Chapter 3: The Young Lady Has Been Eating Sand for Three Years, Part 2

Watching the plane take off, Qin Ye leaned on his cane, his face full of satisfaction.

Beside him, Aunt Zhang wiped away tears, finding it hard to part with the young lady.

After a while, she couldn't help but say, "I just wonder if the young lady will be able to adapt abroad, if she'll get used to the food there."

Adaptation would certainly not come easily.

The country Qin Ye had his assistant arrange was not among the currently popular destinations, but rather the East African savannah.

Qin Yue was someone who adored small animals, and when it came to wildlife, apart from the tropical rainforest, the grasslands boasted the greatest variety.

He truly was the best of fathers. Thinking that Qin Yue might not be able to handle the humid heat of the rainforest, he had specifically chosen the East African savannah.

Could there be a father gentler, more considerate, kinder, and more open-minded than he?

Absolutely not!

In his wistfulness, Qin Ye felt that when he returned to the Pure Heaven, he could take in hundreds or thousands of godchildren from the mortal world, raising them by his knee.

After all, now that he had mastered the art of being a good father, wouldn’t these godchildren adore, respect, and serve him diligently until their dying breath?

He could teach each of them a different art of cultivation, send them all out to make money, and never again worry about upgrading his beloved sword, nor about not being able to commission a hundred or a thousand splendid scabbards for it.

Meanwhile, after a long and anxious journey that involved several connecting flights, Qin Yue finally heard from her escort that they had arrived at their destination, exhaustion hanging heavy on her.

She immediately perked up and looked outside, but what she saw made her instantly alert: “Where is this?”

Outside stretched an endless plain; due to the dry season, all she could see was desolation, the entire landscape a withered yellow.

The Qin Group was renowned in China, its chairman a familiar face on financial news channels. Qin Yue, as the family’s only heir, was not an unlikely target for ill intent.

Qin Yue had received related training and understood that if she ever encountered kidnappers, she must remain calm. Most were after money, and would let their victims go after getting the ransom.

However, if the hostage acted arrogant or provoked the kidnappers, a quest for money could easily turn into something fatal.

“This place? Why, this is the East African savannah, a paradise for animal lovers,” the driver-guide answered in a lyrical tone, understanding her words.

Qin Yue: ...

Once she realized she hadn’t been kidnapped, but rather shipped off here by her own father, Qin Yue was left speechless. Fortunately, she quickly adjusted her mindset. Since she was here, she might as well make the best of it, and soon began studying earnestly with the local scholars.

These scholars were all highly distinguished in their fields, but why would they accept a complete novice like Qin Yue as a student?

Oh, that story began with the mountains of money Qin Ye had poured out.

The original self would never have been willing to invest hard-earned money into an entirely unfamiliar field, just to send his daughter off to "eat sand" on the plains.

But Qin Ye was different. Worldly wealth held no allure for him.

On Qin Yue’s first day studying abroad, Aunt Zhang muttered endlessly at home, missing the young lady.

On the second day, she kept fretting and sighing, still missing her.

On the third day, she was still muttering—but by then, Qin Ye could no longer hear her. He had moved into the company, and apart from work, spent all his time reading.

On the nth day of Qin Yue’s studies abroad, the news of her departure finally caused a stir at her elite school.

Qin Yue was naturally gifted and did well academically. Her attendance at this prestigious school was purely due to her predecessor’s attempt at securing privileges for her.

The previous self didn’t have enough influence to get public schools to open doors for his children, so he had no choice but to spend money on a private institution.

Gu Yeting, the school’s resident troublemaker, was notorious for skipping classes, fighting, and causing chaos. The fact that he hadn’t been expelled was solely thanks to his family’s wealth and influence.

Compared to wealthy second-generation students like Gu Yeting and Qin Yue, Ye Xiaoxiao was a high-achieving student recruited from a low-income background to boost the school’s academic results.

Because of her outstanding grades, the school offered her generous terms: full room and board, waiver of all tuition and fees, and even scholarships for excellent results.

For students from modest or even difficult family situations, such opportunities were a powerful draw.

Ye Xiaoxiao’s family wasn’t destitute, but her parents were extremely patriarchal, unwilling to invest in their daughter at all.

Despite being the top student in her grade, Ye Xiaoxiao still faced the threat of having to drop out.

If not for the opportunity to attend this elite school, she would either be working far from home, her parents draining her earnings, or traded away for a bride price to fund her underachieving brother’s extravagance.

Elite schools gathered together a host of well-off, worry-free students who had no need to fear for their futures, and among them, cliques and bullying inevitably flourished.

Given the school's priorities, as long as things didn’t escalate too far, teachers often turned a blind eye to such behavior.

These privileged students, neglected by their families and struggling academically, tended to despise the special-admission students most of all.

Ye Xiaoxiao had endured her share of cold shoulders, exclusion, and outright bullying.

Her acquaintance with Gu Yeting didn’t come about by chance, but through careful planning by one party.

Qin Yue’s status meant such underhanded bullying would never occur in her presence; her world was always bathed in flowers, applause, and light.

She was beautiful, accomplished, gentle, and well liked by many. Even those who didn’t care for her would never dare act against her—she was always a star at the school.

On the girls’ side, Qin Yue was the undisputed leader; among the boys, that position belonged to Gu Yeting.

Gu Yeting had a quick temper and a proud nature. Thanks to his family’s wealth, he had received systematic training in martial arts and was the undisputed leader among the school’s troublemakers.

He despised academically successful students, regarding them as hopeless bookworms with all brains but no sense.

Yet, for all his disdain, Qin Yue was the exception. Her persona was near perfect—good grades, good looks, a distinguished family, and a gentle demeanor.

After a few encounters, Gu Yeting found himself inevitably drawn to her.

His favor was always openly displayed, which is why Bai Juan once wrote that everyone knew the apple of Gu Yeting’s eye was Miss Qin.

Miss Qin, naturally, referred to Qin Yue.

When Ye Xiaoxiao was bullied, Qin Yue had stepped in more than once to help her.

Ye Xiaoxiao genuinely admired her; beautiful, gentle, almost impossibly perfect.

Yet, beneath her admiration, she harbored a sense of inferiority.

Sometimes, she would wonder how wonderful it would be if she herself had a background like Qin Yue’s.

Her connection with Gu Yeting, too, had its origins in Qin Yue.

Because Qin Yue had witnessed Ye Xiaoxiao being bullied, she had taken her under her wing, making it clear she intended to protect her.

Gu Yeting was usually indifferent to girls—except for Qin Yue.

Those whom Qin Yue protected were marked as special even in Gu Yeting’s eyes, and so Ye Xiaoxiao earned a measure of his regard.

After being taunted by punks from another school, who told him someone as perfect as Qin Yue would never look twice at a loser like him, Gu Yeting, for once, put some effort into his studies.

But his foundation was too poor, and classes might as well have been in a foreign language.

He and his father, Gu Xingten, never saw eye to eye, so he’d given up on seeking his family’s help or hiring a tutor.

He could have used academic tutoring as a pretext to get closer to Qin Yue, but his pride would not allow her to know just how hopeless he was at his studies, so he dismissed that idea.

With most options ruled out, Ye Xiaoxiao, the special-admission student, entered Gu Yeting’s line of sight.

As the male lead, Gu Yeting had a striking appearance, the status of a campus tyrant, and the aura of a wealthy scion—countless girls liked him.

Ye Xiaoxiao was no exception; after several encounters, she found herself increasingly drawn to him.

She was an intelligent girl, in both academics and other matters.

After some careful probing, Ye Xiaoxiao and Gu Yeting soon crossed a line into a more intimate relationship.

Gu Yeting still didn’t like her, even looked down on her, making it clear in both word and deed that she couldn’t hold a candle to Qin Yue. Yet he was undeniably addicted to her physically.

Thus, an odd and secretive relationship formed between Ye Xiaoxiao and Gu Yeting.

Whenever she heard people praise Qin Yue or envy the deep affection Gu Yeting held for her, Ye Xiaoxiao felt a secret sense of superiority.

At this point, the story was just beginning. Ye Xiaoxiao had already become involved with Gu Yeting, but she remained confused about what she meant to him.

In her bewilderment—wondering whether she had taken the wrong path, whether she should have avoided becoming entangled with him—the news of Qin Yue’s departure to study abroad spread like wildfire.

Qin Yue had left in haste, saying hurried goodbyes only to her closest friends, who didn’t even attend her school.

As for her departure, Qin Ye had merely notified the principal, who in turn told Qin Yue’s teachers, and that was the end of it.

Qin Yue sometimes represented the school in competitions, so her absence aroused no suspicion; everyone assumed she was off at another event.

It was only when someone learned from a teacher that Qin Yue had gone abroad and, shocked, shared the news with friends, that the story began to spread through the school.

Gu Yeting hadn’t been at school for days—he was out getting into a massive brawl with another school’s top punk, the two sides facing off as usual.

Shen Yu looked down on Gu Yeting, and the feeling was mutual; their feud dated back to kindergarten.

By high school, their rivalry had only deepened, and with Qin Yue in the mix, they had become sworn enemies.