Chapter 20

His lashes lowered, hiding the chill that had crept into his eyes.

Seeing He Qinghuan like this, Yue Feng guessed something must have happened between the two of them. He hurriedly changed the subject and looked out the car window, only to spot several boys unexpectedly entering his field of vision.

"Du Zhou? Ah-Heng, look, isn't that Du Zhou?" Yue Feng said in surprise. "What's he doing here? He's on the same route as Gu Wang. They didn't run into each other, did they?"

The poplars over there were lush, and the streetlights were rather dim, especially along the stretch where Gu Wang had run into Du Zhou earlier. Only now, as Du Zhou emerged from that area, did Yue Feng see him.

Among the boys, Du Zhou stood at the center. He wore a dark red outdoor jacket with its collar turned high, as arrogant as ever.

He Qinghuan looked toward Du Zhou.

As though sensing it, Du Zhou raised his eyes toward He Qinghuan and Yue Feng, meeting He Qinghuan's gaze head-on. He tugged at the corner of his mouth, his eyes provocative.

"Fuck," Yue Feng spat, reaching for the car door.

He Qinghuan pressed a hand to Yue Feng's shoulder. "No need."

Yue Feng paused and calmed down, then mouthed "fuck you" at Du Zhou. Only after successfully making Du Zhou's expression darken did he feel better.

They had all been fairly close to Du Zhou as children. In He Qinghuan's heart, Du Zhou had even held the same importance as Yue Feng, but that was all in the past.

Du Zhou and He Qinghuan liked the same type of person. That was nothing, really. Every prominent family had its share of sordid dealings behind the scenes, and sending people of that type back and forth was hardly a big deal.

But He Qinghuan was fiercely possessive of anything he liked. Whether it was a person or an object, anyone who touched it would pay dearly at his hands.

He Qinghuan had never actually liked anyone growing up, though. But as Du Zhou grew older, his ambitions grew too. Anything He Qinghuan gave a second glance, he had to get his hands on, as though that would let him get one over on He Qinghuan.

What finally caused their complete falling-out was a boy. One glance was enough to tell he was the type both He Qinghuan and Du Zhou liked, but he liked He Qinghuan. Though he was He Qinghuan's type, He Qinghuan did not accept everyone who came along. After he politely turned the boy down, Du Zhou took the boy away on his way home. No one knew what happened afterward, but the boy dropped out.

He Qinghuan went to Du Zhou and took the boy away from his house without making any threats. The next day, the He family withdrew all its investments in the Du Corporation and terminated contracts that had stood for years, severing every business connection. Even now, the two families were notorious for being unable to coexist.

Yue Feng sighed. "You'd better give your little friend a heads-up. Du Zhou definitely saw him. If he finds out he's yours, tsk, who knows whether that'll be good or bad?"

He Qinghuan and Yue Feng both knew perfectly well how much attention Gu Wang's face could attract.

He Qinghuan hummed in acknowledgment, then turned to Yue Feng. "How long are you staying this time?"

Yue Feng leaned back in his seat. "I'm not leaving. I came back to take the college entrance exam and apply to a music school. How about I join your class?"

He Qinghuan looked at him, remembering how, during their last phone call, this man had told him outright that Gu Wang was damned gorgeous. He politely refused. "Not a good idea."

"Shen Zhao's in the next class." He Qinghuan offered up Wangwang's friend without hesitation.

Yue Feng's eyes immediately lit up. "I've realized that although I think Gu Wang's good-looking, I like the one beside him more."

As long as it was not Gu Wang, He Qinghuan would not have cared even if Yue Feng wanted to date an animal.

Watching the two figures disappear, Yue Feng reluctantly withdrew his gaze. "He Qinghuan, take me around your school tomorrow."

"Sure," He Qinghuan said.

There would still be students at school during holidays like this. Jinyang High School was renowned for its college admission rate, and many students came from other cities and provinces to study there. For a break of just a few days, most chose to stay at school and wait until winter or summer vacation to go home, especially the seniors, whose time was growing ever tighter.

He Qinghuan would call Li Shuya in advance and ask her to let the gatekeeper know. Yue Feng did not have a pass yet; he had not even completed his enrollment paperwork.

When Gu Wang got home, Gu Dazhi saw that his complexion was much better than when he had left that morning and breathed a sigh of relief. He had barely done so when Grandma Gu slapped him from behind.

"Wangwang was sick, and you still let him go to school? How did he end up with such a lousy father?"

Gu Dazhi said, "..."

Gu Wang hurried forward to stop her. "Grandma, I was the one who wanted to go to school. It had nothing to do with-"

"He threatened you with your allowance again, didn't he? Here, Grandma will transfer you a few tens of thousands." Grandma Gu patted her chest, generous with her wealth.

Grandma Gu had lived very well these past few years. She had plenty of children and grandchildren, all of them filial. She saved the money they gave her every month and had nowhere to spend it. She was always either transferring money to one granddaughter or sending a cash gift to one grandson, though she still spent the most on Gu Wang.

Gu Wang coaxed her for a while, and she grumbled that Wangwang had grown up and was no longer as clingy as before.

Gu Wang could not help smiling, though his heart also ached a little. The Original Host had only clung to Grandma Gu because he had his eye on the money in her pocket. Knowing she doted on him and was generous, he would ask her whenever Gu Dazhi refused to give him any.

It was not quite fair to call the Original Host an ungrateful wretch. It was just that, in his heart, his own enjoyment mattered most.

After dinner, he returned to his room to do his homework, only to discover that he had left all of it at school. Shen Zhao had interrupted him just as he was about to pack it into his bag, and afterward, he had forgotten.

He would have to go back to school to get it.

He called Li Shuya to ask whether he could return to school during the holiday. At first, she said yes, but then she said no.

"The classroom door is locked. He Qinghuan has the key."

Gu Wang asked stiffly, "Wasn't He Qinghuan not the last one to leave last night...?"

Li Shuya thought Gu Wang was embarra-

He did not want to get too involved with He Qinghuan because he wanted to completely avoid every factor in the book that had led to the Original Host's miserable end. Even if He Qinghuan's attitude had changed, Gu Wang had no intention of clinging to him for support for now.

There had indeed been a little too much close contact with He Qinghuan lately. Gu Wang had a terrifying suspicion, but as it surfaced, he firmly pushed it back down.

Impossible.

Even if he could not become a complete stranger to He Qinghuan, Gu Wang still had to keep his distance-at least the distance between ordinary classmates.

What ordinary classmate called He Qinghuan Ah-Huan?!

He Qinghuan...

He Qinghuan stared at his phone until the screen went dark before slowly lowering it. Gu Wang would not obediently do as he was told. That was to be expected.

After a long while, he found a man's contact information in his contacts and told him to deliver the key to the Gu house.

The cold had come quickly and left quickly. When Gu Wang got up that morning, he already felt much better than the day before.

On the first day of the National Day holiday, the azure sky stretched overhead, white clouds piled in layers in all manner of shapes, and even the breeze brushing his face carried a pleasant air.

Someone knocked outside, and Gu Wang opened the door with a slice of bread between his teeth.

Xu Yuan worked for the He family and spent most of his time doing things for He Qinghuan. Last night, He Qinghuan had actually asked him to deliver a key to a classmate, which he found rather unbelievable. He knew better than anyone how unapproachable this young master of the He family was. Apart from his few childhood friends, Xu Yuan had never seen him grow close to anyone.

Much less a classmate-and delivering a key, at that. He Qinghuan was hardly a helpful person.

He wanted to see this classmate whom He Qinghuan valued so highly. The boy who opened the door was fair-skinned, clean-cut, very handsome, and very polite.

"Thank you." He had thought He Qinghuan would not give him the key. After taking it, Gu Wang considered for a moment, then asked whether he wanted to stay for breakfast.

Xu Yuan thought the boy was rather innocent and ruffled his hair. "No, I have things to do. Enjoy your breakfast, kid."

Gu Wang said, "..." Could you not ruffle my hair?

By the time Gu Wang finished breakfast, the sun was already high outside. He had originally put on a thin cotton long-sleeved T-shirt, but after feeling a little hot, he went upstairs and changed into a thin white shirt.

The shirt was loose, and he tucked one side into his waistband, making him look taller and his legs longer. The crisp shirt outlined his slender but not frail waist.

After letting his family know, Gu Wang took a taxi back to school by himself.

Lush poplars lined both sides of the road. A little farther along was Romantic Road, planted with towering London plane trees. Their trunks and branches were thick, their foliage spreading like enormous canopies. The government sent people to prune them every year, so although they were lush, they did not feel crowded.

On either side of Romantic Road, beyond the plane trees, stood exquisite, dreamlike little white Western-style houses. Almost every household had its own small yard, with fences around it and flowers in a profusion of colors inside.

It was a vibrant, flamboyant scene.

Jinyang High School stood in a quiet area not far from the bustling city center, on land the government had specially set aside for the school. The taxi stopped at the entrance. Gu Wang paid and walked toward the gate, pass in hand.

Before he reached it, the iron gate slowly opened. Inside, the gatekeeper sat with his legs crossed, cracking sunflower seeds. He waved at Gu Wang. "I know you. You're, uh, Wangwang. What brings you to school?"

Gu Wang stuffed his pass back into his backpack. "Picking up my homework."

The gatekeeper nodded approvingly. "Good students really are different."

Gu Wang smiled sheepishly. It seemed this gatekeeper did not know about the Original Host's past "glorious exploits." If he had, he certainly would not have been able to say that.

Even Gu Wang himself felt unworthy of the praise. After all, he had scored only three hundred on the last monthly exam, and in his grade