Chapter 25: It Feels Like You Could Leave at Any Moment (1)

“Do you think I don’t want to?” Zhou Ruidan spoke harshly. She had never been so humiliated in her life; she was more upset than anyone, but she knew that Qiao Xi was not someone to be trifled with, so she dared not act recklessly. “Jia’er said she has a way.”

“That’s good then. If Jia’er steps in herself, who could possibly stand against her?”

“Exactly. With Jia’er’s family background, plus President Yu Fan—he adores Jia’er so much, he’d stand up for her over the slightest grievance. With the president around, no problem is really a problem. As for Qiao Xi, she’s nothing in his eyes.”

“Unfortunately, the president’s on leave and no one knows when he’ll be back. And the vice president seems to be on Qiao Xi’s side.”

“Who says so!” Zhou Ruidan snapped, irritated. “What’s so great about her anyway? The vice president would never fall for someone like her.”

Zhou Ruidan liked Ouya, but dared not show it because of Xu Jia’er’s presence. Even if she had no chance herself, she didn’t want Qiao Xi to have one either.

“Qiao Xi is quite pretty, though.”

“Are you not tired of being beaten up? Want to try for another round?” Zhou Ruidan said angrily.

The girl quickly shut her mouth and dared not say more.

“Qiao Xi, Chou Chou didn’t come to class again today. What’s going on with her?” The first class had just ended when Gu Panxi came over to ask. She was the class monitor and considered both Qiao Xi and Chou Chou her friends, so she was naturally concerned.

“She has something going on. She’ll be back in a few days,” Qiao Xi replied.

“She’s alright then, that’s good.” Gu Panxi didn’t ask further.

“Did you guys hear? Last night Maple Sun High, Saint Forest High, and Golden Martial High clashed.”

“Really? One against two?”

“Of course it’s true. My cousin goes to Saint Forest High. Apparently Golden Martial took the initiative to partner with Saint Forest to take on Maple Sun. All the school celebrities were in on it.”

“That’s because Maple Sun’s people are so arrogant and overbearing. They deserve to be isolated by the other schools.”

“So what happened?” a classmate asked impatiently.

The girl who started the topic glanced at the always quiet Qiao Xi before continuing, “No idea. The students from Saint Forest and Golden Martial who came back won’t mention last night, and as for Maple Sun, it’s even harder to know.”

“Looks like they lost. Otherwise, why wouldn’t anyone talk about it? If they’d won, the news would’ve spread everywhere by now. Maple Sun is really something.”

“Yeah, I heard Gu Heng is incredibly handsome…”

“Right, didn’t he come to our school a few days ago? I saw him on the playground. He’s even better-looking in person than the rumors…”

…

Qiao Xi’s expression didn’t change, but she heard every word. So last night, they were up against two schools working together. She knew their abilities, but the opponents had numbers—she wondered if anyone had been hurt.

Since transferring to Yingran, she hadn’t kept in touch with the Maple Sun crowd. Chou Chou was on leave at home, so she knew nothing about what had happened.

Suddenly, something sharp poked her in the shoulder. She turned to see Ji Niansheng.

Ji Niansheng crooked her finger, signaling Qiao Xi to come closer.

Qiao Xi leaned in, and Ji Niansheng bent over, whispering, “You should know all about this, right?”

Qiao Xi didn’t answer immediately.

Ji Niansheng pressed, “Is Leng Xinmeng alright? Don’t get me wrong, I need to settle scores with her, and if something happened to her, I’d lose my chance.”

“She’s fine,” Qiao Xi said calmly. With Gu Heng around, nothing would happen to her.

As soon as class ended, Qiao Xi walked out of the classroom, found a quiet spot, took out her phone, scrolled to Gu Heng’s number, but in the end, dialed Xinmeng instead.