Mu Wan wanted to explain herself but realized she had no way to do so. This spot, outside the restroom, was a blind spot for surveillance cameras. Kuang Shuyu’s reputation had always been impeccable, to the point where even she hadn’t expected him to turn on her like this. If she couldn’t believe it, how could anyone else?

“It must be her. The girl who drove a rival to slit their wrists with a violin string, all because she relied on her family’s wealth and power to win the competition.”
“Those awards she’s won—do you think she got them the same way?”
“Having money is great; you don’t need talent when you can just buy your way to success.”

Whispers like these started to emerge, overlapping with old memories buried deep in her nightmares. The present moment fused with her past, and the tide of despair rose higher, submerging her mouth. Mu Wan felt herself sinking all over again.

“Wan wan!”

Suddenly, warmth wrapped around her ice-cold hands and feet, and the suffocating tide began to recede. She blinked, and before her stood Kuang Ye, his face full of worry.

The grievance she had been holding back finally found an outlet. Mu Wan’s eyes turned red, her voice hoarse as she whimpered,
“Ah Ye, they’re bullying me.”

Kuang Ye’s heart ached as fury flickered across his face. Gently wiping the redness from her eyes, he asked softly,
“Who bullied you?”

Mu Wan glanced at Kuang Shuyu, ready to tell him everything. But she hesitated, suddenly aware of how childish she might seem. Embarrassed, she lowered her head and mumbled,
“It’s nothing, Ah Ye. Let’s just go.”

She didn’t want to stay there as everyone’s entertainment. Dealing with Kuang Shuyu could wait for later.

But Kuang Ye’s sharp, hawk-like gaze turned toward the group who had been gossiping about Mu Wan earlier.
“What happened just now?”

The onlookers shrank under his piercing glare, avoiding eye contact. Yuan Weiwei, however, emboldened by Kuang Shuyu’s earlier response, was in a great mood and spoke up smugly.
“What else? Your fiancée waited for you to leave, then sneaked off to flirt with Shuyu-gege. When Shuyu-gege refused, she threw herself into his arms.”

Mu Wan, having recovered from her earlier distress, opened her mouth to refute this nonsense. Before she could, a jacket flew through the air and landed over her head.

Gasps of shock erupted around her.

Kuang Ye had punched Kuang Shuyu square in the face. His expression was colder than ice that had remained frozen for millennia.
“That’s impossible.”
“Wan wan isn’t that kind of person.”

His voice dropped, deadly calm.
“If any of you dare to spout nonsense again and make Wan wan suffer, I’ll tear your mouth apart.”

He strode back to Mu Wan, lifting her into his arms in a princess carry. Without another word, he carried her away, his aura radiating menace.

——

As Kuang Ye left with Mu Wan, the others were left speechless, staring at one another in shock.

“So… brutal.”
“So manly.”

Someone instinctively responded but froze upon seeing Kuang Shuyu’s dark, completely out-of-character expression. Their face stiffened, and they quickly slipped away.

Yuan Weiwei, on the other hand, looked at Kuang Shuyu with concern, tears streaming down her face.
“Shuyu-gege, are you okay? That barbarian Kuang Ye—how could he hit you? I’ll call the family doctor right now.”

She promptly chased away the onlookers.
“What are you all staring at? Go away!”

The crowd quickly dispersed, but murmurs lingered.
“Based on Miss Yuan’s account, only Kuang Shuyu and Mu Wan were there just now, so we can’t really confirm that Mu Wan was lying, right?”
“Who knows? Without cameras or witnesses, it’s a mystery.”
“But that punch from Kuang Ye just now—wow, it was so cool. He even used his jacket to shield Mu Wan’s view so that she wont witness his violence. It felt straight out of a drama!”
“Ahhh, I think I’m shipping them now.”

Everyone assumed there were no witnesses to what had happened earlier—not even Mu Wan or Kuang Shuyu expected one.

But there was.

Inside the adjacent changing room, Kuang Xingran sat, her hand covering her mouth, utterly stunned. She had always found these banquets boring and had hidden in the changing room to play on her phone. Somewhere along the way, she had dozed off. When she woke up and checked the time, the banquet was already over.

Just as she was about to sneak out, she overheard the commotion between Kuang Shuyu and Mu Wan outside. Thinking it would be awkward to run into them, she decided to wait a bit. Unexpectedly, she ended up hearing the entire debacle.

When Mu Wan was being misunderstood, Kuang Xingran had initially wanted to step out and clarify. But just as her hand reached the doorknob, she froze.

She heard her ever-gentle, composed Shuyu-gege lying. To avoid angering Yuan Weiwei, he allowed everyone to misunderstand Mu Wan, the girl who had grown up with their family.

Like Mu Wan, Kuang Xingran felt a jarring sense of disbelief. This wasn’t the brother she had always admired, the one she thought of as elegant and upright.

As she hesitated, her hand still on the latch, Kuang Ye arrived and handled the situation. Though everything seemed resolved in the end, Kuang Xingran knew that by staying silent when she could have spoken up, she had already let Mu Wan down.

In the empty changing room, Kuang Xingran slid down to the floor, her hands covering her face as she leaned against the wall.
“Maybe I should join you guys in studying abroad… Why have all of you… changed so much?”