That boy's seat was right in front of her, and Gu Xiqiao finally reacted that this was the thief that she had caught back at the mall!
Yao Jiamu walked over to his seat holding his sandals in hand, and he seemed to be quite relaxed given that he was originally from Third City High anyway. As his eyes flitted around, they centered on the girl that sat behind him, and it seemed as if his world snapped into focus.
He stopped in place with his eyes wide in shock!
Gu Xiqiao looked up at him, her eyes glinting with warmth as she gestured encouragingly before looking back down towards the desk and preparing herself to take the exams.
The Chinese paper started at nine o'clock, and she wasn't all that pressured by it as she took up her fountain pen and started writing down on the paper swiftly and steadily.
The three examiners were patrolling the exam hall, and whenever they passed by her they would slow down their steps to look at her handwriting. If they were the ones that were in charge of marking their papers, they would have probably been hesitant about deducting her marks purely based on her handwriting.
The theme of the essay this time around was 'Home is where the heart is', and Gu Xiqiao looked at these words again and again before closing her eyes in thought and raising her pen.
The Chinese paper wasn't all that hard, and most of the students could do as well as they usually did, and after the bell rang she took her pencil case and walked out the door.
As she reached the stairway, she raised her hand and intercepted Yao Jiamu's hand.
"What in the- Do you have eyes on the back of your head?"
He was used to fighting after all, and while he wasn't unparalleled, he had already been famous in the streets for being able to fight multiple people at once ever since he was young. Now, she could block his hand with a single pencil case?
"Huh, your pencil case is really sturdy!" Yao Jiamu reached over and pinched the pencil case that was as hard as steel at that moment and had impacted his arm so hard that it went numb…That was really strange.
Gu Xiqiao side-eyed him and retracted her pencil case calmly. "If you have anything to say just say it, don't get all handsy with me."
Yao Jiamu saw that she was about to leave, so he quickly followed behind her. "You're taking your finals here too? And you're even sitting behind me!"
"Duh!"
Yao Jiamu didn't really mind that she acted so coldly towards him, and was instead thankful towards her. He had looked at the phone number that she gave him many times but didn't call, making a promise to himself to not call that number until he had the achievements to show for it.
Who knew that this coincidence would happen…
"What's your name? Which school are you from? You're definitely not from Third City High!" The students in Third City High were mostly a bunch of students that were there to spend their days and not study properly, and Yao Jiamu was certain that Gu Xiqiao wasn't that sort of student from a single glance. Besides, most of the students in Third City High knew him as the little king of the school that was handsome and good at fighting, and he even had his gaggle of fangirls…
Gu Xiqiao didn't stop walking, but she replied, "Gu Xiqiao, First City High."
His eyes brightened slightly upon finding a common topic with her. "First City High…You must know my friend Luo Wenlang then!"
"Yeah." This statement attracted a bit of her attention, and she turned around to look at this boy that had been chattering nonstop.
As they talked, they arrived at the school gates, and Gu Xiqiao found the familiar car parked across the road immediately and her expression lit up. "Alright I have to go now, goodbye."
Yao Jiamu stopped walking before shouting at her: "My name is Yao Jiamu!"
She waved her hand in the air, gesturing that she heard him.
Xiao Yun had already come out of the exam hall and had been waiting for Gu Xiqiao at the gates. Upon seeing the girl in question, she immediately grabbed her arm and asked, "How did you do?"
"...Hey, aren't I the one who should be asking you that question?" Gu Xiqiao scrunched her nose slightly. Thank goodness she had good reflexes, or else her arm might have been twisted by Xiao Yun on the spot.
"I did quite well, actually, and that essay theme…It was the same as the one that you gave us before! You haven't looked at our class group chat have you? Those idiots all spammed messages in happiness about this! Hey, how did you guess?" Xiao Yun seemed to have been very nervous about the exam, so all her thoughts flooded out as soon as she opened her mouth.
Gu Xiqiao pressed a finger to Xiao Yun's head. "If you don't get good results, don't ever come and see me…I see your brother and your grandfather, bye now."
She saw Xiao Yun off before she continued walking towards Jiang Shuxuan's car.
"Was that person your classmate too?" As soon as she got onto the car, Jiang Shuxuan asked.
"No, he's just someone that sat in front of me in the exam hall." Gu Xiqiao realized that he was asking about Yao Jiamu and answered with a calm tone.
Jiang Shuxuan put down his book and told the chauffeur which he had gotten temporarily as he had his hands full dealing with the matters of the National Base.
The exam period had always been hard on students, so Jiang Shuxuan didn't give her any more pressure by asking her about the exams, giving her some space to relax.
In the afternoon, Jiang Shuxuan waited outside the gates as the students had their Mathematics exams, and he saw many students come out of the exam hall depressed and gloomy as if they had lost their souls, and some even hugged their relatives and cried.
He couldn't understand how that felt, but he concluded that the papers this time around must have been hard so he was still quite worried. Thankfully, none of the students that came out early and broke down were Gu Xiqiao, so he breathed a sigh and relief.
But then again, what use would it be even if she came out early?
There was no one waiting for her outside…
Jiang Shuxuan suddenly felt as if it were hard to breathe in the car, so he got down and lit up a cigarette, but before he could even start smoking, he saw a familiar silhouette come out from the exam hall, prompting him to snuff out the cigarette and walk over.
Gu Xiqiao was expressionless as she walked out, and upon spotting Jiang Shuxuan, she smiled brightly. "You were waiting for me!"
This sort of pure and bright smile was rare for her, and it was so innocent and beautiful that it would make the viewer want to give the owner of the smile all the good things in life. Jiang Shuxuan's steps paused as the weight on his chest disappeared, seeing that she probably did quite well on the exam.
Other than maths, the other papers weren't all that hard.
Gu Xiqiao quickly finished her English papers and handed the answer sheet to the examiner before she left the exam hall along with the surprised gazes of the other examinees.
It was as if she didn't have any doubt that she did well on the exams!
Yao Jiamu chuckled lowly as he looked at the figure that was leaving the exam hall, before looking down and reading the papers carefully. He had already gotten news of this girl named Gu Xiqiao from Luo Wenlang, and he was quite surprised that she even had better grades then Luo Wenlang.
In that case, he couldn't do badly either.
The sunlight was bright outside the exam hall, and the air was fresh and crisp. Gu Xiqiao inhaled deeply before exhaling, all of her pent up stress releasing from her.
Then, she walked towards the gates with light steps, but before she could get to Jiang Shuxuan's car, she was blocked by a girl that stepped right in front of her.
The one that blocked her way had a beaten expression, giving a gloomy and somewhat sinister aura to the face that would have been considered gentle and pretty. Her eyes were filled with a murky glow and was a clear contrast from her gaze that had been bright in the past. While her overall aura changed, Gu Xiqiao recognized the girl in front of her immediately.
It was Gu Xijin.