Chapter 24

Su Miao Miao was led out of the private room by Shang Yan, her eyes shielded from view.

Once they passed through the door of the large private room, the dimness in front of her eyes finally dissipated—Shang Yan’s hand fell back to his side. He looked down at the girl in front of him, while Su Miao Miao gazed up at him with a puzzled expression, her eyes vacant.

After a while, Shang Yan chuckled lightly. “Do you know what just happened?”

“……”

Su Miao Miao’s awareness had detached from her drowsy state earlier. She thought for a moment, then hesitantly looked at Shang Yan.

“Did Shu Wei kiss another guy?”

Shang Yan glanced at the girl, his expression somewhat surprised.

He had expected that even if the girl had seen it, she would be too embarrassed to mention it.

However, as Shang Yan locked eyes with Su Miao Miao’s clear and clean gaze for a few seconds, he couldn’t help but smile. He averted her gaze.He had assumed too much.

He thought that someone as pure as a “blank sheet of paper” would feel embarrassed to discuss such matters. But the reality was that because she had never been tainted by any color, the girl didn’t understand or associate the deeper desires that could be implied by a “kiss.”

Before Shang Yan could speak, he heard the girl’s soft voice comforting him.

“Master, please don’t be too upset.”

“……”

Shang Yan paused slightly.

After a moment, he smirked, a smile that seemed to hold more than it revealed.

Meanwhile, the girl furrowed her brow, her beautiful eyes slightly lowered, seemingly still contemplating how to continue organizing her words.

“Shu Wei must like Master… She kissed another guy, um, maybe because she was drinking.”

Feeling like she had come up with a perfect excuse, Su Miao Miao’s eyes brightened. She tilted her head back.

“I really felt dizzy after drinking, just like they say in books, unable to control myself. I just… I just felt that way after drinking.”

Initially listening with interest, Shang Yan’s gaze darkened slightly at this point. Despite maintaining a smile in his eyes, Shang Yan raised an eyebrow.

“What way? After drinking, you also feel like kissing other guys?”

Su Miao Miao hesitated.

Just as she was pondering whether to continue with her previous excuse, she heard a deep, threatening voice from above her head:

“Dare to do that, and your legs will be broken.”

Su Miao Miao: “…………….”

Oh no.

Before they could engage in further conversation, the situation of their private moment was interrupted by the door of the private room being pushed open again.

Wu Hongbo and a few others walked out with unpleasant expressions, slowing their pace as they approached Shang Yan from behind.

Wu Hongbo, leading the group, couldn’t help but speak first. “Is Shu Wei out of her mind? What was she doing today?”

“Truly poisonous.”

“Tomorrow at school, who knows how this matter will be twisted.”

“……”

The other two members of the group chimed in, and even the usually silent Luan Wenze nodded with a displeased expression.

Wu Hongbo cautiously approached Shang Yan, observing his demeanor. Seeing Shang Yan’s slightly darkened expression, Wu Hongbo thought he was angry about what had happened in the private room earlier.

He gestured to the other three guys before speaking to reassure him, “Brother Yan, don’t be too angry. It’s not worth it for a girl like her.”

Shang Yan lazily raised his eyes.

“For whom?”

Wu Hongbo was taken aback by the question and took two seconds to respond, “Sh-Shu Wei.”

Shang Yan chuckled lightly, a contemptuous emotion flashing through his dark eyes.

“Even if she kissed everyone, I wouldn’t care.”

Wu Hongbo: “……?”

Wu Hongbo: “Then, Brother Yan, why do you look a little angry?”

“……”

Shang Yan didn’t respond. He narrowed his eyes slightly and glanced down at the girl in front of him.

Su Miao Miao felt stiff under his gaze. After standing still for two seconds, she slowly moved back a step.

Following Shang Yan’s gaze, Wu Hongbo became even more puzzled and asked quietly, “Little Su, do you think your master is angry?”

Avoiding Shang Yan’s gaze, Su Miao Miao nodded with a serious expression on her lovely face.

“He’s angry. He even said he would break my legs.”

The rest of the computer training group: “……???”

Representing the group, Wu Hongbo widened his eyes and bravely protested first, “Yan… Brother Yan, you can’t take it out on Little Su like this! Little Su is innocent, she hasn’t done anything!”

Su Miao Miao stood behind Wu Hongbo, nodding slightly along with his words.

Shang Yan narrowed his eyes.

Staring at the girl for two seconds, he chuckled.

—

He used to have an attitude that no one in the computer group, or even the entire Third Middle School, dared to confront. It seemed that with the appearance of this child, it wouldn’t be long before that completely changed.

Shang Yan lowered his eyes.

“Kid, come here.”

Seeing the seemingly smiling but not smiling expression on the boy’s face made Wu Hongbo’s heart beat faster.

Wu Hongbo opened his mouth to say something.

Shang Yan glanced at him.

The smile at the corner of his lips cooled.

“I wouldn’t want to break a kid’s legs, but I might not be so merciful with yours.

“Wu Hongbo: “…………”

Wu Hongbo retreated, and Su Miao Miao obediently returned to Shang Yan’s side.

Shang Yan lowered his eyes, his emotions fluctuating as he looked at the girl.

After a while, he chuckled softly against his palate.

“Kid, you only know what just happened.”

But you don’t know.What almost happened just now.

Before Shang Yan could finish his words, he reached out and touched the girl’s head.

He then turned and walked downstairs first.

“……”

Su Miao Miao was taken aback by the touch, watching the slender figure of the boy in front of her with confusion.

Why did her master’s last look at her seem so meaningful?

—

Under Shang Yan’s “intimidation,” the entire computer training group was forced to end their weekend early.

Leaving the club, several of them got into a taxi and headed straight for Third Middle School.

They entered the school through the main gate, smoothly passing through the security office. It seemed the school’s security was accustomed to the boys of the training group coming and going during holidays.

However, when they saw Su Miao Miao among them, the duty security guard was momentarily puzzled, asking, “Is this someone’s little sister?”

Shang Yan smiled, Su Miao Miao was speechless, and the others were resigned.

In the end, it was Wu Hongbo who explained, “Sir, this is our new member, a future pillar of the group!”

“Oh my,” the guard exclaimed as he looked at the girl, marveling once again at the Creator’s favor on this face. “That’s really something. Young lady, keep it up.”

Su Miao Miao rarely interacted with strangers, and thus rarely felt goodwill from them. Feeling unexpectedly encouraged by the guard, she stood still for two seconds before nodding slowly.

Emotions of embarrassment quickly spread, a faint blush coloring her fair neck and ears.

Shang Yan noticed, his gaze shifting slightly. He seemed nonchalantly to walk forward, placing a light touch on Su Miao Miao slender shoulder.

“My disciple,” Shang Yan smiled at the guard, “please take care of her in the future.”

In the late September breeze, tinged with the restlessness of late summer, the boy’s voice was clear and clean, with a slightly hoarse magnetism, filled with a reckless and unrestrained aura.

Cicadas chirped in the trees, adding to Su Miao Miao’s sense of unease and confusion.

—

The rest of the journey was a blur for Su Miao Miao; she didn’t even know how she ended up back at the technology building.

Su Miao Miao had transferred into the class last week and hadn’t reported to the training group in a week. Shang Yan and the others had gone to a neighboring province for a competition and hadn’t returned to the group’s office either.

Pushing open the door, everything looked familiar—the desks, chairs, and benches were all as they had been before they left.

Su Miao Miao stood outside the door, feeling dazed.

—

This was probably the first time she felt a sense of belonging akin to a “long-awaited reunion” towards a place…. Like the “home” she had imagined.

In her memories, whether it was her uncertain recollection of the Su family she might have visited, or the sanatorium, or even the Wen family…None of those places had ever felt like “home” to her.

This was the first time.

The girl’s gaze was distant, her thoughts complex and indescribable in that moment.

Unable to determine whether she was happy or more sorrowful, the weight of those emotions pressed her to lower her eyes.

Wu Hongbo and the others entered the outer room.

“Ah, these two haven’t been unpacked yet.”

Not long after receiving the “leg-breaking” threat from Shang Yan, Wu Hongbo appeared very much like a lackey.

“Shang Yan, let me help you unpack these with Su Miao Miao.”

The inner room fell silent for a few seconds, then a very faint “Hmm” was heard.

Su Miao Miao also came to her senses and entered the room.

She looked at the two large boxes. “What are these?”

Luan Wenze explained beside her, “Last week, Shang Yan… uh, the chairs broke, so he had these two sent over.”

Su Miao Miao remembered Wu Hongbo’s words just now and curiously asked, “Is there one for me too?”

Luan Wenze was about to answer when suddenly, Wu Hongbo, who was halfway through unpacking, burst into laughter.

“Hahaha, oh my god, this color… What is this?”

Su Miao Miao couldn’t hold back anymore.

She walked up to the two boxes and peered inside the open one.

The shape and design of the two chairs were identical, with extremely comfortable-looking soft leather upholstery.

The only difference was the color of the two chairs…

They were very…

Girlish.

One was pink, and the other was light blue.

Su Miao Miao: “…”

As laughter echoed from the inner room, Shang Yan lazily approached, striding over with long legs.

He lowered his head, stared at the chairs for two seconds, then narrowed his eyes slightly.He walked over to the office phone, picked up the receiver, and dialed a number.

A few seconds later, the call connected.

“…What kind of color are these chairs?”

There was a moment of confusion on the other end, then a chuckle from Buo Yi. “Hey, you only just opened them? No wonder there was no reaction from you. I had been waiting so long for a response.”

Shang Yan narrowed his eyes slightly. “What’s Shang Xian’s phone number again?”

Buo Yi’s laughter choked off.

“My apologies, but this isn’t my fault. You said you wanted a pair! These are the only couple’s chairs I have, so I sent them over like this.”

“…?”

A slight pause in the light in Shang Yan’s eyes.

Moments later, he turned slightly, looking at the corner of the two chairs exposed in the box.

Indeed, the colors matched each other.

…Couple’s chairs?

A vague thought flitted through Shang Yan’s mind. He fell silent for a few seconds before raising his eyes and asking,”Kid, do you like them?”

“Eh?”

Su Miao Miao looked up in confusion, meeting Shang Yan’s gaze. After a moment of hesitation, she nodded slightly.

“I like them.”

“…,” Shang Yan’s lips curled lightly.

Those extremely flashy colors suddenly seemed much more pleasing to him.

On the other end of the phone, Buo Yi was still trying to suppress his laughter as he asked, “So what color should I change them to? Let me know, and I’ll send someone—”

“No need.”

“…Huh?”

“The colors are nice. I really like them.”

Buo Yi: “…”

Buo Yi: “???”

Buo Yi: “Shang Yan, you’re really turning into a weirdo, you know!”

Shang Yan chuckled lightly.

“I’m enjoying it.”

With that, he was about to hang up the phone.

“Wait, wait, don’t hang up!” Buo Yi hurriedly stopped him.

Shang Yan: “?”

“Your sister bought you a phone and asked me to deliver it to you. When would be a good time?”

“…”

Shang Yan’s smile remained unchanged on the surface, but his eyes betrayed a hint of coolness in his emotions.

He fell silent for a moment, his thin lips moving slightly.

“No.”

Buo Yi chuckled. “You can’t keep avoiding their calls forever…”

“Avoiding their calls?” Shang Yan sneered. “So, are we communicating through telepathy now?”

“This landline is so inconvenient…”

“A mobile phone is convenient,” Shang Yan said coldly, “convenient for them to track my location 24/7?”

“…”

Buo Yi was speechless.

There was no way to argue against that—both he and Shang Yan knew exactly what the Shang family was implying.

After a few moments of tense silence, Buo Yi gritted his teeth. “Fine, suit yourself—I want to see how long you can go without using a phone.”

Shang Yan chuckled lowly, a hint of contempt in his tone.

He hung up the phone and turned around.

Wu Hongbo was still dazed. “Shang Yan, do you really want to use these… chairs?”

Shang Yan raised an eyebrow lazily. “Can’t I?”

“It’s just…” Wu Hongbo looked at the extremely flashy light blue chair with complicated emotions. “Shang Yan, the magnificent image of you in my mind is about to collapse…”

Shang Yan lightly pinched his finger joints, his eyebrows raised in a lazy smile.

“Shall I help you rebuild it?”

“…”

Wu Hongbo shivered and forced a dry laugh. “N-No need.”

Shang Yan withdrew his gaze, turning to Su Miao Miao.

“Little one, bring your notebook here. I’ll go over that loop problem we talked about last week.”

“Oh.”

Su Miao Miao obediently brought her laptop and temporarily occupied Mr. Huang’s desk.

She sat in the chair behind the desk, and Shang Yan stood beside her, leaning over with one hand resting on the desk, while the other pointed and explained on the screen.

Until they encountered a certain topic, Shang Yan went to the cabinet, rummaging through it but not finding the book he needed.

“I’ll go to the library and get you a copy. It’s essential to fully understand this loop…”

Shang Yan turned back to look at the desk, but his voice suddenly trailed off.

It was nearing evening, and the remaining sunlight of late summer cast a light layer of glow on the girl’s porcelain-like skin, making her already delicate and beautiful features appear almost exquisite.

She looked quietly and obediently at him, her round, dark eyes seeming to hold only his reflection.

And he wanted it to be just him.If she were to look at someone else like this…Shang Yan’s gaze darkened slightly.

He looked away.

—

The surge of emotions he had felt just now made him feel dangerously exposed.

“…Master?”

Su Miao Miao noticed the distraction in Shang Yan and couldn’t help but speak up.

Shang Yan’s eyes flickered slightly as he turned around.

“I’ll go get the book for you.”

“Okay.”

As Shang Yan left the room, the few boys who had been pretending to study immediately relaxed.

Wu Hongbo jumped up, stretching in place with a mournful expression.

“Oh my god, Little Su, you have to graduate soon! With Shang Yan’s teaching style, we can hardly breathe…”

Su Miao Miao laughed lightly when she saw the expressions of the others.

“Why are you all so afraid of him?”

Wu Hongbo sighed. “You’re the only one who isn’t afraid of him.”

“…”

Looking at the girl’s demeanor, Wu Hongbo spoke again. “But, Shang Yan does indeed… tsk tsk, I think he’s given you all the tenderness and gentlemanly demeanor he’s saved up from everyone else.”

Next to them, a senior student in his third year of high school also laughed along. “That’s right. At the end of the party today, I was really startled. I thought Brother Yan was going to kiss… cough.”

Before the sentence could finish, everyone in the group except Su Miao Miao understood.

Wu Hongbo sighed, “Isn’t that right? The situation at the time, when Shu Wei pulled that stunt, and everyone was cheering… Brother Yan must have strong principles to endure it.”

As soon as he finished speaking, the office door was pushed open again. Shan Yan walked in with a book in his hand. His gaze swept over them coolly.

Wu Hongbo and the others stood up straight nervously. In a moment, they exchanged glances.

“Hey, these two boxes are taking up too much space. Brother Yan, let us take them downstairs first!” With that, the four of them hurriedly grabbed the two empty boxes and rushed out.

In the blink of an eye, there were only two people left in the room. Su Miao Miao was stunned. She reached out to take the book that Shan Yan handed her and began flipping through a few pages when she heard a voice from above her head.

“They told you I have strong principles?”

Su Miao Miao was startled and looked up. The eyes looking down at her were dark, glimmering with some profound emotion.

“Don’t believe them.”

He chuckled softly, his tongue lightly touching his upper palate as he squinted.

“I’m a carnivore.”