HBWMA -Chapter 71 Eye-Catcher

Early the next morning, Qingyuan welcomed two uninvited guests.

Old Master Shen Zhuang sat upright in a rosewood chair, staring at the silver bangle in his hand for a full ten minutes without saying a word.

Fang Mei drank her third cup of tea uneasily. After hesitating for a moment, she finally spoke carefully.

“Yesterday, while cleaning the room, I suddenly found Mother-in-law’s relic. It’s my fault for being careless—this was originally something Grandma of Shanshan asked me to pass on to Shanshan.”

The old master’s expression was obscure and hard to read. Fang Mei couldn’t tell what he was thinking, so she could only press on.

“When my mother-in-law knew she didn’t have much time left, she kept calling me back. She also told me that Shanshan, because she didn’t have parents, was always bullied at school, and asked me to come back and take good care of her child. Thinking about it now… I truly failed her trust.”

As she spoke, Fang Mei’s eyes turned red and she wiped the corner of her eyes.

“Old Master, you are right. I was indeed too harsh on Shanshan before, but you must believe me—I only wanted to raise her properly.”

“Shanshan is still angry with me now and won’t even answer my calls. So I’ll trouble you to pass this bracelet to her. I’ve also thought it through. Shanshan being favored by you is a blessing she earned in several lifetimes. As her mother, I can’t really do anything for her. So I’ve discussed it with Yiyi—we will return to Huai City after Shanshan’s fourteenth birthday.”

“……”

On the other side, Jiang Wanyi sat in the pavilion, looking around.

Although she had been living in Shen Residence for three years, she had only visited Qingyuan a handful of times.

As expected of the main courtyard, every carved beam and painted pillar here was a visual feast.

Jiang Wanyi stretched her neck toward the inner courtyard, a faint trace of jealousy flashing in her eyes. She had heard that Jiang Huashan had been staying here recently?

They were all from small places. Jiang Huashan wasn’t even as outstanding as she was—so why did that idiot get to enjoy all of this so naturally?

The more Jiang Wanyi thought about it, the more unwilling she felt. She looked around, then calmly took out her phone and snapped several photos of the courtyard, sending them all to the new student group chat of Yucai International Class.

After sending them, she still wasn’t satisfied. She zoomed in on the direction of Shen Zhuang and Fang Mei, took another photo, and sent it into the group.

“Iyiyi is not a cute girl: Everyone said they wanted to visit my home before. I’m really sorry—I’ve been sick and can’t host anyone, so I came to Qingyuan today to take some photos for you.”

Since Yucai Middle School only started in September, the new students had not been assigned classes yet. The group she posted in was the freshman group chat, meaning all incoming students of the international class could see it.

Originally, the group was just chatting about where everyone was going for summer vacation. But as soon as her photos appeared, it caused an instant explosion.

“Where is this? A vacation? @Iyiyi is not a cute girl”

“Look closer! That’s Shen Residence! Didn’t she say Qingyuan, the Shen family’s main courtyard?”

“Oh my god, I’m awake now. I’m saving this to show my dad. He once said the hardest door to enter in Country A is the Shen family’s gate!”

……

The group chat messages kept escalating, almost exploding.

Jiang Wanyi watched as just a few photos of hers caused such a huge reaction, smiling so widely her lips couldn’t close.

She raised her eyebrows proudly and deliberately recalled a few of the images.

“Iyiyi is not a cute girl: Ah! (cute shocked gif) Sorry, I accidentally sent them to the wrong group.”

“Wait, that back view… isn’t that the legendary Old Master Shen? He looks quite young. Who’s the person next to him? How can someone sit with him and drink morning tea? @Iyiyi is not a cute girl”

Even though Jiang Wanyi had deleted the photos, several quick-eyed students had already saved them. Sharp observers quickly noticed that one of the images showed two people chatting in the main hall.

Although only a blurry side profile of Old Master Shen could be seen, anyone with sense could easily guess his identity.

And that was exactly the effect Jiang Wanyi wanted—deliberately casual, yet impactful.

“Yiyi isn’t a little cutie: That’s my mom. Grandpa cares a lot about my studies and daily life. They’re having morning tea and chatting right now. Sigh, I haven’t really studied much lately because I’ve been sick. I hope Mom won’t say anything random in front of Grandpa~”

“Ding-dong—ding-dong—”

In an instant, Jiang Wanyi’s phone started exploding with notifications. Even the girls who had previously been passive-aggressive after she refused to let them visit the Shen residence were now messaging her one after another.

“Mengmeng isn’t a little princess: @Yiyi isn’t a little cutie, Yiyi, are you feeling better? My mom took me to Egypt, so I haven’t been able to visit you. I brought you a gift—my mom picked a silk scarf. I’ll give it to you when school starts.”

“Lulu isn’t a little fairy: I’m also traveling, but I went skiing. It’s not fun at all. I’ve been stuck in the house every day, so boring! Yiyi, let’s video call tonight? There’s aurora here at night, it’s so beautiful? @Yiyi isn’t a little cutie”

“Yanyan isn’t a little娇娇: Huh? You all went out to play? Am I the only one who didn’t go anywhere this holiday? Yiyi, my brother’s high school club has a tennis match the day after tomorrow. Do you want to come watch with me? The high school and junior high are on the same campus. After the match, my brother can also show us around the school.”

Previously, because Jiang Wanyi had refused to let them visit the Shen residence, these girls had been sarcastic and cold toward her, even ignoring her usual posts about food and daily life.

But now, just a casually taken blurred photo of a back view was enough to make these normally proud young ladies actively try to please her.

At that moment, Jiang Wanyi suddenly gained a much more concrete understanding of the Shen family’s power—especially Shen Zhuang’s influence.

She put on a reserved, socially adept attitude and responded politely to everyone’s flattery. After chatting in the group for a while, her new student group already had 99+ messages.

When she opened it, nearly all of them were @ her, and even her friend requests in the background kept flooding in. This kind of admiration and attention gave her an unprecedented sense of satisfaction.

“Viking Era: Are you there? You mentioned your English was a bit weak before, so I collected some study materials. When are you free? I can bring them to you.”

Jiang Wanyi froze for a moment.

Lu Wei had always been rather cold—why was he suddenly trying to curry favor too?

She had once liked him a little because he was handsome and the class president, but after seeing Shen Gui Ling, she already understood the difference between pearls and fish eyes—how could faint fireflies compete with the sun and moon?

She swiped past the message and ignored it directly.

At that moment, Shen Qingyu and Shen Guiling walked into Qinyuan one after the other.

Yesterday, the old master had said he would take them to the western suburbs today, so after breakfast they both came over.

Shen Qingyu lived in Meiyuan, not far from Shen Guiling’s Zhuyuan. They ran into each other shortly after leaving, but neither of them had any intention of being friendly. Shen Guiling also wasn’t the type to force social interaction, so they maintained a strange, distant, and carefully neutral distance all the way.

Shen Zhi was already waiting outside the courtyard. Seeing them arrive one after the other, he quickly stepped forward.

“Master Qingyu, Master A-Ling, the old master is meeting a guest right now. Please wait a moment.”

Shen Guiling nodded. In fact, before even entering the courtyard, he had already noticed Jiang Wanyi—but she hadn’t noticed them at all and was still staring at her phone and giggling.

Shen Qingyu glanced toward the main hall and asked casually, somewhat puzzled:

“Who is it? What kind of person is important enough for Grandpa to meet so early in the morning?”

Shen Zhi led them toward the pavilion while replying:

“It’s Mrs. Jiang.”

Shen Qingyu’s lips curled slightly, not very friendly.

“Oh, the outsider family Grandpa adopted?”

Shen Zhi acted as if he hadn’t heard the sarcasm, replying calmly:

“Master Qingyu, the old master has already recognized Miss Jiang. She is no longer considered an outsider.”

Shen Qingyu smiled lazily and glanced meaningfully at Shen Guiling, then wisely said nothing more.

At that moment, Jiang Wanyi was still immersed in the flood of compliments, completely unaware that anyone was approaching.

After happily reading through the messages, she opened her beauty camera and posed in front of the courtyard as a backdrop.

Pouting, acting cute, making sweet expressions—just as she was fully immersed in her own beauty—

A sharp, mocking laugh suddenly sounded in her ear.

“Where did this attention magnet come from?”