Chapter 6

“Hey, classmate, mind tossing that ball back?”

With just that one line, the entire basketball court’s attention snapped to Zhong Yao.

Her fingers involuntarily tightened around the ball, her back stiffening instinctively.

“Ugh! Why couldn’t that ball have hit me instead?!”

“She’s so lucky! Who wouldn’t want to be the one handing Qi Yu the ball?”

“Aaaah! We’re classmates, right? So technically, when he said ‘classmate’, he was calling me too, hehehe.”

Envious whispers surrounded her. But Zhong Yao stayed rooted to the spot, clutching the ball, staring directly at Qi Yu with a guarded expression.

“Hey, Zhong Yao, are you too stunned to move?”
Beside her, He Lingli gave her a gentle nudge.
“If you don’t want to, I can step in for you—purely as a favor, of course!”

No sooner had she finished speaking than a few students reached out, actually trying to snatch the ball away.

Because Zhong Yao was too nervous, she held the ball tightly, so the girl trying to snatch it from her failed.

Not far away, Qi Yu curled his lips in a smirk—but Zhong Yao clearly saw the disdain in his eyes.

She finally understood: there was no way the ball had just “accidentally” flown her way. Qi Yu had done it on purpose.

After a moment’s hesitation, Zhong Yao stepped forward.

Qi Yu gave a derisive snort, his gaze toward her growing even more contemptuous.

As Zhong Yao approached with the basketball in her arms, he reached out and said mockingly,
“Thanks, classmate-who-doesn’t-know-me.”

But—

Just as she raised the ball to hand it over, she suddenly let go.

The ball dropped to the ground with a loud thud, bounced a couple of times, and then rolled right into Qi Yu’s foot before continuing to roll far off to the side.

“Oops, my hand slipped,” Zhong Yao said calmly, looking at Qi Yu expressionlessly. “Guess you’ll have to get it yourself.”

???

Unless someone was blind, it was obvious she had done that on purpose!

This was Qi Yu, the arrogant and untouchable celebrity heir—girls at school fawned over him, or at the very least, couldn’t help sneaking glances at that striking face. Who in their right mind would publicly embarrass him like that?!

The once noisy basketball court fell completely silent, as if someone had hit a mute button. All eyes turned to Zhong Yao in stunned disbelief.

But the girl acted like she couldn’t care less about Qi Yu—like she didn’t even want to be in the same space as him. Without a word, she turned to leave.

“Stop right there!”

Qi Yu snapped out of his shock and strode forward, grabbing her wrist.

“Pick up the ball and I’ll let this slide.”

His voice was cold with suppressed anger, and the whispers that had started up again quickly died down.

But Zhong Yao smiled and replied,
“Why are you being so domineering? You threw the ball at me by ‘accident’, and I dropped it by ‘accident’. So why are you insisting that I pick it up for you?”

To the onlookers, it now sounded like Qi Yu had purposely targeted her.

Even though that was the truth, the others didn’t know the backstory—so it all just seemed too unbelievable.

“W-what the heck? Is she trying to say Qi Yu intentionally threw the ball at her?”

“Uh… what year and class is she in? I mean, she’s decent-looking, but accusing Qi Yu like that is kinda laughable.”

“But Qi Yu touched her! Since when does he go near girls? And she’s pretty… could they know each other?”

The gossip grew louder. Because they didn’t know Zhong Yao, and Qi Yu’s presence was so dazzling, most students instinctively sided with him.

Qi Yu, meanwhile, had assumed Zhong Yao had been pretending not to recognize him earlier that morning—he had thrown the ball on purpose, out of frustration.

But he hadn’t expected her to turn the situation on him so cleanly, making everyone mention his name in the same breath as hers. Now he was even more convinced she was playing hard to get to get close to him.

Furious, he suddenly let go of her wrist and sneered,
“Someone like you doesn’t deserve to be hit?”

The crowd gasped again—utterly stunned—and silence fell once more.

Even Zhong Yao was momentarily taken aback by how bluntly he admitted it.

After a pause, she shot back coldly:
“Right back at you.”

Riiiiiing—

The school bell rang, and students looked around at one another, disappointed. As much as they wanted to stick around for more gossip, they were still middle schoolers—no one dared skip class so blatantly.

Zhong Yao, on the other hand, showed no intention of hurrying back. She simply turned and continued toward the academic office, just as she’d planned.

“Zhong Yao! Wait for me!”

To her surprise, He Lingli didn’t go back to her beloved English class, nor did she stay to watch her “idol” Qi Yu. She ran after Zhong Yao instead.

Zhong Yao didn’t slow her pace. She only turned her head slightly and said,
“Class is starting. You don’t need to come with me.”

“What are you talking about? We’re deskmates!” He Lingli looped her arm through hers, then asked the inevitable:
“Zhong Yao, do you know Qi Yu?”

Just as expected.

Zhong Yao slipped her arm free and answered flatly:
“No, I don’t.”

Her chilliness gave He Lingli pause.
“Wait—don’t get me wrong. I’m just curious. That’s all.”

She kept walking beside her and explained,
“You probably don’t know this, but Qi Yu may be arrogant and standoffish, especially with girls. But as long as you don’t provoke him, he never bothers anyone. Especially girls. He’s never even gotten within five meters of one. If they try, he just glares them away or insults them until they leave.”

Zhong Yao’s steps faltered slightly, and some of the distance in her expression faded.

“I really don’t know him well,” she said quietly. “Believe it or not.”

And with that, she quickened her pace—nearly breaking into a jog.

This time, He Lingli didn’t catch up. She simply watched Zhong Yao’s retreating figure and thought:

This new deskmate is seriously weird. So hard to read… and it really does seem like there’s some kind of story between her and the big-shot Qi Yu.

——

That entire afternoon, one student after another came asking Zhong Yao about her relationship with Qi Yu.

At first, she kept her head down, pretending to read. Later, she just lay on her desk pretending to sleep. She didn’t respond to anyone—not even with a simple “I don’t know him.”

Seeing this, He Lingli realized that, compared to all these students being completely ignored, the fact that Zhong Yao had even answered her made her the closest one to her already.

So when the others came running to her—the school’s go-to gossip source—He Lingli, for the first time, kept quiet. At most, she just said:
“I don’t know.”

The truth was, she was more curious than anyone about what was going on between Zhong Yao and Qi Yu. He was the most dazzling second-gen celebrity in the school—maybe even in the country. But since she was Zhong Yao’s deskmate now, it felt wrong to gossip about her. So she held back, biting her tongue.

Until the end of the day, Zhong Yao remained the talk of the entire school.

From seventh to ninth grade, every class was buzzing about her—or more specifically, about the incident on the basketball court where Qi Yu had supposedly hit her with a ball.

Qi Yu had a temper, and after school he was whisked away by a driver and assistant. No one could get close to him.

So naturally, everyone swarmed around Zhong Yao instead.

“Zhong Yao, why did Qi Yu throw the ball at you?”

“Zhong Yao, how do you know Qi Yu? Do you also know Tang Yiming and the others?”

“Why didn’t you join Qi Yu’s class, Zhong Yao? Why pick the super strict Class 9?”

From the moment Zhong Yao stepped out of Class 9, a crowd of unfamiliar new classmates swarmed around her. The short path to the school gate suddenly felt endlessly long.

Kids in the north seemed to develop faster—there were so many tall students. Back in her southern town, Zhong Yao used to stand out like a crane among chickens. But here, she was no longer the “special one.” Yet—

Standing in the noisy crowd, she realized her wish to blend in, to be just an ordinary student, had once again been shattered.

And all of this was thanks to Qi Yu.

When She Rui saw Zhong Yao being surrounded by layers of students as she left the school gate, her heart clenched from inside the car.

She was afraid the girl might get flustered and accidentally mention Jin Chuan. To be safe, she had the driver pull ahead a block and told the girl to take a taxi over to meet her.

When Zhong Yao received the message, she instantly understood She Rui’s concern.

TV shows weren’t wrong—illegitimate daughters were meant to stay in the shadows.

She thought for a moment and replied:

[I’ll just take a taxi straight home. Let’s do it this way from now on. Thanks for today, Aunt She Rui.]

Once she got into the cab, she sent She Rui the license plate number and added:

[Don’t worry, Aunt She Rui. I won’t say anything at school.]

After sending the messages, Zhong Yao no longer had the energy to dwell on the matter. Because—

At that moment, all her attention was locked on the taxi’s meter. The number had already jumped to over 20 yuan.

She felt like they hadn’t gone far from school yet, and then realized that even stopping in traffic made the fare go up!

When the meter passed 50, she grew nervous and fidgeted with her fingers anxiously.

Her money was in her suitcase. She’d rushed out today and only had about 20 yuan in her backpack.

She hadn’t expected taxis in Beijing to be this expensive. In her hometown, it was never more than five or eight yuan.

Screech—

The taxi finally stopped in front of the villa.

The driver turned to her and reminded, “Young lady, we’re here.”

Zhong Yao snapped out of it and looked up into the driver’s suspicious gaze.

“What’s wrong?” he asked. “Is the address incorrect?”

She shook her head, then after a long silence said,
“I’m sorry, uncle. I don’t have enough money. Could you wait a moment while I go inside to get it?”

The girl looked very nervous—odd, even.

The driver immediately refused:
“No way. What if you run off? Where are your parents? Have someone bring the money out.”

She looked too young to be alone. If she lived in a place this upscale, surely there’d be a housekeeper or something.

Ask Jin Chuan to bring her cab fare?

That would be way too humiliating. How could she embarrass herself in front of him again?

No. She absolutely couldn’t.

“Uncle, no one’s home,” she said, pulling out her student ID. “Can I leave this as collateral? It’s the only house here—I really won’t run. I promise.”

Peach & Plum Middle School. Class 9, Grade 8. Zhong Yao.

Whoa, one of the top-ranked schools in Beijing.

“Alright then,” the driver took the ID, “I’ll trust you just this once.”

Zhong Yao’s heart lifted, and she quickly got out of the car.

But—

She had barely taken two steps when she saw Jin Chuan walking toward her with his hands in his pockets.

He looked at her lazily, a faint smile tugging at his lips:
“Impressive. Took a cab home all on your own?”

The setting sun stretched his shadow long across the pavement, and Zhong Yao stood right in it.

She avoided his gaze and nodded softly, “Mm.”

Jin Chuan’s eyes glanced past her to the cab still waiting by the gate.
“Why’s that car still there? Go check out your room upstairs—it’s next to the study.”

He turned, about to walk toward the car.

But a small hand tugged at the hem of his shirt.

The girl bit her lip, her voice barely louder than a mosquito’s:
“Then… can you come with me?”

Jin Chuan lowered his gaze to the stubborn little thing and nearly laughed.

He paused, then said teasingly:
“Shouldn’t I redeem your student ID first? Next time you want to act tough, maybe check if you’ve got enough money in your pocket, alright?”

Zhong Yao froze, her head snapping up.

So… he’d seen everything. He knew all of it.

In that moment, her face flushed bright red. She bit her lip, and her throat tightened.

“I don’t need your money! I’ll redeem it myself!” she yelled, letting go of his shirt and running into the house, flustered and angry.

Watching the child’s retreating figure, Jin Chuan rubbed his forehead.

He didn’t understand. It was just a joke—why did she get so upset again?

He sighed softly. Raising a daughter really was too hard for him… harder than switching careers to become a singer.

But Zhong Yao didn’t see it as a joke. To her, it felt like a reprimand.

She didn’t want to always be on the losing end. She hurriedly searched the living room for her suitcase but couldn’t find it. Then she remembered what Jin Chuan had said and ran up to the study on the second floor.

She stopped at the doorway, frozen.

The room was a sea of reds and pinks—closets, desks, sofa, bed, lamp, even the trash bin were all in pink. The iron-frame bed looked like something straight out of a cartoon princess movie, the bedding trimmed with lace. On the pillow sat several StellaLou plush toys.

Zhong Yao stepped inside. Even the lampshade had lace. The entire room was so saccharine it made her feel slightly nauseous.

Maybe most girls dreamed of a room like this. Sun Shiwu, for example, once said she’d turn her room into a princess-themed space like this when she grew up and had money.

But Zhong Yao had never been “most girls.” What she liked best, what suited her most, was the room her mother had decorated—simple, clean, maybe with a few small floral accents. That was enough.

The girl stood in the center of the room, feeling as though she had overlooked something. A vague sense of contradiction welled up inside her—an emotion she couldn’t quite explain or understand.

She stood there in a daze, even forgetting she had come to get money.

“Do you like the room?”

Behind her, Jin Chuan had walked in holding her student ID.
“Next time you don’t have enough money, let Aunt She Rui pick you up.”

Zhong Yao took the student ID without saying a word.

Jin Chuan assumed she was still upset about what he said earlier, so he asked again,
“Do you like the room?”

Zhong Yao finally looked up and replied calmly,
“It’s pretty tacky. But I know you tried your best, so… it’ll do.”

…?

It was the first time Jin Chuan’s taste had ever been questioned. Still, he figured the kid was just venting her frustration on purpose.

Fine. He couldn’t be bothered to argue. He took out his phone, pulled up a WeChat QR code, and said,
“Scan this.”

Zhong Yao glanced at it and replied coolly,
“We Gen Z kids use QQ.”

Jin Chuan, 35 years old, smirked and immediately switched the screen to his QQ QR code. He chuckled,
“Little radish head, can you scan it now?”

Zhong Yao was speechless.

To refuse again would make her seem bratty and uncooperative, so—albeit reluctantly—she added her deadbeat dad as a friend.

Jin Chuan casually slipped his phone back into his pocket and told her to come downstairs for dinner later, then left.

But moments later, her phone dinged. A QQ transfer notification popped up.

10,000 yuan. From Jin Chuan—the man she’d just added. Along with a message:

[Little radish head, we post-80s use QQ too.]

——

That night, Jin Chuan said he had work and left in a hurry.

The big house was once again empty, leaving Zhong Yao all alone. She collapsed onto the soft, pink princess bed, her heart hollow.

She took a picture of the lacy mosquito net and was about to send it to Sun Shiwu, but then remembered—Shiwu was still mad at her.

She had already sent Shiwu tons of messages and made several calls over the past two days, all of which were ignored.

If she sent a photo of the princess room now, or if Shiwu found out Jin Chuan was her father… would he be happy, or even angrier?

Zhong Yao didn’t have the courage to find out. She couldn’t bear the thought of losing her only friend completely.

She felt utterly defeated, and incredibly lonely.

As night fell, Zhong Yao found herself unable to sleep—maybe because she was used to firm beds. This soft mattress just didn’t feel right.

She tossed and turned, thoughts swirling:
Should I really stay in Beijing?

Eventually, she gave in and sent a message to her friend:

[Shiwu, are you still mad at me?]

[Beijing isn’t great at all. I’m always alone here too. If you’ll only forgive me if I go back, then I’ll go back, okay?]

A moment later, her phone actually lit up with a notification.

Zhong Yao’s eyes brightened as she opened the message—but—

It wasn’t from Sun Shiwu. It was from her new deskmate, He Lingli:

[Zhong Yao! Everyone’s talking about you and Qi Yu on the school forum. The rumors are getting out of hand. Are you going to clear things up tomorrow or not?]

---

Author’s note:
Jin Chuan: I am the trendiest dad on the block.
Yu-yu: Don’t be fooled by my smile now—just wait…