Chapter 2: The Fake Heiress of the Wealthy Family (Part 2)

After returning to the classroom, Shen Ke only then slowly pondered why Feng Jian looked so much like her family.

She had grown up in the Shen Family and never heard anything about a missing child. She could confidently say she had no lost sisters.

Could it be that Dad or Mom had an affair?

Shen Ke racked her not-so-bright brain, her eyebrows furrowing into a knot. Actually, she had seen lookalikes before, but Feng Jian gave her a very different feeling, so she was so hung up on it.

If one of her parents really had an affair, how was she supposed to bring it up?

Various thoughts swirled through her mind. Shen Ke opened her phone and carefully studied Feng Jian’s face.

Eyes, nose…

Suddenly, a thought flashed into her mind, and Shen Ke’s expression turned cloudy.

Big Sis always said she didn’t resemble the Shen Family at all, that a kitten had popped out of a wolf’s den.

Second Sis ignored her completely. It was as if they had disliked her from birth.

Wealthy families never lacked melodramatic drama. At this thought, Shen Ke gripped her phone tightly.

No way—how could something like that happen to her?

Meanwhile, Feng Jian returned to her seat. Yue Lingqing propped her head on the desk and turned to call out, “Feng Jian.”

Feng Jian paused while organizing her desk and tilted her head slightly in a listening posture.

Yue Lingqing smiled. Her delicate features took on a coldly glamorous air when she smiled. “You were there at the time, right?”

Feng Jian’s eyes flickered once, but her bangs hid it from view. No one saw. She then took out her book and smoothed the wrinkled edges, ignoring Yue Lingqing like a wooden post.

Yue Lingqing hadn’t expected an answer anyway. She propped up her head and gazed out the window, continuing on her own. “She’s so stupid, isn’t she?”

“I really don’t know how her family raised her. Didn’t they teach her how to read people? She came to pick a fight with me over a guy who had his feet in multiple boats.”

“That look on her face couldn’t scare anyone. Stupidly pitiful.”

Feng Jian smoothed the last wrinkle, closed the book, and said softly, “You like her.”

Yue Lingqing dropped her hand propping her head and turned toward Feng Jian. From this angle, she could only see Feng Jian’s profile. She smiled ambiguously. “Feng Jian, since when did you learn to joke?”

Feng Jian shook her head and said no more. Earlier, when Yue Lingqing talked about Shen Ke, pleasure had seeped from her words.

She didn’t understand emotions, but she knew what it looked like to like someone.

The class bell rang. Yue Lingqing restrained her smile and flipped open her textbook, only to hear a light yet firm sentence from beside her.

“I like her.”

Yue Lingqing’s fingers clenched tight then relaxed. “Is that so?” No name was said, but Yue Lingqing knew who Feng Jian meant. An inexplicable displeasure stirred in her heart, which she chalked up to hating the idea of her friend falling for trash like Shen Ke.

By then, the teacher had entered the classroom.

Feng Jian said nothing more. She gripped her pen and drew a little figure in the blank margin of her textbook: twin ponytails with a tiny crown, puffed cheeks and glaring eyes, arrogantly like a little cat.

Feng Jian poked the drawing’s puffed cheeks with her finger and smiled faintly.

Shen Ke proved less patient than she thought. Standing at the school gate, she called Feng Jian. She had decided during class that she needed to get Feng Jian’s hair right away.

“Little Mute, I’m at the school gate. Get over here right now!”

With that, Shen Ke hung up, convinced Feng Jian would come.

It was after school. As a day student, Shen Ke just needed to wait for her driver, so she stood at the gate, bored while waiting for Feng Jian.

Feng Jian got the call just as she picked up her dinner. She glanced at the meal and headed for the gate, her pace quickening until she broke into a run.

She was afraid Shen Ke would wait too long. The cafeteria was quite a distance from the school gate.

Shen Ke checked the time. Five minutes had passed. She muttered complainingly, “Why hasn’t she come yet? So slow.”

A moment later, Shen Ke dialed another number.

Out on the road beyond the school gate, the driver in a black Porsche picked up Shen Ke’s call.

“Got it, Third Miss.”

He hung up and immediately informed Shen Yi in the back seat.

“Eldest Miss, Third Miss says she’ll be a bit. She has something to handle.”

Shen Yi adjusted her silver-rimmed glasses and shifted her gaze from her laptop to the school gate, where it froze. “Handle what? Dating a girl?”

Inside the school gate, Shen Ke spotted Feng Jian running up and immediately laid into her without a word.

“How long has it been? I told you to hurry over!”

Her voice was loud. Passing students glanced their way. Shen Ke glared them all down. “What are you looking at? Keep staring and I’ll dig out your eyes!” Her bully persona stood unshaken.

Shen Ke even nudged Feng Jian’s calf with her shoe tip. “Made me wait so long. Hateful.”

It wasn’t hard. Feng Jian bowed her head, watching the clean shoe tip brush her pant leg. No pain—just a bit itchy.

Shen Ke’s whiny scolding carried no real bite. Feng Jian had endured far more vicious curses.

Once Shen Ke shut her mouth, Feng Jian pulled a roll of bread from her uniform pocket and offered it. “Hungry?”

The run had brought a flush to Feng Jian’s pale skin, even her pale fingers tinged pink, lending her a spark of youthful vitality.

Shen Ke glanced at the plastic-wrapped bread and snorted. “I don’t eat cheap bread like that normally.”

Feng Jian’s lashes trembled as she started to pull her hand back. But the next second, Shen Ke snatched it away.

Shen Ke grinned wickedly. “Even if I don’t eat it, I’m taking it.”

“Is this your dinner? I know your family’s poor. No money for extras. If I take this, you’ll go hungry tonight.”

“Don’t you think I’m bad? Yup, that’s me—super bad. So you have to listen to me!” Shen Ke bared her two sharp little tiger teeth to emphasize her bad temper.

She knew poor folks pinched every penny. Once spent, they wouldn’t splurge more no matter how hungry.

The little cat bared her claws, thinking herself fierce, but she was just adorably huggable.

A breeze blew through, tousling Feng Jian’s bangs and revealing her narrow eyes. Shen Ke found that gaze unusually profound.

She clutched the bread, averted her eyes, and stuck out her hand imperiously. “Give me a strand of your hair.”

Feng Jian didn’t ask why. She plucked one quickly and placed it in Shen Ke’s palm.

Her goal achieved, Shen Ke didn’t linger. She gave Feng Jian another kick as she left. “Hmph, Little Mute, I’m out.”

Shen Ke tucked the hair into her bag and headed for the gate, bag in hand.

The wind kept blowing, parting Feng Jian’s forehead bangs for a clearer view—and a better look at Shen Ke.

Feng Jian’s gaze tracked Shen Ke without wavering, until she reached a black sedan. Feng Jian shifted her eyes, locking gazes with the person in the car.

Two pairs of similarly narrow eyes met across the distance.

Only when the car door shut did Feng Jian look away and leave.

Shen Ke was surprised to see Shen Yi there when she opened the door.

Shen Yi fixed her gaze on Shen Ke, her tone indifferent. “Get in.”

Shen Ke shrank into a timid quail, boarding shakily and huddling by the door. A wide gap separated her from Shen Yi.

“Big Sis, why’d you come?” Shen Ke asked softly.

Shen Yi’s narrow eyes narrowed further. “Can’t I?” Her tone was flat, devoid of inflection.

Shen Ke shook her head frantically. “Of course Big Sis can come whenever she wants.”

The car pulled away slowly. With nothing to say to Shen Yi, Shen Ke simply tore open the wrapper and started eating Feng Jian’s bread.

Truth be told, she didn’t really want it, but sharing space with Shen Yi made her feel like she had to do something—not look so idle.

Shen Ke chewed in tiny bites. Shen Yi glanced over. “Was that girl your girlfriend?”

Shen Ke froze, realizing she meant Feng Jian. Panic hit, and she shook her head like a rattle. “No, no—just a classmate.” She worried Shen Yi had gotten a good look at Feng Jian.

“I just… just asked her for bread.” She held the bread up to Shen Yi to prove she wasn’t lying. She hadn’t expected Shen Yi to see.

Shen Yi’s fingers tapped lightly on her laptop keys. “Is that so?” She rarely followed Shen Ke’s business, but others gossiped. Social circles loved dirt, and at events she attended, Shen Ke’s rumors always cropped up.

Like how the Shen Family’s Third Miss had dated dozens already at her age.

Or how the Shen Family’s Third Miss would go after any girl.

Shen Ke nodded hard, sensing something loaded in Shen Yi’s “Is that so?”

Shen Yi didn’t press further and closed her eyes.

The air grew quiet for a spell. Soon, Shen Ke heard steady breathing. She sneaked a peek, then hatched a plan and inched toward Shen Yi.

Shen Yi’s hair would do too. She just wanted to test if Feng Jian shared blood with them.

Shen Ke drew close and slowly raised her hand toward Shen Yi’s head. The instant she touched, her wrist was seized. Shen Ke’s heart nearly leaped from her chest.

Her face froze.

Shen Yi held the slender wrist gently. “Little Ke, what are you doing?”

Shen Ke was a scaredy-cat crybaby at heart, and it showed now. She was terrified.

Her eyes rimmed red. “N-nothing.”

She tugged her hand but couldn’t free it. Her eyes reddened more.

Just then, the car swerved sharply. Shen Ke tumbled into Shen Yi’s arms, the laptop clattering inside.

Shen Yi braced the door with one hand and held Shen Ke with the other. Her sleek long hair was a bit mussed. She glanced out the window at two yellow cars weaving wildly.

The driver apologized quickly. “Sorry, Eldest Miss, Third Miss—are you hurt?”

Shen Yi shook her head. “Not your fault. Keep going.”

The car resumed. Shen Ke stayed put in Shen Yi’s lap.

The girl’s frame was still too slight. Shen Yi gazed down at Shen Ke’s round little head and didn’t push her away right off.

It had been ages since she’d held Shen Ke. Things had grown distant since Shen Ke turned twelve; she stopped being close.

After Shen Ke came out at sixteen, family ties frayed further.

Parents had no beef with homosexuality in principle, but not for their own kid.

Naturally, Shen Ke got zero understanding. They had a huge fight. The parents who once doted on her dialed it way back.

Why out herself? She could’ve waited till adulthood for what she wanted.

Shen Yi pressed Shen Ke’s shoulders and eased her away gently. Her eyes fell on Shen Ke’s face. She cupped it in both hands, using her thumbs to softly wipe away the tears.

“Little Ke, did you get hurt in the fall?”

Shen Ke shook her head and sniffled. “Didn’t hurt.” Her voice was all grievance.

The girl carried a fresh, sweet scent—youthful and lovely. It filled Shen Yi’s nostrils, sharpening her sense of Shen Ke.

Shen Yi gazed down intently. The girl was shedding her gawkiness; her features shone brighter. After a long moment, Shen Yi sighed. “Little Ke, why don’t you resemble us at all?”

Her face was small and pointed, eyes big and round, lips plump and rosy—always that innocent look.

No matter how she acted out her bad side, it just came off as foolish.

The Shen Family’s bad ran bone-deep. Shen Ke didn’t fit at all.

As for why… she believed she had the answer now.

Shen Yi’s hands caressed her face tenderly, but her eyes held no warmth through those silver-rimmed glasses. If anything, they made Shen Yi seem even more coldly rational.

This wasn’t the first time Shen Yi had said it, but it was the first time with eyes like that.

The black pupils under the lenses made Shen Ke feel utterly cold. She felt a bit panicked inside and couldn’t help but break free from Shen Yi. She scooted over to the car door, her hands clasped tightly together.

“Big Sis, maybe because I look a lot like Grandma.”

Shen Yi picked up the notebook and closed it. She straightened her disheveled collar, crossed her legs—every movement slow and elegant.

“Little Ke, you have to be obedient.” The Shen Family had no good people.

Shen Ke didn’t know why Shen Yi was telling her to be obedient, but she nodded vigorously anyway. “I’ll be obedient.”

The Shen Family members were always very busy. In the huge villa, only the servants’ bustling figures could be seen.

The ones who came home often were just Shen Yi and Shen Ke.

After returning to the Shen Family, Shen Ke darted straight into her room.

She put strands of Shen Yi’s and Feng Jian’s hair into separate small bags.

When she had pounced into Shen Yi’s arms earlier, she had used her quick hands and eyes to pluck one.

Shen Ke sprawled on the bed, swinging her legs. That was too scary—she had almost thought the hair-plucking had been discovered.

This matter had to be kept absolutely secret.

Shen Ke pursed her lips and hesitated for a moment. Then she plucked two strands from her own head and put them into small bags as well.

She labeled each one with a number.

She hoped she was just overthinking it…

The next morning, Shen Ke arrived at school. She spotted Feng Jian’s figure at the school gate right away. The moment their eyes met, Shen Ke knew Feng Jian had come to find her.

The tall, slender girl had a great figure, but she always kept her head down, her overly long bangs blocking her eyes. It made her look gloomy, and not many people noticed her.

The other students were all heading to the teaching building, but Feng Jian walked toward the school gate. She carried breakfast and pushed against the flow of people, hurrying straight to Shen Ke.

Shen Ke stood still. When Feng Jian stopped in front of her, she asked in confusion, “Little Mute, why aren’t you going to morning self-study? What are you doing here?”

Feng Jian pursed her lips and handed the breakfast to Shen Ke. She seemed anxious. “You said, you said you wanted me to be, be your person. You have to, have to watch me.” Realizing what she had just said, Feng Jian lowered her head even further.

She stuttered with long sentences, so she tried her best to avoid them—to the point of not speaking at all.

That way, no one would dislike her.

She had finally made contact with Shen Ke. She had to seize the chance.