Chapter 5: The True Heiress, the False Young Master

“Damn... he’s coming this way!”

Zhou Ya let out a small shriek, flustered as she scrambled to hide behind Lin Shu. Lin Shu, intending to hide behind her, also started calling out like a boiling kettle. Amid their jostling, Xie Buchen arrived nearby, his gaze drifting lightly past them without even glancing at the two troublesome girls.

The delinquent brother stood with one hand in his pocket, curling his lips as he greeted a boy holding a skateboard.

They seemed quite familiar.

They chatted in a jumble of words that made no sense.

One handsome profile overlapped with another, even more striking.

If they weren’t classmates, they might have lingered to take a better look.

Zhou Ya froze mid-move, arching her hips, and Lin Shu cleverly cooperated. The two of them employed the “Great Locust Pupa Technique,” slowly slipping out of Xie Buchen’s line of sight. Just as they were pleased with themselves, Xie Buchen suddenly turned his head after greeting the other boy, his eyebrows slightly raised, eyes lowered, wearing a half-smile: “Weren’t you going to leave me your number? Why run off? Honor student from the advanced class…”

“Ah!”

Zhou Ya screamed like a startled prairie dog.

“Ah!”

Lin Shu echoed the scream, then covered her own mouth with one hand and Zhou Ya’s with the other.

Damn delinquent brother, he even recognized them as girls from the neighboring advanced class.

Neither of them was the type to be open and confident.

Come on, who could be graceful when caught bragging in front of acquaintances? They wished they could just disappear on the spot.

Zhou Ya stood up, grabbed Lin Shu, and ran.

Lin Shu’s foot slipped, and both of them staggered down the steps in a clumsy tumble, utterly embarrassed. Riotous laughter rang out behind them—far from gentlemanly, but not exactly malicious either, more mischievous. The two girls blushed deeply, as if their faces were flushing with ripeness.

...

By the time they reached the subway entrance, Zhou Ya was scolding Xie Buchen: who wears clothes like that on a weekend? Way too fashionable, no student discipline at all, only focused on dressing up. No wonder his grades are poor.

Lin Shu listened and began to laugh.

Zhou Ya asked what she was laughing at.

Lin Shu said, “You just said he was handsome.”

Zhou Ya’s expression froze, then quickly twisted into one of disgust.

“Come on, that’s Xie Buchen!”

The delinquent brother from the next class.

A notorious figure throughout the school.

Sometimes when passing by the door of the neighboring class, students would tighten their uniforms nervously. A casual glance from a few lazy boys in the back row was enough to give the impression of impending doom—not a matter of handsomeness, but Xie Buchen and his friends seemed out of place at the school, giving off an unsafe, unclean vibe.

Even if they were handsome, under the "delinquent" aura, no decent girl would find them attractive.

Of course, some girls were exceptions.

They liked that kind of roguish, dangerous type.

But those girls definitely weren’t Zhou Ya or Lin Shu!

...

Lin Shu thought for a moment and said, “It’s not that bad. Maybe Xie Buchen is an honest and brave person?”

Zhou Ya nudged Lin Shu.

Lin Shu looked over.

Zhou Ya shook her head repeatedly. “What? Then you might as well keep obsessing over Ji Xingshen.”

“Is that necessary?”

Lin Shu’s aggrieved expression made Zhou Ya smile.

The two girls bickered again, only quieting once they got on the escalator.

Zhou Ya said she had heard some rumors about Xie Buchen—that his grades were quite good in middle school, otherwise he wouldn’t have gotten into this top school. Later, after his parents divorced and no one cared for him, living alone, he deteriorated. People often saw him with women wearing heavy makeup and mingling with men covered in tattoos.

Zhou Ya said he might as well become a nightclub promoter right after graduating high school.

Lin Shu became silent.

Zhou Ya fell quiet too.

The atmosphere grew heavy.

Once on the subway, they returned to school topics. Zhou Ya asked if Lin Shu was still managing the school magazine. Lin Shu said she had no time recently. Zhou Ya said someone was urging her to update.

Lin Shu blinked. “Update what?”

Zhou Ya also paused. “The serialized novel in the school magazine…”

Oh no, Lin Shu had completely forgotten about that.

Back home, Lin Shu opened her computer and found the serialized novel in the school magazine folder. Just reading two lines made her want to crawl into a hole.

The novel was hers.

Under the pen name Wei Shen...

A school romance mixed with time travel; the heroine was an ordinary college girl from the modern era who traveled back to the Republican period, meeting an aspiring revolutionary youth—whose prototype was, of course, Ji Xingshen. Amidst the flames of war, they loved and parted—a tale full of passion and sorrow...

The ending was unwritten.

As the author, Lin Shu couldn’t even recall her original plot.

Unbelievable.

Who in their right mind would be eager for such a melodramatic mess?

She felt both happy and unhappy. Thinking of the prototype being Ji Xingshen, she was suddenly filled with anger and frustration, unable to even tolerate her own novel.

“Ugh…”

Lin Shu tilted her head back and let out a strangled cry, then collapsed like a deflated balloon into her swivel chair.

So annoying.

The computer screen went dark. She sighed, turned it back on, deleted the school magazine folder, opened the online class page, and continued to immerse herself in the endless sea of learning...

Rebirth was thrilling, but what was the joy in becoming a struggling high schooler? The school magazine was a thankless chore she had no time for. Her priority now was catching up with her studies.

A student who doesn’t study isn’t a student at all.

...

The next day.

Having studied late, Lin Shu fell fast asleep on the school bus. Zhou Ya frowned at her lifeless friend but still propped her head up and recited vocabulary from her word book with one hand.

The driver braked suddenly.

Lin Shu jolted forward awake.

She adjusted her posture and resumed leaning on Zhou Ya to sleep.

The quiet chatter in front gradually caught her attention.

“...Yeah, I signed up with Ji Xingshen for an organization’s Saturday Olympiad class, but the materials didn’t include his. The teaching assistant called him out several times; apparently, he hadn’t paid. I saw his face turn red.”

“Huh? Isn’t his family rich?”

“Yeah, his backpack’s Prada—my sister said it cost thousands—and his phone’s the latest Apple model.”

“Well, I actually know someone who was in his middle school class. They say his family’s poor, only has two pairs of sneakers to wear back and forth, and when it rains, water even seeps out of the holes.”

“No way! Really?!”

“The other person seemed sincere and asked how Ji Xingshen suddenly became a rich and handsome guy when he started high school.”

“Uh… maybe due to relocation compensation?”

“My family went through relocation—I wouldn’t spend thousands on a backpack. My mom still works part-time at a supermarket.”

“Do you think his backpack and shoes might be knock-offs?”

“That can’t be. Damn, if that’s true, that’d be something else…”

...

The group ahead suddenly fell silent and returned to their seats.

Ji Xingshen boarded the bus.

This was the old street, filled with self-built houses left over from the last century. Few students here attended the top school; children whose parents failed to succeed locally rarely got into good schools. Many older streetwise youths lived here, making Ji Xingshen stand out starkly.

He seemed to catch bits of the conversation, glanced in their direction, and looked surprised upon seeing Lin Shu.

Usually, when Lin Shu was around, she wouldn’t let people openly gossip about him.

Though a tearful girl, she was no coward. She never neglected defending him.

Lin Shu feigned sleep.

Zhou Ya, however, lifted her head and gave Ji Xingshen a cold glare.

Others might not understand, but Zhou Ya knew well: Ji Xingshen’s transformation into a top student and “rich, handsome guy” was largely thanks to Lin Shu.

Using the Lin family’s sponsorship, while treating someone else’s daughter like a dog—Zhou Ya had long detested Ji Xingshen.