Yu Yao’s heart ached intensely.
Zhao Chuji had always been well-behaved. Before doing her classroom cleaning duty, she had specifically sent a message to Yu Yao, letting her know she would be returning home a bit late.
However, even as night fell, Zhao Chuji still had not returned, and her phone would not go through.
In a rush, Yu Yao contacted “X,” only for “X” to tell her that he happened to be on his day off today.
Nevertheless, having stayed at the school for so long, “X” was well aware of the common bullying tactics used by the students, and he pointed Yu Yao in the right direction.
Yu Yao rushed to the school, but the security guard was unwilling to let her through the gates. It wasn’t until “X” hurried over and slipped some money to the guard that the guard took the keys and went with them to search for her.
Fortunately, nothing terrible had happened to Zhao Chuji.
Yet, Yu Yao’s heart was flooded with boiling rage…
Why did Zhao Chuji have to endure all this?
Zhao Chuji was obedient, sensible, and never got into disputes with anyone; she only wanted to live a peaceful life.
As the female lead, Zhao Chuji seemed to have never enjoyed any of the privileges a female lead ought to have. Instead, she was constantly subjected to all kinds of harm.
At this very moment, Yu Yao would rather Zhao Chuji lose those stereotypical, virtuous female lead qualities and become more aggressive and selfish. Only then would she stop constantly bearing the brunt of such cruelty.
However, since it was already late into the night, the main culprit, Sun Yan, had already gone home, and Teacher Cao was not at the school either. Yu Yao had no choice but to call Teacher Cao to brief her on what had happened, agreeing to come to the school the next day after the monthly examinations to settle the matter.
On the way home, the more Yu Yao thought about it, the more distressed she became, to the point where she nearly cried out of sheer anger.
But she was the head of the household now. If she cried, Zhao Chuji would likely feel even worse.
She could only keep her eyes red the entire way, tightly clutching Zhao Chuji’s hand.
The dishes on the table had already gone cold. Yu Yao reheated the food and sat down opposite Zhao Chuji.
“Chuji, after the monthly exams, I am absolutely transferring you to another class!”
With a taut face, she assumed a highly serious attitude to discuss the matter with Zhao Chuji.
Chuji treated others with tolerance and only reported the good news while hiding the bad. Yu Yao had previously heard a lot about Chuji being bullied from “X” as well.
Back then, those incidents were minor. Since Chuji had been unwilling to switch schools, Yu Yao had indulged her.
But now, it had escalated to physical harm. She refused to look the other way any longer.
If Chuji didn’t want to transfer schools, then she would transfer classes. She absolutely could not tolerate Chuji and Sun Yan being in the same classroom for another second!
She only regretted not making Chuji transfer classes sooner!
She had expected Zhao Chuji to try and persuade her otherwise. After all, in the past, whenever she dropped subtle hints or asked about it, Zhao Chuji would always say everything was fine.
Yet this time, Zhao Chuji smiled and nodded: “I’ll do whatever you say.”
Even though she had anticipated that Yu Yao would come looking for her, Zhao Chuji had to admit that the moment she saw Yu Yao appear, she still couldn’t help but feel a surge of happiness.
In all her years growing up, this was the first time someone had kept her in their thoughts, anxiously stood up for her, and embraced her out of pure worry.
This feeling wasn’t bad at all.
Originally, she had indeed intended to stay in Class 1-3 to keep watching the drama unfold.
After all, if nothing unexpected happened, once tomorrow passed and she remained in Class 1-3, Teacher Cao—who viewed top students as the absolute core of her heart and Sun Yan would definitely turn on each other.
But Yu Yao looked so incredibly worried, even her eyes were completely bloodshot.
Suddenly, Zhao Chuji found herself losing interest in watching the drama play out.
Yu Yao looked so pitiful right now; she didn’t want to keep her on edge any longer.
Compared to getting revenge on those wretched people, she would rather listen to Yu Yao’s constant nagging.
Seeing Zhao Chuji agree so readily left Yu Yao stunned for a brief moment.
She let out a breath of relief, and a smile involuntarily tugged at the corners of her lips. But once she caught herself, she hardened her expression again and looked at Zhao Chuji with utmost seriousness: “Also, I want to sign you up for a Taekwondo class.”
“I don’t expect you to beat up a lot of people, I just want you to learn some basic self-defense skills…”
Today’s incident had left her with lingering fears. She desperately wished for Zhao Chuji to possess a bit of teeth—to have the ability to protect herself.
But she was afraid Zhao Chuji wouldn’t agree.
Lately, Zhao Chuji had been extremely passionate about her studies, so she likely wouldn’t want to waste time on Taekwondo training.
Zhao Chuji’s eyes widened slightly; this time, she was genuinely a bit startled.
In her understanding, Yu Yao used her as an emotional anchor because she appeared entirely non-threatening. Yu Yao presumably wanted to keep her close and controlled, turning her into a compliant puppet of her expectations.
It was only because her own goal of studying hard didn’t conflict with Yu Yao’s desires that she willingly played the role of the good, obedient girl Yu Yao imagined.
By sending her to learn Taekwondo and giving her access to physical power right now, wasn’t Yu Yao afraid that she might turn against her prematurely?
Her hesitation was misinterpreted by Yu Yao as reluctance.
“Chuji, if you are truly unwilling, I won’t force you.”
Yu Yao let out a soft sigh.
Her own mind was conflicted as well. She did want to send Zhao Chuji to learn martial arts, but she also couldn’t bear the thought of Zhao Chuji getting bruised and battered during training.
Having spent this period of time together, she had long since regarded Zhao Chuji as her own younger sister. She wanted to shield Zhao Chuji and preserve her beautiful, innocent nature, yet the malice of the world forced her to take the initiative to tear down those fragile, beautiful illusions.
“You are so beautiful. If you don’t have the ability to protect yourself, it’s no different from a toddler carrying a block of gold through a crowded marketplace; you will face far too much malice. I only wish for you to grow up safe and sound…”
Meeting the earnest sincerity in Yu Yao’s eyes, Zhao Chuji’s eyelids quivered, and she felt her heart tremble faintly along with it.
Only now, in hindsight, did she realize that she seemed to have fundamentally misunderstood Yu Yao’s intentions all along…
Yu Yao didn’t seem to care all that much about gaining any profitable returns from her.
Compared to personal benefit, Yu Yao seemed to care far more about her growth, genuinely looking out for her well-being, and doing everything she could to lift her up.
A familiar, aching warmth welled up in her chest once again.
During the time she spent with Yu Yao, this inexplicable emotion would surface in her heart from time to time.
“Okay!”
She pursed her lips and answered in a low voice, suddenly feeling a bit too self-conscious to meet Yu Yao’s gaze.
Since Zhao Chuji still had exams the next day, and Yu Yao was worried she might feel scared at home, she simply kept her overnight at her own apartment.
In the past, Zhao Chuji would always refuse, but this time, perhaps truly shaken by the incident, she agreed. She went home to grab a change of clothes and stayed in the guest bedroom.
For some reason, the black cat, Xiao Hei, had suddenly become very aloof and distant over the past few days. But on this particular night, it went back to acting spoiled and cute, clinging tightly to Yu Yao’s side.
Fearing that Xiao Hei would disrupt Zhao Chuji’s revision, Yu Yao took the cat into her own bedroom.
She had her own matters to attend to: there was bound to be a massive argument tomorrow, but she was terrible at shouting matches. She was genuinely afraid that she might end up crying out of pure frustration, which would lose her face in front of Zhao Chuji.
She needed to rehearse in advance.
That night, following strategies she found online, she frantically crammed and practiced her scolding skills at the eleventh hour. Even when Xiao Hei acted cute and pampered to draw her attention, she only offered a half-hearted, distracted pat.
She practiced until late into the night before finally drifting off to sleep, entirely failing to notice Xiao Hei dejectedly tucking its tail, slipping out the door, and quietly heading into Zhao Chuji’s room.
Xiao Hei was profoundly worried: it had been given the mission to make Yu Yao happy when it was placed by her side, but it had failed!
It had no idea how that terrifyingly beautiful human would punish it…
Yet humans were incredibly bizarre creatures. After that beautiful human looked through its memories, she didn’t get angry at all; instead, her lips curved into a delighted smile…
The next afternoon, accompanied by the ringing of the bell, the monthly examinations finally came to an end.
The school graded the papers remarkably fast, and the results for the subjects tested on the first day were already out.
Students crowded around the office doors, eager to find out their scores.
However, the door to Teacher Cao’s office was tightly shut.
Exactly as Sun Yan had predicted, Teacher Cao showed flagrant favoritism. She hadn’t even called the parents in, merely dismissing the incident as a minor dispute between classmates, telling Sun Yan to apologize, write a self-reflection essay, and call it a day.
Looking at the smug expression on Sun Yan’s face, Yu Yao was about to burst with rage!
She took a deep breath, just about to argue with Teacher Cao, when the door was suddenly flung open—
“Student Zhao Chuji!”
Seeing that the person who entered was the physics teacher for their class, the reprimand that had reached Teacher Cao’s lips was swallowed back down.
Before she could even ask the physics teacher what he wanted, he had already rushed over to Zhao Chuji’s side with an expression of sheer excitement, holding a test paper…
“Student Zhao, you did exceptionally well this time!”
“You only missed two questions on basic theorems, but how did you come up with the logic for the final bonus question? I haven’t even taught that formula yet…”
He stared at Zhao Chuji with an incredibly thrilled expression: “I can see you’re an amazing talent. Are you interested in joining our physics competition club?”