Jia li awoke in her luxurious room, the morning light pouring in through the French doors onto the elegant marble floor. She was a prisoner in a gilded cage, and the realization from the previous night's eavesdropping that her family, Wu Lang and Wu Ming, were financially desperate predators had replaced her grief with a cold, focused resolve.
She had spent the day before in her room, a stillness that masked a furious, internal calculation. She knew the billions her parents, Chen Fuyao and Chen Hanbin, had secured were the reason for the Wu family's current façade.
She didn't understand the specifics of the insurance or the generational conflict, but she understood greed.
She needed to dig into the past, into the family estrangement, and into the murky waters of those "billions."
At the quiet dinner that evening, she ate methodically, ignoring the pointed silences of Wu Mei and the barely concealed disdain of Wu Bao.
As soon as dinner concluded, she offered a polite excuse to Grandma Lilan and rushed back to her room, locking the door not out of fear, but to establish a boundary. Her mind was already on the acquisition of tools.
The next morning marked the start of her new life at the City's Elite Academy.
Jia li, still without a uniform, dressed in smart, simple clothing that was well-kept from her average life, refusing to acknowledge the need for the excessive designer wear her cousins favored. She carried her few necessary books in a simple but cute bag.
She descended to the foyer where the daily family transport ritual was underway. Two large black SUVs were idling, waiting to take the Wu and Fu grandchildren to school, as Fu Wei wanted to stay for a few more days and Shenxi had to stay with her mother.
Aunt Wu Ming smiled, the perfect, composed guardian. "Jia li, get in. The driver is waiting."
Before Jia li could move, Wu Bao erupted. "Absolutely not! I am not sharing a ride with her today. It's bad enough we have to share the same air at school, but the car is too much!" Wu Bao stamped her foot, throwing a full, humiliating tantrum that was clearly performative, designed solely to show her distance from Jia li.
Wu Bao's aggression was exactly the kind of predictable, public behavior that Wu Mei, the quiet mastermind, would never indulge in.
Wu Mei stood poised near the door, her face impassive, merely observing the chaos created by her puppet.
Aunt Wu Ming looked exasperated but knew she couldn't waste time arguing with her niece. "Wu Bao, stop it immediately. We are late."
Jia li did not wait for the argument to conclude. She spoke calmly, her expression perfectly neutral. "It's fine. I don't need the ride."
Without waiting for any further discussion, or for anyone to stop her, she turned toward the drive and walked with deliberate speed toward the main gate, leaving the adults scrambling.
She found the nearest bus stop just outside the affluent perimeter though she had to walk a bit and took public transport. The solitude of the bus was preferable to the hostile, confined space of the family car.
The Elite Academy was exactly as grand and stifling as the mansion. Jia li was escorted to her new class. She was introduced briefly by the teacher and assigned a seat in the middle row.
Her seatmate was a girl named Lin Yan, who insisted on being called Yanyan. Yanyan was petite, wore large glasses and had a surprisingly bubbly, nerdy energy, contrasting sharply with the bored elitism of the other students.
"Hi! I'm Yanyan!" Lin Yan whispered excitedly, her voice betraying a hint of nervousness. "Its nice to meet you. My last seatmate moved away."
Jia li offered a small, polite nod. "Jia li. Thank you."
Yanyan was immediately drawn to Jia li's quiet mystery and tried to chatter away about the school, the difficult professors, and the general social hierarchy.
Jia li responded only in brief, measured sentences, giving away nothing. She maintained a quiet focus in class, proving she was exceptionally capable without being loud or ambitious, perfecting the "quiet shadow" persona that made her seem harmless.
Yanyan was often the target of petty pranks and bullying, common in such a high pressure, elite environment. Even though the bullying may not be as bad as local high school, it's still there and maybe worse. The source of her most persistent troubles, predictably, was Wu Bao.
When the lunch break arrived, Jia li was on her way to the canteen, with Yanyan by her side, refusing to leave her alone. Before they could settle down the door burst open and Wu Bao swaggered in, flanked by two of her usual sycophants.
Wu Bao marched directly toward Yanyan, pointedly ignoring Jia li, who was standing right next to her.
"Hey, four-eyes. Did you score an A in the physics mock test? I told you to score a C"
Yanyan immediately shrunk, clutching her textbook to her chest. "N-no, Wu Bao. I just… I was yelled at last time I did that, I couldn't dare do it again"
Wu Bao grabbed the textbook out of Yanyan's hands. "Oh, I bet you did. Let's see what important secrets are in here."
Jia li moved instantly. She wasn't motivated by heroic impulses but Yanyan was her first potential friend and her seatmate and she would not allow her to be compromised by her enemies. She reached out and snatched the book smoothly out of Wu Bao's grasp, returning it to Yanyan in a single, fluid motion.
Wu Bao was stunned. She spun on Jia li, rage twisting her face. The pretense of not knowing Jia li instantly evaporated. "Excuse me? What do you think you're doing, you pathetic orphan? Stay out of this!"
Jia li met her glare head on. Her expression was utterly blank, and her eyes were intimidating, a long, unwavering stare that stripped away all of Wu Bao's bluster. "She is leaving with me now," Jia li stated, her voice quiet but carrying an undeniable weight of command.
Wu Bao stepped forward, her hands clenching, she might be spoiled and rash, but she was still an elite and had to maintain some standards, so she held back and just gave a long hard stare.
The tension was broken by the silent arrival of Wu Mei. Wu Mei entered the canteen slowly, her perfectly composed face betraying nothing, yet her very presence exuded authority. She glanced at the scene, the trembling Yanyan, the furious Wu Bao, and the utterly indifferent Jia li.
Wu Mei understood the danger of a public spectacle. A scandal involving the new orphan would reflect badly on the family, and Wu Bao was risking Wu Mei's image
.
"Wu Bao," Wu Mei said, her voice smooth and cold. "That is enough. We are not conducting ourselves like children. Let's go."
Wu Bao deflated instantly. The authority of the elder and favoured cousin she wished she was like made her pause.
She glared at Jia li one last time, a look of pure hatred that promised future retribution, and then stomped out of the room, followed by her stunned clique.
Jia li did not waste time gloating. She simply gave Wu Mei a single, hard, prolonged, and intimidating stare before turning to Yanyan. "Come on," she instructed, and led Yanyan to one of the tables for lunch.
After school Jia li and Yanya steered out of the school and toward the main gate. As soon as they were outside, Yanyan burst into relieved chatter.
"Oh my gosh, Jia li! You were amazing! No one has ever stood up to Wu Bao like that. You're totally fearless. Thank you!"
"No problem, I thought people don't get bullied in elite schools like this because everyone is powerful"
Jia li asked, truly curious.
Yanyan sighed, her shoulders slumping a little
"It's even worse than normal schools if you ask me, I didn't really tell anyone about my family, I'm not allowed to talk about them.
So no one thinks I come from a big family.
It's nothing, you were so amazing, I…
Jia li cut the praise short. "I need information, Yanyan. I need to know a place where I can take self defense training. Discreetly."
Yanyan's eyes lit up, the shift in topic exciting her more than the bullying. "Self-defense? Yes! My older brother, he's totally into it. He owns a small, traditional martial arts studio downtown, away from all the elite gym crowd. It's perfect for serious training, not for show. I can take you there after school today, it's not so far"
This was an unexpected, perfect opportunity. The direct contact and the remote location solved her first problem instantly.
After Yanyan's driver arrived and she was picked up, Jia li took a separate public bus toward the downtown area. She found the address Yanyan had given her a nondescript dojo tucked above a quiet row of shops. She went inside and her savings, the small stash of cash she had retrieved, to register for a private, basic self-defense class package, paying in cash.
With the first thing on her list secured, she moved to the second. She located a large, older bookstore not far from the dojo. She browsed the technical sections, looking for material that would give her insight into digital privacy, data retrieval, and bypassing basic security measures. She settled on a comprehensive, introductory volume on Ethical Hacking and Digital Security for Beginners, a dense, plain-looking book, exactly what she needed.
She bought the book with cash. Before heading home, she asked the cashier for the location of a reliable, internet cafe. She jotted down the address, a piece of crucial reconnaissance for a future trip.
Jia li arrived back at the mansion later than usual. She managed to slip into her room undetected, hiding the coding book under a stack of school textbooks and the self-defense class receipt deep within her drawer.
She came down for the quiet dinner, where only Grandma Lilan asked about her tardiness. "Jia li, you're late, dear. Did school keep you long?"
"No, Grandma," Jia li replied simply, maintaining her composed mask. "I stopped by a bookstore to pick up some necessary materials for my classwork."
Lilan accepted the explanation easily. Jia li ate her meal, her mind already racing. She had a dojo, a book, and an address for an off-site digital access point. Tonight, she would begin reading, tomorrow, she would begin training. The quiet orphan was preparing for war.