Chapter 1 – The young man's beautiful face showed a hint of apology: "I'm sorry, you…"
The golden morning sun slowly rose from the horizon.
Inside a luxurious villa, the gardener was trimming plants and clearing the lawn. Workers in the vast courtyard were busy at their posts.
A woman wearing a tailored butler's uniform was methodically arranging their work. After arranging everything, she glanced at her watch and unhurriedly walked into the villa.
In a room on the third floor of the villa, thick curtains blocked out all sunlight, leaving the room pitch black. It was so quiet that only faint snoring could be heard.
Suddenly, the screen of the phone placed on the bedside table lit up brightly, accompanied by the sound of an alarm. A faint light appeared in the dark room.
Following this was the slight rustling sound of the quilt. A slender hand emerged from under the down comforter, fumbling around on the table. Upon touching the phone, fingers danced across it like playing a piano, randomly tapping until the alarm stopped, then retreated back under the covers.
Outside the door, the female butler timed it precisely, knocking on the door as the second hand reached the top.
"Young Miss, it's time to get up."
"..." Six small dots answered her.
The female butler, accustomed to this, opened the door and walked in, pulling open the heavy curtains to let sunlight into the room. She repeated this every day, mastering each step perfectly so as not to cause any displeasure.
The thin down comforter on the bed moved slightly, and half of a head with messy hair peeked out. That half-face was scrunched up, squinting with narrow eyes, her voice hoarse from just waking up: "Good morning, Ye Yi."
"Good morning, Young Miss. Breakfast is ready, you should get up now."
"Oh." The down comforter was kicked aside with one foot. The beautiful young woman stretched lazily on the bed, her face showing signs of insufficient sleep as she slowly got up to wash up.
On the long dining table in the first-floor hall, exquisite breakfast items were laid out. Sitting in the main seat was the head of the Fang family, Fang Hong. She slowly cut a piece of poached egg with her knife and fork and put it in her mouth, glancing at the empty seat, "Where is she?"
The female butler stood behind her, her straight back slightly bent, enunciating clearly and gently: "The Young Miss will be down shortly."
Just as the female butler finished speaking, she saw the young woman slowly walking down the stairs. She was wearing a dark blue checkered school uniform, paired with a pure white shirt underneath, with a red tie at the collar. Her wavy long hair was tied back, and her beautiful face was cold and proud. Except for the faint blue color under her eyes, every part of her was exquisite.
She sat down on the chair pulled out by the female butler, looking at the breakfast in front of her that was too delicate to stimulate appetite. She smacked her lips and picked up a transparent cup nearby to drink warm milk.
"What were you doing last night?"
The woman in the main seat issued an authoritative question.
Fang Tianli, sitting next to the young woman, didn't miss a chance to get his sister in trouble and raised his hand to answer quickly: "She was playing games last night! Before going to bed, I saw her still playing!"
"Lili!" The father sitting to the lower right of Fang Hong gave the boy a warning look.
Fang Tianli snorted, holding his milk cup with an expression of watching a show.
Fang Hong pressed her lips, her brows and eyes, somewhat similar to the young woman's, solemn and serious, "Is what Lili said true?"
Fang Chuning calmly wiped her mouth, "It's false. I was solving problems all night last night, I was so focused that I forgot about rest time."
Fang Tianli scoffed disdainfully at such a blatant excuse, and Fang Hong was also suspicious, "Really?"
"What's true or false, Ningning already said she was studying late, so she was studying late. Why do you keep questioning?"
The sound of knife and fork hitting the plate made Fang Hong immediately shut up. She acted as if nothing had happened and calmly wiped her mouth with a napkin.
The father glared at her in annoyance, but when he looked at the young woman, he switched to a kind fatherly expression, "Ningning, don't study so late next time. Your health is more important than studies, understand?"
Fang Chuning shook her head, holding up the milk cup and swirling it with a melancholy expression, "Studying is what helps me improve. Dad, you can't stop my love for it."
Having such a "well-behaved, sensible, studious, and obedient" daughter made the old Father Fang's eyes wet with emotion. His handsome face showed both pride and distress as he coaxed her like comforting a baby: "Alright, alright, Dad will do as you wish."
This sudden display of father-daughter affection made the other two onlookers feel uncomfortable. Fang Tianli put down his cutlery with a clatter and left the table sourly.
Outside the villa, a luxurious yet simple car was waiting. As soon as Fang Chuning left the courtyard, a golden retriever with flowing silky hair and a long tongue hanging out came running towards her like a wild horse, drooling profusely. The workers behind couldn't catch up with it.
Fang Chuning: "Wangcai, sit down!"
The golden retriever stretched its front legs forward, braking suddenly like a car, its bottom sitting down, tongue out, drool dripping onto the ground drop by drop.
Fang Chuning couldn't understand why Wangcai always drooled only for her, more enthusiastic to see her than its own mother.
She raised her hand to take the frisbee handed over by the servant, "I have to go to school and don't have time to play with you. You play by yourself first."
"Woof woof woof!!" The golden retriever came over and started licking her leather shoes.
In the end, Fang Chuning had to change into a new pair of shoes, letting it hold and chew on the old pair.
The interior of the luxury car was spacious and comfortable. Fang Chuning and Fang Tianli were not in the same school, but they took the same route, so they both rode in one car to school.
Fang Tianli, who had just sat down in the car, had his cheeks puffed out, "You were clearly playing games until midnight last night. Only Dad would believe your fake act."
Fang Chuning moved her gaze from her phone to glance at him, shaking her head and clicking her tongue.
Fang Tianli clenched his fists in anger.
"You still don't understand?"
Fang Chuning made a profound gesture of pushing up non-existent glasses with her middle finger, "The key point isn't what I did last night, but who our old father believes."
If it weren't for the fact that her family had endless money, she could have relied on her acting talent to conquer the entertainment industry and reach the peak of life!
The young woman's smug appearance made Fang Tianli's teeth itch with hatred. Unable to contain his anger, he reached out and pinched her delicate white hand hard.
Fang Chuning let out a yelp of pain, shrinking into the corner of the car and baring her teeth at him, "Resorting to violence when you can't win with words, what kind of hero are you!"
Her serious and profound image instantly collapsed.
Fang Tianli sneered, "I never claimed to be any kind of hero."
Fang Tianli's school was closer than hers. Before getting out of the car, he hit her once more with Meiwu Novel Network, unsatisfied. Fang Chuning was struck again, and by the time she wanted to retaliate, he had already disappeared.
She didn't let the driver go straight to school, but took a detour to a small breakfast stall.
This was on the way to two other schools, so there were many students coming and going. In this ordinary place, a luxury car stopping here was particularly eye-catching, especially when a stunningly beautiful girl got out of the car, wearing a school uniform that couldn't be found anywhere else here.
Many passing male students stopped, pretending to talk to others while constantly glancing at her.
Fang Chuning paid no attention. She walked to the small stall, where the owner recognized her and greeted her.
"Little sister is here, the same as before?"
"Yes, double portion and extra spicy."
The breakfast stall was doing good business, with all the few tables full. Fang Chuning looked around and finally sat at a table with a boy wearing a light blue school uniform.
The boy who was eating breakfast jerked his chopstick-holding hand. He lowered his head, his bangs hiding his brows and eyes, and he wiped his mouth corner gently with a napkin, eating even more politely.
Fang Chuning didn't notice him. Shortly after sitting down, her noodles were served. It was actually just instant noodles with hot water, seasoning sprinkled on top and mixed well, tasting delicious – much more flavorful than the breakfast at home.
The stall got busier and busier, with almost all male students at a glance. After slurping up her noodles, Fang Chuning got into the car, the closed door finally blocking the gazes of the crowd.
Two or three boys gathered together finally couldn't help but discuss in low voices:
"Is that girl from Xinxing?"
"Judging by the uniform, yes. Why would someone from Xinxing come here? I thought they were all too arrogant to come to places like this."
"That girl just now was really pretty, and that car of hers, I've seen it online before, it's worth eight figures!"
The boys let out exclamations, their faces showing unanimous expressions of envy and longing.
The boy who had originally sat opposite the girl at breakfast looked up and glanced at them, then left without a word after putting the money for his breakfast on the table.
Fang Chuning's car stopped outside Xinxing School. She took her backpack and got out of the car. There were still fifteen minutes until class started. At this time, many cars were still parked outside the school, all famous luxury cars. Boys and girls wearing the same school uniforms got out of the cars, chatting and laughing as they walked in.
Fang Chuning walked leisurely behind them. She hadn't gone far when her shoulder was suddenly grabbed by someone rushing up from behind.
"Hey, even the great President Fang is coming so late today?"
The girl's cheerful voice irritated Fang Chuning, who forcefully pried off her hand and said coldly, "Stay away from me."
The girl mischievously leaned in again, "Last night you were still calling my name in anguish, today you don't even acknowledge me after pulling up your pants."
The two had played games together until 3 AM last night.
Mentioning this made Fang Chuning's anger flare up, "I called for you to save me for half the night, what were you doing hiding in the grass watching the show?"
Gao Qiong spread her hands innocently, "The enemy only had a little health left at that time, I was afraid of stealing your kill."
Fang Chuning wanted to push her to the ground and rub her face in it.
The two walked side by side towards the inside. Fang Chuning lowered her head to look at her phone when Gao Qiong suddenly shook her hard, "Hey, look over there, the vice president is being confessed to again!"
Fang Chuning turned her head to look. Among the crowd, a boy with a slender figure and straight back stood out. He wore round gold-rimmed glasses on his face, and his beautiful side profile made everyone who passed by unable to resist looking back at him.
His skin was very fair, whiter than other boys, giving people a sense of frail and gentle refinement.
A slightly stout girl blocked his way, boldly confessing her feelings for him.
They were a bit far away, so Fang Chuning couldn't hear what the boy was saying, but Gao Qiong beside her imitated the boy's gentle voice: "I'm sorry, you're not my type. Thank you for your feelings though, I hope you can find someone suitable for you in the future."
Fang Chuning raised her hand to slap her, but Gao Qiong had anticipated it and dodged to the side, grinning mischievously, "The vice president must have rejected her like this. I've heard it so many times."
"Oh, so you've been paying quite a bit of attention to him."
"Not just me, more than half of the girls in the school are paying attention to him."
Talking too much was pointless. Fang Chuning walked past her straight towards the teaching building.
Gao Qiong watched the boy's direction with great interest for a while, then followed behind her, humming a tune.