Qin Xin ignored the girls' gossip.
But they thought she was timid and easy to push around. Before long, they started talking about her again, growing more and more brazen:
"Tell me, how do you think that Ugly Freak, Lan Qingxin, feels watching us choose the campus belle?"
"What else? Jealousy, envy, and hatred!"
"Why don't we make a ranking of the ugliest people? Give the toads a chance to come out and show themselves!"
"A ranking of the ugliest? That's tailor-made for an Ugly Freak. I bet she'd be number one, hahaha..."
Xiangxiang's eyes reddened as she clenched her little fists. "Little Miss, I'm going to go reason with them. How can they be so awful..."
Qin Xin calmly took a sip of soup. "No need."
Back when the whole school had voted her campus belle, she hadn't cared. Why get angry over some worthless campus title?
Only petty losers like Qin Wenrou cared so much about this kind of useless nonsense.
Just then,
the gossip behind her abruptly fell silent.
Even Xiangxiang's red-rimmed eyes went wide with shock. "He... he's... Little Miss, did you offend the big shot in your class...?"
Qin Xin glanced up casually.
Ao Xinghao, wearing a snow jacket and long boots, strode toward her with a lunch tray, his enviably long legs carrying him with lazy confidence.
At first, the girls had covered their mouths and whispered excitedly, stars in their eyes. "That's God Ao from Class Two, my dream guy, the campus heartthrob!"
But Ao Xinghao didn't so much as glance at them. He headed straight for Qin Xin's seat, then pulled out a chair and sat down opposite her as if he'd done it a hundred times.
The girls' mouths fell open. Not one of them could speak.
The campus heartthrob... having lunch alone with an Ugly Freak?
Oh my God!!!
Who would dare say anything bad about that Ugly Freak now?
With everyone watching,
Ao Xinghao picked two ark clams and a shrimp from his ridiculously expensive lunch box and casually put them on Qin Xin's plate. He grinned, carefree and lazy. "They're clean. I haven't touched them. Watching caterpillars fight all morning made me starving. Come eat with me!"
Xiangxiang was dumbfounded. "..."
What? This big shot hadn't come to make trouble. He'd come to look out for her Little Miss?
Qin Xin impatiently tugged at her hair.
Ugh, so annoying.
She didn't want to listen to that chatterbox brat ramble on about gossip again!
"I'm full." She stood, pushed away her soup bowl, and headed out.
Ao Xinghao stood up too. "Yeah, I'm full too. Where are you going, Xiao Qingxin? I'll come with you."
Qin Xin: "..."
Who wants you tagging along?
Xiangxiang: "..."
What a waste of such expensive food. It hurt her heart.
The girls watching: "..."
God Ao, you just said you were starving. How are you full if you haven't eaten?
Qin Xin hadn't wanted to bring Ao Xinghao along, but the guy had long legs and was fast. She couldn't shake him.
So she endured his chatter the whole way:
"Xiao Qingxin, what are you doing by the lake? So you like taking walks?"
"Xiao Qingxin, weren't you going for a walk? Why are we at the parking lot now?"
"Whoa, you drive this piece of junk? What kind of car is it? I've never seen one like it."
"Yikes, is your junker broken? The front end's crumpled to hell..."
Qin Xin suddenly stopped working and looked up at him coldly. "This car nearly killed someone. Interested?"
Ao Xinghao froze.
Then he seemed to realize something, his gaze sweeping over the thick bandage on Qin Xin's forehead.
He considered it for a moment.
"Shit, someone tampered with your car and caused your accident?" He rolled up his sleeves, all traces of his lazy manner vanishing as his gaze sharpened. "Leave it alone. I'll investigate!"
==
Imperial University.
By Ice Lake.
Bai Chi followed the location signal and finally found a century-old Purple Cloud Fir that matched the one in the photo on his phone.
"This is it! That photo of my sister-in-law was taken under this tree!" Bai Chi grinned brightly.
Heh heh, he'd soon dig up the identity of Young Master Jue's fiancée!
[--Mini Theater--]
Bai Chi: I'm so excited! I'm about to meet my beautiful-as-a-fairy sister-in-law.
Young Master Jue: She's my wife, not yours. What are you getting excited about?!
Before you continue