In our generation, the eldest grandson of the main branch—the most favored of the Huo Family—caught sight of me when I was six years old and told Old Master Huo right then and there: "This little girl is so pretty. I'm going to marry her and take her home as my wife."
Both Old Master Huo and my grandfather were overjoyed.
Old Master Huo found it amusing that his grandson had an eye for beauty at such a tender age, and he also felt deep pity for my status as an orphan. If his grandson was interested, he had no objections; the children were still young, after all.
My grandfather, however, actively embraced the matter as a major undertaking.
He had been worried that generation by generation, our ties with the Huo Family would fade away. But since the young master of the Huo Family had set his sights on his granddaughter, there could be no relationship more secure than that.
Therefore, the fact that I was able to grow up in peace was actually not unrelated to that remark Huo Ning had made years ago.
After all, the second young miss favored by the Young Master Huo would surely be of some use in the future.
"Tsk! Why do you want to eat cake again? Show me which girl dares to eat sweets like you do? Watch out or you'll get fat!" Huo Ning failed to notice the broken fork in my hand or my bleeding palm.
What he saw was the dessert behind me.
I lowered my head and remained silent, acting as docile and obedient as I always had.
I forced my racing heart to calm down, using the pain in my palm to remind myself to keep my cool.
At that moment, what I wanted most was to pick up the fruit knife nearby, turn around, and plunge it straight into Huo Ning's heart—to kill him with my own hands!
Because he was the primary culprit who had forced me to jump into the sea! Dying alongside me was our six-month-old child, his own flesh and blood.
For the sake of another woman, he could throw away even his own child!
I took a deep breath, straightened my back, and warned myself inwardly: Nan Xing, that moment hasn't even happened yet! It hasn't happened!
Huo Ning reached out and patted my shoulder. "I heard from your sister that you stayed up all night playing video games again? Tsk, with you acting like this, how on earth are you going to take the college entrance examination? Let me tell you, if you can't get into a decent university, my mother is going to nag you again about how you aren't worthy of marrying into our family. Nan Xing, save some face for me, won't you? Hmm?"
He looked at me, waiting for my assurance.
I raised my eyes, looked at him, and replied calmly, "Then I won't marry."
Huo Ning froze for a moment, scrutinizing my face. "What's wrong? Did Aunt Yuan scold you this morning? Are you angry? Heh, you're taking your anger out on me just because you're mad at Aunt Yuan? You really are getting bolder!"
He reached out to flick my forehead.
I sidestepped to dodge his hand and casually tossed the fork from my palm into the trash can in the corner.
"Young Master Ning, my sister is looking for you. She asked me to take you to her as soon as you arrived." I didn't look at Huo Ning as I walked straight ahead. Looking at that face required every ounce of strength I had to suppress the raging fire in my chest.
Huo Ning followed right behind me. "What does Nan Yang want with me?"
I kept quiet.
Huo Ning trailed after me step for step, running his mouth incessantly.
Huo Ning was a young master who had grown up in a honeypot.
He looked at everyone with a sense of charitable mercy, and even more so toward me.
Given his status, taking a fancy to me was nothing short of a bestowal of grace.
And I was already predestined, universally acknowledged as his private property.
That label—I was going to rip it off completely!
The moment Nan Yang saw me, her expression shifted.
I raised my voice, "Sister, Huo Ning is looking for you."
People nearby turned to look. I smiled and slipped my arm through Nan Yang's. "Sister, as soon as Huo Ning arrived, he asked straight for you."
A happiness that could not be concealed bloomed across Nan Yang's face as she cast an affectionate, lingering glance at Huo Ning.
Huo Ning frowned at me. Ignoring him, I gently shook Nan Yang's arm. "Sister, my head hurts."
True to form, Nan Yang said with concern, "Go lie down in your room quickly. It must be from staying up late last night."
She gave me a playful, spoiled slap on the arm and said to the young ladies around her, "This sister of mine is so childish! She's such a grown-up, yet she still doesn't know how to take care of herself, leaving me and Mom worrying about her day in and day out."
She never missed a chance to smear me, using the tactic of grinding me into the dirt to elevate herself and her mother.
Without sparing Huo Ning a glance, I walked away.
Huo Ning tried to follow, but Nan Yang caught him by the arm. "Huo Ning, let me show you the flowers we're growing!"
Huo Ning never turned down a girl's request because refusing would be terribly ungentlemanly!
That was his creed.
I couldn't be bothered to look back at their hypocritical facade.
Before I could settle my emotions and fully adapt to the reality of having been sent back ten years in time, I couldn't bear to spend another minute in their presence; I was afraid that in a moment of impulse, I would sharpen my knives against them!
Between them and me lay a blood feud, an irreconcilable enmity!
In the back garden of the Nan Family estate stood a glass greenhouse built as a pretentious affectation by Li Yuan and Nan Yang. By the time the greenhouse was finished, appreciation parties were no longer in vogue in M City, so the abandoned structure had become my favorite place to study, where few ever came to disturb me.
The official banquet had not yet begun, so "obeying" Li Yuan's instructions to keep a low profile and leave the stage to the "socially adept" Nan Yang, I hid away in my little sanctuary to swim in a sea of test questions.
The moment I decided to live this lifetime well, I had mapped out a preliminary college entrance exam review plan for myself.
I was determined to get into M University—that was my dream!
Someone was sitting at my usual spot by the small table in the greenhouse.
I froze, staring blankly at that profile, losing my mind.
Dressed in a handmade black suit, his long legs crossed, he sat lazily in a rocking chair. His semi-long, slightly wavy hair was tied back in a half-pony tail, radiating an unbridled arrogance and an aura that screamed "stay away."
In his hands, he was flipping through my English test paper.
Huo Jingchuan!
How could he be here?
My tears almost spilled over. I wanted nothing more than to rush over, throw my arms around him, and drag him off to get our marriage license.
We were supposed to get our marriage license today, after all.
Yet my feet were nailed to the floor, unable to budge an inch.
Huo Jingchuan, overnight, a span of ten years lay between us.
At this moment, you probably haven't fallen for me yet, right?
If I were to ask you if you're willing to marry me like I did last night, you'd most likely take me for a lunatic.
I couldn't help but smile.
What was the rush?
He had already appeared before my eyes, and I would never let him run away again.
Huo Jingchuan turned his head to look at me and lifted the test paper in his hand. "Yours?"
I walked forward, every step so joyful I could burst into song.
I took a seat in the chair opposite him.
He handed the paper back to me and said indifferently, "Had some free time, so I graded it for you. The essay is far too rubbish. Are you in the arts or sciences track?"
Clutching the test paper he had corrected, unable to put it down, I answered casually, "Sciences."
"Hmm. How are your math, physics, and chemistry? Which subject is your weakest?" His chair began to rock gently, emitting a soft creaking sound like a little mouse, scratching deliciously at my heart.
"None of them are particularly strong," I lowered my voice, an embryonic plan quietly brewing in the depths of my mind.
"Where do you want to test into?" Huo Jingchuan asked slowly.
"M University!" My voice was firm and clear.
Huo Jingchuan's gaze lingered on me, a faint smile flashing briefly at the corner of his lips.
I picked up the paper and stood up, stopping right beside him, and bowed deeply to him. "Teacher, please accept me as your student and tutor my studies!"
Huo Jingchuan was startled. He rose from the rocking chair, stared at me, and was actually left speechless.
I lowered my head, concealing the smile at the corners of my lips.
"I heard President Nan hired top-tier private tutors to tutor his daughter." There was a hint of hesitation in Huo Jingchuan's voice.
He knew I was a daughter of the Nan Family?
Just because this was the Nan Family estate and that test paper belonged to me, could he deduce that I was a daughter of the Nan Family?
Did he know whether I was Nan Yang or Nan Xing?
Nan Yang was older than me by a grade, but because of Li Yuan's selfishness, I had started school early and ended up in the same grade as Nan Yang. Therefore, next year I would take the college entrance exams alongside her.
The Nan Family had indeed hired top-tier tutors for lessons.
I took a deep breath, smoothing out the test paper in my hand, and replied calmly, "The tutor was hired for my sister. Mom said my grades are poor, so it'd be a waste of money and time; I just need to get into some mediocre school."
I didn't look up, but I knew Huo Jingchuan's expression must have been one of shock.
"They... mistreat you?" Huo Jingchuan's voice was slightly unsteady.
Was there anything to be surprised about?
I raised my head to look at him. He wore the exact same expression he had worn back then when he pulled me out of the sea.
It seemed he had never imagined that the second young miss of the Nan Family was treated any differently than the eldest.
I broke into a bright smile. "Teacher, I want to be like my sister, to have a tailor-made, systematic review plan. I will work hard!"
The gaze Huo Jingchuan fixed on me was murky and inscrutable.
But I didn't care. I was dead set on being Huo Jingchuan's student!
He didn't want to take me on?
I looked at him, blinking my eyelashes as tears welled up, lowering my gaze so a teardrop slipped onto the test paper in my hand, and said with a look of devastation, "Everyone says my genes are bad, that I'm not as smart as my sister, and that I won't get into M University. I just want to prove myself, to let everyone see that Nan Xing isn't a parasite, that Nan Xing isn't a fool."
"Nan Xing, you aren't— Fine, I'll help you!" Huo Jingchuan's voice was so gentle it startled me.