Chapter3
1670 Words
In the evening, Su Andi added Lin Yiwei to a WeChat group with about thirty people.
Lin Yiwei didn't pay much attention to it and went to the bathroom with her pajamas.
Outside the door, her aunt's complaints echoed again, criticizing her for taking too long in the shower and wasting water and gas.
Whenever Lin Yiwei took more than ten minutes in the shower, her aunt would always rant and complain. Lin Yiwei had learned to filter out her sharp voice.
However, just as she was about to rinse the foam from her hair, the hot water ran out.
Unexpectedly, Lin Yiwei was startled by the cold water.
Fortunately, in the middle of summer, a cold shower wasn't too troublesome.
Lin Yiwei didn't argue with her aunt. She quickly adapted to the temperature and rinsed off the foam.
Such days wouldn’t last long; once school started, she would move out.
After drying her hair, she used wet toilet paper to pick up the hair strands on the floor to avoid more scolding.
When she came out, she glanced at her phone.
She had forgotten to enable Do Not Disturb, and the screen showed dozens of new messages in the group. The group, originally with thirty members, now had only a dozen left.
Many boys and girls who had posted their bare-faced photos were removed from the group by the owner.
As expected... it was a "beauty filter" group.
She scrolled up to see the photos they had posted.
Most were handsome men and beautiful women, with some who Lin Yiwei thought were at least 85 points or above in appearance, but they had been kicked out.
The group owner tagged her and Su Andi, urging them to send their photos quickly.
Lin Yiwei stood under the bathroom light, took a casual photo, with harsh shadows cast over her eyes and under her nose—bad lighting.
Wei Feng: “[Image]”
After she posted her photo, Su Andi immediately sent her own picture.
In the photo, she pouted and opened her eyes wide, appearing cute. Although it was taken with the original camera, it was clear that her skin details were slightly retouched.
andysu: “Wei Feng, we’re sisters. We need to act together!”
Insomniac: “Damn, this is good. Finally, we see a real beauty.”
18: “How should I address the beauty? [Wicked Smile]”
andysu: “Just call me An An. [Cute Little Cat]”
After her reply, the two boys stopped commenting. Clearly, their replies were only directed at Lin Yiwei.
Lin Yiwei wasn’t paying attention to the awkwardness in the group. She was sitting by the window, holding Lin Xie’s illustrated book, with a breeze blowing through her hair…
She missed the boy who had been her only family for many years.
Lin Xie was Lin Yiwei's childhood friend from the welfare home, two years older than her. She always called him brother and considered him her real brother.
Her painting skills were also taught to her by Lin Xie, who was a talented artist.
Later, when Lin Yiwei was adopted by her parents, Lin Xie would sometimes sneak out of the welfare home to visit her in the neighborhood.
At that time, the girl, feeling lonely and unfamiliar with her new home, would always cling to him and cry when he visited.
As they grew older, Lin Xie stopped schooling after junior high and started working early, setting up a stall to draw portraits at subway stations or tourist spots.
After her adoptive parents passed away, Lin Yiwei was completely rejected by her new family and lived with her uncle, finding life difficult.
So she would visit Lin Xie’s rented apartment from time to time. Lin Xie had a meager income but supported Lin Yiwei’s life.
She even took the liberty of changing her name from her adoptive father’s surname Chen to Lin.
Lin Xie opposed this change and even said he didn’t want to be her brother.
Lin Yiwei thought he was just speaking out of anger. He had always treated her so well; how could he not want to be her brother?
She hugged him and said that in this world, he was her only family, and she wanted to share his surname, even if they weren’t on the same household registration.
Lin Xie couldn’t argue and accepted it.
In her second year of high school, Lin Xie suddenly told her one night that he would be leaving for a while to earn some money and told her not to look for him or report him missing. He emphasized that he would come back with enough money to send her to the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in the UK.
They wouldn’t stay poor forever.
Lin Yiwei begged him not to go, but he left anyway.
Two years had passed, and he was... out of contact.
It was as if he had disappeared from the world.
Lin Yiwei searched for him for a long time until one day at a well-known art festival exhibition, she saw a painting called “Starfall.”
A vast galaxy composed of countless star-like colors.
Lin Yiwei had seen the original draft of this painting in Lin Xie’s illustrated book.
Since childhood, Lin Xie had taught her how to paint, and she was very familiar with his style. It was clear that this “Starfall” was done by Lin Xie.
However, the name listed at the bottom was another girl—
“Xiyuchi”
Chi Xiyu.
Lin Yiwei started paying attention to this girl named Chi Xiyu, knowing she was a student from Mora Private School, the most prominent student in the school.
She had excellent grades, was kind and graceful, and treated others with gentleness.
She was a model student, the student council president, and had won many art awards, including the prestigious Sevig Grand Prize for her work “Starfall,” which was her representative piece.
Chi Xiyu was the only child of the Chi family, a wealthy family in Qinggang City.
She also learned that Chi Xiyu was planning to apply to Qinggang City's best university—Feige University—for an art major.
The paintings that clearly bore Lin Xie’s style but were signed by Chi Xiyu were Lin Yiwei’s main reason for applying to Feige University.
She wanted to find out what connection Chi Xiyu had with Lin Xie…
Lin Yiwei took out the cross from her chest, and all her chaotic thoughts turned into longing for the man who had disappeared.
If he were still here, knowing she was participating in such a “beauty filter” bar social event, he would definitely stop her.
She opened a WeChat chat named “Xieyang,” filled with her messages over the past two years, which had not received a single reply.
Even that night at the bar, she sent Lin Xie a message saying, “I slept with a very good-looking stranger.”
With such a private message sent and no reply from Lin Xie, there were only two possibilities—
He is dead.
He is trapped.
Suddenly, Lin Yiwei’s WeChat vibrated.
A red dot appeared on her contact list, and upon opening it, she saw that someone had added her through the group chat.
The person who added her was named—
Cheng.
Lin Yiwei did not respond immediately, but the other party tagged her in the group—
Cheng: “Wei Feng, added you. Please accept.”
As soon as this message was sent, all the rich young men who had been flirting with Lin Yiwei in the group went silent.
Outside, Su Andi’s footsteps approached excitedly. She burst into the room and exclaimed, “Wow! Cheng Xicheng added you!”
“Who is that?”
“Cheng Xicheng! You must know the Chi family, right? They are a top-tier wealthy family alongside the Xie family! This young master is very high-profile! His ex-girlfriend, the top actress Xu Xinya, was photographed with him in a luxury villa in Bali and even made the trending topics.”
Facing Su Andi’s excited voice and ecstatic expression, Lin Yiwei responded****, “Oh.”
“He’s known for being extremely generous. The card he casually gives his girlfriend is money that ordinary people could never spend in a lifetime! Whether in the entertainment industry or modeling circles, countless women vie to connect with him. If he takes a liking to you, it’s truly a life of luxury and wealth!”
Lin Yiwei didn’t care whether he was generous. What she cared about was...
“You said he is from the Chi family. What’s his relationship with Chi Xiyu?”
“What else could it be? Their names sound like siblings.”
Su Andi answered confidently, “And they are twin siblings.”
Lin Yiwei thought about the paintings signed by Chi Xiyu.
His disappearance must be related to the Chi family.
Lin Yiwei swiped open her phone screen and accepted Cheng Xicheng’s friend request.
Su Andi, seeing her acceptance, snickered coldly in her heart.
Acting all aloof, as if those rich young men weren’t good enough for her. But now, with Cheng Xicheng, she’s exposed.
She, along with the other girls in the group, were all the same kind of people, pretending to be pure and innocent.
Hypocritical.
These thoughts, of course, were not shown.
If she could get involved with Cheng Xicheng, she’d have more opportunities to get close to Xie Bo’s circle.
“Be sure to seize this opportunity, sis! Cheng Xicheng is not like the guys in the group. He’s the real deal.”
Lin Yiwei didn’t respond to her comments. After accepting the friend request, Cheng Xicheng immediately sent her a message—
Cheng: “Very beautiful.”
Wei Feng: “Thank you.”
Cheng: “I’m hosting a birthday party tomorrow at the Central Hotel. Would you like to come?”
Lin Yiwei thought for a moment and replied, “Okay.”
- Writer
