It didn't happen in front of everyone.
That would've been too obvious.
It happened in the corridor, between classes, when the noise was low and the whispers were clear.
XinYue was walking with Xiu Fei, talking about nothing important, when a group of girls stopped them. Not blocked the way, just… stood there.
Smiling.
One of them tilted her head, eyes scanning XinYue slowly, like she was judging something unfinished.
"So you're the one," she said casually.
XinYue blinked.
"The one…?"
The girl laughed. Not loudly. Soft. Mocking.
"The one who sits near Li Hanyan sometimes," another added, brushing imaginary dust off her sleeve.
"Don't get ideas."
XinYue felt it then.
That slow, uncomfortable heat under the skin.
"I don't—" she started.
"Oh relax," the first girl interrupted, smiling wider.
"We're just saying… know your place."
Xiu Fei stepped forward.
"What is your problem?"
The girl shrugged.
"No problem. Just facts."
Then she leaned closer to XinYue, voice low enough to cut.
"Girls like you mistake attention for importance."
Silence.
People walked past.
No one stopped.
No one asked.
XinYue didn't cry.
Didn't shout.
Didn't defend herself.
She just stood there, hands clenched, heart pounding, feeling small in a way she hadn't felt in years.
When they finally left, laughing like it was nothing, Xiu Fei grabbed her wrist.
"Say something," she whispered.
"You can't let them—"
XinYue shook her head.
Because the worst part wasn't the words.
It was the fear that maybe…
they believed Li Hanyan would never even look at her the same way he looked at them.
And what scared her most?
She didn't know if they were wrong.
So tell me —
when someone humiliates you quietly, is silence strength… or surrender?