Chapter 17

During club activities, Yun Zhuoqing handed Wen Shuran the complete answer sheet.
Wen Shuran accepted it with a smile. “Thanks for the trouble.”
At first, seeing that they were photocopies, Wen Shuran hadn’t thought much of it, he even joked, “You went to all this trouble to copy them? You could have just given me the originals.”
But Yun Zhuoqing’s reply wiped the smirk off his face: “It wasn’t a bother. I didn’t do the copying myself.”
“…Oh? Well then, your friend went through all the trouble.” He chuckled.
Then, as if nothing was wrong, he added, “But these copies are a bit fuzzy. If you could bring me the handwritten version next time, I’ll type it all up then.”
“The handwritten ones are with Yun Gu.” Yun Zhuoqing hadn’t expected Wen Shuran to ask for the original either. She’d actually just sent a picture of it to Yun Gu, but a couple of days ago, he showed up and traded the original from her, saying only the real thing counted as sincere.
She still wasn't sure why she owed him a favor in the first place, but it was too petty to argue about. She just hadn’t expected both Wen Shuran and Yun Gu to be fixated on the original so much.
“I’ll tell him to give them to you, then.” After thinking it through, she offered up the easiest solution.
Wen Shuran flashed another easy smile. “No rush. I’ll ask him directly.”
That worked for her, less hassle if she didn’t have to deal with Yun Gu, so Yun Zhuoqing let it lie.
But Wen Shuran seemed to catch something from her blank expression and teased, “Yun Gu is kind of a pain, huh? How did you two meet?”
So Yun Zhuoqing recounted what happened on hand-in day.
“Ah, got it.” Wen Shuran acted like it was just small talk, not genuinely interested.
“He’s from the Yun family. Technically just a branch relative, but he grew up as close to the family head as the real heirs, so he’s a bit arrogant, not just with us, with everyone. Don’t let it get under your skin.” Wen Shuran tried to reassure her.
“Still, he’s not a bad guy at heart.” He tacked on, a touch softer.
But Yun Zhuoqing latched onto something else: “Yun family? You mean like the richest Yun family?”
Wen Shuran looked a little surprised. “Yup. You’ve heard of them?”
Yun Zhuoqing shared their surname, but Wen Shuran knew there wasn’t any real family connection. Her parents would never have been tied to those Yuns, not if they’d spent all these years in that little city.
Still, he never expected Yun Zhuoqing to know that much about the Yun family. As far as he knew, she’d never shown any interest in the whole rich-and-powerful scene.
Maybe… she just cares because they're the richest?
Wen Shuran glanced down, saying nothing.
“Heard about them, that’s all,” Yun Zhuoqing dodged, ready to wrap things up, but Wen Shuran suddenly offered, “If you’re curious about the Yun family, I actually know quite a bit.”
She paused, then nodded. “Would you mind telling me?”
“Of course,” Wen Shuran said with the sort of warm, gentle smile that could melt snow.
“The Yun family’s setup’s actually simple. The family head is a ruthless operator, the branch families all behave themselves, the only real troublemaker is Yun Gu’s father. He’s the head’s younger brother, but no ambition at all. He’s spent his whole life trying to curry favor with his big brother, he even gave up his own son just to please him.” As he spoke, Wen Shuran motioned for Yun Zhuoqing to sit on the couch beside him, then settled down next to her.
"They say the Yun family's true heiress was stolen by a servant right after she was born. As if that wasn't enough, the servant even swapped her out with another baby girl from who-knows-where. But Madam Yun remembered her daughter's birthmark, so it didn't take long for them to realize what happened. Still, when the Yuns finally tracked down the servant, they were too late. She'd already taken her own life, and never said a word about the real heiress's whereabouts. But the Yun family didn't give up, they've been searching for that child ever since. As for the baby girl used as the replacement, the Yuns adopted her too. They're decent people; they've treated her like their own and even publicly said she has just as much standing in the family as any true-born child.”
“But since the Yuns were so good to this replacement daughter, plenty of people have tried to take advantage. Yun Gu's parents were one of them. They hustled to have Yun Gu soon after all this, then sent him off to live with the Yuns, saying their own blood could help soothe the hurt of losing their real daughter.” Here, Wen Shuran gave Yun Zhuoqing a wry smile. “Isn’t it just absurd?”
Their own son meant nothing more than a bargaining chip, a tool, not even a person. Only someone like the second uncle would come up with this circus act. As for the family head, no way would he agree; otherwise, he'd be just as bad as that shameless uncle.
“But the Yuns already have an heir,” Yun Zhuoqing pointed out. She'd looked up the Yuns before, but with her resources, she could only find the gossip everyone knew, none of that deeper drama Wen Shuran was talking about.
To outsiders, it was all whispered high-society secrets, but within their circle, these stories were old news.
“Exactly. The family head and his wife had a son before the heiress was ever born.” So when the second uncle tried to stick his own son in as a substitute, everyone knew exactly what his greedy, shameless heart was after.
Still, it was plenty obvious how unreliable Yun Gu's parents were. Yun Gu never inherited the title of family heir, but the Yuns kept their doors wide open to him all the same.
“Yun Gu grew up in the Yun household, hardly close to his birth parents at all. Honestly, he’s closer to the Yuns’ head and his wife. So even with such useless parents, he never really suffered for it. He and that Miss Yun are practically joined at the hip; the two of them grew up together, barely seeing a rough day between them. Otherwise... well, he wouldn’t be like this.” Wen Shuran left his words trailing off, as if even he thought it was bad form to gossip any further behind someone’s back.
“I see.” Yun Zhuoqing said the words, but she still couldn’t smooth out that knot in her brow. She hadn’t gotten the answer she was hoping for.
But Wen Shuran, seeing her expression, seemed to relax a little.
“Yun Gu’s one lucky guy. I’ve always been jealous of him.” Wen Shuran turned away, his voice mild, gaze drifting toward the window as if he were somewhere else entirely.
“Even if his parents didn’t love him, at least he met the Yuns’ family head. But me... I wasn’t so lucky.” He glanced down with a tight, bitter smile.
“People always dote on the kid who cries. The ones who hold it all in just get left behind.” Wen Shuran murmured the words more to himself than anyone else.
That last part was for himself. The first, no doubt, was about Yun Gu.
“Anyway, I probably shouldn’t be dumping all this on you.” Wen Shuran collected himself, offering Yun Zhuoqing a gentle smile, his tone sliding effortlessly back to its usual, easy warmth. “Don’t worry about the original answers; I’ll talk to him. I am the club president, after all. This much I can handle.”
For some reason, Wen Shuran’s gentle smile carried a sting of quiet heartache. Pair that with what he’d just said, and it painted a perfect image of “the squeaky wheel gets the grease”, and everyone else gets ignored.
Yun Zhuoqing stayed silent.
“But listen, let’s go to the library together this weekend. There are a few questions I’d like to discuss with you, in private, if that’s okay?” Wen Shuran looked at her earnestly, warm as always. The only time Yun Zhuoqing could recall seeing another expression on his face was the first time they met, when he was in the middle of breaking up with his ex-girlfriend.
She thought for a moment, she had no plans this weekend, so she agreed.
Wen Shuran’s relief was obvious; a giant smile broke across his face. “Awesome.”
Right on cue, Wen Shuran’s phone began to buzz. Yun Zhuoqing took that as her moment to leave; this time, Wen Shuran didn’t stop her.
She closed the door, mind still mulling it all over. Who knew Wen Shuran could change gears like that?
How did they go from family drama straight to a library meetup?
As for Wen Shuran’s tea-scented little performance just now, Yun Zhuoqing remained completely oblivious.
Wen Shuran had no idea he’d just performed for a brick wall. He glanced at his phone to check the name flashing on the screen, narrowed his eyes, and didn’t pick up immediately.
He finally answered the call, just as it was about to stop ringing.
“Sorry, Huo Jing. I was talking to someone and couldn’t pick up right away,” Wen Shuran apologized.
But Huo Jing clearly had bigger things on his mind and didn’t waste time fussing about the delay.
“So when exactly are you getting Yun Zhuoqing to switch over? She was back at the math club today.” The thought of Yun Zhuoqing treating him like furniture this whole time, she hadn’t even blinked when he flirted with other girls right in front of her, made Huo Jing downright irritable.
And now that Chen Huo, that brainless idiot, seemed to suddenly be interested in her too? Huo Jing’s mood only got worse. So he directly called Wen Shuran for an update.
“Sorry, Huo Jing. Actually, I was just talking to Yun Zhuoqing about that.” Wen Shuran made his voice extra smooth for the other end.
“Yeah? So what did she say?” Huo Jing pressed, tension obvious.
“She didn’t say she’d switch clubs,” Wen Shuran answered with regret.
He wasn’t lying, Yun Zhuoqing really hadn’t said she’d switch. Of course, what he didn’t say was... he’d never asked in the first place.
Sure enough, Huo Jing gritted his teeth. “She rejected you? Whatever, don’t try to talk her into it anymore. Just kick her out, I’ll handle the rest.”
As long as the math club threw Yun Zhuoqing out, Huo Jing had plenty of ways to make sure she landed in the equestrian club and nowhere else.
Wen Shuran hesitated. “You know the only way to boot someone from the math club is if they fail the evaluation. Yun Zhuoqing’s really good at math, I doubt she’ll mess it up.”
Then, as if to calm Huo Jing down, he added, “But honestly, if she gets you this worked up, why do you even want her around? You’re just torturing yourself by keeping her in your line of sight.”
Huo Jing went quiet for a while before replying, “You’re right.”
And with that, he hung up.
Wen Shuran, far from being offended by Huo Jing’s rudeness, actually smiled for real this time, a genuine, contented little smirk.
He set his phone aside, then picked up the two pages of printed answers on his desk again.
Since they were just cheap printouts of photos, and whoever printed them hadn’t even bothered to edit anything, all the handwritten notes were barely legible. Big swathes of shadow made whole sections downright ugly to look at.
“Yun Gu...” Why was he suddenly interested in Yun Zhuoqing?
A thought struck Wen Shuran. He picked up his phone again, opened up a muted group chat, scrolled up through endless pointless chatter, and finally found what he was looking for.
“Nianyi is coming back, did you guys hear?”
“For real? The heiress is coming back?”
Yun Nianyi, the adopted daughter of the Yun family, regarded by outsiders as their untouchable heiress.
Wen Shuran frowned when he saw the name.
Meanwhile, Huo Jing stared at the name “Wen Shuran” on his phone after the call ended, his expression thunderous.
“Wen Shuran, you’re just a wolf in sheep’s clothing.” He spoke through gritted teeth.