"Chen Que, so you went to the Abandoned Planet."
Ning Yuyuan’s sweet, naive voice drifted from behind Chen Que. Hearing such an overly intimate tone, Chen Que looked at the girl before her, bewildered.
She was the eldest daughter of the Ning Family, one of the Seven Great Families.
Countless envious gazes were fixed on Ning Yuyuan. "Wow, that’s Ning Yuyuan! A freshman this year. I heard people from all the Seven Great Families came; we’re so lucky."
"Exactly. Especially meeting a socialite as kind and charitable as the Ning Family’s eldest daughter—it’s such a blessing."
"What a shame, though. Some filth has arrived."
Eyes turned toward Chen Que. Everyone present seemed to look down upon her, someone who had come from the Abandoned Planet.
It wasn't just those from the great families of Mo'an City; even Ye Fenghua, who stood behind Ning Yuyuan, shifted his gaze and pursed his lips, looking visibly uncomfortable.
Chen Que stared at the girl who was acting like an old friend, feeling only confusion.
"Do we know each other?"
As soon as the words left her lips, a collective gasp swept through the surrounding crowd. How could this creature from a trash planet be so rude? To speak to a lady of the Seven Great Families with such insolence!
Ning Yuyuan, however, blinked her hazy, doe-like eyes, looking at the man behind Chen Que and the gazes of others. "So, you don't remember."
That was fine, then.
She lifted her chin. "I lived at your home for a time. Perhaps you've forgotten; after all, I am the only one who remembers those painful days."
Ning Yuyuan’s words were double-edged, but Chen Que quickly realized that someone had decided to remember the things from her dreams that she had chosen to abandon.
"What did I do back then?"
Chen Que’s eyes were full of curiosity, though her inquiry was cautious.
Unexpectedly, the moment she asked, Ning Yuyuan clutched her head and squeezed her eyes shut in pain, as if she were about to collapse to the ground.
At that critical moment, a gust of wind surged forward. Chen Que felt a violent impact against her shoulder, and a sharp, stinging pain instantly flooded her entire body.
"Who?" She looked up to see a man looming over her, staring down as if at a corpse. His cold, indifferent gaze seemed ready to tear Chen Que to pieces.
Gasps of alarm erupted one after another from the onlookers. "It’s the eldest young master of the Ning Family, Ning Yuchen."
"That wretch from the trash planet was just trying to bully Yuyuan. It's a good thing Young Master Ning arrived in time."
"Right? The look in that girl's eyes was so disgusting—it was like she wanted to devour the delicate, kind-hearted Ning heiress. Absolutely terrifying."
"Disgusting. They should just kick this trash out of our school."
Ye Fenghua, who had been standing behind Ning Yuyuan, felt the waves of contempt and vitriol surging around them. He couldn't help but look at Chen Que, who was lying on the ground, clutching her shoulder and gritting her teeth.
A flash of worry crossed his eyes. In this school, status was everything. Chen Que had merely asked a question, merely made the young lady feel "afraid," yet she was being attacked by the girl's older brother as if she were a mortal enemy.
Watching Ning Yuchen’s towering figure, Ye Fenghua felt his blood run cold. If Chen Que weren't there, would everyone's target be him instead?
"Chen Que?" Ning Yuchen, who had been a gentle older brother to Ning Yuyuan, now looked at Chen Que with a hatred that made it seem as though he wanted to skin her alive.
Ning Yuchen’s gaze lingered on the girl before him—her face smudged with grime, her hair dry and brittle, her eyes burning with ambition.
It was utterly repulsive.
"What right do you have to strike me? I didn't do anything." Chen Que gritted her teeth, slowly pushing herself up. She backed away, her hands balled into fists.
"What did you do back then? Yuyuan is soft-hearted and might have planned to let you off, but I won't."
"A wretch who is so vicious at such a young age that you'd try to kill someone... your very existence is sickening."
Listening to Ning Yuchen’s unprovoked abuse, Chen Que knew she couldn't control her body, and her strength was limited. Yet, in that moment, she lunged forward and bit down hard on Ning Yuchen’s wrist.
The force was so great that Ning Yuchen’s brow furrowed in pain. When he shook her off, Chen Que had already bolted.
The people left behind stared at one another in silence.
"Hiss." Ning Yuchen pulled back his sleeve to reveal a blood-red mark. This woman—her teeth were sharp indeed. Fitting for someone who crawled out of the slums.
Ning Yuyuan looked at Ning Yuchen’s wound and couldn't help but let tears fall. "Brother, I didn't know she would still do things like this. I thought she had changed for the better. I never expected her to hurt you."
The tears cascaded down her cheeks; she looked so pathetic and frail. The surrounding crowd couldn't help but sigh at the depth of their sibling bond.
Only Ye Fenghua and Zhou Chuang felt that the scene was deeply bizarre. They couldn't quite put their finger on it, but they stood frozen, watching the blood on Ning Yuchen’s wrist.
By the time the freshman orientation was officially underway, everyone knew about the new student from the Abandoned Planet: she had bullied the Ning heiress, and had even nearly bitten through the wrist of the Ning family’s eldest son.
Her level of malice was beyond words.
Having fled the scene, Chen Que ran at full speed until she reached a large tree in the garden by the entrance. She huddled into a ball.
Trembling with tension, she realized that when she bit Ning Yuchen, memories had surfaced in her mind again.
When she was small, to stay at home and avoid being sent away for treatment, she had bitten her brother’s hand. Her brother back then had also been stunned for a moment, but he had only pushed her away gently.
*Little sister is scared. Don't take her away, okay?*
But in the end, she was taken away regardless.
Chen Que bit her lip, trembling uncontrollably. Was she actually a member of the Ning family? But then, recalling Ning Yuchen’s gaze, which had felt like a cold blade piercing through her, the thought vanished instantly.
Disgusting!
Even if she were a Ning, it was disgusting!
Just then, a spider crawled over from a branch on the other side, spinning a long thread. Just as it was about to crawl into her hair, Chen Que caught it with her bare hand.
"Human, let me go. I didn't want to kill you."
She opened her hand and flicked the spider away, then looked up to see a man sitting across from her, beaming with a smile.
Fang Xicheng wore a smirk. He had a bright, beautiful face, but hidden deep within him was the darkest malice. Seeing Chen Que toss the spider aside so easily, his smile turned cold and sharp. What a pity he hadn't managed to kill her.
"Hello, my name is Fang Xicheng. Do you like staying in trees, too?"
Through the layers of shifting shadows, Chen Que looked up at the man’s handsome face. This school truly didn't lack for beautiful people.
Yet, gazing into his clear eyes, Chen Que saw her own disheveled reflection and lowered her head, feeling awkward.
Fang Xicheng smiled, a look of understanding—and undeniable malice—flickering in the corners of his mouth.
She was developing feelings for him that she shouldn't have; how interesting.
Should I keep you by my side for a while, Chen Que?