Standing Next To You
Chapter 157: Want to be ’Bei Sangyun’

Chapter 157: Want to be ’Bei Sangyun’

A/n: This Chapter is fixed.

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On that particular morning, Bei Sangyun arrived at school early. Unlike the past days when she walked to school with visible yawns, Bei Sangyun appeared energetic and in a pleasant mood.

Despite the intensified and more obvious strange gazes directed at her, Bei Sangyun remained unbothered. She hugged the black coat around her, her hands nestled in its pockets.

This coat was borrowed from Fei Chuan. After wearing it for a whole day, Bei Sangyun fell in love with it, even wearing it at night. She found comfort and warmth in it, peacefully escaping any nightmares.

Developing a strong attachment to the coat, Bei Sangyun persistently pestered Fei Chuan to give it to her.

At first the man was stingy. He did not want to give the coat to her.

"Just buy a new one. I will tell you where I bought it."

"It won’t be the same," Bei Sangyun argued. She then proposed a deal, "How about I trade it for you with a sweater? I’ll knit one for you."

Despite Fei Chuan’s protests, Bei Sangyun’s stubbornness prevailed.

With a sigh, Fei Chuan conceded. It was just one coat, and he had the same design in his mansion’s closet. However, the thought of giving in to her felt like slowly entangling himself in a net she had prepared.

It wasn’t a good feeling. Fei Chuan sensed that if this continued, he might find himself in a situation from which he couldn’t easily extricate himself.

Bei Sangyun felt delighted to have Fei Chuan’s coat and immediately wore it when Monday arrived.

While walking, Bei Sangyun paused and looked back. A few steps behind her was Fei Chuan.

Since they were neighbors, they both went to school at the same time. Fei Chuan did not have a driver. Bei Sangyun offered to give him a ride. But the man remained stubborn and went to commute instead.

Bei Sangyun abandoned the driver sent by Butler Xin and followed after Fei Chuan. That was the first time she commuted to school. It was her second time riding the bus- once was when she and Grandma Bei went to the nearest city to meet Butler Xin- and the second time was with Fei Chuan. It was a novel feeling.

Bei Sangyun waited for Fei Chuan.

The teenager had his head lowered, eyes fixed on the ground.

Fei Chuan paused when he saw a familiar pair of shoes in front of him. Looking up, he met Bei Sangyun’s smiling eyes. His initial response was to be on guard.

"What do you think? Does this coat suit me?" Bei Sangyun asked with a smile.

Fei Chuan remained silent.

He thought she was done asking this question yesterday. Ever since he gave her the coat, she had been repeating the same inquiry. Fei Chuan just frowned and bypassed her.

"I have to wash it later, but I want the same smell. What fabric conditioner do you use?" Bei Sangyun continued, undeterred.

Fei Chuan ignored her.

Bei Sangyun didn’t mind his silence and his frowning face. After spending time with Fei Chuan, she had grown accustomed to it. She no longer found it annoying and arrogant; instead, she thought it was quite cute, though she wished he would frown less to avoid more creases on his face later.

She also kept quiet, walking a step behind him. She enjoyed the feeling of walking together with him; it was comfortable and peaceful.

However, her peace did not last long.

As they passed a large crowd of students, the voices around them grew louder as students openly gossiped about Bei Sangyun.

"Look at her, showing her face at school after the incident. If I were her, I wouldn’t have any face to come here."

"She deceived everyone. Deliberately concealing that she’s an illegitimate daughter just to take advantage of the Lin family’s name."

"She had quite the guts to play pretend and bully everyone in the school. I can’t believe I was once afraid of her."

"Oh, tell me about it. A bastard playing a king? I knew she was very suspicious from the start."

These students were the ones who had suffered under Bei Sangyun’s tyranny, oppressed and forced to remain low-key. Fearful of her in the past, they dared not voice their opinions.

But now, things had changed.

Not only had the rumor spread within the school, but it had also reached outside. Their parents and their parent’s friends were discussing the Lin family concealing an illegitimate child. Fueled by the negative rumors surrounding Bei Sangyun, these students gained the courage to openly mock her.

The ’tyrant’ wouldn’t be the powerful and frightening figure anymore! The ’tyrant’ would become a joke!

A sudden gust of cold wind blew, tousling the students’ hair. When they looked up, they met Fei Chuan’s cold glare. His gaze was colder and sharper than the wind, a bit scary with his eyes partly covered by his long bangs.

The students gossiping paused. Only when Fei Chuan and Bei Sangyun were at a considerable distance did the students react.

"Gosh, what is he glaring for?"

"Did he really like the tyrant after all the bullying she did to him?"

"What a strange man. Is he psychotic?"

...

Fei Chuan subtly glanced at Bei Sangyun. The latter appeared unbothered. She was still in a good mood with a smile playing on her lips. This unpredictable woman was hard to read. Was she really unconcerned?

Fei Chuan lowered his head with a complicated gaze. Now that the truth had been exposed, everyone’s attitude toward Bei Sangyun would change. He anticipated that those who once admired and feared her would no longer regard her in the same light as before.

The people she had offended before would likely gather and retaliate against her. Having experienced being ganged up on and cornered by bullies, he feared the same might happen to her.

Although he disliked her and hadn’t forgiven her, he did not wish the same fate upon her. Fei Chuan was unaware that his principles of ’an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth’ were broken when it came to Bei Sangyun.

Feeling uneasy, he glanced at Bei Sangyun, "Hey, you shouldn’t wander alone."

Bei Sangyun looked up at him in surprise, her bright smile intact as he teased her, "Worried about me?"

Fei Chuan: "...."

She still had the time to think about anything else.

"I am telling you to be careful. The atmosphere in the school isn’t great." Fei Chuan warned.

"I know, but don’t worry. I am the ’tyrant.’ They might act like they are no longer afraid of me, but you’ll see later. It will be hard to change one’s habits in just a couple of nights," Bei Sangyun confidently asserted.

Her eyes sparkled as she looked toward their building. If she was afraid and worried, she wouldn’t have initiated this farce. Since she admitted that she was an illegitimate daughter, a bastard child, born outside of marriage- she naturally had plans moving forward.

After all, she did not want to continue living as the perfect daughter of the Lin family but as ’Bei Sangyun’ who came from a small remote village.