Ye Fanshuang took out the gold-stamped invitation from her handbag and lightly scratched a line of words with her fingernail. When everyone came over to see the line "Mr. Dior's handwritten design manuscript in 1947", the living room was filled with gasps.
"You want to fight for this?" Lin Wan's champagne glass froze in mid-air.
Ye Fanshuang closed the invitation, and the metal clasp made a light "click" sound: "It should have been in the Ye family's collection room."
She didn't say the second half of the sentence - the personal relationship between her grandfather and Mr. Dior was the most precious added value of this manuscript.
The butler arrived just in time, wheeling a dining cart. When the silver lid was removed, the aroma of white truffles instantly filled the living room. Ye Fanshuang noticed six sets of tableware on the cart—Lin Wan always did this, even the number of dishes hinted at the exclusivity of their small circle.
"Try this." Lin Wan placed the plate in front of her. "I asked Joël Robuchon's apprentice to make this."
On a white porcelain plate, foie gras was shaped like a cherry blossom, adorned with edible gold leaf. Ye Fanshuang cut a precise 30-degree angle with a silver knife, then looked up as if remembering something. "I heard Miss Su made a fool of herself at the Michelin three-star restaurant last week?"
Su Muqing's fork clanged against the edge of her plate. Last week, a video of her mistakenly drinking the lemonade she'd used to wash her hands before a meal as soup was circulating widely in socialite groups.
"The waiter didn't explain clearly." Su Muqing's ears turned red.
Ye Fanshuang swallowed the food gracefully, picked up the napkin and wiped the corners of his mouth: "Next time, remember, anything with flower petals floating on the water is not soup."
Her tone was as calm as if she was discussing the weather, but half of the people present secretly took note of this table etiquette.
The light from the crystal chandelier reflected tiny specks of light on the champagne glass. The Cartier diamond ring on Lin Wan's fingertip drew a dazzling trail under the light as she raised her glass. The moment she raised her head to drink—
"bite-----"
Ye Fanshuang's cell phone, which was placed on the gilded coffee table, suddenly lit up.
This subtle sound was like pressing the pause button. Lin Wan's wine glass just stopped at his lips, Su Muqing's slender hand was about to take Makalan's hand but it was suspended in mid-air, and even the Zhou sisters who were whispering to each other fell silent at the same time.
Everyone's eyes were fixed on the phone screensaver that suddenly lit up.
The young man in the photo sits by the library's French window, the sunlight gilding his eyes with a furry golden edge. His slightly drooping eyelashes cast fan-shaped shadows under his eyes, and his slender fingers are turning the pages of a book, revealing a cold white wrist at his cuff.
He had a cold expression, and there was an innate sense of alienation between his brows, as if he was indifferent to everything around him.
It was clearly a candid camera angle, but it was so clear that you could see every ironed crease on his shirt.
"Ye...Qingliu?" The voice of Zhou Yun, the eldest daughter of the Zhou family, seemed to come from far away.
——One is the clear stream at night.
The air froze instantly.
Everyone knew who Ye Qingliu was—the young master of the Ye family, the recognized academic genius of Quanxin High School, with a cold and aloof personality that bordered on inhumanity. More importantly, he never participated in any social activities, even rejecting invitations from the most prestigious socialites.
Su Muqing's fork clanged onto the bone china plate. Her carefully styled curls brushed across her face as she suddenly raised her head, but she was completely unaware.
Her almond-shaped eyes, which always held a hint of smile, were now wide open, and her fingertips, painted with nude pink nail polish, pinched unconsciously into her palms.
Lin Wan's reaction was the most intriguing. She slowly lowered her glass, and tiny ripples formed on the champagne liquid as her fingers trembled.
As Ye Fanshuang's best friend, she was the first to notice her friend's instantly tensed shoulders - that was a little movement Ye Fanshuang would make when she was nervous.
"This photo..." Zhou Ying, the second daughter of the Zhou family, spoke timidly, but fell silent when she saw Ye Fanshuang's expression suddenly turned cold.
The air was so thick that one could almost hear each other's breathing. The socialites exchanged doubtful glances, their usually elegant and proper manners now seeming a little stiff.
Su Muqing even forgot to pick up the fallen fork, allowing it to scratch a small scratch on the plate.
Lin Wan was the first to break the silence. She coughed softly, her fingertips circling the rim of her glass. "This picture has a nice composition, and the lighting and shadows are handled so well..." Her voice trailed off, realizing she was discussing a candid photo as if it were a work of art.
"I just saved it." Ye Fanshuang's voice was eight octaves lower than usual. He lightly swiped his fingertips across the screen, and the photo that made everyone lose their composure instantly disappeared behind the lock screen.
Su Muqing finally found her voice: "Just casually?" She almost broke her voice as she raised the last syllable. "Miss Ye's screen saver is actually a secretly taken photo of Ye Qingliu?"
She suddenly realized something and gasped, "Wait, this is the library of Quanxin High School? When did you..."
"The school anniversary last September." Ye Fanshuang interrupted her, her tone as calm as if she were discussing today's weather. But Lin Wan noticed that her knuckles were white as she gripped the phone.
Zhou Yun suddenly covered her mouth. "So the rumors are true? You suddenly took over the photography club during last year's school anniversary just to..."
"Just for credits." Ye Fanshuang picked up the teacup, the hot steam blurred her expression.
A subtle silence spread among the crowd.
The socialites all recalled the rumors about Ye Qingliu - he had rejected the confession of the daughter of the Chen family, he had coldly watched the "chance encounters" deliberately created by the popular young actress, and he even maintained a polite and distant attitude towards the closeness of the famous professor.
Lin Wan's gaze lingered on Ye Fanshuang for a moment. She suddenly realized that Ye Fanshuang always sat by the window during every party, the one where she could see people coming in the first place.
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