At this moment, the entire private room fell completely silent, and even the previously loud music was turned off at some point.

Ji Ran had originally not intended to expose Jiang Yi in front of so many classmates; after all, she knew that family secrets should not be made public. Besides, she didn’t want people to know about her relationship with Jiang Yi.

It was quite embarrassing.

But Ji Ran had never expected that Jiang Yi would become so obsessed with playing the roles of her as the heiress and herself as the chauffeur’s daughter in this game of lies, unable to free herself from it. She even led the bullying against Wen Qianxia.

Even if it was embarrassing, Ji Ran had no intention of letting Jiang Yi off easily.

Because in her previous life, she had been the same, too concerned about her own image and high status, allowing Jiang Yi, a phony, to pose as the Ji family’s heiress in high society for so long.

Ji Ran was a child raised with strict manners, and her temperament and nature were actually quite similar to Pei Yuan’s.

For example, she had completely inherited Pei Yuan’s high-handed style.

Pei Yuan never deigned to look at Jiang Liqi, even when Jiang Liqi acted recklessly with Ji Qingli. Pei Yuan couldn’t be bothered to deal with her. It was just that Ji Ran later realized that when dealing with someone who didn’t care about their own reputation at all, you had to trample their face underfoot.

So in this life, Ji Ran learned a valuable lesson and was prepared to trample Jiang Yi’s face underfoot.

The people around were all dumbfounded. Originally, they had been quietly watching, but now they couldn’t contain their discussions.

“What’s going on? Wasn’t Ji Ran supposed to be the daughter of Jiang Yi’s family’s chauffeur?”

“Yeah, that’s what I heard too.”

“But now, it doesn’t seem like that at all. Why do I feel like Ji Ran looks more like a heiress?”

“Could it be that Jiang Yi is lying?”

Even at a high school classmate’s birthday party, everyone would wear their most expensive clothes and shoes to maintain appearances. So, compared to the extravagantly dressed people in the room, Ji Ran, dressed in a plain white T-shirt and black pants, seemed a bit too simple.

However, even in such a simple outfit, she was still so beautiful that people couldn’t look away.

The girl’s figure was slender, especially the glimpse of her collarbone revealed by the T-shirt, delicate and three-dimensional, and it seemed like it had a layer of white glaze due to the lighting.

The more people looked, the more puzzled they became. Ji Ran’s aura was truly exceptional; she seemed like a carefully nurtured young lady.

So the discussions among the people grew louder.

Finally, Jiang Yi, who had been petrified, came to her senses. At this moment, her first thought was that she couldn’t admit it; she couldn’t admit it, or everything would be ruined.

So Jiang Yi showed a puzzled expression and said, “Ji Ran, what are you talking about?”

She tugged at her skirt innocently and said, “This dress was clearly bought by my mom so I could attend a classmate’s gathering. How can you say it’s yours?”

Jiang Yi’s sincere words further confused the people around her.

Naturally, some people believed Jiang Yi’s words. After all, ever since the start of the second year of high school, everyone had seen Jiang Yi going to school in a Bentley every day. On the other hand, Ji Ran, except for the first few days when she got off at the school gate, didn’t want people to know about her relationship with Jiang Yi, so she had the driver drop her off a bit away.

She preferred to walk a few extra steps to school.

As a result, many people were inclined to believe what Jiang Yi said, especially since her image as a rich and beautiful girl had been established fairly smoothly.

Immediately, one of Jiang Yi’s close friends stepped forward and said, “I think you’re the one full of lies who doesn’t know your true identity here.”

Her words carried disdain, and the implication was that a chauffeur’s daughter had the audacity to act pretentious here.

However, Jiang Yi’s complexion turned even paler because of her friend’s words.

Her lies could be told in front of others, but when it came to Ji Ran, it was like slapping herself in the face. However, she was now cornered, and she had to persist with this lie. Even if it was false, she absolutely couldn’t admit it.

In reality, liars often have this sense of luck, believing that they won’t be unlucky enough to have their lies exposed.

Sometimes, after telling lies repeatedly, even they start to believe those lies.

Jiang Yi had been immersed in the role of a heiress for too long, so much so that she had forgotten just how many lies she had told.

“Show us some evidence if you’re so capable,” the friend said, not sure if she genuinely believed Jiang Yi or just wanted to see her embarrassed, as she prompted Ji Ran to present evidence.

However, just after she said that, she suddenly noticed Shen Zhi standing next to her, staring at her coldly. He hadn’t said a word since he came in and appeared to let Ji Ran handle things.

But when he heard someone making sarcastic remarks, he displayed a faint, mocking smile.

The girl was instantly frightened and lowered her head, not daring to look at him again.

Ji Ran, upon hearing the request for evidence, was not in a hurry. Instead, she smiled serenely at Jiang Yi.

While Jiang Yi was trying to comfort herself, she thought it was just a dress, and there was no evidence. Ji Ran spoke casually, “Do you know why haute couture dresses are called ‘haute couture’?”

It’s because they are unique in the world, with no duplicates.

You can’t even find knock-offs.

It’s now the year 2009, and information hasn’t spread as easily as it did ten years later. In the past, due to the prevalence of various social media platforms, expensive and gorgeous clothing, which was usually kept hidden away, began to be exposed to the public eye.

Regardless of the high-society ladies flaunting their haute couture dresses or the various fashion bloggers providing explanations, many people gained a significant understanding of haute couture.

However, the group of high school students in front of them, even if they came from wealthy families, had not yet reached the level where they had encountered haute couture.

Ji Ran spoke slowly. “Lower your head and look at the waist of this dress.”

All eyes followed Ji Ran’s gaze and settled on the side of Jiang Yi’s waist.

This dress was made of a particularly ethereal chiffon fabric and had a cinched waist design. Ideally, when wearing this dress, it should give the impression of a slender waist that could be held with one hand.

Jiang Yi wasn’t overweight, but compared to Ji Ran, who had such a slim waist that it was visible even in a T-shirt, she seemed a bit thicker.

Shen Zhi had been listening to the girl talk all along and hadn’t intended to intervene. Since that time when they raced cars at Luoying Mountain and he witnessed her using her helmet to knock the other girl to the ground while the girl cried and begged for mercy, he knew that this girl only had the advantage of her appearance. She wasn’t easily defeated.

But now, as he gazed at Jiang Yi’s dress, he suddenly pictured Ji Ran wearing it. Her skin was very fair, and her exposed arms and neck were so pale they almost appeared transparent. If she were to wear it, she would show a lot of her collarbone and the skin on her back.

Under the lights, her snowy-white skin would give a sense of delicate beauty, and her waist would be so slender that he could hold it with both hands.

Suddenly, Shen Zhi turned his face away, no longer looking at Ji Ran.

He felt like his body was having a reaction if he continued thinking that way.

Everyone stared at it for a while and couldn’t find any clues until Ji Ran said, “There are two letters engraved on it.”

These two letters belonged to Ji Ran’s name, and they would be on all her haute couture dresses. Engraving letters on clothes was not uncommon in haute couture; it was a way to give the customer a unique sense of privilege.

As for how Ji Ran knew this, it was probably due to the widespread rumors about Shen Zhi in the investment bank.

Initially, people were a bit embarrassed to keep staring, but it wasn’t until Jiang Yi’s friend couldn’t resist and lowered her head to examine it closely that they discovered two cursive letters between the waistbands.

The girl stared at it for a while and finally whispered, “J.R., it seems to be these two letters.”

Ji Ran.

j.r.

Jiang Yi’s face turned ashen, and she looked at Ji Ran, then turned to her friend beside her, and her body couldn’t help but tremble.

“Wow, this dress is actually Ji Ran’s. She actually stole Ji Ran’s dress.”

“This twist is too intense; wasn’t it said that Ji Ran was the chauffeur’s daughter? Could it be that Jiang Yi is the one?”

“But why hasn’t Ji Ran been refuting this all along?”

“Damn, someone actually said Ji Ran isn’t worthy of being our high school’s beauty queen. I think it’s the high school beauty queen who isn’t up to her level; after all, she’s a legitimate heiress.”

This scene shocked everyone—not only the bystanders but even Wen Qianxia, who was familiar with Ji Ran, stared wide-eyed in astonishment.

Finally, Jiang Yi, unable to bear the openly discussed rumors, ran out with her dress in her hands.

However, her departure didn’t stop the discussions; it only intensified the chatter.

This was probably the biggest gossip to hit high school recently.

Ji Ran naturally heard these people talking, but when Jiang Yi was spreading lies earlier, they had also gossiped about her like this. So she had no intention of listening further.

She walked up to Xu Yihang and whispered, “Xu Yihang, happy birthday. I’m sorry for causing a scene on your birthday.”

In fact, she hadn’t intended to create a scene today, but Jiang Yi and her friends had gone too far.

She felt quite embarrassed about it in her heart.

Xu Yihang was quite excited himself; after all, he had also believed the rumors on the internet forums and thought Ji Ran was just a chauffeur’s daughter. Now, the situation had completely turned around, and she turned out to be a legitimate heiress.

Moreover, he didn’t dare to blame Ji Ran; he immediately shook his head and said, “It’s okay; the rumors should have been clarified sooner.”

Ji Ran chuckled softly. “Thank you.”

After saying that, she turned and pulled Wen Qianxia away. Just as they reached the door, someone followed them from behind.

Xia Jiangming asked, “Wen Qianxia, shall I treat you to some more ice cream downstairs?”

Wen Qianxia was about to shake her head, but she noticed Shen Zhi’s expression, and her expression suddenly froze.

She seemed to have overlooked something very important.

Shen Zhi was the subject of too many rumors, and even though she had been in the same class as him for a long time, she still didn’t dare look him in the eye.

It wasn’t until Shen Zhi looked at her and said, “Go down and have ice cream; it’s my treat.”

Wen Qianxia clearly felt Ji Ran’s hand squeezing hers a bit tightly, so she summoned her courage and said, “I’ve already had two scoops just now, and I don’t want more.”

Shen Zhi glanced at her indifferently and said, “It’s fine; you can have two more.”

Wen Qianxia: “…” She really didn’t want to.

But the big shot was so intimidating that she didn’t dare to refuse.

Seeing that Shen Zhi had already revealed an expression that seemed to say, “If you don’t leave, I won’t be polite,” Wen Qianxia felt her legs trembling.

It was Ji Ran who let go of her hand first and softly said, “Xia Xia, go ahead, have some more.”

Don’t let it go to waste; it’s even better if you can make him run out of it.

But Ji Ran didn’t say that out loud.

So, Wen Qianxia followed Xia Jiangming into the elevator with three backward glances. Ji Ran also wanted to exit the elevator, but Shen Zhi had finally managed to send the third wheel away. It wasn’t so easy for him to let her leave without a struggle.

He took Ji Ran by the hand and led her through the nearby emergency exit.

Ji Ran struggled not to go with him. After all, the emergency exit was quiet, with very few people around.

Suddenly, Shen Zhi leaned in close to her ear and whispered, “If you keep resisting like this, I won’t mind hugging you. Everyone is watching.”

Ji Ran didn’t dare to turn around, but she knew that just behind her was the party room for the birthday celebration. If someone opened the door, they would see her and Shen Zhi entangled.

Ji Ran didn’t want people to see her with Shen Zhi or get involved with him. If others saw them struggling like this, the rumor would likely spread throughout the entire school.

She had no choice but to follow him down the emergency exit.

Fortunately, when they reached the stairwell, Shen Zhi released her wrist. However, the sensation of his fingertips still lingered on her skin.

Her skin was incredibly smooth.

Ji Ran, after he let go, immediately walked ahead and quickly descended the stairs. But no matter how fast she moved, the boy behind her maintained a steady pace.

After descending several flights, Ji Ran suddenly felt that she was being too timid.

She had no trouble publicly embarrassing Jiang Yi just a moment ago, so why was Shen Zhi intimidating her so much now?

Her hesitation caused her steps to falter, and at a corner, her back collided with the chest of the boy behind her.

She turned around anxiously and involuntarily asked, “Shen Zhi, what do you want?”

But as soon as she spoke, her waist was unexpectedly encircled by a hand, and her entire body was pressed against the wall.

The boy’s warm chest was now very close to her.

Ji Ran was frightened by his actions and tried to push him away, saying, “Shen Zhi, don’t act indecently; let go of me. I want to go home.”

Ji Ran tried to push him away, using force.

However, Shen Zhi let out a suppressed low growl as if in pain, and Ji Ran realized he must still be seriously injured from the incident yesterday when the scaffolding had fallen on him.

So Ji Ran loosened her grip, but her hands remained on his chest to keep him from getting any closer.

Shen Zhi then bent down and whispered in her ear, his warm lips nearly touching her earlobe. He first chuckled softly, then added in a soft and gentle tone, “Hey, why are you being so fierce?”