Ignoring the “minor incident” from the rooftop of the Laboratory Building to the hospital, Qin Yuan’s vacation had been a bit too enjoyable.
Every morning, she would wake up, check her bank balance, and find her future so bright that she couldn’t even fall back asleep.
After a while, she would think of Li Yue lying in the hospital bed, and a huge sweatdrop would appear above her head. Qin Yuan smiled bitterly, realizing that her future was so bright because it had been nuked.
Qin Yuan bought a lot of nutritional supplements and even had the chef prepare nourishing soups for Li Yue every day, which she sent over. However, she never went to the hospital herself, instead asking Uncle Wu to make the trips for her.
She wasn’t particularly concerned about whether Li Yue would accept these gifts or not. As long as the gesture was made, it was enough—mainly, she was spending money to ease her conscience.
Uncle Wu, on the other hand, happily reported to her every day, saying, “Miss, your classmate is really worry-free. The doctors say that at his age, he should be in a critical period of growth and development, but his eating habits are poor, and his stomach and intestines aren’t in good shape either.”
Oh, Qin Yuan nodded, indicating she understood. Stomach problems—a standard feature for domineering CEOs. It was perfectly normal for someone his age to develop this condition. There wasn’t much time left for stomach problems to catch up with him anyway.
Although she thought this way, since she had started helping, she might as well go all the way. The kind-hearted Miss Qin waved her hand grandly and said, “Let the doctor prescribe some medicine, preferably the kind he can take with his meals.”
It wouldn’t kill him.
Youth truly had its advantages. Li Yue recovered quickly and was able to leave the hospital on the last day of the vacation.
As usual, Uncle Wu arrived at the ward carrying a thermal container. This time, there was an unfamiliar middle-aged man beside Li Yue, helping him pack his things. The man’s words were full of concern: “You really should have told your uncle about something as serious as being hospitalized. I’ve told you not to treat yourself like an outsider…”
He rambled on but stopped when he saw Uncle Wu enter the room, looking puzzled.
Li Yue smoothly took the soup for the day and then introduced the two men to each other.
“This is my family elder, Uncle,” he first introduced Rong Zheng, who was beside him, then looked at Uncle Wu, realizing he didn’t know how to introduce him. Should he directly say he was his classmate’s driver? That would be too strange.
Uncle Wu quickly took over, extending his hand to Rong Zheng with a warm smile. “I’m here to check on Li Yue on behalf of his classmate.”
Seeing that the other man was dressed more respectably than himself, Rong Zheng hurriedly wiped his hands on his clothes before shaking Uncle Wu’s hand with both of his.
After a brief exchange, Rong Zheng introduced himself as a friend of Li Yue’s father. He explained that the boy had no responsible elders in his family, and he couldn’t stand by and watch, so he offered some help.
Only then did Li Yue seem like a typical 16-year-old minor, obediently listening to the elders’ conversation from behind.
In the five minutes it took Li Yue to finish his soup, Rong Zheng had almost spilled all the details about Li Yue’s background.
He talked about how well Li Yue performed academically, how smart he was, how hard he worked while studying, and how he had to take care of himself and his grandmother from a very young age, never complaining…
Rong Zheng’s tone was both heartbroken and proud. “He’s just too sensible. He didn’t even mention he was sick and even asked me to help look after his grandmother. It wasn’t until he was discharged that I, as his uncle, found out the kid had been hospitalized.”
Uncle Wu listened to the whole story and roughly understood why the young lady was particularly concerned about this classmate. The kid was indeed uniquely unfortunate.
Before leaving, Li Yue hesitated for a moment but still added to Uncle Wu, “Please thank her for me.”
These details were not only relayed to Qin Yuan but also delivered to the office of Qin Tianliang, who had just returned from a trip with his wife.
Qin Tianliang listened to the driver’s report about his daughter’s experiences over the past few days. When he heard that the Zhu family boy had nearly caused a death, he raised an eyebrow and sighed, “She keeps bad company.”
Upon learning that his daughter had gone to rescue someone and even paid the medical expenses, Qin Tianliang’s expression softened, and he remarked with pride, “That’s my girl.”
Utterly doting.
President Qin pondered for a moment. As a businessman, he naturally recognized the hidden risks behind these events.
It was true that his daughter had taken that classmate to the hospital, and it was also true that the incident was connected to her.
He waved for Uncle Wu to approach. “Coordinate with the secretary. Make an anonymous donation to No. 1 High School in the name of an alumnus, establishing a scholarship. The selection of recipients must include this Li Yue.”
Qin Tianliang flipped through a page of documents in the folder, which contained detailed information about Li Yue’s family background and life.
Outstanding in character and academics, resilient in spirit—he was only one step away from success. The scholarship was merely insurance for the future. If he was smart enough, he would naturally understand what should and shouldn’t be said.
After the holiday ended, the students of Class 37 noticed that their academic prodigy, Li Yue, had not returned to school.
“Teacher Chai said Li Yue is sick,” Xing Baitao promptly shared the latest information.
Qin Yuan subtly pinched her own finger. Only she knew what had truly happened.
Wu Zhuoyuan, scribbling furiously, wailed in despair, “This is so heartbreaking. I deliberately left my physics homework unfinished, waiting to copy Li Yue’s. This is truly heartbreaking.”
Shi Qinghua was displeased by this remark and tried to take back her physics workbook. “You’re being picky now? If you’re not going to copy it, give it back!”
Qin Yuan was exchanging small holiday gifts with Xing Baitao and could roughly guess the reason for Li Yue’s leave.
Although he had been discharged from the hospital, he still had three follow-up appointments within the week. Returning to school would indeed be inconvenient, so it was better to take leave and recuperate.
“I wonder when he’ll be back?” Xing Baitao said while secretly observing her deskmate’s expression. She noticed Qin Yuan’s face was cold and indifferent, her entire aura radiating three big words:
Who cares?
In the midst of his busywork, Wu Zhuoyuan looked up at everyone, firmly pressing down on Shi Qinghua’s workbook and whispering in protest, “Be a little nicer to your classmates.”
It was unclear whether he was referring to Shi Qinghua or Qin Yuan.
Only Ye Jia, watching from the sidelines, wore a look of despair and calmly voiced everyone’s thoughts: “I want to take leave too. I don’t want to go to school…”
Li Yue returned to school ten days later.
He had grown noticeably thinner, his complexion still pale from prolonged illness. Yet his eyes were as still and deep as a cold pond, his demeanor growing even more aloof, making him seem difficult to approach.
But someone paid no heed to this.
Wu Zhuoyuan tightly grasped his hand, tears welling in his eyes. “Yue, I missed you so much. Have you lost weight?”
His deskmate, Yu Changyu, revealed the truth to Li Yue: “He got called on in physics class yesterday and couldn’t answer, so he had to stand for half the period. Now he’s especially nostalgic for the days when he could copy your answers.”
“Don’t talk nonsense!” Wu Zhuoyuan pushed Yu Changyu aside and sat down next to Li Yue, gazing at the walking physics answer key with deep affection, as if pouring out his heart: “Our Yue really does seem thinner…”
Li Yue expressionlessly pulled his hand back and used Wu Zhuoyuan’s school uniform to wipe it vigorously three times.
At lunchtime, Wu Zhuoyuan vowed to rebuild his bond with the savior of physics class and cheerfully invited Li Yue to join him for lunch in the cafeteria. “It’s Monday today—the second cafeteria has limited-supply grilled meat!”
Li Yue flatly refused him: “Go by yourself. My stomach’s upset, I can’t eat.”
The next day, Li Yue found two boxes of imported stomach medicine in his desk, perfectly replenishing his supply.
He didn’t need to think to know who had left them. Only one person in the whole class could possibly know his prescription. Li Yue pushed the purple medicine boxes back into his desk and glanced toward the seat by the wall.
Her back was straight, probably calculating a key step in a problem, twisting her hair as she faced her scratch paper.
For two days, she hadn’t given him a single glance, and now she seemed completely unrelated to these two boxes of medicine.
How could someone behave so contradictorily?
Wu Zhuoyuan, Class 37’s resident ecologist, noticed a subtle shift in the atmosphere between Li Yue and his “Qin-jie.”
The dynamic between them seemed to have reversed. For a while before, it had been Qin Yuan quietly approaching the seat by the back window, but Li Yue would just act like he didn’t see her, his face cold.
Now, it was Qin Yuan who acted like she didn’t see him.
Between classes, during group activities, or coming and going from school, Li Yue would always look at her, intentionally or not—even blatantly so—but Qin Yuan never gave him a proper look.
At least before the break, she’d deign to give him a glare.
Wu Zhuoyuan desperately wanted to know why, but he didn’t dare ask either side, so he urged Xing Baitao to investigate.
Mainly because he wanted a piece of the gossip himself, Xing Baitao, bearing this important task, cautiously probed Qin Yuan: “So… did you upset him again?”
Qin Yuan was speechless. Clearly, he was the one staring at her, so how did everyone conclude she had upset him?
Stereotypes are unacceptable!
But she was too tired to explain and prepared to brush it off, adopting a playboy’s tone: “Maybe, who knows with him.”
There was no time to dwell on the class’s strange atmosphere. The students, who had just entered high school two months ago, were about to face their first major exam.
Just as they switched to autumn uniforms, midterms arrived with November. After three days of testing, Qin Yuan stared blankly at the sky, again wanting to find a wall to crash into to see if she could return to her original world.
Some lessons just can’t be learned even in two lifetimes—like chemistry.
Although her parents didn’t have high expectations for her grades, Qin Yuan herself felt the scores were too low to stomach. She had tried very hard to cram at the last minute, but the results were unsatisfactory.
The grades came out too quickly. Homeroom teacher Chai Yuanliang swiftly created a chart and projected it onto the big screen, letting everyone see their scores and rankings.
On the line graph, the highest line ended with Li Yue’s name, leaving everyone else in the dust.
Wu Zhuoyuan’s hands trembled as he held his test paper, muttering: “Next time, please don’t invite our Zhuoyuan to such events, okay? Okay.”
Teacher Chai then pulled up the school-wide ranking list. Li Yue was indeed on the first page, but something caught Qin Yuan’s attention.
The number in front of him was 2.
Second place? Qin Yuan’s pen tip drew a circle on her scratch paper, somewhat puzzled.
She didn’t remember Li Yue ever scoring second place in the original book. The protagonist’s unattainable heights were reflected in every aspect—how could there be a time when he was outranked?
Qin Yuan tilted her head slightly to look toward the back window and saw Li Yue merely glance up at the screen before continuing with his problems, as if this was all expected.
It seems that serious illness affected him greatly. Qin Yuan spun her pen, lowering her head in thought. So, did I waste my money on those supplements?
Damn it! Useless!
The students discussed their respective grades for a while, some delighted, others worried. During the evening self-study break, Qin Yuan and Xing Baitao leaned against the corridor railing to catch the breeze, avoiding the overly enthusiastic inquiries about scores from everyone else.
Then they spotted three boys emerging from the stairwell in the distance, heading straight toward them.
The three were ordinary in appearance, but their presence was anything but ordinary. Walking side by side, they carried an air of overwhelming force, sweeping across the entire corridor and drawing the attention of students from neighboring classes.
The boy in the middle appeared to be over 1.7 meters tall, with a close-cropped buzz cut, yet his eyebrows were unusually thin, looking out of place on his face.
The trio stopped at the back door of Class 37, completely indifferent to the curious glances around them.
Xing Baitao sensed the scent of fresh gossip and nudged Qin Yuan closer to the back door, straining on tiptoe to peer into the classroom over the crowd of onlookers from the neighboring class.
The boy in the middle took the lead, stepping into the classroom, and then asked with feigned casualness, “Is Li Yue here?”
Inside the classroom, Li Yue looked up at the three unexpected visitors.
Oh… Qin Yuan realized—this was the setup for a face-slapping scene prepared for the male lead!
Author’s Note: