No Bad Temper

In the summer of 2026, Ye Yunxun walked through the gates of Lansong Private High School, dragging a silver suitcase behind her. Pinned to her chest was the lowest-ranking silver badge: Level Four. A scholarship student, with no connections and no one to back her. Yet she had a face that seemed too beautiful to exist in the real world. Everyone in the hallway stared at her. Some gaped openly, some looked at her with red-rimmed eyes, some pulled out their phones to take pictures, and some turned away expressionlessly, only to stop around the corner and clutch their uniform sleeves tight. At this school, nine out of ten students had the power and wealth of all South City behind them. One word from a Level One badge holder could get you expelled. Level Two badge holders had donated entire buildings. Level Three student council officers could turn the whole school upside down with a flick of the wrist. And she was nothing. Yet everyone wanted her. Chen Zhouxing was the first to pull her over and sit her beside him, grinning brightly as he secretly hooked a finger around her chair leg under the desk to keep her from moving away. Zhang Lianchen sat on her other side. He barely said a word all day, but before school let out, he slipped a carton of strawberry milk into the side pocket of her backpack without a note. The carton still carried the warmth of his palm. Jiang Er woke up in the back row, squinted at her for three seconds, then lay back down and pretended to sleep. That night, though, he stole the bottle of mineral water she had left on her desk. Gu Fencheng brushed past her in the hallway, his hand “accidentally” grazing hers. He said, “Sorry,” then looked back at her after walking five steps. Chen Ying asked her name in halting Chinese. After hearing it, he repeated “Ye Yunxun” slowly, as if it were a piece of candy he couldn’t bear to swallow. Cheng Xuling picked up a pen she had dropped in the library and handed it back, letting his fingertips linger a beat longer, his expression unreadable. They had never liked anyone before. She was the first. Everyone else at school was watching her, too. Some wanted to protect her, some to ruin her, some to make her their own, and some to grind her into the dirt. Girls gathered to discuss what she wore that day, who she spoke to, and how many times she smiled. Some approached her hoping to be friends, while others called her “that face” or “that Level Four” behind her back. Her name spread throughout the entire freshman class. Everyone knew about the beautiful girl with no connections, Ye Zixi. What they didn’t know was that the people who liked her were forming a net where she couldn’t see. Anyone who truly laid a hand on her would make enemies of them all. She didn’t know, and she didn’t care. She simply wore a pretty outfit every day, paid attention in class, did her cleaning duty, ate in the cafeteria, and stole glances at the moon outside the window during evening study hall. Time never stands still. From freshman to senior year, through four years of college, and then to their first jobs after graduation. Some would lose touch with her when classes were reshuffled. Some would get drunk and cling to her, crying, on graduation day. Some would message her “Are you there?” from halfway across the country during college, then unsend it. Some would quietly buy a house in the city where she worked. Some would hesitate for three days before sending out a wedding invitation. Some stayed by her side forever. Some never came back. “Some people cross your path only once in a lifetime. You think it’s the beginning, when really, it’s the longest foreshadowing in the whole story.” Theme: When everyone wants to possess you, your job isn’t to choose one of them. It’s to make them all remember that you never once knelt to anyone. Beauty is other people’s desire, not her shackles. The day she entered Lansong, no one was worthy of being the protagonist of her story.