Shen Wei triumphantly showed off the photo she’d taken. In it, Song Zhiqing looked like an angry squirrel scratching its head.
Song Zhiqing was about to explode. She lunged forward, shouting, “Delete it!”
Shen Wei was in an excellent mood. She nimbly dodged Song Zhiqing’s attempt to snatch her phone and said unhurriedly, “I’m not deleting it. You took a picture of me, so why can’t I take one of you?”
“You’re shameless!” Song Zhiqing fumed, powerless.
Just then, contestant number three, Ye Yuhuan, stealthily joined the fray. She raised her phone, silently displaying a picture of Shen Wei looking smug and mocking Song Zhiqing right after tearing up the sticky note. To be honest, it wasn’t an ugly photo.
It was just a tiny bit OOC.
Instead of a fake daughter from a small town struggling to adapt to high society, she looked more like a scheming villain with a sinister chuckle.
Of course, it also didn’t align with Shen Wei’s self-image as a patient, vengeful phoenix rising from the ashes.
So, sometimes, social death isn’t determined by how shocking a photo is, but by how the person in it feels.
“Delete it!” Shen Wei roared.
Ye Yuhuan returned her own words to her verbatim. “I’m not deleting it. You took a picture of Song Zhiqing, so why can’t I take one of you?”
Now Song Zhiqing was happy. She stopped chasing Shen Wei and even paused to tidy up her yoga mat, saying in a tone of profound understanding, “You don’t delete, I don’t delete. It couldn’t be fairer.”
Heh, as long as Shen Wei’s social death was worse than hers, she didn’t care.
At that moment, Shangguan Xianxian, who had been standing silently and elegantly to the side like a human ice bucket, suddenly couldn’t bear the loneliness and revealed her own phone.
Even Ye Yuhuan couldn’t help but widen her eyes.
Shen Wei being a black-hearted schemer was one thing, but Shangguan Xianxian, you with your honest face, how could you do something like this too?
Shangguan Xianxian looked a little embarrassed. Seeing everyone showing off their candid shots, she was moved by the atmosphere. The competitive spirit from their card game hadn’t yet dissipated, and in the end, she followed suit and exposed herself.
However, she wasn’t as brazen as the others, who shoved their photos in the victim’s face. As the most distinguished young lady present, she displayed the picture with the poise of someone presenting a work of art, but it undoubtedly intensified a certain someone’s social death.
If Song Zhiqing’s photo was an ineffective ugly shot, Shen Wei’s a standard one, and Ye Yuhuan’s a piece of personal dark history, then Shangguan Xianxian’s, strictly speaking, was like something a CP fan would create.
It was a picture from earlier, when Ye Yuhuan was helping Song Zhiqing with a sticky note. Song Zhiqing was sitting cross-legged on the floor, looking up, while Ye Yuhuan was half-kneeling, leaning in close. Commendably, Shangguan Xianxian had even paid special attention to the composition and lighting.
So, even though the subjects were two paper-note people, both Song Zhiqing’s deliberately evasive gaze and Ye Yuhuan’s focused, serious movements subtly created an atmosphere of pink, bubbly romance.
At the time, Shangguan Xianxian had simply found the scene beautiful and couldn’t resist taking a picture. Only after did she feel a pang of regret; taking candid photos was truly against her upbringing. She had planned to delete it later, but unexpectedly, it had now delivered the finishing blow in this candid-shot battle.
Song Zhiqing cleared her throat. Without the sticky note to hide behind, her blush was on full display. Even so, she spoke like a calm tomato, “Class is about to start. Let’s go.”
Shen Wei, of course, wouldn’t let her get away that easily. “Wow,” she exclaimed, completely abandoning her persona. “Song Zhiqing, your face is as red as a monkey’s butt.”
Hearing this, Song Zhiqing fled for her life.
She would, definitely, absolutely get into a fight with Shen Wei!
The other person involved, Ye Yuhuan, was much calmer. She even continued cleaning up the mess they’d left behind. Just before leaving, she said very politely to Shangguan Xianxian, “Could you send me a copy of that photo?”
Shangguan Xianxian naturally had no reason to refuse.
But she still asked curiously, “Are you two…?”
Ye Yuhuan shook her head gently. “We’re friends.”
“Oh,” Shangguan Xianxian said, feeling a strange sense of disappointment. “Just friends?”
Ye Yuhuan gave a light laugh, her peach-blossom eyes both charming and detached. She gave Shangguan Xianxian a deep look and said, “She has someone she likes.”
The moment Shen Wei heard that, she protectively pulled Shangguan Xianxian closer. Don’t think she didn’t know that Song Zhiqing had always had her eyes on her sister.
She immediately changed the subject. “About that photo of me, can you delete it? I can pay you for it.”
Ye Yuhuan was unperturbed. “Of course not. But I can send it to you.”
Shangguan Xianxian chimed in, “Send me a copy too.” Then she turned to Shen Wei and explained, “I’ve never seen you like that, Weiwei. I think it’s quite cute.”
Well, now Shen Wei wasn’t in a hurry anymore. If Shangguan Xianxian said it was cute, then it must be very cute. She even said magnanimously, “I’ll send you the picture of Song Zhiqing, too.”
Ye Yuhuan nodded hesitantly.
That squirrel was probably also very… cute (and hilarious).
Song Zhiqing had already sprinted back to the classroom. The next class was physics, which was to say, a class she didn’t want to listen to and couldn’t understand anyway.
She slumped onto her desk, her heart pounding in her chest. The heat in her face still hadn’t subsided; in fact, with the exertion, it had spread throughout her entire body.
Song Zhiqing wasn’t sure if her reaction was so strong because Shangguan Xianxian was there, or if it was simply because of the photo itself.
Not long after, Ye Yuhuan also arrived at the classroom. She seemed completely unaffected by the picture, standing quietly apart from the crowd like an isolated body of water.
A sudden gloominess settled in Song Zhiqing’s heart.
She buried her face in her arms, deliberately avoiding looking at the person approaching. But that person didn’t walk over to her; instead, she went straight to her own seat and sat down.
Song Zhiqing felt she should be relieved. After all, she was embarrassed right now and had no idea how to face her.
But when Ye Yuhuan really didn’t come over, the gloom in her heart only deepened.
A faint sense of injustice stirred within her: Why was it always her whose face flushed and heart raced, while Ye Yuhuan could remain so composed?
Did she really not think that these actions and behaviors could easily cause misunderstandings?
Or was it, just as Ye Yuhuan had said, that she had no such thoughts at all?
Damn it, so unfair.
Song Zhiqing’s anger shifted to Ye Yuhuan, who was completely oblivious. She opened her textbook, glanced at it, and realized she had already studied the material in advance; she just needed to listen to the teacher’s example problems. But even the examples weren’t essential; she could just work through the problems and summarize them herself.
With that thought, Ye Yuhuan rested her chin on her slender hand and lowered her gaze. At that moment, the phone in her desk drawer suddenly felt very present.
When that photo had appeared, Song Zhiqing had been mortified, even fleeing the scene. But Ye Yuhuan had felt a strange sense of joy—joy that there was a moment when she and Song Zhiqing looked so intimate.
But was this a manifestation of love?
Ye Yuhuan dismissed the possibility.
She felt no possessiveness toward Song Zhiqing. To her, Song Zhiqing was like a beautiful butterfly. If the butterfly chose to rest on her for a few seconds, she would be happy, but she had no desire for the butterfly to belong to her.
Yet, based on the vast number of romance novels she’d been forced to read in high school and from watching her mother’s desperate, all-or-nothing love for her father as a child, Ye Yuhuan had a basic understanding of love: it was the impulse to hide a rose in a castle.
She didn’t have that. As for whether she would in the future, she didn’t know, just as she didn’t know if this was a prelude to love. Ye Yuhuan simply felt that the moment captured in that photo was worth cherishing.
It was worth noting that the Shangguan family’s recognition banquet was in two days. With such a major piece of gossip brewing, many in the capital’s high society were waiting for the drama to unfold—mainly, the drama surrounding Guo Yu and Guo Siwan.
Their relationship with the Shangguan family was an open secret. They often threw their weight around using the Shangguan name, but they had never been given an official title. Families on the fringes of the circle might fear them, but those with a bit more standing all referred to Guo Yu as “Concubine Guo” behind her back.
One notoriously sharp-tongued scion had even mocked, “Calling her a concubine is a compliment. She’s never even stepped through the Shangguan family’s main gate. At best, she’s a mistress kept on the side.”
Later, a video of this scion committing a drunken assault was posted online, and the bartender he had beaten to a pulp suddenly found a miraculous second wind and sued him, landing him in prison.
Although no one found a connection between the bartender and Guo Yu, everyone tacitly agreed that she was behind it. As the saying went, in high society, motive was often the strongest evidence.
From then on, everyone privately called Guo Yu a venomous snake—patient, cunning, and fond of a single, fatal strike. Unless absolutely necessary, no one provoked this woman. Winning gained you nothing, but losing could cost you half your life.
Guo Yu was quite satisfied with her reputation. A venomous snake was a perfect match for a poisonous scorpion like Shangguan Chong.
And this poisonous scorpion, who had been circling her for so many years, was finally about to fall into her hands.
Guo Yu caressed her lower abdomen, a warm smile gracing her lips. Beside her, Guo Siwan felt a chill run down her spine.
Her trip abroad had not been fruitless. She now carried a child in her belly.
It was a pity this child wouldn’t live long; otherwise, it could have seen its mother become the mistress of the Shangguan family. But it had already done so much for its mother. It was for the best that it wouldn’t have to be born to see this filthy world.
Thanks to this child, Shangguan Chong had taken the drug that would render him permanently sterile, all for this one last hope.
Guo Yu had pleaded repeatedly to get a chance at conception, the reason being, of course, that she desperately wanted another child with Shangguan Chong.
Shangguan Chong had been reluctant at first. In his view, Guo Yu was too old, and a child born at her age might have health problems. But considering all the years Guo Yu had been with him, he eventually agreed.
However, since Guo Yu was in the picture, there was no need for anyone else.
Thus, aside from the eldest, Guo Yu, none of the other younger, healthier surrogates had succeeded. Shangguan Chong attributed this to fate. It wasn’t that he hadn’t investigated, but Guo Yu had gone to the West Coast right after the procedure, claiming the good sunlight there would lead to a healthier baby. The clinic was also one she had never been to before, giving her no opportunity to tamper with things.
Moreover, Shangguan Chong had always believed that Guo Yu was utterly infatuated with him and would never do anything to harm him. The woman had nearly gone mad after he abandoned her back then; that alone made it impossible for him to doubt her feelings.
A paternity test confirmed the child was Shangguan Chong’s bloodline. However, the drug was fundamentally a defective product. While it could stimulate sperm activity, the stimulated sperm were still not viable enough to produce a child that could be born. It had taken Guo Yu a long time to find this particular drug.
All these years accompanying Shangguan Chong on his quest for medical treatment, she hadn’t just been engaging in minor sabotage.
As for actually giving birth to Shangguan Chong’s child, Guo Yu covered her mouth with her hand and smiled. She looked at her beautiful, outstanding daughter and taught her, “Siwan, let Mommy tell you something. A person can’t have too many weaknesses. Mommy used to have many, and suffered a lot because of them. Later, I painfully pulled them out, one by one. Now, you’re the only one I have left. So you see, look how well we’re doing now.”
“Of course, this requires both of our efforts.”
“Tell Mommy, you won’t disappoint me, will you?”
Guo Siwan lowered her eyes, the luxurious clothes on her body feeling like shackles. She answered calmly, “Of course, Mother.”
“Good girl.”
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