4 004

The entire day.

The complex gazes Jiang Yue kept casting her way—too many to count on both hands—only served to confirm Shen Yi’s suspicions.

Burning with shame and anger.

That was the state Shen Yi was in. And it wasn’t until school let out that Song Yang realized he had actually upset her.

Today was Shen Yu’s birthday, and naturally, Song Yang was to attend. He had planned on hitching a ride with the Shen family car straight from school, even telling his own driver not to pick him up that evening.

But when Shen Yi opened her car door only to find Song Yang curled up in the backseat, yawning and complaining about how long he’d been waiting, demanding she hurry up and get in, her fury reached its boiling point.

Shen Yi enunciated his name, syllable by syllable: "Song. Yang."

"Yeah?"

Song Yang looked up, completely oblivious to the impending disaster.

The next second, she grabbed his arm and hauled him out of the car.

The Shen family driver was long used to this. The young miss and young master Song getting into petty fights every three days and major ones every five was a standard routine, hardly surprising. It always ended with the young miss throwing a tantrum and young master Song pestering her relentlessly, indifferent to her cold shoulder until things smoothed over...

Wait.

How did the young miss actually drag young master Song out of the car?

She climbed in herself, and like a cat with its fur standing on end, she shrieked at him, "Song Yang! We are through!"

The driver: "???"

"Through"? After all these years of bickering, this was the first time that word had come up. What could be so serious? The driver didn't get it.

Neither did Song Yang. What had he even done?

Just then, as luck would have it, Shen Yu appeared. He glanced at Song Yang outside the car, already accustomed to their squabbles. "Alright, get in the car and finish your argument. Don't make a scene out here."

Shen Yi turned her face away, refusing again: "No."

Shen Yu tried to persuade her, but the moment he saw the unshed tears rimming his sister's eyes, his smile vanished. He turned a fierce, murderous glare toward Song Yang, his expression clearly saying: *Get lost.*

Song Yang: "?"

What the hell? Who did he offend?

*

"Can you tell me what’s actually going on between you and Song Yang?" Shen Yu looked at Shen Yi, serious. "Consider it my birthday wish."

Shen Yi remained unmoved. "Haven't you heard? If you say a birthday wish out loud, it won't come true."

Shen Yu: "..."

When it came to eloquence, the number of times he’d beaten Shen Yi over the years could be counted on one hand. But this clearly wasn't the time to win an argument.

Shen Yu stole a glance at her, confirming her mood had softened—at least she wasn't on the verge of tears anymore—and breathed a sigh of relief.

Forget it. It was normal for a younger sister to have secrets she didn't share with her brother.

Shen Yu secretly pulled out his phone and messaged her best friend.

[Classmate Meng, she’s in a bad mood today. It might be a fight with Song Yang. Please keep her company tonight.]

The reply was instantaneous.

[I know. I just ran into Song Yang. I’ll bring him along.]

*

In the Meng family car.

Meng Zihan watched Song Yang, who was sulking and rambling about how fickle Shen Yi was. She gave a polite, warning smile. "Song, you know that Shen Yi is my best friend, right?"

"Huh?"

Song Yang didn't understand. Isn't that obvious? If it weren't for Shen Yi, how could he possibly have any connection to a dignified socialite like Meng Zihan? But faced with that gentle yet warning gaze, he swallowed his retort and simply nodded. "I know."

Meng Zihan continued, "So, even if you bad-mouth Yiyi in front of me, I will always stand firmly on her side."

Song Yang really wanted to snap back. He wanted to ask where he’d ever bad-mouthed her—her temper was clearly three times worse than his—but remembering he was currently in the Meng family’s car, he kept his mouth shut.

Fine. He didn't want to argue with Meng Zihan, too; their united front would be even more troublesome.

His reaction satisfied Meng Zihan. "Yiyi is just straightforward and can't hide her feelings. She says whatever is on her mind. She actually has a very good temper."

Meng Zihan was telling the truth. Shen Yi was someone who responded to soft tactics but resisted force; if you spoke to her nicely, she’d listen to anything. It was just a pity that Song Yang was also a hard-headed person. When the two collided, friction was inevitable.

Song Yang: "..."

*Heh, talk about rose-colored glasses.*

The school wasn't too far from the Shen residence. Meng Zihan checked the time. "Song Yang, I won't beat around the bush. Since you two were fine going to school together this morning, let me ask you this: did anything unusual happen today?"

Song Yang was annoyed. He hated talking to these Class A students. These legendary geniuses had a way of interrogating people with the terrifying aura of a headmaster.

Despite his annoyance, he honestly admitted to the incident where he’d copied the wrong name on an assignment, but Meng Zihan dismissed it. Clearly, if that happened, Shen Yi would only mock him, not get angry to this degree.

Song Yang waved his hand. "Then that's it."

"That's it?" Meng Zihan found it strange. "You mean you just stood outside in the hall for detention and daydreamed all day? Nothing else happened?"

That question made Song Yang pause. He pursed his lips and finally said, "Oh, a girl in our class came to talk to me. We chatted for a bit."

"Who?"

Meng Zihan and Song Yang met each other's eyes, speaking in unison.

"Jiang Yue?"

"Her name is Jiang Yue."

...

Having changed into a simple, impeccable black dress, Shen Yi shoved her carefully prepared gift into Shen Yu's arms and retreated to a corner, silently stuffing her face with small cakes.

Shen Yu couldn't stop worrying about her. After greeting his friends, he came over and squeezed onto the sofa beside her.

Then, a figure appeared. Shen Yu coughed loudly. Shen Yi looked up, and a smile finally graced her face.

"Wen Que!"

Shen Yu shouted the newcomer's name first, waving him over. He looked calm, but inside, he was practically weeping with joy. *Thank goodness! My savior is finally here!*

The young man wore a light green suit, a slightly bold color amidst the sea of black, white, and gray, but it suited him perfectly, softening the coldness in his eyes and making him seem more approachable than usual. He walked over naturally upon hearing the call.

Wen Que offered Shen Yu a polite, distant smile that didn't reach his eyes. "My parents couldn't make it, so they asked me to represent them. Happy birthday."

"Understood, understood. It’s no big deal anyway."

Shen Yu stood up, pushed Wen Que into the seat he’d just vacated, and clutched his stomach, putting on a performance: "Oh, my stomach! It hurts! I’ll come find you two in a bit!"

With that, he slipped away as if his feet were greased.

Now, only Wen Que and Shen Yi remained.

Shen Yi’s heart raced uncontrollably. She gave Wen Que a sweet smile. "Wen Que, long time no see."

*I missed you so much.*

Of course, she couldn't say that out loud.

Wen Que’s gaze remained fixed on her face. They stared at each other in silence until, in the slightly awkward atmosphere, Wen Que spoke first: "...Are you unhappy?"

His tone was uncertain. Clearly, because Shen Yi was smiling so sweetly now, he wasn't sure if the pouting expression he’d seen when he walked in had been a hallucination. After all, in his memory, Shen Yi was always bright and vibrant, like the sun, just as she was now.

Shen Yi didn't want to talk about it, truly. But the person asking was Wen Que—the person she’d liked since childhood, her fiancé, the person she’d imagined spending her whole life with a thousand times over.

She didn't want to lie to him.

After a moment’s hesitation, she nodded and admitted, "I had a fight with Song Yang today."

"Whose fault was it?"

Wen Que was always like this—his approach to life was as cold and precise as a program, always cutting straight to the heart of the matter.

"His fault!" Shen Yi answered without hesitation. Then she paused, her tone deflating like a punctured balloon: "Well, I was wrong first, but not to him."

Wen Que didn't speak, just watched her quietly, waiting for her to explain.

Shen Yi swallowed hard. *Fine, she was hopeless; she could never refuse Wen Que.*

That was why, whenever she got into a sulk since she was little, and the adults couldn't resolve it, it always fell to Wen Que. Everyone knew that the fearless Miss Shen’s greatest fear was Wen Que ignoring her.

Finally, Shen Yi squeezed her eyes shut and took a leap of faith. "There’s a girl in our class. She’s nice, she even helped me once, but I... I just don't like her. Song Yang seems to have become close to her, and I got really angry."

Except for that absurd, embarrassing dream, the rest was the truth.

"Then what are you struggling with?"

Wen Que lowered his lashes, his jade-like fingers resting on Shen Yi’s hand, stopping her from the near self-harming way she was digging her nails into her palm.

There was no need to punish herself just because she was angry at Song Yang. Unless... she cared about Song Yang very much. That was something he couldn't allow.

Shen Yi hung her head, looking aggrieved. "I... I feel like I'm in the wrong. That girl didn't do anything wrong; I shouldn't dislike her."

"What's wrong with that?"

Wen Que patted her head, a trace of indulgence in his expression that no one else would ever notice. "Don't be so hard on yourself. There is love at first sight, and there is liking someone for no reason; there should also be dislike for no reason. It’s perfectly normal."

"Judge by actions, not by thoughts. If you judge by thoughts, no one is perfect. As long as you don't do anything substantively wrong, how you feel about others in your heart is your own freedom."