Shen Yelan stared at the mountain of thick books piled in front of her. Then she turned to Sun Lili with a look that said, Are you serious?
"Don't look at me. I just delivered what that old man handed over to me." Sun Lili immediately held both hands up, putting all the blame on Butler Wang.
The corner of Shen Yelan's lips twitched. She turned back to the books and stared at them for another second. Then, she turned her look away.
If I can't see them, they don't exist.
She opened her laptop and started scrolling through her watch history to find the web series that she had failed to finish last night.
Sun Lili took out a bag of chips that she'd apparently hidden somewhere in the room earlier. Then she dropped into the chair beside the bed and made herself comfortable. She took out her phone and began to play the game she usually played.
"Which school did he pick for me?" Shen Yelan asked, not looking up from the screen.
"Dexing High School."
Shen Yelan's finger stopped on the touchpad and she looked up.
If she remembered correctly, Shen Wanwan attended Nanyang High School, which was said to be the best school in the city. Shen Chengwei was obviously not going to put Shen Yelan there, fearing she might embarrass him. But he also cared much about appearances. Even if he disliked her, he wouldn't send her somewhere embarrassing that would make him look bad.
There must be a reason why he was sending her to Dexing High School.
"What's so special about that school?" she asked.
"Most of the students there come from rich or powerful families all over the country," Sun Lili explained, her thumbs still flying across her phone screen. "Nobody really cares about grades there. Students go there mostly to build connections and future alliances. Because of that, the whole school is basically just..." She searched for the word.
"A warzone," Shen Yelan offered.
Sun Lili pointed at her with a chip. "Exactly. There are all kinds of cliques and groups inside, and most of them are constantly at each other's throats over something. Oh come on, how did you miss that shot?!" she suddenly yelled at her phone. "That was literally right in front of you! Are you blind or what?"
Shen Yelan just raised an eyebrow and waited.
"Sorry, sorry," Sun Lili muttered, still glaring at her screen. "Where was I? Right, warzone. So yeah, it's kind of a mess."
Just from that little description, Shen Yelan could tell this wasn't the typical high school.
On the surface, Shen Chengwei was sending his long-lost daughter to a well-known school to make him look like a caring father. But in reality, he was throwing her into a cage full of wolves.
A crippled girl who grew up in the countryside would become the perfect target inside a place full of arrogant young masters and wealthy heiresses.
He was smart. By doing this, he could kill two birds with one stone. And wouldn't even have to dirty his own hands.
"Dexing and Nanyang are also rivals." Sun Lili added.
"Oh?"
"One school represents status, and the other represents talent, because of which, neither side thinks very highly of the other."
Shen Yelan understood immediately. Even without saying anything, he was telling the world that Shen Wanwan was genius and the pride of the family. Meanwhile, Shen Yelan was nothing without our money and name.
Strangely enough, instead of getting angry, Shen Yelan was suddenly anticipating going to school.
In her previous life, she did not have a systematic education and was trained by the organization that had raised her. Everything she knew about normal life came from TV dramas and romance novels.
"Ugh, this stupid tiger again?!" Sun Lili groaned. "We just lost the match because he was too blind to aim a shot. And now the game puts us on the same team again? This matchmaking is garbage. Complete garbage."
"Anything else that I need to know about this school?" Shen Yelan asked, ignoring the curses that Sun Lili was throwing at her teammate.
Seeing the interest on Shen Yelan's face, Sun Lili began to rack her mind about the information she had gathered about this place. Her fingers never once stopped playing the game on her phone.
"Let's see…" She started counting in her mind. "The school is located a few miles away from the city. It's surrounded by mountains and it has this huge artificial lake in the middle of the grounds. All students are required to stay in the dormitories during the week. You can only leave on weekends or holidays. Oh, and uniforms are mandatory."
She paused, then grinned.
"You've seen Harry Potter, right? This school has a similar system. The students are divided into five pillars that compete against each other throughout the entire school year."
Sun Lili leaned back in her chair and got a dreamy look in her eyes. "Suddenly, I feel like going back to school."
Shen Yelan looked at her strangely.
"I thought you hated school."
"I hate studying, not school," Sun Lili corrected. "Besides, Dexing is basically a real-life fantasy academy. Who wouldn't want to experience that at least once?"
Shen Yelan actually found herself agreeing a little.
"This stupid tiger! Are his eyes just for decoration?!" Sun Lili suddenly cursed, furiously tapping on the screen.
"'Ferocious Tiger' my foot. He should just rename himself 'Dumb Cat.'"
Shen Yelan glanced at her and then looked away, focusing on her drama. Anyway, this was not the first time Sun Lili cursed her teammate while playing games.
Once the match finally ended, Sun Lili looked up like she'd just remembered something.
"Oh, right, I forgot to tell you earlier, Zhao Zhan has found out you are back in South City-"
"Are you sure it wasn't because someone with a big mouth who let it slip?" Shen Yelan cut her off.
A guilty look flashed across her face for exactly one second before she coughed awkwardly.
"Well. Anyway. The point is, he knows. And he's been asking around about when you're planning to take charge of your responsibilities."
"Tell him I'm busy with school," Shen Yelan said, and looked back at her screen.
"…Oh." Sun Lili blinked. Then she checked her wristwatch. "I should probably get going before the others start asking questions about where I disappeared to."
"Close the door on your way out." Shen Yelan called out, without looking up.
On the screen, the drama episode finally started playing. Sun Lili shook her head and pulled the door shut behind her.
Meanwhile, the mountain of textbooks remained untouched in the corner of the room.