Chapter 19

Li Xi’s delayed realization of the overwhelming shock in her heart was something Jiang Muti would never know.

At this moment, Jiang Muti walked into the classroom, and for a brief instant, the entire room fell silent. Even those who hadn’t been looking in this direction suddenly sensed the change in the atmosphere and paused, turning their attention toward her.

Jiang Muti casually returned to her seat, as the commotion outside hadn’t yet fully seeped into the classroom.

The astonished hesitation and disbelief from her classmates now mirrored what had been seen earlier.

The class monitor for the day was a boy. He tentatively asked, “Excuse me, did you come to the wrong classroom?”

But after speaking, he immediately realized something was off. There were only so many people in their grade, and such a beautiful girl—if not everyone knew her, at least no one from the same grade would be unfamiliar with her.

He quickly corrected himself, “Did you just transfer here today? Maybe you can sit somewhere else for now, that area—”

He kindly pointed to his own seat. “Feel free to sit wherever. It’s no problem. The teacher will assign seats once they arrive.”

“This seat belongs to another student. She doesn’t like it when others touch her things, so we’re afraid she’ll get upset later.”

The painful slaps from last semester had made everyone too cautious to irritate her again.

So even though the new, beautiful student deserved extra care, it was best not to provoke that rich, hot-tempered one.

But the beautiful new student simply nodded. “Thank you for keeping my preferences in mind. I really don’t like people touching my things. But when it comes to sitting, I don’t have such strict requirements. You don’t need to worry about it.”

Hearing this, the class monitor hurriedly tried to persuade her. “I’m not lying, this seat—”

Before he could finish his sentence, his words were stuck in his throat. Although the others listening to their conversation had a vague sense of what was happening, they were still in disbelief after confirming the truth.

This was no longer just about weight loss, it was a complete transformation.

With such natural beauty, improving grades every day, and the advantages of good genes and a wealthy family—

How blind had they been in the past two years, treating someone like a phoenix as nothing more than a rough, fat chicken?

Because of this subtle atmosphere, the class remained unusually quiet the entire morning.

With such a stunning beauty sitting behind them, the once carefree classroom seemed to take on an air of restraint. Loud talking or inappropriate behavior felt awkward, almost as if everyone consciously avoided it.

A few boys who enjoyed making carefree jokes between classes might have been noticed. If someone were to count, they would be shocked to find that they hardly used any of their usual crude language.

Even during class, some couldn’t help but turn around. Seeing this, the teacher threw a piece of chalk at them—

“What are you looking at? Is there a beauty behind you?”

As soon as the teacher put on his reading glasses, he saw the unmistakable girl and waved his hand, switching Jiang Muti’s seat.

It didn’t matter where Jiang Muti sat, but her new seat was by the window, giving her a clear view of the entire sports field, which wasn’t too bad.

After the second class in the morning, they headed to the auditorium for the opening ceremony, and some people tried to invite Jiang Muti to join them.

For Jiang Muti, this was a perfectly natural occurrence. A high-profile, standout person would either attract resentment or, like her, draw people to gravitate toward them, to admire, to push forward.

Jiang Muti had always been the latter. No matter how much people criticized her for having a bad temper, being selfish, or having a “princess syndrome” without considering others’ feelings, they still took pride in being close to her, in exchanging a few words with her, and in receiving her attention.

Jiang Muti dealt with the changing attitudes around her with ease, not feeling any significant emotional upheaval.

It was the same story—it was the status quo she had adapted to for twenty years. She had just shaped her life to fit her comfort zone.

At lunchtime, when Yun Duo came down from upstairs to find Jiang Muti for lunch, she saw the crowd gathered around her. The classroom was full of lively conversation, with Jiang Muti at the center, everything revolving around her.

Where had that indifferent, unnoticed girl gone from last semester?

Yun Duo felt a little odd. She thought to herself that with so many people around her, Jiang Muti wouldn’t have to worry about being alone for lunch. Then she wondered if she’d forgotten their lunch plans.

For someone who was usually carefree, Yun Duo suddenly felt a bit wronged. Although, during her weight loss period, the young master had asked her to supervise Jiang Muti, and the two of them had gotten used to having lunch together.

But now that Jiang Muti had lost weight and didn’t need strict dietary control, perhaps their lunchtime plans didn’t matter anymore.

As she was lost in thought, Jiang Muti spotted her, said something to the people around her, and immediately got up, walking over to Yun Duo and pulling her toward the dining hall.

Just like every other lunch.

It wasn’t until they had gotten their food and sat down at the table that Yun Duo snapped out of her thoughts. She touched her nose, feeling a bit embarrassed.

“I thought you were going to have lunch with the people in your class. I just heard so many people inviting you to join them,” she said sheepishly.

Jiang Muti smiled. “What, do you think I’m the kind of person who changes my mind so easily?”

Yun Duo was about to feel happy, but Jiang Muti added, “Do you think anyone can be my follower? The quality of being a follower reflects on one’s own quality, understand? So don’t worry, no one will threaten your position.”

Yun Duo’s brief moment of feeling touched was immediately extinguished by a cold splash of water. With a deadpan expression, she said, “Do you think I won’t dare slap you?”

Upon hearing this, Jiang Muti quickly covered her head and, to make up for it, shoveled several pieces of meat from her bowl onto Yun Duo’s plate, trying to appease her.

While they were eating, Qiao Yuqi came over and sat down across from them.

Yun Duo had never liked this person from the start. Just like her brother had said, this person wasn’t trustworthy and wasn’t a good person.

She eyed Qiao Yuqi with suspicion, but Qiao Yuqi didn’t seem to care about her attitude.

Nonchalantly, she placed a USB drive in front of Jiang Muti. “The song from last time—I’ve copied it. After all, you’ve helped me a lot, so now you can listen to it without having to pay for it.”

Jiang Muti snorted, “You make it sound like I’d buy an album to support you. The most I’d do is download it to my phone. Besides, I’m a premium member, so I don’t even need to recharge.”

It was her usual way of responding, but she still took the USB drive. “Thanks!”

It was still some time before the song would be released, so listening to it early wasn’t a bad idea.

Seeing her put the USB away, Qiao Yuqi didn’t say anything else. She smiled, grabbed her own meal, and went to sit somewhere else.

Because of Jiang Muti’s current prominence and the fact that Qiao Yuqi was already a high-profile person at school, this scene caught the attention of many people, including Li Xi, who was having lunch with Zhou Lu on the second floor.

Li Xi had been feeling conflicted since this morning, and seeing how close the two seemed now made her feel as if, in the short time she had been away from home, her entire world had changed and she couldn’t even recognize it anymore.

If Zhou Lu hadn’t been there, she probably wouldn’t have been able to sit still and would have gone over to ask Qiao Yuqi what was going on.

She suppressed the flood of questions in her mind, planning to hold them in until she got home after school. However, she overheard people at the table next to hers chatting.

“Tsk tsk! Last semester, Qiao Yuqi rejected Jiang Muti in public.”

“Being beautiful really makes a difference, even the guys can’t escape it.”

“I never would have thought it before, but now they actually look pretty good together.”

“Yeah, they’re both so good-looking. Standing together, they look like a painting.”

The meaningless gossip made Li Xi’s already uneasy mood even worse.

Perhaps because of her expression, even Zhou Lu, who was usually slow to notice things, frowned and glanced downstairs, seeing the two people he hated most in this school together.

After a whole morning of gossip, everyone who needed to know about Jiang Muti had heard about it, and of course, Zhou Lu was no exception.

However, while he disliked those two people, when he saw this scene, he strangely felt that it wasn’t too bad to see two people he disliked getting along with each other.

He sneered, “They do make quite a pair, in every sense.”

Seeing Li Xi’s displeasure, Zhou Lu’s face darkened slightly, and he asked, “Don’t you think so?”

Li Xi had spent the entire summer with Zhou Lu, enjoying the sweetness and joy of being in love, but as they spent more time together, some personality conflicts were gradually emerging.

For example, Zhou Lu’s family background and upbringing meant that he wasn’t someone who was good at understanding others.

Li Xi herself had a proud and independent personality, so the two of them inevitably clashed from time to time.

Hearing his probing tone, Li Xi was annoyed and replied, “I know you’re sensitive about Yuqi, but what do you want me to say?”

“Are you asking me to force a connection between him and another girl just because it bothers you, as a boyfriend? Zhou Lu, show some respect. Don’t you know what Jiang Muti’s personality is like?”

Zhou Lu chuckled with amusement, “Oh? From what you’re saying, it sounds like you think she’s not good enough for Qiao Yuqi?”

He then gave a half-smile, “Has my attitude given you some wrong impression?”

“What do you mean?” Li Xi’s face also darkened.

Zhou Lu replied, “I admit, I dislike that fatty and think she’s unreasonable, but that’s my standard. Are you really going to apply it to Qiao Yuqi too?”

“Let me put it this way: Maybe you have an inexplicable trust in Qiao Yuqi, but that’s just your subjective feeling, not the reality.”

“Do you think Jiang Muti, that fatty…” He glanced at the person downstairs and felt a bit guilty continuing.

“Do you think Jiang Muti has a bad temper, dark thoughts, and is unreasonable, so she can’t compare to Qiao Yuqi?”

“No, do you know about her family’s situation? The Jiang family’s wealth is one thing, but what’s more rare is the simplicity of the entire family. In her generation, she and her brother are the only two heirs. The benefits, resources, connections, and social status involved are things that Qiao Yuqi might never be able to reach in his entire life.”

“Even though she’s already a superstar, with her family background, she wouldn’t even have to give him a second glance, let alone someone like Qiao Yuqi, an uncertain student. Especially now that she’s become more beautiful.”

“Do you really think that the things at school truly represent a person’s real value?”

Zhou Lu, who had grown up as a wealthy heir surrounded by dealings and interests, had a temper, but his perspective on things was far from naive.

Li Xi, on the other hand, was a girl at the age where dreams ran high and hadn’t faced any real hardships or the realities of life. How could she understand what he was saying?

She simply felt that her boyfriend, who truly loved her, had such a realistic view of love, as though people were only valued based on their external conditions, like commodities waiting to be sold.

She was wrong about him, though. If Zhou Lu were really that realistic, he wouldn’t have pursued her so relentlessly, knowing their relationship would face numerous obstacles in the future.

But the conflict and emotional twists between the male and female leads are normal. A smooth-sailing relationship would be odd—what would the story be about then?

So, it made sense that the two parted ways unhappily in the end.

—

In the past two days, Jiang Muti had noticed that her brother seemed to be in a bad mood when he got home from school.

Although he usually had a cold demeanor, recently he seemed different, and Jiang Muti could clearly tell.

At first, she thought it was work pressure, thinking he was the hope of their generation.

With his hard work, she could live her life with ease—well, not really. Jiang Muti was just very concerned about her brother’s mental state.

So, she rarely went so far as to cook dinner for him herself and even made soup for him.

Normally, this kind of effort would probably make her brother feel very pleased, but this time, he still seemed uninterested, which left Jiang Muti feeling a little defeated.

Then, after thinking hard, she finally remembered that around this time every year, her brother would go home to visit his parents’ graves, and he would always be in a low mood afterward, even more immersed in his work.

Finally, Jiang Muti realized the problem. After all, her brother’s biological parents hadn’t passed away naturally, and it’s understandable that he couldn’t fully move on from that.

In previous years, it was always Jiang Yunjuan who went back alone, but this time, Jiang Muti took the initiative to say, “Brother! This year, how about I accompany you back?”

Jiang Yunjuan was taken aback, looking at her in surprise. Then he heard her continue, “You see, we can also pay respects to our ancestors, Grandpa and Great-grandpa are there too.”

Jiang Yunjuan listened, looking into her eyes. She truly wanted to be with him through this difficult time.

Suddenly, Jiang Yunjuan’s gaze softened, but in the depths of his eyes, there was a trace of complexity that no one could detect.

He gently patted Jiang Muti’s head. “Alright, let’s go back and visit Grandpa and them together.”

As he spoke, he pulled his sister into his arms. Her current size made it easy for him to wrap her up, just like he could always keep her under his wing, treating her like a child.

In a place where Jiang Muti couldn’t see, a flicker of darkness flashed in Jiang Yunjuan’s eyes.

Yes, no matter how the previous generation was, in the end, this family would only belong to the two of them—only to the two siblings.

The next day, Jiang Yunjuan seemed to have cleared away the clouds, and Jiang Muti was quite happy, feeling that her efforts weren’t in vain.

The day of the practice match between the two schools finally arrived. Since it was chosen for the weekend after school, many students went along in a grand procession.

Those who didn’t know would think the two schools had a great relationship, always visiting each other in groups, when in reality, it was just a rivalry between them.

Jiang Muti and Yun Duo were like outsiders, watching the whole match. Zhou Lu got completely beaten.

This was natural. After all, there was a gap in both the numbers and strategies between the top teams. During the two-month summer break, while he was busy with his love life, others were busy training. Who wouldn’t lose in that situation?

However, the focus of the match wasn’t on winning or losing. To Jiang Muti, what really mattered was that Yun Cheng almost got injured by a teammate on her side, which made her genuinely worried.

If it weren’t for Yun Cheng’s quick reaction at the time, his knee and ankle would have collided.

Never underestimate the physical collisions that happen during a game—one wrong move, and irreparable injuries could occur.

Yun Cheng didn’t seem to feel much, but Jiang Muti always felt that his movements—

She glanced at Ji Feishi’s reaction and noticed his face darkening. Without hesitation, he substituted the teammate who made the mistake, not listening to their various explanations and refusing to let them re-enter the game.

Jiang Muti understood immediately. There was probably more to this matter, and she couldn’t help but feel a bit down.

Taking advantage of the fact that the match had just ended and the crowd hadn’t fully dispersed, Jiang Muti casually approached one of their school’s students.

She pointed her chin at the teammate who had made the mistake earlier. “Who is that person?”

The young man who was stopped was someone who had already caught their attention. Throughout the game, there had been whispers and occasional glances at the beautiful girl from the opposing school’s cheering squad, but no one expected her to call him over.

The young man was surprised, glancing back before explaining enthusiastically, “Oh, you mean Zhang Li? He’s from the basketball team, playing as the power forward.”

Power forward, what a coincidence! Yun Cheng plays that position.

She asked next, “Has anything been going on with the basketball team recently?”

It’s generally unusual to inquire about such information from a competing school, but Jiang Muti, relying on her beauty and the aura of confidence that came with it, got a straightforward answer before the young man had a chance to process her question.

It turned out that due to their performance in the capital, a scout had noticed their team and offered them a spot, allowing the coach to carefully select the best candidate from all aspects.

And the coveted spot was naturally meant for Yun Cheng. Ji Feishi wasn’t pursuing a professional career, and the others, despite their skills, talent, and effort, were still slightly lacking.

So those who were aware of the situation didn’t see it as a tough decision—everything seemed to fall into place as expected.

Jiang Muti suddenly understood. Everyone at school knew about this, yet Yun Cheng had kept it a secret from his family.

So, when the two girls saw him come out, they gave him a good scolding. Yun Cheng sheepishly said, “I was just waiting for the final result to come through, thought I’d give you a surprise.”

While Jiang Muti was happy for him, she couldn’t help but coldly sneer inwardly. It seemed some people weren’t very happy with the outcome.

She saw Ji Feishi step out from behind and walked over to pull him aside, wanting to confirm with him, “That mistake earlier—”

But Ji Feishi didn’t need her to prod him. His expression darkened as he said, “I’ll look into it. That sort of thing won’t happen in my area, and I won’t cover it up either.”

Jiang Muti raised an eyebrow. Since the other party had said so, she didn’t want to overstep right away. She decided to wait and see how he would handle it.

The two reached a mutual understanding, but Yun Cheng, who was watching them whispering aside, immediately became displeased and said, “I was planning to show her around the school. What’s up? Do you want to come too? Haven’t you been here for two years? Can’t you find your way around?”

Ji Feishi, who had recently been constantly on the receiving end of Yun Cheng’s suspicion and disdain, was speechless: “I’m not interested in walking around the school with a dog.”

Yun Cheng sneered, “You really have no class. How could you call a girl a dog?”

“I was talking about you!”

After spending so much time together, Ji Feishi had long learned not to argue with Yun Cheng’s nonsense.

The group was just about to leave the basketball court when they saw Zhang Li, the teammate who had made the mistake earlier, walking out from the locker room with a girl beside him, chatting as they walked.

Jiang Muti frowned. The girl looked somewhat familiar. After thinking for a while, she realized that it was one of the two girls she had met at the banquet last semester.

Seeing them, the girl didn’t try to avoid them, instead, she walked straight over.

She gave Yun Cheng a mocking smile and said, “You haven’t even been selected yet, and you’re already acting so arrogant, as if the whole team is now just serving you. Just one mistake, one tiny mistake that didn’t cause any real damage, and you’ve managed to isolate people. You sure think a lot of yourself.”

Yun Cheng frowned and said, “Since a while ago, you’ve been talking with that sharp tone of yours. What’s wrong? Can’t you keep your tongue straight? If you’ve got any complaints, just say it outright, stop with the sarcastic remarks.”

There were still quite a few people around the court. Although most of the spectators had left, Jiang Muti was still there, along with a few others. The players, who were changing clothes, were just coming out at that moment.

Hearing the sudden argument, everyone turned to look.

Zhang Li, hearing Yun Cheng’s words, immediately retorted, “Cut the damn orders. Who do you think you are?”

Seeing the crowd around, he added, “Yun Cheng, you’ve been living pretty well these past two years at school, haven’t you? Getting all sorts of special treatment because you put on a front, acting like a big shot. Those girls are always praising you behind your back, thinking you’re some rich young master, right?”

“Heh, rich young master my foot. The son of a rich young master’s servant is more like it. It’s a shame that Zhou Lu treats you, the son of a servant’s family, as a rival for so long. Doesn’t he feel humiliated?”

When these words were spoken, the crowd fell silent for a moment, and then some people started whispering.

Meanwhile, Jiang Muti, who had been holding Yun Cheng’s shoulder, let out a cold laugh.

This was exactly what she meant—after a few days of calm, even the most insignificant people felt emboldened to speak out.