The sun dipped below the horizon as evening set in. The scorching heatwave gradually receded, leaving a hint of coolness in the air.
The Sherwood Villa.
Today, the Sherwoods were hosting the Vaughn family of three. James Vaughn and his wife, Fiona Goldsmith, had already arrived, but Morgan Vaughn was running a bit late due to some prior engagements.
A burst of laughter rang out from the living room. James Vaughn sat sprawled on the sofa, chatting with his eldest nephew, Tristan Sherwood. His booming voice echoed throughout the entire villa.
"Tristan, I'm not trying to rush you, but you need to take the assessment for the Young Master Sherwood candidacy seriously," James said, his face glowing with pride. "If Mervin had your advantages, he would have become the Young Master of the Vaughn family ages ago.
"Mervin's mentor gave him a project this time. Once that plot of land is developed into an experimental zone, his direct admission into the doctoral program will be set in stone.
"Once Mervin graduates and interns at the Vaughn family's laboratory in Valerium, and you pass your assessment to establish connections in Valerium, you two brothers can support each other. Then, your uncle can finally have peace of mind."
The conversation inevitably revolved around Morgan Vaughn's exceptional excellence and his guaranteed admission into the doctoral program. James's joy was palpable, tinged with a subtle hint of showing off.
Tristan Sherwood's brows knitted into a tight knot. Whenever the Young Master Sherwood candidacy assessment was brought up, he felt a suffocating frustration and didn't want to say another word. Only those with a five-star rating on UmbraNet were qualified, so he couldn't even get an admission ticket. With only half a year left, upgrading from one star to five stars was as difficult as ascending to the heavens!
Just then, his phone rang. Tristan let out a sigh of relief, immediately standing up from the sofa. Muttering a quick apology, he walked out to the terrace to take the call. He would rather space out on the terrace than listen to his uncle's endless nagging. From childhood to adulthood, he had always lived in the shadow of comparisons with Morgan Vaughn. Since they were the same age and cousins, it was inevitable that they secretly competed in every aspect. Wealthy families thrived on this kind of gossip, and he was sick and tired of it!
While Tristan went to answer the phone, Vivian Morton sat in the corner of the living room, fidgeting with nervous anxiety. She had been at the hospital accompanying Mr. Morgan these past few days, and only managed to find the time to return today because the Sherwoods were hosting guests. The Sherwoods' attitude toward her remained the same as always—neither warm nor cold, neither good nor bad. She didn't feel much emotional turbulence, as she was already used to it. It was just that a heavy boulder weighed on her heart, making it hard for her to breathe.
Vivian sat alone on the side, her hands wrung together, looking slightly dazed. Her husband had no time for her, so how was she supposed to bring up the matter regarding her younger brother? If she didn't hand the person over tonight, her brother would have both his legs broken! What should she do? She was going crazy.
Distracted and restless, she stole a glance at Serena Sherwood, who was dressed in a gorgeous haute couture dress, a hint of hesitation flashing in her eyes. If she asked the Second Miss for help, would her husband get angry? After a moment of internal struggle, Vivian stood up and quietly followed Tristan out to the terrace.
On the other side of the living room.
Serena Sherwood had an arrogant and bossy expression as she ordered the servants to help her pack her belongings. Her clothes alone filled dozens of suitcases, alongside the shoes and bags piled all over the floor. Seeing the results, she smiled in satisfaction, a gleam of anticipation in her eyes. Her meticulous efforts had not been in vain.
BZZZ BZZZ— Her phone vibrated continuously. Serena looked around, and seeing that no one was paying attention to her, secretly took out her phone to open Weibo. Her inbox was filled with red notification dots. At the very top of her homepage was a post she had made ten minutes ago, specifically tagging Iris Dalton. Within ten minutes, it had been reposted tens of thousands of times.
[@SerenaSherwoodV: Packing is so exhausting [Heartbroken]. My younger sister, who was lost for eighteen years, has returned home and insists on taking over my room. Boohoo, I have no choice but to pack up and move out. I'm so pitiful [Innocent][Teary-eyed]. I am the older sister, so I know I should yield to my younger sister. My sister suffered in the mountains for eighteen years, so if you want my things, your older sister will give them to you. My sister also got her wish and entered the experimental class at Lumin-Umbra High School. Please don't throw any more tantrums in the future. During the days I'm away from home, you have to treat our parents well. I'm begging you, sis @IrisDalton.]
Attached below was a nine-grid photo collage showing the scene of Serena and the servants packing, with various sized suitcases neatly arranged all over the floor.
Upon her debut, Serena had signed with Elysian World, the top entertainment company in Stellan. Backed by the wealthy Sherwood family and with the Young Master of the Adler family as her boyfriend, she quickly amassed a large number of hardcore fans who all envied her background. A genuine wealthy heiress was the true winner in life that people looked up to!
The comments section under the post was filled with fans expressing their shock and heartache for her.
[Oh my god, I'm shocked! Serena has a sister who was lost for eighteen years and brought back to the wealthy family, and she turns out to be an evil sister? What kind of novel plot is this?]
[My heart aches for Serena, sending hugs to Serena. My parents are also biased toward my younger sister, so I deeply empathize with this.]
[Shouldn't kids from the mountains be kind-hearted? Why is she so mean, bullying our good-hearted Serena?]
[She was probably sold into the mountains when she was little. After being lost for eighteen years, she must be married by now, right? I heard that in those remote mountain villages, several brothers would share one wife. Did she suddenly return to the wealthy family because she's jealous of Serena and wants to snatch Serena's things? It's terrifying when you think about it!]
Very soon, the hashtag #PoorSerena shot up the trending list, climbing rapidly as more fans and casual netizens joined the fray to participate in the juicy gossip. Two minutes later, a verified big-V account's post appeared out of nowhere! Shaun Adler reposted the hashtag and immediately followed up with a post of his own.
[@ShaunAdlerV: Don't cry, Serena, don't be sad. You are the kindest Darling @SerenaSherwood. A certain attention-seeking woman is playing manipulative tricks and it's disgusting. @IrisDalton, shouldn't you apologize to your older sister?]
The onlookers were stunned! A top-tier idol publicly showing affection like this meant he was willing to risk his career to support his girlfriend! Although he was a bit foolishly love-struck, his boyfriend energy was off the charts, and they couldn't find a single fault with it. They absolutely loved to see it! Everyone chimed in one after another, savoring the overly sweet gossip with immense excitement.
Suddenly, another post blinded everyone's eyes! Merely half a minute later, right beneath the official account of Elysian World, Vincent Thorne followed suit by reposting, bringing down the hammer under his real name.
[@VincentThorneV: Manipulative woman @IrisDalton, apologize now!]
As soon as the post was published, the already bustling internet instantly exploded into a massive wave of uproar. A trending topic rapidly climbed from the bottom and firmly secured the number one spot.
#HasTheManipulativeWomanApologized#
The gossip-hungry netizens had stars in their eyes. "Love to see it! Love to see it! Fight, fight!"
Internet trolls and keyboard warriors chimed in. "Let the cyberbullying come even fiercer! We love tearing apart wealthy sisters the most!"
Casual netizens were left speechless. What had happened? Who was this manipulative woman, and how did this even make it to the trending list?
Shaun Adler had been in the entertainment industry for over a year and already had twenty million fans. Vincent Thorne was a handsome and wealthy noble young master, as well as the CEO of Elysian World; he boasted a staggering eighty million fans, with online traffic rivaling that of A-list celebrities. These two men held extraordinary status, yet they almost simultaneously posted in support of Serena Sherwood, righteously demanding an apology from Iris Dalton. This practically confirmed that Iris Dalton was an evil sister—an attention-seeking, manipulative bitch!
Neither the fans nor the casual netizens knew who Iris Dalton was, nor had they even seen a photo of her, so they could only imagine what she looked like. But with a wealthy heiress, a rich young master, and a domineering CEO all jumping into the fray one after another, the netizens couldn't help but get excited too. It was solidly confirmed that she was an attention-seeking ugly duckling, for otherwise, these wealthy young masters, being superficial as they were, would have shown some tender affection for a pretty face. If Serena, who looked fairly average, could be pampered by wealthy young masters, then Iris must be a completely foul-looking hag. Within a dozen seconds, a hundred thousand people madly flooded into Weibo, all sympathizing with Serena and fiercely cursing Iris.
[Die, manipulative woman! Dare to bully Serena, we'll cyberbully you to death!]
[The evil sister can't stand seeing her older sister do well. An ugly heart matches an ugly face. I wish this ugly monster gets hit by a car when she goes out. Sending a funeral wreath in advance.]
[Evil ugly monster, roll back to the countryside. Our sister is the true heiress, you get lost.]
[Serena is just too kind. The evil attention-seeker should hurry up and die. If she doesn't, I'll step on her every time I see her!]
Serena scanned through the comments. Seeing that everyone sympathized with her and was cyberbullying Iris with their barrage of insults, she finally put her phone away in satisfaction.
With a large horde of internet trolls setting the pace, the storm online grew increasingly intense. The fans swarmed to the official website of Lumin-Umbra High School to make posts, clamoring for the school to expel Iris Dalton, and they even attacked the senior year experimental class in the school forums.
[If an evil country bumpkin from the mountains can enter the experimental class, then birds of a feather flock together. You lot aren't good people either!]
[All the spoiled brats of capitalists are in this class, right? I heard your exam papers are different, and you aren't ranked alongside the other classes. Haha, you're all just academically useless trash!]
[The person above speaks the truth. This is a bunch of useless trash, confirmed!]
Lumin-Umbra High School would officially start tomorrow, and quite a few students had already arrived at school early to organize their things in the dormitories.
A boy ran in, panting heavily, and shouted to the people in the dorm, "Quick, check the school forum! Our class is getting cyberbullied!"
Everyone else was speechless.
The boy sitting by the window paused his pen. He unlocked his phone, logged onto the forum, and scanned through the thread that already had hundreds of replies. His gaze grew colder and colder, his brows furrowing deeply as his attractive lips pressed into a tight, straight line.
The other boys in the dorm also checked the forum and stomped their feet in anger.
"Who is Iris Dalton? Is she a transfer student this year? She's so despicable!"
"Why should the students in the experimental class take the blame for her scandals? Ugly people really cause the most trouble!"
"Class Monitor, what do you think we should do?" Several of them turned to look at the boy by the window.
The boy put his phone away and slowly looked up. A proud and aloof aura emanated from his brows. "The experimental class doesn't want such disgusting trash. Make her get out!"
It was the evening rush hour, and the roads were congested with traffic. The FM radio was playing in the Maserati. A melodious love song with twisting turns of emotion poured from the speakers, making one inevitably yearn for romance.
[Thank you to Tatum Monroe for joining us in the studio to present this new song, "Cannot Forget the Face in My Dreams." Tatum Monroe's new album has won this year's Yamei Golden Melody Album Award, and record sales have exceeded a million copies...]
Iris Dalton was thoroughly engrossed in the song when an abrupt electronic, mechanical voice interrupted her mood.
DING—
[Slick]: "Broadcasting an important notification: Your Highness, the Pond Lord's Weibo is under cyberattack!"
DING—
[[YellowFish]]: "Real-time monitoring detects an online hostility index of ninety-five, danger index of eighty, and predicted attack index as high as ninety, far exceeding the safety threshold. Requesting defensive counterattack! Requesting defensive counterattack!"
Iris was a bit bewildered. She picked up her phone, opened Weibo, and saw two trending topics.
Trending Topic #1: #HasTheManipulativeWomanApologized#
Trending Topic #10: #PoorSerena#
Her private messages were full of red notification dots, with countless people telling her to die!
Iris's expression froze for a moment. Her eyes hardened with icy coldness as a fierce hostility slowly began to rise within her.