Chapter One Hundred and One: The Iceberg Beauty

Whether Jiang Muwen had seen something she should not have seen, Jiang Muwen knew better than anyone. And after Wen Yichen saw the flustered look on her face, he understood as well.

His ears faintly red, he rose from his seat and deliberately turned his back to her, saying awkwardly, “Go help outside for now. I’ll be there in a moment.”

Jiang Muwen obediently gave a small sound of assent. With her head lowered all the way, she trotted out of the classroom. Her mind was full of Wen Yichen’s appearance just now; the feeling of having sat on his lap before was even more vivid than ever in her memory.

She was no three-year-old child. She knew exactly what Wen Yichen’s reaction meant. Walking quickly, the thoughts in her head had already gone from his earlier behavior to something far too suggestive to name.

A dull thud reached Jiang Muwen’s ears. It seemed she had bumped into something, and her whole body staggered back two steps. The next second, a large hand steadied her arm. “Are you all right?”

It was Gu Niancen’s voice. His deep tone fell into Jiang Muwen’s ears and drew all her stray thoughts back at once. She lifted her eyes, surprise touching her expression. So she had just bumped into Gu Niancen.

“Brother Gu Nianxi?” Jiang Muwen looked at Gu Niancen, then apologetically murmured an apology.

“It’s fine.” Only after seeing that Jiang Muwen was unharmed did Gu Niancen let go of her arm.

After a brief silence, Gu Niancen spoke again. “My name is Gu Niancen. You don’t need to keep calling me Brother Gu Nianxi.”

Being called “Brother Gu Nianxi” by Jiang Muwen all the time had always felt rather awkward to Gu Niancen.

“Brother Gu Niancen.” Jiang Muwen enunciated his name word by word, as if trying to etch it into her memory.

Gu Niancen looked at her without speaking.

“Are you here to find Gu Nianxi, Brother Gu Niancen?” she asked cautiously, as though probing him.

The moment Jiang Muwen finished saying “Brother Gu Niancen,” Gu Niancen could not help but be slightly taken aback. To be honest, he did not especially like being called that. Yet when Jiang Muwen said it, his heart strangely softened. He had never particularly cared for such a form of address, but from her lips it sounded, quite improbably, endearing.

Gu Niancen gave a calm hum of acknowledgment. Looking down at Jiang Muwen, who stood a head shorter than he did, he asked evenly, “Do you know where she is?”

“She should be on the playground. I’ll take you there.” Jiang Muwen spoke softly, then timidly slipped around him. After saying, “Follow me,” she set off toward the playground on her own.

Jiang Muwen was truly a little afraid of Gu Niancen. Beside him, she always felt a powerful, awe-inspiring presence, as though if she misspoke even one word, this lion would swallow her whole in anger.

Perhaps because Gu Niancen was following behind her, Jiang Muwen attracted quite a few glances from female students along the way, their eyes carrying a trace of admiration when they turned back.

Gu Niancen really was handsome. His bearing, his height, his looks, his status—everything about him seemed to satisfy every schoolgirl’s romantic fantasies.

The two of them remained silent all the way until they reached the playground. When Gu Nianxi saw Gu Niancen, she immediately ran happily toward him and naturally hooked her arm through his.

In this world, the only ones who could fearlessly cling to this man’s arm so matter-of-factly were probably three women: his mother, his lover, and Gu Nianxi.

“I never thought a busy man like you would really come,” Gu Nianxi said, tilting her chin and smiling at Gu Niancen.

Gu Niancen lowered his eyes, the corners of them touched by a faint smile. “You’ve been nagging in my ear every day. How could I dare not come?”

“Then will you look at our booth first, or should I take you on a tour around the school?” Gu Nianxi said as she led Gu Niancen toward Class A’s booth, her arm still looped through his.

They had only gone a few steps when exclamations rose and fell all around them.

A few people turned at the sound, their gazes following the direction their classmates were looking.

From afar came a figure dressed in a black Victorian court gown, tall and graceful in gait. Jiang Muwen stared fixedly at the person slowly approaching them, and her heart gave an involuntary jolt.

It was Wen Yichen.

Jiang Muwen looked at him and for a moment simply stared, dazed. There was not the slightest smile on Wen Yichen’s face. His expression was cold as he drew nearer step by step. At that moment, the one walking toward them did not seem like a cross-dressing boy at all, but rather a dark queen who had crossed over from the Middle Ages.

By the time Jiang Muwen reached her class’s booth, Wen Yichen had arrived as well. He stood straight to one side, every inch an ice-cold beauty.

“This is the trump card you mentioned?” Gu Niancen looked at Wen Yichen and asked Gu Nianxi quietly.

“Yes. Handsome, isn’t he?” Gu Nianxi said, a beautiful smile once again rising unbidden to her face. She had never expected the effect of Wen Yichen in women’s clothes to be this unexpectedly good.

Gu Niancen could not help but laugh. “Not bad,” he replied indifferently, then studied Wen Yichen with interest. He still remembered this boy. The day he had driven Jiang Muwen home, they had met at the entrance to the residential complex. The look in the boy’s eyes when he had stared at him remained fresh in his memory even now.

Wen Yichen naturally noticed Gu Niancen too. Their eyes met, and Wen Yichen showed no sign of averting his gaze. Though he seemed calm enough on the surface, inside he was miserable to the extreme. Wearing women’s clothes had already been a limit-breaker for him. He had never expected that this time the man would actually see him like this, and for an instant he even had the absurd, mortifying feeling of having been utterly humiliated.

“Wen Yichen.” Just as Wen Yichen was looking at Gu Niancen, Jiang Muwen’s voice drifted softly into his ear. He lowered his eyes on reflex and looked at the girl beside him in confusion.

“If any classmates come by later to take photos, remember to smile at the camera more. Don’t keep such a sour face, or you’ll scare away all our business.”

Take photos?

Wen Yichen looked at Jiang Muwen in disbelief, suddenly feeling as though he had been sold and was still expected to help count the money.

“What kind of gimmick are you pulling now?” At last, Wen Yichen spoke. He lowered his voice and bent slightly at the waist, questioning the girl before him in a tone utterly unsuited to this outfit. He sized Jiang Muwen up and down, then added, “And also, didn’t you say you’d wear men’s clothes with me?”

“Men’s clothes?” Jiang Muwen was momentarily at a loss for words. She really did not know how to tell him that the promise of wearing men’s clothes had only been a lie to fool him.

Seeing her expression, Wen Yichen understood instantly. He straightened up, looking somewhat displeased. “I shouldn’t have agreed.”

“It’s only photos. Just bear with it a little. One hour—after one hour, you can change out of this outfit. Please,” Jiang Muwen said, pressing her palms together and looking at him pitifully. When he gave no response, she hurried on, “Please, please—forty-five minutes, okay?”

Jiang Muwen looked at Wen Yichen, her bright, beseeching gaze leaving him somewhat unable to hold out. He averted his eyes. Though he was unwilling a thousand, ten thousand times over, what else could he do?

“Forty-five minutes. When time’s up, I’m leaving.”