Chapter 41: Ranking
After seeing Gu Xiqiao’s figure disappear up the stairs, Wu Hongwen stopped smiling and raised an eyebrow at Zhong Yongsi. “What, do you wanna fight?”
“No… Just tell her that I’m sorry.” Zhong Yongsi’s gaze cast to the ground, his tone embarrassed.
“Pfft…” Wu Hongwen swung his backpack onto his back and sneered at him. “Save it, she doesn’t need it!!”
He was initially angry at Zhong Yongsi, but he wasn’t the type to stab people in the back nor to take revenge, so he started to look for another way to help Gu Xiqiao out through the media later on. Before he could find a way to help, Gu Xiqiao herself seemed to have dealt with the problem, and if anything, the one in trouble now was Gu Xijin!
He wasn’t going to do anything more, but apologizing on Zhong Yongsi’s behalf? Dream on!
Seeing Wu Hongwen leave, Zhong Yongsi’s grip on his canvas tightened, before he walked towards the school art studio.
When Gu Xiqiao reached her class, her classmates were huddled at the podium. Every class teacher had gotten the report cards for their classes that morning, and Old Ban put it on the podium for everyone to see. As the students of the Parallel Class looked at it, they all didn’t know how to react.
The student that had the first place was naturally Gu Xiqiao, but her ranking in their grade was also the first place…
The first place in the entire grade?
In First City High, the Parallel Class had been historically the worst in terms of grades so they always got the least resources out of all the classes. The best teachers were sent to the other classes, and even their exam papers were slightly easier than average.
Back when there was news that a transfer student that was rumored to have had terrible grades, none of the other classes wanted her, so Gu Xiqiao was sent to the Parallel Class.
Now, this student got the best results in the school, even winning against the genius exam robot Luo Wenlang!
All of a sudden, everyone’s attention was gathered onto Gu Xiqiao.
“You got the first place in the entire school…” Xiao Yun was quite surprised too. Even though she knew that Gu Xiqiao was smart, she didn’t know that she was so smart that she could obtain near-perfect scores across the board. “How did you do it?”
Gu Xiqiao got to her seat and took out her books, flipping one open. “It’s not that much of a big deal, no need for the fuss.”
Gu Xiqiao’s English was so bad in her past life that she only got into B University because of her maths, but she had spent an entire lifetime studying, so it wasn’t strange that she obtained such a result.
“Gosh, are you being serious?” Xiao Yun looked at her own maths papers, before looking at the marks of the other classmates. “You can get full marks on this insanely hard paper?”
Xiao Yun had been proud of her maths in the past, but this pride of hers had been shattered as she started sitting next to Gu Xiqiao. She had already estimated that Gu Xiqiao would be able to get high marks, but she didn’t expect her to get full marks!
“Everyone improved this time around.” Gu Xiqiao smiled at her classmates that were crowding around her seat. “Our average maths grades are only second to the Rocket Class, so this is definitely a great improvement. Let’s continue with the good work until the finals come around!”
“You’re so smart it’s scary, Gu Xiqiao. Not only can you learn everything quickly, but you can also teach it better than most of our teachers too!” The class monitor squeezed into the crowd. “Sometimes I don’t even think you’re a human when I see the way you solve questions, it’s like you’re a supercomputer!”
“Yes yes…” The girl that sat behind Gu Xiqiao nodded in agreement. “Whenever I ask her about physics questions, she would reply with a single glance and get it right! I couldn’t even solve it in hours, do you know how much it shocked me?!”
“Hey, are you bragging that you can ask her questions whenever you want? I even have to bribe the person that was going to ask her a question first before I could even ask her for help! Burn, you showoff!”
“…” The class monitor waved his hand in the air, seeing the conversation starting to get out of hand. “Cut it out, guys! I’m going to treat everyone to skewers in celebration of our improvement, and of course to congratulate our Beauty Gu for getting first place!”
The average marks of the Parallel Class had increased by a whopping thirty-five marks, and was such an extreme improvement that even Old Ban didn’t believe it at first! Even though they were still weaker than the Rocket Class, but they could already be compared with the Experiment Class.
Ever since the grades came out, the disciplinary had accused the class of cheating, and even the other students in First City high thought so too. The first place in school was in their class after all, so it was probably quite easy to cheat.
The students of the Parallel Class didn’t mind all that much because they could prove themselves on the actual national finals, no?
They weren’t all that confident in themselves, but they had a borderline religious belief in Gu Xiqiao.
When lunch break came around, the Parallel Class had a barbecue party at a stall near the school, and Wu Hongwen shamelessly joined the party even though he wasn’t in the same class as them. “Hey, can anyone give me a grilled fish…Hey, Xiao Yun, can you…Fine, I’ll have grilled veggies instead!”
“You know.” Gu Xiqiao nibbled on her food slowly. “You resemble a puppy without a muzzle.”
“…” Wu Hongwen squinted at this statement of hers before his expression turned into one of awe. “Enough about that, do you know how scary it is that you surpassed that Luo Wenlang? Let me tell you, a professional tested his IQ back when we were in middle school, and they said that it was 155, which was the highest that had ever appeared in Hua Xia! For some reason, no one ever sponsored him…But that’s not the point, the point is that you surpassed his grades, which means that your IQ is definitely at least 155, and even higher!”
“This doesn’t have anything to do with IQ, it’s mostly because you’re dumb…” Gu Xiqiao glanced at him before finishing her food and getting ready to leave. “I have something to attend to, so I’ll be leaving first. Have fun, yeah?”
She and Mu Zong had planned to meet that day, and as she thought of this she reached for her backpack that held the plans that she made for Mu Zong in the virtual space the day before.
Gu Xiqiao was already gifted in finance, and she had a decade’s worth of foresight, so if she were to get involved in the market… It would definitely be much more incredible than getting a measly first place!
The place where they chose to meet was quite far away from the school, so Mu Zong had already been waiting for her when she arrived.
“Where’s Tong Tong?” Gu Xiqiao sat down across him.
“Her immune system is too weak, so she’s still in quarantine.” Mu Zong was barely thirty years old himself and was at the age where he was supposed to show his skills, but he was unfortunately scammed of all his efforts over the last decade. His daughter suddenly became chronically sick, and his wife eloped with his money, and his employees left too, leaving him with nothing than his skills and an empty husk of a company.
After experiencing so many life-changing events, he had already learned who to trust and who not to, and he was moved by Gu Xiqiao’s words from before. He was a smart man, and a meticulous organizer, and finally someone who knew how to take hold of any chances he was given.
Somehow, he felt as if this young girl in front of him was the key to break this stalemate that he was stuck in.
Chapter 42: After School Jog
Mu Zong’s company was initially focused on online games, but Gu Xiqiao knew that as technology progressed, the market would need much more than just purely online games. In her plans, she detailed several core services and plans for the future such as website creation, the development of the market in the future, e-commerce, and software development.
Together with these were management strategies and sales plans, and even countermeasures for any future management risks.
There weren’t any loopholes or flaws in her plans, and most of the plans that she detailed were daring and avant-garde, and it was at this moment that Mu Zong confirmed his hunch that this young lady in front of him was the most gifted in finance among all of the people that he had ever met.
He flipped the pages again and again, reading every word and sentence in detail as a new road to a bright future seemed to open up in front of him, clearing the haze that he was stuck in.
Gu Xiqiao took out her phone to check on the stocks as well as the time, before speaking up, “Mr. Mu, you can bring this home, you know.”
Mu Zong came back to his senses, still bewildered that such an incredible plan had been created by Gu Xiqiao, and sighed softly.
Even though he was greatly motivated and wanted to prove himself, but he still returned the documents to Gu Xiqiao, smiling bitterly. “Ms. Gu, you can completely create a company for yourself and get many sponsors and stockholders, so I can’t take advantage of you. As you know, my company is just an empty shell that won’t even be able to get granted a loan from the bank, so…”
He knew the situation that he was in, and he knew how precious the stack of papers in front of him was, so he was satisfied with only looking it over. If his company was still at its peak, he might have chosen to risk it all, but as it was now, he would only cause trouble to Gu Xiqiao and waste this incredible plan.
Gu Xiqiao pushed the documents back to Mu Zong calmly. “Mr. Mu, I am not short of money.”
As if she wanted to prove her statement, Gu Xiqiao brought him to a nearby bank, and after the accountant checked the balance of her bank card, they were immediately brought to the VIP reception room where the manager of the bank received them himself.
Mu Zong was quite shocked by this, but he still followed behind Gu Xiqiao with a poker face.
How much money would she have had to be able to get this to happen?
Gu Xiqiao immediately transferred half of her money to him. “It’s not a lot, but it should be enough for the time being.”
“Ms. Gu, don’t you think that I would run away with this money?” Mu Zong was quite stunned at how straightforward Gu Xiqiao was.
Was she brave, or did she have nothing to lose?
Hearing this, Gu Xiqiao raised an eyebrow at him as she carried her backpack. “Money is just a number for me, and I believe in my intuition. Now if you excuse me, I have classes to attend to, my class teacher is going to chew me out!”
Even if he ran off with her money, he wouldn’t be able to run out of the palm of her hand!
“Don’t wait for the bus, let me send you to school.” Mu Zong only felt the weight of the trust on his shoulders, but he was quite moved by Gu Xiqiao’s actions. “I’m your subordinate from now on, Ms. Gu, so don’t call me Mr. Mu anymore, call me Old Mu!”
“I’ll call you Uncle Mu, then.” Gu Xiqiao chuckled softly.
“Of course!” Mu Zong smiled as he looked at Gu Xiqiao, having almost forgotten that she was just a young lady that hadn’t even stepped into society yet. “It’s a suitable way to call me for your age, anyway.”
After sending Gu Xiqiao to First City High and seeing her off, he looked down at the bank card in his hand, his eyes glinting with hope after such a long time, finally finding the silver lining in the darkness.
He straightened his back, before calling a number on his phone and leaving.
Back at school, the class was already in session, and Old Ban glanced at Gu Xiqiao that was waiting for permission to enter the class with a hum. “Where did you go to?”
Gu Xiqiao bowed in apology. “I’m sorry, Teacher.”
Seeing this, Old Ban sighed softly and gestured for her to come in. “Come in. The national finals are right around the corner, so stop being so half-hearted!”
The edge of Gu Xiqiao’s lips twitched as she returned to her seat, not daring to sleep anymore and paying close attention to the remaining classes.
Meanwhile, Xiao Yun felt great pressure from having such a smart deskmate. She had gotten 101[1] marks on her Chinese this time around, which was a great improvement from her sixty marks from before, and was a decent score even when compared with the entire class.
Of course, that was on the condition that she wasn’t comparing with Gu Xiqiao.
She took out Gu Xiqiao’s Chinese papers, and the entire test paper was filled in neatly with beautiful handwriting that made the teacher hesitate to even deduct marks and only deducted a few on the essay section because no student in First City High had even gotten full marks.
Gu Xiqiao took out her phone, before glancing at Xiao Yun and speaking, “Recite the A’fang Court Prose for me.”
Xiao Yun only managed to recite a few sentences before she got stuck, flushing slightly as she looked at Gu Xiqiao sheepishly.
“I’m proud.” Gu Xiqiao snatched her papers back from Xiao Yun, her clear eyes squinted slightly in disdain. “Your handwriting improved a lot, but you didn’t even reach the average score of our class. Go jog after school!”
This was a new way that Gu Xiqiao thought of lately to get everyone to study, and even though Xiao Yun wanted to refuse, but all of their classmates that idolized Gu Xiqiao followed all of her directions without any question.
And so, there was a spectacle after school in First City High, where the school fields were taken over by a bunch of students jogging in circles, and judging from the numbers there was a classes’ worth of students that were conversing as they jogged in an orderly fashion.
Wu Hongwen who was playing basketball at a side threw the ball over to one of his teammates, before jogging over to Xiao Yun and maintaining the same pace as her. “What are you guys doing?”
“Are you blind?” Xiao Yun glanced at him and rolled her eyes, before speeding up. “Stop bothering me, I’m memorizing!”
Wu Hongwen was about to ask what was the point of jogging while memorizing, but his thoughts burst into a sudden clarity, and his knowledge started to filter and make sense more and more in his head as he ran… After spacing out for a while, his eyes flashed with interest as he continued to run with the other students.
Then, he looked around at his surroundings, before all of his attention was snatched.
The girl was sitting on the horizontal bar, one of her hands holding her bag while the other gripped onto the bar. Her delicate chin was raised slightly, and under the twilight, she seemed even more ethereal, like an immortal fairy that didn’t belong to this world. Even though she was expressionless, once Wu Hongwen looked at her, he found that he wasn’t able to look away.
[1] the maximum score should be 150 in China
Chapter 43: Old Friend
The first person that Mu Zong thought of in rebuilding the company was an old friend of his that was also the head engineer of his company in the past.
He was one of the few people that didn’t run away with the secrets of the company, instead lending him a large sum of money to help with Mu Jiatong’s medical bills.
At a barbecue stand at the side of the road, Mu Zong drank a can of beer before biting a skewer. “Wang, have you found a new company to work for yet?”
Wang Bo was a few years younger than Mu Zong and was a graduate of a renowned institution with great ability, and even if he didn’t work for any company, he would be able to earn more than enough for himself with a few freelance jobs.
Even though he was talented, he was lax and somewhat lazy at heart so he didn’t even apply for any jobs at any company after he left Mu Zong’s company.
“Same old same old, I got paid for a freelance job just yesterday, so I’ll be able to laze around for another half a month. What about you? If you don’t have enough money, I have some to spare.” Wang Bo suddenly remembered this matter and took out a bank card from his pocket, placing it on the table and pushing it over to Mu Zong. “I wanted to give this to you tomorrow when I would go to see Tong Tong, but here you are. The password is six ‘8’s as always.”
Mu Zong stared at the bank card dumbly for a moment, before smiling and pushing it back to Wang Bo. “Bro, let me show you something.”
After he said so, he put down his skewers and took out some documents from his leather briefcase.
Wang Bo took over the documents halfheartedly and flipped them open, squinting to read the words under the dim lighting. As he read the documents, the nonchalance on his face disappeared completely and was replaced with shock. “Where did you get this from?”
He looked at Mu Zong with a fervent gaze, and even his fingers were trembling slightly in excitement.
The contents of this document would be enough to change the world!
“My new boss gave this to me!” Mu Zong smiled brightly, evidently very pleased as he stretched out eight fingers towards Wang Bo. “She even gave me an eight-digit fund!”
Even back when their company was at its peak, their liquidated funds were only eight digits.
“Hey hey hey, stop eating and show me the software mentioned in here!” Wang Bo immediately stood up and went over to tug at Mu Zong, wanting to leave and see the research outcomes immediately. The software that was described to be able to help with management and even analyze future risks, in particular, intrigued him greatly.
Mu Zong waved at him calmly. “No rush, we have to get the new company registered first and get all the proper procedures done. Even though we’re using our original building, it’s a whole new company after all.”
Wang Bo nodded thoughtfully and sat back down, reaching for a bottle of beer as he tried to calm himself down. “How much confidence do you have of beating that nemesis of yours?”
“Him?” Mu Zong scoffed. ‘If I can’t even beat him with such great resources, then I might as well have lived in vain!”
“Those people that betrayed you are probably rolling in regret right now.” Wang Bo smiled lightheartedly. “Those people are still trying to recruit me into their ranks without giving up, but I’ve refused them all.”
“Thank you!” Mu Zong raised his cup towards Wang Bo.
In the next few days, Wang Bo and Mu Zong were busy with the procedures of creating a new company, as well as recruiting talented individuals to join them, and Mu Zong was so busy that he only had the chance to visit his daughter at night. Ever since Gu Xiqiao visited Mu Jiatong at the hospital within these few days, the child had become healthier, and this motivated Mu Zong to work even harder for a better future.
As the national finals came closer and closer, the third-year students collectively entered a period of tension, while Gu Xiqiao was as relaxed as always, and continued to practice calligraphy and ancient martial arts daily. Recently, she had improved some more in her ancient martial arts, and it seemed to have made her body lighter as if a weight was lifted from her shoulders.
After Gu Xiqiao finished her morning exercise routine, Mrs. Zhang gave her a bowl of medicinal soup as always, and at this point, she had already gotten used to the taste of the strange soup.
Jiang Shuxuan waited for her to join him at the table before he started eating, and in the middle of their meal, Yin Shaoyuan came in through the front door, whining as he did, “Mrs. Zhang, give me a bowl too, I’m hungry!”
Mrs. Zhang looked out from the kitchen and nodded. “Alright!”
Yin Shaoyuan walked to the table lazily and raised his eyebrows in surprise when he saw Gu Xiqiao, pointing at her as If he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. “F*ck, why is she here?!”
Gu Xiqiao ignored him completely and finished her bowl of porridge quickly before getting up from her seat.
Seeing that she was done with her breakfast, Jiang Shuxuan stood up too. “Go take your bag, I’ll be waiting for you outside.”
Yin Shaoyuan was left at the table with a bewildered expression as Mrs. Zhang walked out with a set of tableware. “Bro Jiang is going to send her to school?”
“Yes, yes.” Mrs. Zhang replied, before taking a bottle of milk and running out the door. “Qiao Qiao, you haven’t had your milk yet!”
Yin Shaoyuan that had completely been ignored sat there in a daze, not sure what had happened. The high and mighty young master Jiang was playing chauffeur for this girl… And did she just ignore him completely? What was happening?
Yin Shaoyuan rubbed his face before starting to eat out of the bowl slowly. If he told that to any of the people from Jing Capital, eight out of ten wouldn’t believe him, while the remaining two would slap him in the face.
Gu Xiqiao was conversing with Jiang Shuxuan in the car, mostly with her talking one one-sidedly to him as he listened on. Suddenly, her mobile phone rang, and after glancing at it she declined the call immediately. A few seconds later, the phone rang again, and Gu Xiqiao declined it again patiently.
The traffic light turned red, and Jiang Shuxuan stopped the car. “Phone.”
Gu Xiqiao handed it to him, and he quickly blacklisted the number with a few taps before handing it back to her.
“…” This number was the Gu family’s phone number, and she had no idea how they found this number of hers. The matter of Gu Xijin had been a few days ago, but the Gu family hadn’t done anything yet while Gu Xijin hadn’t gone to school.
Gu Xiqiao was quite confused at how they only decided to look for her all of a sudden.
“Brother Jiang, I’ll be with my classmates tonight, so you don’t need to come to fetch me.” She got down at the crossroads, then waved at Jiang Shuxuan.
Jiang Shuxuan’s pitch black orbs looked out the window, his gaze resting on Xiao Yun who was standing at the school gates before he nodded slightly, reminding her to stay safe before he drove away.
The Gu family didn’t give up even though they were blacklisted by Gu Xiqiao. After school let out that evening, Gu Xiqiao walked out the school gates together with Xiao Yun and Wu Hongwen after she led their classmates to run laps, the trio attracting the gazes of everyone as they walked.
Outside the gates, Gu Xiqiao sighed softly as she saw the black car that was parked close by. They had come here in the end, huh…
Bidding farewell to her friends, she walked over slowly to the black car.
Chapter 44: Back to Gu Manor
The back window of the car rolled down slowly, revealing an old but dignified face that made Gu Xiqiao pause in her steps.
This was the current head of the family, Master Gu, and also the one that brought Gu Xiqiao to the city from the countryside.
What sort of person was Master Gu?
He was the man that had developed the Gu family from a nameless family to one that was respected and considered as successful in N City, so he naturally had the talent and skill to go along with these feats. Even though Gu Zuhui was in charge of the family for now, but he was still referred to when anything big happened.
Gu Xiqiao gripped tightly on the bag in her hand as she looked at the figure of the old man walk slowly into the Gu family in front of her.
Gu Zuhui and Su Wan’er were sitting on the sofas in the living room, and once Master Gu came in, Su Wan’er that had become thin and frail in just a few days stood up and bowed at him. Once she saw Gu Xiqiao, however, her gaze became poisonous and cold, and if looks could kill, Gu Xiqiao would be dead by now.
Master Gu didn’t speak as he made his way to the main seat, while Su Wan’er and Gu Zuhui went over to stand next to him.
Gu Xiqiao looked down at the floor with her lips slightly pursed, feeling their piercing gazes on her.
“Have you been staying over with your classmate lately?” Master Gu accepted a cup of tea from the butler and sipped it slowly before looking up at Gu Xiqiao, his eyes sunken but still bright and piercing.
Gu Xiqiao only replied with silence, as if it were a silent confirmation.
Master Gu evidently wasn’t waiting around for a reply, so he continued, “You’re still young, so you don’t know all of this, but this matter impacted Jin greatly. Stay in the manor for the next few days without stepping out and reflect.”
Gu Xiqiao raised her head suddenly. “I’m about to have my national finals!”
“Finals? This sort of thing happened to your sister, and you’re still thinking of that?” Master Gu’s words were spoken slowly but brought with it an oppressive air. “If you like studying so much, then I’ll have you go abroad to study with Jin after everything blows over.”
“Butler, take her to her room,” Master Gu commanded.
So he was about to put her on house arrest, huh…
Gu Xiqiao closed her eyes, many thoughts running through her head as she processed the information. She had always thought that Master Gu was a fair and just person, but she now realized that she was wrong.
In the eyes of the Gu family, Gu Xiqiao was just a country bumpkin that Master Gu had saved from the backwater countryside and gave her a good life, and what did she do? To them, she was the root of all their problems, and even caused the heiress of the Gu family to be ruined overnight! To them, she was a leech that bit the hand that fed her.
In her past life, she had helped the Gu family more than enough, but she was treated like a pawn and burned to death!
Master Gu brought her here, to which she was grateful for and gave Gu Xijin chance after chance. If she wanted to take revenge, would the Gu family be able to be so peaceful?
Gu Xijin had so many chances, but she still cause all of this to happen, and who could she blame? Did Master Gu bring her back to the Gu family with such pure motives? He just wanted to use her as a stepping stone for Gu Xijin!
The current generation of the Gu family was quite unreliable, with Gu Zuhui not having the guts and foresight while Gu Xijin was just mediocre, so Master Gu had to get all the connections he could.
Gu Xiqiao knew this from the first day he had brought her to the Gu family, and this was also the reason why Su Wan’er didn’t do anything too excessive to her. Gu Xiqiao had even tried to hide all of her talent and skill to not cause any trouble, but even then, Gu Xiqiao still refused to let her go!
Gu Xiqiao walked step by step up the stairs behind the butler with her head held low, her black hair hiding the disdain in her expression.
The butler glanced at her as if he were looking at a dead person, and closed the door after Gu Xiqiao entered, locking it with a key as he did.
“Three, Four, keep an eye on her!” The butler ordered two servants that were close by, before turning towards another servant. “Our Miss hasn’t eaten yet, so go and tell the kitchen to make some Furong Chicken for her so that Lady Su can bring it up for her.”
The servant in question nodded respectfully and left.
Of course, the ‘Miss’ in question was Gu Xijin. In the Gu family, Gu Xiqiao had never been truly recognized by the members of the staff that served them.
Downstairs, Master Gu’s expression immediately darkened after Gu Xiqiao left, smashing his porcelain cup on the floor, making Su Wan’er and Gu Zuhui’s shoulders jump in fright as they broke out in a cold sweat.
“If things didn’t become as bad as they did, were you two planning on hiding this from me forever? In a mere five days, the Gu family’s stocks already hit a trading halt, and those investors all retracted their investments! Aren’t you talented and skilled? Didn’t you want to bid for the National Base? Gu Zuhui, do you only know how to come running to me when you get into trouble, hm?” Master Gu gripped one arm of the sofa as he spoke, breathing deeply as his face became flushed in anger.
It was rare for him to get so angry, so Su Wan’er and Gu Zuhui didn’t know how to react.
After a long while of Master Gu not speaking, Gu Zuhui finally mustered up the courage to speak, “I’ve been trying to investigate on the mastermind behind all of this, and I found that the man from the press conference belonged to a side branch of the Yin family, and had helped them bid for the National Base.”
“So you think that this is all planned by the Yin family?” Master Gu looked up at Gu Zuhui, before lowering his head in thought.
Then, he sighed softly and shook his head in disappointment. “Zuhui, I won’t be able to live for much longer. If you can’t even deal with something like this, how can I hand the Gu family to you? You were in the wrong from the beginning, Ah Jin is your daughter, but isn’t Gu Xiqiao your daughter too? For you to force her to apologize to Ah Jin in front of all of those people would ultimately bring shame onto the Gu family all the same, and even give a chance for others to meddle!”
“I’ll deal with this by myself, so all you have to do is keep an eye on Gu Xiqiao and not let her appear in the eyes of the public for the time being.” Master Gu glanced at Gu Zuhui again in disappointment.
A coward without an opinion and any will or plans… And Ah Jin didn’t seem as if she had any talent either… As for Gu Xiqiao that only knew how to cause trouble…
He regretted bringing her back to the family!
Chapter 45: Late Night Stroll
In the living room, only Gu Zuhui and Su Wan’er were left there, pale from being berated by Master Gu.
“I told you that you should have asked and referred to my brother, now you’ve done it! Father is completely disappointed in you, do you want him to give the Gu family to someone else?” After a while, Su Wan’er spoke.
Gu Zuhui sat down on the sofa and looked at her with a gaze that held a thinly veiled disdain at her words, but his tone was calm. “In any case, Father is back now. He’ll find a way to deal with this.”
Ask those ravenous dogs from the Su family? Did they think that he was a fool that didn’t know their schemes?
Upstairs, Gu Xiqiao took out her papers as always, and as she was in the middle of finishing it, she realized that something was tugging at his pants. She lowered her head slightly, and her gaze locked with a pair of bright and beady eyes.
The fluffy ball of fur realized that Gu Xiqiao had finally noticed it, and so it rolled around and whimpered softly, turning its head over to one side and playing dead.
The weak whines of the dog made Gu Xiqiao feel pity even though she knew very well that it was just acting, so she carried it up and looked at its somewhat weak expression. Its white fur lacked a sheen to it as if it hadn’t been taken care of properly lately, and Gu Xiqiao couldn’t help but pat its head gently. “Look at you, how many days have they not fed you?”
As if it sensed the caring tone in Gu Xiqiao’s voice, the puppy’s cries became even more tragic.
Gu Xiqiao stopped teasing it and dug around her bag for a while before taking out a piece of bacon and a box of milk.
The puppy finished the food she offered quickly before looking up at her again, evidently hadn’t had its fill yet.
Even though this was a stray that Gu Xijin took back home, but she didn’t care about it at all. The servants didn’t exactly like it either because it was just a regular white dog without a pedigree, and they would only feed it leftovers whenever they felt like doing so. Meanwhile, all of the high-grade dog food was fed to Su Wan’er’s Lowchen dog.
“You’re Gu Xijin’s dog, so I don’t like you at all!” Gu Xiqiao carried it up by the scruff of its neck and threatened emotionlessly.
The dog’s paws froze in place for a moment, before it tried even harder to act cute.
Gu Xiqiao put it down again, herself not having eaten anything either and starving, so she chose to just enter the virtual space, quickly calming down and finishing her daily missions and practising ancient martial arts.
“The spirit protects the Kun Palace, and the chi shall flow freely.”
Chi Induction was the second level of ancient martial arts, and the Kun Palace referred to a spot in the body where chi was produced.
In the virtual space that didn’t have a concept of time, Gu Xiqiao used roughly two months yet she felt as if she were perpetually one step away from the next level. She didn’t know what she lacked, but she felt as if there weren’t much use to stay in there any further, so she could only leave the space first.
Seeing that the dog had laid down by her bed, she held her palm to her forehead and chuckled softly. “Hey, I’m going to leave this place now, are you willing to come with me? Bark once for yes.”
“Woof~”
As soon as she finished her sentence, it barked at her once while wagging its tail.
This dog had always been smart, or else it wouldn’t have attracted the attention of Gu Xiqiao. “Saying this beforehand, but you better behave once we get out of here. Don’t think I didn’t know that you peed on the bed and made it seem like the Lowchen did it!”
The beady eyes of the puppy looked at her for another moment, before barking once in reply.
Gu Xiqiao carried it up and put it into her bag. “Don’t make a sound.”
[Beauty Qiao, do you want to buy an Invisibility Talisman with ten points?]
“Sure.”
[Ding! Invisibility Talisman bought successfully, effects active for half an hour.]
At the moment that the system spirit spoke, Gu Xiqiao’s body rippled like water, before disappearing in thin air. The Invisibility Talisman sounded like a big deal, but it was just a low-grade talisman that changed the light rays so that they would distort around her.
Gu Xiqiao pushed open her window and jumped out from the second floor, and with her current mastery of ancient martial arts, it was a piece of cake to land safely.
It was almost ten o’clock at night, and the servants were still doing chores around the house, but none of them could see her. She wanted to leave the manor immediately, but some urge possessed her to make her way to Gu Xijin’s balcony, peering in through the glass windows.
Gu Xijin was even more pale and frail than Su Wan’er, and she was currently sitting on the bed while Su Wan’er was trying to convince her to eat.
“Mom…” Gu Xijin didn’t eat at all and only cried as she looked at Su Wan’er.
Su Wan’er was on the verge of tears upon seeing Gu Xijin in this state and immediately hugged her tight with her teeth grit. “Ah Jin, I know things have been hard for you, but don’t worry! In a few days, your grandfather is going to send you two to America, and by then I’ll have someone accept you over there. It’s quite chaotic over there, so I’ll find a way to help you get revenge!”
It was way too easy to make someone disappear in those foreign lands, and judging from Master Gu’s reaction, he wouldn’t mind even if Gu Xiqiao disappeared, and even if she died, who would care?
Gu Xijin kept on crying, while Su Wan’er continued to comfort her, cursing Gu Xiqiao and swearing that she would make her pay the price as she did.
After a few minutes, Gu Xiqiao got sick of looking at the disgusting scene and scoffed, before jumping down from the balcony and leaving Gu Manor without any regrets.
Even if Gu Xijin was clearly in the wrong, but Su Wan’er still believed in her unconditionally.
Taking out the puppy from her bag, she held it to eye level and tilted her head. “What’s your name? Can’t tell me? Then I’ll make one up for you… Hm, I’ll call you Haha then.”
As she talked, she rubbed and squished it as if Haha were a stuffed toy. “Since no one wants you and no one wants me, let’s have each others’ backs hm?”
If she were to get into a fight with Gu Xijin, the latter would have Su Wan’er to protect her, and now she would at least have a puppy that would stand on her side. Would it bite Gu Xijin even though it was picked back by her?
Gu Xiqiao rubbed her chin thoughtfully as she looked at Haha.
The evening wind was quite cool, and even though she wore the dress that Xiao Yun bought for her, it only looked pretty but didn’t do much in terms of keeping her warm. Gu Xiqiao could only grumble about how useless the dress was as she rubbed her arms to warm herself up.
The road she picked didn’t have any streetlights, but she wasn’t scared in the least.
A light shone from behind her, and she nimbly dodged to one side as the screeching noise of a car braking was heard. The black car drifted and stopped in front of Gu Xiqiao before the window rolled down slowly, revealing a handsome face.
Yin Shaoyuan switched on his phone and looked up at Gu Xiqiao, before showing her the screen. “Look at the time, it’s one o’clock in the early morning. What are you doing, second daughter of the Gu family?”
Gu Xiqiao looked at him with a clear and calm gaze, smiling softly. “Just having a little stroll.”
After half an hour, the car stopped in front of Jiang Shuxuan’s mansion. The lights were switched on and the door was open because Yin Shaoyuan had given Jiang Shuxuan notice beforehand.
Inside the mansion, Jiang Shuxuan was sitting on the couch and reading a book, his lips pressed into a thin line. He was wearing casual clothes, and it made him seem a little less imposing and gaze him a lazy and relaxed air.