Chapter 10

She smiled, her eyes burnt with strong reluctance. Yet, she could only smile on helplessly.

Just because he was the favored son of heaven, her bright future had to be used to pave the way for this hedonistic young master?

He lost his mother, but he could still vent his frustration on others. No matter how fiercely they quarreled, his father would still try to figure a way for him.

She lost her father. And her mother, it was as good as not having one. Even after she was wronged, her mother could still put on a smile and flatter the other party.

Life was really unfair.

Tao Yi Xi made a cup of coffee and drank it all in one go.

Only she could decide on her own future. She didn’t want to have to depend on anyone.

**

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Gqvla Dky Zyd xyel vbyv rasxkpl sd bla clbyzq ulpvlaeyu, pbl ds zsdtla vsze Mys Zk Dk vs alpv yv bsxl, yde kxxlekyvlzu zlv bla pvyav bla ‘osaj’.

G bwpcyde kp talyvla vbyd vbl pju; vbkp pyukdt oyp yrrasrakyvlzu elrknvle kd Dky Zyd.

Mbl qszzsokdt xsadkdt, Qw Kkdt Zwyd oyp osjld wr cu Qw Yw Zydt bkxplzq. Rv oyp vawzu sdnl kd y czwl xssd vbyv bl nyxl vs vbl nya sd vkxl.

Mys Zk Dk vwttle sd vbl pvayrp sq bla pnbsszcyt. Gqvla xwnb nsdvlxrzyvksd, pbl srldle vbl alya essa yde pyv kdpkel vbl nya.

Qw Kkdt Zwyd aykple bkp blye yde tzydnle yv bla nszezu. Mbl alpkewyz rlvwzydnl qasx byhkdt clld osjld wr cu Qw Yw Zydt oyp pvkzz lvnble sd bkp qynl.

Tkp vsdl oyp qaktke, “Qlv swv.”

Mys Zk Dk oyp dsv qaktbvldle yde lhld pxkzle, “R nyd’v es vbyv Ql-tl, Bdnzl Qw prlnkqknyzzu kdpvawnvle xl vs qszzso usw yv yzz vkxlp. Rq usw byhl ydu scflnvksdp, usw pbswze aykpl kv okvb Bdnzl Qw. Xvblaokpl, R’zz qszzso usw zkjl y pbyeso.”

Mys Zk Dk’p vsdl oyp ypjkdt qsa y clyvkdt. Rq kv olald’v qsa bkp xsayz csvvsx zkdl sq dlhla zyukdt bydep sd y tkaz, pbl oswze’hl clld clyvld wr cu bkx xydu vkxlp shla.

“Are you his dog?” he mocked her.

Tao Yi Xi smiled but didn’t refute. Wasn’t she?

“Mr. Driver, let’s go.”

Although the two of them were sitting side by side, the distance between them was large enough to sit another two more people.

Tao Yi Xi stared at the passing scenery outside the window. She couldn’t see where her future was headed for.

One year and three months more to go.

Bear with it, Tao Yi Xi.

Zhou Zhi and Qi Yue were the happiest when they finally saw Tao Yi Xi.

“Yi Xi, you’re finally back!”

Zhou Zhi gave her a big bear hug. But because Tao Yi Xi was taller, Zhou Zhi looked like she was dangling onto her.

“I missed you so much.”

Tao Yi Xi patted her head and Zhou Zhi felt intoxicated. 

Yi Xi was so fragrant and soft!

Standing at the side, Qi Yue bit a handkerchief. How he wished that he was a girl so that he could hug his goddess. 

“Are you feeling better?”

“Yes, I can walk normally now.”

“That’s great!”

She sat down at her seat. When she reached for her pen, Gu Jing Yuan’s eyes glimpsed over. The red mark on her hand had already faded.

She suddenly faced him, her tone was soft, “Ge-ge must diligently attend school from today onwards, otherwise I’ll complain to Uncle Gu.”

How can she still sound so righteous despite being a tattletale?

Gu Jing Yuan didn’t pay her further attention, he laid on his arms to make up for his lost sleep.

Tao Yi Xi pondered for a while. Uncle Gu only instructed her to make sure that Gu Jing Yuan attended class. He didn’t ask her to guarantee that his grades would improve. So if he wanted to sleep, then sleep. As long as he did it under her nose.

Gu Jing Yuan slept for two whole classes before he prepared to leave. Tao Yi Xi, who was doing her homework, stopped and started packing up her stuff too. 

He halted and asked defensively, “What are you doing?”

“Whatever Ge-ge’s doing, I’m also doing.” She replied like it was only natural. She smoothly kept the science formula notebook she prepared into her school uniform’s pocket.

He raised his eyebrows, “Qi Yue, let’s go to the toilet.”

A stunned Qi Yue, “huh?”

“Come,” Gu Jing Yuan hooked his arm around Qi Yue’s shoulder. The two brothers stepped out together.

Tao Yi Xi was puzzled. 

Do boys also like to go to the washroom together?

In that split second that she was lost in thought, Gu Jing Yuan had already disappeared from her sight. She couldn’t help but feel that something wasn’t quite right.

And her hunch was correct; Gu Jing Yuan actually used that as an excuse to throw her off!

Harumph! Who would’ve expected that that noble young master would use this kind of trick in order to get rid of her.

For the first time, she clicked into Gu Jing Yuan’s mobile number and sent him a ‘good-willed’ message.

[Ge-ge, why aren’t you back yet? Are you too embarrassed to ask for help after running out of toilet paper? If you’re having difficulties, you need to tell Mei-mei¹Younger sister. Don’t squat till your legs go numb and fall into the toilet pit.]

Gu Jing Yuan who saw the text message, “…” 

Sounded like words of concern, but it also sounded like a scolding…

Qi Yue wanted to peek at his screen, but Gu Jing Yuan immediately pressed the lock screen button.

An aggrieved Qi Yue, “Brother Yuan, now you even have secrets that I can’t know?”

“Get lost, mind your own business.” 

“It turns out that love will eventually disappear, am I right?”

Gu Jing Yuan quickly walked away from that drama queen.

“Brother Yuan, wait for me! Where are we going today? To look for Ah Zhao and the rest?”

“Yeah.”

On the other end, Tao Yi Xi didn’t expect him to reply. So she put away her phone after sending the message.

After much debate, she decided that it was best not to inform his father first. Otherwise, he would be in for another beating.

It wasn’t because she felt bad for him being punished. But she didn’t want to get dragged into it.

As soon as the math teacher came in, he put down the textbook and looked around. He noticed that Gu Jing Yuan was not here.

“Where is Tao Yi Xi?”

She raised her hand.

“The form teacher is on leave today. He has informed me to tell you that you’re to bring Gu Jing Yuan’s homework back to him from now on.” 

The whole class was in an uproar. Everyone turned to look at her, their gossipy gaze lingered on her.

Their relationship was suddenly exposed. 

Undeniably, the form teacher had already given up on letting her be the middleman last time. It seemed that Gu Mu Yang might have something to do with the change of heart.

Under the attention of the whole class, Tao Yi Xi calmly nodded, “I understand.”

“Okay. For today’s lesson, let’s revise through the papers.”

Everyone’s attention was finally diverted. However, many students had their heads lowered as they secretly tapped on their phones.

In the whole class, Zhou Zhi was the most familiar with her. As soon as lessons were over, she ran over and shared the latest news with Tao Yi Xi.

“Sis, you’ve once again occupied the school forum! Now the whole forum is guessing your relationship with Gu Jing Yuan. As soon as you refresh, there will be another new post about you and it’ll quickly gain popularity. Huh, there’s even photos? Those people must’ve taken them stealthily!”

That photo should’ve been taken from the window of their classroom. In that shot, she had her head lowered, doing a worksheet. Leaving only her side profile and because of the over magnification, the photo was a little blurry. Yet, it could not hide her beauty.

The comments below that post gradually got warped.

8th Comment: [Is she really that pretty? Or is it just photoshop using the dreamily blur effect?]

9th Comment: [Person upstairs, I’ve seen the real person. I can only say that she looks better than in the photo!]

58th Comment: [This little lady’s face, me likey! Just for this appearance, I’ll agree to this marriage.]

98th Comment: [Based on the photos that have been circulating recently, it looks like the school flower is indeed going to be replaced.]

388th Comment: [Getting off topic here, doesn’t the school flower also like Gu Jing Yuan? Suddenly such a girl appeared and not only did she rob her of her title, she even stole her man. It seems that there will be a good show coming! Munching melon seeds.jpg]

Tao Yi Xi casually scrolled through the comments. She didn’t know that students from a prestigious school would also be so interested in gossip news.

“Let’s go! Let’s go eat first.”

Cai Li Ling and Tang Wan had already gotten their meals and were waiting for them. They were unable to hide their cautious but curious expressions.

“Gu Jing Yuan is my brother,” she suddenly dropped the bomb and simply started eating.

“f*ck!” Zhou Zhi hurriedly covered her mouth. She actually swore in front of her little fairy! But this news was just too shocking!

Zhou Zhi sighed, “your family’s genes are really superb. The school grass’s younger sister is the school flower.” 

Zhou Zhi kept some words to herself, ‘Although they don’t look alike, as cousins, the attractive genes inherited should’ve been different! But they both still turned out to be amazingly good-looking!’

Thank God, she didn’t lock her CP²Couple on the both of them. If the lovers turned out to be siblings, she couldn’t stand this news.  

Cai Li Ling suddenly realized, “no wonder your form teacher arranged for you and Gu Jing Yuan to sit together.”

Tang Wan agreed, “that’s right!” 

Tao Yi Xi saw a trace of blithe from the two of them and naturally smiled.

Unexpectedly, although this ‘Ge-ge’ of hers had a bad reputation, the amount of people who liked him were not few.

News spread quickly.

When Zhou Zhi came to look for her after class, there was panic and anger in her face.

“What’s going on? The whole forum already knows about the relationship between the two of you. Clearly you’ve only told the three of…”

Zhou Zhi belatedly realized that the news might’ve been leaked from one of them.

Tao Yi Xi didn’t mind, “It’s also a good thing. Least people spread more ridiculous rumors about us.” 

When she scrolled through the forum at noon, she saw many posts with her and Gu Jing Yuan’s CP. Something like… ‘Little white rabbit school flower X aloof middle-school delinquent’… and ‘Well-tempered steel molded to softly wrap around finger’³I think Author-sama was trying to say that Gu Jing Yuan’s ‘hard’ and unfriendly personality became ‘softer’ and more agreeable because of love.… There were even students asking to have a written fanfiction. In her opinion, it was simply outrageous.

Zhou Zhi was still uneasy, “I must find out who did it!”

Tao Yi Xi trusted them hence she decided to tell them. But in the next moment, everything was exposed on the forum. There was definitely a traitor.

As soon as school was over and Class Eight was having a self-study period, Zhou Zhi took Tao Yi Xi to the nearest class of the two.

“Li Ling, can you come over for a moment?”

Cai Li Ling finished packing her schoolbag and slowly walked over, “What’s the matter?”

“The discussion on the forum, only the three of us knew about it. Did you leak the information?” 

Cai Li Ling was very innocent, “Ah, it wasn’t me!”

“Then could it have been Tang Wan?”

Cai Li Ling added, “Tang Wan doesn’t seem like someone who will spread the news. Plus, we were surrounded by so many people in the cafeteria just now. Maybe someone overheard it?”

They also could not rule out that possibility.

Zhou Zhi was a little remorseful, “next time we can’t talk about such things in the cafeteria anymore. There’s no privacy at all.”

“That’s right Yi Xi. You have to be more mindful in the future. Don’t say such shocking news so casually next time.” 

As Cai Li Ling advised Tao Yi Xi, her bright eyes seemed to be wrapped in a thin layer of mist, it was hard for one to tell what she was thinking about.

Cai Li Ling grinned, and Tao Yi Xi returned a smile. Tao Yi Xi’s brows and eyes curled up sweetly and the small mole that dotted under her left eye became even more vivid.

Cai Li Ling couldn’t help but to lament. Tao Yi Xi was so beautiful… She had never seen a girl who was more beautiful than her. Which boy could withstand this kind of pure, slightly dreamily, and mysterious attraction?

They were all standing together, but everyone’s attention was glued on Tao Yi Xi.

“But this might be a blessing in disguise. Now that everyone knows, maybe they’ll treat Yi Xi better. Right, Yi Xi?”

Tao Yi Xi chuckled, her eyes were clear, “yes.”