AIBBFSCITMLA Chapter 9

After the duty period ended, He Tang and Gu Jingfeng rode together in the Pei family’s car.

“Do you know what your current ranking is?” Gu Jingfeng suddenly asked.

“Yes, I know. Last in the grade.”

“To be precise, 2730th place.”

“Oh.”

After a moment of silence, Gu Jingfeng continued, “I could tutor you. Although it’s unrealistic to expect you to jump into the top 500 by next month’s exam, if you show some improvement, the Academic Director won’t give you a hard time.”

“No need.” He Tang pursed her lips. Hmph, who was he to look down on her?

Gu Jingfeng looked at He Tang in surprise. He had thought she’d be happy if he offered to tutor her, but instead, she rejected him outright and decisively.

Was it because she had too much pride and didn’t want him to see her shortcomings?

Gu Jingfeng figured that was it. Then he noticed her playing on her phone and asked, “Didn’t you say your phone was broken?”

He Tang’s hand paused. She looked at her phone, which only had a slightly cracked screen, then finally turned her head to look at Gu Jingfeng. “It’s mainly internal damage. It has to be replaced. You’re not allowed to go back on your word!”

Hearing this, Gu Jingfeng couldn’t help but let out a low chuckle. “Don’t worry, I’ll replace it.”

“The latest model!”

“Okay.”

He Tang felt relieved. With her current financial situation, she couldn’t afford a new phone at all. If she could squeeze one out of Gu Jingfeng, so be it. It was all the fault of the romantic troubles he’d caused, anyway.

The car fell quiet again for a while, then Gu Jingfeng spoke up once more. “What’s going on between you and Li Chang?”

He Tang’s hand hesitated for a moment, then she replied flatly, “None of your business.”

The amusement in Gu Jingfeng’s eyes faded. He turned his head to look at He Tang’s profile. He Tang was extremely good-looking. Her face used to be full of caution, but now, it mostly showed a carefree and unrestrained spirit.

How could a person’s temperament change so much?

Perhaps because Gu Jingfeng had been staring for too long, He Tang sensed his gaze. She turned sideways, lifted her eyes, met Gu Jingfeng’s look, and frowned slightly. “What are you looking at? Am I nice to look at?”

Gu Jingfeng hadn’t expected He Tang to be so direct. His ears immediately turned red. He averted his gaze very unnaturally. “I wasn’t looking at you. I was looking out the window.”

He Tang gave a small, dismissive “hmph” and went back to playing on her phone, unconcerned.

When they arrived at Huajing Villa, as soon as He Tang stepped inside, she heard Pei Yubai’s deep, magnetic, pleasant voice. She saw several people sitting in the living room on the first floor.

Gu Jingfeng called out from behind her, “Mom, Auntie, Cousin.”

He Tang also greeted them.

“Come here, quickly. It’s rare that your mother came to keep me company today. We’ll have a meal together,” Mrs. Pei immediately beckoned He Tang and Gu Jingfeng.

“So you’re He Tang? What a beautiful young lady,” the elegant woman next to Mrs. Pei said, smiling kindly at He Tang.

Although the original He Tang’s family was quite wealthy and her grandfather had some acquaintance with the elder Mr. Pei, the two families were far apart in standing. Before the recent events, the original He Tang and the Pei family hadn’t had much interaction at all.

So, the fact that the Pei family had taken He Tang in was something no one expected. This news had indeed spread throughout their social circle.

He Tang sat politely on the sofa, and Gu Jingfeng sat beside her.

He Tang looked up and saw Pei Yubai’s gaze resting on her and Gu Jingfeng.

He Tang hadn’t been there long before the two ladies told her and Gu Jingfeng, both seniors in high school, to go upstairs and do their homework. Mrs. Pei specifically instructed Gu Jingfeng to help tutor He Tang.

The two walked one after the other up to the third floor, all the way to He Tang’s bedroom door. He Tang opened it and went inside.

She hadn’t taken many steps before she stopped and looked back at Gu Jingfeng, who had followed her in. “What are you coming in for?”

“To tutor you.”

“No need. You can go out.”

“But—” Before Gu Jingfeng could finish his sentence, He Tang shoved him out the door.

Holding the door ajar, He Tang stuck her head out and gave Gu Jingfeng a mischievous wink. “A girl’s bedroom isn’t for just anyone to enter.”

With that, she slammed the door shut.

Gu Jingfeng stood there dumbfounded for a few seconds, his mind filled with that playful wink. Then he realized that following her straight into a girl’s room like that was indeed inappropriate, and his ears suddenly turned red.

He stood there frozen, not knowing what to do.

“What are you spacing out for?” A pleasant voice sounded. Gu Jingfeng looked up and saw his cousin walking over.

Gu Jingfeng quickly masked his embarrassment and resumed his usual expression. “I was just thinking about where to do my homework.”

“Come to my room,” Pei Yubai said with a smile, opening the door to the room next to He Tang’s.

Gu Jingfeng followed him in.

Pei Yubai rarely came back, so the room was very tidy, as if no one had ever lived there. Gu Jingfeng went into the small study inside and began doing his homework.

Pei Yubai also turned on his computer, sat across from Gu Jingfeng, and started dealing with company emails.

After a few minutes, Gu Jingfeng looked up, gritted his teeth, and spoke up. “Cousin, you and He Tang…”

“Hmm?” Pei Yubai lifted his eyelids slightly, his gaze still fixed on the computer, his tone casual.

“After she… confessed to you, how did you respond?”

Pei Yubai’s hand paused for a moment. He thought of the first line of that love letter—”Gu Jingfeng”—and smiled. “Oh, kids. It was just a whim.”

“So you…”

“A little girl’s passing whim. I wouldn’t take it to heart,” Pei Yubai said while replying to emails. After a few seconds, he asked, “Do you like her?”

“No!” Gu Jingfeng answered almost instantly, his ears reddening for a moment. He then added, “It’s just that she’s changed a lot lately. I’m a bit curious.”

Pei Yubai stopped his hands at that. Thinking about the drastic changes He Tang’s family had recently undergone, he said, “Yeah, the little girl has had a tough time.”

Gu Jingfeng then thought about what had been happening with He Tang at school recently. Regardless of whether it was true that she had taught Li Chang a lesson with a steel ruler, the fact that she had sent Li Yang to the hospital with a volleyball had shocked the entire student body for a long time.

He Tang seemed to have become… very violent.

Gu Jingfeng frowned, thinking that the thing he hated most was people who resorted to violence.

Then his mind went to how He Tang had publicly challenged the Academic Director today. Gu Jingfeng put down his pen and opened the school forum. Sure enough, he saw that the thread had already grown into a high-rise.

Now the whole school knew about it.

Sigh. How unclear-headed did you have to be to think you could go from last in the grade to the top 500 in such a short time?

Gu Jingfeng felt this wouldn’t do. He put down his pen, stood up, and headed for the door.

“Where are you going?”

“I’m going to talk to He Tang about something,” Gu Jingfeng said, then opened the bedroom door and walked out.

Knock, knock, knock—

Gu Jingfeng knocked on He Tang’s bedroom door. After a moment, he heard footsteps approaching from inside.

The door opened, revealing He Tang’s fair, slightly flushed face.

He Tang had let her hair down when she got home. Her ink-black tresses fell around her neck and shoulders, making her skin look even fairer.

Gu Jingfeng was dazed for a moment before snapping back to reality. “The whole school knows about your bet with the Academic Director now. What are you going to do?”

“What else can I do? Beat him,” He Tang said with a completely composed expression.

Gu Jingfeng: “…”

“There’s only one week until next month’s exam. Can you really make it into the top 500?”

“Yes, I can.” He Tang had done some practice tests and had looked at the previous school ranking results. She was quite confident.

Gu Jingfeng pressed his lips together, unsure how to snap He Tang back to reality.

“You made a bet with your teacher?” A pleasant voice drifted over. He Tang turned sideways to look and saw that at some point, Pei Yubai was leaning against the door frame of the adjacent room.

“Sort of,” He Tang replied.

“Do you feel confident about it?”

“Yes,” He Tang said firmly.

“If you win, then your brother here will give you a reward gift, your choice,” Pei Yubai said with a smile, his beautiful eyes glittering with light.

“Then thank you, brother.”

—

On Monday, He Tang went to school as usual. As soon as she arrived, she felt even more eyes on her than usual.

“He Tang, I heard you’re going to score in the top 500 on this month’s exam?” A classmate approached, his eyes full of mockery.

Before He Tang could reply, he laughed and patted her on the shoulder. “Pfft—well, at least you have courage!”

He Tang smacked his hand off her shoulder with a sharp crack, giving him a cold glare. “I see you have courage too.”

That classmate suddenly remembered the scar on Li Chang’s neck. He sheepishly backed off, not daring to provoke He Tang any further. But deep down, he was still unconvinced. Only after He Tang had walked far away did he mutter venomously, “What right does the last-place student have to be so arrogant?”

The bet between He Tang and the Academic Director had already spread throughout No.1 High School, and even the teachers knew about it. In the senior teachers’ office, a group of teachers inevitably started chatting about it.

“Director Wang, I didn’t expect you to make a bet with He Tang.”

“Ah, don’t mention it. I just got caught up in the heat of the moment.”

“What if you lose?”

“That’s impossible. He Tang has firmly held last place for two years. There’s no way she can improve that much in just one week.”

“True. I’m one of her teachers too. This kid has never seriously studied. She often doesn’t do her homework. Though this semester hasn’t been bad, she’s been handing in her assignments on time but you can tell at a glance that she’s copied the answers. They’re all correct.”

“So, the kid isn’t very bright either, just copying answers directly.”

“Oh well, she just thinks the teachers don’t care, so she runs wild.”

“Hahaha, students are hard to manage these days.”

Meanwhile, He Tang had already returned to her classroom and inevitably heard the whispers of her classmates.

[Has she lost her mind? First hitting people, now picking fights with a teacher.]

[Yeah, she has no self-awareness. If she could get into the top 500, she’d be secure for a key university.]

[She’s definitely going to crash and burn. She’s been way too arrogant lately. It’s weird that Li Chang is inexplicably scared of her too.]

[To be honest, she’s so different from before. Just that aura alone—it’s like she’s a different person.]

[That’s not surprising. Don’t you know? She’s not a rich girl anymore. Her family went bankrupt and owes a mountain of debt.]

[No wonder she’s gone crazy. But she’s just running her mouth. The first monthly exam of senior year—it’s a tradition at No.1 High School to make the questions super hard. Sheesh.]

[She really has it tough. Her family’s bankrupt, she’s last in the grade, she chased after the school heartthrob for so long only to be rejected constantly and finally give up in despair. So pitiful.]

He Tang listened, a smile curling at the corner of her mouth. Pitiful? Bankrupt? School heartthrob? Last in the grade? Hmph!

During the break, Classes 5 and 6 stirred with excitement, and even the crowd that had gathered at the door of Class 6 specifically to see the school heartthrob Gu Jingfeng joined in the commotion.

The reason was that Gu Jingfeng, in front of everyone, was carrying a pile of notebooks and walking toward Class 5. He stopped by the window next to He Tang.

Gu Jingfeng extended his slender, well-defined hand and gently tapped on the window.

He Tang looked up at the sound and saw Gu Jingfeng. “What?”

Gu Jingfeng opened the window and handed the notebooks over. “I’ve highlighted the key points for you.”

Just as everyone was too shocked to speak, He Tang pushed Gu Jingfeng’s notebooks back. “I appreciate the thought, but I really don’t need them.”

Everyone’s jaws nearly dropped to the floor.

Did they hear that correctly? The school heartthrob just offered his notes to He Tang, and He Tang refused?

Oh my god, what kind of dramatic reversal is this? What exactly is the relationship between He Tang and the school heartthrob?

Gu Jingfeng resignedly placed the notebooks on He Tang’s desk and said, “Don’t be stubborn. Just look them over for now, and ask me if there’s anything you don’t understand.”

Without waiting for He Tang to refuse again, he turned and left.

Now the onlookers couldn’t take it anymore. They immediately logged onto the campus forum and posted an embellished account of the incident.

[Damn! Is He Tang biting the hand that feeds her? The school heartthrob offered her his notes and she refused?]

[Who does she think she’s fooling? We’ve all seen what she used to be like. What kind of act is this?]

[The school heartthrob is so pitiful. He kindly offered his notes to He Tang, and she didn’t even appreciate it!]

[And ‘I really don’t need them’? Hah! She probably can’t even understand them!]

[I originally thought He Tang standing up to the teacher was her speaking up for the underachievers, but now it looks like she doesn’t have the ability and isn’t even willing to put in the effort!]

[Sigh, I was kind of hoping He Tang would win before. She really was speaking up for us underachievers. Our poor grades aren’t entirely because we don’t work hard. Director Wang usually bullies us too much. But now it seems He Tang has no intention of trying either. Disappointed.]

[And she looks down on the school heartthrob’s notes? He’s ranked first in the grade. Who in No.1 High School would dare say they don’t want his notes?]

[I’m just waiting for the monthly exam results to come out and slap He Tang in the face! Overconfident!]

The monthly exam incident continued to escalate, and the tension grew.

Someone even started an online poll. 1,573 people thought He Tang wouldn’t make it into the top 500, while 65 thought she would.

He Tang, who had never logged onto the campus forum, remained calm and continued attending class.

She opened Gu Jingfeng’s notebook and found that it was indeed very well-written—all key points, with concise and clear content. Inside was also a note: “Getting into the top 500 in a week is difficult, but looking through this will only help.”

He Tang narrowed her eyes. Her goal had never been the top 500.

In the blink of an eye, a week passed, and the day of the monthly exam finally arrived.

For this monthly exam, all the senior students at No.1 High School were unusually excited. They even proactively asked the teachers when the results would be announced, eager for them to grade the papers quickly.

On the morning of the exam, He Tang never expected to get stuck in a traffic jam, followed by a multi-car rear-end collision.

By the time she got to school, the exam had already been underway for fifteen minutes.

She had just reached the door of her assigned exam room when she was met with the teacher’s gloomy glare.

“He Tang! You tell me! Not only are your grades poor, but your attitude is also terrible! How long has it been? Fifteen minutes! If this were the college entrance exam, they wouldn’t even let you into the testing center!”

“Hurry up and get to your seat! At this rate, the exam will be over before you even finish writing!”

Low, deliberately suppressed laughter echoed through the entire exam room.

The morning exams ended quickly, and the campus forum came alive again.

[Hahaha, guess what? He Tang was late for the Chinese exam! Do you think she did it on purpose?]

[I bet she did. That way, when she does poorly, she can blame it on being late, hahaha.]

[He Tang is really ready to give up on herself. Late for the very first exam.]

[Sheesh, I guess she’s scared.]

[I can’t wait to see the exam results announced, hahaha!]

After the exams ended, it was the weekend. The teachers worked overtime to grade the papers and finally managed to finish calculating the scores before Monday.

On Monday, before the rankings were even posted, the students were already impatient.

Each class’s ranking was in the hands of their homeroom teacher. The students of Class 5 anxiously awaited their homeroom teacher’s arrival while scrolling through the forum to see if other classes had released their rankings yet.

Suddenly, a post appeared out of nowhere:

[Big news! He Tang got first place!]