Whispers of the Heart

The eldest young master has left

"Did he leave so early?" Yu Zhi felt a little disappointed when she didn’t see him.

Liu Ma explained, "The young master had a flight this morning around six, so he left at four."

"Four o’clock?"

Yu Zhi had lived with her grandmother for a long time and kept a very regular schedule, waking up at 8 a.m. and going to bed at 9 p.m.

Hearing that Fu Shishen had left so early, she couldn’t help but feel a bit worried, thinking about how she often saw news stories about people dying after working late nights. Even if it wasn’t that serious, it was still bad for one’s health.

She blamed herself and asked, "Is it because I stayed last night, so he had to rush this morning?"

Liu Ma laughed and said, "Miss, don’t overthink. The young master is always very busy. There have been several times when he left at around three in the morning."

Liu Ma suddenly remembered something and patted her head, "Oh right, Miss, the young master also said that everyone in the family is very easy to get along with and that you don’t need to be afraid. If you encounter any problems at school, you can call him."

Even though he was so busy, he still remembered to remind her about this. This made Yu Zhi, who was living under someone else’s roof, feel a warm sense of goodwill toward Fu Shishen.

"Thank you."

Yu Zhi expressed her gratitude politely, which made Liu Ma a bit embarrassed. She scratched her head and said, "Miss, just call me Liu Ma from now on, no need to be so formal."

Yu Zhi sweetly said, "Liu Ma."

Liu Ma smiled brightly.

At this moment, Fu Mingming, who was still yawning, came downstairs. When he saw Yu Zhi standing next to Liu Ma, he immediately became energetic and rushed over to her.

"Sister, you're up!"

"Just got up."

Yu Zhi saw that he had some messy hair on top, so she reached out to smooth it down. Fu Mingming obediently stood still.

Not far away, Fu Qi, who had just finished his run, saw this scene and muttered to himself, "This guy must be a sister complex."

Liu Ma saw Fu Qi and called for them to all have breakfast together.

Fu Qi said, "You go ahead. I’ll take a shower and change my clothes."

Fu Mingming shot back, "You’ve been late eight hundred times this month."

Fu Qi retorted, "There are only thirty days in a month. How could I have been late eight hundred times? Have you been getting worse at math lately? Should I ask Mom to find a tutor for you?"

"You..." Fu Mingming couldn't argue back.

Angrily, he said, "You..." for a while but couldn’t come up with anything.

Finally, he grabbed Yu Zhi and said, "Sister, let’s go have breakfast and ignore him."

Fu Qi wiped the sweat off his neck with a towel and tossed it onto the sofa before going upstairs to take a shower.

At the breakfast table, Xiao Wu chattered away with Yu Zhi, and they quickly became familiar with each other.

Yu Zhi had been at the Fu family for a day but hadn’t met the other family members that Fu Shishen had mentioned, so she asked Xiao Wu, "Xiao Wu, where is everyone else?"

Fu Mingming quickly finished a glass of milk, some of which spilled on his lips, and Yu Zhi gently wiped it off with a napkin.

He put the cup down and explained, "Second brother is in college, busy with experiments, and hasn’t been home for two weeks. Fourth brother went to South Korea for a Go competition. Then, my second uncle and aunt went out to see the doctor because my second aunt’s health isn’t good."

"Ah, I see."

Fu Mingming, being a little impish, wanted to reassure her and said, "Second brother is very gentle and kind to everyone. Fourth brother doesn’t talk much but is also very nice. He’ll help you if you ask him for anything. Only third brother is the worst. He always bullies me."

While speaking, Fu Mingming looked toward Fu Qi’s room, worried Fu Qi would overhear him talking badly about him.

"What about the eldest brother?"

Yu Zhi thought back to her time with Fu Shishen and felt that he was sometimes gentle and sometimes cold, but she couldn’t help wanting to know more about him.

When she mentioned Fu Shishen, Fu Mingming paused for a moment, then seriously said, "Big brother is the most outstanding in our family. He’s usually very busy and often goes on business trips, so he’s rarely home. But big brother is actually very nice. Third brother often extorts him, but big brother still takes us out for good food and fun."

After introducing the older brothers, Fu Mingming happily added, "And then there’s me! Grandma and Mom both say I’m the cutest in the family."

"Grandma and Aunt San are right, you are the cutest," Yu Zhi complimented him.

Fu Mingming, pleased by the praise, almost looked like he was going to fly.

The two chatted happily, and Liu Ma, watching them from the side, also felt relieved but reminded, "Miss, Xiao Wu, it’s time to go to school."

Fu Mingming dutifully grabbed his backpack.

Liu Ma also handed Yu Zhi a backpack and reminded her, "Miss, if you encounter any difficulties at school, you can ask third young master for help."

Fu Mingming, standing by, said seriously, "I think it’s safer to keep a distance from third brother."

Just then, Fu Qi, who had heard this, shouted from upstairs, "Little brat, talking behind my back again!"

Fu Mingming stubbornly shot back, "You’re the brat! Annoying!"

Liu Ma saw them about to start arguing and hurriedly urged them to go to school, breaking up the potential fight.

At the gate of the old house, Fu Mingming got in the car and waved to Yu Zhi. "Sister Zhi, I’m off to school. Bye bye!"

Yu Zhi waved back.

A moment later, another car pulled up in front of her.

When she got in, Liu Ma reminded, "Miss, be careful on your first day at school."

"I know, Liu Ma."

After Yu Zhi left, not long after, a young man dressed in work pants and a trendy jacket walked toward the old house. He immediately spotted Fu Qi, who was leisurely eating breakfast in the living room.

"Young Master Fu, did you forget what Old Meng said yesterday?"

The speaker was Song Hang, Fu Qi’s good friend and ally.

Old Meng was their English teacher, and she had asked Fu Qi to copy vocabulary words a hundred times yesterday and to go to her office for a dictation today.

When Fu Qi heard this, he suddenly felt that breakfast wasn’t appetizing anymore.

Song Hang looked around the house and then curiously asked, "Didn’t you say your countryside sister was coming? Where is she?"

Song Hang had come early just to see what the sister looked like, but hadn’t seen anyone.

"She left," Fu Qi casually said, "Wasn’t your goddess Yu Xinyan? What... are you ready to cheat on her?"

Song Hang immediately denied, "What are you talking about? I’m not that fickle. I’m just concerned about you since you suddenly have a sister, I want to make sure you’re okay."

"I’m fine, no need to worry."

Noticing that Fu Qi didn’t seem too happy, Song Hang quickly changed the topic.

"Old Fu, Xinyan won second place in the dance competition. We’re celebrating tonight. Will you come with me?"

"I’m not going," Fu Qi rejected. "You’re the one chasing her, not me. Why should I go?"

"Come on, come on," Song Hang started to coax. "It has nothing to do with chasing. We’re all friends. It’ll be livelier with more people."

Fu Qi muttered in his mind: "Livelier? It’s just noisy."

But after being persistently badgered by Song Hang, Fu Qi finally nodded.

In the dance room of Yining No. 1 High School, a girl was so excited she couldn’t stop waving her hands and feet.

“Fu Qi agreed to come to tonight’s celebration!”

Xu Xinyan was overjoyed when she saw the message that Song Hang had sent.

Her best friend, He Lin, was also happy for her. “The school beauty has asked Fu Shao to come so many times, and he never agreed. I think Fu Shao must have some interest in you.”

This made Xu Xinyan really happy. She thought to herself that she would dress up nicely tonight and try to perform well in front of Fu Qi.

Then He Lin suddenly thought of something and asked, “Xinyan, didn’t you say your countryside sister is coming back? What’s going on with that?”

Mentioning her sister caused Xu Xinyan's smile to disappear immediately.

“She’s grandmother passed away, and my dad originally planned to bring her back. But when he went there yesterday, the people there said she had already been taken by one of her grandmother’s friends. I don’t know which poor relative it was.”

“So what will happen now? Will your dad go look for her?”

Xu Xinyan seemed unsure. “I don’t know, but my mom said my dad probably sees her as a burden, so he probably won’t go looking for her.”

“If that’s the case, it’s for the best. If she really comes back, no matter what, Uncle will definitely have to share some of his affection for you. And when she grows up, she might even try to compete with you for the family assets.”

Xu Xinyan’s gaze became filled with resentment. “No, my mom said she won’t let her threaten me.”

“That’s good.” He Lin didn’t continue on this topic and instead started gossiping. “I heard from my aunt, who’s the head of the year group, that a new student joined your class. It’s a girl from the countryside.”

He Lin’s aunt had received the news yesterday, and at dinner, she mentioned it to He Lin.

Hearing that the new student was from the countryside, Xu Xinyan sneered, saying, “The standards at our school are really dropping. It’s like anyone and everyone can get in now.”

He Lin quickly agreed, “Exactly.”

Xu Xinyan wasn’t interested in this new student and said indifferently, “Let’s go, let’s head back to class.”

After arriving at school, Yu Zhi first reported to the administration office and then went to find her homeroom teacher’s office.

The homeroom teacher, Mr. Zhou, was a man in his early forties. He was tall and thin, wearing a pair of white glasses, and he looked very kind.

When he saw how obedient and sensible Yu Zhi seemed, he kindly reminded her, “Yu Zhi, our school arranges classes based on academic ranking. Unfortunately, the class that I’m in charge of is the lowest-ranked one, and the students here can be quite unruly. You’d better be mentally prepared.”

“I understand, thank you, teacher.”

Mr. Zhou, who was used to the mischievous students in his class, was surprised to see someone so respectful. He couldn’t help but ask, “Yu Zhi, how were your grades before?”

Just as Yu Zhi was about to answer, the bell rang for class, so Mr. Zhou didn’t press further. He figured that since Yu Zhi was from a small rural town, her foundation likely wouldn’t be too strong. And the fact that she was placed in his class was clear enough.

He sighed lightly. “Alright, let’s go. I’ll take you to the classroom to meet the other students.”

“Mm.”

Even though Yu Zhi had prepared herself, she was still a bit surprised when she saw that at least half of the students had not yet arrived by the time class started. She hadn’t expected that this school, which was said to be the best in the city, would have such poor discipline.

But Mr. Zhou, who had gotten used to this kind of situation, lazily said, “If anyone is late again, I’ll be calling their parents.”

There was a murmuring from the students, but no one took him seriously.

Mr. Zhou, who was exhausted by these unruly kids, didn’t continue to fuss about the tardiness. He led Yu Zhi to the front of the classroom.

“Class, this is our new student, Yu Zhi.”

Mr. Zhou smiled kindly at Yu Zhi, his eyes full of encouragement. “Why don’t you introduce yourself to everyone, and then we can begin the class.”

As soon as he finished speaking, the class unexpectedly became quiet.

Mr. Zhou had never seen the class so quiet before. He was slightly stunned, wondering if these kids had suddenly changed their ways today.

But when Xu Xinyan saw that the new student was Yu Zhi, her expression completely changed, and she muttered under her breath in anger:

“How is it her?”

4o mini