After Lu Yao left, Xia Yue glanced around at the people nearby. Seeing them looking at her with scrutiny and suspicion, her cheeks instantly burned with embarrassment.
[System: I told you to be more careful, but you wouldn't listen. Now look at this—your wishful plan to turn the tables on Chu Jiaojiao has fallen through, and you've made a complete fool of yourself.]
[Xia Yue: You don't need to gloat!]
Xia Yue hurriedly steadied herself. She could only rely on herself now, and the most urgent matter was to salvage her reputation.
She lowered her head and put on a pitiful, delicate expression.
"Sorry, Sister. I didn't know what I said earlier would make you angry. I only hoped you could get along with Dad. After all, Dad is getting older. You always make him angry when you speak, and I was worried he might get sick from it. That's why I suggested that you be a little gentler when talking to him. I really wasn't saying you had a bad temper. Please don't misunderstand me, okay?"
Chu Jiaojiao gave a cold laugh, her gaze icy as she spoke without concealing her disgust. "Don't call me Sister! Are you even on my family register, daring to claim we're related? My mom only gave birth to one child. Someone like you, who knows where you crawled out from, had better stay far away from me."
Xia Yue's eyes reddened. "Sister, I know you blame me, but... but what happened between the previous generation isn't something I could decide."
Chu Jiaojiao crossed her arms. "You couldn't decide how you were born, but can't you decide not to show up in front of me? Every time I see you, you make me sick enough to puke!"
Xia Yue's eyes were crimson as a tear hanging at the corner of her eye slid down her cheek.
Xia Yue lowered her head, secretly pleased. In an argument, as long as one person acted pitiful, people would sympathize with the weaker side. Chu Jiaojiao's forcefulness, meanwhile, would only look overbearing, unreasonable, and aggressive to everyone else.
Seeing Xia Yue look so pitiful and fragile, Liu Hao could not help stepping forward to shield her, glaring angrily at Chu Jiaojiao.
"That's enough, Chu Jiaojiao. Did you have to speak so harshly? Xia Yue didn't do anything wrong. She was only worried about your father's health, wasn't she? You have a bad temper and always make your dad angry when you talk. Are you really blameless?"
Chu Jiaojiao looked him up and down, openly disdainful. "A green tea bitch and a simp—what a match made to last forever!"
With that, she shoved past Liu Hao and Xia Yue, who were blocking her way, and stormed into the school gates.
A simp? Chu Jiaojiao had actually called him a simp?! Liu Hao froze for a moment, then his chest heaved with anger once he realized what she had said.
Xia Yue looked at Liu Hao with tears in her eyes. "Sorry, Liu Hao. You offended Chu Jiaojiao because of me. I'll apologize to you on her behalf. Please don't blame her, okay?"
Liu Hao had felt upset because Xia Yue had been insulted, but when he saw her pale little face filled with grievance, he hurriedly began comforting her again. "It's not your fault, Xia Yue. Don't take all the blame on yourself. The one who was really wrong was Chu Jiaojiao."
Watching Liu Hao comfort Xia Yue, one of the boys in the crowd of onlooking students said, "Why do I feel like Chu Jiaojiao might actually have a point?"
The short-haired girl beside him rolled her eyes. "So you finally opened your eyes. When I told you before, you said I was overthinking and being too sensitive! Xia Yue's green tea stench is so strong it's way above national standards, okay? It's only because you guys think she's pretty that you mindlessly started praising her."
After seeing Lu Yao ride his bicycle through the school gates, Jiang Bai, who had witnessed the entire scene from inside the car, finally got out with a cold expression. Ignoring the still-arguing group and the crowd of onlookers, he entered the school with a grim face.
After parking his bicycle, Lu Yao happened to run into Jiang Bai, who was strolling over as he reached the stairs.
Lu Yao nodded at Jiang Bai in greeting.
When Jiang Bai saw Lu Yao, the gloom from earlier had already vanished from his face. Smiling with curved eyes, he said lightly, "Good morning, Lu Yao."
"Good morning." Jiang Bai was in quite a good mood so early in the morning.
The two walked up the stairs side by side. Jiang Bai casually asked, "I heard someone say that you came to school with Chu Jiaojiao this morning?"
"Yeah. We happened to run into each other on the way. She twisted her ankle."
Lu Yao had no intention of telling anyone about Chu Jiaojiao running into those thugs. Although she had been the victim, there was no guarantee that some loose-lipped people would not gossip about her behind her back because of it.
Hearing that it had only been a chance encounter, Jiang Bai's eyes curved into crescents as he smiled. "That's good. If anyone spreads nonsense about your relationship with her, don't worry. I'll explain things to everyone for you."
Lu Yao gave a slight nod. "Thanks."
"You're welcome. You're one of my members, after all. As the club president, I should take a little extra care of you. That's one of the perks of joining."
"..." Why did that perk sound a little strange?
Seeing the two walk into the classroom one after the other, the students in the class looked at them with mild surprise. Jiang Bai seemed gentle, but he had always kept everyone at a distance. How had the transfer student become so familiar with him?
When Lu Qi arrived in class and heard that Lu Yao had ridden Chu Jiaojiao to school on his bicycle that morning, he was so shocked that he nearly lost his balance and fell to the floor.
Ye Muqing looked at him strangely. "What's wrong with you? Why are you making such a big deal out of this? Didn't you say you didn't care about Chu Jiaojiao?"
Lu Qi ignored him, inwardly spiraling into a frantic breakdown.
How could this be?! Chu Jiaojiao had confessed to him before. If Lu Yao liked Chu Jiaojiao, then once he found out about that later, wouldn't he very likely end up hating him, his older brother?!
[Honestly, I've recently been using a reading app to follow updates. It lets you switch sources and has many narration voices. Both Android and Apple are supported.]
The moment Lu Qi thought of that possibility, his expression immediately darkened.
And Chu Jiaojiao had such a fiery temper. In love, whoever fell first lost. Wouldn't Lu Yao end up completely wrapped around the finger of that spoiled young miss? How could that be allowed?!
At the thought of Lu Yao becoming lovesick over Chu Jiaojiao, unable to eat or sleep and wasting away day by day, Lu Qi's mood remained at rock bottom for the entire day.
Because she had liked Lu Qi before, Chu Jiaojiao had applied to become captain of the Basketball Club's Cheerleading Squad.
The Cheerleading Squad and the Basketball Club shared the same training grounds.
In the past, Lu Qi had almost never glanced in the direction of the Cheerleading Squad's training area, but today, both the Basketball Club and Cheerleading Squad members were surprised to discover that he had been secretly looking at Chu Jiaojiao the entire time.
A ponytailed girl nudged Chu Jiaojiao's arm. "Captain, Lu Qi has been secretly looking at you all day."
Only after being nudged did Chu Jiaojiao come back to her senses. "Huh? What is it?"
Chu Jiaojiao had been absentminded all day, constantly thinking about how Lu Yao had saved her that morning and spoken up for her.
The ponytailed girl sighed. "Captain, why have you been spacing out all day? I said Lu Qi was secretly looking at you just now."
"Oh."
The ponytailed girl stared at Chu Jiaojiao in surprise. Oh?! That was all Chu Jiaojiao had to say?! She was actually this indifferent?!
Noticing Lu Qi secretly looking toward Chu Jiaojiao again, Xia Yue's face darkened with anger.
How could this be? Lu Qi was hers!
Xia Yue deliberately stepped in front of Lu Qi, blocking his view in that direction. "Lu Qi, this is the Basketball Club's latest training plan. The coach told me to bring it to you and see whether anything needs changing."
Hearing that it was business, Lu Qi finally lowered his head to look over the training plan.
Seeing that Lu Qi's attention had been diverted by her, Xia Yue secretly curled her lips in satisfaction.
After secretly observing for several days, Lu Qi discovered that Lu Yao and Chu Jiaojiao seemed to have no further contact, and only then did he relax slightly.
***
That morning, Uncle Wang, the driver, was taking Jiang Bai to school as usual. Halfway there, Jiang Bai suddenly looked out the window and said, "Uncle Wang, you can let me off here."
Although Uncle Wang was puzzled, he still did as Jiang Bai instructed.
After several days of meticulous planning, Jiang Bai had finally set his plan for a chance encounter into motion today.
After getting out of the car, Jiang Bai walked straight down the street ahead.
After turning left and crossing an intersection, he would reach the road Lu Yao took every day on his bicycle to school.
"Waaah~~"
Seeing a little boy in overalls sitting by the roadside ahead and crying his heart out, Jiang Bai frowned.
He looked around, but in the early-morning street, there was not a single person in sight.
Jiang Bai furrowed his brow in hesitation. If he stayed to deal with this, he would definitely miss the time Lu Yao passed by that road.
He walked forward, getting closer and closer to the little boy.
When he reached the boy's side, he sighed inwardly in undisguised disappointment. Forget it. I can arrange another chance encounter another day.
Jiang Bai crouched down and asked gently, "What's wrong, little friend?"
The boy sniffled and said in a childish voice, "Bad guy, go away."
"..."
He wanted to leave too. If he were a bad guy, he would have left long ago!
Jiang Bai took a deep breath, putting on a gentle expression. "Little friend, big brother isn't a bad guy. Where are your dad and mom? Why aren't they with you?"
"I don't want my dad and mom anymore!"
Jiang Bai sighed. It seemed this was a troublesome kid who had run away from home.
Some versions of Safari on iPhone may freeze. This site has already been optimized, but if you still encounter similar issues, try another browser first, such as Google Chrome, or switch back to the default font—yes, the font is the cause. Please contact us as well, and we will find a way to improve it.