[Central Plaza Restaurant, September 15 – 12:01 PM]
Xiao Yue's fingers rose to the edge of her hood.
The restaurant seemed to hold its breath as she gripped the fabric, and then she pulled it back in one slow, deliberate motion—like a curtain being drawn away from a masterpiece that had been hidden for far too long.
As the fabric slipped away from her face, her hair came spilling out with it—long black waves that cascaded down like a waterfall of midnight silk. The afternoon light streaming through the restaurant's floor-to-ceiling windows caught each strand as it fell, turning the black into something almost luminous. It flowed past her shoulders and settled against her back, finally free after years of hiding.
And then she lifted her chin, and the world saw her face.
Pale glowing skin shone like the finest jade, luminous and flawless without a single imperfection. Her features were perfectly proportioned, carrying an ethereal quality that shouldn't exist in reality. Dark eyes gazed out at the world—deep, intelligent, intense—like pools of midnight holding secrets no mortal should know.
She looked like a hidden goddess who had finally chosen to reveal her true divine form.
Lin Feng forgot to breathe.
He had expected beauty—the novel described her as a seven-star heroine, one of only two among three thousand women. He had prepared himself for someone striking, someone remarkable, someone who would turn heads wherever she went.
But he was not prepared for this.
For a moment—just a moment—the intelligence officer's analytical mind went completely blank. No calculations. No assessments. No strategic thinking. Just awe, pure and absolute, washing over him like a wave.
The words on that screen had been hollow imitations. The author's flowery descriptions had been fumbling attempts to capture something beyond language. Even the character illustrations he vaguely remembered were nothing but unworthy portraits compared to what stood before him now.
In terms of beauty, Su Qingxue might be considered a swan among mortals—but how could a swan ever be compared to a phoenix? This wasn't just "significantly more beautiful." It wasn't even close. This was an entirely different category of existence, and in Lin Feng's assessment, only Lin Weiwei could match her.
That realization hit him like cold water.
The original Lin Feng was an idiot.
The thought crystallized with absolute clarity as he watched Xiao Yue standing there in the golden afternoon light, her beauty finally unveiled after five years of hiding in plain sight.
What kind of brain damage made him chase a swan while ignoring two phoenixes? He had THIS waiting in the shadows. Watching him. Loving him. And he never once turned around to see her.
Unforgivable. Absolutely unforgivable stupidity.
-----------------------
The silence in the restaurant had lasted exactly three heartbeats.
And then it shattered completely.
"WHAT THE FUCK?!"
"SHE'S… SHE'S BEAUTIFUL!"
Chairs scraped against marble floors as people shot to their feet, and phones lifted from every direction with flashes going off like a lightning storm. The ambient jazz that had been playing softly overhead was completely drowned out by the sudden eruption of voices bouncing off the walls.
"SHE'S MORE BEAUTIFUL THAN SU QINGXUE!"
"THE PLAIN GIRL WAS A GODDESS?!"
"HOW DID NOBODY KNOW?!"
At the nearest table, a guy's jaw had dropped so far that his girlfriend had to reach over and push it closed with her hand. Across the room, someone's soup spilled across their white tablecloth as they lurched forward for a better look, but they didn't even seem to notice the hot broth spreading everywhere beneath their elbows.
"BROTHER LIN IS NOW MY IDOL!"
"This is insane!"
"Look at her!"
All around them, social media posts were already happening in real-time—fingers flying across screens, videos uploading, notifications pinging. The campus gossip networks were lighting up like wildfire and spreading the news faster than anyone could possibly track.
-----------------------
While the crowd erupted around her, Su Qingxue's face drained of all color.
She could feel the blood rushing away from her cheeks, leaving her skin pale and cold. Her designer handbag slipped slightly in her suddenly clammy grip, and her perfectly manicured nails dug into the leather to keep it from falling.
No.
No, no, no.
This isn't possible.
She had assumed the "nobody" was inferior—plain, forgettable, safe to dismiss and mock without consequence. She had pictured someone mousy and pathetic hiding under that oversized hood. Someone she could destroy with a few cutting words and a condescending smile.
She was supposed to be ugly. She was SUPPOSED to be ugly. That's why she was hiding.
But this girl standing before her was more beautiful than Su Qingxue had ever been. More striking. More everything.
How? HOW?
The campus belle had just been completely outclassed in front of hundreds of witnesses, and every single one of them had their phones pointed directly at her face to capture the moment.
And then something else hit her—something she couldn't explain.
A pressure. Heavy and invisible, pressing down on her shoulders like a physical weight. Her knees felt weak, and for a moment she had the absurd urge to look away, to bow her head, to make herself smaller.
What... what is this feeling?
She didn't understand it. Couldn't understand it. There was no logical reason for her body to react this way to some random girl's face.
A strange heat bloomed beneath her skin, spreading up from her chest and into her throat, and she swallowed hard against it.
Who does this nobody think she is?
She dug her nails harder into the leather of her handbag and forced herself to breathe.
Hiding under a hood for years and now she thinks she can just—
-----------------------
Xiao Yue stood there watching her, and the expression on her face was something Su Qingxue had never seen before.
Gone was the shy, trembling girl from moments ago. In her place stood someone else entirely—cold, confident, and territorial. Someone who looked at Su Qingxue the way a predator looks at prey that has wandered too far from safety.
The pressure intensified, and Su Qingxue's breath caught in her throat. Something primal inside her was screaming a warning, telling her to back down, to submit, to not challenge this woman any further.
What the hell is happening to me?
When Xiao Yue spoke, even her voice had transformed—no longer soft and uncertain, but clear and controlled and absolutely deadly.
"Ms. Su, is there a problem?"
It wasn't a question. It was a challenge.
Say something. Say SOMETHING. You're the campus belle. You don't lose to nobodies.
Su Qingxue opened her mouth to respond, but nothing came out. Her throat had locked up completely, and she closed her mouth again, hating herself for the weakness.
What is wrong with me? Why can't I speak? Why does she feel so...
She couldn't even finish the thought.
Xiao Yue's dark eyes stayed locked onto hers, pinning her in place. "You were saying something about dignity?" She tilted her head slightly, and the afternoon light caught her features in a way that made her look almost otherworldly. "About showing face?"
She's mocking me. This nobody is actually MOCKING me.
Fight back. FIGHT BACK.
But her body wouldn't obey.
The restaurant had gone silent again, with everyone watching and recording and waiting for blood. Su Qingxue could feel the weight of their eyes pressing against her back, but that was nothing compared to the weight of Xiao Yue's presence pressing against her front.
Xiao Yue took a small step forward—not aggressive, not rushed, just a calm and deliberate claiming of space.
Su Qingxue stepped back before she could stop herself.
Did I just retreat from her?
Her face burned as the realization sank in. The power dynamic had completely reversed in front of everyone, and there was nothing she could do to hide it. Her heart hammered against her ribs, her legs trembled, and she locked her knees to keep from swaying.
It's anger. Yes... I'm just angry.
She clenched her fists at her sides, nails biting into her palms, and shoved down the unfamiliar heat that had nothing to do with anger at all.
That's all this is.
-----------------------
"Let me tell you what I know about you, Su Qingxue."
Xiao Yue's voice carried clearly across the restaurant, cutting through the whispers and the ambient noise like a blade. It was clinical and precise, like a surgeon explaining exactly where she intended to make her incisions.
"I've watched you for five years." Her lips curved into something that wasn't quite a smile. "I know everything."
The crowd shifted and murmured, phones lifting higher to capture what was coming.
"Lin Feng sent you 2,847 messages over four years. You responded to 323 of them." She let that sink in for a moment. "Average response time: 6.4 hours."
A pause.
"Unless you needed something from him. Then it was under three minutes."
Gasps rippled through the restaurant like a wave, and Su Qingxue felt each one land on her skin like a physical blow.
How does she know that? HOW DOES SHE KNOW THAT?
"That's... that's a LOT of information to track," someone muttered, sounding slightly concerned.
"It's like a romance novel!" a girl nearby clutched her chest and sighed. "It's so sweet!"
"A goddess stalked him for five YEARS?!" A guy at the next table sounded envious and disbelieving at the same time.
But Xiao Yue wasn't finished. Her voice remained flat and relentless as she continued.
"He remembered your birthday every single year. Spent an average of one hundred thousand yuan on gifts each time."
Her dark eyes never left Su Qingxue's face.
"You forgot his birthday three years in a row. The fourth year, you finally remembered." The contempt in her voice was razor-sharp. "You sent him a text message. Six words total."
She recited it from memory, each word dripping with disdain.
"'Happy birthday! Hope you have fun!'"
Somewhere behind Su Qingxue, Zhang Tingting's hand flew to her mouth.
She hadn't known.
Three years of being the matchmaker. Three years of giving advice, taking his money, helping him pursue this woman. She had thought she understood the situation, thought she knew what was happening between them.
I never knew the actual numbers. I never knew it was this bad.
"He bought you coffee 1,154 times." Xiao Yue's voice was almost bored now, like she was reading a grocery list. "You bought him coffee zero times."
All around the restaurant, people were pulling out their phones and checking the math, verifying the numbers, adding things up with wide eyes.
"He walked you to class 1,094 times. You walked him to class zero times."
"This is INSANE!" someone shouted from across the room.
"She has a COMPLETE RECORD!"
"That's hardcore accounting!"
Su Qingxue's mouth opened, desperate to defend herself, to say something, anything. "That's—you can't just—"
"I can."
Xiao Yue's voice went colder, and she took another step forward.
Su Qingxue stepped back again before she could stop herself, her heel catching slightly on the marble floor.
Stop retreating. STOP RETREATING.
But her body refused to listen.
Xiao Yue's final blow landed with surgical precision, her voice dropping to something quiet and deadly.
"You're not better than me."
The restaurant seemed to hold its breath.
"You're just better at pretending."
For a single heartbeat, there was absolute silence.
And then the crowd erupted.
"SHOTS FIRED!"
"THE GHOST GIRL IS DESTROYING HER!"
"This is the greatest face-slapping in campus history!"
-----------------------
Lin Feng stood up from his chair, slowly and calmly, with no rush and no drama—just quiet certainty in every movement.
Then he stepped toward Xiao Yue and put his arm around her shoulders, pulling her close against his side. It was a claiming, plain and simple. Public. Protective. Unmistakable.
And she responded instantly, tucking herself into the curve of his body like she had always belonged there. Like she had been waiting five years for exactly this moment.
The message to everyone watching was clear: this woman belonged to him, and he belonged to her.
"We're leaving."
Two words. Simple and final, with no room for argument.
-----------------------
The moment those words left his mouth, something inside Su Qingxue snapped. Before she could think, before she could stop herself, her hand shot out and grabbed his arm.
"Wait! Lin Feng, please!"
Her voice cracked at the edges, and she hated how desperate she sounded, but she couldn't stop the words from spilling out.
"What about our group project? What about the presentation? We're partners!"
Say something. React. Get angry. ANYTHING.
But Lin Feng didn't even look at her face.
He just looked down at her hand on his arm, studying it for a moment with an expression of mild distaste. Then he reached over and removed it—gently but firmly, like he was brushing away an insect that had landed on his sleeve.
Su Qingxue's skin tingled where his fingers had touched her. Where he had removed her.
Heat flooded her face as hundreds of phones captured the moment.
He just... peeled me off him. Like I was nothing.
Her hand hung in the empty air where his arm had been, and she didn't know what to do with it.
"Ask Long Tian."
Lin Feng's voice was casual and offhand, almost bored, like he was discussing the weather instead of dropping a bomb.
"He seemed very helpful to you at the library this morning."
The words landed in the silence like a grenade.
Su Qingxue felt the blood drain from her face. Then rush back. Then drain again.
How did he—
The question died in her throat.
-----------------------
Zhang Tingting blinked.
"Wait—Long Tian?" The name came out louder than she meant it to, and a few heads turned in her direction. "Who's Long Tian?"
She looked at Su Qingxue, expecting her to turn around and explain. That's what best friends did, right? When something confusing happened, you just turned to each other and figured it out together. They'd done it a thousand times before.
But Qingxue didn't turn around.
She was still staring at Lin Feng like he was the only person in the room, her whole body angled toward him, her hands half-raised like she wanted to reach for him again but didn't dare.
"Qingxue?"
Nothing.
Zhang Tingting stepped closer and touched her elbow. "Hey. Qingxue. Who's Long Tian?"
Su Qingxue shrugged her off without even looking.
Did she just—
The noise of the restaurant seemed to muffle around her, like someone had stuffed cotton in her ears. Zhang Tingting stood there with her hand still hovering in the air where Qingxue's elbow had been, feeling suddenly and inexplicably stupid.
She shrugged me off.
I'm standing right here and she shrugged me off.
-----------------------
A few feet away, Lin Feng watched the whole thing.
He saw Zhang Tingting reach out. Saw Qingxue brush her away without a glance. Saw the confusion on Zhang Tingting's face shift into something else—something quieter and more fragile.
Interesting.
His eyes stayed on Zhang Tingting for a moment longer, reading her the way he used to read assets back in his old life. The furrowed brow. The slightly parted lips. The way her hand was still hanging there in empty space like she didn't know what to do with it.
It seems that Zhang Tingting doesn't know what's going on yet—or who Long Tian is.
That meant Su Qingxue hadn't told her. Which made sense, actually—the library thing had only happened a few hours ago. There probably hadn't been time.
But what was more interesting was what was happening right now.
Lin Feng watched Zhang Tingting reach out to Su Qingxue, touching her arm.
She asked her directly about Long Tian.
And Su Qingxue brushed her off without a glance, as if she didn't matter at all.
Lin Feng looked away and shook his head.
When things get bad, the best friend becomes furniture.
-----------------------
Zhang Tingting lowered her hand slowly, letting it fall to her side.
Okay. Okay, fine. Maybe she's just stressed. Maybe she didn't hear me. Maybe—
But Qingxue had definitely heard her. She'd touched her arm and everything. You don't just not notice when someone touches your arm.
No, she had definitely heard me. She just didn't care.
The thought landed harder than it should have.
She thought about the soufflé she'd abandoned mid-rise. Professor Chen's face when she'd grabbed her bag and bolted. The practicum grade she was probably going to tank because she'd dropped everything—everything—the moment she learned of what was happening with Lin Feng.
And now she was standing here like an idiot while her best friend pretended she didn't exist.
Cool. Great. This is fine.
Her throat felt tight, and she swallowed against it.
No... I don't think that's the case at all.
Maybe she just hasn't had time to tell me about this Long Tian guy. It's only been a few hours since whatever happened at the library. That's probably it. She was going to tell me later.
But I'm HERE. Right now. Asking her directly.
And she won't even look at me.
She didn't know what to do with her hands, so she crossed her arms over her chest. It felt defensive. But she didn't care.
When did I become someone she could just... tune out?
-----------------------
Then, without really meaning to, she looked over at Lin Feng.
He was already looking at her.
Their eyes met across the chaos—the phones and the whispers and Qingxue's frozen panic—and something passed between them that Zhang Tingting couldn't quite name. Recognition, maybe. Or understanding.
She didn't know what her face was doing right now. Probably something embarrassing. Probably something that showed exactly how lost and stupid and small she felt.
But Lin Feng didn't look at her like she was pathetic.
He just... looked at her. Steady and calm, like he saw exactly what was happening and he wasn't judging her for it.
I didn't know, she wanted to say. I swear I didn't know any of this. I thought I was helping. I thought—
She didn't say anything out loud. But something in his expression shifted, just slightly, like maybe he'd heard her anyway.
Then he looked away, and she understood. This wasn't her conversation to be part of.
For now, she was just the background character who'd shown up too late and understood too little.
Zhang Tingting let out a slow breath and uncrossed her arms.
Fine.
She'd stand here and watch like everyone else. She'd figure out what the hell was happening later—when Su Qingxue finally remembered she existed.
If she remembered.
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[End of Chapter 9]