POV:{ Chei Wei}
Chei Wei waited in the private tearoom at the west end of the academy's oldest building;a relic steeped in the perfume of old money and older sins. Staff dismissed. No ears. No eyes. Just the scent of oolong and the kind of silence that warned of storms.
The door opened at exactly four o'clock.
Professor Jing entered with the grace of a man used to controlling rooms. Neutral expression. Hands clasped. That cold, academic detachment meant to intimidate lesser men.
Chei Wei didn't rise.
He simply gestured to the seat across from him. "Sit."
A flicker. Barely there. But it was the first crack in the mask. Jing obeyed.
Fear had finally arrived.
Chei Wei slid the leather folder across the lacquered table. No theatrics. No threats.
Just facts.
"You've been busy," he said, voice like velvet pulled tight over wire. "But not careful."
Jing's eyes darted—just briefly—to the folder. That was sign number two.
Inside: misappropriated funds. Forged disciplinary notes. Ghostwritten accusations. A campaign.
Targeted.
All roads led back to one name.
"Li Yichen," Chei Wei said, flat and cold. "You buried her in bureaucracy. Sabotaged her faculty mentors. Leaked falsified reports to internal auditors. With professor Jian, it could be seen as just a student and her professor but for me...?"
Jing said nothing.
"You waited until she was isolated," Chei Wei continued, "then pushed a formal suspension request just days after I proposed marriage."
That landed.
Jing's jaw ticked.
"Say it plainly," Chei Wei said. "You tried to break her. Because she didn't grovel."
Finally, Jing spoke. Measured. Bitter. "She walks into a room like it belongs to her. No title. No family name. Just that... maddening calm. And people listen."
Chei Wei leaned forward, voice silk-cut steel.
"So you turned her into a target. Because she wouldn't kneel?"
Jing's gaze dropped to the teapot. "She reminded me of someone I once knew. A girl with no name, no backup, no shame. She made me invisible. I never forgot that feeling."
Chei Wei stood slowly, brushing invisible dust from his cuff.
"So you decided to make someone else disappear," he said. "You didn't punish arrogance. You punished strength."
He slid the folder closer.
"You'll go to the board. You'll clear her name—formally, fully, and publicly."
"And if I don't?" Jing asked, eyes narrowing.
Chei Wei gave a faint, humorless smile.
"Then I upload everything. To the education ministry. The press. And three journalists I have on retainer."
A long pause.
"You wanted her erased," he said, voice low. "Instead, she's the line you'll never cross."
Jing stared at the folder. Not with defiance.
With dread.
"You're just like your father," he said.
Chei Wei's eyes sharpened. "No. I'm worse. He only watched the fire. I know how to start it."
He left the folder…and the man behind.
---
POV:{ Li Yichen}
Her phone screen had gone dark, but the words still clung to her chest like thorns.
"You've already been erased."
"Won't share what's mine."
No name. No ID. Just venom and possession wrapped in a text message.
She sat at the edge of her bed, the silence thick with warning. Her hands wouldn't stop trembling, but it wasn't fear. Not quite. This wasn't the fear of shadows.
It was the fear of betrayal.
Of knowing someone was willing to ruin her—not for what she did, but for who she was becoming.
She rose, slowly, and walked to her desk. Second drawer. Right side.
The folder still lay where she'd hidden it.
The one she'd begged Chei Wei to retrieve—proof of something deeper, darker.
Corruption layered beneath the academy's glossy traditions.
She hadn't expected him to say yes.
She hadn't expected him to keep the promise.
"Don't ask for things you don't want me to give," he'd said.
"I don't play fair."
And now...
She was suspended. Muted. Barred from access to her own defense.
And Chei Wei had may have to pay for it...with his reputation. Maybe more.
There was a knock at the door.
Two short. One long. A pause.
Her breath caught.
Only one person knocked like that.
She opened the door without speaking.
Chei Wei stepped in like he belonged.
Rolled-up sleeves. Blazer over his arm.
Calm face. Eyes that held storms.
" This is a private dorm. How did you even get in?"
She said, keeping the door open.
" I have my ways. You look like you read the will," he said, voice quiet. "And found out you weren't in it."
She almost smiled. Almost.
"Wasn't I?" she asked.
He placed the folder on her desk—her folder.
The one she never should've needed to see.
"They're not just erasing you," he said.
"They're rewriting you."
She blinked. "What does that mean?"
"It means Jing made you the fall girl. Dean Qiao signed the papers, but Jing handed her the pen. And now, you're locked out of every system that could clear your name."
Li Yichen's mind spun.
"But why?" she asked.
He didn't flinch. "Because you're the only one who found the Jiang report. And you weren't supposed to survive that."
The air dropped a degree.
"You think this is about Professor Jiang?"
"I know it is," Chei Wei said. "And now you know too much."
She folded her arms. "Then why are you still here?"
"You asked me for a favor."
"Not a war."
He looked at her...really looked at her.
"Too late," he said. "You got both."
Silence.
And then: "Is that why you proposed?"
His stillness said more than words ever could.
She lowered her voice. "How long have you
known this was coming?"
He didn't answer.
And that silence was the answer.
---
Next Chapter Peek: "Terms and Conditions"
POV: {Chei Wei}
The lights in the conference lounge were too bright. Deliberately so. No room for secrets. No shadow for shame.
But Chei Wei didn't need darkness to win.
Across from him sat Yunqi—the only student who'd publicly defended Yichen when silence was safer.
Chei Wei placed a blank check on the table.
"Name your price."
Yunqi didn't even look at it.
"I'm not for sale," he said quietly. "But I am for something else."
Chei Wei leaned forward, just slightly. "And what's that?"
Yunqi's gaze didn't waver.
"Truth."
And that's when Chei Wei knew…
This wouldn't be a rescue.
It would be a reckoning.