This eldest young master of the Xi family gave Zhou Xiu an indescribably strange feeling. Zhou Xiu could even understand “Zhou Xiu,” but she could not understand him.
Zhou Xiu patiently waited for the IV drip to finish. The nurse came to remove the needle for her. With a snap, she closed her study materials, stuffed them into her schoolbag, put on her coat, shouldered her bag, and left the ward.
Holding her bank card, Zhou Xiu went to the payment counter to pay her medical fees. The staff at the counter told her that the fees had already been paid by Xi Shaoyuan, so Zhou Xiu took out her ID card and asked them to print another copy of the bill.
Xi Shaoyuan had arranged a VIP ward for Zhou Xiu. She had only slept for a short while, yet it had cost over a thousand yuan. Zhou Xiu felt terribly distressed.
She took out her phone and transferred the medical fees to Xi Shaoyuan.
In the ward, Xi Shaoyuan’s phone buzzed. As expected, he saw the medical fees Zhou Xiu had transferred over. His thumb slid across Zhou Xiu’s profile picture, and a faint smile seeped into his eyes.
“Silly.”
…
Key No. 4 High School.
The day after the biology competition exam, the biology group at No. 4 High had already produced a review draft. The review draft was the reference answer provided for discussion; the final standard answer would later be revised and adjusted based on it.
The full mark was 150. After many No. 4 High students estimated their scores, they all said they had done very well. However, many of them had fallen into the trap of a certain question. Still, they had more than enough marks to qualify for the league finals.
No. 4 High’s legendary study god, Du Heng, had scored full marks.
Yue Shi paid more attention to matters concerning Yude Middle School. By chance, she saw that post, and Jiang Yuanyuan saw it too.
She said in great surprise, “Zhou Xiu really is no different from how you described her.”
After reading the post, Jiang Yuanyuan felt as if her worldview had been shattered. How could there be such a person? And a student like that still wanted to enter the league finals and rank in the top three?
Jiang Yuanyuan turned off her phone and said, “With such crooked thoughts, she definitely doesn’t have time to study. Her family background isn’t good, yet she still doesn’t work hard. Yue Shi, you’ll definitely live better than her in the future.”
After reading the post, Yue Shi froze for a long time and said nothing.
By that evening, the situation with the post had reversed. However, Jiang Yuanyuan and the others were busy studying and had no interest in wasting time following news about someone they did not know.
…
That evening.
When Zhou Xiu returned home, she discovered that, for once, her parents had closed their stall early and come home.
Zhou Cheng’s emotions were complicated. He looked at his daughter, wanting to speak but stopping himself.
Today, several students had come to his noodle stall, holding up their phones and showing them the post, asking if they knew about this matter. Both openly and indirectly, they accused them of sending their daughter to a noble private school with improper intentions.
The couple had been humiliated. Zhou Cheng was so angry that he drove those people away on the spot. He even stopped doing business and urged his wife to pack up the stall and go home.
As Liu Mei wiped the floor, she let out a low sigh and asked, “Xiu’er, are you dating someone at school?”
Zhou Xiu’s movement of taking medicine paused slightly. “No.”
Zhou Xiu suspected that they might have learned something.
Liu Mei was not good at keeping things in. She was about to tell Zhou Xiu about being pointed at and scolded, but before the words could leave her mouth, her husband interrupted her.
“Why are you worrying blindly all day? Xiu’er has her own sense of proportion.”
Zhou Cheng touched his daughter’s head. He asked seriously, “Xiu’er will study properly, right?”
Zhou Xiu looked at her father’s restrained expression and nodded. “I will.”
Zhou Cheng smiled in relief.
Although Zhou Cheng did not have much education, he still understood right from wrong. Zhou Xiu had been sponsored by Mrs Xi to attend that school; Zhou Cheng had had no choice in the matter.
After reading the post, he had felt both heartbroken and furious.
Was it a sin for a poor family’s child to attend that kind of school? Xiu’er had not spent a single cent of the family’s money to study there. If they had been wealthy parents, their daughter would never have suffered such misunderstanding and injustice.
Looking at Zhou Cheng’s expression, Zhou Xiu understood that her parents knew at least something about the post.
Originally, she had not been interested in that post and had not even finished reading it.
This time, she opened the post and found that it had long since been deleted. She then found some remaining online comments and read through the text line by line. The cool glow from her phone screen fell across her face. Then she turned off her phone.
…
The next day, Zhou Xiu arrived at school.
As she walked into the campus, she was met head-on by all kinds of colourful, strange gazes.
Zhou Xiu came to the classroom and put down her schoolbag. She had gone to sleep very early last night and had no idea what had happened during the night.
Du Feiyang looked at her and let out a “Wow.”
The underachievers in the class looked at Zhou Xiu with complicated gazes.
Hua Xu smiled and moved aside to let Zhou Xiu sit. Seeing that Zhou Xiu’s mental state seemed quite good, and that colour had returned to her face unlike yesterday’s sickly appearance, she asked,
“You didn’t play on your phone last night, did you?”
Zhou Xiu paused for a moment, then said seriously, “I know everything.”
Hua Xu let out a breath of relief. “It’s fine even if you know.”
“Someone came out to help Xiuxiu last night.”
Unlike Zhou Xiu, who had slept without a care, Hua Xu had watched the entire matter unfold last night.
The boys whose photos appeared in the post had all posted on Weibo. First, Xu Qing, Du Feiyang, and the boy from the Winner Class came out to clarify things.
Xu Qing posted on Weibo: “Zhou Xiu is an especially outstanding classmate.”
The Winner Class boy also posted: “Zhou Xiu is an especially outstanding classmate.”
Du Feiyang only posted a surveillance video of the entire class taking turns patting his head, with a smiling emoji attached.
The post began to reverse slightly. Then, during the peak traffic period around seven or eight in the evening, Xie Cheng appeared.
Xie Cheng posted a photo of his family’s car, as well as a photo of his family’s driver, with the caption: “I fell asleep from exhaustion after competition class. Is there a problem? Also, this is my family’s driver. That night, we wrote exam papers until too late. I was worried about a girl going home alone, so I gave her a lift since it was on the way. /image/image/video.”
Xie Cheng posted a video as proof. That night, the two of them had indeed been writing exam papers until half past eleven.
The so-called pot-bellied, balding old man driving the luxury car was merely the Xie family’s driver and had nothing to do with Zhou Xiu herself.
When someone asked about Xie Cheng’s relationship with the female lead, several students who had been present and writing maths competition papers together also appeared, leaving comments one after another.
“Damn, even God Xie can be slandered here? That day, several of us were all writing papers together in the classroom. Please stop falsely accusing a girl, okay? Surveillance footage attached /video,” said Top Student A from the Winner Class.
“The coat on God Xie’s body was even draped over him by me. I swear on the bet that I’ll fail maths from now on: Zhou Xiu was so busy that day she didn’t even have time to rest,” another top student followed up.
“Isn’t the most unbelievable thing that the entire class patted Du Feiyang’s head, yet only the photo of Zhou Xiu and him together was taken? Who exactly did Zhou Xiu offend this time to be slandered this badly?”
Although the original post was quickly deleted, some netizens with excellent memories were still fighting.
“There are too many paid commenters in this thread, aren’t there? The female lead’s fans have arrived—”
“If that’s the case, then please explain where Zhou Xiu got the money to afford branded clothes worth tens of thousands, and to attend a noble private school with tuition fees of over a hundred thousand a year?”
…
“As expected, a girl who can handle wealthy second-generation heirs isn’t simple herself. To have so many sincere supporters at the same time—her emotional intelligence is terrifying.”
Below, there was a whole row of brainless fans saying, “I don’t believe it, I don’t believe it.” Back and forth, round and round, they used their powerful brainwashing conspiracy theories to try to convince others.
Du Feiyang, Hua Xu, and the others, who were watching the post unfold, were completely bewildered. “???”
Weren’t these people the real paid commenters?
Truly, spreading rumours only took one mouth, but refuting them could run your legs off.
When Xi Shaoyuan returned home that evening, he discovered that the Tianya post was still being continuously deleted, but the scolding and exposés had not fully died down. He rubbed his temples and called Mrs Xi.
Finally, at 9:00 p.m., Mrs Xi used her long-unused, almost overgrown Weibo account to repost a certain comment and added the words: “Zhou Xiu is a very hardworking child. Her school fees are sponsored by Guangyu Group. Rumours stop with the wise.”
The clothes Zhou Xiu wore all had purchase records from the Xi family. They were not gifts from some boy.
Guangyu had indeed been running a programme to sponsor poor students for years.
The Tianya gossip spectators had only eaten half the melon when the melon shocked them so badly it practically fell from their hands. Then, seeing Mrs Xi’s statement, they instantly felt as if the 2D and 3D worlds had been connected. They were so frightened that they no longer dared to casually eat gossip.
Mrs Xi had nine million followers and was the only woman in recent years to rank among the top five on the Hurun Rich List. She was so rich that even men felt ashamed in comparison.
How could an ordinary female high school student know such a powerful figure?
Why would this top-level wealthy person get involved in such a vulgar gossip post meant to be laughed over after meals? The netizens felt as if someone had used a butcher’s knife to kill a chicken.
The gossip crowd on Tianya finally dispersed, feeling as though they had eaten a mouthful of fake, low-quality plastic melon and nearly tripped over their own tongues.
Hua Xu asked, “Does Xiuxiu know Mrs Xi?”
For some unknown reason, even a bigshot like Mrs Xi had appeared yesterday.
Zhou Xiu was slow for a moment, then said, “I do know her, but… we’re not very familiar.”
She thought of how Xi Shaoyuan had told her at the hospital yesterday that “everything has been resolved.” So this was what he meant by resolving it…
Hearing Zhou Xiu’s answer, Hua Xu remembered some previous clues.
So Zhou Xiu and Mrs Xi had this kind of relationship. No wonder Zhou Xiu had once asked her for Xi Shaoyuan’s bank account. Not many people in school knew that Mrs Xi was Xi Shaoyuan’s mother, because she almost never came to Xi Shaoyuan’s parent-teacher meetings.
Hua Xu had only discovered this truth by chance at a banquet, when she had seen Xi Shaoyuan standing beside Mrs Xi from afar.
She had not expected Mrs Xi to be willing to come out and help Zhou Xiu.
Hua Xu had also never known that Zhou Xiu’s family was this poor. Previously, she had thought Zhou Xiu was just a child from an ordinary family. She said, “This period of time might be hard on you.”
Although the rumours had been forcefully clarified by Mrs Xi and had temporarily come to an end, the fact that Zhou Xiu’s family circumstances were like this, yet she attended Yude, really was something that could easily attract misunderstandings.
When Hua Xu said this, Zhou Xiu gently furrowed her brows.
They both understood this logic.
Du Feiyang continued scrolling through the remaining discussions on the forum. Netizens had gradually begun a new wave of comments.
“If a bigshot like Mrs Xi sponsored me and let me wear branded clothes every day, I’d definitely be envied too /dog-head-to-save-my-life.”
“Why do I feel like this kind of sponsorship is a bit excessive? She even bought clothes worth tens of thousands for her. Wouldn’t this encourage vanity in poor students?”
“This isn’t helping her. This is clearly harming her! It’s just like *X-Change*. It’s obviously just a game for rich people, but the rural child takes it seriously.”
“How would a rich person like Mrs Xi know that tens of thousands of yuan is expensive? What if she bought it casually? If you casually gave someone a piece of clothing worth a hundred or so yuan, would you think it was expensive? /dog-head-to-save-my-life.jpg.”
After school, Zhou Xiu thought for a while, then knocked on the door of the homeroom teacher’s office.
She handed in a handwritten transfer application. The homeroom teacher clearly knew about the matter too. She looked at Zhou Xiu with a complicated gaze and said,
“Why? Zhou Xiu, you’ve adapted very well here.”
In the homeroom teacher’s eyes, those online remarks were nothing but bullying a young girl.
At first, Miss Li had not had a very good impression of Zhou Xiu. But after spending almost half a semester with her, she saw persistence and perseverance in Zhou Xiu. She had made the entire Class 24 become positive, hardworking, and full of drive.
This was a person full of positive energy. Wherever she went, people would like her and could not help admiring her.
She was someone even the top class could not steal away, yet now she could be driven away by a mere post? Miss Li almost lost her temper.
Zhou Xiu pursed her lips, feeling too embarrassed to say the main reason. Yude really was not suitable for her. The netizens were right: the tuition fees for a noble private school were still too expensive. In order to gather this tuition, Zhou Xiu was always living in the anxiety of lacking money.
Miss Li pushed the transfer application back to Zhou Xiu. “Think about it carefully for one more week. If you still think this way after a week, I won’t try to persuade you anymore.”
Although Zhou Xiu had already made up her mind to leave, seeing her homeroom teacher try so hard to keep her, the words of refusal stopped at her lips and were swallowed back down.
Even if Zhou Xiu transferred schools, the earliest she would do it was after the monthly exam results came out. She would get the monthly exam reward first, then transfer.
The system: […]
Young one, I thought you would at least be a little reluctant to part with the friends and classmates here.
Zhou Xiu furrowed her brows. Of course she was reluctant, but annual tuition fees of over a hundred thousand yuan were, after all, not a light burden.
Children from poor families could not afford to attend noble private high schools.
Within a week, the monthly exam results Zhou Xiu had been waiting for finally came out one after another.
At the same time, the results for the Biology League preliminary round also came out and were posted on the official website. Because all the papers had been marked by machine, and because teachers from the major high schools had also been urging them, the marking teachers were especially efficient. In less than a week, the results for all examinees in the city had been released.
The teachers in Yude Middle School’s biology group were smiling so widely they could barely close their mouths. Holding the score sheet, they could not help rubbing their eyes.
“Old He, your cohort this year is too fierce.”
Every year, there were good seedlings who scored full marks, but full marks had never fallen onto Yude Middle School’s head. Although this year’s questions were slightly easier than in previous years, it was still a competition, and it was meant to select the very best students, so the difficulty was still there. This time, there were no more than ten students in the entire city who scored full marks.
[Ding—Biology League preliminary round city-level No. 1. Reward: 30,000 RMB.]
Zhou Xiu, who had already made her decision and had arrived at the office to submit her transfer application: “…”
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