The next day, Nie Zhen woke up with a start as the sound of someone's screaming could be heard clearly in her bedroom.
She hurriedly went out of the room to find the perpetrator.
In the living room, she found Lu Qingling, her housemate as well as her best friend.
"Why? Why are you screaming? Is the house on fire?" She asked anxiously.
At that moment, she noticed the phone at Lu Qingling's hand.
Lu Qingling stopped screaming and shoved the phone to Nie Zhen's face and pointed to a picture on the screen for her to see, "Tell me this is you!"
Nie Zhen narrowed in her eyes to see a picture of her from the masquerade ball last night on the screen.
"Yup, this is me." She nodded without a qualm.
"Noooo!" Lu Qingling hold her head and her scream echoed again. "That's not what I want to hear! You should have denied it! You should have said it's not you in the picture!"
Nie Zhen who was busy covering her ears to block the noise was rendered speechless.
Sister, didn't you ask me to say that it's me earlier..?
Talk about fickleness...
"No, no, no! This can't be true! I must be dreaming..." Lu Qingling was shaking her head vigorously. It was as if by doing so, she could deny the bitter truth.
"Why is it you in the news? No, no, no... Tell me this is false news..." Lu Qingling was still muttering to herself.
Nie Zhen seemed to understand what's happening. Surely, she was mentioned in the news again. It must be about the event last night.
When Lu Qingling showed her the phone earlier, she just saw her enlarged picture. That's why she didn't notice the picture was attached to an article about her.
"What's wrong with you? It's not as if I haven't been in the news before." Nie Zhen couldn't help but be appalled with her exaggerated reaction.
Lu Qingling's unfocused eyes became clear. She fixated her eyes on Nie Zhen's nonchalant face.
"You! What have you been doing last night? How could this be you!?" There was an exasperated tone in her voice.
Nje Zhen started to remember something. "That's right! I haven't done anything last night! Why am I still in the news? Do I still get cursed for not doing anything? Are people that boring nowadays?"
Nie Zhen clicked her tongue. Tch, if I know I would be cursed by doing or not doing anything, I would have done something last night. Life is just so unfair! Nie Zhen grumbled inwardly.
Lu Qingling was all the more dismayed as she heard Nie Zhen's words.
"Fool! It's already lucky that people don't know it's you. Imagine if they know about it..." Lu Qingling lamented with a heavy sigh.
Nie Zhen couldn't catch up with her meaning. In a blur, she asked, "What are you talking about? Why wouldn't they know that it's me? What's happened?"
"Read it for yourself!" Lu Qingling gave her phone to Nie Zhen. This time, she opened the article along with the detailed description.
Nie Zhen read the title aloud.
'Modern Cinderella: Who Is She?'
Under the title, there were pictures of her and another picture showing a black mask with gold decoration.
She stopped.
Huh? What's wrong with this title?
"Why am I the Cinderella? Clearly, I'm the Cinderella's stepsister!" She exclaimed in confusion.
Lu Qingling really wanted to throw out blood. With a huff, she hit the back of Nie Zhen's head with her palm.
"Ouch, why did you hit me?" Nie Zhen covered her head for protection. Her eyes widened as she looked at Lu Qingling in shock.
"You!" Lu Qingling took a deep breath. Calm down... Calm down... Inner peace... Inner peace...
"Is that what you should be worried about? How could you be bothered with Cinderella or whatnot at this time?" Lu Qingling really wanted to smackdown or backhand this foolish friend of hers. But, she rationalized herself. She swore she was not a violent person usually.
"That's the truth though. I'm the Cinderella's stepsister!" Nie Zhen claimed proudly.
"Are you proud being Cinderella's stepsister then?"
If she could, Lu Qingling really wanted to cut open Nie Zhen's head and see what was in there. Every woman's dream was to be Cinderella. And here's a preposterous woman from who-knows-where who would prefer to be the hateful stepsister.
"But..." Nie Zhen wanted to refute but with a sharp glare from Lu Qingling, she shut her mouth.
"Anyway, finish reading that first!" Lu Qingling ordered. With her hands crossed on her chest, she truly resembled those overbearing president in the movies.
Uh-oh, she meant business. Nie Zhen gulped nervously.
So, she continued reading without a sound.
As she read further, she noticed the article mentioned the events that occurred during the masquerade ball last night.
The details pivoted around her and Li Han. It even enclosed about her dance with Li Han.
From the article, she understood some points.
First, they seemed not to know her as she was wearing a mask.
Second, the picture of the mask in the article symbolized Li Han.
Lastly, Li Han seemed to be a big name, or as described in the article, as equal to a prince.
Ah, that's why the article referred her as Cinderella.
Ah, that's also why Li Han was worried she would embarrassed him last night.
She nodded as she was enlightened by the realizations.
"So, they want to know who's the lady dancing with Li Han last night," Nie Zhen continued nodding. "Then, how did you realize that it's me when no one else does?" Nie Zhen glanced at Lu Qingling.
"How could I not? That dress! That shoes! Those are mine! You borrowed them from me!" Lu Qingling answered.
Ah, that's right! Except for the mask, everything else was borrowed from Lu Qingling.
Who is it? Who asks about the underwear? Of course it's hers! She's not that poor so as to borrow even the underwear!
Nie Zhen scratched her itchy scalp. "It's no big deal, then. Only you who know it's me. So, what's with the fuss? Why did you scream just now?"
Lu Qingling's jaw almost hit the floor. Her big eyes could have not widened even larger.
"You... Have you not realized the situation yet?" She asked in horrified tone.
"Why? What situation?" Nie Zhen asked back, puzzled.
"You... And that Li Han..."
"What's with Li Han?"