Chapter 67: The Two Sisters Turn Against Each Other for a Man, Confrontation on the Rooftop (Vote Requested)

"Zhu Shan, Zhu Shan, come here for a moment, I have something good to show you!"

Feng Jiamei had just arrived at school and, as she reached the classroom door, glanced toward her desk to find her deskmate Zhu Shan already there! Zhu Shan was hunched over, writing something diligently. Jiamei's eyes glinted mischievously, a sly smile playing on her lips as she walked over, stuffed her bag into the drawer, and whispered conspiratorially into Zhu Shan's ear.

"Stop it, I'm working on this paper!" Zhu Shan looked up at Jiamei, nudged her with an elbow, but remained unmoved, continuing to write.

"Hehe! You really don't want to see what it is?" Jiamei had no intention of letting her off so easily. After all, just yesterday, this girl had nearly gotten her slapped by her own mother. And this girl could really put on an act—the perennial top student, the model daughter in everyone's eyes.

Who could have imagined that Zhu Shan, the quiet, exemplary student admired by teachers and parents alike, harbored such a wild heart beneath her demure exterior?

Jiamei had asked her, "Zhu Shan, have you ever seen the author of 'The Wrangler,' Old Xu? Do you know what he looks like? Is he married? Does he have children? And yet you write him love letters!"

What if Old Xu, the author of 'The Wrangler,' was an old man even older than her own father?

Courageous, indeed!

One could only say that her seemingly docile friend was bold-hearted beneath it all! She had actually written that kind of love letter to Old Xu, whom she'd never even met!

Even though Jiamei had never seen the contents of that letter—her mother hadn't let anyone see it, not her, not her sister, not even Big Cheng—at the dinner table last night, her mother had only handed her sister an empty envelope, saying the love letter had long since been burned in the kitchen!

There was no avoiding it! That letter was so explicit, thank goodness Big Cheng hadn't seen it, or who knows what trouble would have ensued!

Thank goodness her sister hadn't seen it either, or she'd have been mortified.

As for Jiamei herself, she could forget about ever seeing it!

As her mother had said, burning it without letting them read it was for their own good, for the harmony of the family.

So, not only Jiamei and her younger sister, but even her second sister-in-law Sun Juan and her elder sister-in-law Ke Yumei were all deeply curious about the letter's contents.

Just the mention of that letter made her mother and grandmother blush uncontrollably.

One could only imagine just how evocative Zhu Shan’s letter must have been.

Jiamei guessed that Zhu Shan had probably imagined Old Xu as Xu Lingjun, the male lead in his novel, and let her fantasies run wild!

"Jiamei, stop it. If you have something, just show me. Why do you have to drag me outside?" Zhu Shan struggled free from Jiamei's grasp, focused on her studies—she was determined to get into Yanjing University next year!

Because Zhu Shan knew that Old Xu, the author of 'The Wrangler,' was an alumnus of Yanjing University. The rumor was all over the university now, though no one was quite sure who he was.

But it wouldn't be long! Once her letter to Old Xu reached him and he replied, she would know!

Calculating the time, the letter should have already reached Old Xu. The reply should be...

She hadn't finished that thought when Jiamei said, "Alright, Zhu Shan, then I'm just going to take it out right here! Everyone's here, you really want me to do this in front of everyone?!"

"No, don't!"

Seeing Jiamei grinning so wickedly, Zhu Shan immediately thought of Old Xu's possible reply and realized what was happening!

Could it be that Old Xu really had replied to her letter?

If he had, the reply would have been addressed to Jiamei, since Zhu Shan hadn’t dared use her own name and, in a moment of cunning, had used her best friend Jiamei's instead.

Now, with Jiamei acting all sneaky and offering to show her something good, it must be that Old Xu had written back!

She wondered what he'd written in reply to her letter. Had Jiamei already read it?

But that didn't seem likely.

The return address she'd given was their school, not her home. She'd calculated that the reply should be arriving about now, which was why she'd been getting to school earlier than Jiamei and leaving later, just to keep an eye on the mailroom.

That was why, for the past few days, she’d been keeping an eye out, but there'd been no reply yet.

Even this morning, as she passed by the mailroom, she hadn’t seen any letter for Jiamei. Could it be that the postman had just delivered it and Jiamei happened to pick it up first?

Realizing this possibility, Zhu Shan’s heart pounded in panic. She immediately pulled Jiamei down, making her sit in the chair, hooked her arm around Jiamei’s neck, and, nearly trembling, whispered, "Is there a letter for me?!"

As soon as she said it, she realized how that sounded and hastily corrected herself, "Did you get a letter? Keep your voice down, don't say it so loud!"

Their commotion immediately caught the attention of a few early-arriving classmates, who began to tease, "Feng Jiamei, what good thing do you have? Show us!"

"Yeah! Feng Jiamei, Zhu Shan, what are you two hiding? Let us see!"

"A letter? Feng Jiamei, Zhu Shan, who sent you a letter? Who's writing you a secret love letter?"

"Is it that tall, handsome guy from the repeating class next door? I saw you, Jiamei, always hanging out with him, even riding his bike!"

"No way! That genius who scored over four hundred seventy on the entrance exam, the future top scorer in next year's college entrance exams? Jiamei, are you really dating him in secret?"

The day Cheng Xueming transferred in, he caused a sensation in the senior class—after all, he’d scored over 470 on the entrance exam!

The senior students had taken the same exam and knew how hard it was—the top student at Yanda Affiliated only scored a little over 430.

But that 'monster' had nearly scored 480, which shook up the entire school.

When the repeating class officially began, nearly everyone went to see what this genius looked like.

And he was as handsome as could be—tall, striking, almost too good-looking.

In no time, he became the envy of the boys and the secret crush of many girls, hearts pounding at the mention of his name.

But before any of the girls could make a move, Jiamei had already befriended him.

Later, Jiamei was always going to the repeating class under the pretext of asking for study help—when in fact, she was simply seizing the initiative.

Some classmates had seen them leaving together after school more than once, making everyone envious.

Now, with Jiamei and Zhu Shan whispering about a letter, it could only mean one thing!

That handsome genius from the repeating class had written Jiamei a love letter!

After all, it's said that it's a mountain for a boy to pursue a girl, but only a thin sheet of paper for a girl to pursue a boy. And Jiamei was beautiful, with fair skin and delicate features, attracting plenty of admirers since her transfer.

The two of them together—handsome and beautiful—made perfect sense; it would be stranger if they weren't a couple.

"Who started that rumor?!"

"Yang Fang, was it you spreading nonsense? Dating? Hanging out together? That's my brother-in-law you’re talking about! The guy from the repeating class is my brother-in-law, so stop with the rumors!"

Jiamei broke free from Zhu Shan’s grip and glared around the classroom, realizing that all the gossip had landed squarely on her.

She wasn’t having any of it!

These days, she was especially sensitive to such topics, though she couldn’t say why.

"What?! That genius from the repeating class is your brother-in-law, Jiamei? Really?"

"No way! Isn't your sister in university at Yanjing? How could she already be married?"

"Yeah! Didn’t your sister just move back to the city for university? What's with this genius brother-in-law?"

"None of your business!" Jiamei snapped, baring her tiger teeth in irritation.

"Zhu Shan, come outside with me!"

Jiamei dragged Zhu Shan out of the classroom, leaving their curious classmates behind.

"Don't follow us. If anyone tries, they'll have me to deal with! This is between me and Zhu Shan!" Jiamei warned, her tone fierce enough to make everyone hesitate, though their curiosity was only piqued.

Judging from Jiamei's expression, something serious must have happened. Usually quiet and gentle, why had Zhu Shan provoked her like this?

"Just now, Zhu Shan mentioned a letter—could it be she secretly wrote a love letter to Big Cheng from the repeating class and Jiamei, his sister-in-law, found out?"

"Is that so? No wonder Jiamei stormed in, looking to confront Zhu Shan!"

"That can't be! Zhu Shan is so quiet and well-behaved, a top student—how could she write a love letter to a boy? And to a married man, Jiamei's brother-in-law, no less?"

"Well, at first, no one knew that the genius from the repeating class was Jiamei’s brother-in-law!"

"Now things are interesting. I heard some of the senior girls have written love letters to Jiamei’s brother-in-law!"

"So now Jiamei has to go confront them all, one by one!"

...

"Jiamei, why are you dragging me to the rooftop? I didn’t write any love letters to your brother-in-law, Big Cheng! Why are you so mad at me?!"

Zhu Shan’s wrist was red from Jiamei's grip as she was hauled onto the rooftop. Once there, Jiamei locked the door from the outside!

Now Zhu Shan was truly panicked. She hadn’t written to Big Cheng at all! Jiamei wouldn’t be this angry unless Old Xu from 'The Wrangler' had actually written back!

With that realization, Zhu Shan burst out, "Jiamei, did Old Xu reply to my letter? Give it to me! That letter is from Old Xu to me, not to you!"

"So it really was you who wrote it!"

Zhu Shan had confessed without meaning to. If only Jiamei’s mother and sister were here, they could have all cleared this up face to face!

"Zhu Shan, if you wanted to write to Old Xu, you should have used your own name! Do you know I almost got beaten by my mother because of you?!"

The more Jiamei thought about it, the angrier she got—she had been wrongly accused and nearly punished. Wasn’t that unfair?

"What? Jiamei, how did Aunt Gu find out?" Zhu Shan was stunned. How had a letter she’d written using Jiamei’s envelope to Old Xu turned into something even Jiamei's mother knew about?

"How did she find out? Because that cringeworthy love letter of yours, the one that made my mother blush, ended up in her hands!"

"And the envelope had my name on it! I almost got beaten to death last night!"

"Zhu Shan, you won't get away with this!"

"My mother said after work tonight, she’s going to take your sappy love letter to your house and confront your parents and your sister. Zhu Shan, you’re finished!"

"What?!"

At these words, Zhu Shan’s face drained of color.

...