Chapter 10

Jin Chuan’s questioning finally made Zhong Yao stop in her tracks.

She whipped her head around, disbelief in her eyes. How had he found out so quickly?

Could it be that the entertainment world was that small—that he knew Qi Yu? Had Qi Yu, after getting roasted by her yesterday, gone tattling to Jin Chuan? But no one even knew she was an illegitimate child, right? And Qi Yu didn’t seem like the type to snitch, especially with his arrogant attitude.

She was full of questions, but faced with Jin Chuan’s tone—like he was here to scold her—she found herself unable to ask any of them.

Another possibility suddenly flashed through her mind, and she felt a bit ashamed. Unconsciously, she lowered her gaze to the floor, trying to figure out how to explain it all.

Seeing the girl bow her head in guilt and grievance, Jin Chuan was taken aback.

Truthfully, he hadn’t meant to scold her at all. He’d long heard about the infamous troublemaker from the Qi family and was only trying to figure out what had really happened.

Besides, he hadn’t even used a harsh tone, right? How had things gotten to this point…?

“Forget it,” Jin Chuan sighed and patted the chair beside him.
“You don’t have to explain. Just come eat.”

Zhong Yao looked up at him, hesitated a bit, then slowly sat down across from him.

True to his word, Jin Chuan didn’t press the matter further. The two of them quietly lowered their heads and started eating.

The awkward silence stretched for a long while before Zhong Yao finally couldn’t hold it in anymore.
“Was it the teacher who told you?” she asked.

Although she had acted all righteous yesterday, threatening Shen Qingqing with the “hot search,” in truth, Zhong Yao was just a small-town middle schooler. The term “hot search” was something she’d only ever heard Sun Shiwu casually mention. She didn’t fully understand how much attention celebrities actually got.

From her perspective, if Qi Yu hadn’t snitched, the only other possibility was the teacher reporting her. Given how famous Qi Yu was, and that she had pushed him into a lake, it wasn’t far-fetched to think a teacher might have seen and said something.

Getting reported so soon after transferring schools felt humiliating, and she suddenly lost her confidence.

Across from her, Jin Chuan paused, as if something clicked.

So that’s why she looked so down—it was because she thought her teacher had tattled on her?

He found it kind of amusing, but didn’t bother to clarify.

“Either way,” Jin Chuan said, putting on a serious face,
“getting into fights with classmates is wrong. Don’t you agree?”

He didn’t even ask why she did it.

Zhong Yao felt a pang of disappointment. Her nose stung a little. She looked up at him for a second, then silently went back to eating her porridge.

Seeing her look so aggrieved and quietly fuming, Jin Chuan almost couldn’t keep a straight face.

Afraid she might burst into tears right there, he quickly changed his tone:
“Well—except for boys. Especially Qi Yu. Don’t worry about what the teacher says. If someone gives you trouble again, you’re allowed to fight back. And if one-on-one isn’t enough, bring two more classmates to help you.”

Zhong Yao froze.

What did he mean by that? Was he encouraging her to fight violence with violence?

She looked up and saw that he was completely serious.

After a moment, she replied,
“You shouldn’t discriminate against boys. Also, my mom always said violence isn’t the answer. You shouldn’t be teaching me that.”

Jin Chuan hadn’t expected that answer at all.

The image of a woman in a white dress floated into his mind. He was momentarily lost in thought—her mother truly had been a gentle person, and she had clearly raised Zhong Yao well.

“True, violence shouldn’t be encouraged,” he conceded.
“But you’ve already done it—so should I scold you on your mother’s behalf?” He narrowed his eyes.
“Are you sure you want to see what I’m like when I discipline kids?”

Zhong Yao felt like she had just shot herself in the foot—her cheeks flushed bright red in an instant.

But she couldn’t find any fault in what Jin Chuan had said. After holding it in for a while, she could only bite the bullet and say,
“It was wrong of me to push someone, but I admit my mistake. You can punish me!”

Her solemn, righteous tone made Jin Chuan’s lips twitch with amusement.

When she saw him walking toward her and even raising his hand, Zhong Yao thought he was really about to hit her. She instantly shut her eyes tight.

But to her surprise—

The man simply reached out and ruffled her hair, then said in a half-threatening tone,
“Since you know you were wrong, behave yourself from now on. You used to listen to your mom, but now that you’re with me, you have to listen to me. Got it?”

Zhong Yao opened her eyes and stared blankly at Jin Chuan.

She was certain he was doing this on purpose—deliberately trying to be nice to her to break down her defenses.

“Don’t think you can drive a wedge between me and my mom!” the girl suddenly smacked his hand away.

Jin Chuan was baffled.

But Zhong Yao had already slung her backpack over her shoulder and slipped out the door. Just before leaving, she turned back and declared firmly,
“I will always listen to my mom!”

The door slammed shut with a loud bang.

Jin Chuan let out a soft laugh. Even though their conversation hadn’t exactly gone smoothly, he suddenly found that raising a child might actually be kind of… fun.

——

When Zhong Yao arrived at the school gates, she noticed there were a lot more people gathered outside than usual.

As she got closer, she realized that most of the people milling around didn’t look like students. Most were women, many of them older—probably parents or older siblings—and quite a few were carrying expensive DSLR cameras.

Just as she was wondering what was going on, she heard these “parents” chatting among themselves:

“Are we sure YuYu doesn’t have any events today? Even the big stars are performing for the Mid-Autumn Festival. Is he really skipping it?”

“He’s not going. He dyed his hair recently and refused to appear on any shows. Best Actress Xiao said from now on, they’ll respect YuYu’s choices!”

“Our YuYu has it so rough—chased by the media outside, and even bullied by a female classmate at school! I’m furious!”

“Have they figured out who that girl was that pushed him? She’s so violent—just doing whatever she wants, knowing YuYu won’t fight back!”

“YuYu hasn’t arrived yet, right? What if he’s completely disheartened with the school? Ugh, I feel so bad for him!”

Zhong Yao stood frozen, slowly realizing… these “parents” were probably Qi Yu’s fans.

So Qi Yu wasn’t just popular at school—he was famous in the entertainment world too?

While she was still in a daze, a few of Qi Yu’s fans at the school gate suddenly turned to look in her direction. Then she heard someone say:

“Hey, look at that girl. Doesn’t her outfit look like the one in that picture? She’s the only one not wearing a school uniform, right?”

Zhong Yao’s heart instantly clenched.

She had just transferred schools and hadn’t received her uniform yet—the office told her to come pick it up the following Monday.

Now, being singled out by older fans out of nowhere, she was instantly reminded of all the times she’d been bullied by older girls before. She froze up, completely unable to move.

Zhong Yao had never faced a situation like this before, and panic set in.

The fans eyeing her were growing in number. One of them even started walking toward her. Instinctively, she took two steps back—

And bumped into something.

Before she could even turn around, a strong force pulled her backward. In the next second, a familiar head of white hair appeared in her field of vision.

“Still can’t watch where you’re going?” Qi Yu muttered under his breath, then immediately let her go and walked off.

“Ahhh! YuYu’s here!”

The fans up ahead suddenly erupted in excitement—but to Zhong Yao’s surprise, they didn’t swarm him like crazed fans. Instead, they all kept a respectful distance from the boy.

It was actually Qi Yu who walked toward them.

“Why are you here?” the boy asked impatiently, looking at the much-older fans.
“Didn’t I tell you not to bother my classmates?”

Zhong Yao blinked in surprise. Qi Yu was so rude—she thought the fans would be upset or embarrassed.

But to her shock, those “older fans” actually looked delighted, some even a little nervous.

“Qi Yu, the Mid-Autumn Festival is coming! We wanted to snap a few pics to share with the fans!”

“Also, after last night’s trending post, we were really worried. We just wanted to make sure you’re okay.”

“Don’t worry, Qi Yu—we’ll protect you!”

…

They pointed their cameras at Qi Yu and spoke to him more gently than Zhong Yao’s own mom did. It completely overturned some of her assumptions about the world.

As for what happened next between Qi Yu and his fans, Zhong Yao didn’t know. By then, her seatmate He Lingli and the boy behind her, Panda, had already flanked her and ushered her into school.

“Zhong Yao, are you okay?!”

He Lingli eyed her up and down dramatically.
“I saw Qi Yu’s fans talking about coming to the school to block you—I was terrified! I messaged you and you didn’t reply!”

She paused, then hesitantly added:
“Are you still mad at me? I’m sorry, really. I didn’t mean to ignore you—it’s just that you always looked so cold and unapproachable, I thought you didn’t want to talk to me.”

Then she quickly added,
“What they said about you on the forums was way out of line—I never believed any of it. I knew you weren’t that kind of person!”

Zhong Yao pursed her lips but said nothing.

At that moment, Panda chimed in beside He Lingli:
“Zhong Yao, it’s true. Yesterday it was He Lingli who told me Shen Qingqing was planning to ambush you. She asked me to think of a way to help.”

Zhong Yao’s expression finally softened a little.

“Thanks,” she said, and then explained to He Lingli,
“I just didn’t know what to say to you. I really did come from a small town, and I’m still unfamiliar with everything in Beijing.”

He Lingli visibly breathed a huge sigh of relief. Smiling again, she hooked her arm through Zhong Yao’s:
“That’s perfect! I’m the biggest gossip queen at Taoli High. If there’s anything you don’t understand, just come to me!”

Zhong Yao nodded, then immediately asked,
“Just now, you said Qi Yu’s fans came to block me—what exactly happened?”

“You didn’t know?!” He Lingli looked at her in shock.
“What happened yesterday—when you pushed Qi Yu into the lake—made it onto the hot search! That’s why all those fans who usually promise not to bother him at school showed up this morning!”

Talking about this got He Lingli going nonstop:
“Zhong Yao, you probably don’t know, but his fans are ruthless. Just last week, some fan tried to sneak into school to photograph Qi Yu and ended up getting mentally wrecked by the older ‘fish-jie’ fans—she cried while posting a video to apologize! If Qi Yu hadn’t suddenly shown up just now, I don’t even know how I could’ve helped you…”

Zhong Yao looked toward the school gate. The white-haired boy stood in the middle of the fans like the moon surrounded by stars, but his face was still full of irritation.

She was baffled.
“He Lingli, but why do you guys even like someone like Qi Yu? Look at his attitude—and then look at how gentle his fans are. Doesn’t it seem like… he’s not worth it?”

“That’s not true at all!” He Lingli retorted without hesitation.
“Qi Yu was already super patient today, okay? Normally, he doesn’t even acknowledge his fans—he just walks off coldly. Today he was almost acting weirdly gentle. He even posed all tsundere-style at the school gate so fans could take pictures!”

Zhong Yao just shook her head at her deskmate’s starry-eyed expression. She thought Qi Yu’s face must be deceiving—how else could a guy with such a terrible personality still trick girls into liking him?

“It’s almost time for class. Let’s go,” she said, tugging on He Lingli’s sleeve. She didn’t want to see Qi Yu’s face for another second.

But He Lingli was still sighing with regret,
“Ah, Qi Yu is seriously so handsome. The girls in Class 8 are so lucky—they get to see that gorgeous face every single day.”

Zhong Yao exchanged a glance with Panda behind her, and both of them chose to remain silent.

“Zhong Yao, you’re lucky too,” He Lingli said, quickly changing the subject back to her.
“You’re the first girl in our school to trend with Qi Yu on the hot search! Ugh, now I kind of want to ‘school bully’ him too!”

Zhong Yao: …

She suddenly felt like this supposedly elite capital city high school was… not that different. The students were just as shallow.

“Wait—”

Just then, a thought struck Zhong Yao.
“He Lingli, you said Qi Yu and I were on the hot search together? That means a lot of people saw it, right? Even celebrities in the entertainment industry?”

“Of course!” He Lingli gave her a puzzled look.
“Do you not realize how influential Qi Yu is? That headline—‘Male idol gets school bullied by female classmate’—that’s national-level viral material, okay?”

So… Jin Chuan found out from the hot search!

“That big liar!” Zhong Yao suddenly stomped her foot in frustration, then turned and sprinted upstairs.

Behind her, He Lingli looked baffled and turned to Panda,
“Fatty, what’s going on with her now?”

Panda was equally confused.
“No idea. Is she mad at Qi Yu or something?”

The two exchanged glances and fell silent, their curiosity about the transfer student growing even more.

---

Author’s Note:
Jin Chuan: Don’t worry. Feel free to mess with the Qi family’s little tyrant—Daddy’s got your back.
Qi Yu: ???