyone believed they were in control of everything.
Even Guo Yu was no exception.
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