Wu Hongwen glanced at the girl and raised his eyebrows slightly, before looking away disinterestedly. "Look all you want, I'm going to go eat!"
The other young man reluctantly looked away, then tugged at Wu Hongwen jealously. "If that love letter were written to me, there wouldn't be any of your business anymore! Talk about wasting your resources!"
"Stop making a fool of yourself." Wu Hongwen rolled his eyes in exasperation and threw his basketball in the air as he walked away.
The other boy mock gasped dramatically and followed after Wu Hongwen. "Hey, I thought you were my friend!"
Meanwhile, Gu Xiqiao finished eating her lunch and went back to class, and listened attentively to the teachers in the lessons that came after.
The class teacher that had taken the time to check back on her nodded in satisfaction.
After school let out in the evening, he requested Gu Xiqiao to stay behind for a discussion.
"Which university do you want to apply for?" The class teacher asked directly, holding the exam results from earlier. "Your mathematics is quite good, and I think your English still has a lot of potential to be improved. Math and sciences are connected in some ways too, and if you focus on your general sciences you can probably raise it by another ten points or so…With this degree of grades, you can probably get into a good university."
Gu Xiqiao blinked, and replies honestly, "I've never thought of it."
She had never thought of this question before, but since she had attended B University in her past life, she had no intention of replicating any of her choices in this one.
The class teacher hadn't expected this answer. He had thought of many answers like S University, B University, or A University for example, but he had never thought that she would reply like that. "Young people should have their own goals so that they have the motivation to study! You're talented and smart enough, so don't waste your time!"
Gu Xiqiao smiled and nodded. "I'll decide according to my results in the next exam."
"Alright, but aim higher this time, and don't relax too much!" The class teacher didn't ask anymore. "You can go home now, take care of your safety okay?"
Gu Xiqiao nodded, and as she turned away she glanced at the paper filled with calculations on the table and smiled. "Teacher, you have to use likelihood functions, or else you won't be able to solve this question."
The girl seemed like an elegant and impish elf as she said so, and the other teachers who were listening in on the conversation smiled with good intentions.
The class teacher blinked and seriously tried to solve the question with a likelihood function, and realized that Gu Xiqiao was correct. He was stunned for a few seconds before he smiled, his eyes turning into crescents in glee. "Smart."
Likelihood functions was a calculation method usually taught in universities, but it was taught in passing because the national finals had a reputation for including questions that weren't in the official syllabus. For this girl to be able to use this method so quickly, it meant that she had spent a lot of time and effort in practice.
The teacher next to him looked over jealously. "If her English were a little better, she would be able to join the rocket class with no problems. Don't neglect her alright?"
And so, the teachers started their conversation.
It was already quite late when Gu Xiqiao stepped out of the school grounds, and there weren't many people left on the streets outside the school. Of course, the car that the Gu family sent to fetch Gu Xijin had already left.
Gu Xiqiao didn't really care about it and put on her backpack, squinting as she looked around. The rays of sunset shone on her and created a long shadow on the lone pathway, and Gu Xiqiao walked towards a shortcut home.
[Ding! Daily Good Deed Mission Activated: Rescue Wu Hongwen]
[Mission reward: 10 points]
The system that had been silent for an entire afternoon rang again and Gu Xiqiao paused in her steps. "Who is that, and how do I save him?"
The system spirit waved its hand in the air, and a semi-transparent screen appeared in front of her with a red arrow on it. [The system has detected that Wu Hongwen is on the alley to your left.]
Gu Xiqiao looked in the direction of the arrow and saw a young man surrounded by a group of gangsters. Seeing the daggers and knives in their hands, she immediately wanted to escape. "Hey, I can't beat that!"
[Please remember that the system is omnipotent! You can use two points to buy half an hour's worth of Martial Art Master status from the system.]
"Two points? Let's not stick our noses into this matter…" A point could be used to exchange a day in the virtual space, and it was quite a waste to use it on this.
[Don't forget that you still have a debt to the system! With two points deducted, you can still profit a whole eight points!] The system spirit reminded, a little angry at this mistress.[1]
It had just praised that she was hardworking, but why did she become stingy?
Wu Hongwen thought that he had been on an unlucky streak lately. He had been harassed endlessly by a girl from another school, and her suitors even brought their lackeys to beat him up when he was all alone. There were eight gangsters, while there was only one of him.
They all had weapons like daggers and iron rods, and it was apparent that they had drawn blood before from their malicious aura.
There were a few students that passed by, but most of them turned tail and walked the other way as quickly as they could. If they couldn't take a detour, they ducked their heads and ran by as fast as they could. Wu Hongwen even saw one of the girls that wrote him a love letter today flee as soon as she saw the scene.
As he was backed against a wall literally and figuratively, he couldn't help but smile bitterly at the reactions of the passersby.
It was true that misfortune tested one's loyalty, in the end.
The blonde gangster that led the gang looked up and down at Wu Hongwen with an arrogant stare. "You're a student from First City High, aren't you? You've got the gall, touching my woman like that! The most handsome guy in First City High, are you? Let's see if that helps you in this situation!"
After he finished his declaration, the lackeys all started laughing loudly.
Wu Hongwen knew he had no chance of beating them all and getting away, and he started mocking and throwing insults at them in retaliation. The blond-haired gangster shook the cigarette in the air to shake away the ashes, and the lackeys came closer as if that were a sign.
These lackeys were all from the vocational school nearby, and because the school authorities never paid any attention to them, they had a lot of experience in fighting and dabbling in the shadows of society. They've experienced all sorts of gang battles, and have even gotten into a real gang, so they have been becoming more and more arrogant lately.
Wu Hongwen quickly reacted and blocked his chest with his backpack to defend against attacks on his vitals.
As a few iron rods swung in his direction, he managed to find a hole in the gangsters' formation, but as he was about to flee, a silhouette ran in their direction like a gust of wind. The silhouette jumped up and spun in the air and landing a kick on one of the lackeys and grabbing the shoulder of another and dislocating it with a resounding crack in the silent alley.
Gu Xiqiao grabbed Wu Hongwen's wrist while everyone was still stunned and started running away with him in tow.
Wu Hongwen tried to look at the person that had grabbed his wrist, and all he could hear were the whistling sounds of the wind and the indignant shouts of the gangsters that faded as they ran, as well as the exclamations of the people that they ran by on the way.
But none of these sounds made it into his mind as it drew blanks, and all he was thinking of was the person that he saw in front of him at this moment.
From this angle, he could see her long and slightly curved eyelashes as well as her delicate features. Even though they were in the middle of running, her expression was still lazily and unbothered like the moon in the night sky.
He was completely dazed.
[1] for someone who's good at math now, you'd think she'd do a better job deciding whether to take on a mission or not xD