Haven’t you ever seen a wealthy heir before?

When school resumed on Monday, Number One High was indeed in an uproar. Many students who had passed by on Saturday night had snapped photos, later uploading them to the school forum. After a weekend of rumors and speculation, even the younger students had heard something about it.

Had it been merely a luxury car, perhaps the matter would not have caused such a commotion. But a luxury car paired with a beautiful woman was impossible to ignore. Moreover, classmates from the same year who had posted the photos soon confirmed her identity. It wasn’t long before every student in Number One High knew that the stunning girl who had appeared that night alongside the Phantom was none other than Chen Ruowen, the new student in Class One, Senior Three.

As the bell rang to signal the end of yet another class, Chen Ruowen could no longer endure it. She rose from her seat and strode to the back door of the classroom.

The once-empty corridor was now packed with people. Students, some from unknown grades, crowded around the classroom door, craning their necks to catch a glimpse inside. Many clutched their phones, jumping up and down, aiming their cameras into the classroom, snapping photos amid a noisy commotion, shouting—

“Is it her?”

“There, I see her! She’s really gorgeous!”

—And other such chaotic remarks.

When the star of their photos began walking toward the back door, these kids weren’t intimidated in the least. On the contrary, their eyes lit up, gleaming with the excitement of fans about to meet their idol.

Chen Ruowen stood at the back door, arms folded, casting an icy gaze at the strangers snapping away with their flashing cameras. Her tone was sharp.

“Have you taken enough?”

The only response was a barrage of shutter clicks.

Some, bolder still, thrust their phones right up to her face to capture clearer shots, furiously pressing the shutter, the blinding flashes nearly searing her eyes.

Chen Ruowen’s patience snapped.

She seized the wrist of the boy who was frantically clicking away, snatched the phone—still in camera mode—from his hand, and flung it forward with all her might—

—Crash!

The phone flew over the crowd, across the corridor, past the flowerbeds, and shattered to pieces at the base of the teaching building.

For a moment, the crowd fell utterly silent.

Several seconds passed before the boy whose phone had been smashed finally reacted, shouting at the top of his lungs.

“What gives you the right to break my phone?!”

“Because you took my photo.”

Chen Ruowen’s cool gaze swept over the row of students before her. Her voice was frigid.

“Today I smashed a phone. If you come again tomorrow, I’ll smash people—try me if you don’t believe it.”

With that, she slammed the back door shut and strode purposefully back to her seat.

“Tch, who does she think she is? So what if she’s pretty? Who would want to take her picture otherwise?”

“Yeah, she comes to school in a fancy car and dresses up just to attract attention—now she’s pretending to be all lofty and above it.”

“I saw her in person today—she’s nothing special. Those photos on the forum are way better. Who knows how long she spent editing them just to hype herself up.”

“Exactly. And who knows where that car came from? Maybe… Hah, another Guo Jingyuan!”

“Who says otherwise?”

The gossip in the corridor was loud enough to be heard through the door, but eventually the crowd dispersed in twos and threes, leaving only the unlucky boy whose phone had been smashed still banging on the door, stubbornly shouting.

“What gives you the right to break my phone?!”

“Pay for my phone!”

Annoyed beyond belief, Chen Ruowen grabbed her wallet, yanked open the back door, and without a glance, pulled out a thick wad of hundred-yuan bills and flung them in his face. Then, with another bang, she shut the door.

Outside, all was silent.

“Sis Wen, you’re awesome!”

A boy sitting across the aisle from Chen Ruowen turned around and gave her a thumbs-up. The classmates who had been quietly watching the spectacle finally came to life, chatting in low voices while stealing glances at Chen Ruowen, their expressions a mix of admiration and fear.

The only exception was Ma Yunan. For some reason, he solemnly placed his own phone on Chen Ruowen’s desk, looking as though he were ready to sacrifice himself for a cause.

“Sis Wen, smash my phone too! I want to know what it feels like to be hit with money!”

Chen Ruowen paused, mid-scroll on the school forum, eyeing him suspiciously.

“I’m serious! The way you threw that money just now… wow! So cool! That’s exactly what I’d expect from you, Sis Wen—so bold, so impressive, so awesome!”

“…Out with it. What do you want?”

Ma Yunan sat on the chair in front of Chen Ruowen, pressing his hands together in a mock prayer, his face full of earnestness.

“Sis Wen, please keep me as your dependent.”

“…_(´ཀ`」∠)_”

Chen Ruowen nearly spat blood.

The classmates who had been eavesdropping burst into peals of laughter, no longer bothering to pretend or hide their amusement. They teased him mercilessly.

“Ma Yunan, have you no shame? With your monkey face, you want her to keep you? You’d be better off as a pet! And even so, if she were going to keep anyone, it’d be me!”

“Move aside! Sis Wen, I could apply to be your driver if nothing else. I might not have a license yet, but I promise, as soon as I turn eighteen, I’ll get one. Then maybe you’ll let me touch that Phantom…”

Chen Ruowen was exasperated.

While this nonsense was going on, Li Yun and Ye Qing, whose seats weren’t far from Chen Ruowen’s, came over. Unlike the others, they didn’t join the banter. Instead, they deliberately bumped into Ma Yunan and snorted disdainfully.

“Tch. You don’t even know whose car that is, and you’re already brown-nosing. Don’t you feel embarrassed?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Ma Yunan demanded, frowning.

“Exactly what I said.”

Ye Qing and Li Yun stood arm in arm, looking at Chen Ruowen and the others with open contempt.

“All of you begging to be kept, when the real owner is probably being kept herself. Where would she get the money to keep anyone else?”

“…”

As if struck by a thought, the boys watching nearby suddenly fell silent. Apart from Ma Yunan’s protests for Ye Qing to stop making things up, suspicion began to cloud the gazes of the others.

Chen Ruowen was almost amused by the absurdity of it all—this was the first time in her life she’d ever been accused of being a kept woman.

Kept?

Who could afford to keep her?

Had she not experienced it herself, she would never have believed that one person’s malice toward another—an innocent stranger—could reach such a level.

There is no true empathy in this world, only bystanders who enjoy the spectacle. If it weren’t her, Chen Ruowen, sitting here today—if it were some Zhang Ruowen, Wang Ruowen, or even… Guo Jingyuan?

How would things be then?

Chen Ruowen let out a snort, oddly enough not even angry this time. As she looked at Ye Qing and Li Yun, a hint of pity entered her gaze.

“What are you laughing at? What’s so funny?” Ye Qing snapped.

“I’m not laughing at you. I pity you.”

Chen Ruowen shook her head, her tone full of scorn.

“Your mind is full of such filth. Haven’t you ever heard of the term ‘second-generation rich’?”

Ye Qing scoffed, “Keep talking. There’s no way for us to verify it anyway. You can make up whatever you like.”

“I don’t need to make anything up, nor do I have the time to explain.”

Chen Ruowen unlocked her phone and set it on the desk, pointing to the Number One High forum displayed on the screen.

“Let the omniscient netizens enlighten you.”

Ye Qing didn’t reach for the phone, but Ma Yunan did, grabbing it eagerly. At a single glance, he exclaimed in shock.

“Chen Ruowen, seventeen years old, only daughter of the chairman of Shuangxing Fashion. Shuangxing Group, established in—”

Ma Yunan pointed to a screenshot from a televised missing persons bulletin in the post, his excitement barely contained.

“Sis Wen, your dad is Chen Liwan, the richest man in Nancheng?!”

Chen Liwan?

The richest man in Nancheng, and even among the top five wealthiest in the entire nation—a mogul in the entertainment industry.

The room fell utterly silent.