THD Chapter 33

Not long after Hou Nianyun returned, People magazine released a new cover.

The woman on the cover looked over her shoulder, her eyes as calm and cold as a reptile's. Amid the sea of flashy magazine layouts, she seemed to be gazing at someone beyond the frame. The image was breathtaking, and when the identity of the cover star was revealed, the excitement only grew.

It was the legendary academic genius, Ye Xiqing.

Because of her appearance on the cover, a previously obscure magazine sold over one hundred thousand copies. The publisher hurriedly released a digital edition featuring the same cover, which quickly surpassed fifty thousand sales as well.

In an era when print media was steadily declining, only fashion magazines backed by celebrity fandoms could normally achieve such astonishing numbers. Serious publications almost never reached those figures.

Ye Xiqing had ushered in a completely new phenomenon.

The era of the "traffic scholar."

Naturally, her detractors were quick to complain.

"Why are people turning academia into the entertainment industry?"

"People magazine is supposed to be a prestigious publication. Now it's become a product for obsessive fans. It's completely lost its dignity."

The younger readers merely glanced sideways at the bitter critics, dismissing them as nothing more than jealous sour grapes.

They simply wanted to worship what they called the "masterpiece of Seigaku's writing."

Whoever wrote this article was unbelievably talented.

People magazine specialized in profiling remarkable individuals, so its articles were known for their rigor. The interview thoroughly explained the pharmacology and effectiveness of the new menstrual pain medication.

Ordinarily, such technical information should have been dry and difficult to read.

Instead, it was fascinating.

Even the unfamiliar scientific terminology only deepened its mysterious charm.

Looking more carefully, readers realized the author had never overwhelmed them with technical jargon. Rather than drowning ordinary readers in professional knowledge, the interviewer guided both the audience and the interviewee with remarkable ease, ensuring that no one ever felt left behind.

Curiosity naturally followed.

Before they realized it, readers had finished the lengthy interview and found themselves wishing it were even longer.

Then they closed the magazine.

And suddenly noticed something strange.

Wasn't the author's perspective... a little unusual?

This wasn't written like an interview at all.

It read more like literary fiction written by a woman hopelessly in love.

Throughout the article, the narrator observed the interviewee from an indescribably dark, almost obsessive perspective.

She was dangerous, yet irresistibly attractive.

She was tranquil, yet endlessly captivating.

She was humanity's brilliant pioneer.

She was the destroyer who brought everything to an end.

And above all...

She loved me very, very much.

Hehehehehe...

Readers who noticed the subtext were left speechless.

What made them even more speechless was that they had somehow fallen in love with the dreamlike woman portrayed in the article because of that overwhelming devotion.

Love had sculpted the subject into something almost divine.

The rich emotions and elegant prose transformed the interview into what readers jokingly called another "Seigaku masterpiece," attracting countless "dream girls" just like the author herself.

The phenomenal sales of the magazine, along with the widespread praise for the article, also meant that Hou Nianyun's graduation project was a complete success. Before she had even graduated, several publishing houses had already extended invitations to her.

It had all started as admiration for her idol.

She had never imagined that same admiration would one day become the source of her own future.

Looking down the increasingly clear road before her, Hou Nianyun finally understood what Ye Xiqing had meant.

The two of them walked different paths.

But on her own road, she was no less capable than anyone else.

...

While some celebrated, others suffered.

The higher someone was praised, the harder they fell.

Ye Xiqing's fans supported her because they genuinely admired and respected her. Whenever controversies directly involved Ye Xiqing herself, they usually chose to step back. Even if they felt angry, they quietly swallowed their emotions instead of creating trouble.

Qin Nian's supporters were different.

To many of them, he was merely a weapon they could use to attack women while enjoying the satisfaction of suppressing the opposite sex. When things were going well, they exaggerated every achievement of his. But when everything collapsed, they scattered without hesitation, leaving him to face the consequences alone.

"So who exactly is Qin Nian? He was born four years earlier than Xi Shen and acts like successfully defending her dissertation is some incredible accomplishment."

"I'm dying of laughter. His research isn't anything special, but he's definitely an expert at writing flirtatious romance. He even claimed his mentor came to stand up for him. I thought they had some profound spiritual connection."

"Stand up for what? Wasn't he the one who led a whole group of people to harass the junior girls? Then he picked a fight with Xi Shen and got slapped across the face."

"How dare anyone reject the Young Master of Heaven!"

"Hahaha! Then let me write a 'spoiled student' story too. Xi Shen says, 'Some disgusting man wants to examine my dissertation.' Professor Yang replies, 'It's fine. Your dissertation defense is waived.'"

"Hahaha! But our Xi Shen isn't some spoiled student. One move from her is enough to ruin the future of a useless man."

The once-famous "academic genius and campus heartthrob" became someone everyone despised almost overnight.

The female students who had once crowded around him in the laboratory now avoided him as though he carried a contagious disease.

Even his professors abandoned him without hesitation, treating him with icy indifference as if to prove they had never been involved with him in the first place.

"I will spend four years proving to you, Senior, that you have no right to flirt with me so casually."

"Then I will spend ten years proving that you have no right to look down on me in the cafeteria or discuss academic matters with me."

Ye Xiqing's words echoed through Qin Nian's mind.

Grinding his teeth, he walked toward the laboratory.

He refused to lose so easily.

It was only menstrual pain medicine.

How could public opinion shake his determination?

He would definitely accomplish something even greater in the future.

After steeling himself, Qin Nian ignored the stares directed at him and strode confidently into the laboratory.

Even if his reputation had been destroyed, nobody could force him out.

After all, this wasn't even a matter of personal morality.

How could something so minor ruin his entire future?

Yet the moment he stepped inside, he froze.

"...Ye Xiqing?"

She turned around, slowly looked him up and down, and smiled.

"It's me. Senior, you still look familiar."

Qin Nian fell silent.

"What are you doing here?"

Ye Xiqing tilted her head, but before she could answer, the senior student beside her, who also happened to be the leader of the dissertation defense committee, spoke first with a cheerful smile.

"My junior's paper on a new pharmaceutical compound was recently accepted by NSL, one of the three leading journals in the natural sciences. After a joint evaluation, the university concluded that she's qualified to enter a direct PhD program. Looks like we'll all be seeing each other much more often from now on."

Qin Nian stared blankly at Ye Xiqing.

Her gentle smile somehow felt terrifying.

"Senior," she said softly, "this is the first four years."

...

Ye Xueli felt strangely conflicted.

Although four years had passed since entering university, she had spent much of that time away performing or on vacation, so she had never actually lived with her roommates for very long.

She was someone who found partings especially difficult.

Whenever she witnessed dramatic farewells, it felt as though her heart were being squeezed.

Ironically, despite having the hardest time fitting into the dormitory at first, she seemed to be the one most devastated by graduation.

Her roommates looked at the sobbing Ye Xueli and exchanged bewildered glances.

Were they really that close?

Over the years, Ye Xueli had constantly been away performing. Combined with her hopelessly romantic personality and her endless mentions of "Brother Anian," they had often found it difficult to hold conversations with her.

But seeing her cry so sincerely now made them reflect on themselves.

She was simply a little more emotional than everyone else.

There was nothing wrong with that.

Everyone expressed affection differently.

Just like that, whatever grievances had accumulated over the past four years quietly disappeared.

They drank their favorite drinks, devoured an all-you-can-eat hot pot feast, and even their frail roommate, who usually became as delicate as a porcelain doll during her menstrual period, was happily enjoying herself thanks to Qingqing's new medicine.

Ye Xueli had never played so recklessly before.

Even after getting off the roller coaster, she was still breathing heavily with excitement.

Looking at the cheerful crowds throughout the amusement park, she experienced a freedom unlike anything she had ever known.

Pointing toward the next attraction, she excitedly shouted,

"Let's keep going!"

Her pale-faced roommates stared at her.

"...Are you Superman?"

On that final day together, everyone revealed a side of themselves no one had ever seen before.

Especially Ye Xueli.

No one could understand how someone with such a petite, rabbit-like body possessed so much endless energy.

Still, everyone was young.

Aside from repeatedly challenging the roller coasters, they spent the day laughing together.

As evening fell, the Ferris wheel rose silently into the sky.

The six roommates pressed themselves against the transparent windows, admiring the scenery below.

People always said Ferris wheels carried romance.

Unexpectedly, riding one with close friends was just as wonderful.

Perhaps Cupid himself disliked being ignored.

When the Ferris wheel reached its highest point, Ye Xueli's phone suddenly vibrated.

Brother Anian: Will you marry me?

Ye Xueli stared silently at the screen.

...

When Ye Xueli finally returned home, Ji Yuxiu was overjoyed.

She had always believed that with two daughters, at least one would stay by her side.

Instead, both her "eldest daughter" and her "youngest daughter" had flown away.

Holding Ye Xueli's hand, she smiled warmly.

"How have you been lately?"

Ye Xueli paused.

The conflict between the real and fake heiress now felt like something that had happened to another person.

Perhaps only after leaving home had she realized she had never truly depended upon it.

The fears she once held had merely been the fantasies of a pampered little bird frightening itself.

Now, standing confidently upon her own stage and hearing the applause of strangers, she finally understood that she possessed the wings of a swan.

She could fly anywhere.

That confidence allowed her to speak to Ji Yuxiu far more naturally than before.

"I've been doing great. Our latest performance was a success. I made lots of new friends in the theater troupe, and I recently said goodbye to my university roommates."

Listening to her happily recount her adventures, Ji Yuxiu sighed.

"You really have grown up. It feels like I can't keep you by my side anymore."

In the past, Ye Xueli would have hugged her immediately.

"Don't worry, Mom. I'll always stay with you."

But this time she simply smiled.

"It's not that you can't keep up with me."

"It's that you've always been waiting in the same place."

"If one day you travel the world yourself, you might discover that you don't need to hold onto anyone."

Ji Yuxiu was speechless.

Her sweet, considerate little daughter had suddenly become much more independent.

She could only take Ye Xueli upstairs.

After living on the fifth floor for so many years, Ye Xueli suddenly asked,

"Mom... could I move to the third floor instead?"

"The lower floors are empty now. Living alone on an entire floor feels a little scary."

Ji Yuxiu paused.

She had never really thought about it.

Ever since Ye Xiqing returned home, her three sons had practically vanished.

The floors that had once belonged to the Eldest Young Master, the Second Young Master, and the Third Young Master remained almost completely empty.

Only the Third Young Master occasionally returned.

The Eldest Young Master and the Second Young Master hardly came home at all.

Those two deserted floors felt lifeless.

As a loving mother who had never considered Ye Xueli an outsider, Ji Yuxiu immediately agreed.

Ye Xueli had never imagined it would be so simple.

All she had needed to do was ask.

Standing in the room that had once belonged to her Second Young Master brother, decorated with stars and an ocean theme she had admired since childhood, she realized it now belonged to her.

...

Although everyone had agreed to return home after graduation, work at the laboratory kept them busy late into the night.

Ye Xiqing stopped the student who had been about to report something and went upstairs alone.

There, in the familiar secluded corner, she found Ye Xueli waiting.

Looking around, Ye Xiqing silently wondered what was so mysteriously attractive about this hidden little spot.

Unlike four years ago, Ye Xueli met her gaze without hesitation.

"Brother Anian proposed to me."

"Did you accept?"

"I pretended I never saw the message."

"Oh? Then why did you come to me?"

"I want to ask whether I should accept."

"And why do you need my opinion?"

"Because you're my sister."

"Every time I call you 'Sister,' you never deny it."

"So... if you're really my sister, then teach me what an older sister is supposed to teach."

Ye Xiqing fell silent.

I'm still a baby myself.

Go ask Mom and Dad instead.

Of course, she would never actually say something so childish.

Instead, she slowly raised her head.

Under the streetlamp, her round pupils seemed capable of swallowing the light itself.

"Only you can decide your own life."

"But..."

"If you truly regard me as your sister, then I'll give you one piece of advice."

"This marriage shouldn't last six years."

"Because in the sixth year..."

"I'll fulfill the promise I made ten years ago."

Author's Note:

Qingqing: Anyway, Qin Nian will be completely broken in six years. If you're mentally strong enough... well... you can certainly try.

Loading navigation...