After the incident came to light, the school administration could not simply stand by and do nothing. Even the student union specifically contacted Pei Jinchuan. The parents of those boys spent a considerable sum to compensate Pei Jinchuan generously before the matter was finally suppressed.
Initially, Xu Qiao was merely wary of Pei Jinchuan. Placing him in the private hospital under the Xu family’s umbrella was also intended to minimize his one-on-one interactions with Xu Rou.
But once the video surfaced, Xu Qiao grew increasingly convinced that something was off about the entire situation from start to finish.
It seemed as though someone had planned it all in advance, meticulously orchestrating everything.
As for the motive, she hadn’t yet figured it out.
Xu Qiao’s question left the young bodyguard unable to provide a satisfactory answer.
Looking embarrassed, he said, “We’ve already assigned someone to investigate the post. The person behind it is a computer expert. Our team traced it halfway before he discovered us, and all the information was completely cut off.”
“The student union members found Hui'an Yiyuan after reading the comments under the post. It was probably, most likely, the work of that anonymous poster.”
Xu Qiao pinched the bridge of her nose. Though she said nothing, her expression turned cold, sending a chill down the young bodyguard’s spine.
She actually had a suspicion.
After the school bullying incident was exposed, the only one who benefited was Pei Jinchuan.
But she couldn’t understand how he had managed it.
After all, he was the one being bullied at the time. First, he couldn’t have foreseen the incident in advance like Xu Rou or herself.
Second, he couldn’t have arranged for someone else to record everything at that moment.
Finally, what puzzled Xu Qiao even more was why the edited video only captured those specific boys.
Even if someone wanted to seek revenge for Pei Jinchuan, she was, ultimately, the mastermind behind it all.
Why were only those boys targeted?
The young bodyguard couldn’t fathom Xu Qiao’s thoughts.
Ever since being assigned by President Xu to protect the young lady, he often found himself unable to predict her next move.
Just like now, after a long pause.
The young girl simply hummed in acknowledgment, “Since this matter can’t be traced, then let it go.”
“What has Xu Rou been up to?”
After the news of Pei Jinchuan’s bullying broke, Xu Rou naturally learned about his hospitalization.
For several days in a row, she had the kitchen prepare light meals early in the morning to send to the hospital.
“Three days ago, our people knocked over Cousin’s lunchbox. Two days ago, they stained Cousin’s clothes. Yesterday, they took a wrong turn and drove Cousin around the suburbs for the entire day. Today, Cousin hasn’t left home yet. We plan to…” the bodyguard reported truthfully.
Xu Qiao was well aware that Xu Rou hadn’t managed to see Pei Jinchuan at all; otherwise, she wouldn’t have been returning home with a sullen face these past few days.
However, she hadn’t expected her subordinates to resort to such underhanded methods.
A faint smile curled at the corner of the young girl’s lips as she switched the tablet back to the surveillance feed. The boy wrapped in bandages on the bed had already woken from his nap and was reading a textbook.
How diligent!
Her fair, slender index finger tapped lightly on the screen before she slowly said, “Don’t stop her today. If she wants to see Pei Jinchuan, just let her in.”
The young bodyguard couldn’t understand why the young lady had blocked Xu Rou for several days in a row, only to suddenly allow it today.
But he obediently instructed his subordinates to follow the order.
Xu Rou arrived at the hospital room at four in the afternoon.
She had been incredibly unlucky these past few days, encountering problems on the road for three consecutive days without even catching a glimpse of Pei Jinchuan.
The Xitong even teased her, wondering if she had run into a ghost wall.
For the past three days, she had gone out in the morning. To be safe, she deliberately chose to go out in the afternoon today.
Walking on the road with the food box, she almost had PTSD. Fortunately, everything was fine.
When the hospital room door was knocked, Pei Jinchuan looked up from his book, his dark eyes carrying a faint trace of anticipation, his voice low and hoarse, "Come in."
Xu Rou pushed the door open, a smile on her face.
She had deliberately dressed up before going out today, wearing a gentle white Chanel-style outfit, and even her hair was styled into an exquisite princess braid.
Seeing the white mummy-like figure on the bed, the smile at the corner of her mouth couldn't help but pause for a second. Naturally, she didn't notice the instant disappointment in the boy's eyes when he saw her.
"Classmate Pei, are you alright?" Xu Rou quickly adjusted her emotions, walking to the bedside in a few steps, the concern in her eyes impossible to hide.
Pei Jinchuan didn't answer, his dark eyes fixed on behind Xu Rou, as if waiting for someone. After a while, he finally said, "Are you alone?"
The expectation on his face was too obvious, making Xu Rou freeze for a moment. She followed Pei Jinchuan's gaze and looked behind her, but there was no one outside the door.
"Huh? Yes, just me."
Could it be that someone else was coming to visit Pei Jinchuan today?
But Xu Rou clearly remembered that this person didn't have many friends at school, and his adoptive parents probably didn't even know he was injured and hospitalized.
She tentatively asked, "Are you waiting for someone?"
The boy lowered his eyelashes, his tone as flat as ever, "No."
Xu Rou shook her head, pushing aside the strange feeling in her heart. She walked to the bedside on her own, preparing to give the boy the nutritious porridge made by the Xu family's chef, when she suddenly heard him ask.
"Why are you here?"
Her hands paused while opening the food box.
Xu Rou thought to herself, with me looking like this, if I'm not here to visit you, could it be to beat you up again?
The Xitong in her mind also froze for a moment.
Neither the person nor the system understood the intention behind Pei Jinchuan's question.
"I heard you were hospitalized, and I thought you were here alone, so I came to visit you," Xu Rou patiently explained.
"Oh? Why did you come to visit me?" Pei Jinchuan asked again, a hint of mockery suddenly appearing in his eyes.
Xu Rou forced an awkward smile, "I… I just saw you were injured and worried you might be suffering alone, so…"
"I'm not suffering, and how do you know I'm here alone?" Pei Jinchuan interrupted Xu Rou, his tone straightforward, "Do you know me that well?"
Xu Rou's face turned pale. She hadn't expected Pei Jinchuan to be so sharp, immediately catching the flaw in her words.
Even Xu Qiao, watching from outside the surveillance, couldn't help but break into a cold sweat for her.
Before the morning Pei Jinchuan bumped into Xu Qiao, the two had never met. Xu Rou's earlier statement about him being alone here was clearly inappropriate.
How could a classmate who had only met him twice know that Pei Jinchuan was staying in the hospital alone, without parents or friends by his side?
Xu Rou knew through the Xitong, and Xu Qiao knew through background checks, but obviously, Pei Jinchuan was unaware of all this.
The hospital room suddenly fell silent, tension lingering in the air, as if even the dust floating in the sunlight paused for a moment.
The boy on the hospital bed stared straight at Xu Rou, not backing down in the slightest, the accusation in his eyes clearly visible.
Xu Rou's throat felt dry and hoarse as she swallowed hard.
For a long moment, she forced herself to appear calm and explained, "I, I work in the student council. I heard them say you were here alone in the hospital."
Pei Jinchuan's lips curved into a smile, his dark, gloomy eyes carrying a hint of mockery. "So that's how it is."
Xu Rou didn't know whether Pei Jinchuan believed her explanation or not.
She let out two awkward laughs, trying to ease her tension with her actions, but her flickering gaze still betrayed her nervousness.
The young man's expression turned slightly stern. Just as Xu Rou opened the food container, he suddenly asked, "So you're also a student at Luosi Xueyuan? Classmate, what's your name?"
"You don't know my name?" Xu Rou's mind went blank for a moment.
Xitong was also stunned.
In front of the screen, Xu Qiao, who was drinking water, spat it out in shock, coughing uncontrollably.
"Should I know your name? We've never met before, have we?" Pei Jinchuan himself frowned innocently.
Xu Rou felt her mind go fuzzy. "No, didn't I speak up for you when you bumped into Xu Qiao before?"
Seeing Pei Jinchuan's genuinely confused expression, Xu Rou grew anxious. "And before, when you were bullied by the boy who had a crush on Xu Qiao in the alley across from the academy, didn't I step in to speak up for you too?"
"You don't remember any of this?"
"Did you hit your head?"
"Or did you lose your memory?"
Xu Rou fired off three horrified questions.
Even Xu Qiao, who was silently watching the surveillance, couldn't help but doubt.
But clearly, Pei Jinchuan hadn't lost his memory. "No, I just didn't recognize you as that person."
The young man's gaze on Xu Rou's face was clearly tinged with displeasure, his tone dark and sinister.
In Xu Rou's view, she watched helplessly as Pei Jinchuan's favorability toward her plummeted from 0 to -50.
[What? Xitong, what's going on? Why did Pei Jinchuan's favorability toward me drop? Did I cause problems by helping him?] Xu Rou's mind was in chaos as she complained bitterly to Xitong.
Even the usually steady Xitong was confused, its cold mechanical voice tinged with rare hesitation. [Probably… not.]
It hurriedly searched for relevant information and soon realized.
[Oh! I know. It could also be because Qiyun Zhi Zi Pei Jinchuan is inherently a dark person. He's obsessive and vengeful, so he naturally dislikes kind and pure-hearted people like you. This situation is normal.]
[As long as the host saves Pei Jinchuan a few more times, he might soon fall for you.]
Xu Rou was half-convinced by this explanation, but there was clearly no more suitable one.
Although such situations were rare, she had seen her fair share of storms and quickly composed herself. "Maybe it's because I look too ordinary, so you didn't remember me right away."
She smiled at Pei Jinchuan, expecting him to refute her, but instead, she saw him seriously study her face and then nod solemnly, saying word by word, "You really do look ordinary."
Xu Rou's face instantly turned pale and ashen.
This person's mouth is too vicious!
Xu Qiao, watching from behind the screen, also didn't expect to hear such words and didn't know whether to laugh or not.
In the end, she covered her mouth and laughed out loud.
This filthy, stinking commoner—licking his lips could probably poison him to death!
Meanwhile, the young man on the bed had already pictured that little face frowning in his mind—the soft cheeks, the rosy and tender cherry lips, and the delicate, straight nose.
Even when angry, she looked utterly captivating.
Only someone like her could truly be called beautiful.
Yet, this beautiful and proud young lady simply refused to visit him.
A trace of resentment unconsciously crept into the young man’s gaze. In a moment unnoticed by Xu Rou and the person behind the screen, he glanced inadvertently at the air conditioner on the opposite wall.
On its panel was a hole as small as a pinhole.
Unless examined closely, an ordinary person would never notice it.
It took Xu Rou quite a while to calm herself down.
She silently comforted herself in her heart: Pei Jinchuan was just a difficult target to conquer. Enduring for now would bring peace later.
Once she succeeded in winning him over, she would definitely teach him a lesson!
By then, even if he knelt down and begged her, she wouldn’t spare him another glance.