Yi Tianyu charged straight over, extended both hands, grabbed Xue Jiao’s waist, and lifted her.

“Woohoo! Hahaha! Bookworm! We won!!” Yi Tianyu lifted her, cheering, then put her back down.

If he hadn’t been so tired, he definitely could have held her up longer, but this basketball game had exhausted him. His arms were weak, and it was only excitement that gave him enough strength to lift Xue Jiao.

Xue Jiao stood with a dumbfounded expression, stunned.

Yi Tianyu continued cheering—

“Hahaha! Bookworm!!”

No one knew just how happy he was right now, nor did anyone know what effort he had put in to win this game.

It wasn’t fake that the sports high school had won the championship for so many consecutive years. No matter how skilled Yi Tianyu and Cheng Mingze were, they couldn’t beat five opponents who trained regularly.

For this game, Yi Tianyu had practiced from morning till night. To build his stamina, he had been running to class every day for the past half year.

Cheng Mingze had also put in effort, plus the other three teammates who were determined to win at all costs…

Only by winning would they have a chance to secure entry into a good university. If they lost, their starting point in life would be much lower.

Yi Tianyu came from a wealthy family. Yi Dafa hoped he would get good grades and enter a good university, which would essentially make up for Yi Dafa’s regrets.

If he wanted to follow Xu Junyang’s path—going abroad to study economics after high school, then returning to work at a company—his life would still be much better than most people’s.

But after meeting Xue Jiao, he understood what effort meant. He knew how it felt to chase a dream.

He had worked hard; he didn’t want to be left far behind by Xue Jiao and didn’t want his efforts to be wasted.

This game meant as much to him as a battlefield.

Now, he was the victorious general.

Yi Tianyu moved so quickly that the people around hadn’t even reacted yet.

The first to recover was Cheng Mingze, who immediately brushed aside the person next to him and, with a dark face, reached out toward Yi Tianyu.

Yi Dafa: “…”

He turned to look at Cheng Shuo and Li Sitong’s expressions. Sure enough, two distinctly black faces.

Son, it’s not just me saying this, but your low intelligence is truly extraordinary!

Cheng Shuo and Li Sitong were already unwilling to let Yi Tianyu sit with Xue Jiao, and Yi Dafa had been struggling to build a relationship with Cheng Shuo.

Not only did Yi Tianyu fail to keep a low profile, but he lifted Xue Jiao in front of her parents!!

Yi Dafa covered his face. Was this incredibly stupid son his own?

Cheng Mingze had already pulled Yi Tianyu away and positioned Xue Jiao behind himself.

He glared at Yi Tianyu with a dark face, as if he had done something universally condemned.

“Student Yi Tianyu, are you always this careless with your classmates?” Cheng Shuo asked with a black face, his sharp eyes fixed on Yi Tianyu.

Yi Tianyu was stunned for a moment, scratched his head, and instinctively defended himself—

“No! I… I…”

He wanted to say he only acted this way with Xue Jiao, but Yi Tianyu sensed that saying this would make the situation even worse.

Even though Yi Tianyu hadn’t said it out loud, Cheng Shuo’s face grew even darker.

Yi Tianyu tried to salvage the situation: “I just couldn’t control myself just now!”

Control?

What do you need to control?!

Yi Dafa covered his face, feeling utterly embarrassed.

Where did this boy inherit his emotional intelligence from?!

Xue Jiao’s expression wasn’t pleasant either. No one would be happy about being suddenly lifted.

Yi Tianyu was a… fool!

Afterward, Yi Tianyu couldn’t even speak to Xue Jiao; Cheng Shuo didn’t give him any chance to get close.

After the entire award ceremony was over, Cheng Shuo immediately took Xue Jiao home, leaving Cheng Mingze to attend the celebration party with them.

——

That night, Cheng Shuo and Li Sitong lay in bed. After thinking it over, Li Sitong sat up.

“Old Cheng, I can’t! I’m worried!”

Cheng Shuo turned on the light. They had just laid down and weren’t asleep yet.

“Worried about what?”

“Yi Tianyu! That boy likes Jiaojiao! I’m not looking down on him, but Jiaojiao is about to enter her senior year. How can she be distracted at this time?!” Li Sitong’s voice was anxious.

Ultimately, she was still a mother who cared about her child’s academic performance.

In her educational philosophy, puppy love wasn’t an unforgivable sin, but it had absolutely no benefits.

Cheng Shuo also sat up, frowning slightly.

“That’s true. Senior year is starting soon. She absolutely cannot have any distractions!”

Thinking this way, he glanced at the time—not quite ten o’clock.

He took out his phone and made a call.

“Hello, Teacher Yin, are you asleep?” Cheng Shuo said with a smile, his attitude respectful.

Regardless of one’s status, as parents, they should maintain basic politeness toward teachers.

On the other end of the phone, Yin Fang was still preparing lessons. Hearing this, she also smiled and said, “Is this Gu Xuejiao’s father? I’m still preparing lessons. What can I do for you?”

“It’s like this. Her mother and I discussed it, and we think it would be better if Xuejiao didn’t sit with Yi Tianyu. It would be best to arrange a quiet female classmate for her. What do you think?”

Cheng Shuo was direct—he simply didn’t want her sitting with Yi Tianyu anymore. Finding a quieter female deskmate would prevent future problems.

After all, with Xue Jiao’s appearance… if they arranged a male classmate, who knew what might happen?

He trusted Xue Jiao, but he didn’t trust the young men out there!

If someone else had requested a seat change, Yin Fang would have refused outright.

But this was Gu Xuejiao’s father, and she had previously said herself that if they had any reasonable requests, she would consider them!

Just changing seats—was that an unreasonable request?

“Gu Xuejiao’s father, I hope we can wait until next semester to change seats. This semester only has two short months left. Next semester, there will be adjustments to the class, and the seating will need to be rearranged. The senior grade coordinators won’t be managing how teachers arrange seats anymore, and I was already planning to have girls sit with girls.”

Yin Fang pushed up her glasses. As someone who prioritized academic performance above all else, she cared about student learning even more than many parents.

By then, no one would be supervising how she arranged the seats, and she would not let boys and girls sit together anymore!

During the extremely high-pressure senior year, dating was actually a way to relieve stress! This situation wasn’t uncommon in previous years!

Cheng Shuo smiled. They had already sat together for a year; he wasn’t worried about these two months.

“Good, thank you, Teacher Yin. Good night.”

Cheng Shuo put his phone aside and lay back down.

Li Sitong asked anxiously, “How did it go? Did the teacher agree?”

“She agreed, but the change will happen in senior year. Just two more months.”

Li Sitong thought similarly to Cheng Shuo—it was only two months after all.

——

At this moment, Yi Tianyu didn’t know his deskmate would soon be gone.

Relaxing after the game for once, Yi Tianyu played with his friends until very late before returning home. He opened a bottle of water and drank several big gulps.

The weather was gradually getting hotter, and beads of sweat dotted his forehead.

“You’re back?” Yi Dafa also came downstairs slowly and poured himself a glass of water.

“Mm.” Yi Tianyu nodded while drinking.

Yi Dafa raised an eyebrow: “So as soon as you relax, you start going out to play?”

Yi Tianyu rolled his eyes. Even with the eye roll, his energetic face remained handsome. “Dad, the competition is over.”

As he spoke, he closed his water bottle and put it back.

“Yes, the competition is indeed over.” Yi Dafa didn’t mind, nodding as he walked toward his room. “But the final exams are about to begin, and Class One will start removing students again.”

After speaking, Yi Dafa calmly closed his door.

Yi Tianyu: “???”

Final exams?

Damn!

——

Although summer was quietly approaching, for students, days of any kind meant burying their heads in studies.

After the basketball competition ended, Yi Tianyu and Xue Jiao plunged into frantic revision.

Cheng Mingze was also reviewing. Although he had already secured early admission, he could still take the college entrance exam.

He wanted to take the exam. If his score was high enough, he wouldn’t need to change majors after entering school; he could directly apply to study computer science.

First-class universities weren’t completely inflexible either.

At this time, Gu Jingxu was also preparing to leave the hospital.

“Jingxu… we don’t have money to pay the hospital bill…” Wu Wanjun complained pitifully. She hadn’t lived like this for a long time—unable to buy what she wanted and forced to care for Gu Jingxu in the hospital.

Hearing this, Gu Jingxu felt annoyed and glared at her fiercely: “How much could a hospital bill cost?! I don’t believe you don’t have some private savings! Go quickly!”

Wu Wanjun was startled by his shout and hurriedly went to pay, trembling.

She did have some money, but if Gu Jingxu went bankrupt, how far would this little bit of money go?

She paid the hospital bill with a pained heart, cursing under her breath as she walked back to the ward.

As she approached, she saw a man in a suit with a secretary standing in front of Gu Jingxu in the hospital room.

Gu Jingxu’s voice was low and desperate: “Is the property settlement complete? How much more do I owe?”

The man in the suit shook his head and sighed: “Mr. Gu, the other party withdrew in time. Your debts and all your assets are balanced.”

“Withdrew in time?” Gu Jingxu laughed self-mockingly. “So I should be grateful they let me off easy?”

As he spoke, he angrily smashed everything within reach onto the floor.

“Who was it?!”

The lawyer had seen many such cases and remained calm: “Mr. Gu, you should move out of the villa as soon as possible. That villa will probably go to a judicial auction.”

“Bang—” Wu Wanjun dropped what she was holding.

She picked it up and hurriedly ran into the room, her voice urgent and flustered: “Jingxu! We can’t move! Where will we live if we move out?!”

Wu Wanjun looked blankly at Gu Jingxu, then glared at the secretary and lawyer.

Why should she move out? That was her house!

The lawyer was completely unfazed and said quietly: “Mr. Gu, you can probably keep one property—either the school district apartment near Seventh Middle School or the downtown apartment. If you choose the downtown apartment, you might need about 500,000 yuan more. If you choose the school district apartment, you might get some money back. The specifics will depend on the auction prices of the other properties.”

Gu Jingxu opened his mouth but couldn’t speak. He couldn’t understand how he had ended up like this. He had been a moderately successful businessman; how had he suddenly been reduced to choosing which of his previously casual purchases would become his permanent home?

What exactly had happened…

And whom had he offended?

“Mr. Gu?” the lawyer asked again.

“The school district apartment…” Gu Jingxu’s voice was hoarse, feeling only overwhelming despair.

“Understood.” The lawyer nodded. “Then I won’t disturb your rest. Call me if you need anything.”

With that, the lawyer hurriedly left.

The secretary looked at Gu Jingxu with a complex expression.

“You’re leaving?” “Leaving” clearly meant changing jobs.

“Yes.” Gu Jingxu couldn’t pay his salary anymore; why stay? To do charity work?

If Gu Jingxu had been more righteous in the past, perhaps the secretary would have stayed with him a while longer before leaving.

But obviously, he hadn’t been righteous; he had frequently lost his temper with the secretary.

“Goodbye…”

“Take care.” After saying this, the secretary turned and left.

“Bang bang bang—” Gu Jingxu also smashed the things on the cabinet on the other side.

He glared, angrily saying: “One day, I, Gu Jingxu, will rise again. I won’t let any of these people who kicked me when I was down and betrayed me get away!”

Wu Wanjun shrank her neck, thinking Gu Jingxu looked a bit frightening in this state.

“Take all your jewelry, designer bags, and such things and sell them!” Gu Jingxu suddenly looked up at Wu Wanjun. Now, these were the only sources of money they had left.

“What?! No!” Wu Wanjun instinctively objected.

Without those luxury items, what would she eat? What would she wear? What would she put on?!

How would she go shopping with her girlfriends? How would she maintain her dignity?

Gu Jingxu glared at her, suddenly wondering why he had married such a woman!

Although Li Sitong had a bad temper and wouldn’t pamper him, she was a woman who could share hardships with him.

Back then, when Li Sitong’s father disapproved of them, she had eloped with him, and they had gone through a period of hardship together.

Li Sitong might cry, but she had always stayed by his side, selling everything she had brought with her. Even such a privileged girl had been willing to suffer with him.

What about Wu Wanjun?

She wasn’t even willing to sell her luxury goods!

All of which had been bought with his money!

“We can barely afford to eat, and you still want luxury goods?!” Gu Jingxu lost his temper.

He now had no source of income and no way to turn things around. Wu Wanjun’s luxury goods and jewelry together were worth quite a bit!

Of course, Gu Jingxu didn’t yet know just how much pressure real life could exert.

Wu Wanjun quickly nodded: “I’ll sell them, I’ll sell them!”

Out of long-standing habit, she still didn’t dare defy Gu Jingxu.

But her true thoughts… only she knew…

Gu Jingxu sighed in relief and comforted her: “We’ll go live in the school district apartment first. After selling the items, I’ll see if I can start some kind of business. One day, I will regain everything I’ve lost!”

Wu Wanjun looked at him without speaking.

When Gu Jingxu went to the bathroom, Wu Wanjun grabbed her bag and ran out quickly.

As she ran, she called Gu Shiyun—

“Shiyun! Your dad is finished. He’s even eyeing my jewelry! What good days could I possibly have following him?!”

Her voice was panicked. Without waiting for a response, Wu Wanjun continued, “I can’t stay with your dad anymore. If I stay, I’ll end up suffering with him!”

Finally, a shocked female voice came from the other end of the phone: “Mom, are you planning to run away with the jewelry and money?!”

Wu Wanjun lowered her voice: “Mom will take the money and come find you!”

She would have to be crazy to live a hard life with Gu Jingxu! She had suffered through poverty in her early years and would never live a hard life again!

If she could endure hardship, how could she have been Gu Jingxu’s mistress for so many years?

Gu Shiyun took a deep breath, suppressing her temper.

“Mom! You can’t leave my dad!”

“What?” Wu Wanjun was surprised that her daughter disagreed.

Gu Shiyun’s voice was angry and helpless: “You only think staying with my dad means suffering, but how long can you live well with the money you take? At least my dad knows how to make money. If you endure for a while, and my dad makes money again, you can still live a good life!”

Gu Shiyun knew her mother too well. Her mother was now wasteful, and aging, and no one would want her as a mistress anymore!

Her mother planned to rely on her in the future!

Gu Shiyun hadn’t even figured out her future yet; how could she let Wu Wanjun become her burden?

Therefore, she could only persuade her to stay with Gu Jingxu!

“Ah?” Wu Wanjun was stunned.

On second thought, it was true. Gu Shiyun was still in school and certainly couldn’t support her. She could not earn money herself. Even if she sold all her jewelry, it wouldn’t last a lifetime…

Thinking this, she gritted her teeth and walked back.

“Where did you go?” Gu Jingxu was angry; he hadn’t found her when he came out of the bathroom!

Wu Wanjun stammered: “Shiyun called…”

She had just thought about running away, making her look guilty at that moment. Fortunately, Gu Jingxu didn’t focus his attention on her and didn’t notice.

Gu Jingxu raised an eyebrow, his haggard, gloomy face finally showing a hint of a smile: “Let me say a few words to Shiyun too.”

Wu Wanjun hurriedly nodded, dialed the number, and handed the phone to him.

“Hello, Shiyun, you probably know about Dad’s situation…”

The voice on the phone was gentle, comforting him: “I know, Dad. It’s already decided; we can only start over.”

Hearing her voice without any blame, Gu Jingxu sighed in relief and said appreciatively: “Don’t worry, Dad won’t be discouraged!”

After being beaten down for so long, only others’ encouragement and trust could give him support.

“I believe in you, Dad.” Gu Shiyun continued with kind words.

Gu Jingxu seemed to think of something and asked: “Shiyun, your tuition there is expensive… Dad probably can’t afford it anymore… Why don’t you come back? Come back and help me…”

The phone suddenly went quiet. After a while, she said: “I still want to finish my studies. If I go back, I won’t be able to study anymore and will only have the foreign degree.”

She paused, then said softly: “As for the tuition… I still have some.”

“You have?” Gu Jingxu was confused. Although he had given her quite a bit of money when she left, it couldn’t possibly be enough to continue studying!

The school she had chosen required exorbitant tuition fees every year.

Gu Shiyun was silent for a moment, then said: “I sold my shares.”

“What?!” Gu Jingxu jumped up in shock.

The shares she mentioned were obviously from his company!

A long time ago, Gu Shiyun had asked him for some shares. As she was still a minor, they were in Wu Wanjun’s name.

“When did you sell them?!” Gu Jingxu’s eyes widened, bloodshot.

“Before the company’s bankruptcy liquidation. I had my agent get my mom’s signature and sold them for a sum of money.” Gu Shiyun told the truth.

There was nothing to hide. Gu Shiyun didn’t feel she had done anything wrong. The company was doomed anyway; she had just withdrawn her money in time.

If she hadn’t acted promptly, she couldn’t have continued her studies abroad!

“Well done! Gu Shiyun, you’ve done well!!” Gu Jingxu was so angry that the veins on his forehead bulged again.

He knew Gu Shiyun was calculating. When she had schemed against Xue Jiao before, although he was angry, he had also felt a hint of excitement, pleased that she was so clever.

But that cleverness had been used against others. When it was used against himself, it didn’t feel so good!

While lying in his hospital bed, he didn’t have time to see who was abandoning him and who was sticking with the company until the end…

But his daughter, who held some of his shares, had also abandoned him!

In others’ eyes, wouldn’t this mean that the Gu family had given up?

No wonder the collapse had been so rapid afterward, everything crumbling in an instant.

It was their people who had given others the signal!

Indeed, selling immediately had guaranteed her some money, but she had also become one of the hands that pushed the company past the point of no return!

“Bang—” Gu Jingxu smashed the phone, his eyes red.

He suddenly raised his hand and slapped Wu Wanjun’s face, grinding his teeth: “You’ve done well!”

His breathing became heavy as he gasped for air, his palm pressing against his chest.

The daughter he had protected had stabbed him in the heart! A knife straight through his heart!

On the other end of the phone, Gu Shiyun stared at her phone, momentarily dazed.

She hadn’t done anything wrong. Even if Gu Jingxu was angry, she still needed to sell those shares. Otherwise, the money wouldn’t have reached her hands. If it could have been saved, it would have stayed with Gu Jingxu. Besides… it couldn’t have been saved anyway!

She needed to continue her studies; she couldn’t afford to be soft-hearted!

Thinking of this, Gu Shiyun frowned slightly.

Gu Xuejiao had asked her to archive her files and then study abroad, but as soon as she left, Gu Jingxu had rapidly gone bankrupt…

Was there any connection here?

No! Impossible! Gu Xuejiao and her stepfather didn’t have that kind of power!

Then who was it?

Was there no connection?

No! There must be a connection! Otherwise, how could Li Sitong, who had wanted to die with her just the day before, be relieved the next day?

Gu Shiyun suddenly felt like she had walked into a vast web…

She clutched her clothes tighter, suddenly feeling afraid.

——

Before the final exams, there was first a monthly test. This test was moved to June 5th. Once they finished on June 6th, the college entrance exam would follow on June 7th and 8th.

Although Xue Jiao had prepared carefully for this test, the previous Gu Shiyun incident had still affected her life somewhat.

In the subtle competition between her and Chu Sheng, she was easily affected.

For a top student, unless they had an extraordinarily talented brain, they mostly squeezed out every minute and second to study.

On the day after the test, Uncle Xing picked up Cheng Mingze, while Xue Jiao took a taxi home. After all, tomorrow was the college entrance exam, and their family was focused on Cheng Mingze these days.

Xue Jiao was also cautious every day, afraid of affecting Cheng Mingze.

She walked out of the Seventh Middle School gate with her head down, thinking about the gains and losses of this monthly test and her study situation during this period.

“Beep beep beep—” A horn sounded beside her.

Xue Jiao looked up. The window slowly rolled down.

An exquisitely handsome face appeared in her view. He had a slight smile, looking in a good mood, with eyes black as ink, like whirlpools.

Xue Jiao’s eyes brightened.

Author’s Note: Lin Zhihua: You brat, can’t you let me say something???

Brat: I already let you show your face, what more do you want?!