Lu Lingshan was so angry that she threw her phone.
This five million yuan was an awkward amount—not too high, not too low. If Tan Ming was willing to help, he could definitely turn things around. The Lu family’s company had monthly cash flow in the tens of millions. If Tan Ming would not even agree to five million, then he certainly would not go through the trouble of helping her with this favour.
As for the Lu family’s problem, Xi Shaoyuan could solve it with just a casual word. Tan Ming’s family background could not compare to Xi Shaoyuan’s. Not only could he not compare to Xi Shaoyuan, he could not even compare to Xie Cheng.
After calming down for a while, Lu Lingshan deleted Tan Ming’s WeChat.
…
At the end of the month, Yude Middle School welcomed the March monthly exam.
Although Zhou Xiu had been busy preparing for competitions, she had not neglected the school’s monthly exam either. After all, there was also a reward for the monthly exam. The top three in the class and the top ten in the year would all receive rewards.
Zhou Xiu had barely had time to catch her breath after finishing the preliminary round of the Biology League before she ran straight into the monthly exam.
After several consecutive days of heavy rain and a sudden drop in temperature, several students in the class unfortunately caught the spring flu. Zhou Xiu had been tense for a long time, and after relaxing slightly for only a few days, she also fell ill.
With a fever, Zhou Xiu walked into the monthly exam room.
The system said: [Body surface temperature: 39.2°C. Young one, please take care of your health.]
Zhou Xiu said: [It’s fine. It’s not a big problem.]
Although she felt uncomfortable, her basic thinking and judgement were still there, so it did not affect her much when doing science subjects.
The maths paper for this month’s exam was unexpectedly easy. Zhou Xiu finished it effortlessly and handed it in thirty minutes early. The moment she submitted it, Zhou Xiu had a feeling that there would definitely be many people who got full marks in maths this time.
The Chinese exam was about the same level of difficulty as usual.
Before every English exam, Zhou Xiu would usually work hard to revise for a period of time. But because she had allocated too much time to preparing for competitions, her English revision had been delayed for a long while. The night before the English exam, Zhou Xiu originally planned to persist with revision, but after reading English for an hour, she grew so sleepy that she fell asleep on the desk.
Zhou Cheng could not help sighing. “Ah, why work so desperately?”
He gently shook his daughter awake and touched her forehead. It was still a little hot. He told her to go sleep in bed.
Zhou Cheng vaguely understood some of his child’s thoughts. Their family was too poor, and she wanted to use scholarships to cover tuition fees. But when a person was sick, they had to rest properly.
“Go to sleep. Once the competition is over, there’ll be plenty of time to revise English,” Zhou Cheng said.
Although he did not really understand what competitions were all about, he knew that if she did well, she seemed to be able to receive scholarship money. Zhou Cheng let out a deep sigh.
Zhou Xiu woke up and rubbed her eyes. The preliminary round being over was only the beginning. Where would there be so much time? She forced herself to focus and insisted on finishing her vocabulary revision before going to sleep.
…
The next day, Zhou Xiu wore a thick coat to school.
The comprehensive science paper was about the same level of difficulty as the final exam, slightly harder than the usual monthly exams. After finishing the exam, Zhou Xiu realised that she had run out of cold medicine.
A classmate taking the exam in the same room lent her a strip of cold medicine.
After taking the medicine, Zhou Xiu became so sleepy she could barely keep her eyes open. Her vision even started doubling. She had to open her eyes and look several times before she could clearly see the questions. After the English exam, the clothes on Zhou Xiu’s back were soaked in a circle.
Zhou Xiu returned to the classroom looking sickly. Hua Xu pitifully rubbed her head.
“Xiuxiu usually looks so healthy and exercises every day. But once she gets sick, she’s like a sick little cat.”
“Go home early today. Don’t linger around at school.”
Zhou Xiu’s eyelid kept twitching violently. She somehow felt that this scene was a little familiar.
After the afternoon exam ended, Hua Xu laughed and joked around with the underachievers in the class for a while, then picked up her schoolbag and prepared to leave school.
She took out her phone, preparing to call a car. While waiting, she boredly scrolled through the Tianya forum for a while.
Unexpectedly, she came across a post that was rapidly becoming popular.
**#818 My Vain Female Classmate at a Noble Private High School#**
The original poster first posted pictures of Zhou Xiu’s parents setting up their small stall from early morning until late at night, as well as a video of them struggling to push their cart. Then they posted photos of Zhou Xiu from some time ago wearing branded sportswear. The brands of the clothes were all worth no less than five figures.
After that, there were photos of her wearing her school uniform and getting into an old man’s luxury car, a photo of Boy A wiping her mouth, a photo of Boy B falling asleep beside her after finishing exam papers, a photo of Boy C obediently lowering his head for her to pat after playing basketball, and the story of Boy D stuffing her drawer full of gifts…
In the photos, apart from the pot-bellied, balding middle-aged man in the luxury car, the other boys were all very handsome and clean-looking.
Hua Xu’s chest tightened. She did not even have time to scroll further down.
She turned off her phone and gently touched Zhou Xiu, who was resting on the desk.
“Go home tonight and sleep properly. Catch up on sleep. Remember not to play on your phone.”
After Hua Xu left the classroom, she made several calls, asking her father to find resources to get the anonymous blogger to delete the post.
But the post’s popularity quickly began to explode.
There was actually such a bitchy girl in a noble private high school? On top of that, the female lead really did look pure and moving, while the boys were all school-hunk level in looks. It was simply eye-opening for netizens.
Although the post did not name the place, school, or people directly, any student in the city who saw the post could probably guess most of it.
Xie Cheng was too famous.
Du Feiyang, Xu Qing, and even the boy from the Winner Class who had given her milk were all famous people at school too.
Hua Xu saw the post. Du Feiyang, Tan Ming, Xu Qing, Yu Qingyan… and countless others might also have seen it.
If it were not for the earlier photo of the pot-bellied middle-aged man in the luxury car, and the photos of Zhou Xiu’s parents struggling in hardship, the other photos of Zhou Xiu with those boys actually looked fresh and beautiful, almost like a photoshoot.
Some students in Class 24, bored after the exam and playing on their phones, saw the post and were so shocked they did not know what to say. Immersed in complicated emotions, several thoughts slowly surfaced in their minds.
Was Zhou Xiu’s family background even more difficult than they had imagined?
When had these people privately hooked up with the top student?
No, no, no. Their class’s Xiuxiu should not be that kind of person… right? A question mark slowly appeared after that sentence.
These students from wealthy families had seen far too many people who climbed towards power and wealth. But after spending nearly half a year with Zhou Xiu, they knew she was definitely not that kind of person.
None of the boys in the photos were easy to fool either. God Xie was like an emotionless exam machine. The more they looked, the more it seemed like he had grown tired from writing and had simply fallen asleep beside the desk.
The class monitor usually took care of people. What was wrong with wiping someone’s mouth? It was not like they were hugging or cuddling. After spending day and night together, no one had seen any signs that those two were dating.
As for Du Feiyang and Zhou Xiu, that was pure nonsense. Who did not know that Du Feiyang wholeheartedly admired Sister Xu? That photo was so pure it only showed classmate affection. It could even be put in the class album.
The classmates of Class 24 hesitated for a moment, but the little people in their hearts shook their heads frantically, gradually becoming firm.
Du Feiyang had originally wanted to go to the field to play basketball and let himself loose, but one classmate secretly showed him the post.
“Damn, who the hell is targeting me and Xiuxiu like this?” Du Feiyang said in shock.
There was actually a photo of him in it?
“Look at this photo. Isn’t this from when our class played basketball against the Winner Class last time?” Du Feiyang humorously pointed out the photo of him and Zhou Xiu.
Du Feiyang’s speechlessness reached its peak, and he felt anger. The photo did indeed look intimate, but after that basketball game, the entire class had touched Du Feiyang’s head.
Why had they only taken a photo of Zhou Xiu touching his head?
Tan Ming swiped through his phone expressionlessly, already contacting people to get the post deleted.
Yu Qingyan was also frightened. After spending a long time with Zhou Xiu, she had more or less guessed that Zhou Xiu’s family circumstances were not very good. Poor family background, paired with these deliberately misleading words, gave people the impression that Zhou Xiu had come to Yude to fish for a rich husband.
The comments were also very unpleasant, directly saying that Zhou Xiu’s parents had twisted their child’s moral education and were hoping to rely on men to jump social classes.
“How can rich people’s thoughts be so easy to guess? At most, the female lead will catch an honest man at school and marry into a wealthy family. But the ending of the story is often that the female lead relies on her looks, gets played with until they’re bored, and then gets thrown away.”
“When boys are young and ignorant, they’ll love her desperately. Once they wake up, that will be the beginning of her tragedy.”
The post criticised the female lead as utterly worthless.
Hua Xu flipped through the photos and thought that Xu Qing and Xie Cheng probably had one-sided feelings for Xiuxiu. Xiuxiu only had exams and competitions in her eyes. Where would she have so much free time to fish for a rich husband?
While Hua Xu was making her second call, the post suddenly disappeared.
…
Xi Shaoyuan was the first to see the post. The housekeeper had informed him of the matter. After Xi Shaoyuan made one phone call, the other side acted swiftly and deleted the post.
After making the call, Xi Shaoyuan put on his clothes and quickly came to school.
Zhou Xiu walked along the road with heavy, muddled steps, her whole body burning as she carried her schoolbag. Out of habit, she took out her phone, and that was how she saw the topic.
She browsed for a while, then turned off her phone and put it into her pocket.
How boring.
Zhou Xiu pursed her lips, a trace of mockery rising at the corner of her mouth.
As unshakably as ever, Zhou Xiu still went to the field to exercise for an hour.
But this time, scenes from the dream seemed to surface before her eyes. “Zhou Xiu” had been despised, rejected, and treated coldly by many people. Classmates who had usually been polite and friendly became indifferent after that day, their eyes no longer holding any respect.
Zhou Xiu took a few steps, then suddenly her vision went black and she fainted.
…
Xi Shaoyuan arrived at school and went to the path Zhou Xiu usually took after school, the one leading to the field. He saw Zhou Xiu slowly walking along the road, then suddenly stopping to look at her phone. His heart lurched.
The moment Zhou Xiu fell, Xi Shaoyuan reacted quickly and rushed forward, catching her.
Xi Shaoyuan took off his coat and covered her with it. He touched her pale face and used the back of his hand to test the temperature of her forehead. Then he slid his hands under her armpits and behind her knees, lifting Zhou Xiu into his arms.
Her forehead was frighteningly hot.
Xi Shaoyuan called the driver and carried her into the car. The car drove towards the hospital.
When he carried Zhou Xiu into the hospital, a doctor who had just walked out of one of the departments froze for a moment and asked in surprise, “Shaoyuan, why are you here today?”
Xi Shaoyuan sent Zhou Xiu to the emergency department.
The doctor wiped the thermometer with alcohol and tucked it under Zhou Xiu’s armpit. She took an ice pack to physically cool her down. After checking her over, she said,
“A high fever of 40°C plus over exhaustion. An IV drip will bring the fever down soon. Keep an eye on her. Let her sleep.”
The doctor soon left.
Xi Shaoyuan held Zhou Xiu’s hand, which was receiving the IV and felt icy cold. In a daze, he remembered that once, she had also warmed his hand like this when he was ill and receiving an IV.
Xi Shaoyuan covered the back of her hand with his warm palm.
His gaze fell on Zhou Xiu’s face. Zhou Xiu, who was burning with fever, had two flushed patches on her cheeks, but her lips were pale. Even while sound asleep, the corners of her lips were stubbornly pressed together. Xi Shaoyuan smoothed out the strands of hair on her forehead that had been dampened by sweat.
That evening, after receiving two large bottles of IV fluids, Zhou Xiu gradually woke up.
She blinked. Xi Shaoyuan’s tall figure was reflected in her vision, and in her groggy state, Zhou Xiu thought she was hallucinating.
Xi Shaoyuan’s hand, which had been covering her forehead, had not yet had time to withdraw. He pulled his hand back and said calmly, “Zhou Xiu—”
“It’s okay.”
He was referring to the post on the forum.
“The matter has already been resolved.”
Xi Shaoyuan understood Zhou Xiu’s personality. She was not someone who would be troubled by this. Her goal was clear and firm. Xi Shaoyuan had spent many years before finally understanding that.
But seeing her like this, he still could not help saying it.
Zhou Xiu sat up. After sweating all over, she felt somewhat tired. She looked at Xi Shaoyuan and did not really want to speak.
But remembering the sequence of events before she fainted, she gave an “Mm” and said, “It’s fine. Thank you.”
“You should go back.”
The system said: [Young one, body surface temperature: 36.8°C. Your fever has gone down.]
It had witnessed the entire incident, and with complicated feelings, it said: [You don’t need to care about other people’s gazes. I am your firmest support. I will never leave you.]
[Thank you] Zhou Xiu said.
Zhou Xiu had already experienced this kind of scenario once in that dream. She believed in her own character, and she believed in “Zhou Xiu’s” character. Zhou Xiu was not surprised that something like this had happened today.
Rather than wasting time being upset over a rumour post, Zhou Xiu would rather prepare more for competitions and exams. Right now, she was relying on them to earn living expenses.
The system dinged, then highlighted and emphasised: [As long as your grades are good, I will keep giving you rewards.]
You need to understand what you actually rely on to live!
Zhou Xiu: [Understood…]
Zhou Xiu had slept for a long time, so she felt much more relaxed now, and her body no longer felt uncomfortable. She took a set of basic English notes out of her schoolbag and slowly started reading.
Xi Shaoyuan sat to the side, trying hard to maintain a cold expression.
He watched Zhou Xiu hold a pen with her slightly bruised right hand and slowly write down a string of English words. The hospital’s snow-white walls reflected her slender figure.
Xi Shaoyuan watched for a while. The ice he had disguised in his eyes melted slightly, and he could not help saying, “That isn’t how you study English.”
“You need more exposure to original English materials: newspapers, magazines, literature, films, books, and so on. Did you read the materials I sent you before?”
Zhou Xiu crossed out her original answer and changed it to the correct one, feeling slightly irritated.
“I read them.”
Xi Shaoyuan said, “Then there shouldn’t be much of a problem with the monthly English exam. Don’t worry.”
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