The next day, when Shen Yelan walked into her classroom, she was surprised to find someone else sitting in the seat she'd occupied yesterday. Or rather, she realized, it was she who sat in his seat yesterday. That would explain everyone's reaction when she took that seat.
The person had his head down on the desk, face buried in his arms, so she couldn't see who it was. But she noticed the old watch with worn-out straps on his wrist and knew exactly who it was.
Shen Yelan looked away and took the empty seat beside him.
As if noticing someone had sat next to him, he lifted his head slowly and pulled his headphones down around his neck. When he saw who'd sat next to him, a frown immediately creased his forehead.
"Scram," he said in a low, threatening voice.
The rest of the class stared at them. Everyone had seemed to expect this reaction. Even if there were no other empty seats in this class, no one could sit next to Brother Yang.
Shen Yelan raised an eyebrow, resisting the very strong urge to smack the back of his head like she used to do. Instead, she ignored him completely, looked away, and took out an old book from her bag. The cover was faded, so no one could tell what book it was, but if someone saw the content inside, they would have realized it was in a foreign language.
She crossed her legs, leaned back in her chair, and started reading.
Yang Guiye stared at her in disbelief as she crossed her feet and began to read the book. He tilted his head and looked at Liu Ting up ahead as if asking, 'could you believe this?'. Liu Ting shook her head, staring at Shen Yelan like she'd completely lost her mind.
Annoyed, Yang Guiye grabbed the book Shen Yelan was reading, but before he could snatch it for her, a pale hand grabbed his wrist and held it tightly. He raised his eyes and was met with dark gray ones staring at him coldly.
"Let go," Shen Yelan said in a soft voice void of any emotion.
Yang Guiye blinked and tried to pull his hand away, but realized he could not move his hand at all. He looked back at Shen Yelan in surprise, clearly not expecting her to be this strong. A moment later, he let go of the book, and in return, Shen Yelan let go of his hand. He pulled his hand back quickly, staring at the red handprint now visible on his skin. He flexed his fingers, still processing what had just happened, then looked back at Yelan, who just happened to be unwrapping a lollipop. His eyes fell on the lollipop, and a dazed look appeared on his face.
Noticing his gaze on her, Shen Yelan tilted her head and looked at him. Then, she took out another lollipop and held it out to him.
Yang Guiye did not move and stared at the lollipop. Thinking he did not want it, Shen Yelan pulled her hand back, but suddenly, the lollipop was snatched from her hand. Shen Yelan blinked at her empty hand and then at the boy who had immediately stuffed the lollipop in his mouth. She hadn't even seen when he had unwrapped it.
The corner of her eye twitched, but she did not think much of it and turned her attention back to the book while she put the lollipop in her mouth.
Shen Yelan didn't know it yet, but she would soon regret that casual gesture.
She was still thinking of Yang Guowei as that little boy who used to follow her around everywhere, begging her to teach him martial arts. She'd forgotten that a decade had passed and that little boy had grown up.
Yang Guiye watched her from the corner of his eye, fists clenched under the desk.
It was one thing that this girl had a lollipop that tasted exactly like the ones he used to steal from his little aunt's stash. But why was she even reading a strange book just like his aunt? He watched her lazily rest her chin on her palm and flip pages so fast it looked like she was barely reading them at all. She watched her move the lollipop in her mouth and tuck loose strands of hair behind her ear.
Slowly, the image of the girl blurred and was replaced by a beautiful woman, reading a book. She was wearing a white silk dress that fluttered in the wind. Suddenly, she looked up at him and smiled.
"What are you up to now, little ghost?"
The ringing bell snapped him back to reality.
Yang Guowei looked at Shen Yelan one last time, then turned away and put his headphones back on.
The rest of the class, who had just seen everything, looked at Shen Yelan with a new view. It seemed like she wasn't someone they could mess with. Even Brother Yang had to give way to her. But there were still some idiots who had a death wish and were not scared of causing trouble.
By the end of the day, the whole school was buzzing about the interaction between Shen Yelan and Yang Guowei. Her photos were already circulating all over the school forum, and for two very specific reasons.
First, Yang Guowei was part of the infamous T3, aka the Top Three Troublemakers of No. 17 High School. Any news related to him would always appear on the form. But the second reason, and the more important one, was because of the school's newest beauty. Everyone had heard yesterday that a new girl had transferred in. Now that she'd had a run-in with Yang Guowei, the gossip mill was working overtime. Some students were already shipping them together. Someone had even edited a picture of the two together and posted a poll asking "How long before they end up together?"
"Who is this goddess??"
"Haven't you heard? It's the new girl who joined yesterday."
"I have seen her in real life. These pictures aren't doing her justice."
"No way...Brother Yang actually backed down???"
"Even if you want to exaggerate things, at least don't lie."
"That's right, who do you think Brother Yang is?"
Shen Yelan, who was unaware of all of this, was currently in the taxi with her eyes closed. She seemed paler than usual and had a thin layer of sweat forming on her.
Zhao Zhan's worried gaze flicked towards her through the mirror. "Boss, do you want to go to the hospital?"
"No need. I'll be fine in a little while," she responded, not opening her eyes.
She had already taken her medicine and was waiting for it to take effect. It was during her last class that she had first started to feel the pain in her heart. This was one of the symptoms of her condition. In difficult situations, she would even lose the strength in her body and, worse, lose consciousness. Thankfully, they had been able to make medicine to help alleviate her condition, because of which she hadn't had her fainting spells for three years now. But this was not a cure. She still had to figure out all the components of the drug to make an antidote.
Suddenly, the car stopped, making her body jerk forward. Thankfully, she had her seatbelt on, or she would have flown forward. But the impact also made the pain in her chest increase.
BANG!
Her eyes snapped open, revealing a hint of red in the corners.
"Boss, are you alright?" Zhao Zhan asked in panic.
"I am fine. What happened?"
"That car came out of nowhere. I couldn't avoid them in time," he told her, but then paused. "Boss, it's Shen Qian."
Shen Yelan looked ahead to see a green sports car before them. Next to it, two young boys were standing, looking angry. One of them was Shen Qian. Shen Yelan recognized that car as the one she had seen in the Shen family estate.
"Go deal with it,"
"Yes, boss."