The Outburst

How should one describe Liu Yinuo at this moment?

To Ye Xingmian, it was as if a normally gentle and amiable giant panda had suddenly transformed into a roaring man-eating beast. Her tea-colored eyes, usually calm and gentle, now blazed with a bright, searing flame, filling the girl with fear.

Her body trembled involuntarily. She didn’t understand why the Monitor was so furious, why she reacted so violently. It wasn’t as if she had willingly gone to Qin Haiyue’s house—Qin Haiyue had forced her. Even her own clothes had been thrown away by Qin Haiyue, replaced with the outfit she now wore.

“Monitor… what’s wrong with you…”

Someone so close and dependable had suddenly become this, making Ye Xingmian feel as if the sky had fallen. She stared blankly at the person before her, as if seeing her for the first time.

The Monitor’s pupils contracted. Seeing the fear in the girl’s eyes, her lost rationality returned. Liu Yinuo took a deep breath, suppressing the inexplicable rage rising within her.

“I’m sorry… I got a bit carried away… Can you answer me now?”

Even as she apologized, her hand still restrained the girl, pressing her against the wall. Her gaze was oppressive to the girl. In that moment, Ye Xingmian couldn’t help but recall the old Qin Haiyue—she actually saw that person’s shadow in the Monitor…

‘Why… Why is this happening…?’

The Monitor was someone who treated her well. And Qin Haiyue had suddenly started to be inexplicably kind to her as well. Two good things together—but why did they have to turn into this?

She didn’t understand. She only felt wronged and pained. Her vision blurred; she knew her cowardly self was about to cry again. But she held back, refusing to let humiliating tears slide down her cheeks.

“The… clothes?”

“Yes!” Liu Yinuo gritted her teeth and leaned in a little closer. She didn’t want to miss even a flicker of expression on the girl’s face. She desperately wanted to crack open that head and see what was going on inside.

The girl turned her head away, avoiding Liu Yinuo’s gaze.

“They’re from Qin Haiyue…”

Hearing that, Liu Yinuo nearly lost control of her anger again. She blurted out, “So you really went home with her?! Why? Avoiding me just to be with her? Is she as good to you as I am? She used to bully you so badly!”

The girl remained silent.

“Why would you accept her kindness? Say something! Aren’t you afraid she has ulterior motives? Haven’t you thought about that at all? How could she… how could she be as sincere to you as I am…”

“Monitor…” The girl’s voice was low. Since she had turned her head, Liu Yinuo couldn’t see her expression. But from her tone alone, she seemed calm, without any waves.

After a moment of silence—perhaps choosing her words, or so Liu Yinuo thought, waiting—she soon realized she was wrong.

“Can you let me go first?”

Liu Yinuo only then realized that her grip on the girl’s arm had been too tight, probably causing discomfort. Thinking this, she quickly released her.

“I’m sorry… I just now…” Calmed down after the excitement, she felt a pang of self-blame for her overreaction. But the girl kept her head down, not looking at her. Before she could finish, the girl suddenly interrupted.

“Monitor, I still have homework to catch up on. I’ll go first.”

With that, without waiting for Liu Yinuo’s reaction, the girl ran off. She ran fast, decisively. Liu Yinuo only needed one look to know it was pointless to chase after her.

She stood frozen in place.

She looked at her own hand, then at the wall before her. She had forcefully dragged the girl over, questioned her so violently and angrily—it had been so unlike herself. After the girl left, she felt as if doused with cold water, completely sobered.

She clutched her head, sinking once again into self-blame. She began to deeply doubt herself.

‘How could I have done such a thing? Was that even me?’

She didn’t understand. Why did it happen like this? Why?

With a little thought, she should have known: how could Ye Xingmian have willingly gone to Qin Haiyue’s house? How could she have worn clothes Qin Haiyue gave her? Their relationship was terrible. From what she knew of Ye Xingmian, she wasn’t someone who forgot the pain once the wound healed. So it must have been Qin Haiyue forcing her.

But she had been impulsive, like a wild beast.

What to do now?

She had originally planned to try getting close to Xingmian again. But after causing such a scene, how could she approach her now? The goodwill she had painstakingly built up must have been completely wiped out by this incident.

It hurts so much.

But there was nothing she could do. Helplessly, she turned back along the path the girl had taken, heading toward the classroom.

****

Ye Xingmian didn’t go straight to the classroom. She found a secluded corner on campus and secretly wiped away her tears. Only when her emotions had finally calmed did she muster her spirits again.

After thinking for a long time, she figured out why the Monitor had lost control. It must have been out of concern for her, right? It’s just that her reaction had been unusually intense.

Her heart ached a little—after all, being treated like that by someone she liked, anyone would feel hurt. But the girl didn’t hate Liu Yinuo. She knew Liu Yinuo hadn’t meant to hurt her; this was probably unintentional.

Just that her chest felt heavy, suffocating.

After this incident, she didn’t know what to do anymore.

Her original plan was just to avoid the Monitor and endure until the college entrance exam. But now, forget the exam—she probably couldn’t even last until winter break before the out-of-control Monitor shredded all her defenses.

What would she do then?

Unable to think of a solution, she sighed. It seemed she could only take things one step at a time.

She could only hope her decisions were right.

But… it seemed she rarely made the right choice in such situations. She always ended up in even worse trouble.

Well, maybe it wasn’t her fault, just fate. Luck was unpredictable—after all, if she had a choice, who would want to grow up in a strange, cold foster family, being looked down upon?

Her head felt like a mess; she couldn’t make sense of anything. With a sigh, she decided to pack up her bag and head to her classroom.

Because she had arrived late, more than half the class was already there, seats full. She normally would have pulled up her hood, but worried Qin Haiyue might see her, she gave up. She had thought she would slip back into the classroom unnoticed, a plain little nobody as usual. But reality was completely different.

When a girl with shoulder-length hair, fair skin, a cute face, and clean, pretty clothes suddenly entered through the back door, many heads turned. Especially when someone realized that girl was ‘Ye Xingmian’—the classroom erupted.

The moment the girl sat down at her desk, a crowd immediately surrounded her—mostly girls. They all talked at once, making her think for a moment that they had come to cause trouble.