CHAPTER 6: THE QUEEN’S PSYCHOLOGICAL GAMBIT
782 Words
Monday morning at Saint Mary’s Academy was steeped in its usual regal atmosphere. Huo Jing sat on a central stone bench in the Fountain area, his face clouded and his bloodshot eyes fixed intently on his phone screen. A notification for a supplementary card transaction had just appeared: 150,000 RMB withdrawn at a high-end luxury mall.
One hundred and fifty thousand. To the young master of the Huo family, this sum was less than the cost of a set of racing tires. However, Qiao Yan’s silence following their "night of props" left him restless, as if thousands of ants were crawling through his bones. He had assumed that after taking the money and "serving" him, she would be as submissive as a kitten. Instead, Qiao Yan had vanished without a trace—no messages, no calls.
"Look, isn't that the poor little thing from the Bai family? Why does she look so different today?"
The whispers from a group of male students made Huo Jing snap his head up. Walking leisurely through the school gates was Qiao Yan. She still wore the Saint Mary’s uniform, but it seemed to have been tailored to hug her slender curves perfectly. Her long hair was styled in soft waves at the ends, and her porcelain skin glowed under the sunlight. On her wrist sparkled a delicate Cartier diamond bracelet—the very item he had seen her swipe his card for just last night.
But what made Huo Jing’s chest feel like it was about to explode wasn't her change in appearance. It was the person walking beside her.
Lin Phong—Huo Jing’s lifelong rival, a notorious "rich second generation" known for his debauchery and cunning. Lin Phong was carrying Qiao Yan’s bag, leaning down to whisper something in her ear. Qiao Yan offered a faint, radiant smile—one so pure it could make people mistake her for a transcendent white camellia.
"Qiao Yan!" Huo Jing roared. He lunged to his feet, striding forward to block their path, his aggressive aura looking as though he wanted to swallow them both whole.
Qiao Yan stopped, her calm eyes looking up at him without a single ripple of emotion. "Young Master Huo, is something the matter?"
"What the hell are you doing?" He clenched his fists, his eyes burning as they drifted to Lin Phong’s hand, which was resting casually on her shoulder.
Lin Phong smirked mockingly, intentionally leaning closer to Qiao Yan. "Jing, aren't you overstepping? Qiao Yan mentioned she wanted to learn about tech stocks; I’m just sharing a little knowledge. Is there a law forbidding Bai Lien’s fiancé from managing her friends too?"
"Get your filthy hand off her!" Huo Jing lunged to grab Lin Phong’s collar, but Qiao Yan quickly stepped forward, using her slender frame to shield the two men from each other.
She looked directly into Huo Jing’s eyes, her voice cold to the extreme. "Young Master, don’t make a scene here. Have you forgotten your place? Bai Lien is watching."
Sure enough, on the second-floor balcony, Bai Lien and her clique stood frozen, observing the scene. The heiress's face shifted from pale to green as she saw her fiancé embroiled in a heated confrontation over a mere dependent of her household.
Huo Jing froze, his chest heaving with rage and humiliation. He realized he was behaving like a fool being led by the nose. Qiao Yan had used his 150,000 RMB to polish herself, then used that very beauty to provoke his rival right in front of him.
All morning, Huo Jing couldn't focus on a single thing. The image of Qiao Yan laughing with Lin Phong in the cafeteria, the way she nonchalantly accepted a bottle of water from another man's hand, was driving him insane.
She had given him a taste of fiery passion in the dark, only to turn him into a stranger in the light—an anonymous "sugar daddy" with no right of control.
She didn’t need his love. She only needed his money and protection to pave her own way. This realization stung more than any physical blow.
By lunchtime, Huo Jing couldn't take it anymore. He sent a threatening text to her phone: "The apartment. Now. Or I’ll freeze every one of your cards."
Five minutes later, the reply came—a solitary, mocking smirk emoji followed by a line of text: "Young Master, my detective reports that Bai Lien’s father has begun destroying insurance records. If you don't get them from the family safe tonight... our 'sponsorship' deal is over."
Huo Jing slammed his phone against the wall. The glass shattered into pieces, much like his pride in that moment.
- Writer
