The Days I Was Secretly Loved by the All-Girls School Beauties - Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Wen Sixue…?

It really was a beautiful name.

It felt like stretching your fingers into the winter sun. The first sensation is cold, as the tips touch the paper-thin chill in the air; but the next moment, warmth slowly seeps out, like snowmelt quietly dissolving in your palm.

The brief and pleasant weekend ended in the blink of an eye. In student life, Monday is always a day that is held in low regard.

The wealthy young ladies carried their schoolbags with sighs of resentment, their dark circles showing as they were respectfully delivered to the school gates by their family drivers. They looked haggard, their faces so hollowed out that even the finest cosmetics couldn’t mask the exhaustion of their spent bodies.

Several girls couldn’t help but slump over their desks, the corners of their lips appearing swollen or broken with red bloodstains.

The sharp-eyed Yun Zhan noticed that several other girls were wearing turtlenecks. They kept tugging at their collars with their fingertips; despite sweating profusely from the heat, they refused to expose their necks, as if terrified of being seen, cautiously guarding against anyone passing by.

“Why do they look so strange?” Yun Zhan lightly closed her book and pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose, looking at the girls with curiosity.

“Host, don’t you know? The noble ladies often throw ‘yin parties’ on the weekends,” 21 explained.

What kind of party? Yun Zhan blinked. Did they go to a party over the weekend? In her innocence, she had no idea what 21 was talking about.

“You’re the one who asked… basically, it’s going to someone’s house… and doing… this and that… let me describe it to you.” 21 cleared its throat and began tirelessly recounting the messy romantic histories of the nobility it had looked up.

In short, the girls of Minton Academy would hold parties with their “beloveds” over the weekend. As for the contents of the party, 21 simply played a pure “adult-rated” clip directly in Yun Zhan’s mind.

Yun Zhan bit her lip, her small face flushing red instantly. She hurriedly cut off 21’s demonstration. Curiosity killed the cat; I shouldn’t have asked…

Suddenly, the dead atmosphere of the classroom shifted. Several girls around Yun Zhan lifted their eyes, their faces darkening as they simultaneously cast unfriendly gazes toward the classroom door.

Yun Zhan’s eyes followed theirs, landing on the slender girl at the entrance.

Wen Sixue…?

Yun Zhan was stunned. She hadn’t expected to meet the girl from the weekend in a place like this. Her intuition told her that Wen Sixue was very unpopular here.

Unlike the heavily made-up appearance of the weekend, Wen Sixue wore no makeup today. Her bare face looked exceptionally fresh and refined. Loose strands of hair fell by her temples, giving her the pure vibe of the girl next door. She kept her head down, walking to her seat without a word.

Wen Sixue sat with a straight back, the black school uniform draped over her thin frame. Her slender waist looked as fragile as a willow branch. Despite the lack of makeup, Yun Zhan recognized her at a glance.

During the opera, she had been wearing heavy costumes, so Yun Zhan hadn’t realized just how thin Wen Sixue actually was.

“Wen Sixue, you bitch! You actually dare to come back to school?”

Suddenly, a girl next to Yun Zhan erupted in rage. Her phoenix eyes glared fiercely at Wen Sixue as she threw a heavy Spanish textbook with full force at Wen Sixue’s face.

Wen Sixue blocked the corner of the book with her arm. The sharp edge struck her delicate skin; it wouldn’t be long before the arm turned purple and blue.

“Taotao! Don’t be impulsive! You’ll be sent to the Forbidden Room for hitting people at school!” Her friends hurriedly held back Tao Ye.

“Sister, don’t let this person ruin your mood. At worst, we’ll just drive her out. There are so many of us; if she insists on staying here for class, we have plenty of ways to torment her slowly. It’s better to show some restraint under the cameras,” another girl whispered comfortingly, while casting several harsh glares at Wen Sixue.

“You want me to let her go?! Don’t you know what her family has done all these years? Her whole family comes from a line of courtesans—naturally lewd. They use that fox-like face under the guise of ‘performance’ to tear my family apart!”

Tao Ye’s eyes were bloodshot. She screamed at Wen Sixue’s face until her voice went hoarse before she was finally pulled away by those around her.

Yun Zhan’s expression was solemn. Her gaze lingered on Wen Sixue for a long time. Just as she took a step forward, Jiang Yanmo grabbed her firmly.

“Yun Zhan, don’t get involved!” Jiang Yanmo pulled Yun Zhan back with a sour face. She looked at Yun Zhan with a complicated expression and whispered, “Don’t let your sense of justice get the better of you. This Wen Sixue comes from a family of performers; they sing beautifully and were considered a ‘cultural powerhouse’ back then. But her family did disgusting things—training performers and sending them out… to be mistresses and playthings for the heads of great families, both men and women. That’s how Tao Ye’s family was ruined.”

During the period of unrest in Yuedu, traditional opera was still highly sought after by the elite. Famous singers held high status, and a performance was often a major social event for the political and business elite. However, the head of the Wen family was corrupt. He used performances to build connections and sent the beauties and famous singers from his manor to various officials to gain power and wealth.

The Wen family exposed the ugly side of the elite. These dignitaries enjoyed the beauty but began to fear the Wen family, worried they would leak information and damage their public reputations. Over time, more and more noble families began to ostracize the Wen family, eventually reaching a point where the family was nearly wiped out.

By Wen Sixue’s generation, the Wen family had nothing left. Their ancestral assets were all mortgaged. Her grandmother, in her seventies, had to swallow her pride to beg an old friend to barely get Wen Sixue into Minton Academy. Now, Wen Sixue had nothing left except a good voice and her looks.

“What’s Wen Sixue’s current situation?” Yun Zhan asked 21.

“It’s terrible. Not only does she have to support herself through performances, but she also has to use the extra money to pay off debts. Her parents left behind too many bad debts; even selling the mansion and the theater wasn’t enough to cover them. They simply abandoned Wen Sixue and fled the country.”

So tragic. 21 whimpered while reading the files. “Wen Sixue goes to school during the day, performs at the pear garden on weekends and nights, has to dodge her parents’ creditors, and even faces harassment from thugs in her run-down neighborhood because she’s beautiful.”

Wen Sixue’s life was destined to be a tragedy from the moment she was born. When the great tree of the Wen family was uprooted, she lost everyone who could protect her. At eighteen, she had to endure foul insults at school, harassment from certain customers at the theater, and a lack of basic safety in her home. It was hard to imagine why she still forced herself to attend the strictly class-conscious Minton Academy for the sake of her ancestors’ pride.

Tao Ye stared fixedly at Wen Sixue. Suddenly, she snapped. She grabbed a mug of boiling water from the desk and, without warning, splashed it toward Wen Sixue!

Yun Zhan’s seat was in a direct line with Wen Sixue’s.

Yun Zhan’s reaction speed was incredible. She stood up instantly and, without a hint of hesitation, blocked the boiling water for Wen Sixue. The near-boiling water splashed onto her arm, and the pain made Yun Zhan knit her brows tightly.

“Yun Zhan! You… Tao Ye, that’s enough! You’ve hurt someone!” Jiang Yanmo panicked, half-kneeling on the floor to check Yun Zhan’s expression.

Tao Ye’s eyes cleared instantly. Pale-faced, she dropped the mug, looking dazed as if she were about to faint.

Wen Sixue’s legs were shaking. She stared in disbelief at Yun Zhan. As Yun Zhan looked up, Wen Sixue recognized her face…

It’s the beautiful young guest who gave me the gold brooch.

Wen Sixue turned deathly pale. A sharp pain hit her chest. Ignoring the hateful glares of others, she stumbled and knelt before Yun Zhan.

“Why would you do this… I’m sorry, I’m so sorry…” Wen Sixue stared at Yun Zhan’s pained face, two lines of tears overflowing from her eyes. She stared at the reddened skin on Yun Zhan’s arm, not daring to touch her for fear of causing more pain.

The incident was sudden, and someone went to the office to call Pei Yanxi.

Pei Yanxi, dressed in her black suit, was in a meeting. Her face turned grave upon hearing that Yun Zhan was injured, and she immediately suspended the session.

Before entering the classroom, Pei Yanxi had tried to prepare herself mentally, but seeing Yun Zhan’s scalded skin, her heart ached terribly.

She gazed at Yun Zhan, who was crouching on the floor breathing heavily. A rare flicker of violence appeared in her cold eyes. She squeezed her palms tightly, the sharp pain helping her maintain her usual composure. Yun Zhan was the one hurt, but Pei Yanxi was the one suffering; it felt as if her throat were being squeezed, and her breath hitched at the sight of the burn.

After calming down, she scanned the room, finally landing her gaze on Tao Ye.

“It was you, wasn’t it? Tao Ye.” Pei Yanxi’s tone was cold, her voice trembling slightly with suppressed rage.

Pei Yanxi’s gaze was intensely oppressive. Her majestic, wordless stare left Tao Ye unable to speak. Tao Ye’s eyes fluttered, and she nearly fainted in the classroom.

“Senior, she was originally throwing the water at me…”

“Senior Pei, Yun Zhan blocked the water for Wen Sixue. You know how Wen Sixue is…”

The other students chimed in, creating a chaotic mess of voices. From the scattered fragments of speech, Pei Yanxi roughly pieced together what happened.

So, Yun Zhan was playing the hero for a beauty?

Very well…

Pei Yanxi gritted her teeth. She was truly angry now. She coldly ordered them to shut up.

“Get her to the infirmary first. Those involved, come to the Principal’s office immediately.”

After Yun Zhan was taken away, Pei Yanxi stared darkly at Tao Ye and Wen Sixue. Especially Wen Sixue.

“Why are you still watching the surveillance?” Xue Qi sat next to Pei Yanxi. The entire afternoon had passed, and Pei Yanxi had remained in the security room. She had been sitting there for three hours; wasn’t she tired?

“Clarifying the truth,” Pei Yanxi said flatly, her eyes never leaving the screen.

“You’re just unhappy because your little junior blocked boiling water for someone else…” Xue Qi pursed her lips, her voice dripping with sarcasm. As her best friend, she knew exactly what Pei Yanxi was thinking. “Clarifying the truth,” my foot. Rewatching those few seconds of Yun Zhan saving Wen Sixue over and over again wasn’t about “truth.”

“Xue Qi, say one more word and see if I don’t turn on you.” Pei Yanxi finally looked away from the monitor. Her sharp gaze swept over Xue Qi’s face, making Xue Qi feel a chill run down her spine.

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