Beyond the Rift (Campus 1V1) - 15.

15.

Yan Xue prepares a gift for Zong Zaichi a month in advance. Before leaving, she receives a message from Yi Chuan. He asks her to detour to the Yi family. He wants to attend Zong Zaichi’s birthday banquet with her.

Yan Xue types in the chat. She’s puzzled.

“What’s your reason for going?”

She sends it. She expects Yi Chuan’s reply won’t be kind.

Sure enough, the next second, she receives his response.

“Because every idiot needs a guardian.”

Yan Xue: 

“…”

On the way to the Zong family, Yan Xue makes a three-point agreement with Yi Chuan. She tells him not to cause trouble at the Zong residence. Yi Chuan doesn’t even open his eyes. He leans back in the seat. He’s recalling that night’s events.

That night, Zong Du’s gun aims at his window. But unfortunately, a cousin’s child stays in his room. He’s thrilled to get permission to be there. He keeps saying “thank you, brother.”

The next second, the child collapses in a pool of bl00d. He stares at him in shock.

Yan Xue sighs beside him. She mutters softly about whether Zong Zaichi likes the gift she chose.

Zong Zaichi lacks no gifts; a whole room overflows with rare treasures from guests.

As guests gradually arrive, she stays in the greenhouse. She’s trimming an orchid with her sister-in-law, Han Jinsha.

The two compete openly and secretly in their youth. Now, in middle age, they manage peaceful coexistence at family gatherings. But private moments together are nearly nonexistent. This moment of solitude serves each their own purpose.

Han Jinsha notices the diamond on Zong Zaichi’s neck. It’s a gift from Zong Zaiqi. His high-profile purchase at a recent auction spreads widely; gossip speculates if it’s for his wife. Yet Zong Zaichi is impatient. She wears it prominently at her birthday banquet.

Outsiders say the Zong siblings’ bond is unusual. And it truly is.

She chuckles lightly.

“I hear from Min’en you’re concerned for him, wanting him to improve. So you arranged the student council president position for him to grow. Your sister-in-law can’t return from abroad. She asked me to thank you.”

The sister-in-law excuse—Han Jinsha uses it countless times. Zong Zaichi doesn’t call it out. She smiles. She clips a tender green leaf.

“Our family has only these two kids. Ah Du has his father. For Min’en, Zhiyu is busy, Haina stays overseas. I’m his aunt, after all.”

Han Jinsha looks at the orchid’s petals. She feels irritation. Her face cools.

Zong Zaichi still smiles.

“Speaking of Ah Du, if my child were alive, they’d be his age.”

The Zong family greenhouse is spacious. Deeper inside lies a wooden cabin Zong Chengxun builds for Zong Du in his childhood.

Back then, Zong Du loves fairy tales. He naively thinks hiding in the cabin during thunder keeps ghosts away.

He lacks patience to entertain guests in the main hall. He brings Ling Jia here to pass time.

Unexpectedly, someone delivers a free show.

He listens to Zong Zaichi and Han Jinsha’s voices. His lips curve slightly with interest. He watches the girl in front of him grow uneasy hearing their conversation.

They don’t speak. Those outside don’t know they’re here. Their unlowered voices carry clearly.

Ling Jia doesn’t know the people outside. She guesses their identities from the content.

“Must you bring this up? Is it glorious? Why did the old man insist you abort the child? Need me to spell out the reason again? Whose child was it—your husband’s or mine? You know.”

“Sister-in-law, you say ‘husband’ so smoothly. Yet you always sleep with others’ husbands. Is Ah Du my brother’s child or Zhiyu’s? Have you figured out the father?”

“…”

Ling Jia silently looks at Zong Du beside her.

The boy in a black suit watches her with keen interest. His refined, handsome face carries a hint of a smile. As if the topic outside isn’t about him.

His cold, dangerous gaze lands on her. It seems to pierce through what she thinks.

Days spent with Zong Du teach her to react quickly. Before he speaks, she grabs his wrist.

Zong Du chuckles.

“Not curious about what they’re discussing?”

Who’s whose child, who’s whose father—these elite family secrets don’t interest Ling Jia. She shakes her head.

“Not curious, just a bit nervous.”

She wears such formal attire for the first time.

White gown, pearl necklace, styled hair, and makeup.

Exquisite and beautiful. But unfamiliar to her.

Zong Du laughs.

“They’re not nervous. Why are you?”

The people outside leave.

Zong Du pulls Ling Jia to stand. He takes the freshly fed Raven from a glass tank. He lets it coil around her wrist as an ornament.

The cold touch makes Ling Jia shrink her shoulders. Thinking she’s scared, Zong Du wraps his arm around her, blocks all retreat, bends down, and whispers in her ear.

“Don’t worry, it’s fun.”

He boldly brings Ling Jia into the guests’ view.

The crowd, as if unaware of his engagement, greets him with smiles. They praise his companion’s beauty. They ask which family’s daughter she is.

Ling Jia plays the perfect arm candy. She acts mute. She looks up at Zong Du during questions. Her clear eyes are full of reliance.

The questioner expects no reply. But Zong Du chuckles. He holds his companion close.

“From the Ling family.”

No one hears of a Ling family.

Maybe a rising new name.

The man is clearly clueless. He acts enlightened. He respectfully extends his hand to Ling Jia, calls her Miss Ling, and offers his card.

Ling Jia plays along with Zong Du’s deception game. She smiles and takes the card. She furrows her brow at Zong Du for help. Then she slips the card into his coat pocket as he raises a puzzled brow.

The man freezes instantly.

Nearby guests see this. They stir with interest. They step toward the pair. But the butler arrives in time. Smiling, he stops them.

Everyone assumes Ling Jia is a wealthy heiress.

Only a few Qianchuan students, here with parents, know the truth. They’re glancing at Yan Xue on the second floor.

She acts like the hostess. She entertained guests for the Zong family earlier. After Zong Du’s mother appears, she stays by her side.

Though it’s clear to all that Mrs. Zong isn’t close with her, it doesn’t stop Yan Xue from sweetly calling her “Auntie.”

She picks a black gown to match Zong Du’s suit days in advance. It looks deliberate next to Ling Jia’s white dress.

They’re too intimate.

Zong Du never appears publicly with another woman.

Even she, his fiancée, never holds his arm.

Her father, Yan Taijun, arrives with Zong Zaiqi. He freezes upon seeing Ling Jia. His expression is like seeing a ghost.

Too similar—the girl in the white dress resembles the woman in white lingerie crawling on the floor for his amusement. He easily recalls her anguished, near-screaming curse that even as a ghost, she won’t spare him.

After her death, he can’t sleep. He joins a reincarnation cult through a contact. He believes that ghosts linger among the living. That his heavy sins cause his sleeplessness.

He pays for repentance. He ignores his daughter and wife’s pleas that it’s a scam. His resolve faces a magnitude-seven earthquake now.

Hasn’t she reincarnated? Why is she here? His heart feels gripped. Breathing becomes difficult.

Han Jinsha walks to her husband’s side. She’s playing the good couple in public. She asks with concern.

“Feeling unwell somewhere?”

Yan Xue loops her arm through Yan Taijun’s. She smiles at Han Jinsha.

“Dad doesn’t eat before leaving. Maybe low bl00d sugar.”

She turns to Yan Taijun.

“Dad, I go downstairs with you to eat something. Mom’s there too.”

Ling Jia sways her wine glass. She watches the bl00d-like red wine swirl.

A coin tosses from afar. It rolls to her feet.

Yi Chuan is in a red shirt and black pants. He walks over, bends down to pick it up, and asks theatrically why she’s here.

The scene feels novel.

Ling Jia instinctively looks at Zong Du beside her.

He doesn’t seem to pay attention to Yi Chuan. He’s staring at his constantly buzzing phone.

Yi Chuan shows no signs of injury.

Where those two bullets land that night isn’t Ling Jia’s main concern now.

Her focus stays on the father-daughter pair descending the stairs.

Her response to Yi Chuan is perfunctory. She sways her glass.

“Thirsty, so I come to get a drink.”

Zong Du laughs at her before Yi Chuan does.

Yi Chuan looks at the necklace on her neck.

“Funny thing, I see something familiar at someone’s place recently. Like what I give you before. Know what’s up?”

Ling Jia raises her pretty face. She’s puzzled.

“Something you give me? I don’t remember.”

She tugs Zong Du’s sleeve. She softens her tone.

“I never take gifts from others. Don’t misunderstand.”

“I believe you, of course.”

Zong Du finally looks at Yi Chuan. He teases.

“Maybe a head injury messes with memory. Right, Yi Chuan?”

It’s the first time they speak face-to-face.

Zong Min’en arrives late. He’s toying with a diamond cut from Zong Zaichi’s gift. He considers stirring trouble.

Yi Chuan wears a refined, scholarly air. As if missing Zong Du’s malice, he laughs.

“Sounds dangerous. I suggest to my father that those hospital students get brain CTs.”

His words annoy Zong Min’en.

Using him to threaten Zong Du? Pure idiocy. Zong Du doesn’t care if he lives or dies.

As he steps forward, Zong Du, as expected, responds carelessly.

“Then congrats to Li Jin reporters for a new topic.”

Ling Jia’s standing between them. She loses interest. She keeps a faint smile. She gazes at Yan Taijun socializing nearby.

Zong Du notices her distraction. She gently rubs her shoulder.

She looks up into his eyes.

Zong Du chuckles.

“Baby, you seem impatient.”

The intimate term makes Yi Chuan frown.

A waiter passes with a tray.

Ling Jia swiftly places her untouched wine on it, frees her hands, and hugs Zong Du’s arm. She’s acting coy.

“I haven’t seen Uncle in so long.”

Elite circles lack no men chasing flings or women climbing ranks.

Though engagements can break,

Being so intimate in front of the fiancée’s family, flaunting it,

Is truly a first.

Nearby guests overhear. They whisper to their families.

They think Zong Du, however reckless, wouldn’t be this absurd.

But the next second, they see Zong Du smitten. He’s gazing at the girl shaking his arm. He strokes her hair. He’s indulging her with a smile.

“Go, have fun.”