Su Qinghan stood there, not moving at all.
She wore a very simple white shirt today, with sleeves rolled up to her forearms. Her short hair had just been washed, still slightly damp. Li Duo was already short, and in front of Su Qinghan, she looked even shorter.
“Are you Li Duo?”
Su Qinghan spoke. Her voice was not loud, but every word seemed pulled out of icy water.
Li Duo nodded instinctively, then shook her head, finally forcing out a voice.
“Y-yes… Hello, Senior Su…”
Her voice was trembling. Su Qinghan.
This name was known to nearly everyone in the academy. The eldest daughter of the Su family, the sole heir of the Su Group. She didn’t hold any position in the school, but her presence itself was a kind of power.
No one dared to offend Su Qinghan.
Li Duo was very aware of that. So she was afraid.
“Come with me.”
Su Qinghan didn’t say much else, just left those words, then turned and continued walking along the path.
Her pace wasn’t fast. Her white shirt appeared and disappeared among the tree shadows. She didn’t look back, didn’t urge.
In fact, Li Duo did follow.
She didn’t dare not to.
The two walked one after the other, crossing that dark path, going around the flowerbeds, passing through an empty plaza, and finally arriving in front of an old teaching building.
This building was very old, with few people around on a normal day. The corridor was so quiet you could hear the echo of footsteps.
Su Qinghan stopped at the door of an empty classroom. She pushed the door open and walked in.
Li Duo stood at the entrance, hesitated, then finally bit her lip and followed.
The classroom was completely empty, desks and chairs pushed to the sides. Sunlight came in through the windows, casting bright light spots on the floor.
Su Qinghan turned around to face Li Duo.
Her gaze was heavy, pressing down on Li Duo’s shoulders.
“About that exhibition list for the Student Council,” Su Qinghan said, her words very slow. “You were in charge of it, weren’t you?”
Li Duo took half a step back, her back hitting the edge of a desk. She swallowed. “Y-yes…”
“Alright then.” Su Qinghan tilted her head slightly. “You were also the one who replaced Yan Yu’s name on it?”
That was a statement, not a question.
She had known all along.
Li Duo’s face instantly turned pale. Her lips trembled a few times. She wanted to defend herself, but under Su Qinghan’s gaze, her mind went blank.
“I… that’s because…” she stammered. “Yan Yu’s health isn’t good… she wrote an application herself… said she couldn’t participate… I…”
“Where’s the application?”
“Wh-what?”
“That application,” Su Qinghan’s tone was still calm. “The application Yan Yu personally wrote. Show it to me.”
Li Duo’s mouth opened and closed. She couldn’t speak.
There was no application.
There had never been any application for “Yan Yu declining participation due to health reasons.” That document was forged by Li Duo herself. She thought no one would check, thought this matter would pass quietly.
But she never expected Su Qinghan to come.
Su Qinghan looked at Li Duo’s pale face and already had the answer in her heart. Before finding Li Duo, she had already verified with a friend in the Student Council. Yan Yu had never submitted any “decline to participate” application. That so-called “health reason” was a complete lie.
“So,” Su Qinghan’s voice dropped even lower. “You’re saying Yan Yu wrote the application herself, gave up her participation spot herself, and then Jiang Muyun filled in?”
Li Duo’s lips were trembling, her whole body shrinking.
“Miss Su…” her voice carried a sob, and she took another half step back. “Please don’t be like this… Don’t you… don’t you like Miss Jiang? Why are you asking so specifically?”
Su Qinghan’s brow twitched slightly.
Li Duo nearly incoherently blurted out the words: “These things… Sister Jiang asked me to do them… Jiang Muyun asked me to do them… She said just swap Yan Yu out, give me this bag… and promised to help me campaign for Student Council President… I… I had no choice either… Miss Su, you know too, Jiang Muyun… her family is so powerful… I didn’t dare disobey her…”
As she spoke, her voice grew softer and softer until it turned into sobbing. The leather bag in her arms was clutched tightly.
Su Qinghan was silent.
Her gaze moved away from Li Duo’s face, landing on the bright sunlight at the window.
‘So it was Jiang Muyun again.’
For some reason, when she heard that name come out of Li Duo’s mouth, Su Qinghan felt calm instead. Not relief, not anger, but a kind of indescribable suffocation.
Jiang Muyun was always clinging to Yan Yu.
From the day she returned to the country, from that moment at the Oya Fashion Celebration—Jiang Muyun’s gaze had never left Yan Yu.
‘I don’t understand.’
‘Why?’
Jiang Muyun clearly had everything she could ever want. A privileged family background, overseas study experience, exceptional artistic talent. She had a family that loved her, friends that supported her.
And Yan Yu?
Yan Yu had nothing.
Poverty, loneliness, frail health. She lived in that old small apartment, barely surviving with the help of her roommate. She had no family, no one to rely on.
Yet even someone like that, Jiang Muyun wouldn’t let go.
‘Why on earth?’
‘I can’t figure it out. Why does Jiang Muyun have to make things hard for Yan Yu?’
Yan Yu had never provoked her, never said a bad word about her. Even in the face of Jiang Muyun’s repeated provocations and mockery, Yan Yu only silently lowered her head.
The image of Yan Yu being publicly humiliated by Jiang Muyun that day surfaced again in Su Qinghan’s mind.
The girl in the wheelchair bowed her head, her long hair covering most of her face. All that could be seen were her fingers gripping the hem of her skirt on her knees, knuckles turning white.
That image made Su Qinghan’s chest feel tight and uncomfortable.
‘I should be the one who likes Jiang Muyun. I should be the one standing by Jiang Muyun’s side right now—’
But she couldn’t.
She, Su Qinghan, was not a saint, but she was not someone who couldn’t tell right from wrong. She knew what was right and what was wrong.
She believed Yan Yu had done nothing wrong. And what Jiang Muyun did—using such means to take away what rightfully belonged to Yan Yu—was not right.
It was that simple.
Su Qinghan took a deep breath, suppressing the chaotic thoughts. She looked back at Li Duo, her gaze even more serious than before.
“Yan Yu’s name belongs where it belongs. I know the application you filled out was entirely fabricated by you.”
Li Duo was stunned. “Wh-what?”
“I said, change the list back.” Su Qinghan repeated. “That list,” she said. “Change it back.”
“But…” Li Duo was panicking, a look of despair on her face. “What about Jiang Muyun…”
“About Jiang Muyun,” Su Qinghan interrupted her. “I’ll go talk to her.”
Li Duo opened her mouth to say something else, but after seeing Su Qinghan’s eyes, she swallowed all those words.
That was a look that allowed no doubt. It wasn’t a discussion, not a request. It was an order.
Silence spread through the empty classroom. The sunlight still poured in through the window.
Li Duo lowered her head, looking at the leather bag in her arms. The bag she had dreamed of. Now it was in her arms, but suddenly she felt it was as heavy as a stone.
“…I understand.” Her voice was so small it was almost inaudible.
Su Qinghan didn’t say anything more. She turned and walked toward the door. Her loafers made a soft sound against the floor.
When she reached the door, she paused for a moment without turning back.
“In the future,” her voice came from the doorway, “before you do anything, think it through first.”
Then she walked out. The sound of her footsteps gradually faded.
The classroom was left with only Li Duo. She stood there with her head down, hugging the leather bag. The sunlight shone on her, but she only felt cold.
Li Duo stood still for a long time.
Then, suddenly, she moved. As if jolted by something, she snapped awake. Hugging the bag, she stumbled and rushed out of the classroom.
Her loafers stepped on the concrete floor of the corridor, producing frantic footsteps. She ran fast, so fast she stumbled. Once out of the teaching building, the sunlight poured down fiercely. She ignored it, pulling out her phone from her pocket as she ran, her fingers frantically swiping across the screen.
Unlock. Scroll through contacts. Find that name.
Jiang Muyun.
Her hands were shaking. Not a slight tremble, but an uncontrollable quiver. The phone in her hand shook along with them.
She took a deep breath and pressed the call button.
Beep—beep—beep—
Each sound felt like it was striking her heart.
‘Answer the phone… please answer the phone…’
Her steps didn’t stop. She ran across the empty plaza, ran down the path lined with camphor trees on both sides. The leather bag in her arms bumped against her ribs with each stride.
A soft click came from her ear. The call connected.
Li Duo’s breath caught in her throat.
“M-Miss Jiang…” Li Duo’s voice trembled. “S-something happened…”
“What happened?” Jiang Muyun’s voice turned a bit more serious.
Li Duo swallowed. “Senior Su Qinghan… she… she came to see me…”
There was silence on the other end for one second. Two seconds. Three seconds.
That silence was more terrifying than any scolding.
“What did she say?” Jiang Muyun’s voice suddenly became very soft.
“She said… she said to change the list back… to put Yan Yu’s name back on…” Li Duo spoke as she ran, her voice breaking. “She said… she said she would go find you about it…”
The silence on the other end grew longer.
Li Duo didn’t dare speak, didn’t dare urge. She could only run desperately, down the tree-lined path, past the flowerbeds in front of the girls’ dormitory. Several classmates saw her frantic state and turned to stare.
“Where are you now?” Jiang Muyun finally spoke.
“I… I just ran out of the teaching building… almost at the dorm…”
“Go back first.” Jiang Muyun’s voice showed no emotion. “I’ve got it.”
“But Miss Jiang—”
“I said, I’ve got it.”
The call ended. The busy tone came from the receiver.
Li Duo stopped, bent over, and panted heavily. She had run too fast; her heart felt like it was about to leap out of her chest.
She stood bent over for a long while, then slowly straightened up. The sunlight fell on her face, a bit dazzling.
She looked down at the phone in her hand. The screen had gone dark. The leather bag was still in her arms, but it had suddenly become less pleasing.