First Encounter with the Imperious Lady

Xiao spoke slowly, her voice somewhat weak. “Morning. Is there something you need?”
“No, nothing,” Xiuxiu replied, then sighed wistfully, “But look at how many rich kids there are in our school this year! I really envy them. Every day they have luxury cars picking them up and dropping them off. They never have to worry about money. It must be nice!”
Xiuxiu’s face was filled with envy, making the whole scene feel a bit awkward. Xiao didn’t really know what to say.
“If there’s nothing else, I’ll be going now.” Without waiting for a response, she turned and walked away.
She had barely taken a few steps when a sharp scream erupted behind her.
A girl shrieked in a piercing soprano, “Are you blind? How dare you step on my shoes and get them dirty! Do you even know how much these shoes cost?”
“I’m… I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to… I’m really sorry!” the other girl stammered, bowing repeatedly in apology.
“Sorry doesn’t cut it! If ‘sorry’ was enough, why would we need the police? So if I stabbed you and said ‘sorry,’ that would make it all right?” Her domineering attitude left no room for mercy.
Just hearing her voice was enough to put anyone off.
At the school gates, her shrill yells echoed, making her even more irksome than the summer cicadas.
“Hey, aren’t you going a bit too far?” Xiao finally turned back, unable to stand by any longer. She walked toward them, speaking as she went. “It’s just a pair of shoes. Even if you threw them out on the street, no one would bother picking them up.”
For a moment, all eyes shifted to Xiao. In everyone’s mind, she had already ascended to goddess status. After all, the domineering girl was notorious for her arrogance—almost no one dared to challenge her, no matter how much they resented her.
But Xiao’s words voiced what everyone else was thinking.
Everyone watched this girl who seemed to have stepped straight out of a fairy tale, their gazes filled with admiration.
“What do you mean by that? You called these shoes trash? I just bought these yesterday—they’re an international brand! She dirtied them, how is she going to make up for it?” the domineering girl screeched, her high-pitched voice grating on everyone’s ears.
Xiao massaged her aching ears and curled her lips.
“So you got your shoe stepped on. You have money for shoes but not for a polishing cloth? If you can’t afford that, I can give you a few myself.” She finished with a cold, mocking smile.
Enraged, the girl raised her hand, ready to slap Xiao, but just as she was about to strike, a hand reached out from behind and seized her wrist.
“It’s just a scuff. Wipe it off and it’s fine,” Ouyang Xianyu said, his voice icy and direct as always.
But now, a chilling aura radiated from him, sending a shiver through the air—though it was midsummer, it felt like the dead of winter.
Anyone within a hundred miles would have felt as though they were about to freeze, let alone the domineering girl whose wrist he now held.
She was so terrified by Ouyang Xianyu’s presence that her legs buckled and she collapsed to her knees on the ground.
Shaking, she stammered, “I’m… I’m sorry!” Then, scrambling, she fled the scene as quickly as she could.
“Ha, bullying the weak and fearing the strong. How pathetic. Let’s go, Xiuxiu,” Xiao scoffed coldly at the scene before her, then turned to leave, pulling Xiuxiu along.
Ouyang Xianyu watched Xiao’s movements and found her more and more endearing.
“Hey, don’t you have anything you want to say?” Even someone as laconic as him, usually only speaking in monosyllables, found himself compelled to say more, thanks to Xiao.

—End of Chapter—