Chapter 1

At Yuying Elite High, the halls swarmed with students in crisp, tailored uniforms.
But even with matching outfits, you could spot the differences. Some wore delicate bracelets, their uniforms perfectly pressed by servants. Others had not a single accessory and wore scuffed shoes. Their expensive uniforms had grown frayed at the seams for lack of care.
Some kids kept their heads down, shuffling nervously, hoping not to attract trouble; others swaggered through the halls, uniforms disheveled, radiating the kind of confidence that only comes from being the biggest problem in the room.
But today, someone even more out of place appeared on campus. Not that anyone stared, she wasn’t in school uniform, but even so, she was just... too plain. Not worth the energy of a second look.
A baseball cap shadowed her face, her clothes clearly the cheapest money couldn’t buy. This was someone from an entirely different world, no reason for anyone to care.
The disciplinary director walking beside her kept silent, too. He couldn’t be bothered to try, after all, she was just another special-admission student. God knows why she ended up transferring as a Grade 11 Class A student, maybe some shareholder trying to “help the poor.” In any case, she was useless to him, so he was happy to phone it in.
Suddenly, a commotion broke out up ahead, interrupted by the sound of a basketball smacking the floor. The director was about to scold them but, on closer look, saw a familiar face at the center of the group.
A horde of kids had blocked the hallway and turned it into their own personal court. The boy in the center wore his uniform loose and unbuttoned, looking nothing like he belonged in a suit. He tossed the ball lazily to someone else, who caught it, only to blanch as he saw the famously fearsome director watching from nearby.
The boy at the center looked up, catching the director’s gaze head-on.
The director cleared his throat. “Ahem. Chen Huo, the hallway isn’t your personal stadium. Go to the sports field if you want to play.”
Chen Huo replied with a lazy, “Oh, I heard you.” Not that he sounded the least bit sincere.
The director pretended not to notice his flippant attitude, nothing like his usual routine, where he’d go to war over even the smallest infraction.
As the group watched the director leave, someone whispered, impressed, “Brother Chen, you really are something, guy won’t even open his mouth to you!”
The director had connections and the support of several major school shareholders, so usually he didn’t spare the students’ feelings. Chen Huo, however, was an exception; his family was one of the shareholders, which made him untouchable. The director could only look the other way and hope for the best.
Chen Huo still looked half-asleep, not bothering to respond.
Suddenly someone piped up in surprise, “Hey, why’s the director got a girl with him?”
Just then, Chen Huo glanced up and caught sight of the director, and the unmemorable silhouette beside him.
Chen Huo paid it no mind, forgetting the moment he turned away.
Yun Zhuoqing followed the indifferent director on a full tour of the campus. Yuying was even bigger than she expected; she’d never dreamed a school could be this massive.
Setting foot in this place, so utterly out of her league, didn’t faze Yun Zhuoqing in the slightest.
She’d had a strange dream not long ago. She dreamt she was an extra, nameless, barely there, in some cliché drama of a novel. She remembered nothing of the book’s plot on waking, just the certainty that she was an extra. All the melodrama would play out in this very school, Yuying Elite High, the place she was now transferring into.
It took no effort for Yun Zhuoqing to come to terms with being just the background extra. She accepted it quite happily, actually; this meant all the cliché drama would miss her completely. Honestly, what could be better?
“All right, uniforms and textbooks, you’ll have to pick those up yourself. I’m done.” After his initial “let me show you around,” this was the second and last thing the director bothered to say to her.
“One last thing,” he added, sounding pointed. “You can’t afford to mess with any of the young masters or heiresses here, so just keep your head down and study. Don’t get any wild ideas.” And with that, he left.
Yun Zhuoqing ignored the director’s instructions. She didn’t go pick up uniforms or books, instead, she went back to her dorm, changed clothes, then snuck out through a surveillance blind spot near the back gate.
What she didn’t know was that, not long after she left, this supposedly empty spot had new visitors.
“Bro, you gotta trust me, this shortcut I found a couple days ago? No one else knows about it. We can totally sneak out, no problem.” Yue Hao’s excited voice died instantly as he caught sight of the grass, clearly trampled flat by several feet.
Chen Huo snorted. “No one else, huh?”
Face aflame, Yue Hao mumbled, “It was untouched when I found it a couple days ago...”
Suddenly Chen Huo’s sharp eyes lit up, and he quickly tossed his school jacket to Yue Hao, shoving him. “Security’s coming, go, distract them!”
Yue Hao wanted to protest that they should sneak out together, but a security guard had already broken into a run. “Hey! You there, what are you doing? Stand right where you are!”
He glanced back, Chen Huo had already vaulted over the wall. All he could do was try not to cry as he led the guards away.
Unaware that her escape route was now under heavy guard, Yun Zhuoqing checked her phone, messaged an address, and waited at the corner for her contact to appear.
She didn’t have to wait long, the person she wanted soon arrived.
He was taller than Yun Zhuoqing, but slender for his age. He walked up silently, handing over exactly what she needed.
She reached out for the paper, “Transfer Approval Form,” signed and ready, but it wouldn’t budge. He didn’t let go.
“...Sis.” His voice was rough and tight in her ear. “Why are you transferring to Yuying without telling Mom and Dad?”
He couldn’t understand why she’d hide something this big from their parents, or why she’d make him forge the signature. Not that he minded, exactly, it was the secrecy that left him uneasy.
Yun Zhuoqing looked at him, voice mild. “Let go.”
The boy let go immediately, almost unconsciously.
She slipped the form away without answering, and just told him, “You should focus on your studies.”
His breathing quickened. In a rush, he grabbed her shoulders and begged, eyes shining, “Sis, are you leaving me? I can’t do this without you, not you, not even Mom and Dad... please, you can leave them, but you can’t leave me. I, I...”
No matter what he said, Yun Zhuoqing’s expression stayed serene, not a flicker of emotion.
Shoulders slumped, eyes rimmed red, the boy rested his head gently on her shoulder.
“Don’t abandon me...”
She hadn’t told him a thing, but the truth was clear, his sister was leaving home for good.
Yun Zhuoqing wasn’t the true-born daughter of the Yun family. Everyone in the house knew it, though no one spoke aloud.
Yun’s parents never admitted to any of it; if anyone asked, they always insisted it was just a rumor. But Yun Yanqing always knew his sister wasn’t really his sister by blood, which meant, sooner or later, she’d have to leave him.
He just never thought that day would come so fast. It caught him completely off guard.
But even then, he still did as his sister asked, fudged their parents’ signatures just to show her he could behave, that he’d never be the one slowing her down.
So, please, could you not leave me behind?
Yun Zhuoqing patted his head and gently nudged him off her shoulder.
Yun Yanqing’s eyes turned red at the rejection and he stared at her, refusing to blink, terrified that if he did he’d lose it and cry in front of her.
Zhuoqing took off her own cap and set it on his head, hiding his eyes as her own resolve finally broke.
“I’m going now.” She stood, not expecting him to see her off, Yanqing just stood there like stone.
Zhuoqing knew this was how it would go; she didn’t take it to heart. At most, Little Yan would just sniffle a bit. Not like he could do anything else.
And tears, well, that was never going to change Zhuoqing’s mind. Not even from the little brother who’d trailed after her since they were kids.
Yun’s parents were both disasters as parents, even to their biological son, Yanqing. If it hadn’t been for Zhuoqing, his older sister by a year, looking out for him, Little Yan probably wouldn’t have survived this long. Those two wouldn’t take their son to the hospital for a high fever just to save money, let alone handle any of the other big or small stuff.
Yanqing stood in the street like a stray, not moving an inch. The ground was dry, but it was being darkened by the drops falling there.
Now hatless, Zhuoqing’s carelessly bundled hair came tumbling down. She didn’t bother with it, she was headed to the salon anyway.
As she cut through a narrow alley, she heard grunts and the thud of fists hitting flesh.
Looking back, she saw a group of guys holding someone down and beating him senseless, hurling insults as they kicked him:
“Weren’t you supposed to be tough, Young Master Chen? All that big talk, but now you’re just a punching bag. You some kind of poser?”
“Hahaha, boss, this is wild, never thought we’d get to see Chen Huo trashed like this! Let’s see who dares mess with us now!”
With that, they landed a few more hard kicks on the guy on the ground.
The ringleader squatted, yanked the guy up by his hair, and smirked at the face that had stolen his girlfriend, the face now swollen and battered. He burst out laughing.
“Hahaha! Chen Huo, Young Master Chen, still think you can seduce my girlfriend?”
Chen Huo had been ambushed by these nobodies, hands and feet tied. He’d never been this humiliated; the taunts only made his blood boil.
“I…when did I ever…seduce…”
“Oh? Gettin’ mouthy now?” The guy didn’t wait, just raised his hand to keep beating him, when a sudden crash interrupted from behind.
Someone had banged on a metal barrel by the side of the alley with a stick. The glare behind her hid her face; they only heard her voice:
“A fight? Count me in.”