Chapter 18

Jiang Bai frowned awkwardly as he watched the little boy cry without stopping.

Jiang Bai said, "Kid, stop crying for now. Can big brother talk to you?"

The little boy scooted backward on his butt and said through sobs, "I... I have nothing to talk about with you! Don't come near me!"

Jiang Bai said, "..."

Seeing the little boy cry nonstop, Jiang Bai raised his hand to check the time. Although he had expected it, disappointment still surfaced in his eyes. By now, Lu Yao had already ridden past this road.

Jiang Bai took out his phone and was about to call the police to handle the matter when he suddenly heard a familiar voice behind him.

"Jiang Bai?"

He turned around in surprise. The moment he saw who it was, his tightly furrowed brows relaxed, and his previously dim eyes instantly brightened.

Lu Yao had just turned right into the street on his bicycle when he saw Jiang Bai crouching by the roadside beside a bun-faced little boy sitting on the ground and bawling his eyes out.

He gripped the brakes with both hands, stretched out a long leg, and planted his foot on the ground. The bicycle came to a steady stop beside Jiang Bai.

Jiang Bai's expression softened, his voice carrying both a smile and surprise. "What are you doing here?"

Lu Yao said, "The next street over suddenly started construction today, so I took a detour through here."

Lu Yao glanced curiously at the sniffling little boy on the ground. "Who is he?"

Jiang Bai said, "I don't know either. I happened to pass by and saw him squatting here, crying."

While the two talked, the little boy suddenly got to his feet, staggered over, and tightly wrapped both arms around one of Lu Yao's calves.

Jiang Bai raised an eyebrow. What was with this little bean? When Jiang Bai had tried talking to him earlier, he had barely responded. Now that Lu Yao had appeared, he had rushed right over?!

Lu Yao looked down at the little boy clinging to his leg. Seeing his red-rimmed eyes and pitiful little crybaby face, he curled his lips slightly, took a piece of candy from his pocket, and bent down to hand it to him.

"Here. A man doesn't shed tears lightly."

The little boy accepted the candy and retorted in a tearful, childish voice, "I'm not a man. I'm a little prince."

Lu Yao said, "..." City people really knew how to have fun.

Seeing the little boy eating the candy with a sweet, satisfied expression, Lu Yao thought for a moment before saying, "Come on. I'll take you somewhere more fun. There are lots of candies and cookies there."

At the mention of candy and cookies, the little boy trustingly placed his small hand in Lu Yao's warm palm. He tipped up his little face expectantly. "Big brother, let's go quickly."

Jiang Bai said, "..." The difference in treatment seemed a little obvious?

Perhaps because he had opened up to Lu Yao, the little boy whined coquettishly, "Big brother, my legs are tired. I can't walk anymore."

Lu Yao had already noticed that Jiang Bai seemed to be something of a germaphobe. Jiang Bai had avoided physical contact with the little boy the entire time, so when the boy said he wanted to be carried, Lu Yao turned to Jiang Bai.

"Jiang Bai, can you hold my bicycle for me? I'll be carrying him, so it won't be easy to free up a hand."

Hearing Lu Yao ask him for help, Jiang Bai agreed without a second thought.

The warm morning sunlight shone down on the street, casting their shadows ahead of them.

Looking only at the shadows, an outsider might have mistaken them for a warm family of three.

Jiang Bai led the bicycle and looked at the closely connected shadows ahead of him, the corners of his lips lifting slightly.

Police station.

Watching the little boy sit beside a middle-aged police officer in the distance and start bawling again, Jiang Bai could not help laughing. He teased Lu Yao, "This is the more fun place you mentioned?"

Lu Yao nodded calmly. "Yeah. Isn't it? There really are lots of candies and cookies here. They even gave him milk."

Jiang Bai said, "..." Well, that was not wrong.

It was already getting late. After handing the little boy over to the police, Lu Yao and Jiang Bai left the station.

Outside the police station.

Lu Yao held his bicycle and said to Jiang Bai, "We're almost late. I'll give you a ride to school while I'm at it?"

Jiang Bai nodded with a smile in his eyes. "Sorry for the trouble."

Jiang Bai's eyes curved as he looked at Lu Yao's back ahead of him.

Remembering that Jiang Bai usually went to school by car, Lu Yao asked, "Why didn't you take a car to school today?"

Jiang Bai's expression remained unchanged. "The driver suddenly had an emergency at home, so I had him stop and let me out halfway."

At that moment, the driver had just parked the car in the Jiang Family garage. Seeing him return so early, the gardener asked in surprise, "Why are you back so quickly today?"

The driver scratched his head. "I don't know either. Young Master suddenly got out of the car halfway there."

Hearing that it was Jiang Bai's instruction, the gardener did not dare say anything more.

As Lu Yao gave Jiang Bai a ride toward the school gate, they saw a row of students standing there as punishment for being late. A bald dean stood guard by the gate, waiting to catch more tardy students.

Seeing even model student Jiang Bai arrive late, the punished students began gloating. Ye Muqing was the most obvious of them all.

Ye Muqing laughed loudly. "Hahahaha, I never thought Jiang Bai would have a day when he was late too!"

"What the hell? What kind of magic does this transfer student's crappy bicycle have? He gave Chu Jiaojiao a ride before, and now he's giving Jiang Bai one too."

"Hahahaha, when he stands here being punished with us later, I'm secretly taking a picture for remembrance. An opportunity like this only comes once in a lifetime."

Hearing them laughing and messing around so recklessly even while being punished, the bald dean standing in front of them to maintain discipline said, "If you're being punished, then stand quietly. Otherwise, I'll have you do frog jumps around the track later. Then we'll see whether you're more embarrassed or Jiang Bai is."

Lu Yao and Jiang Bai were stopped at the school gate by the bald dean.

Looking at Jiang Bai, the dean asked gently, "Why are you late today? Did something unexpected happen on the way?"

This was Jiang Bai's first time being late.

Ye Muqing curled his lip. "Director, your favoritism is way too obvious."

Jiang Bai said, "We came across a little boy who had gotten lost, so we took him to the police station."

The bald dean nodded and said approvingly, "I see. Well done. Hurry inside and get to class."

Ye Muqing shouted unhappily, "Director, I said something pretty similar earlier. Why didn't you believe me?"

The bald dean could not help rolling his eyes. He turned around and snapped, "Ye Muqing, you said you picked up one cent and took it to the police station. You actually expect me to believe that nonsense?!"

The other students being punished burst into laughter.

Lu Yao said, "..."

Hearing Ye Muqing question their story, Jiang Bai suddenly opened his backpack, took out a document, and handed it to the bald dean.

"Director, this is written proof from the police station. You can verify whether it's real."

The others stared in shock. "..."

No way, you two really had gone off to do a good deed?!

The dean accepted the proof, glanced over it, and said with a smile, "Well done, students. The school is proud to have students like you. I'll apply to the principal later and see whether we can give you a public commendation over the broadcast."

After entering the school gate, Lu Yao turned to look at Jiang Bai. "When did you get that proof?" Lu Yao had not noticed Jiang Bai doing that at the police station.

Jiang Bai smiled. "When you went to say goodbye to that child and he clung to you without letting go, I asked the police officer beside us to write us a certificate."

During the second long break, the school broadcast suddenly came on.

When the students heard the dean praising Jiang Bai and Lu Yao over the broadcast, they were all stunned.

What was going on? Those two had actually gone out together to do a good deed this morning?!

After the broadcast ended, You Yu looked curiously at Lu Yao. "Deskmate, were you and Jiang Bai late this morning because of that?"

Lu Yao gave a faint "Mm." He did not want to talk too much about it.

Lu Yao had thought the dean's words that morning were merely polite. He had not expected him to actually publicly praise them. Since Lu Yao preferred to keep a low profile and hated trouble, it made him feel somewhat uncomfortable.

The long break was lengthy, so many students liked using the time to discuss gossip on the school forum.

The moment the broadcast ended, the forum was already buzzing with discussion.

[Jiang, the Male God is worthy of his name. His first time being late was actually because he was helping someone in need.]

[Hahaha, am I the only one focused on the relationship between the transfer student and Jiang Bai?]

[Hot gossip: I happened to be standing there as punishment when they arrived late this morning. Lu Yao rode Jiang Bai to school on his bicycle.]

[Damn! This transfer student's bicycle is incredible. How many famous figures from our school has it carried this week?]

[If the school bully shows up on his back seat the morning after tomorrow, I won't even find it strange.]

[Hahaha, I heard the transfer student's family isn't well-off. If I offer to buy that bicycle from him at a high price, do you think he'll agree?]

Seeing everyone on the forum focusing on Lu Yao, Li Guigu's deskmate complained to him disdainfully, "This Lu Yao has been causing so much fuss lately. A bastard child like him keeps trying to draw attention all day. It's annoying just looking at him."

Just as Li Guigu was about to agree, Chu Jiaojiao, who sat in front of them, suddenly turned around and snapped at the boy, "Can you keep it down? You talk so much all day. You're so noisy!"

After saying that, she turned back around and lowered her head to flip through a fashion magazine.

The boy's face flushed red with embarrassment, but he did not dare say another word. After all, Chu Jiaojiao's family was far more powerful than his, and her mother's family was also extremely influential.

Li Guigu and his deskmate exchanged a glance, then both quietly fell silent.

When class was about to begin, Chu Jiaojiao turned around again and said to Li Guigu, "Li Guigu, about that limited-edition Nava watch you asked me about a few days ago, can I ask around for you later? When the time comes, I'll buy it directly and give it to you as compensation."

Her mother had suddenly decided to divorce her father these past few days. Seeing her mother overwhelmed by everything lately, Chu Jiaojiao felt too embarrassed to bring up something as trivial as a watch.

The watch was not cheap. Hearing Chu Jiaojiao say she would buy it and give it to him, Li Guigu was delighted inwardly but still declined hypocritically. "There's no need to compensate me. I was the one who asked you for help in the first place. The watch isn't urgent. Just ask whenever it's convenient for you."

Li Guigu thought that after he said that, Chu Jiaojiao would continue insisting on compensating him.

Unexpectedly, Chu Jiaojiao simply nodded. "All right, then I'll do my best to ask around." With that, she turned back around.

Li Guigu was stunned by Chu Jiaojiao's reaction.

Shouldn't Chu Jiaojiao have continued insisting? Hadn't she previously wanted to curry favor with him because he was related to Lu Qi? Why was she reacting like this?