Yu He yawned as she got out of the car and walked into the school gate, attracting quite a few stares and whispers from her classmates.
"Yu He, you actually escaped from prison and dare to come to school!"
Lan Jiaojiao suddenly appeared, blocking Yu He's path.
Ever since she embarrassed herself in the assembly hall last Friday, she had taken a week off, planning to return to school after the mockery had passed.
But yesterday, she saw that the school forum was abuzz with rumors about Yu He being in trouble and arrested by the police. Thus, she immediately canceled her leave and returned to class today, eager for gossip.
To her surprise, she ran into Yu He.
Yu He had woken up early that morning from a dream too embarrassing to mention, and her morning grumpiness hadn't subsided. "Get lost."
Lan Jiaojiao refused, "Why should I get lost? This path wasn't paved by you!"
"Boss!" Chu Ying saw Yu He from afar and rushed over.
Seeing Lan Jiaojiao petulantly blocking Yu He's way, she said, "What, haven't you danced enough bunny dances last Friday? Do you want to dance more?"
"You!" Lan Jiaojiao was momentarily stunned.
"If you want to dance, go to the sports field. Don't block the way." Chu Ying roughly pushed her aside and then obsequiously said to Yu He, "Boss, please."
This almost made Lan Jiaojiao explode on the spot.
She had dared to come to school only because Yu He's gossip posts on the school forum had overshadowed her bunny dance embarrassment. She hadn't expected it to be brought up again.
She glared at Yu He's retreating back with gritted teeth and turned to Class 3-1, intending to find Gu Ze.
She had been browsing the forum for gossip last night and heard that Yu He being taken away by the police was related to Gu Ze. However, she discovered that Gu Ze had taken leave and was not present.
Just then, Lu Chenyu had already taken the lead in clarifying Yu He's innocence on the forum, urging everyone not to speculate maliciously. Chu Ying had also taken the initiative to create a "Lan Jiaojiao bunny dance" meme, warning those who spread malicious negativity with the threat of dancing the bunny dance.
Lan Jiaojiao was so angry that she couldn't concentrate in class all morning. As soon as school ended at noon, she asked for leave again from her homeroom teacher and went to the Gu family's residence.
The Gu family was in chaos due to Qin Meimei's arrest.
"I've bought the photos taken by the paparazzi and suppressed the media reports, but we can't keep doing this indefinitely. We need to get Mom out as soon as possible," Gu Yan said.
"Deputy Director Zhao was taken away by the Procuratorate, and they won't let me bail her out," Gu Tianlei sighed.
He had gone to the Public Security Bureau with a lawyer early in the morning to bail out Qin Meimei, but Duan Aiguo had refused.
"Let's go to the capital and try asking Sister Hong," Gu Ze suggested.
Duan Aiguo refused to give the Gu family face for bail because of Shao Chen. Their Gu family was no match for the Shao family, but if the Qin family intervened, the situation would be different.
Gu Tianlei nodded, "That's the only way."
He immediately called the driver to prepare the car.
At this moment, a maid brought Lan Jiaojiao in. "Young Master, Miss Jiaojiao is here to see you."
Ever since she witnessed Lan Jiaojiao's foolish actions last Friday, Gu Ze had lost all goodwill towards her. He led her to the backyard and asked with a displeased expression, "What are you here for?"
"Brother Gu Ze, Yu He went to school today, so I came to see you," Lan Jiaojiao said, noticing his hand. "Is your hand okay?"
Hearing Yu He's name made Gu Ze angry. The Gu family was in such turmoil because of her, yet she was leisurely attending school?
"What do you want to say?" he asked.
"Yu He is too much. Not only did she make me look foolish, but she's also treating you like this. This is your piano-playing hand."
Lan Jiaojiao continued indignantly, "If she doesn't leave the school, we'll never have a peaceful day, not to mention you have the college entrance exams next year."
Mentioning the college entrance exams made Gu Ze even angrier. His guaranteed admission to Harvard was likely slipping away.
"Do you have any ideas?" he asked suspiciously.
"The preliminary round of the National Olympiad in Informatics is currently open for online registration. Let's help her register. The preliminary round is scheduled for the same day as the school anniversary. We'll notify her then and see which one she attends," Lan Jiaojiao said with a dark expression.
Regardless of which event Yu He chose to attend, not participating in the other would be a major violation of school rules, enough to get Yu He expelled.
And Lan Jiaojiao wanted to ensure Yu He couldn't attend either!
Gu Ze thought the plan was somewhat childish and wicked, and it wasn't guaranteed to get Yu He expelled because of Lu Chenyu's doting, but it would at least annoy Yu He. Thus, he agreed to join Lan Jiaojiao's plan.
—
In the afternoon, Class 2-11.
Yu He was dozing at her desk when her phone, hidden in the desk compartment, vibrated, waking her up.
Annoyed, she picked up her phone. It was a message from an unsaved number:
[Boss, quickly check WeChat. Your ID information seems to have been leaked.]
Yu He deleted the message and switched to another account on WeChat.
A Pig: [ /image, Boss, you've registered for the National Youth Olympiad in Informatics?]
A Pig: [No way, Big Shot. How dare you bully a bunch of teenagers? They are the lovely flowers of our motherland.]
A Pig: [No, the registration phone number isn't yours. Did you really operate it yourself?]
A Pig: [Your information has been leaked, right?]
A Pig: [Where are you?]
Yu He tapped on the image sent by the other party and moved her fingers, replying with three words.
Crow: [Understood.]
Then, the phone screen switched to a half-black screen and half-input interface. Her thumbs rapidly tapped on the input interface, and lines of white code flashed across the upper half of the screen.
After a while, her movements stopped. She looked at the information displayed on her phone and coldly uttered two words:
"Childish."
Then, with a series of fluid operations, she turned off her phone, tossed it back into the desk compartment, and resumed her nap.
...
Time flew by until the weekend.
Yu He washed up and went downstairs. Chen Dong was directing a bodyguard in a black suit and sunglasses to pull a large suitcase out.
Qin Beiting, dressed in a white, slim-fit suit, was sitting on the sofa, reading the news on his tablet. Seeing her come down, he looked up. "You're awake."
"Are you going out?" Yu He asked, looking at the suitcase the bodyguard was pulling. She picked up the small pet pig that was rubbing against her legs.
"We are," Qin Beiting corrected. "We had agreed to take photos this weekend."
He put down his tablet, stood up, and slowly walked towards the dining room.
His wound was healing well. Yu He had removed his stitches last night, and short-distance walking was no longer an issue.
Chen Dong, seeing this, went to the kitchen first and brought out the prepared breakfast for them.
Yu He: "..."
So this was what he meant by "prepare"?
Didn't they just need to take ten photos casually at home?
"Where are you going to take them?" she asked as she entered the dining room.
"Lucheng," Qin Beiting said.
Yu He thought she had misheard. "That far!"
Lucheng is located at the southernmost tip of Hainan, where the four seasons are like summer, making it the best place to escape the cold in winter.
But was it necessary to travel so far just to take ten photos casually?
Qin Beiting's lips curved into a smile. "It's not far. This is the first time you're taking photos for me, so it should have some sense of occasion."