Wen Maixue felt somewhat disappointed; she had thought that Pello’s visit this time was to discuss matters with grandfather ... They had known each other for several years now, and if not for Pello, there wouldn’t be a Wen Maixue today. Why does he always give her hope, and at the same time, shatter that hope.
"Regarding the new courses added to Kelly this year, I believe Old Master Wen and Maixue both have some opinions?" Compared to Shang Yin’s casual tone, Pello’s was much more respectful. In fact, given Pello’s current status at Kelly, he could have easily commanded the conversation that followed.
The outside world still doesn’t know that five years ago, this man bearing the title of a teacher, in partnership with Shang Yin, acquired 51% of the shares of Kelly Women’s College in an unexpected move, officially taking charge of the private school with a history of over two hundred years.
Back then, Kelly was criticized harshly in domestic educational circles for refusing to relax its rigorous admission standards and for its evident classism. Old Master Wen, who had served as Kelly’s chairman for forty years, couldn’t withstand the pressure from the government and public opinion, especially since the Wen family’s eldest granddaughter, the presumptive heir, had just had an accident. Thirteen-year-old Wen Maixue had only just escaped from a kidnapping incident, and at that time, the Wen family was left with a crumbling structure.
"Mr. Pello, there’s no need for courtesy. If it weren’t for you, the Wen family would have been finished long ago, let alone Kelly Women’s College," Old Master Wen reminisced and looked at the man before him with sincere admiration in his eyes.
Wen Maixue watched Pello and Shang Yin with complex emotions. Always regarding herself as Pello’s fiancée, she was unwilling to think of Shang Yin and Pello as partners, and couldn’t understand how these two men, who she had met by chance and who had completely different modus operandi, were able to cooperate.
The bonds of friendship between men often do not conform to women’s logic, Pello had told her in response to her confusion.
Wen Maixue’s dislike for Shang Yin was understandable, for no one could feel goodwill towards a kidnapper, not even the outwardly composed Wen Maixue. Hence anyone who met Shang Yin would invariably shrink back from his unrestrained ferocity. In public, he would always wear sunglasses to mask his fierce demeanor, and even Wen Maixue would keep some reservations when facing him.
In private, Wen Maixue would curse Shang Yin as a "lunatic." Before meeting Pello, Shang Yin was a desperado, and his accomplice, a middle-aged man named Pang Leipeng, specialized in the kidnapping of the wealthy.
A few years ago, when Wen Maixue was only thirteen and abroad studying French, she was kidnapped by the two and taken to a desolate mountain near the Italian border. After alerting the Wen family, the abused Wen Maixue met Pello.
Pello, who was only nineteen at the time, was nothing but a frail youth compared to the kidnapper-for-hire Pang Leipeng. When Pello appeared alone in the mountains, it prompted Pang Leipeng to entertain thoughts of murder to cover his tracks.
But after Pello shot and killed Pang Leipeng with a single bullet, neither Shang Yin nor Wen Maixue could utter a word. He didn’t even blink before pulling the trigger, and to Pello, the pleading of Pang Leipeng—an internationally notorious robber—was as though unheard, and the blood spatter was like a commonplace rain shower.
Shang Yin took a sip of his drink, the liquid in the glass reminiscent of the blood of Pang Leipeng.
Wen Maixue felt a wave of nausea rising in her throat; her fingers quickly clasped onto the brooch at her chest, where a high-quality emerald was pinned - an antique style, not the standard brooch of Kelly Women’s School. Wen Maixue would only wear this brooch at certain private, significant events.
As she watched Pello kill Pang Leipeng without expression and while he was checking the body, Shang Yin suddenly lunged at Pello with a knife intending to struggle to the end. Wen Maixue, who was too shocked to speak, knew only to rush forward and block the knife aimed at Pello.
The knife slashed across her arm, and the man covered in fresh blood pulled her away. His fingers, fresh from killing, were surprisingly warm as they gently wiped away the tears on her cheek, and he gave her a brooch.
At that moment, Pello whispered a magic spell in her ear, a spell that made Wen Maixue forget about her sister and the horrors of the deep forest, and for five years, this magic spell, along with the brooch named "Green Love," has been with her.