Gu Xizhou didn’t sleep well all night.
Around six-thirty in the morning, she got up and went to the kitchen to make breakfast. Amid the faint fragrance of cooking, her mother, Gu Jing, pushed open her bedroom door reeking of alcohol, rubbing her messy hair as she shuffled out.
Gu Xizhou came over carrying fried eggs and slices of toast. Seeing Gu Jing stumbling toward the bathroom, she said flatly, “Breakfast is ready.”
Gu Jing gave an unintelligible grunt, shoved open the bathroom door, staggered to the sink, and vomited explosively.
Gu Xizhou glanced into the bathroom. Over the nauseating sound of retching, she pulled out her chair with practiced calm, picked up a piece of toast from the table, and ate it without any change in expression.
She made short work of her breakfast. After stowing her bowl and chopsticks in the kitchen sink, she walked to the first aid kit on the living room coffee table, deftly popped out some stomach medicine, poured a glass of warm water, and brought it to the table, placing it at Gu Jing’s spot.
Only after all that did Gu Xizhou return to her room, pack her bag, and get ready to leave for school.
Gu Jing emerged from the bathroom, rubbing her temples. Looking up, she saw Gu Xizhou changing shoes.
The girl was wearing a grayish-green Western-style uniform, her hair pulled back in a ponytail, looking extraordinarily slender and frail.
Gu Jing massaged her throbbing temples. “Today’s the first day of school?”
Gu Xizhou, just pulling her leather shoe’s heel into place, answered with a single flat syllable: “Mm.”
Gu Jing uttered an “oh,” as if wanting to say more, but the hangover headache trapped the words at her lips.
After putting on her shoes, Gu Xizhou turned and glanced at Gu Jing. “When you finish breakfast, just put the bowl in the sink. I’ll wash everything when I get back tonight.”
Gu Jing’s mouth opened with a soundless “ah,” and she nodded awkwardly. She watched Gu Xizhou shoulder her backpack, pull the door open, and walk out without a backward glance.
The door slammed shut, cutting off the girl’s retreating figure.
Gu Jing sat upright at the table, thinking of her daughter’s expressionless face before she had left. She picked up a piece of toast and grumbled indignantly, “Doesn’t even call me ‘Mom’…”
“Has the same dog-awful temper as her mother!”
Cold enough to be hateful.
No. 1 High School wasn’t too close and wasn’t too far from Gu Xizhou’s home. Out the door, the subway took about half an hour.
After a whole week of being tormented by this “0820” system and having woken up so early, Gu Xizhou was understandably drowsy.
At 7:20 AM, deep in the morning rush, she leaned against a subway pole with her backpack on, head drooping as she struggled to keep her eyes open.
A chaotic mix of perfumes and sweat assaulted the little Alpha’s acute olfactory senses.
Gu Xizhou deliberately slowed her breathing to cut down on how often she took in those smells.
The subway clattered and swayed forward. The chatter of all sorts of people and the howl of the underground wind funneled madly into her ears.
Scent and sound wove together, constructing an alien world—strange yet strangely stable and muddled.
Suddenly, amid the crowd, Gu Xizhou caught an extraordinarily familiar whiff of cherries.
As if spotting a brilliant flash of lightning in a pitch-black night, her eyes snapped open, and she spun toward the source of that scent.
Her gaze pierced through the packed crowd and landed unerringly on a girl’s back.
The girl was wearing the same blue-gray blazer uniform as Gu Xizhou, carrying the same style of backpack. Her smooth, straight black hair hung loose, and she stood with her back to Gu Xizhou in the throng.
Right behind the girl, an adult man in a business suit held his bag up to shield himself from contact with her. Yet his other hand, clutching his phone, was stealthily reaching down into the crush of people.
Gu Xizhou’s heart instantly shot into her throat.
—An upskirt photo!
The moment that thought surfaced, Gu Xizhou began trembling all over.
She gripped her backpack strap. In a single second, a million thoughts tore through her mind.
Faced with something like this, she should shout at the offender. But her voice stuck in her throat; nothing came out.
The man was taller and older than her. Although she was an Alpha, she wasn’t necessarily his match in a fight.
Worse still, they were on the same subway. That meant they might run into each other again. She was a student, wearing her uniform—wouldn’t the man remember her and retaliate?
And yet… and yet…
In that split second, the pervert’s hand had already slipped beneath the girl’s skirt, about to click the shutter.
Suddenly, 0820’s voice rang out in Gu Xizhou’s mind: “Smash him with your umbrella!”
As if some outside force had taken control, Gu Xizhou’s mind went blank. She yanked the folding umbrella from the side pocket of her backpack and hurled it straight at the offender.
“Ow!”
A startled cry rose from the crowd. Every passenger in the carriage turned to stare at Gu Xizhou.
Under dozens of eyes, Gu Xizhou looked up—at the girl who had been shielded from view behind the man—and felt all the blood in her body freeze solid.
She stared dumbly at the girl’s face as she turned around, at those eyes as clear as a mountain stream in spring. Her lips began to tremble uncontrollably. “Su… Su…”
Su Nanfeng!
The girl, one hand gripping the subway’s hanging loop, lifted her gaze and met Gu Xizhou’s ashen face. Her expression was utterly calm.
Their eyes locked. Neither spoke.
Just then, the “pervert” who had been struck by the umbrella clutched his forehead and turned a vicious glare on Gu Xizhou. “What the hell do you think you’re doing, you little brat!”
“You looking for a beating!”
Shouting, he grabbed his own bag and phone and strode toward Gu Xizhou with clear intent to attack.
Seeing his hostile approach, the other passengers quickly averted their eyes, all looking in different directions.
Gu Xizhou tightened her grip on the pole. Gazing in absolute shock at a face so like Su Nanfeng’s, pale and trembling, she forced out the words: “You… your phone…”
“You’re the one who did wrong first!”
Even though she was utterly terrified, her hands shaking, she fumbled out her own phone and tried with all her might to steady her voice. “I’m calling the police!”
The man’s footsteps faltered. He clenched his fist. “You—!”
In that brief pause, every person in the carriage subtly pieced together what had happened. The girl who looked so much like Su Nanfeng was no exception.
Immediately, the girl pulled out her phone and dialed 110. Amid the rising murmurs, she spoke in a low, steady voice: “Hello, is this 110? I want to report a crime.”
“On Subway Line 3, someone just took upskirt photos of me.”
As she spoke, she grabbed hold of the man’s clothing, fixing the now-panicked offender with an icy stare, her composure absolute. “Yes, I’ve got him.”
“At the next stop, Cultural Center. Please have officers ready to take this bastard into the station!”
Even though the man sputtered denials and protests, under the combined pressure of the surrounding passengers’ blockade and the girl’s implacable grip, he was hauled off to the local police office.
Along with him went Gu Xizhou.
At the station, the man kept insisting he hadn’t taken any photos, that the two high school girls were slandering him.
A Beta policewoman ignored him completely, forcefully taking his phone and ordering him: “Face ID. Open it.”
Grudgingly, the man unlocked his photo gallery.
The moment the policewoman opened it, a riot of colorful, intimate snapshots of young girls flooded everyone’s vision. She merely swept a glance across the screen, her brow furrowing in disgust. “Tch, shameless!”
With the evidence irrefutable, the policewoman turned a stone-cold face to the offender: “Secretly photographing and peeping at others’ private parts—you’ll be getting at least five days of administrative detention!”
She slapped him on the back and shoved him toward the interrogation room, her voice dripping with contempt. “You’re clearly a repeat offender. You’d better confess truthfully—have you uploaded any of these images online?”
After the policewoman marched the man away, the assistant officer who remained turned to the two girls sitting on the sofa with a kind smile. “Kids, you did a very good thing.”
“But since you called the police, we still need to take a statement from both of you.”
Gu Xizhou nodded, sneaking a glance at the girl seated beside her—a girl sitting with flawless posture, a perfect double of Su Nanfeng. Her heart hammered wildly. “Okay.”
Seeing their cooperation, the officer relaxed. “Judging by the uniforms, you’re both students at No. 1 High School. What are your names?”
Gu Xizhou clenched her fists, forcing calm. “My name is Gu Xizhou.”
“Gu Xizhou…” The officer jotted it down in his notebook and turned to the girl beside her. “And what’s your name?”
Gu Xizhou also turned her head to look at the girl along with the officer.
Under their twin gazes, the girl lifted her hand and used her little finger to delicately tuck a stray lock of soft hair behind her ear. Her voice was cool and detached: “My surname is Su. My name is Su Zhiyi.”
“‘Nanfeng zhi wo yi, chui meng dao Xizhou.’ The ‘Zhiyi’ from that poem.”
(“The south wind knows my heart and blows my dreams to West Islet.”)
Gu Xizhou stared at the girl’s delicate, gentle profile, and it felt as if a fierce wind had swept her heart wide open.
Ah… so it was as she thought.
This was Su Zhiyi. Not Su Nanfeng.
Gu Xizhou stared at that vivid face, and in her mind kept replaying last night’s dream—the image of those distant, indifferent eyes staring up at the sky. Her chest ached and swelled at once.
Her thoughts in chaos, some of the visions from those dreams began flashing frantically before her eyes.
On a bustling subway platform, trains roaring past.
A girl, barely eighteen, stood before her, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. She looked up at Gu Xizhou, her cheeks dusted pink. “Thank you so much for what you did just now.”
She paused, then introduced herself. “I’m Su Zhiyi. May I ask—what’s your name?”
The Gu Xizhou who had long shed her adolescent timidity curved her eyes into a faint smile. “I know who you are. You’re Su Nanfeng’s younger sister.”
She extended a hand to the girl, Su Zhiyi, presenting an image of confident ease. “My surname is Gu. Gu Xizhou.”
“‘Nanfeng zhi wo yi, chui meng dao Xizhou.’ The ‘Xizhou’ from that poem.”
Under the girl’s astonished gaze, Gu Xizhou put on a friendly face and laughed softly. “I’m Su Nanfeng’s high school classmate. You really do look exactly like her.”
Yes. Exactly like her.
So like her that Gu Xizhou both loathed that face and hopelessly loved the pure, clean soul beneath it.
That had been their very first meeting. In a subway station. After she had stalked the girl for an entire month, engineering a “hero rescuing the beauty.”
That was the beginning of Gu Xizhou’s revenge.
