CHAPTER 14: Anonymous

: Where’s Yi Xiaoya? None of you added her to the group?

: Who would dare just add her like that?

: Weren’t we told those special admit students are poor and don’t even use phones?

: Isn’t the probation period a month?

: Didn’t someone say we’d make a separate group for her to join instead?

: You guys seriously have issues. More importantly, she’s part of the Yi family now. Our school? Her family owns most of the shares. This school is practically her backyard!

…

Wang Yinfan: So you’re all anonymous now? No one dares say it to her face?

Wang Yinfan—the chubby guy who had defended Yi Xiaoya earlier—noticed that everyone was posting anonymously in the group chat.

Of course. They were all so arrogant before. No one even wanted to say hi to Yi Xiaoya, afraid her background wasn’t good enough and would drag down their “class.”

Now that they knew she was a Yi, suddenly their attitudes changed. But even so, it didn’t hide their ugly faces.

: Then do you have her number? Add her to the group!

Xiao Caiyu was not happy. Because of the whole situation with Yi Xiaoya, her family had scolded her for days. Now, she was just trying to find a way to redeem herself. Her mom said Yi Xiaoya probably only recently returned to the Yi family—in other words, she was likely an illegitimate child.

She figured Yi Xiaoya must’ve not entered the Yi family earlier because either they didn’t know about her or her biological father didn’t want her.

Even now, Xiao Caiyu still thought she was far superior. She was born in wedlock, raised properly, and received a better education—no way Yi Xiaoya could compare.

Wang Yinfan: Xiao Caiyu, are you the one who wants Yi Xiaoya in the group?

Wang Yinfan: Let me guess—you tried to find her but couldn’t, so now you want to add her here and force her to forgive you?

Wang Yinfan: Tsk tsk, what a calculating green tea!

Wang Yinfan: Oh right, weren’t you guys going to make a separate group for her? Guess not now—she’s your little princess and you’re all too scared to upset her!

Wang Yinfan didn’t hide behind anonymity. Let everyone else go anonymous if they wanted—he wasn’t afraid of pissing them off. And it’s not like their parents could just start a business war over something like this. Besides, his own family wasn’t exactly small fry either.

Xiao Caiyu was fuming. Was Wang Yinfan brain-dead or something? Why did he have to say all that so bluntly?

Couldn’t he just keep the truth to himself?

She was so angry she almost threw her phone. And Yi Xiaoya—how over-the-top could she be? This was just some little kid drama, why drag the parents into it?

Xiao Caiyu was a total double-standard. She was fine with crushing others but couldn’t stand it when someone turned the tables.

Now that the little Yi family princess was here, the class would no doubt start fawning over her. She’d never enjoy that queen bee status again.

Then she thought of Yi Xiaoya’s striking face—barefaced, yet stunning.

: Do you like Yi Xiaoya or something?

Xiao Caiyu sent another anonymous message, still seething.

: Even if you want to be her lapdog, you better make sure she’s willing to leash you and take you for walks.

The class chat instantly fell silent. No one wanted to get involved in this mess anymore. Say the wrong thing and they might be packing their bags and transferring out.

Truth was, Yi Xiaoya hadn’t even done anything to them. She just minded her own business and studied. Then again, maybe she was just too disgusted by their cold attitudes to bother trying.

Some things just don’t sound as nice once they’re said out loud.

They were classmates now, and possibly future connections. Whether they’d end up collaborating or competing in the future was anyone’s guess.

Many newly rich families tried their best to get their children into this school just so they could start building a network early.

Chat:

User A: Do you have Yi Xiaoya’s contact info? You lapdog!

Wang Yinfan: Screenshot saved—for the memories.

User A: …

Xiao Caiyu really couldn’t take it anymore. That Wang Yinfan—was he for real? She tossed her phone aside. If she kept talking, she was going to lose her mind.

By evening, Mr. Xiao had already heard that Old Master Yi was planning to throw a birthday banquet for Yi Xiaoya. Apparently, the old man had even told someone, “We can’t not do it. If we don’t, others will think we don’t care about the child. And if people think that, she’ll end up getting bullied.”

The Yi family didn’t say anything in front of the Xiao family, but Mr. Xiao caught wind of it through someone else and understood immediately.

He had every reason to suspect that friend had told him on purpose—otherwise, how else would he have found out so quickly?

At the Yi family’s main residence, Yi Xiaoya had no idea any of this was going on. That afternoon, she had taken a look at the room they arranged for her. She wanted to say she wasn’t too fond of the pink color scheme, but everyone seemed convinced that since she was a girl, of course she’d like pink.

There was even a walk-in closet filled with new clothes. Some still had tags, some didn’t. But Yi Xiaoya didn’t dare underestimate the tagless ones—she’d heard that even clothes without tags could cost a fortune.

After dinner, the whole family relaxed in the living room for a bit.

“Xiaoya,” Old Master Yi asked, “do you have any classmates you want to invite? Your former classmates are fine too.”

“No.” Yi Xiaoya shook her head. “They’re not used to this. I’ll hang out with them later, when I get the chance.”

It wasn’t that she was embarrassed, but she’d already sensed the chasm between social classes. She’d been bullied back at school—even if her old classmates came to her birthday party, with so many wealthy people around, they’d feel out of place.

And she couldn’t hover around them the whole time, nor did she want her classmates to be picked on.

“That’s fine. We can wait till later,” Old Master Yi said. “This is your home. You can bring anyone you want.”

Yi Xiaoya said nothing—she definitely wouldn’t treat this place like home. If it were just her and her dad living together, she might feel differently.

Her birthday was next Friday, and Old Master Yi had already asked the butler to start drafting the guest list.

He was planning to send invitations to all his old friends so they could meet his precious granddaughter. He finally had a granddaughter of his own—he didn’t need to envy anyone else’s anymore.

Before the next day even arrived, that very night, Yi Xiaoya’s adoptive aunt Yi Xuezhen showed up.

Yi Xuezhen usually tried to butter up Old Master Yi, but sometimes she’d also accuse him of being unfair. She had lived in the Yi family for so many years as an adopted daughter, and now they were just giving her some dowry and sending her off.

And not only that—Old Master Yi, worried about inheritance issues, had gone so far as to legally dissolve the adoption. That way, after he passed, Yi Xuezhen wouldn’t be entitled to any inheritance.

The legal bond was broken, but the emotional ties remained. Old Master Yi didn’t forbid her from coming around, and Yi Xuezhen figured she might as well wring whatever she could out of him while he was still alive.

After she got married, she realized her husband had changed. He no longer treated her as sweetly as when they were engaged, and often brought up the Yi family—how they refused to let him join the family business, how he had to use her dowry to start his own company, and how he expected the Yi family to support him.

The Yi family did help her husband out a little, but that was the extent of it. He wasn’t satisfied. Even though he’d gone from a poor nobody to a company general manager, he still felt the Yi family hadn’t done enough.

“Dad.” Yi Xuezhen came in and immediately shoved Yi Xiaoya aside to sit next to Old Master Yi. She didn’t even glance at Yi Xiaoya, and “accidentally” stepped on her foot.

“You stepped on me!” Yi Xiaoya said. She wasn’t stupid—no way was she going to just swallow that.

The first time she saw this aunt, she knew the woman didn’t like her. The second time, she sensed a hint of hatred. That made it even more impossible for her to back down.

“What are you yelling for? It’s just a step. Not like I did it on purpose.” Yi Xuezhen rolled her eyes. “I heard you grew up in the slums…”

“Shut up!” Old Master Yi’s face darkened.

“Dad, it’s because I’m not your biological child, isn’t it? Now that you have a real granddaughter, you think—”

“Yes. So get out.” Yi Yao cut her off. “You said it yourself—there’s no blood relation. My dad raised you, and you go and bully his own granddaughter? You’re nothing but an ungrateful leech.”

Yi Yao wasn’t about to go easy on her. Back when there were no girls in the family, his dad had spoiled Yi Xuezhen a bit—her daughter even benefited from it.

If Yi Yao didn’t have a daughter of his own, or if Yi Xuezhen hadn’t provoked his child, he might have stayed quiet.

“Little brother…” Yi Xuezhen looked at Yi Yao. “And how do you know she’s even really your daughter? Did you get a DNA test?”

“Heh.” Yi Yao sneered. “Want me to do another one so you can tamper with it and make her not my daughter?”

He had acted quickly—right after the dream, he’d gone to find Yi Xiaoya and immediately got a paternity test done. He wasn’t stupid, and he certainly wasn’t about to raise someone else’s kid.

“Oh right, I have a biological daughter. I don’t need to adopt someone else’s.” Yi Yao snorted.

Yi Xuezhen had once claimed that since Yi Yao had no children, she could let him raise hers. He rejected the idea outright. She clearly wanted her child to inherit his assets—not to take care of him when he got old.

Yao could see right through the little schemes Yi Xuezhen was cooking up.

“Dad, whose child are you planning to adopt?” Yao Ya asked in confusion.

“Even biological children can be unfilial. Why would I adopt someone else’s kid?” Yao said again, “You’d better be careful with your aunt. She used to want me to adopt her child. Be careful—she might just kill you.”