Chapter 18

Su Miao Miao left the Technology Building with Shang Yan and Li Zhe and headed for the Administrative Office.

Despite the online forum being hacked, the incident that happened at the sports field before the first class had already become the talk of the school.

It was said that the new girl in second year, class one, was not the “ugly duckling” rumored, but instead a pretty girl who could overshadow Shu Wei.

During the break, most of the male students were excitedly discussing this.

Along the way, Su Miao Miao, with her radiant face barely hidden by her sportswear, began to attract various looks of “inspection” as soon as she left the Technology Building.

Naturally, there were those who were eagerly watching.

However, Shang Yan was walking not far behind the girl, casually with one hand in his pocket.

Only his eyes were pitch black.

Meeting his gaze, those who might have had any ideas were frightened into immediately suppressing any thoughts they had.

They continued on in silence.

Upon entering the academic building, there were more students.

The entrance to the Administrative Office was a “prime spot,” unusually quiet.

A line of girls stood against the exterior wall of the office.

Su Miao Miao, who had been leading the way, suddenly stopped.

Two or three steps behind, Shang Yan also paused, following the girl’s gaze to see Qiao Xinyi standing at the far left.

“…”

Shang Yan gave a slight sneer, though his eyes turned cold.

He stepped up two stairs and positioned himself behind Su Miao Miao.

Lifting his hand, Shang Yan gently grasped the girl’s hat from behind and softly tousled it.

He looked down, chuckling in a husky voice:

“Kid, why are you so timid?”

“…”

The girl’s rigid silhouette gradually relaxed.

How strange…She thought.

How come she felt less afraid when he said that…

Seeing Shang Yan’s figure, Qiao Xinyi and the others went pale.

“Yan… Brother Yan…”

Their eyes filled with fear, and after exchanging glances, they all bowed to Su Miao Miao beside Shang Yan—

“We’re sorry…” Qiao Xinyi bit her lip, “We realize our mistake.”

Students roaming outside the classrooms along the nearby corridors curiously looked over.

This was the first time Su Miao Miao had encountered such a scene, and she stood there, startled and unsure of how to react.

“What next?”

Shang Yan suddenly spoke up, stepping forward.

Qiao Xinyi and the others straightened up, anxiously asking, “Brother Yan, what do you mean by ‘what next’?”

Shang Yan stopped in front of the group of girls.

At their question, he scoffed lightly.

His eyes seemed to freeze over with a dark inkiness.

“The kid was pushed into the water by you…”

Remembering the helpless and shivering silhouette of the girl in the water, a hint of menace flashed in Shang Yan’s eyes.

His lips curled up, and his gaze turned frighteningly intense—

“You think you can just say sorry and that’s the end of it?”

Facing Qiao Xinyi, who trembled slightly, drained the last bit of color from her face.

She dared not look at Shang Yan again, fearfully shaking her head and shrinking her neck, almost to the point of tears—

“I’m sorry, Brother Yan, I’m sorry… We really won’t dare anymore, we won’t dare ever again, Brother Yan… please let us go this time, we really won’t dare anymore…”

Hearing Qiao Xinyi and the other girls repeatedly pleading, the students watching along the corridor all showed a bit of sympathy.

Yet Shang Yan smiled.

His eyes lowered, his profile toward the light, his sharp, cold features outlined distinctly.

In the semi-darkness, the boy’s gaze revealed a moment of deep ferocity.

“Let you go?… Okay.”

The girls looked up joyfully, only to meet his cold, thinly smiling lips.

Their joy froze in their eyes.

He stepped aside, revealing the staircase he was blocking.

His voice was icy cold.

“Just roll down from there—and I’ll let you go.”

Seeing the stairs with more than a dozen steps,”Yan… Brother Yan…”

Qiao Xinyi was so frightened she couldn’t even utter a complete sentence, her whole body trembling uncontrollably.

She looked at Shang Yan with pleading eyes, hoping to see a hint of relenting in his gaze.

But there was none.

He looked down at them with half-lidded eyes, his lips slightly curved, his cold and sharp face emotionless, only indifferent.

“Not willing to do it yourself? No worries, I’ll help you.”

Shang Yan was about to make a move after finishing his words, but he stopped halfway as he began to raise his hand.

Frowning slightly, Shang Yan turned back.

Unlike the frightened and fearful eyes in the corridor, standing behind him at the corner of the stairs, a girl in a black tracksuit, hands in pockets, looked naive and quiet, somewhat confusedly staring at him.

Caught by that clear, clean gaze, Shang Yan’s hand, raised mid-air, clenched slightly, then relaxed.

He glanced at Li Zhe.

“Send the kid back to the classroom first.”

“—Eh? But didn’t the academic director want Su Miao Miao to go in to assess the situation?” Li Zhe asked.

Standing in the girl’s gaze, Shang Yan’s ferocity faded significantly, his smile lazy.

“No need. …I suddenly think it’s quicker to settle it privately.”

Upon hearing his words, the faces of the several girls behind him turned even more ashen.

Li Zhe glanced at them sympathetically, cleared his throat, his face reddening and eyes drifting as he turned to Su Miao Miao.

“Then… then I’ll take you, take you back to the classroom?”

Su Miao Miao looked at Li Zhe strangely, not understanding why he suddenly became stuttering.

But she slowly nodded her head, softly saying, “Thank you.”

“…”

Li Zhe’s face reddened even further.

“No no no no no, don’t mention it.”

Su Miao Miao: “…?”

Shang Yan stood behind them, his eyes narrowing slightly.

It seems some people still can’t let go of their covetous thoughts towards his young apprentice.

It looks like he needs to find a time to have a serious “chat” with Li Zhe.

Some of the students from Class 1 of Senior Year 2 were the first to see the true face of Su Miao Miao in the sports field before the first period.

At the edge of the fountain, they caught a fleeting glimpse. Although it only lasted a few seconds before Shang Yan covered her up with his jacket, it didn’t stop those students from excitedly bouncing around the room after returning, announcing that the “new transfer student is a beauty.”

At first, some students didn’t believe it, but seeing several people saying the same, they couldn’t help but look forward to it.

By the end of the second period, when they finally saw the girl walking into the classroom with Li Zhe, the whole class was abuzz.

“Holy shit, she really is a beauty!”

“She’s even prettier than Shu Wei!”

“Really? I still prefer Shu Wei.”

“Pfft, as if anyone needs your preference… Besides, does Shu Wei even know who you are?”

“Why do I, as a girl, also find her so cute that I want to kidnap her, wuu wuu…”

“Me too, I want to kidnap her!”

“Forget about that—first think about who her desk mate is.”

“………”

The last comment was like a bucket of cold water poured over the class.

Their excited hearts collectively cooled down.

Some even shivered a bit more.In the awkward silence, Wen Susu sat at her own seat, gripping her pen so tightly that her fingertips turned white.

“Susu, are you okay? You look a bit pale,” her deskmate asked worriedly.

Wen Susu suddenly relaxed her grip, raised her head, and a faint smile appeared on her face.

“It’s nothing, maybe I’m just feeling a bit unwell from running during gym class.”

“Oh, then you better rest well.”

“…”

Wen Susu nodded perfunctorily, her gaze seemingly casually lifted and fell towards the front of the classroom.

The girl who was the subject of everyone’s heated discussion seemed to have heard nothing, her beautiful and radiant face showing little emotion as she quietly returned to her seat.

However, Li Zhe stood in place with a conflicted expression for a while, and when his gaze randomly swept around and suddenly met Wen Susu’s, his eyes lit up and he quickly walked over.

“Wen class—”

He almost said ‘beauty’, but Li Zhe choked on his words.

With Su Miao Miao in class, Wen Susu hardly counted as the class beauty anymore…

His eyes darted around, and he quickly changed his address—

“Wen class president, you’re being a bit disloyal, aren’t you?”

“…”

Wen Susu naturally sensed the change in his address, and was upset enough to pale, yet she couldn’t show it.

She had to lower her head as if flipping through her book, “What did I do?”

Li Zhe: “That beauty we saw in the cafeteria the other day is clearly the new girl in our class, but when they mentioned it before, you didn’t even bring it up.”

Reminded by Li Zhe, other students also remembered, and a boy even voiced his agreement from the back row.

Wen Susu’s hand flipping the book paused, and she looked up displeased.

“You didn’t ask me at the time, why would I be obliged to notify everyone?”

Li Zhe was taken aback by Wen Susu’s attitude, and chuckled awkwardly.

“So about the new student, you really have nothing to disclose, class president?”

“…”

Wen Susu’s eyes were slightly dazed.

Should she just spill the deadly disease about Su Miao Miao…?

After hesitating for a while, her gaze flickered a few times before she lowered her head heavily.

“No… I’ve said it before, she is just my aunt’s daughter, we are not close.”

“Not close, huh.”

Li Zhe disappointedly touched the back of his head.

He was about to go back to his seat when a student entered through the classroom’s back door and leaned against the door, speaking up—

“I heard two pieces of news, do you want to hear them!”

Li Zhe stopped in his tracks, “Stop beating around the bush, just spit it out.”

“Oh, didn’t see you there, Li Zhe?” The boy chuckled nervously, not daring to linger, “I… I just heard from the seniors in the third year. They said the new student in our class is Brother Yan’s apprentice in the computer group?”

The whole class was stunned.

Su Miao Miao was whispering to Qi Wenyue behind her.

Upon hearing the boy’s words, she hesitated and curiously looked up.

“—Apprentice??” Qi Wenyue, who overheard the discussion, turned to Su Miao Miao in surprise, “Is it true?”

“…Yeah.” Su Miao Miao nodded.

The rest of the class was equally puzzled.

The boy who spread the news was pressed for answers and bluntly said—

“The seniors said it was Shu Wei who mentioned it, it can’t possibly be false.”

The class fell silent.

After a few quiet seconds, a soft voice emerged from a corner—

“Oh, is the legitimate girlfriend unable to sit still after hearing rumors, so she steps forward to clarify the relationship to set the record straight?”

Li Zhe casually grabbed a book from the side and threw it over— “Legitimate my ass? Brother Yan never mentioned it, and you dare to certify it!”

The person who got hit held their head in pain.

The one who threw the book didn’t say anything, just got up sorrowfully to pick it up.

Li Zhe snorted and looked towards the back door,

“What’s the second news?”

“Oh… I just came up from the third floor, the office door was open, and I saw Qiao Xinyi inside— the one who slapped a girl from Class Four last semester until she dropped out— and a few girls who are often with her, all in the room, crying to the headmaster, saying they want to transfer schools!”

“…Boring.”

Unsurprisingly, Li Zhe turned back to his seat.

However, the rest of the class started discussing in hushed tones.

“Qiao Xinyi?… Isn’t she the one who led the bullying of the new student in our class during PE class?”

“Qiao Xinyi crying??”

“That’s right, I thought she only forced people to drop out.”

“It seems Brother Yan took action.”

“Qiao Xinyi is crying in fear, how terrifying…”

“‘San Zhong Shang Yanlou,’ you think it’s just a joke.”

The low murmurs seemed to slip out from somewhere, catching Li Zhe’s attention.

He raised his eyebrows upon hearing it.

He jumped off the table he was sitting on, turned back to the front row, his face cold and ugly—

“Who the hell said that just now? Had enough of living, huh?”

“….Who are you to decide that?”

A lazy voice suddenly sounded at the front door.

The classroom, which had some commotion earlier, fell silent instantly.

Most of the students in the class immediately lowered their heads, especially those who were whispering earlier, their faces slightly changed, not daring to breathe.

Li Zhe, frozen in place, saw the figure standing at the front door, and even he felt intimidated by it.

“Uh, Brother Yan… why are you back so soon?”

Yan chuckled, stood up straight, and lazily walked into the classroom.

“There are two minutes left before class, I didn’t come back to wait for tardiness.”

Li Zhe: “…”

For the first time, he realized that the concept of “tardiness” existed in their Brother Yan’s dictionary…

Yan returned to his seat, where Su Miao Miao was quietly chatting with Qi Wenyue.

The girl listened attentively, her eyes clear and clean, like two beautiful amber gems.

Yan smiled and lowered his eyes.

With a sweep of his gaze, Qi Wenyue voluntarily fell silent.

Su Miao Miao, belatedly, turned her head back.

Following her gaze along those long legs, her eyes passed the man’s slim waist, landing on his clear and bold yet always lazy handsome face.

Su Miao Miao remembered what she had just heard.

She asked softly, “…Did you make them cry?”

“No.”

Shang Yan slightly raised an eyebrow, “They cried out of guilt and self-blame. No amount of comforting could stop them.”

Su Miao Miao: “…”

The girl slowly furrowed her delicate brows.

Her voice lowered even more, like a soft murmur, with a slightly nasal tone—

“Shang Yanlou…”

“!”

The classroom fell deathly silent, shocked gazes all turned toward her.

The girl, unaware, still lowered her pretty brows and eyes, whispering softly.

“You’re really fierce…”

This isn’t good.

Because it will make many, many people dislike you, just like her.

That feeling isn’t good at all.

“…………”

Standing still, Shang Yan, reflected in his eyes the delicate figure of the girl, seemed to darken even more.

He stared at the girl unblinkingly, his pupils slowly narrowing.

Beside them, Qi Wenyue broke out in a sweat, anxiously trying to explain for Su Miao Miao—

“Brother Yan, Miao Miao just joined our class and didn’t know that nickname of yours… shouldn’t be said…”

Before she could finish her words, she heard Shang Yan suddenly let out a low, hoarse chuckle.

He withdrew his hand from his pocket, his pale and slender fingers slightly interlocking, as he leaned forward.

Rolling up his sleeve to reveal the beautiful lines of his forearm stretched across the space between two desks, Shang Yan’s dark eyes lowered close to the girl’s ear, pausing there.

His voice was huskily suppressed.

The laugh by the girl’s ear was lazy and teasing—

“I can be even fiercer.”

“…Kid, want to give it a try?”