Drenched and disheveled, Lin Xiaoxiao stumbled into the hospital room, and the moment she laid eyes on Mu Yue, her tears began to fall in big, heavy drops. "Yueyue, thank goodness I still have you..."
"Shh, it's okay now," Mu Yue said in the softest, most soothing tone. "Look at you, your hair is all wet. Go take a quick shower first."
Lin Xiaoxiao sobbed with her mouth pouted, sniffling, "I can't believe there's even a bathroom here, wuwuwu..."
By the time she stepped out of the shower, her mood had steadied. Mu Yue was still in her online class, but a whole spread of snacks had been laid out for her one after another by Qianqian. Lin Xiaoxiao knew right then that her best friend hadn't overlooked her even for a second.
She sat quietly off to the side, accepting every bit of Mu Yue's kindness, and ate without making the tiniest sound that might disturb Mu Yue's class. Truth be told, she barely had an appetite, and her mind kept drifting off as she nibbled at the food.
Now that her head had cleared up a lot, replaying every scene from earlier made her feel worse and worse, her heart growing colder by the second. Leng Ming's friends had targeted and bullied her right in front of him, and he had looked on without lifting a finger. If it had been Mu Yue in his shoes, even if she hadn't dared to pick a fight with those people, she would have pulled her away and gotten her out of there. But Leng Ming had done nothing at all.
Worse still, when his friends asked if he was close to her, if he was the one who had brought her along, Leng Ming had denied it. He had said, "She tagged along on her own."
Lin Xiaoxiao would never forget the way those people looked at her in that moment, as if she was some shameless, hanger-on stray dog. And there was more—she had walked off alone, gotten soaked in the rain for ages, and Leng Ming hadn't even bothered to check on her, not a single message sent.
"I feel like such a joke..." The second Mu Yue finished her class, Lin Xiaoxiao spilled every last detail of what had happened that day, and summed it up with that line.
Mu Yue was fully in the devoted best friend role right then, and fumed on her behalf. "They're all awful! Especially Leng Ming, that total jerk! You are never talking to him again, do you hear me?"
To her surprise, Lin Xiaoxiao said right after, "I know he's a jerk too, but Yueyue, I... I think what they said might be sort of right. I am bad at everything. If I were him, I'd probably feel embarrassed to be around me too."
Haha. You really do end up laughing when you're completely speechless. She'd been all ready to stand up for her, furious on her behalf, and here she was making excuses for that guy, taking his side. Why didn't she ever ask that jerk to put himself in her shoes for once?
Mu Yue sighed to herself, trying to calm down. Right, that's how it is with someone totally wrapped up in a bad romance. Those blind, lovesick feelings are so hard to shake off. I should have seen this coming.
Mu Yue was holding back from snapping at her, but the four systems, who had been watching the whole drama unfold, were already going off in excited rants. This girl must have a screw loose, right? She's been treated this badly and she still wants to be with him? Comeback and the Villain System were so mad they itched to slap some sense into her, and even more so to hit that guy with a full set of the Dragon's Eighteen Palms.
Seeing that the first gentle nudge hadn't worked, Mu Yue quickly served up the second bowl of tough love. "Alright then, Xiaoxiao, what do you want to do now? Do you still want to stay with him?"
Lin Xiaoxiao's expression was tangled, as if she was wrestling with all sorts of thoughts in her head. Finally, she nodded with a pained look on her face, eyes glistening with tears as she stared at Mu Yue. "Yueyue, I'm really hopeless, aren't I..."
Mu Yue took a deep breath and laid out her next move. "If that's really what you want, I can help you."
"Really, Yueyue?" Lin Xiaoxiao's face lit up instantly, as if she had already forgotten every bit of the misery she'd just gone through.
"Of course I can." Not really, Mu Yue thought to herself, but said with a helpless little smile, "You're my best friend, after all."
Lin Xiaoxiao hugged her tightly, full of emotion, then looked at her with eager anticipation, waiting to hear what she had in mind.
Mu Yue held up one finger. "Step one, move out of the Leng family's house."
Lin Xiaoxiao had never expected that suggestion, and asked, confused, "Why?"
Mu Yue shook her head at her. "Because your relationship with him is totally unequal. You live in their house, right? So you feel grateful to the Leng family, like you owe him a huge favor."
Lin Xiaoxiao nodded.
"You keep thinking that since they've done you this big favor, it's okay if he treats you badly. But the more you let it slide, the less he cares about you. He knows you'll never do anything to rock the boat."
"Be honest with me. When he's mean to you, yells at you all the time, you don't get hurt at all? Do you actually like being talked down to, and never want to hear a nice word from him?"
Lin Xiaoxiao froze, then hung her head. Of course she wanted to hear him praise her, more than anything.
"It's the same with what happened today. He knew you'd just come back and follow him around like always, so even if he felt a little sorry, he'd never bother to apologize to you."
"Moving out does two things. First, it shows him how serious what he did was, makes him realize just how much he hurt you. Second, it tells him you don't need his family's charity anymore. The people you owe gratitude to are his parents, not him."
Mu Yue smiled with a knowing glint in her eyes. "And third? Distance makes the heart grow fonder. It's the old trick of playing hard to get." Not really, she thought to herself. What I'm actually doing is making all his ugly sides show the second you're not right under his nose.
Lin Xiaoxiao felt as if a fog that had clouded her mind had suddenly lifted. She looked stunned, then enlightened, and stared at Mu Yue like she was seeing her for the first time. Yueyue was so different now. She'd matured so much in just a short time, almost unrecognizable.
Right after that, Mu Yue told her to call her dad directly, tell him she didn't want to keep living under someone else's roof anymore and that she wanted to move out on her own. Lin's dad, relieved to hear nothing terrible had happened to her at the Lengs', agreed right away. It would just take him two days to find a new place for her, since he was currently staying in a tiny, run-down single rental unit that was far too cramped for the both of them.
Lin Xiaoxiao didn't think much of it, just told her dad she would crash at Mu Yue's place for a few days until he found the new apartment.
After hanging up, she also called the Leng family to let them know her plans, though she didn't mention she was moving out for good. She just said she'd stay at a friend's place for a couple of days. After all, she'd lived there for over two years, and it felt rude to leave without saying goodbye in person.
Once they had all that sorted, the two of them went out for dinner together, then headed back to school.
They got back to campus right before evening self-study started. The classroom was fairly quiet, most of the students were hunched over their desks, some cramming to finish their homework, others copying it off each other.
A few students noticed Mu Yue had arrived, and started exchanging looks with each other, but no one rushed over to talk to her. Still, curious glances kept drifting her way nonstop.
Mu Yue was wearing a white fleece coat. It was a bright, pure white, not the off-white shade that leans toward beige, a color that actually made her sallow skin look even more dull. The coat was beautiful, obviously a high-end piece, but...
Some of the girls nearby rolled their eyes quietly, thinking Mu Yue was totally wasting such a nice outfit. If they got to wear it, they would definitely pull it off way better than her.
It had only been a few days, so Mu Yue's physical state hadn't changed much. Her hair was dry and dull, her face still pale and worn out from being sick, and she was thin and sallow all over. She looked completely out of place in that fancy coat.
Comeback was already screaming in frustration. "I can't take this anymore! What is our host's taste?! Change it right now!" the Fox was flailing its paws so wildly the other three systems had to hold it back to keep it from popping out.
Mu Yue couldn't hear the Fox's frantic yelling. She flipped open her textbook and started reading. On the previous weekend, she had taken last year's monthly exam paper, and scored a total of 449 points. But it had been ten years since she was in high school, so she'd forgotten way too many of the physics, chemistry and biology formulas. The three science subjects combined only added up to 101 points, which was absolutely terrible.
English was something Mu Yue used at work, so she aced that exam too, scoring 145 points. As for the other two subjects, her Chinese reading comprehension answers were rigidly formulaic, and her essay came off as far too stilted, while her math score fell several points short of the 90-point passing mark.
At first glance, her grades seemed like they would meet her monthly exam targets, but Mu Yue knew full well that she had guessed her way through quite a few questions. Relying on luck was far too unreliable, so she had to make the most of her time to cram for her studies.
Even as she buried herself in her review, she made a point of pulling out her new phone several times. Before long, a flood of new messages popped up. The group that had previously told her to meet them at their usual spot after self-study on Monday night had clearly gotten her update, and changed the meeting time to right after that night's self-study session — they were clearly growing impatient.
But Mu Yue had no time to deal with them right then. She would sort everything out once class was over.
Lin Xiaoxiao was a day student, so she got to leave school one period earlier. As soon as she stepped outside, she spotted Qianqian, who waved her into the car to enjoy the air conditioning, showing no sign of driving off. Xiaoxiao felt a little confused. If the car was parked there instead of heading straight out, they must be waiting for someone — and there was no one else they could possibly be waiting for except Mu Yue.
But if Yueyue had asked for leave and wasn't staying in the dorm that night, why hadn't she come out with Xiaoxiao?
Before Xiaoxiao could voice that question, she caught sight of the stranger sitting in the backseat, and the words died in her throat entirely.
The middle-aged man in the back looked nearly fifty years old, his hair combed perfectly neat, and not a single brand logo could be seen anywhere on his clothes. He was not from China, and his sharp, deep-set features paired with his stern expression made him look incredibly intimidating. Xiaoxiao subconsciously softened the sound of the car door as she climbed in, and perched so lightly on her seat that she only rested half her weight on it.
"Hello, Miss Lin. I am Mu Yue's butler. Miss Mu has mentioned you to me." Carter spoke in fluent Mandarin as he greeted her. Seemingly polite on the surface, he did not offer his own name.
"H-h-hello..." Xiaoxiao did not pick up on the arrogance in his tone, stammered out her greeting, and did not dare make a single sound after that.
Qianqian had already swallowed hard outside the car before she worked up the nerve to climb back inside. Mu Yue had mentioned Carter the butler to her before she started school, saying that someone would come looking for her that evening — but the second Carter knocked on their car window at the school gate and showed her his identification, Qianqian's back had been soaked through with sweat.
She had always thought she was a fairly composed person, but under Carter's scrutiny, she barely lasted two rounds before she was a nervous, sweating mess. At the same time, though, she grew even more determined to seize this opportunity. Carter's appearance made it obvious that Mu Yue's status was far more extraordinary than that of an ordinary wealthy heiress. A chance this good might only come once in a lifetime.
The evening self-study period wrapped up without a hitch. The second class ended, Mu Yue pulled out her phone, looked at the nearly spammed feed of messages, selected the one sent by the group's ringleader, and replied with a perfectly pathetic, deadpan line: Please stop spreading these around. I get it. I'll be there.
At the very same time, Carter glanced down at his watch and spoke into the dead, still air of the car. "It's time. Call the police."
"Huh?" Qianqian blurted out, then immediately regretted it. The second before Carter's gaze could turn to her, she fumbled to dial the emergency number.
Their usual meeting spot was a perfect place — remote, no security cameras, and not too far from the girls' dormitory. Even better, there was a small slope there lined with thick, leafy trees that acted as perfect cover after dark, plus an old, disused equipment room that made the ideal spot to hide or trap someone.
Mu Yue had ignored them for days, so when the three girls and one boy saw her show up as meek as ever, they all broke into grins. Those grins were not just gleeful — they were relieved. In fact, their increasingly frequent messages and increasingly angry tone over the past few days had all been a front to hide how scared they were.
They were terrified that the rumors about Mu Yue being some rich heiress, or having found a powerful backer, were true. If she really had someone behind her and stopped letting them push her around, all the bad things they had done to her would come out sooner or later. But it looked like their fears were unfounded. A spineless doormat like her could never harden up that fast. One little threat and she came running right back. That realization made them absolutely giddy.
And now, Mu Yue had even more money on her. As long as she kept acting like she always had, too scared to say a word to anyone, the benefits they could squeeze out of her would definitely double!
"Whoa! Look at our little miss, acting all high and mighty, ignoring our messages for days!"
"I thought you'd finally grown a spine, but you're still just as much of a coward as ever, hahaha..."
"Ugh, look at this ugly thing. Such a nice top is totally wasted on her. Hey, Yueyue, I'm feeling a little cold. Why don't you lend me that jacket of yours?"
"Hand over your phone. Let me see it."
"No way! This is the latest model! It costs 20,000 yuan with the charger and headphones. C'mon, tell us the passcode!"
The four of them stared at Mu Yue greedily, shoving at her shoulders and prodding at her over and over, dragging her clothes against the rough walls of the old equipment room. When she just hugged her bag to her chest and said nothing, the boy wrenched the bag out of her hands, threw it on the ground, and stomped on it twice. He glowered at her fiercely, while one of the other girls roughly tore off Mu Yue's coat and slipped it on herself.
Mu Yue quickly told them the passcode, and the four of them were finally satisfied, starting to mess around with her new phone.
When they saw the balance in her WeChat wallet, they cackled in excitement, then pressured her to tell them her payment password. The full 20,000 yuan was siphoned off and split between them in no time, and they even added "voluntary gift" as a note under every single transfer.
After that, one of them remembered Mu Yue's bag, and dumped every last thing inside out onto the ground. All they found was some extra clothes — but by accident, they uncovered an old cell phone that was already recording audio.
That discovery pushed them over the edge. The boy immediately reared back to hit her, but the other three girls stopped him. Beating her would leave obvious marks, and a teacher doing dorm checks might notice it later, not to mention all the nosy busybodies among the other students.
They had a far better plan.
They were going to log into Mu Yue's accounts, post on the school group chats and the campus forum, and make her write that she was a cheap, shameless hussy, that she was born to be degraded, that she got off on being abused and would pay anyone who hurt her 100 yuan. Even more vulgar, disgusting lines poured out of their mouths, so awful that even a sworn enemy would shake their head and say it was way too far.
Mu Yue watched them quietly, watching them laugh and carry on, as she caught sight of the approaching police car lights in the distance. It was almost time to start her performance.
Those four idiots had completely forgotten that they were all already adults, hadn't they?
Malicious destruction of property, illegal money transfers, long-term verbal abuse and harassment, secret filming, extortion. Wow. They were never going to live that down.
Oh, you think there wasn't enough evidence? That they just deleted the recording on that old phone and smashed it to bits?
Ha, she had a special system cheat. Recording audio was the most basic function, she didn't even need a phone for it. The system could even capture full high-definition video footage for her.
