21: Too beautiful, yet cruel

Ye Xiangwan cast a brief glance at Feng Jinyan, then gestured toward the boy nearby. "Ask him," she said, then gave a thumbs-up in his direction, "he explains it well."

Feng Jinyan: "..."

Feng Jinyan was speechless: What was the point of having a study representative like her?

The useless study representative sat at her desk, feeling her phone vibrating so violently that the entire tabletop shook, until she finally tossed her pen aside.

Just as she picked up her phone to set it to silent, she noticed a floating notification on the screen: [26 messages]

"His Majesty is Auspicious": [Animated emoji].

Her finger hovered over the screen for a moment, but Ye Xiangwan eventually tapped on the message thread, which was still growing in number.

She had no idea what had gotten into him this time. Ye Xiangwan scrolled up a bit; all she saw were various memes—one biting off a head, one skewered by a blade, four or five ganging up on one—none of them repeated.

In short, Young Master Feng was currently very annoyed.

Ye Xiangwan: "...?"

"His Majesty is Auspicious": [Could you not lift your delicate, jade-like fingers and tap the icon on the right to scroll up to the very first message?]

Ye Xiangwan: [...No.]

"His Majesty is Auspicious": [Look at the problem you posted in the group today. You might as well have just written an ellipsis for the answer; there was no need to bother with those two or three lines.]

Ye Xiangwan recalled that she had indeed written out her entire thought process and couldn't see what the problem was.

Ye Xiangwan: "...?"

"His Majesty is Auspicious": [Do you know how frustrating it is to look at an answer where you’ve lopped off the head and tail and omitted five thousand words in the middle? Nobody dares to bother you, so they all come to ask me because they can't understand it. I’ve been replying to messages all night, and thanks to you, I’m about to be lectured by my parents!]

Ye Xiangwan’s brow furrowed. Not long ago, his parents had wanted to install cameras in his bedroom, claiming they needed to monitor his study habits at all times.

This kind of perverted surveillance made her feel a sense of torment and alarm from the bottom of her heart. She didn’t know much about Feng Jinyan’s living situation, but seeing this message made her heart tighten instantly.

Ye Xiangwan: [...Your parents watch you do your homework?]

"His Majesty is Auspicious": [Of course not, I was delayed by something else.]

Ye Xiangwan read the message twice, letting out an involuntary sigh of relief. She pressed her temples and leaned back slowly into her chair.

***

Indeed, it was rare to encounter parents as eccentric as hers.

Perhaps because he hadn't received a reply for a long time, the phone began its involuntary performance again. Feng Jinyan crazily fired off a barrage of memes—the confused black man, the "life is hard" meme, people cursing, and more...

Ye Xiangwan didn't reply, nor did she put the phone on silent, letting it fidget on the table just like the person who sent the messages.

She pulled a blank sheet of paper from the side, intending to check the class group to see the problem she had just posted, but she suddenly couldn't find the group chat.

She scanned the list again and discovered that the name "Grade 10, Class 1" had been changed to "The Chinese Youth Crazy Team."

Staring at the group name, she didn't have to guess who had changed it.

Before long, she had written out the steps for the five problems in detail, filling three whole sheets of paper. When she reposted them to the group, the phone, which had been vibrating intermittently for so long, finally went silent. A moment later, however, it started ringing again.

She didn't know what else that young master could possibly have a problem with, given how thoroughly she had written it out.

Ye Xiangwan frowned and looked down, only to find that the class group had jumped to the top of her list.

"The Brother is Here": [God! Study rep, I love you! Thank you for your grace!]

"A Shot to Take Your Pig Life": [Study rep, I love you! Thank you for your grace!]

"Stubborn Black Iron": [Study rep, I love you! Thank you for your grace!]

"His Majesty Chooses to Abdicate": [Study rep, I love you! Thank you for your grace!]

...

Because no one had ever spoken in the group before, nobody had bothered to change their nicknames. Ye Xiangwan hadn't expected that these people, who usually acted as if their eyes were on top of their heads, could be so unserious when picking nicknames, and were even willing to copy and paste. The sheer volume of these twenty-some messages was impressively ridiculous.

It seemed the entire class had sent one, and the group finally quieted down. But a moment later, a message popped up, @-ing all members.

Thinking it was a group announcement, Ye Xiangwan tapped to open it.

"Cancer of Handsome": [@Everyone, let me say this quietly: I was just complaining to the class monitor, and the study rep's answer arrived. Which one of you bold souls told our study rep directly? Don't tell me our Goddess Wan is actually that obedient to the class monitor...]

"Cutest in Kindergarten": [Who would dare? It must be a coincidence.]

"Kiss Me": [Same here.]

"Uchiha-Nicolas": [Same here.]

***

Ye Xiangwan tossed her phone aside, but immediately, Feng Jinyan sent a private message.

"His Majesty is Auspicious": [Ye Xiangwan, couldn't you have sent the answers a bit later...]

Ye Xiangwan didn't reply, but Feng Jinyan kept sending messages. As she looked at them, the corners of her mouth couldn't help but curl upward.

Young Master Feng could be annoying at times, but in truth, he was actually quite "cute."

--

Ye Xiangwan felt her eyelids were heavy. She struggled to open her eyes and saw the familiar ceiling, bathed in a pale, faint moonlight.

It was exactly as she had glimpsed through her hazy vision when Feng Jinyan was incessantly sending messages in her memory.

Suddenly, as if her body had just awakened, a wave of intense, humiliating pain surged from below. Her eyes widened; the pleasant memories that had just lingered in her mind were instantly shredded by the beastly atrocities committed before she had lost consciousness.

Ye Xiangwan nearly bit through her lip. She covered her eyes with the back of her hand, feeling that there wasn't a single part of her, inside or out, that wasn't in agony.

Why did she have to remember things from six years ago? She had thought she had long forgotten, but in reality, they had just been slowly yet relentlessly carved into her very bones through her bloodstream.

Too beautiful, yet too cruel...

Back then, Feng Jinyan had been brimming with an unyielding vitality and spirit, like the rising sun—warm and beautiful, causing her to fall into it uncontrollably.

But in the end...

If only she hadn't met Feng Jinyan back then, if only she hadn't agreed to go to Longchuan.

In the silence, Ye Xiangwan suddenly heard a very faint sound of breathing. Her body stiffened. She turned her head very slowly, and when her gaze fell upon Feng Jinyan resting on the sofa, her entire body trembled.

In an instant, fear, disgust, resentment, anger... and that heavy, heavy attachment she couldn't ignore—all surged out from her chest, drowning her.

Ye Xiangwan clutched the clothes over her heart, gasping for air, almost unable to breathe, as if something was slicing her heart into pieces, leaving it bleeding profusely.

She squeezed her eyes shut, as if trying to block out everything she saw and everything she remembered.

She had to leave; this city had already left her covered in scars.