Perhaps it was because the eldest miss of the Su family’s commotion was too big, but the news that Jiang Muyun’s birthday was approaching and Su Qinghan was going to throw a grand celebration for her quickly spread throughout the academy.
Yan Yu went to fetch water from the water dispenser at the end of the hallway in the teaching building during her break. In just a few steps, she heard several female classmates beside her excitedly whispering in hushed voices.
“Have you heard? That Su family’s eldest miss is going to throw a birthday party for Jiang Muyun, and it’s going to be extremely extravagant!”
“Really? Where will it be held?”
“I heard she booked the panoramic banquet hall on the top floor of Cloudtop Garden! The entire floor! You can overlook half the city’s night view!”
“Oh my god! Cloudtop Garden?! Even booking an ordinary small hall there costs six figures at the start, right? The entire floor… how much money are they spending?”
“Who knows? Anyway, it’s just a drop in the bucket for the Su family. I estimate the venue decoration, catering, band, gifts… together at least this much.”
The girl speaking mysteriously gestured with her hand.
“Ten million?! That’s too exaggerated!”
“Exaggerated? Come on, have you seen how attentive Su Qinghan is to Jiang Muyun? But speaking of which, those two… are they in a relationship now? They’re being so high-profile.”
“I heard they haven’t officially confirmed their relationship yet. It seems Su Qinghan is unilaterally pursuing, and Jiang Muyun hasn’t agreed yet.”
“Huh? Su Qinghan is such an amazing heiress—rich, beautiful, and strong—and Jiang Muyun is still playing hard to get? Her family is not bad, but compared to the Su family, it’s far behind.”
“Who knows? Maybe she has her own plans, or… she’s enjoying the feeling of being pursued?”
“Tsk, I don’t understand the world of the rich…”
Yan Yu listened expressionlessly, tightening the lid of her insulated cup.
The warm steam penetrated through the cup wall, warming her slightly cool fingertips.
‘In her heart, however, there was only cold mockery.’
‘Su Qinghan really knows how to spend money.’
‘A ten million yuan birthday banquet? Just to win the smile of that “life saver”? How extravagant.’
‘If it weren’t for that damned “stand-in acting” mission hanging over her head like a Sword of Damocles, she wouldn’t have the slightest interest in the loves and hatreds of these two, or their money game.’
‘Let them act however they want, spend however they want. What did it have to do with her?’
‘But not now.’
‘She was a dedicated stand-in female supporting character, and also a “faithful and unrepentant” ex.’
‘When the “goddess” was so high-profile celebrating the birthday of her new love, if she, the old flame, showed no reaction at all, wouldn’t that be too unprofessional?’
‘What should a qualified infatuated supporting female character do at a time like this?’
‘Naturally, she should go and “send blessings”!’
‘She should perfectly display her “forced smile” and “hidden deep feelings” in front of the goddess, and even accidentally show a bit of gloom and sadness to remind the other party—’
‘Look, here is a pitiable person that you abandoned, still heartbroken for you in the same place.’
‘But she couldn’t be too rash.’
‘Between Su Qinghan and Jiang Muyun, though it seemed sweet, there were hidden currents.’
‘From the previous encounters, especially Su Qinghan’s recent reactions toward her, it seemed that these two were not a solid whole.’
‘Perhaps, behind the glamour of that luxurious birthday banquet, it was the moment when the cracks in the relationship between Phoenix Overlord and White Moonlight began to appear.’
‘The best time for her, the “stand-in supporting female character,” to appear was right there.’
Her mind racing with calculations, Yan Yu wheeled her chair slowly toward the classroom.
She still had five minutes until the next class.
However, when she returned to her seat by the window, she found someone already sitting there.
A head of smooth silver-white hair gleamed with translucent luster under the sunlight pouring in through the window.
The owner of the hair was petite, wearing a plaid skirt, casually flipping through a textbook spread open on the desk—her textbook.
It was Bai Yan’er.
She was sitting in Yan Yu’s seat, as naturally as if it were her own exclusive spot.
“Yan’er?” Yan Yu stopped in her wheelchair and called softly.
Bai Yan’er looked up at the sound, and upon seeing her, immediately blossomed into a sweet smile, her eyes curving into crescent moons. “Sister, you’re back.”
“Mhm. What’s wrong? Is there something you need?” Yan Yu looked at her, a trace of doubt passing through her mind.
Although Bai Yan’er was in the same class as her, their seats weren’t next to each other, and she rarely came to sit at her desk during break like this.
“Nothing much.” Bai Yan’er closed the book, rested her chin on her hands, tilted her head, and looked at her with clear and focused eyes. “I just… missed my sister.”
Such straightforward words made Yan Yu freeze briefly, then she averted her gaze somewhat awkwardly.
Neither this body nor her soul had fully adapted to the feeling of being relied upon or needed, especially from Bai Yan’er’s overly intense “need.”
“Miss me? Aren’t we in the same class every day?”
“Mhm, we are in the same class.”
Bai Yan’er nodded, but her tone dropped a bit.
“But you’ve been talking to me very rarely, sister. We grew up together as children, we were the closest. Why is it that now, between me and you, it feels like we’re just ordinary classmates, with such a distant gap?”
Yan Yu was silent for a moment.
The original host’s distance and resistance toward Bai Yan’er were clear and strong in her memories.
She weighed her words, trying to answer with the logic of the original host.
“Because… you went back to the Bai family, Yan’er. Now you’re the young lady of the Bai family, and I…”
She paused, her voice even softer.
“I’m just an ordinary student with no support to rely on, even worried about making a living. The gap between our living environments is too big. The distance… is only natural.”
“Is that so?” The light in Bai Yan’er’s eyes dimmed for a moment.
But soon, she lifted her eyes again to look at Yan Yu, a kind of unwavering persistence in her gaze.
“But I have never thought that way. Sister, you have always… been very important to me. Extremely important. I don’t want to keep drifting apart from you like this.”
As she spoke, she suddenly stood up from the chair and walked over to Yan Yu’s wheelchair.
Then, under Yan Yu’s somewhat astonished gaze, she slightly bent her knees and half-knelt down, bringing her line of sight level with Yan Yu’s seated in the wheelchair.
She reached out her hands and gently covered Yan Yu’s hands resting on her lap.
The girl’s palms were warm and soft, with a little bit of damp sweat.
“Sister,” Bai Yan’er raised her face, her voice gentle. “After school this afternoon, stay in the classroom, don’t leave so quickly, okay? I… have something I want to tell you.”
Yan Yu’s fingers curled up slightly within her palms.
Her original plan was to find a way to “bump into” Su Qinghan after school, or at least to find out the specifics of the birthday banquet and see if there was a chance for her to appear.
But now…
Bai Yan’er’s request had disrupted her original calculations.
Bai Yan’er was only a marginal character with few scenes in the original book, and seemed to have no direct impact on her mainline stand-in acting mission.
Refusing her would probably be harmless.
But…
Looking at the eyes before her that were brimming with expectation, feeling the warmth on the back of her hands…
The scale in Yan Yu’s heart began to sway slightly.
What should she do, after all?