To avoid arousing Yan Mian’s suspicions, Zhu Xing waited until after one class before summoning her to the office again.
After hearing his intentions, Yan Mian hesitated for several seconds before asking, “Zhu Lexing—”
“…She recommended you.”
It wasn’t a mere hope—it was a recommendation.
That meant Zhu Lexing had brought up her name in front of Zhu Xing.
“Why?”
Zhu Xing replied, “She said choosing you would be the same as choosing her.”
This was a chance to shine in the spotlight, and Yan Mian had no intention of passing it up. With time being short, Zhu Xing didn’t ask her to draft a new speech. Instead, he handed her the one from the classmate who had been hospitalized earlier.
The byline read Shi Ruofeng—a name that was somewhat unfamiliar to her. But later, while chatting idly in the rest room after school, Li Nian perked up at the mention. “She’s in our class. She’s not doing well health-wise and is always taking leave.”
The description felt eerily like another version of Yan Mian herself.
Yan Mian lowered her gaze. Li Nian’s voice carried a hint of regret as she continued, “I wonder if she’ll ever come back to class—”
Sensing Yan Mian’s slightly downcast mood, she changed the subject. “Did you meet up with Uncle Zhu yesterday? How’d it go?”
“Neither good nor bad,” Yan Mian said.
Li Nian started, “Zhu Lexing, she—”
Out of instinct, Yan Mian withheld what Jiang Yue had said, sharing only Zhu Lexing’s blunt words: “Get better and stay the hell away from her.” Li Nian frowned in confusion after hearing it. “But if that’s the case, doesn’t it mean you can finally put some real distance between you and them?”
That was precisely Yan Mian’s own dilemma.
Zhu Lexing’s inconsistencies were piling up, yet each one landed with perfect, frustrating precision.
One moment, you thought she was actually decent. The next, her words or actions soured it all over again.
The two of them mulled it over in silence for a while before Li Nian shrugged. “Whatever! We’ll deal with the future when it comes. I’m gonna grab my bag and knock out this homework first.”
In an instant, her mood flipped to cheerful. Humming a tune, she bounced off. Yan Mian couldn’t help but genuinely envy her easygoing nature. She flipped through the speech draft a few times, made some minor tweaks, committed the key points to memory, and then the door suddenly burst open.
The dismissal bell had rung just a short while earlier, and Yan Mian had left school alongside Li Nian. Zhu Lexing figured they’d headed to the rest room again—that fixed spot of theirs served as a sort of “secret base,” perfect for gossiping about everything under the sun.
Knowing right where they were, Zhu Lexing felt free to slack off completely.
She dawdled at her desk for ages, only finishing her homework with Song Yingying’s help.
Once they were past the school gates, Zhu Lexing insisted on treating her to milk tea. Song Yingying tried to demur at first, but Zhu Lexing’s enthusiasm won out.
In the meantime, Zhu Lexing noticed her glancing at the time repeatedly. A system prompt jogged her memory: Song Yingying always caught the bus home right on schedule. “Let me give you a ride back?” she suggested quickly.
Song Yingying blinked in surprise. “Is that okay?”
She’d definitely missed this one.
Nearly a week of hanging out had softened her wariness and fear of Zhu Lexing.
At the very least, in Song Yingying’s eyes, Zhu Lexing counted as half a friend by now.
Whether she’d become the full package depended on Zhu Lexing.
“Of course,” Zhu Lexing said. “Sorry I’ve been holding you up like this.”
“It’s fine,” Song Yingying murmured.
They climbed into the car, and Song Yingying exchanged greetings with the driver once more. This time, his enthusiasm was off the charts.
It was the first time Zhu Lexing had ever introduced him to a classmate.
All those past “friends” had come from pre-school social gatherings of one kind or another.
In just a few sentences, the driver learned of Song Yingying’s stellar grades—and she seemed honored by the praise.
Now that’s a proper good student!
No wonder the miss had been so driven lately.
Song Yingying sat stiffly, ill at ease.
She’d known Zhu Lexing came from money, but a personal driver for school runs? That was next level.
Song Yingying’s place was a fair distance from school. Along the way, Zhu Lexing fished out the script, hoping to run lines with her and kill time.
But no sooner had she opened it than the system decided to stir up trouble, blaring an obnoxious melody.
Zhu Lexing: ???
What the hell is this? Some kinda FBI porn raid?
The very next message nearly cracked her composure: 【Yan Mian is currently in danger! Please hurry to her at once to prevent irreparable consequences!】
Zhu Lexing: ???
Why the damn music first for something this critical???
What is wrong with you!
To Song Yingying, it looked like Zhu Lexing had been holding the script when her face suddenly darkened. “Turn around—back to school. I forgot something.”
“…Huh?” The driver had been enjoying his chat with Song Yingying, but he dutifully wheeled the car around at Zhu Lexing’s command. Before they arrived, he remembered to check. “And Miss Song…?”
“Take her home!”
The sunset glow painted the sky crimson, blurring the girl’s silhouette until she vanished completely into the distance.
Song Yingying stood there in a daze for a long moment before the driver cleared his throat awkwardly. “Lexing’s always been a bit… y’know… scatterbrained. No big deal.”
Song Yingying smiled faintly. “She’s really meticulous at school.”
The driver let out a hearty laugh.
Song Yingying gazed out the window. She’d watched with her own eyes as Zhu Lexing packed up every last thing before leaving the classroom. Forgotten something? What could it possibly be?
The only thing worth “forgetting” wasn’t an object.
It was a person.
“Yan Mian?”
Outside the door stood Lin Yang, bag slung over her shoulder, hair a messy tangle, exuding lazy indifference. Trailing her were several Alphas. They were clearly no students—people she’d dragged in from off-campus.
A bone-deep chill washed over Yan Mian, an inner voice screaming that she needed to get out now if she wanted to stay safe.
She hadn’t even grabbed the speech draft. Clutching her bag, she edged toward the exit. “Then I’ll just…”
“Leaving already?” Lin Yang shoved her shoulder without a shred of courtesy. The force sent Yan Mian stumbling back several steps.
She closed in slowly, looming over Yan Mian with a smirk. “No rush. It’s been ages since we had a nice chat. Don’t you wanna catch up?”
Yan Mian’s body trembled. “I—”
With Lin Yang, what could they possibly have to talk about? What would even be worth discussing?
Lin Yang reached out, trying to cup Yan Mian’s face, but Yan Mian instinctively turned her head away, dodging the touch.
In the next instant, Lin Yang pinched Yan Mian’s chin with two fingers and stared at her coldly. “I told you long ago to stay away from Zhu Lexing. Why won’t you listen?”
After getting the cold shoulder from Zhu Lexing, Lin Yang grew more and more convinced something was off.
Someone like Zhu Lexing, who prized her freedom above all else—how could she suddenly start talking about loving to study and wanting to learn? Unless… she’d changed.
And why had she changed?
Wasn’t it all because Yan Mian had meddled?
Ever since Lin Yang learned that Yan Mian had become the female lead in Zhu Lexing’s stage play, a simmering resentment had been building inside her.
She couldn’t understand it. In what way was she inferior to Yan Mian? Her figure, her looks, her family background—even her impending gender differentiation. She was all but guaranteed to become an Omega!
She and Zhu Lexing were the perfect match, made for each other.
But Yan Mian? A sickly burden. Her father had died young, leaving her mother to trade on her beauty just to survive, dreaming of marrying into wealth.
A background like that should be an eyesore if it ever crossed Zhu Lexing’s path.
So why had Zhu Lexing noticed her? Why give her so much attention?
Yan Mian had no idea how things had spiraled to this point.
She frowned, still trying to reason with Lin Yang.
“I haven’t had any contact with Zhu Lexing.”
“Is that so?” Lin Yang sneered. “You’re the one playing the role, and now you’re claiming no contact? Who do you think you’re fooling?”
“By the way, what do you think you’ll differentiate into? A Beta? An Alpha?”
Laughter erupted immediately from outside the door.
Given Yan Mian’s visibly frail constitution, the idea of her differentiating into an Alpha was laughable.
Even though society’s blood-type hierarchy wasn’t rigidly enforced, there were still those who stubbornly believed Alphas were the best and strongest, looking down on the weak.
Asking someone who could never become an Alpha what they might differentiate into? It was naked humiliation.
Not long ago, when Song Yun had accompanied her to the hospital for a checkup, the doctors had issued a differentiation forecast. There was a 95% chance Yan Mian would become an Omega.
Song Yun had seen the results afterward and said, “You need to be careful from now on.”
Careful around Zhu Lexing.
The warning had been blunt yet cautious. Yan Mian had understood, but she’d only curved her lips in a smile without replying.
Living under the Zhu Family’s roof, how careful was careful enough? In the eyes of those who disliked her, she was scheming no matter what she did—just like right now.
She was only minding her own business, yet Lin Yang still burst in like a madwoman to hurl insults at her.
All because of Zhu Lexing.
Why?
She hadn’t done anything.
When Yan Mian didn’t respond, Lin Yang lost interest and stood up. Her gaze swept over the speech draft on the desk.
She glanced at it and spotted a familiar name. “Oh, Shi Ruofeng.”
“Do you know her?” Lin Yang waved the paper in front of Yan Mian. When Yan Mian stayed silent, she grinned. “Doesn’t matter if you don’t. You’ll meet soon enough.”
“She was sold off by her family to pay a debt.” Lin Yang tore the draft to shreds. “You’re not far from the same fate.”
The pages fluttered through the air, blurring Yan Mian’s vision. Certain that Lin Yang wouldn’t let her off that easily, she braced her hands on her knees and slowly rose to her feet.
“I’ll say it one last time.” Yan Mian struggled to keep her voice steady, her fingers clenched tightly behind her back as she met Lin Yang’s eyes head-on for the first time. “I have nothing to do with Zhu Lexing. Not before, and not now.”
“But if you show up in front of me again and spout this nonsense, I can’t guarantee we won’t end up with the kind of relationship you’re imagining.”
“After all, isn’t that what you already think of me?”
Yan Mian let out a scornful laugh. “Trading on my looks to get ahead.”
Her gaze was utterly icy, sending an inexplicable chill through Lin Yang for the first time.
But Yan Mian’s next words left Lin Yang stunned, then seething with rage. “You—”
“You what?!”
Zhu Lexing had been cursing the system the entire way upstairs, only to get stuck at the crucial moment. Her anger was written all over her face, her negative energy so potent it could poison someone from ten meters away like paraquat.
The Alpha waiting outside tried to stop her, but Zhu Lexing shoved her aside without a second thought—rough and decisive. Not just the Alpha, but even Zhu Lexing herself froze for a split second.
When had she gotten so strong?
But that wasn’t the point!
She turned her glare on Lin Yang—and the Yan Mian standing in front of her.
Her eyes scanned them up and down before settling on Yan Mian’s reddened chin.
“Did you do this?” Zhu Lexing asked, her voice dark and menacing.
