{Chapter: 113 Shameless!}
This feels strange!
This is wrong!
For three full seconds, Qiao Siying remained frozen, her mind blank.
Then, her senses finally caught up with reality.
"Ahhhhh!!"
She let out a piercing scream and shoved Lin Yuan away with all her strength.
Lin Yuan, however, didn't resist. He simply let go, taking a step back with a calm expression.
Qiao Siying's face was burning red, her cheeks flushed all the way to her ears. Her chest heaved as she tried to catch her breath, and there were even tears welling up in the corners of her eyes.
"You…you…you!!!" she stammered, pointing at Lin Yuan with a trembling finger, her emotions caught between rage and disbelief.
Qiao Siying's thoughts were a tangled mess. She couldn't process what had just happened.
Meanwhile, Lin Yuan merely smiled, his tone light yet teasing. "What? Weren't you the one who wanted me to be nicer to you? Why push me away now?"
Qiao Siying clenched her fists and took several deep breaths, trying to steady herself.
Inhale. Exhale.
Again.
Only after several cycles did she manage to regain a sliver of composure.
Her entire face—no, her entire neck—was flushed bright red.
Finally, she exploded.
"Lin Yuan, you bastard! You shameless, disgusting, insufferable—!"
Her voice trembled with frustration as she stomped her foot in rage. "You went too far! You're vile! A horrible person!"
Qiao Siying continued her barrage of curses, her emotions running wild.
Then, without waiting for another second, she turned and fled, her eyes glistening with unshed tears.
She had wanted to play a trick on Lin Yuan—she thought she had everything under control.
Never in her wildest dreams did she expect that not only would Lin Yuan completely disregard Yan Ruyue's presence, but he would also take things to such an extreme.
It was too much.
It was utterly infuriating.
She felt humiliated.
And the worst part?
She couldn't even fully blame him—because she had been the one to make the first move.
The realization only deepened her embarrassment, and before she knew it, she was running faster, unable to hold back her tears.
But Lin Yuan?
He stood motionless, his expression utterly unbothered.
From the side, a soft whisper broke the silence.
"Aren't you being a bit too much…?" Yan Ruyue murmured hesitantly.
Lin Yuan raised an eyebrow and turned to her with a playful smirk.
"Hmm?"
Yan Ruyue immediately crossed her arms, pressing them tightly against her chest. Her lips snapped shut.
She had no intention of continuing that conversation.
Unlike Qiao Siying, she understood Lin Yuan far better.
She knew that what had just happened to Qiao Siying wasn't entirely out of character for him—and that it wasn't impossible for something similar to happen to her if she wasn't careful.
It was better to stay quiet.
Besides, her lower back still aches from the intense horse riding earlier.
Still…
She knew Qiao Siying had been trying to play tricks on Lin Yuan first. It was a game of teasing, a battle of wits.
And Lin Yuan?
He simply turned the game around on her.
Yet, despite knowing all this, Yan Ruyue still felt something strange stirring inside her.
A twinge of something… sour.
She couldn't help but wonder—if she had been the one in Qiao Siying's place, would she have reacted the same way?
Would she have pushed Lin Yuan away, like Qiao Siying did?
Or would she have…
She quickly shook her head, pushing the thought away before it could fully form.
---
After leaving the Yue He Equestrian Club, Lin Yuan drove Yan Ruyue home.
Throughout the drive, Yan Ruyue sat in silence, her gaze lingering on Lin Yuan's face as he focused on the road.
Her thoughts were complicated.
She had always thought she understood him well, but today, she discovered yet another side of him—one she hadn't fully grasped before.
That realization sparked a restless curiosity.
She wanted to know more about him.
There were so many things about Lin Yuan that she had yet to uncover.
She tried to suppress her thoughts, tried to ignore them, but her mind refused to let go of the vivid images from earlier—the feeling of being held in Lin Yuan's arms, the powerful strides of the horse beneath them, the way her heart pounded in those moments.
The memory resurfaced every few minutes, completely uninvited.
Her cheeks warmed again, and as soon as Lin Yuan parked the car, she quickly stepped out and hurried into her home—her face still tinged with a soft blush.
---
Meanwhile, on the other side of town…
Qiao Siying drove home, her hands gripping the steering wheel tightly, her vision slightly blurred by unshed tears.
The moment she walked through the front door, her father, Qiao Jianye, immediately noticed her red-rimmed eyes.
"My daughter, what happened? Who bullied you?" he asked, his voice filled with concern.
Qiao Jianye adored his daughter. Seeing her cry ignited an instant protective rage within him.
Qiao Siying, however, shook her head stubbornly. "It's nothing! Don't worry about it!"
She didn't wait for a response before rushing upstairs to her room, slamming the door behind her.
Qiao Jianye frowned, his concern deepening.
He silently approached her room and pressed his ear against the door, trying to listen in.
Inside, all he could hear was his daughter's quiet sobbing.
He recalled that she had mentioned visiting the equestrian club earlier that day.
Could it be that brat, Tang Bowen?
A dark expression crossed Qiao Jianye's face. If that boy had dared to upset his daughter, he would make sure he paid the price.
"I'll get to the bottom of this," Qiao Jianye muttered to himself before hurrying downstairs, already reaching for his phone to contact Tang Bowen. "I will ask. He really didn't think I would take his skin off!"
---
Meanwhile, inside her room, Qiao Siying sat on her bed, hugging her arms tightly around herself, staring blankly at the ceiling.
She had always believed that no man could ever touch her until marriage.
Her husband—the man who would eventually win her heart—had to be a refined gentleman.
In her imagination, her body can only be touched by her husband when she gets married later.
Her husband must appreciate Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio. ((T/N:Dante Alighieri, Francesco Petrarch and Giovanni Boccaccio are known as the 'Tre corone' (the 'Three Crowns') of Italian literature)
He had to understand Rousseau and Kant.
He had to admire fine art and music.
And, of course, he had to have flawless equestrian skills.
Yet today…
Before she could even meet that perfect man, she had been utterly humiliated by Lin Yuan.
The thought alone made her shudder.
It was infuriating.
It was disgusting!
Unable to contain her frustration, she grabbed the nearest panda plushie on her bed and began punching it violently.
The poor stuffed animal's face became completely lopsided from the abuse.
After a while, she sighed heavily, reached for her phone, and scrolled through her playlist.
She needed something to calm her nerves.
Her fingers hovered over a specific song—one she had been listening to on repeat lately.
It was one of the very few Chinese songs on her phone.
Qiao Siying had studied abroad, so most of her music library consisted of foreign songs.
Yet this one… this one was different.
She loved both the melody and the lyrics.
As the song played, she softly sang along.
"Within its blue misty drizzle… I am waiting for you…"
The familiar tune eased some of the turmoil in her heart.
She had no idea who composed it.
She had only stumbled upon it by chance, just like another song—Blue and White Porcelain.
It was said that the artist was a newcomer.
There wasn't even an official music video for the song.
Rumors said there was some kind of fan-made video online, but she had never bothered to watch it.
She simply knew one thing.
She liked this song.
And, at this moment, it was the only thing helping her heart settle.
*****
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