The moment she left, Li Zhaofeng dropped the pretense. “Shi Wan, we came to see you about something.”
“Wasn’t this supposed to be the scene where you disown me?” Shi Wan didn’t bother to look up from her phone.
“We’re your parents,” Li Zhaofeng snapped. “Are you really going to believe a few angry words? You don’t want to take care of us now?”
“Say what you came to say and get out,” Shi Wan replied flatly.
“We’ve got trouble at the company. Talk to Old Master Shen for us.”
Shi Wan stared. Her mind went straight to the Weibo post—his mess, her hands tied. “You caused this yourself. How do you have the face to come beg me for help?”
“It’s because of you,” Li Zhaofeng said, tone souring.
Shi Wan felt a flicker of disgust. “We go in and you leave on your own. Don’t try anything, or the next ‘Shen Jiao’ might as well be you.”
“You—” Li Zhaofeng sputtered and turned on Shi Jie. “Husband, I told you she can’t be disciplined! We never should have brought her back.”
“If we hadn’t brought her back, would you have her marry into the Shen family?” Shi Jie’s expression darkened. “From what I saw, the Second Madam clearly dislikes the idea. If Shi Qing married in, she’d have more than just petty cold shoulders to face.”
It dawned on Shi Wan how mistaken she’d been to come to the Shen house today.
“Qing’er, are you all right?” Shi Jie asked.
“Ah? I’m fine.” Shi Qing’s voice was thin. She still had the image of Shi Wan glaring at Shen Jiao burned in her head. As the parents left, she leaned close and hissed, “Mom, Dad—Shi Wan treats us like strangers.”
Shi Jie’s jaw worked, and he left without another word. Li Zhaofeng hesitated a moment, then dragged Shi Qing away.
Shi Wan watched them go from the second-floor balcony until the pair disappeared down the driveway. When she turned, she almost walked straight into a chest.
“What are you doing?” she snapped.
Shen Siyuan looked down at her with an unreadable expression. “If I’m so useless, would you—”
“You’re not useless.” Shi Wan cut him off, then added, with a small, teasing lift of tone, “Everyone’s good at something. Some people fail at studying but excel at other things.”
He smiled in the way that made the world tilt: slow, dangerous, and sure. “You’ve never given me a chance to prove it.”
She bristled. There was something about the way he said it—suggestive, deliberate. She hesitated, then said, “Are you flirting with me?”
He blinked, not expecting her bluntness. “Who else would say things like that to you?”
“No one.” She let the word drop like a dare.
His tension eased at once, his smile blooming as if even the air around him bent to make room. Their faces were close; breath braided with breath. He lowered his voice to silk. “Then do you want to try?”
Shi Wan stared at him. She’d been trying to console him, not start some…whatever this was turning into. “…You first.”
He sounded amused. She caught the question in his eyes. Shi Wan felt something loosen inside her—something that had been holding her back—and a laugh escaped, soft and incredulous.
Shen Siyuan leaned in, his fingertip resting at the corner of her mouth as if holding a secret. He was about to kiss her—
One second. Two seconds—
“What’s the matter?” he murmured.
“Save it for later,” she said.
“For why?”
“There’ll be more chances.”
He hesitated; then she said, “You fell in the water earlier. If you catch a cold, I don’t want to get sick too.”
Shi Wan surprised herself. She grabbed him, tipped up on her toes, and kissed him—short, decisive, like laying down a claim. “If you’re sick, I’ll be the one to cure you.”
He responded immediately, wrapping his arms around her waist, answering the kiss with a satisfied, possessive heat.
…….
At the hospital, Shen Jiao woke to the news that the Second Madam hadn’t punished Shi Wan. She flew into a tantrum.
The Second Madam swung open the door and accidentally smashed a vase beneath her heel. Her expression went hard. “What are you doing?”
“Mum!” Shen Jiao straightened and flung herself into complaint. “Why won’t you help me get revenge? Shi Wan went too far!”
“You’ve got a nerve.” The Second Madam’s voice was edged with disappointment. “Even if you dislike Shen Siyuan, you should have contained yourself. Pushing him into the water—are you trying to be like Shen Yu? Do you want to ruin everything?”
The Second Madam had already asked the servants for the full story and was grateful it hadn’t reached Old Master Shen. If that old man found out how precious his grandson had been treated, Shen Jiao might have gotten off worse than Shen Yu ever did.
Shen Jiao’s lips trembled. “I—my head just went hot. He’s so annoying. He shames the Shen name. People always ask if he’s my half-brother… I didn’t want to be connected to that—”
“Old Master Shen still favors that boy,” the Second Madam snapped. “You’re not blind to that. If you keep this up, you’ll be the one driven into a corner.”
“But Shi Qing told me—”
“You’re a member of the Shen family. Why would you listen to an outsider?” The Second Madam’s voice turned cold. “That Shi Qing is dangerous. She’s using you.”
“She wouldn’t—”
“Then why are you lying in a hospital bed?”
Shen Jiao faltered. At first she hadn’t planned to shove Shen Siyuan. It had been Shi Qing who’d promised there’d be no witnesses.
“No matter,” the Second Madam said, regaining composure. “We won’t let this go. That country girl dares humiliate you? I won’t let her off.”
“Do you have a plan?” Shen Jiao’s eyes shone with a mixture of hurt and triumph.
“Of course.”
…….
Back at Beinan University, Zheng Zhi sighed to the ceiling as the online lecture began. “Damn. It’s Lin Feng’s class again.”
“Don’t like his lectures?” someone asked.
“It’s not that. My PowerPoint isn’t done.”
Lin Feng’s classes weren’t flashy, but he taught things students hungered for. And his voice—no one could argue it wasn’t pleasant to listen to.
“I’ll finish it and send it to you,” Shi Wan said.
“Really? Thanks, Wanwan!” Zheng Zhi cheered, then the virtual classroom snapped on.
“Since some of you have been slacking off,” the teacher said, “let’s take attendance.”
Zheng Zhi sucked in a breath. “I almost skipped class today. Thank God I didn’t.”
“Mm,” Shi Wan replied.
“Hey, Wanwan, don’t you think Mr. Lin sounds different today?”
Shi Wan’s eyes flicked across the screen. “Maybe he has a cold.”
“Could be—this weather’s been crazy lately.”
Attendance took a few minutes; only one person was missing. As they settled in, Shi Wan’s phone buzzed. A message slid into view: “One more time and we break up for ten seconds!”
She smiled, tapped block, and the message thread disappeared. A moment later, a friend request popped up.
“I said ‘next time,’ and ten seconds are up,” a new message read.
Shi Wan typed back coolly: “Focus on class. Don’t get distracted.”
No more messages came.
After class, Zheng Zhi let out the breath she’d been holding. “I was worried Mr. Lin would call on me. Do you think he knows about students asking others to take attendance for them?”
“In college, that happens.” Shi Wan shrugged. “He’s been to college. He’d know.”
“You scared me,” Zheng Zhi said, punching a fist into her palm. “Some people told me they wouldn’t show up, but they were the ones who logged in on time!”
Shi Wan laughed. “Then let them keep pretending.”
“By the way, Wanwan, there’s a campus competition coming up. Want to enter? They say the prize is cash.”
“No thanks,” Shi Wan said.