chapter 4
The school had set aside an entire building for the student council. Since its members were the heirs of major business groups, it was the most luxurious place on campus.
Walking through it, I savored the pleasures that money and power could provide.
I had once been a poor girl struggling to survive at the bottom of this city. Now I stood at the very peak of its pyramid of wealth.
The elevator went straight to the top floor. Beside a wall of curved, floor-to-ceiling windows, the heirs from the highest echelon of the school had gathered around a bank of sofas.
Shen Ji and Wen Yixuan occupied the seats of honor.
In front of Shen Ji, none of Wen Yixuan’s classroom arrogance remained. She nestled weakly against his chest like a delicate flower in need of protection.
Shen Ji stroked her hair, his eyes full of concern.
“She actually came. Got some nerve, doesn’t she?” someone said with an amused laugh when he saw me.
Everyone turned to look.
Shen Ji’s gaze was vicious, his handsome face dark with an approaching storm.
Back at No. 1 High School, I had heard people say the Shen family’s crown prince was handsome enough to enter show business. Seeing him in person, I realized they had not exaggerated.
I looked him over appreciatively, then surveyed the other council members. Most of these heirs were easy on the eyes.
“Don’t you know how to greet people? Where are your manners?” A boy tapped a baseball bat against the floor, his lips curling with malice.
I had read his file. Zheng Yanjun was the Zheng Group’s youngest son, Shen Ji’s childhood friend, and one of this school’s three most handsome boys.
But the Zheng family had been in decline for years. Whatever status he enjoyed at this school came from Shen Ji.
He made the opening attack while everyone else watched coldly, waiting for a show.
I stood alone in the center of the hall without losing an ounce of presence. In a chilly voice, I asked, “You expect me to greet you? Who are you supposed to be–someone important?”
Remembering my identity, Zheng Yanjun’s smile froze.
“Why so quiet? Weren’t you demanding a greeting? Introduce yourself first, then, so I can see who I’m dealing with.” I had no intention of letting him off and pressed him with every word.
Even his father would not dare speak to me this way. The boy had swallowed a little of Shen Ji’s piss and thought that made him powerful.
“Qiu, Yanjun was only joking,” Wen Yixuan said softly in his defense.
Zheng Yanjun immediately gave her a grateful look, while Shen Ji’s expression grew even darker.
“He was joking? My mistake. How about I make that kind of joke with you every day from now on?”
Wen Yixuan pretended to be frightened. “Please don’t be like this.”
“We don’t even know which of us was born first, so stop calling me your older sister.” Impatience and disdain colored my voice.
“My family raised you all these years and never treated you poorly. Now, when someone bullies me, you side with an outsider instead of helping me. What an ungrateful little ingrate.”
Wen Yixuan immediately burst into tears.
Shen Ji could not bear to see his beloved suffer. His fist clenched at his side as he barked, “Shut your mouth!”
If I had not been a girl, that fist would probably have struck my face already.
“Wen Qiu, listen carefully. Yixuan is my fiancee. If you dare bully her, don’t blame me for what happens next.”
I laughed. “And what, exactly, will happen next?”
“You don’t want to know.” The murderous intent in his eyes was undisguised.
In Jingdu, the Shen family’s crown prince needed only say the word to make someone disappear.
But a member of the Wen family would never appear on the list of people he was free to touch.
I understood his threat and could no longer hold back my laughter.
No one present knew what I found so funny. Some looked as if they were beginning to question my sanity.
They had clearly grown used to Shen Ji talking like an overbearing CEO in a cheap romance.