My actions and whereabouts are up to me (5)
He stood by the door calling her "sister," without deliberately lowering his voice, drawing curious glances from everyone else in the classroom.
The boy's eyes were slightly lowered, his gaze pure and clear. His light pink hair fell over his face, and he looked over quietly like a little animal. Even the most hard-hearted person would probably soften upon seeing him.
Shu Ningmiao brushed past him as if he were an eyesore.
He followed behind Shu Ningmiao, not discouraged at all: "Sister, school starts today, let's go home and have dinner together."
Su Ni is three months younger than her. Like Shi Yu, his special ability had already awakened two years ago when "Spark" first started. The two were in the same grade at String Light, but not in the same class.
The classrooms on the first floor of the Zhunti Pagoda are arranged in a circle, with a total of six classrooms. The classroom that Shu Ningmiao came out of is A, and the remaining six classrooms are B to F.
Because the classrooms on the first floor are arranged in a circle that is connected end to end and are very close to each other, Su Ni can run to her classroom door as soon as get out of class is over.
There are no rules or standards for distinguishing the strength of superpowers. Based on the familiar faces she saw in the class, Shu Ningmiao guessed that the class assignment standard should be the academic performance before enrollment. Foreign students also need to show their past grades when applying to String Light Academy, and only those with high overall rankings can be assigned to Class A.
In the center of the first-floor classrooms is a large common lounge area, surrounded by soft sofas and benches.
Every floor was covered with handmade carpets, and the tea table was set with afternoon tea snacks and some cut fruit, where many students were chatting.
The spiral staircase opposite the lounge leads upstairs. As Shu Ningmiao walked through the common lounge, some people recognized her and surrounded her to greet her warmly. However, when they saw Su Ni following closely behind her, their smiles became subtle.
Su Ni seemed oblivious to the atmosphere. Following Shu Ningmiao's footsteps, she reached out her hand, as if to grab her sleeve, but then timidly lowered it: "Mom and Dad miss you so much, and so do I..."
Hearing him speak, the other students sitting on the bench also cast curious glances, as Miss Shu's gossip was not something that could be seen all the time.
Shu Ningmiao turned around abruptly, smiled, and gently reached out to Su Ni: "Come here."
If the terminal were still in her possession, the displayed superpower status would definitely be "anger".
Su Ni looked up at her blankly, finally shutting her chattering mouth. She tentatively placed her hand on her sister's hand, feeling a warm sensation flow from her fingertips to her heart, and her porcelain-white cheeks instantly flushed with a thin layer of rosy blush.
Shu Ningmiao glanced at him coldly, grabbed his hand and walked quickly forward until they reached a dead corner of the lounge, where she pulled him into the stairwell.
The spiral staircase of the Zhunti Pagoda leads to the offices of senior students and instructors upstairs. Students on the first floor wouldn't be so foolish as to run up there for no reason. Once inside the stairwell, only the two of them remained.
Su Ni seemed to have just woken up from the touch of her hand that she had taken, her eyelashes fluttering slightly, and her shyness and blush becoming even more pronounced: "Sister, are you going upstairs?"
Shu Ningmiao did not answer his question, but slowly withdrew her hand. Su Ni tightened her grip, but finally let go obediently.
She took out a handkerchief to wipe her hands, and asked him coldly, "How do you know which class I'm in?"
“I know my sister must be in Class A.” The dim light in the stairwell fell on his eyes, making his red pupils appear particularly obscure and unsettling. He pursed his lips: “I’m in Class C.”
Shu Ningmiao raised an eyebrow: "Who asked you?"
"I'm sorry." Su Ni's gentle expression remained unchanged as she looked at her with a smile: "Sister, you haven't come home for the entire holiday. Aren't you really going to come home with me tonight? Dad really misses you. Don't you know that Dad loves you the most? He's just not good at expressing it."
“We’re family, sister,” Su Ni said softly, staring at her.
Every word he uttered was sarcastic, as if he were deliberately poking her with a needle to test her reaction.
Shu Ningmiao suddenly turned around, grabbed his neck, and slammed him against the wall of the stairwell.
The boy's back slammed against the wall with a dull thud, and dust fell from the wall, but he didn't utter a sound, still staring at her with his wet eyes.
Shu Ningmiao frowned slightly, somewhat surprised. She wasn't usually that strong, yet she could easily lift Su Ni up. Was it because of her special ability? Was her special ability a strength enhancement type?
"Sister." The blush on his face grew even more pronounced, and he slowly closed his hands to grasp the hand that was choking Shu Ningmiao's neck: "Did I... say something wrong?"
His eyes shimmered with a watery light, and under his gaze, Shu Ningmiao felt a chill creep up her spine, as if something cold was meandering from his palm to her skin.
Her pupils constricted as if she had touched something dirty.
"You're right." Shu Ningmiao released her hand, pinched his chin to force him to raise his head. Su Ni's genes were defective, and her whole body was very light-colored, with light pink eyelashes and pale red eyes, making her look like a fragile porcelain doll. Unfortunately, no matter how pure and harmless her face was, it had no effect on her.
"I don't care what you want to do—"
He deliberately waited outside her classroom so that everyone could see their relationship, calling her "Dad" and "Mom" repeatedly, binding them tightly together.
"You want everyone to know that you are the rightful young master of the Shu family, is that it? Fine, go ahead and do it." Shu Ningmiao patted his face contemptuously, then let go and watched him slide down: "Too bad, as long as I live, you will never be able to bear the surname Shu, Su Ni."
"Congratulations, as you wished, you can now make a big deal out of this." Shu Ningmiao pointed at the rapidly swelling red welt on his neck with her fingertip, mockingly: "This is a reward for your painstaking efforts to provoke me."
At the same time, on the top floor of the tower, the terminal on the desk began to vibrate violently. Weston paused for a moment, looked at the source of the sound, and frowned slightly.
Su Ni slid down the wall, sat in the corner, covered her neck, and whispered, "That's not what I meant, sister."
She didn't care what Su Ni was trying to say; she only cared about the consequences of his actions.
Although Su Ni himself was insignificant to her, the thought of being tied to this guy in the future and being stared at like a monkey made Shu Ningmiao feel uncomfortable all over, as if ants were gnawing at her bones.
After warning him, Shu Ningmiao, still preoccupied with the confiscated terminal, didn't spare the person on the ground another glance before turning and going upstairs.
Su Ni sat on the ground with her legs bent, watching Shu Ningmiao's swaying skirt disappear into the corner of the spiral staircase. She slowly lowered her head and gently stroked the red marks that had appeared on her neck, as if savoring the fleeting touch.
After a long pause, he suddenly laughed, a sickly flush appearing on his face: "My superpower... actually has no effect on her?"
The door to the stairwell was pushed open, and a beam of light shone through the crack, falling on him. Su Ni instantly withdrew his expression, and his loose hair fell down, obscuring his face.
Su Ni sat in the corner of the stairwell, her face pale, with red and swollen finger marks on her neck, which were very noticeable.
The person who came in seemed startled, and timidly approached him, speaking in a voice barely audible: "Are you... alright?"
Su Ni pressed the back of her neck and, out of the corner of her eye, saw a pair of brown Oxford shoes stopped in front of her, the soles and edges worn down to reveal the white lining.
He chuckled inwardly, and after a long while, he finally looked up, forcing a smile: "I'm fine. Please don't tell anyone about this, okay?"
As the girl saw his clear eyes, she also noticed the blood-dripping marks on his neck. Her heart tightened, and she immediately knelt down beside him, disregarding her image: "Are you really okay? I saw everything. If you need help... I can, I can tell the teacher for you."
She had also been bullied in the same way at school and had fallen into a dark situation from which she could not escape, so she felt particularly empathetic.
Su Ni looked at the innocent girl in front of her, her smile suddenly widening, but her tone became increasingly aggrieved: "No need, my sister just has a bit of a temper. If we make a big fuss, she'll only get angrier."
His words were ambiguous, and the girl's expression was unreadable; she could only feel that he was even more pitiful: "How could you do this?"
"It's okay, I'm used to it."
Su Ni smiled at her, her pale face as fragile as a delicate porcelain doll: "Let's keep this a secret—a secret between friends. My name is Su Ni, what's yours?"
The girl took out a tube of ointment, squeezed until only aluminum foil remained, from her pocket and placed it in his palm. Hearing this, she awkwardly turned her head away. It was the first time she had made a friend at school and spoken to someone so naturally. Perhaps their shared circumstances had brought them closer, and she didn't feel any resistance.
"My name is Eric."
...
Shu Ningmiao stood in front of Weston's desk and suddenly felt a chill on the back of her neck.
The man's hair was loose over his shoulders and tied back with a ribbon. He adjusted his monocle on the bridge of his nose with two fingers, looked down at a stack of something that looked like a form, and ignored her.
She stood quietly with her hands folded in front of her.
From the way his face was turned to the side, she could see Weston's fine eyelashes under his monocle, each one distinct. The rose window in the office let in the light from outside, reflecting the clear texture in his deep green irises.
The terminal on the desktop buzzed, causing the scattered documents and books on the table to vibrate slightly.
Shu Ningmiao awkwardly turned her head away, staring at the exquisite silver cage hanging in the corner of his office, where the crows inside also stared back at her coldly.
The crow had a ribbon tied to its leg with a congratulatory message written in Old Pinhian, something like "Congratulations on your new job" or "May your career take off."
Shu Ningmiao's lips twitched. Even though she knew that the person giving the gift might have chosen a crow because crows symbolize "wisdom," she still felt that this crow looked exactly like the gloomy Weston in front of her. Even their eyes were the same green color. It was such a perfect gift.
The terminal vibrated again. Weston looked up from the spreadsheet, pushed the incessantly ringing terminal off the table, and said with a slight smirk, his tone laced with cold mockery, "Looks like you're busy."
Shu Ningmiao smiled and unceremoniously snatched the terminal, quickly putting her hands behind her back: "I'm not busy at all, teacher. I'll remember to block spam messages next time I'm in class."
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