Chapter 1

The routine family gathering had reached its midpoint, as boring as usual.

— At least, it was for Ying Nian.

Someone suddenly tugged at the hem of her clothes. Ying Nian looked up; her ten-year-old little cousin had found her in the corner, his chin slightly raised with an inexplicable arrogance that had been cultivated by indulgence.

“Isn’t your Taekwondo really good? Spar with me!”

Ying Nian frowned slightly, not responding.

Seeing her expression, the little cousin paused, pursing his lips, and added a respectful address: “…Sister Niannian.”

“I’m not sparring with you,” Ying Nian refused. “You can’t beat me.”

“Who says so?” The little cousin retorted indignantly, and shouted, “The teacher said I’m really good! The best in the entire training room!”

The house was filled with children of the same generation as Ying Nian. A few uncles were either in another room reminiscing and playing cards or had been called to the study by Grandpa Ying. The remaining aunts and uncles were either helping in the kitchen or gathered in another room chatting.

As the oldest in this small living room, Ying Nian patiently dealt with this little cousin who wasn’t usually close to her.

“I’m not sparring with you. Go play with them.”

Being spoiled, the little cousin insisted on getting what he wanted, otherwise, he wouldn’t give up. He clung to Ying Nian’s clothes persistently, “No! I want to spar. Spar with me! Spar with me…”

Ying Nian, having no other choice and not wanting to argue with him, had to stand up.

There were quite a few children in this generation, and to prevent bumps and bruises, several layers of carpet had been laid down. The carpet was soft and cushioned, perfect for rolling and tumbling, and it was also suitable as a sparring area.

Ying Nian didn’t take it seriously. Her cousin was only ten years old, and their skill levels were worlds apart. Even if she let him use one hand, he still couldn’t beat her. So Ying Nian kept defending while her cousin got more and more aggressive with each attempt, but he still couldn’t land a hit.

His face turned red with frustration. He kicked out, but Ying Nian blocked it, causing him to lose his balance and fall onto his backside.

He paused for a second, then suddenly started bawling. Ying Nian frowned and was about to step forward to check if he had hurt himself when her little cousin sprang up and kicked at her.

A sneak attack.

Ying Nian reacted instinctively, dodging and then using a shoulder throw to flip him onto the ground.

This time, her cousin cried real tears. His wailing drew all the adults in the house to the scene.

“What’s all the noise?”

“Who’s crying? What’s going on, are they fighting again…”

Ying Nian looked at her cousin sitting on the ground, feeling helpless. “You were the one who wanted to spar with me. I told you that you couldn’t beat me.”

Ignoring her, he cried out, “You’re cheating! Our teacher never taught us shoulder throws. You’re cheating…!”

And you still tried to sneak attack me, you little brat! Ying Nian was about to retort when her aunt rushed in. Seeing her son sitting on the carpet, she quickly asked, “What happened? What happened, Qianqian?”

“Mom! Cousin Ying Nian hit me—”

Just as her cousin started tattling, a stern voice rang out.

“What’s all the noise about?”

Everyone turned to look at the living room door. The atmosphere froze momentarily and then quieted down.

Grandpa Ying slowly walked in, his shoulders still strong and imposing despite his age, maintaining the authority that kept the entire Ying family in line.

Upon seeing his protector, the little cousin rushed over and hugged his leg. “Grandpa, Cousin Ying Nian hit me! She threw me to the ground! It hurts so much!”

Grandpa Ying raised his hand to pat his shoulder but paused, maintaining a bit of decorum under the watchful eyes of the family. He only gave a gentle pat on his shoulder.

“Stop crying. A boy crying like this, what does it look like!”

There was no hint of reprimand in his tone.

“It’s a holiday, and you’re causing trouble again?” Grandpa Ying looked at Ying Nian with disapproval.

Every year, there were several occasions when the whole family would gather together. The uncles would bring their families, and the two aunts would also come with their husbands and children.

Ying Nian’s father wasn’t the eldest in the family and wasn’t present at the moment; he had gone with her mother to pick up her grandmother. Her grandmother had recently been on a trip with friends and was returning today.

“He wanted to spar with me. I said no, but he insisted, so I played with him for a while,” Ying Nian explained matter-of-factly. “Who knew he would start crying when he couldn’t beat me? When I got close, he suddenly attacked. I reacted instinctively…”

Her calm explanation was cut off by Grandpa Ying’s reprimand: “He is your younger brother! How can you not know how to foster kinship and love? He’s so young, what if he got hurt?”

The thick, soft carpet underfoot made Grandpa Ying’s words seem somewhat amusing.

Earlier, her little cousin’s sneak attack had been a direct kick aimed at Ying Nian’s stomach. If she hadn’t caught his ankle, she could have been seriously hurt. Why was no one concerned about the possibility of her, a girl, getting injured?

Ying Nian’s expression was as calm as water. Her eldest uncle quickly stepped in to smooth things over, “Dad, it’s just kids playing around. Don’t be angry! Niannian isn’t someone who doesn’t understand these things!”

“If she understood, would she have thrown her brother to the ground?”

“Dad, you…”

“I did it on purpose,” Ying Nian interrupted, meeting Grandpa Ying’s surprised gaze. As he began to show signs of anger, she smiled. “I deliberately sparred with Qianqian, deliberately didn’t let him win, deliberately kicked him to the ground, and deliberately let him sneak attack me so I could throw him down.”

“In your mind, that’s the kind of person I am, right?” She emphasized the last two words, “…Grandpa.”

“Niannian, you—” Her aunt, flustered, tried to speak but was silenced by a sharp look from Ying Nian. Astonished that she could be intimidated by a junior’s gaze, she found it increasingly intolerable and her tone grew harsher, “Qianqian is still young! How could you be so rough with him?”

Grandpa Ying’s gaze remained fixed on Ying Nian. That weathered, aged look carried an enduring disapproval. There was no sign of familial closeness, only layers of distance and a hint of scrutiny.

“Were you just talking back to me?”

Before Ying Nian could respond, the sound of quick footsteps interrupted the tense atmosphere in the living room.

“Dad, Mom, Grandpa…”

A boy slightly taller than Ying Nian walked in. Noticing the tense situation, a look of surprise flashed across his face, and the rest of his words were swallowed back.

“What happened?” The boy took a couple of steps forward, asking in confusion.

“Jiashu, why are you so late? Come here quickly!” Ying Nian’s aunt scolded him lightly, giving him a look and motioning for him to quickly come to her side.

Jiang Jiashu glanced around the room, his eyes meeting Ying Nian’s in the center. They quickly looked away from each other.

They were the same age, with Jiang Jiashu being a month older than Ying Nian. Although they attended the same high school, they rarely interacted.

Jiang Jiashu didn’t know how to describe his cousin. As the only girl in this generation, she should have been the family’s darling. However, since he could remember, Ying Nian had always been distant from all her cousins.

It was one thing that they didn’t interact much on normal days, but even during family gatherings for holidays, Ying Nian always seemed to clash with Grandpa Ying. Any year when the atmosphere was even slightly harmonious was considered a rare blessing.

Sensing the situation now, Jiang Jiashu guessed that Ying Nian had once again had a conflict with Grandpa Ying. Just as he was about to walk towards his mother, Qianqian, who was holding onto Grandpa Ying’s leg, suddenly called out to him, “Brother Jiashu!”

Jiang Jiashu paused, turned to look at him, and had no choice but to gesture to him, “Come here?”

Little boys love to play with older boys, and Jiang Jiashu was often followed around by his younger cousins. Seeing him gesture, Qianqian forgot half of his complaints and immediately ran towards him.

—But he was stopped by Ying Nian, who grabbed him by the collar.

Qianqian was pulled back, and saw it was Ying Nian. He started to cry out loudly, and his face crumpled as he tried to sit on the ground.

“Ying Nian!”

Ignoring her aunt’s scolding, Ying Nian grabbed Qianqian’s arm with her other hand, keeping him from sitting down. He cried even harder, unable to reach the ground.

Ying Nian looked at Grandpa Ying, “Grandpa, we haven’t finished talking!”

Seeing Qianqian crying so fiercely, Jiang Jiashu couldn’t stand it. He frowned, “Ying Nian, let go!”

Ying Nian ignored him completely.

Jiang Jiashu’s face darkened as he reached out to pull Qianqian away, only to have his arm harshly brushed aside by Ying Nian, causing him to stumble.

“This has nothing to do with you!”

“Jiashu!” His aunt called out worriedly. Without looking back, Jiang Jiashu snapped at Ying Nian, “What’s wrong with you? Can’t you talk things out? Qianqian is still young!”

“And you’re not young anymore, right? Can you understand human language?” Ying Nian retorted coldly. “Move aside.”

Her aunt and uncle’s faces changed simultaneously, and her eldest uncle, aunt, and other elders quickly stepped in to mediate, trying to calm Grandpa Ying and the others down. The living room became chaotic.

“You really are becoming more and more disrespectful!”

Grandpa Ying spoke heavily, pointing his trembling finger at Ying Nian, “You will apologize to your brother and cousin right now!”

Ying Nian let go of Qianqian, allowing him to sit on the ground, but she remained silent for a few seconds before laughing softly.

“If you’re not tired of this, I am.”

She looked directly at Grandpa Ying.

“Every year during the holidays when we come here, I always have to listen to a lecture and take some scolding. You’ve never liked my mom, and you don’t like that I’m a girl. Ask yourself, haven’t you been biased all these years? I understand my dad, your son, and my father, who is caught in the middle, so I always held back in the end.”

Ying Nian continued, “But today, I will not apologize. You can do whatever you want. Call me unfilial, say whatever you want, I don’t care.”

“You—”

Ying Nian smiled at Grandpa Ying, whose face had turned a deep red with anger, her eyes cold as ice. “I won’t come for holidays anymore.”

Her eldest uncle quickly intervened, “Niannian! Don’t say things like that. Just apologize to Grandpa…”

Ying Nian knew her uncle meant well, but the words stuck in her throat, making it hard to breathe.

“I actually feel quite sorry for you.”

Ying Nian suddenly smiled, addressing Grandpa Ying.

“No matter how much you dislike me, look down on me for being a girl, think I’m worthless, the fact remains that I, Ying Nian, am the most outstanding of this generation in the Ying family.”

“No matter if it’s your favorite grandson,” she glanced at Qianqian, who was still sitting on the floor crying, then reached out and pulled the slightly stunned Jiang Jiashu over, “or your cherished grandson.” Before Jiang Jiashu could react, she pushed him away, focusing solely on the old man in front of her.

“Compared to me, they…”

Her eyes were filled with stubbornness and defiance, an unwavering refusal to back down.

“Compared to me, Ying Nian, they’re all useless!”

…

[Niannian, where are you? Please, answer Dad’s call!]

[Niannian, Mom and Dad are here to pick you up. Don’t be upset, okay? Let’s go home and have dinner, alright?]

[Niannian, please respond to our messages, okay?]

Ying Nian looked at the messages from her parents, took a deep breath, and then dialed back the missed call.

“Mom, Dad, I’m fine. You don’t need to come looking for me. Really, I’m on my way home… You stay there and have dinner. Grandma just got back… If you leave, Dad will get blamed again… I’m fine. It’s not the first time. I’ll make myself something to eat at home…”

Ying Nian reassured her parents softly. After they repeatedly expressed their concern over the phone, she kept reassuring them until they finally felt at ease.

What else could she do? One side was her father, the other was her daughter. Being one side of the scale, sometimes Ying Nian really didn’t want to make things difficult for her dad.

But the problem lay on the other side of the scale, and there was no solution to this issue.

She didn’t want her mother, who was already unloved, to be blamed even more because of her. And her father, caught in the middle, already had a hard time. She could run out from the family gathering and be labeled as rebellious and hot-tempered, but her parents couldn’t.

Anyway, everyone in the family said she was capable, arrogant, and difficult to get along with. It had been like this for so many years, and she didn’t care about a few more comments. Not seeing each other would prevent arguments; she no longer wanted to confront Grandpa Ying head-on.

After putting away her phone, she stopped thinking about it. She stepped heavily on her skateboard and pushed off, gliding down the street past one streetlight after another. Her long hair, which was tied up, fluttered in the night air.

The wind-riding young girl had a dashing appearance, and her delicate face carried an unusual hint of boldness not often seen in girls.

Ying Nian rode her skateboard all the way home. The housekeeper had the day off, and the two-and-a-half-story villa was quiet. She placed her skateboard by the entrance, slipped into her slippers, and walked through the living room, jogging upstairs.

In her bedroom, she lay back on her soft bed. She spaced out for a while until the buzzing of her phone in her pocket brought her back to reality.

Annoyed by the noise, she pulled it out and tossed it onto the bed.

But the phone kept vibrating.

She sat up, grabbed her phone irritatedly, and saw that the notifications were from her class group chat. Skimming through the messages, she saw a bunch of boys talking about a game. She was about to put it down when a dispute between two boys in the chat caught her attention.

[What’s wrong with cursing?]

[You’re being unreasonable.]

[Unreasonable? A low-tier team should know their place and not act tough. Just take the loss quietly.]

[By that logic, the other team isn’t that strong either. You’re being unfairly biased.]

Feeling bored, Ying Nian read through their conversation.

They were talking about a game they often played. Today, there was a match between two professional teams—one that was consistently underperforming and another that was mediocre at best.

Winning and losing were normal, but the underperforming team had won, while the mediocre team had lost.

As soon as the match ended, one of the players from the mediocre team, too young to stay calm, immediately posted on Weibo:

[Not convinced.]

Just two words, but they sparked a debate in the comments.

Initially, the comments were filled with fans of the mediocre team showing support and offering comfort. However, since both teams had small fan bases, this Weibo post was shared on a forum dedicated to discussing the game, attracting a large number of other players and spectators.

These participants, not being fans of either team, spoke more “neutrally” and without restraint. Soon, the comments under that Weibo post turned into a heated argument.

Some people, uninterested in the match between two “low-tier” teams and having not watched the match, came just to mock:

[Neither of you is any good. Instead of focusing on improving your skills, you’re arguing over nothing. Anyone would think you’re playing in the World Championship Finals!]

[Arguing about who’s worse between two bad teams, isn’t that embarrassing!]

…

However, some people who had watched the match stepped in to say something fair: 

[The match results speak for themselves. SF outperformed you. They beat you fair and square, that’s their skill. If you got beaten, what right do you have to be ‘not convinced’?]

Others who had also watched the match agreed.

[That’s right! By the way, did SF get a new support player this year? That support seems to be a new player. In today’s matches, their team looked pretty solid!]

…

Ying Nian didn’t play this game, so the discussion seemed confusing and gossipy to her. She only understood the basics.

The one thing she grasped was that “SF” was the name of the underperforming team that had won the match.

Half-understood gossip wasn’t interesting, and Ying Nian was about to put down her phone when a boy in the class group chat posted a link: 

[The post-match interview video is out! SF’s spokesperson is that impressive new support player from today!]

She had been planning to log out to avoid the constant buzzing of her phone, but her fingers hesitated. She didn’t know why, but after a couple of seconds, she decided to click on the link.

As the video loaded, it showed a boy being interviewed. He looked quite handsome, with a slight smile on his lips.

Ying Nian stared at him for three seconds.

His seemingly gentle smile didn’t reach his eyes.

Especially when the interviewer received the latest updates and briefly mentioned the situation on Weibo before asking a direct and sharp question, the boy’s already minimal expression became even thinner.

The next second, the interviewer asked, “What do you have to say about the opposing player’s ‘not convinced’ comment?”

The boy was tall, estimated to be at least 186 cm. Standing there upright, he said, “I have nothing to say.” His lips curved slightly, but his eyes remained indifferent, extremely calm—

“A win is a win.”