The moment class ended, Mengying grabbed her bag and headed straight out of the classroom. But just as she exited the building, she heard someone calling her from behind.
"Zhuang, wait a moment, please."
She turned around to see Sima Jing, the new classmate who had praised her essay, approaching her alone.
"Zhuang, you walk so fast. You disappeared the moment class ended."
"Is there something you need, Sima?" Mengying raised an eyebrow while rapidly scanning the area around him.
Did this financial magnate have bodyguards lurking nearby?
"Zhuang, let's be friends. I just transferred to Anya University and don't know my way around or many students. You were the first person I met when I arrived. Would you give me a tour of campus?"
There are plenty of other students, Mengying thought. The girls in class who are into handsome faces would definitely love to show this heartthrob around. She felt somewhat wary of this potential heartbreaker. The last thing she wanted was to become the center of campus gossip.
"Anya's campus is quite large. I'm very busy with my studies, so I'm afraid I don't have the time."
Mengying noticed that numerous female gazes were now fixed on her like daggers, so she decided to leave quickly. She turned and started to walk away.
"I won't have you show me around for free," Sima Jing called after her.
"Are you going to pay me?" Mengying couldn't help but laugh and stopped in her tracks.
Clearly, this charmer wasn't so easy to dismiss. She decided to hear him out.
"I'm not that vulgar," the heartbreaker had caught up to her. He seemed eager to distance himself from mercenary dealings. "I could teach you to paint, if you're interested."
Learning to paint? This could be a good opportunity to get closer to Sima Jing. Perhaps she could find out if Sima Chen was Brother White.
As Mengying was considering whether to agree, Sima Jing continued, "I can tell you have a deep appreciation for literature, so you probably appreciate art too. But if you already know how to paint or aren't interested, I could teach you something else."
It seemed Sima had recognized her potential and already decided she would be his student. Mengying did love art. But her mother had never encouraged her to study it, saying art was a waste of time. Mother believed that mastering math and science was most important for developing the mind. Aunt Mei strictly followed mother's instructions, limiting her extracurricular classes to advanced mathematics and physics. Mengying herself had never been particularly committed to learning art, so she'd let it go. Sima was in the architecture program, so he probably painted well. And she could use this opportunity to probe whether he had any connection to Brother White. Two birds with one stone—why not?
"Deal," Mengying answered simply.
"You've agreed?" Sima seemed pleasantly surprised.
From then on, Sima Jing became Mengying's art teacher. After Mengying and Sima Jing became friends, Jiajia seemed to suddenly lose interest in him and maintained a taciturn attitude toward their interactions. The campus students also seemed to quickly shift their attention away from the new transfer student. When walking with Sima Jing, Mengying no longer felt those daggers-like gazes.
Mengying progressed rapidly in her painting lessons. Within a month, she had completed her study of still life in the studio and was now learning landscape sketching outdoors with Sima Jing. He was an encouraging art teacher, always saying that Mengying had excellent composition and handled light and shadow well, giving her plenty of emotional support with each lesson.
One day, Mengying and Sima Jing sat by the Anya River in the center of campus, sketching the bare autumn trees along the shore. It was November, and the trees that had been lush and full just a month ago seemed to have suddenly lost almost all their leaves.
As Mengying carefully sketched the bare branches stroke by stroke, Sima casually said, "Xiaomeng, you're so independent and unconventional—you don't look like someone who has siblings. You're an only child, aren't you?"
Since Sima had brought up the subject, she could reciprocate.
"That's right. My parents have just me. What about you? I heard you're the youngest in your family. Do you have an older brother or sister?" Mengying asked in the calmest tone possible.
Sima shrugged and answered in a self-deprecating tone, "Oh, I have an older brother. He's the family heir, a straight-A student all the way. Unlike me—I'm my mother's disappointment." Then he looked at Mengying and said teasingly, "But don't get any ideas about my brother. His grandmother already arranged a betrothal for him long ago."
His grandmother arranged a betrothal? Not by his own choice? Could Sima Chen be Brother White?
Mengying ignored Sima's teasing and continued, "I heard that your Daheng has a tradition of early betrothals. But isn't his grandmother also your grandmother?"
"His grandmother comes from a high-ranking family that my mother could never aspire to match," Mengying detected a sour note in Sima's tone. So they were half-brothers.
"Have you ever met his fiancée?"
"No. My brother and I were never close growing up. I only heard about the betrothal. Why? Are you actually interested in my brother? You have no chance. My brother has been constantly thinking about his fiancée."
"Constantly thinking about her? Haven't they seen each other in a long time?" Mengying pressed further.
"Let's not talk about my brother anymore," Sima suddenly seemed to lose interest in the topic. He set down his sketchpad. "Let me see how your drawing is coming along," he said, standing up to resume his duties as a diligent art teacher.
Mengying was disappointed that Sima hadn't answered her last question. For the next several days, she politely declined Sima's continued art lesson invitations, citing the need to prepare for final exams. In classical literature class, she was courteous but distant in response to any of his conversational attempts, and she left quickly after class. Finally, one day Sima called her.
"Okay, I surrender. I know you girls love gossip but can also be petty. You just want to hear gossip about my brother, right? All the girls around us were like that back in Daheng. But once they heard he was already betrothed at eight years old, they all backed off."
Sima's unconditional surrender made Mengying sense that he probably had feelings for her. But she was more interested in information about Sima Chen. She found that what Sima said didn't quite match what she knew about Brother White. Still, she decided to ask a few more questions.
"Eight years old? Your brother matured so early—did he fall for his fiancée at first sight when he was eight?"
"I'm not sure. His grandmother arranged the betrothal when he was eight. I wasn't even a year old at the time, so I don't know the details. As for my brother being mature for his age, he really was like a little adult from childhood. Everyone said there was an 'old soul' living in his body. For as long as I can remember, he's been like a doll, polite and smiling to everyone. Who knows what he's really thinking? Now that you mention it, he does share your coldness. You two are quite alike."
"Don't you two get along?" Mengying ignored Sima's comment about her.
"It's not that we don't get along. It's just that you never know what he's thinking. It's unsettling," Sima said, pausing as if to reflect on his brother. Then he quickly returned to the subject. "I've told you everything I know. You're not upset anymore, are you?"
"I was never upset. I really am preparing for finals. Unlike you young master with money to spend, I need to earn my scholarship."
"You're teasing me again."