Shen Lianyao had been somewhat introverted since childhood, and much of her temperament stemmed from her family.
But being introverted didn’t mean she was timid, nor did it mean she could be easily bullied.
On the contrary, Shen Lianyao was the type who didn’t talk much on a normal day but always came through in key moments.
Her mind was remarkably strong, which had forged her resilient personality and her habit of staying calm at all times.
Delicate, calm, rational, independent—beneath those sharp, icy features lay a vibrant soul.
It was simply that the hues of that vibrancy skewed toward cooler tones.
At the same time, she had a deep-seated dislike for dishonest people, which also originated from her family.
Over time, this aversion profoundly shaped her views on social interactions.
She sought an almost idealized way of getting along with others, one where everyone naturally followed their hearts without pretense.
This often made her seem rigid and inflexible. When she dug in her heels, she could be as stubborn as a rock.
In truth, it wasn’t that she couldn’t adapt; she simply refused to lie. No matter how prettily hypocritical words were packaged, they remained hypocritical.
In her eyes, Shen An was like a flower butterfly splashed with rainbow colors, flitting about showily—or, to be more precise, a chameleon.
At first, she had believed him.
The clarity and sincerity shining in his eyes when he spoke had convinced her to trust him.
It might sound mystical, but for Shen Lianyao, a person’s gaze was more trustworthy than their words.
That changed after she chatted a few times with Wang Yuqiong, who “unwittingly” let this information slip. It infuriated Shen Lianyao.
Shen An hadn’t merely deceived her; he had betrayed the trust she had tentatively placed in him.
Perhaps none of this had ever shown on the surface.
But that was precisely her nature.
She seemed calm through rain or storm, yet inside she burned like a volcano or churned like the depths of the ocean beneath a gale—always ready to unleash surging waves without warning.
Faced with her icy scrutiny, Shen An found himself momentarily at a loss for words.
But for him, this wasn’t bad news at all.
As the saying goes, the opposite of love isn’t hate, but that quiet indifference—the distant smile you exchange whether you meet or not.
If there was hate, if emotions fluctuated, it proved the other person cared.
Shen Lianyao’s resentment over the matter went beyond what he had expected, but it also showed she was an extraordinarily sensitive girl.
At the very least, it proved she cared.
She might not care about him personally, but she cared about the words he had once spoken to her.
That offhand support.
Shen An believed that even the strongest people needed emotional backing and encouragement.
The way Shen Lianyao stubbornly dissected even polite small talk for truth or falsehood—refusing to indulge worldly conventions—revealed how rigid her daily interactions were, how hard she was to reach.
And she was scarcely twenty years old. Shen An refused to believe there were people in the world who truly needed no emotional validation.
So the situation might not be as thorny as it seemed.
Though the misunderstanding appeared to be deepening and her prejudice against him growing ever stronger, this tangled resentment just might ignite a spark.
In a matter of moments, Shen An had sorted through his thoughts.
“Do you believe Yuqiong, or do you believe me?”
Shen An launched his counterattack. “She might not have lied to you, but I’m the one directly involved.”
Shen Lianyao reacted with lightning speed. She narrowed her eyes and delivered a checkmate. “It’s simple: either you lied to me, or you lied to her. Isn’t it?”
“Have you ever considered that she might be lying deliberately?”
Shen An shot back.
Shen Lianyao paused for a beat and shook her head slightly. “I can’t imagine why she would lie.”
“Then can you imagine why I would lie to you?”
“Um.” Shen Lianyao shook her head again. “I think you’ve misunderstood me. You might not have meant to deceive me. You just wanted a slightly more fitting reason or excuse to justify your decision.”
“I understand that kind of polite talk. It’s like when I run into my parents’ friends—they always say how pretty I am.”
Shen An arched a brow. “That’s actually true. I can swear to it.”
Shen Lianyao faltered, then rolled her eyes. “I’m talking about general examples here. Don’t drag me into it.”
“The ‘support’ you mentioned is no different from the compliments from those parental friends and relatives. It’s just vague, polite boilerplate.”
Shen An rubbed his temple, starting to feel a headache coming on. “Hold on… Why does it feel like we’re debating some profound philosophy?”
“Too hard to grasp? Let me put it bluntly: I can understand what you did, but I won’t approve of it. And I certainly won’t accept it.”
Shen Lianyao spoke flatly. “You could’ve just been upfront with me back then. You didn’t think I had a shot at winning, but out of pity or sympathy, you gave me your vote so I wouldn’t lose too miserably.”
“By normal standards, I should thank you. That one vote saved me a bit of face.”
“But unfortunately, I’m not that tactful. I won’t thank you. I’ll hate you instead—because I despise that kind of hypocrisy.”
Shen An let out a light chuckle. “I think you’re getting a bit too hung up on this.”
“I didn’t lie to you. I voted for you precisely because I supported you.”
“When Yuqiong asked me about it later, I couldn’t tell her that outright—it would have hurt her feelings—so I came up with that excuse.”
“You’re thinking from your perspective. You like bluntness; you want people to say exactly what they mean, no holds barred.”
“But have you stopped to think if Yuqiong would like that? Some people simply can’t handle it.”
“For instance, at a funeral, facing the bereaved family—do you tell them to restrain their grief and move on, or do you say the person’s gone for good, so crying won’t bring them back? Might as well stop wasting time on tears and get on with your life?”
“Or at a wedding, to the bride and groom: your marriage isn’t built to last; it’s just a legal contract, not a guarantee you’ll stay together forever.”
Shen An turned and leaned against the railing. “Everything you’re saying is true. It’s all objective reality. No deception.”
“But do you think people want to hear it?”
“Losing a family member makes it damn hard to just ‘restrain your grief.’ Newlyweds sure as hell don’t live happily ever after.”
“But some words are meant as comfort, as encouragement. They’re not the hypocrisy you describe, and they carry no malice.”
“If you have a choice, why say things that wound?”
Shen Lianyao had no comeback. She fell silent.
“You might think my explanation to Yuqiong was deceiving her, but she doesn’t care about the specifics. As long as she hears what she wants to hear, she’s content.”
“That’s just how I communicate. You can’t accuse me of lying, and you have no right to call me hypocritical.”
“Do you know why people prefer pretty lies to harsh truths? Lies don’t hurt. The truth cuts like a knife.”
Shen Lianyao listened in silence. After a long moment, she finally spoke. “It feels like you’ve talked me in circles.”
“You’re the one who did that to me.”
Shen An shrugged. “I don’t scheme like that. You came up with all those twists yourself.”
“I said I supported you, but you didn’t believe me—thought it was just pity. Fine, if that’s what you want to hear: I never thought you could be class president. Why? Because the class needs someone who can bring everyone together, not a quiet nitpicker who speaks up only to poke holes.”
“Does that feel better? Is that the kind of ‘truth’ you like?”
Truth be told, it did sting a little.
Shen Lianyao’s independence wasn’t quite as absolute as she believed, nor was her strength fully formed.
It felt more like the stubbornness of someone lost in her own idealized world.
She believed the world worked a certain way, so it ought to.
But the world didn’t. It existed objectively, unchanging.
She might hate it, but that wouldn’t make it bend.
Either she had the power to remake the world and everyone in it to fit her ideals…
Or she learned to adapt, to go with the flow of society.
The principle was simple enough.
But perhaps that wasn’t the real root of it.
Shen An watched her, then tilted his head with a slight curve to his lips. “Actually, you don’t care whether I lied or not. What bothers you is the sense of betrayal.”
“You saw my vote as support, as me standing on your side. Even if you lost in the end, you could console yourself: at least Shen An backed me.”
“But then Yuqiong said it was just pity, a way to make her victory look better. That shattered the comfort you’d built up. Suddenly, I wasn’t on your side—I was on hers.”
“I mean…”
He leaned in closer, fixing his gaze on her aloof, exquisite little face. As faint panic flickered in her eyes, his smile deepened.
“You’re jealous. You’re feeling off-balance about it, aren’t you?”
Shen Lianyao’s foot twitched. She recoiled a step and whipped her head away with a cold scoff. “What nonsense.”
“Yeah, it’s nonsense.”
Shen An dipped his head slightly, but his tone turned unexpectedly gentle. “Except for one thing—I wasn’t lying about that. I meant it from the heart.”
“I really do want to be with you.”
This…
The hypocrite’s defense!
Shen Lianyao silently repeated the words to herself a hundred times in her mind, yet she couldn’t dispel the faint blush creeping across her delicate face.
Gritting her teeth, she snapped coldly once more, “Flowery words.”
Shen An burst into laughter. “That’s right, I am full of flowery words. Do you believe me this time?”
“Pah!”
Shen Lianyao shot him a disdainful glare.
“Hmm, actually, it’s only natural that you’re angry,” he said. “For the sake of my own selfish desires, I made you miss out on the stage you wanted so badly.”
“That was undoubtedly my mistake, so I hope you’ll forgive me.”
“But it wasn’t entirely selfishness on my part.”
“I just thought you might need a change of scenery, a fresh atmosphere.”
Emboldened, Shen An reached out and gently brushed her cheek. “Maybe this is just me overthinking things, my own wishful imagination.”
“But I can’t help wondering—if this face of yours were to smile, wouldn’t it shine brighter and more brilliantly than the sun itself?”
“Besides, what’s so great about dancing? Stick with me, and I’ll bring you even more joy.”
How bold!
Shen Lianyao’s heart jolted fiercely, her blood roaring through her veins like a tidal surge in time with his words.
Even the cool rationality in her mind was assailed at that moment by a murky wave of emotion.
Nonsense… utter nonsense…
She slapped his hand away with all her might, then spun on her heel and hurried toward the elevator without a backward glance.
“Just walking away like that? At least give me an answer…”
Shen An remained rooted to the spot.
He knew it was enough.
Shen Lianyao scurried along in quick little steps, muttering under her breath the whole way. “Rude… unreasonable cad… smooth-talking flower butterfly… utterly untrustworthy…”
Yet even after the elevator doors slid shut, the blush on her cheeks showed no sign of fading.
