Chapter 12. Leaving the Seclusion

 As long as she remained in the mall, Liu Fengying avoided analyzing Liu Zihan's behavior during their meeting, fully aware that she would likely find more questions than answers regarding what thoughts were in Liu Zihan's mind.

 Moreover, she didn't see why she should be the one to try to resolve the conflict between them. After all, she wasn't the one who started this conflict; it was Liu Zihan. Even though she had moved out, that couldn't be considered the first step toward cooling their relationship since she had tried to maintain as close a connection as possible with Liu Zihan after she left. As for the promise she had made to Liu Zihan four years ago—that they would be together forever—Liu Fengying believed it meant that they would remain best friends forever and wouldn't let anything come between them, not that they would sleep together in the same bed for the rest of their lives.

 There was also the possibility that, before she left, Liu Zihan might have realized from how she had treated her that she had other feelings for her besides friendship, which would have given her promise a completely different meaning for Liu Zihan, something akin to a declaration of love. But even assuming that Liu Zihan had the same feelings for her, Liu Fengying couldn't understand why Liu Zihan would be so upset that they no longer lived together as they couldn't start a relationship while living under the same roof with their parents and Liu Zihao. In fact, for them to start a relationship, the fact that Liu Fengying had moved out was a good thing, a vacant apartment being the ideal place to hide a relationship forbidden by the rest of the world.

 Anyway, no matter how ambiguous her relationship with Liu Zihan had been two years ago, Liu Fengying didn't believe she owed her anything. The fact that she didn't add Liu Zihan to her list of enemies was more than enough, considering how Liu Zihan had treated her since she moved out.

 Moreover, Liu Fengying wasn't motivated to try to make her relationship with Liu Zihan the same as before because, at that point, a platonic love was more of a reason for irritation than something that could make her feel satisfied.

 Perhaps two years ago, when she was just a girl of almost 16, she was happy simply holding hands with Liu Zihan on the street and sometimes sleeping with Liu Zihan in her arms. But now, with the memories of her previous life, one full of decisive decisions, she could no longer be content with half measures.

 But was there any chance that Liu Zihan would accept becoming her girlfriend? Liu Fengying could bet that she wouldn't, even if she were sure that Liu Zihan had feelings for her as well, because there were far too many obstacles to a romantic relationship between them, with the most challenging being the fact that they were half-sisters.

 Perhaps it was easier for Liu Fengying to overlook the fact that there is a blood relation between them because she no longer saw Liu Yichen as a father after discovering that he had cheated on her mother, and she was no longer constrained by familial ties, but the same could not be said for Liu Zihan, whose mother reminded her daily after the revelation of Liu Yichen's affair that she should start considering Liu Yichen her real father.

 Moreover, there was a much greater likelihood that Liu Zihan had never wanted to be anything more than a sister to her. It's true that Liu Zihan continued to accept her attentions and to be surrounded by her possessiveness as long as they lived together after discovering they were half-sisters, but what other option did she have? Liu Fengying thought it would have been difficult for her to refuse, given the difference in their identities.

 Taking all these factors into consideration, it was quite clear that the kind of relationship she wanted with Liu Zihan was almost impossible to achieve. Therefore, Liu Fengying began to think it would be best to treat Liu Zihan as an ex-girlfriend from now on and not to attach any importance to what she does or says, even though the relationship between them most likely existed only in her mind.

 '...Or maybe my relationship with Zihan didn't even exist in my mind, but only in my subconscious, because only after I regained my memories from my previous life was I able to sort out the feelings I had for her and realized that I had probably fallen in love with her. Anyway, it could have been worse. For example, like in my previous life, when my first love abandoned me for my brother...', Liu Fengying told herself as she headed toward the mall exit with her hands full of shopping bags, trying to convince herself that she had no reason to be frustrated with the situation between her and Liu Zihan; perhaps this was the best outcome.

 Since she had a lot of luggage that she didn't want to risk damaging because it had cost her a large sum of money, and because she wanted to get home as quickly as possible to start her usual physical training, Liu Fengying decided to take a taxi on the way back, so nothing noteworthy happened during the return trip.

 Knowing it was her last free day and that in the coming month the time she could spend training and cultivating would be halved, she was much more motivated during her workout, so she performed all the weight exercises with the maximum weights she had available. Unfortunately, her enthusiasm also translated into much stronger strikes on the striking dummy, which broke in two after a spinning kick.

 Looking at the two halves of the striking dummy, Liu Fengying felt both a sense of regret, as she had grown accustomed to its presence in the middle of the living room, and a sense of pride, as the progress she had made in the two weeks of training was truly remarkable.

 'It may have had a short life, but it fulfilled its purpose...Now I'm confident I can defend myself even if attacked by five trained men at the same time...', Liu Fengying thought to herself, deciding to end her training session earlier to have more time for cultivation.

 She didn't plan to repair the striking dummy because it was unlikely to withstand her strikes any longer; instead, she intended to order three or four higher-quality striking dummies, as she wanted to continue her training until she reached her maximum potential.

 However, remembering that she would return to society the next day, she amused herself with the thought that perhaps it wouldn't be necessary to spend money on striking dummies, as she expected many striking dummies to come to her on their own.

 ................

 "Look over there! Who is that girl?... Damn! I don't think I've ever seen a more beautiful girl in my life..."

 "...I don't know... But I'm sure she's not from this town because such a beauty... Yeah, it's impossible that she wouldn't have been famous. Did she transfer to our high school today? But who would transfer when there's only a month left until the final exams?... She must have a solid background..."

 "Well, if that's the case, maybe she needs a guide.... Could you please carry my bag to class?"

 "Heh, don't tell me you want to offer yourself as a guide. Do you think this high school is a swamp? If not, why would you think she'd want a frog as a guide... But it's a bit strange, she seems quite familiar with this place..."

 This was the kind of conversation that could be heard all around Linghua High School on Monday morning, as the appearance of an extremely beautiful girl that no one recognized replaced everyone's, especially the boys', depression at the start of a new school week with curiosity about her identity.

 Although many secretly took pictures of the mysterious girl and uploaded them to the school forum to see if anyone knew who she was, all that could be discovered was that she had been seen at the city's largest mall the day before, her identity being completely unknown as if she had sprung up from the ground.

 But before anyone could muster the courage to approach the girl who was the center of attention wherever she went, she entered a science classroom and made her way to the back, where she sat in the seat assigned to Liu Fengying.

 "...Is it even possible? Could she be Liu Fengying?" whispered the students who had already entered the classroom and learned about the appearance of the stunning newcomer from the forum.

 Although Liu Fengying was aware that everyone's attention was on her, she didn't feel obligated to offer any explanation, finding the gossiping tendencies of these rich kids quite boring. They were even worse than old aunts as they were capable of gossiping not only verbally but also virtually, often doing both at the same time.

 Liu Fengying hadn't put much effort into her appearance that morning, allowing her hair to fall freely and wearing clothes that were loose and unrestricted, reminiscent of a rapper's style. Although Linghua High School had uniforms like almost all high schools in the country, they weren't mandatory, as it was extremely difficult to get these rich kids, who made up the majority of the students, to wear clothes worth less than 1,000 Ruans when they were used to wearing outfits worth tens of thousands. So, not being restricted by any dress code, Liu Fengying dressed in the most comfortable clothes, feeling no desire to impress anyone.

 However, as extremely beautiful girls look perfect in anything they wear, Liu Fengying's outfit didn't make her any less attractive as her otherworldly gorgeous face was enough to fascinate everyone who laid eyes on her. Moreover, it wasn't difficult to discern her extremely seductive figure through her loose clothes whenever she made a broader movement.

 Liu Fengying wasn't surprised by the attention she was receiving, not only because she was aware of how attractive she was but also because she knew how obsessed people in this modern world were with beauty, a testament to this being the popularity of beauty filters and the rising fame of AI-generated influencers, who always looked perfect.

 So if people could be fascinated by something soulless, as long as it looked good, how could they resist Liu Fengying, who, in addition to being unrealistically beautiful and flawless as if she belonged to the virtual world, also radiated vitality?

 'It's a bit boring to have so many pairs of eyes on me, but unlike in my previous life, where it wasn't hard to make such people who didn't know how to restrain themselves too scared for their lives to care about how I looked, here I don't have that option. Well, at least not yet... But maybe I shouldn't see all this attention as a bad thing. It wouldn't be a bad idea to use this situation to promote the business I'm planning to start...', Liu Fengying thought, fully aware of how important marketing is for a successful business.

***Author's Thoughts: I'm back. For the next two months, updates will most likely occur every 10 days, as I want to add some advanced chapters for this novel to my newly opened Patreon page, just as I did with my other novels, each of which has 8 advanced chapters. However, if my writing speed improves, the interval between updates might decrease.