Xia Yao was startled and she bit the straw flat. She looked at Xu Shizhou in shock and wondered if something was wrong with his head.

Xia Yao: Young man, there is something wrong with you.

"Is it because the wind is too strong and I can't hear well? What did you say?"

Because of the cold weather, all doors and windows were closed and the corridors were quiet. There was no wind today and it was impossible for Xia Yao to not hear it clearly.

Xu Shizhou obviously heard the surprise in Xia Yao's tone and he looked at the girl who was still biting the straw. Her usually expressionless face looked a little deformed in fright; was it so scary to be liked by him?

He touched his nose and chuckled lightly: "I'm joking, I wanted to see how you would react." He changed the topic right away, "By the way, why did you leave so quickly after the game?"

Xia Yao breathed a sigh of relief but there was a strange feeling left.

The plot really didn't follow the description of the novel; neither Ji Huai nor Xu Shizhou liked the heroine and had become friends with her instead.

Ah, forget it.

"I went home to do my homework."

Xia Yao played with the straw again and started drinking more of her milk. Xu Shizhou, who had been expecting this answer, reluctantly closed his eyes as if he was trying to keep himself from punching someone.

***

After a busy day of learning, school came to an end. Xia Yao glanced at Xia Xi who was still chatting with her friends in the classroom, and quickly put all of her stuff away, picked her bag, and left. She really didn't want to run into the white lotus on the way home and could only leave earlier.

Xu Yinuan had skipped most of her classes and was waiting for her at the door. Seeing her friend walk quickly, she hurriedly chased after her. She caught up with her and said, slightly panting: "I saw you sitting with Ji Huai and talking together."

"What about it?" Xia Yao was puzzled, "We were talking about the lesson."

Xia Yao's physics was a bit behind; she would sometimes have some trouble with it and would ask Ji Huai for help and have him explain it to her.

"Xia Yao, Ji Huai likes you." Reaching the stairs, Xu Yinuan suddenly affirmed.

Xia Yao took off one of her earphones and tilted her head, thinking she had heard something ridiculous.

"You are mistaken."

Although the plot had gone entirely off track and Ji Huai did not seem to like the heroine, was it a reason to say he liked her instead? This was outrageous.

Xu Yinuan looked at her and firmly said: "How can I be mistaken? You can't hide the way you look at the person you like."

"... Doesn't he look at everyone the same?"

Ji Huai had affectionate eyes, didn't everybody think they were liked by him every time they met his gaze?

Xu Yinuan rolled her eyes and tore off Xia Yao's second earphone.

"Stop studying, you only know how to learn! Your emotional quotient is so slow, how can you not see that he obviously likes you?"

"..."

After a pause, Xu Yinuan added: "Xia Yao, you can accept him, I can see he really likes you."

"..." Xia Yao silently took back her earphones and settled them back in her ears.

Looking at her indifferent behavior, Xu Yinuan surrendered: "Okay, okay, I didn't mean anything. If you like Xu Shizhou, forget about everything I said."

Xia Yao, who was still holding the second earphones, was startled when she heard that and directly crushed it.

If she liked Xu Shizhou?

She was shocked and she suddenly remembered the conversation she had with him in the morning. No, no, she didn't like men, she had no time for them, she only liked to study!

"Don't think about this kind of gossip, the most important for students is—"

Xu Yinuan suddenly stretched out her finger to signal to her. She winked and pointed behind her.

Xia Yao looked back and saw Ji Huai's figure in the sunset. The teenager was surrounded by a soft golden halo and had appeared behind them so quietly, she wasn't sure whether it was a coincidence or he had been deliberately following them.

Xu Yinuan patted Xia Yao's shoulder earnestly. She smiled meaningfully, took a few steps back, and waved: "Goodbye~"

Xia Yao silently watched her run away and looked at the crushed earphone in her hand and the wire still wrapped around her fingers. She then glanced at the boy who hadn't moved.

Ji Huai liked her? How could that be!

She was about to acknowledge his presence when the boy spoke first.

"I will take you home."

He said that as an affirmation and did not give her a chance to refuse. Xia Yao put away her earphones and thought about the road, before saying: "That's not on your way."

Since Ji Huai had moved out of her house, because they were now living in opposite directions, they had stopped walking back together after school.

As she was lost in her thoughts, the teenager had already reached her and was walking side by side with her. His voice was soft but still definite: "I will send you back."

Xia Yao couldn't speak for a while and after a minute of silence, she began to talk about physics. She thought that Ji Huai was a very good teacher and it was best to discuss and study with him when the opportunity arose, and in the end, she went home after eating dinner with him.

***

After parting with Ji Huai, Xia Yao's heart felt very happy because she had learned a lot but she froze as soon as she opened the door or the house.

"Xia Yao! You still have the face to come back!" An overwhelmingly angry and overbearing voice sounded.

Still at the entrance, Xia Yao could see the two people in the living room. Xia Yuan was sitting on the couch and a pair of dazzling white legs were resting on his lap. He was applying medicine.

Troublesome. Because it was late after dinner, she still had to run into these two annoyances. She should have just climbed back to the balcony.

Xia Yao didn't want to talk to them and she didn't know what random accusations were awaiting her at a glance. Was the food bath from last night not enough?

Seeing that she was ignoring him, the fire in Xia Yuan's heart intensified. He glanced at the injured girl who was half lying on his body and gently put her aside before standing up.

He pointed his finger at Xia Yao who was about to go upstairs.

"You fucking stand still!"

Xia Yao was startled, this was the first time she had ever heard Xia Yuan swear and it sounded a little ridiculous.

She looked at him coldly and asked: "What now?"

When she had seen the injured Xia Xi as soon as she came in, she had been wondering what she would be framed with. But she had been with Ji Huai after school, she had an alibi.

Facing her calm behavior, Xia Yuan choked on everything he wanted to say and his momentum became a bit weaker: "I know you always bully your classmates, but how can you target Xia Xi? She is your sister! Even when you beat her, she still speaks for you!"

Xia Yao glanced at the crying girl on the couch.

"I'm targeting her?" She added with a sneer: "Is she worthy?"

Xia Yuan was stunned. He knew that Xia Yao would definitely deny her but he hadn't expected her sarcasm. This country bumpkin with no education was really brash!

Seeing that Xia Yuan's face was getting darker and that he was about to explode, Xia Yao was afraid he would beat her up. Although she could easily overpower him, she didn't want to go through this trouble and she said: "I have been with Ji Huai since school ended. I don't know what happened to Xia Xi."

When she heard Xia Yao had been with the teenager all along, the girl on the couch wiped her tears and shouted: "You instigated the Third High School's sister group to beat me up! You didn't need to be there at all!"

Xia Yao was surprised, had they been the ones? In the original novel, the heroine had indeed been beaten up under the vicious female character's orders, but now Xia Yao was only selling them homework and learning materials.

Could it be that because Xia Xi had gone to look for the Rainbow Sisters first, the two sides had started fighting? Although she felt the situation was off, Xia Yao liked that Rainbow group.

"Tsk, what goes around comes around." Xia Yao clapped her hands, "Dear sister, didn't you go find them first? Now that you have a dispute with them, you are blaming me.. This is truly inexplicable."

"You—" Xia Xi pointed at her and her eyes widened, "I saw you meet with them that day, and there were money transitions involved! You hired them to beat me!"

Money transactions? The day she had sold them the materials?

"Of, I hired them?" Xia Yao smiled with contempt, "Then what's my motive? Why did I do that?"

"You are jealous of me!" Xia Xi was anxious. She picked up a pillow and threw it at Xia Yao with all her strength. The aim was completely inaccurate and Xia Yao didn't even need to try to avoid it.

Xia Yao sneered: "You're jesting, sister. Why should I be jealous of trash who looks uglier than me and is more stupid?"

Xia Xi was insulted and Xia Yuan naturally couldn't stand it anymore. He rushed up, his eyes wild, and tried to pull Xia Yao from the top of the stairs.

"Xia Yao, you're insane! Quickly apologize to your sister!"

Xia Yao wanted to hit him and aimed at the hand that was forcefully attempting to grab her. Her foot connected and Xia Yuan's hand was kicked away. He staggered back a few steps and as soon as he stabilized, he tried to reach for her again but heard her cold voice.

"Apologize? Xia Yuan, shouldn't the person in the wrong apologize? You said I pushed her a few days ago, the classroom is monitored if you want to check. Today, you accuse me of hiring a gangster to beat her up, why don't you look at her phone? And seriously, if she provoked the Third High School, she deserves to be beaten."

Xia Yao rolled her eyes and walked to her room.

She knew in her heart that the Rainbow sisters of the Third High School hadn't beaten up Xia Xi just because the heroine had come to find them first. Because Xia Xi had anonymously hired them before, even though Xia Yao had guessed her identity right away, she hadn't told them.

Therefore, the Rainbow Sister most likely didn't know about it and they didn't seem to have taken her request very seriously in any case.

Xia Yao returned to her room and dialed the phone: "Hello, is it Little Green?"

Because she had been selling them learning materials, she had added the contact information of the Rainbow group and because Little Red had been in trouble with Xu Shizhou's people for cheating and scamming people, Little Green had become the new boss.

"Sister Yao? What's up?"

"Did you take someone to beat up Xia Xi today?" Xia Yao paused and fearing they might not know who this Xia Xi might be, she added, "White dress, dresses herself up like for a funeral."

When the girl on the other end heard that, she was a little smug: "Yes, Sister Yao. Someone cracked her anonymity and found out she was the one spreading the rumor you were seducing Master Xu."

"Tsk, she wanted to make us angry through gossip, ah~"

"Fortunately, Sister Yao found us first and let us know we couldn't beat you! Otherwise—"

"Otherwise we would be lying down in the hospital like Little Red."

"Sister Yao, such a vicious person, I just want to beat her!"

Xia Yao's mind was stuck on the anonymity. She pondered for a second and guessed it should have been the same person who had taken care of the school forum before.

She asked: "Do you know who cracked the anonymity?"

"Yes!" The girl sounded extremely excited: "A good Samaritan!"

"..."