The Rise of the White Lotus Chapter 260 – Baby Granny

Lexi knitted her already creased brows by the indistinct snicker coming from the corner of the large lab. She stopped pouring droplets of alguronic acid on the product she was experimenting on and slightly took a glance at the group of ladies, wearing their own white coats, hairnets, and all of the proper attire inside the lab— same as hers.

Seeing that they seemed to be gossiping about something while glancing at her from time to time, somehow, Lexi wasn’t offended as she let out a faint chuckle and mildly shook her head sideways.

She then continued to gently squeeze the small container and drop a few more of the said extract with caution afraid that she would pour more than needed.

“Are we visiting the lab later?” Beside her, a deep voice of a man— the only man in their class inquired without looking in her direction as he closed the cap of a small container that he poured on his product.

“Mhmm… it should be done by now.” Humming a soft tune, Lexi drew away from the small round container and closed the tiny bottle of the extract she added on her product.

Lexi then turned her chair to her left, where the young man, who was almost the same age as her, he had dark clean-cut hair similar to the color of his eyes protected by thin glasses. His pointy nose, naturally long lashes that women would love to have, full thick brows, oval lips, and a delicate jaw could make him a fresh young model. Overall, he doesn’t look ugly or normal— just the right facial features for someone as knowledgeable as him.

“Nic, look.” Lexi slid the small round container to him for him to see the one she made. “I will call that, hmm…” Seeing that Nico Zhuang picked up the sample she made for their exhibit in a few days, Lexi pondered on the name of her baby.

“Don’t give him a weird name, please.” Without giving her a glance, Nico Zhuang put the small container near his nose to get a whiff of the cream she made.

Just the vanilla scent of it that gave off a faint sweetness of a baby— not redolent or bland— just the right light scent for a strong cream, Nico Zhuang nodded in approval. “Not bad.”

“Should I call it baby granny?” Ignoring the praise from the top student in their class, Lexi grinned as she announced her nickname to her product. “Well, the product aims to firm wrinkles— it’s an anti-aging cream so the baby part. Also, it’s not a he but a she.” Referring to the part when Nico Zhuang said ‘not give him a weird name’.

“I will submit this along with mine before we visit the lab.” Ignoring her banter and whatever thought he had in mind with another nickname she gave to her product, Nico Zhuang decided to divert their conversation and started to close the lid of the small container of hers.

“Alright.” Lexi raised her brows and smiled as she watched the man pack his things as he took her products with him.

In the past three months, Lexi had busied herself in studying to formulate skincare products while researching about the said industry. While she was attending these classes and different seminars, Lexi noticed that Nico Zhuang took the same classes as her.

Even though no matter how hard it is for her to believe that this was all mere coincidence, however, Nico Zhuang never approached her or even tried to interact with her. If not for the fact that the two of them were paired in one of the projects two months ago, they wouldn’t talk to each other.

Nevertheless, the outcome of that project made her gain a new friend who was knowledgeable on things and had different theories about combining each ingredient to make the product more effective— leading her to a question: “Why is he studying in this industry?”

His answer? It was quite silly: “I have nothing to do since I’m smart and learned many things all at once.”

Lexi knew he just humored her as they were pretty close classmates but oh well, he was indeed smart and that made her look at him in awe.

As she recalled the encounters she had with Nico Zhuang, she was snapped back to reality when she heard the opening greetings of all bad b*tches she had met in the past.

“Well, well, well, our young Miss Yang seemed to be super close with Mr. Zhuang— I wonder if all the products she made were all thanks to Mr. Zhuang?” One of the ladies that were snickering in the corner earlier, along with three of her lackeys behind her approached Lexi when Nico Zhuang left the lab.

“Mhmm…” Slowly, Lexi turned around to see the leader of these young misses sneering at her.

Of course, in the past three months, Lexi wasn’t as lucky as she thought because for some reason, this woman and her lackeys had been picking on her. At first, she tolerated it as they only threw shades at her here and there.

Moreover, they didn’t try to sabotage her projects and made it quite peaceful for her otherwise. After all, Lexi couldn’t waste a second on them as she sees them as pretty dolls with no value. Hence, why would she have to lower herself and give disgrace to the bad b*tch hiding within her?

“What if he did? Jealous?” Grinning an oddly bright grin on her face, Lexi, despite the fact that she was being lenient, she still likes to tease them every once in a while to vent her stress over her hectic schedule.

“Hah!” Stella Du scoffed in disgust as Lexi would always retort back like this— shameless and provocative. However, since her precious family name was on her back, she didn’t dare to go to the extreme and Lexi wasn’t retaliating from her taunting hence, she could find no reason to fully bully her.

“Miss Du, don’t waste your time trying to bully me, will you?” A smirk formed on the side of Lexi’s lips as she unhurriedly stood in front of the gorgeous doll before her. Her gaze scanned each and every face of the ladies that had made her eyes smile and mildly shook her head.

“Bully? That’s a big word Miss Yang— don’t accuse me like that.” Chuckling like a little pampered lolita, Stella Du responded as she feigned innocence.

Lexi didn’t respond any more as she looked at her with disdain. She’s already shameless but this woman is the same as her.

‘How childish,’ She thought inwardly as these girls always tried to intimidate her every so often. They should have given up the first two weeks of failing to bully her. Moreover, it was not hard to guess Stella Du’s reason as she started picking on her when Nico Zhuang and Lexi became good pals.

Well, Lexi doesn’t care about their opinion as she won’t stop being friends with people she likes just because someone is jealous. Furthermore, she was in a secure relationship that she doesn’t have the time to fight over a man— she had enough of that in the past and was blessed to have a better one that never gave her a reason to feel insecure.

“Whatever, Miss Du. Please find a better reason as to why you don’t like me. Being hated because of a man you have a crush on is too middle school.” Lexi meekly smiled as her gaze locked with Stella Du who was gritting her teeth beneath her cheeks. After she spat her last remarks, Lexi began taking strides forward, brushing past the group. She raised her brows when Stella Du’s lackey wasn’t going to the side and was blocking her way.

“Excuse me,” She raised her brows while her eyes looked down on the reserved shorty with her sharp pair of eyes that made the woman swallow a mouthful of saliva and step aside.

“Thank you.” Satisfied, Lexi offered her a sweet smile before leaving the lab in a good mood. Unbeknownst to her, Stella Du watched her retreating figure with her nails dug deep to her palms and teeth clenched as a glint flashed across the young lady’s eyes.