For the past few months, Xue Jiao had been studying diligently. Additionally, because of her arrival, this world had changed significantly. Xue Jiao had almost forgotten about the original plot!
In the original storyline, the current Xue Jiao still disliked studying, Li Si Tong had already died, and Cheng Shuo doted on her extremely.
Gu Xue Jiao heard that Gu Shi Yun and Cheng Ming Ze were going to participate in a competition together. She was so angry that she went drinking with Li Wei and others, got drunk, and fought with people. Cheng Shuo went to check on her, so Cheng Ming Ze came to the competition alone.
Also tonight, he was staying at a hotel outside.
In the evening, he was tricked by a fellow competition participant to go out, resulting in him being locked in the most remote laboratory of First High School.
Locked together with him was Gu Shi Yun, who had followed him after seeing him going out alone so late, not knowing she would also be locked in.
Neither of them could participate in tomorrow’s competition.
But their relationship made rapid progress that night, and because of guilt, Cheng Shuo turned a blind eye to their development. Otherwise, merely because of Li Si Tong’s departure, Cheng Shuo would never have agreed to Cheng Ming Ze and Gu Shi Yun being together.
Xue Jiao thought of this, her pupils contracting slightly.
She must get them out—first, since she knew about it, she couldn’t remain indifferent, and second… she couldn’t let Gu Shi Yun use a difficult-to-pass exam to morally blackmail the Cheng family!
They were now in First High’s laboratory…
Xue Jiao instinctively took out her phone to call Li Si Tong, but her finger paused, squeezing the phone tightly.
How would she explain knowing they were at First High?
Xue Jiao bit her lower lip and sent a message:
[Mom, I’m going to First High to find my brother. Maybe he went there early to familiarize himself with the place.]
After sending it, she put away her phone and walked out quickly.
——
“Gu Shi Yun… I’m sorry, I’ve implicated you…” Cheng Ming Ze was a bit embarrassed, his voice hoarse from shouting for a while, asking in the darkness.
The room was very dark, almost nothing could be seen.
Gu Shi Yun’s voice trembled slightly, but she pretended to be firm: “It’s okay… I should have called the police before rushing up…”
Cheng Ming Ze shook his head, then realized she couldn’t see him, so he spoke: “It’s not your fault, I’ve implicated you.”
“Ming Ze Ge, will we… die?” Gu Shi Yun’s voice was still trembling.
“No.” Cheng Ming Ze was very firm, “His purpose is to prevent me from taking the exam, not to kill us. My parents will find us too. At most, we won’t be able to take the exam tomorrow, but we’ll get out.”
“Mmm! That’s good!”
“Gu Shi Yun…”
“Yes?”
“You probably won’t be able to take the exam tomorrow because of me.”
“It’s okay!” Gu Shi Yun pretended to be strong, “I might not get a good ranking anyway, and there’s always next year! But Ming Ze Ge, you…”
“I’m fine too, the college entrance exam is enough.” This competition indeed wasn’t a matter of life and death for Cheng Ming Ze.
“That’s good!”
For a moment, the room fell silent.
After a long while, Cheng Ming Ze’s ears twitched, hearing sobbing sounds.
The person who locked them inside had also cut the power, so he could only judge by the sound that it was coming from Gu Shi Yun’s direction.
“Gu Shi Yun? What’s wrong?” Cheng Ming Ze probed.
“Ming Ze Ge, I’m scared… wuwuwu…” The crying grew louder.
Cheng Ming Ze frowned slightly, but still said with furrowed brows: “I’ll come to you…”
As he spoke, he felt his way over.
Just as he sat down beside Gu Shi Yun, two hands hugged him, and a head buried into his chest, whimpering.
“Ming Ze Ge… I’m scared…”
Cheng Ming Ze instinctively wanted to push her away, Gu Xue Jiao’s words flashing through his mind—
Can you face my mother?
Cheng Ming Ze frowned even more tightly. The girl in his arms began to shiver, her sobbing becoming more obvious.
“Don’t be afraid, I’m here.”
Cheng Ming Ze sighed almost imperceptibly and raised his hand—
“Bang!”
The lights came on.
Both were stunned. Gu Shi Yun’s eyes flashed with bewilderment, but Cheng Ming Ze immediately breathed out in relief.
“Someone turned on the power, people are coming.”
Gu Shi Yun bit her lower lip, her face still buried in Cheng Ming Ze’s chest, continuing to tremble, but anger flashed across her face.
“Don’t be afraid anymore, get up quickly, someone is coming to rescue us.” Cheng Ming Ze patted Gu Shi Yun.
“Bang! Bang bang!!”
Something was hitting the door. Gu Shi Yun quickly hugged Cheng Ming Ze tighter: “Ming Ze Ge! What’s that?!”
“It’s okay, it’s okay, it should be someone rescuing us.” Cheng Ming Ze’s voice was also somewhat tentative, not understanding the situation.
Gu Shi Yun hugged him even tighter, hiding in his embrace.
“Bang—” A loud crash, the lock fell off, and the door was kicked open.
A girl wearing a Seventh High School uniform stood at the door, holding a hammer, looking at them.
Her hair was loose, somewhat messy but tucked behind her ears, revealing an exquisite face that glowed like jade under the light.
Cheng Ming Ze’s heart pounded.
Xue Jiao looked at the male and female leads “embracing” each other, raising an eyebrow—
“Cheng Ming Ze, you’ll pay for this door.”
——
The subsequent matters were handed over to the police and the school to handle. Although Xue Jiao had broken First High’s door, the fact that an experiment room could be used by a student from another school to lock up other students… Just for this, they never mentioned the door issue but kept apologizing instead.
The boy who locked Cheng Ming Ze in was also handed over to the police. Cheng Shuo and Li Si Tong had a lot to say to the siblings, but in the end, said nothing.
The exam was tomorrow, so the rest was the priority now.
Xue Jiao almost went to bed as soon as she returned to the hotel, not knowing if next door’s Cheng Ming Ze and downstairs’ Gu Shi Yun… were tossing and turning, unable to sleep.
What Xue Jiao didn’t know was that Gu Shi Yun wasn’t locked in by coincidence. She had followed Cheng Ming Ze out and saw him being locked up by another boy. At that moment, she had a hundred ways to save him, but in the end, she chose not to and sent herself in as well.
So, with almost no resistance, she was also pushed in.
She had planned everything, except she didn’t expect that bitch Gu Xue Jiao to come to rescue them!
Gu Shi Yun knew that she basically had no chance of getting a good result in this competition, so she rationally prepared to exchange it for Cheng Ming Ze’s gratitude…
Damn, Gu Xue Jiao!
Gu Shi Yun cursed inwardly.
Cheng Ming Ze was equally restless, every time he closed his eyes, he saw Xue Jiao standing at the door with a raised eyebrow.
Ah—
He silently screamed twice, covering his head with the blanket.
——
Early the next morning, Cheng Shuo and Li Si Tong sent both of them into the exam room. The two-hour math competition had a moderate number of questions, but most people found it difficult to complete them all. Everyone was racking their brains, and before long, the time for submission arrived.
Xue Jiao put away her pencil case and walked out of the exam room with the flow of people.
“Shi Yun, is Mom’s Shi Yun okay?” Wu Wan Jun embraced Gu Shi Yun who had walked out, holding her affectionately in her arms. Gu Jing Xu also stood nearby, looking at her with concern.
Cheng Ming Ze walked up to them and said sincerely: “This time I’ve implicated Gu Shi Yun. I hope you both can forgive me. Rest assured, that person will receive appropriate punishment.”
“Shi Yun.” Wu Wan Jun didn’t speak, just hugged Gu Shi Yun.
Gu Shi Yun hugged Wu Wan Jun back: “Mom, I’m fine, this isn’t Ming Ze Ge’s fault, it’s that person’s fault.”
At this time, Xue Jiao had just walked out of First High’s gate, approaching Cheng Shuo and Li Si Tong, very close to Gu Jing Xu and Wu Wan Jun.
She heard Cheng Shuo say: “This girl is quite good, but Ming Ze’s classmate had very bad intentions.”
Li Si Tong’s face showed a moment of displeasure. Although it was misplaced anger, she just really disliked Gu Shi Yun.
Xue Jiao looked at the guilty-faced Cheng Ming Ze beside her, the smiling and gentle Gu Shi Yun, and Gu Jing Xu whose face showed anger towards Cheng Ming Ze…
“Brother, is Gu Shi Yun your girlfriend?” Xue Jiao suddenly spoke.
Gu Shi Yun buried her head in Wu Wan Jun’s embrace, as if embarrassed.
“No!” Cheng Ming Ze immediately refuted, with a hint of urgency.
Gu Shi Yun’s movements froze. Fortunately, her head was in Wu Wan Jun’s embrace, so her current expression couldn’t be seen.
Xue Jiao tilted her head, blinking her big eyes, and asked: “Then why did Gu Shi Yun follow you last night? Didn’t you invite her?”
“No!” Gu Shi Yun’s face slightly reddened, then she buried it deeper, saying softly, “I was worried about him, so I followed…”
“Oh…” Xue Jiao had a look of sudden realization, followed by confusion, “Then you weren’t staying at the hotel, went out by yourself, and were then locked up by the person who harmed my brother? What does that have to do with my brother? Why should he be responsible?”
Her eyes widened, as if genuinely curious.
Everyone was stunned, even Cheng Ming Ze.
Right, Cheng Ming Ze didn’t invite her out, nor did he harm her. Someone wanted to harm Cheng Ming Ze and implicated her.
It seemed… it wasn’t Cheng Ming Ze’s fault.
Xue Jiao continued: “Then my brother shouldn’t feel guilty, right? After all, he didn’t want someone to harm him, and he didn’t ask anyone to follow him.”
She touched her chin: “I think you, Gu Shi Yun, should thank me. It was me who saved people yesterday, including you.”
“Gu Xue Jiao!” Gu Jing Xu glared at her.
Xue Jiao blinked her eyes: “Did I say something wrong?”
Cheng Ming Ze looked into her eyes and shook his head.
Right, Xue Jiao wasn’t wrong. Gu Shi Yun was indeed implicated, but the one at fault wasn’t him. He didn’t need to humble himself and apologize like this.
“Not wrong.” Cheng Shuo also suddenly smiled, reaching out to pat her head, “We need to go to the police station with your brother to give statements. Jiao Jiao, shall we send you back first? Or do you want to come with us?”
Xue Jiao shook her head: “No need, you go ahead. I’ll take a taxi back. I can manage.”
Seeing Wu Wan Jun’s unpleasant face opposite, Li Si Tong felt a surge of secret joy. She smiled happily, drawing Xue Jiao into her arms: “Jiao Jiao, let us send you back. Mom is worried about you.”
“It’s fine, it’s just taking a taxi. You should go quickly, they might finish work soon.”
“Alright then, be careful. We’ll head over first, and we’ll have lunch together when we get back home.” Cheng Shuo looked at the time. If they went now, they might finish before lunch. If they waited longer, the police station would close for lunch, and they’d have to wait until the afternoon.
“Let’s go.” Cheng Ming Ze, with his hands in his pockets, also smiled at Xue Jiao.
Xue Jiao was momentarily stunned, then stiffly returned a smile.
After Cheng Shuo and the others left, Xue Jiao prepared to get a taxi. Just as she turned around, Gu Jing Xu grabbed her.
“Gu Xue Jiao!”
“Hmm?”
“Today… you didn’t call me dad…”
Xue Jiao’s face turned cold: “I said before, I don’t have a dad like you.”
“Gu Xue Jiao!”
Xue Jiao kept her face cold, not speaking, just waving his hand away.
“Jiao Jiao, I know you still care about the Gu family. You saved Shi Yun. Let’s go eat together, and you can get along better with your sister.” Gu Jing Xu continued patiently.