Chapter 17: Issuing a Challenge

When Xu Chu Yin turned his head, the woman moved through the water like a dolphin gliding across a tranquil lake, still swimming calmly in the center of the pool. Suddenly, she raised her head, her hair cascading down, and looked at the group by the pool with a provocative gaze before speaking, “You are truly the scum of society. One day, you’ll face retribution.”

Zhong Hua Yan had not acted out of mercy to spare Xu Chu Yin. Rather, she believed that, instead of killing them, it was far more fitting to strip them of what they prized most and torment them while they lived.

“Heh, then stay in the water. You’ll never come ashore again.”

“Let’s just drop it today, Sis. My heart hurts,” Xu Chu Yin said, moved by something deep inside him, as if he finally realized that they were doing things bound to bring them consequences.

“Drop it? Why should I? She hit me first, made me ashamed to face anyone at home. Am I supposed to swallow this humiliation? That damned wretch! Why are you defending her?”

For the first time, Xu Chu Yin stood up and shouted at his sister. “Did she really hit you first? No, it’s because you’re jealous of her, jealous that she looks exactly like Zhong Hua Yan, who passed away. That’s why you bully her every day! Sis, can’t we just have a little peace for a while?”

“Xu Chu Yin, you traitor! You’re nothing but a useless waste in this family, do you hear me? You don’t get to speak for the Xu family!”

Xu Chu Yin sneered, his voice echoing through the indoor swimming pool, roaring, “You think you have any standing in the Xu family? You’re just a woman! The Xus have always favored sons over daughters. Every time, Grandfather sided with our brother! You dare criticize me? I’ve protected you for Grandfather’s sake, helped you deal with your messes! And now you dare call me useless?”

Zhong Hua Yan watched their dogfight with genuine amusement, almost wanting to laugh aloud. Taking advantage of their distraction, she swam to the other side, walked to where she had left her school uniform before class, and retrieved her phone.

Within half a minute, the campus forum erupted!

Guan Yu Xi and several other students sat nearby, engrossed in their phones, when suddenly they sprang up in surprise.

“Wait, stop arguing for a second, Xu Yuan, check the forum!”

“Hello everyone, I am Li Yan Yan. I formally challenge Xu Yuan.

At the upcoming Arts Festival in a week, I will perform piano and Kunqu opera.

If Xu Yuan remains champion, I will submit to her. If I win, she must do as I say. I hope all students will join in supervising.”

In just thirty seconds, the post garnered over ten thousand likes, and the comments were rallying Xu Yuan to accept the challenge.

Everyone by the pool turned to look at the unruffled girl nearby. She flicked a cigarette, exuding an air of nonchalance.

“Go push her into the water for me! I have the key to the indoor pool; she won’t be able to leave.”

---

“Sorry, I’ve already notified the art teacher. She’ll be here in a minute. You all are really silly, but watching you quarrel makes me—very—happy,” she said with a wicked smile.

Before leaving, Zhong Hua Yan, pulling on her school uniform, reminded them, “Xu Yuan, accept the challenge. Otherwise, the whole school will mock you for surrendering without a fight.”

“Ha? You think I’d be afraid of you? I’ve played piano since childhood and never lost to anyone. You’re just embarrassing yourself,” Xu Yuan retorted. She took out her phone and replied under the post, “I accept.”

The post quickly spread, reaching ninety percent of the university students.

“Art Teacher Yang? She’s coming to rescue you? Don’t be ridiculous. Unless she wants to lose her job at the school…”

Before Xu Yuan could finish her boast, the pool door opened. Teacher Yang, arriving just in time to overhear, was instantly furious and began to scold the students.

“I am a teacher, not a lapdog to you rich kids! I’ll publicly criticize you in the parents’ group. This is unacceptable!”

Not only Zhong Hua Yan, but the other students were stunned. Wasn’t this teacher supposed to be a snob? Why had she changed?

Teacher Yang hurriedly pulled Zhong Hua Yan away, whispering with delight, “The boyfriend you recommended to me is so famous, a member of the Fu family, the eldest son… If I get called to the principal’s office tomorrow, he’ll have my back, right?”

Zhong Hua Yan rubbed her forehead, amused and speechless. “No problem, I have plenty of high-quality single men to recommend.”

“Li Yan Yan, you really haven’t found a sponsor, have you? I’ve never heard you had such golden connections before.”

She paused for a few seconds. “…”

“Well, Teacher, I once saved someone. Later I learned he was from the renowned Fu family.”

“The Fu family! There are several branches—which one?”

“Fu Yan Yan.”

With just those three words, Teacher Yang was completely dumbfounded.

Zhong Hua Yan hurried home, just in time to run into her eldest brother delivering a late-night snack. He transferred a few hundred in pocket money, worried she might not have enough to spend. Although it wasn’t as much as before, it still warmed her heart.

———

In a shadowy room, on a vintage sofa in the farthest corner, a vague figure sat.

He slowly wiped the blood from his hands with a silk cloth. The assistant placed a painting before him, then gently turned on the lights in the spacious suite.

Fu Yan Yan, dressed in an impeccably tailored black suit, looked as cold as mountaintop snow. The scar on his jade-like wrist was striking. He toyed with a heavenly bead in his hand, exuding an ascetic chill.

“President Fu, this painting is Miss Li’s previous work. It’s signed ‘No Self’.”

The moment he saw the painting, he felt physical pain surge through him.

He lit a cigarette.

The style was eerily familiar.

A Hua rarely painted; she spent most of her time handling affairs at the company, always swift and energetic. Yet, he had seen her paint before.

She once said, “If possible, I’d hope to be someone without desires or attachments in my next life, free and joyful, belonging to neither myself nor others.

So, this gardenia painting is signed ‘No Self’.”

A person’s character can be imitated, but such details—known by so few—are hard to forge.

Even the style was remarkably similar.

Her works mingled abstraction with extreme realism, capturing moments like a camera’s focused lens.

Fu Yan Yan trembled as he caressed the painting, looking at his assistant.

The assistant opened a file and reported, “President Fu, we investigated Miss Li’s past, visited her hometown, and found nothing unusual. She had no contact with any wealthy officials in the capital.

She transferred to the capital university just over a year ago. Recently, after a conflict with classmates, she fell down the stairs, apparently hit her head, and lost her memory.”

“So you’ve confirmed she has had almost no contact with antiquities, never studied painting, and isn’t a substitute trained by rival factions?”

The assistant observed his boss’s complex mix of joy and heartache and replied, “Yes, we’ve checked many times, and there’s no mistake.

Miss Li is truly an anomaly, her background pure and untarnished, not a single thread linking her to the capital’s elite. Only recently has she begun to shine, her talents extraordinary, as if her personality changed after her amnesia.”