CokeZero Rainystars

Jun Yexun filed to keep his laughter in as he stared at the blank-faced Qiao Qing who had no idea how to react.

“It’s okay, auntie. Qingqing didn’t sleep well last night. It’s normal for her to be a little hazy.”

He Wanqing heard the “didn’t sleep well” part and thought there was some hidden meaning behind those words. She then flashed a motherly smile.

“That’s true. You’ve already gone so far, there’s no need for me to make a big deal out of you two sharing a bowl.”

Qiao Qing, “…”

With a “bang”, she slammed the bowl back onto the table. “I’m done eating.”

Jun Yexuan grabbed onto her wrist. “Finish your meal. You’re already so skinny. When I touch you, there are no more than two pounds of flesh. Why are you still trying to lose weight?”

When I touch you, there are no more than two pounds of flesh…

Qiao Qing looked at everyone’s gossipy expressions and felt an unnamed wave of rage. This man was doing this on purpose, wasn’t he?

She spanked his hand away, grabbed her backpack off the couch, and walked away.

Just then, the nutritionist dashed out of the kitchen and began to stuff high-protein food into her backpack.

“It’s not good to refuel fully in the morning.”

Qiao Qing, “…”

After Qiao Qing left, Jun Yexuan returned to his room to deal with his business. He was completely unaware that someone else had secretly arrived in the City of Brisk.

At the airport.

A man wearing sunglasses stood there with his hands in his pocket. He walked without paying much attention to his surrounding.

Beside him, his subordinate was booking a hotel on the phone and asked while he was on hold, “Seventh young master, aren’t you here to find third young master? Why are you staying in a hotel?”

The man pushed up his sunglasses, “There’s no rush in finding my third brother. I will go and meet up with his girlfriend first.”

Then, he took a look at his watch, “Go get my car first. On your way, buy a bouquet of roses.”

“Yes. Huh? Why are we buying roses?”

“Just do it. Why do you have so many questions?” The man’s lips curled up into a devious angle. The look in his eyes was taunting.

*

Qiao Qing walked to school, annoyed. The moment she arrived, she found the normally quiet classroom to be in chaos.

Qiao Qing ignored everyone and went to her seat. The moment she sat down, Luo Chen grabbed onto her wrist, “Qingqing, you… huh? Did you not sleep well last night?”

At the word “not sleep well”, Qiao Qing felt another wave of exasperation and an incoming headache.

She ignored his question and asked without much energy, “What do you want? Speak?”

Luo Chen responded, “Oh, do you know how to play Go or not?”

Qiao Qing didn’t agree or deny. She merely asked, “Why?”

“Did you not read the news this morning? Weibo is exploding. The University of Capital City is moving forward with a new policy. The top three competitors from the City of Brisk’s Go Competition get extra credits on their university application.”

When Hou Zibin heard this, he ran over as well, “I saw the news as well. I have a relative who is helping to organize the competition. According to him, because of this new policy, the number of sign-ups for the competition increased by 10-fold. Everyone who’s interested in getting into UCC and also knows Go has signed up. Sister Qiao, are you going to sign up? You wanted to get into UCC, right?”

Luo Chen also looked at her inquisitively.

Qiao Qing took out a medical book and sprawled it on her desk, “Nope.”

“Ah~” Hou Zibin thought that was a shame.

Luo Chen remembered what Xu Ningning said last night and wondered if Qiao Qing actually didn’t know Go.

Afraid that Hou Zibin would hit her where it hurts, Luo Chen waved around his hand, “Go, go, go, it’s time for class. Why are you still here?”

Hou Zibin didn’t attend the gathering last night at the Qiao manor and had no idea what had happened. He didn’t know what Luo Chen was thinking either.

All he could do was to say “oh” without truly knowing what was going on, then left.

Before long, the bell for the start of the class rang. Yang Lianfeng came into the room with his materials and a cup of water.

Once the bell finished ringing, he looked down onto the crowd of students, “I’m sure you all saw the news this morning. That’s right, I’m just as excited as you all are!”

“We are not far away from the entrance exams. All the knowledge you need to know has been taught. It’s just all about going over the materials over and over again.”

“Logically speaking, it will be difficult for any of you to have any drastic changes in performance – especially for those who are already top performers.”

“So, the new policy enforced by the University is a great advantage for all you top students to take! Perhaps you fall behind by only 1 point, and you’d get into UCC if you didn’t miss that one question.”

“I firmly believe that children of the City of Brisk all have knowledge regarding Go. Even for those who don’t know much, they can learn and try.”

“In order to add some extra padding to those who want to go to UCC, the school authorities have signed all students, who declared interest in applying to UCC, up for the Go competition.”

Qiao Qing, “???”