Chapter 56: Hidden Strength

"Do you not care how people talk about you?" Chen Chen Huanyue fell silent for a moment, then asked in a low voice.

"It's fine. I can bear it."

The air grew still for a while; neither of them spoke for a time, and a strange atmosphere seemed to rise between them.

"You used to care very much about other people's human perspective," Chen Chen Huanyue said, gazing at her as if recalling something. "Back in school, you didn't even want to walk with me. You were afraid people would say you were 'sucking up to a rich guy' or something like that."

Yang Yi smiled too. She shrugged. "Because back then I was truly penniless, had no confidence, and the pressure of being with you was too great. If I had money back then, or a family background, or talent, or even beauty, I could have walked with you with my head held high, caring not a bit about other people's gaze. But I had nothing. A ugly duckling with nothing but inferiority. I could only cling to a bit of ridiculous self-esteem to painfully maintain my dignity, so of course I cared about other people's human perspective."

Chen Chen Huanyue looked at her deeply. "You have changed a lot. You never told me these things before..."

"Because now I have everything. A poor person will not bare their torn underwear to others, but a rich man will loudly proclaim his poverty-stricken youth to everyone." Yang Yi said with feigned humor: "I am that rich man now."

"So it seems you have a way to deal with this?" Chen Chen Huanyue's eyes lit up, full of expectation.

"If you mean small tricks to deal with these people, I truly have no way. You know I've never been very smart, and I'm not good at socializing." Yang Yi smiled faintly:

"I only know one thing: no matter how they belittle me, how they curse me, how they say I'm not worthy of my reputation, as long as I resolve the crisis in Wuming City, in the end they will turn around and praise me, thank me, and admire me..."

"In fact, I even hope they bury me in the mud, curse me as harshly as possible, and paint me as more incompetent as possible. That way, when I solve the Brain-Sucking Beast crisis, their regret, praise, and reverence will bring me double the enjoyment and satisfaction."

Yang Yi felt she was being somewhat shamelessly boastful. Today she had said far too many things that did not fit her personality, but she had no intention of shutting her mouth; in fact, she wanted to say even more.

She seemed to have put on a mask of arrogance and wildness, like a clown stepping onto a stage to perform, with the only audience being Chen Chen Huanyue before her.

This was not really an answer to Chen Chen Huanyue's question; it was more like a long-suppressed release, a venting triggered by past events.

An unexplained impulse made her heart pound. She gazed at Chen Chen Huanyue with almost fanatical intensity—this former boyfriend who once wanted to love but dared not, who wanted to approach yet wanted to stay away, the man who had witnessed all her shrinking and shabby appearance during her university days:

"Have you heard a story? A billionaire whose favorite thing to do is to walk the streets in rags, letting people push and shove him, treating him like a beggar, letting people despise him, drive him away, and insult him. Only then, when he reveals his billionaire identity, can the shocked and regretful expressions of everyone bring him pleasure and give him immense joy."

She knew she was not looking presentable now, but she had no intention of stopping. At this moment, she did not even hesitate to reveal her baseness and shamelessness to him, to expose her dark inner self. It would be best to create a huge contrast with the good side she had deliberately shown him before, and to completely overturn the impression she had once left on him.

Yang Yi spoke with a deliberately displayed air of indifference and wildness: "If you ask me, this rich man need not show off his wealth to make people look at him with new respect. It would be best to keep people despising him, insulting him, even pushing and shoving him, because secretly realizing one's own strength is more enjoyable than deliberately displaying one's strength."

"Just imagine: they despise me, reject me, hate me. They think I'm penniless, not worth mentioning. But I know myself that I am invincible. I can control the fate of all of them. If I want, I can turn clouds with a flip of my hand and rain with a turn of my palm. Just this awareness is enough to satisfy the self."

She felt she must stop now. She had already said far too many untimely things today, and they would bring her no benefit.

Reason told her to stop immediately, best to backtrack and make amends, but that inexplicable impulse made her want to vent even more, to speak even more wildly.

Finally, she managed to forcibly bring herself to a halt.

Only then did she first turn her eyes toward Chen Chen Huanyue, gazing at him with a strange look. "Do you think so?" she asked, as if seeking his opinion, yet also as if simply stating, "That is how it is."

Chen Chen Huanyue looked at her as if seeing her for the first time. His gaze at this moment was no longer filled with nostalgia and expectation as it had been when they first met yesterday; instead, it was strange and shocked.

This shock completely pleased her. She knew this was the effect she wanted.

It would be best to overturn all the impressions she had left on him. That timid, shy, shrinking, uneasy girl, mixed with inferiority and self-esteem, should disappear completely—not only in reality, but from everyone's mind.

Chen Chen Huanyue suddenly understood. Before, she had cared about him, cared about his human perspective on her, so she had been evasive in front of him, deliberately showing only her best side, afraid he would look down on her.

But now, she did not care about him at all. She did not care about his thoughts, did not care how he viewed her, and did not even care whether he still... loved her...

That was why she could be so frank, even with a vengeful release, deliberately going too far with her wildness.

He had never even known that she felt such disgust and hatred toward that past experience. He had once thought she, like him, was full of nostalgia and longing for the romance of their university days—even if not as deeply as he was.

Once he understood this, his face turned deathly pale.

He slowly pulled his thoughts back, not letting himself show any disheveled appearance in front of her. He deliberately displayed an elegant demeanor, making himself appear mature and steady: "It seems you already have a way to deal with the Brain-Sucking Beast. Then I am relieved. I wish you a successful start!"

He prepared to leave, but somehow, involuntarily, he looked at her expression, at those black eyes he had gazed upon countless times before. He wanted to find a trace of a familiar expression on her face, even a single restrained smile line.

But in an instant, he seemed to see a deep sorrow on her turned profile, as if she were shrouded by a huge shadow that she could never escape.

His steps paused for a moment. Looking more closely, he saw her turn her head back and ask coldly, "What is it? Is there anything else?"

As if the previous scene had been nothing but an illusion.

"Nothing. You... rest well." Chen Chen Huanyue said in a low voice, stepped out, and closed the door behind him.

Yang Yi stared at that door expressionless, frozen like a stone statue for a long time.