Hearing the explanation from the system, Gu Xiqiao's heart finally calmed down from the surge of panic she felt. Knowing the whole story now, it wasn't necessary to feel so much fear.
Jiang Shuxuan returned to his seat, and after taking his seat, he moved a plate of fruit that was in front of him to Gu Xiqiao.
The female model that was sitting beside Wang Lixin hated the sight in an instance. She wasn't very old, but her debut period had been very long. Being in the circle for such a long time, she had naturally conformed to the methods that they used to survive in it. Although the gold mine that she had found wasn't great in the looks department and had a bad temper, she could endure as long as she had a steady source of resources for herself. Otherwise, she wouldn't be able to get to where she was today.
After these few days of following Wang Lixin, she had also gotten to know Jiang Shuxuan. Although she didn't have a chance to speak to him, she knew his background, his worth, young, handsome, and he was the biggest catch in this circle. No one had seen him bring any partner before, and suddenly this young girl was brought out. The female model couldn't tell whether she should be jealous or envious.
She gave Gu Xiqiao a look of contempt, categorizing her as those girls who were kept and sheltered.
"Little sister, you've new to all this mingling, aren't you." She wasn't that far from Gu Xiqiao, just stretching out her hand, she would be able to touch her. She handed Gu Xiqiao a glass of wine that had something added in., "Big sister will treat you to a glass."
Gu Xiqiao looked up at her, taking the offered glass silently, but not drinking it, just holding it in her hand.
The female model gave a cold expression. They were all here to be flaunted, what was there to be acting all high and mighty about. She looked at Jiang Shuxuan who didn't look up at all during the exchange, and felt that the girl didn't seem to be the type that he would like at all. With that thought, she stood up to walk to Gu Xiqiao's side.
"What's wrong, you don't like this?" She said, bringing the glass up to Gu Xiqiao's lips.
At the same time, the formation in Gu Xiqiao's hands been completed and had materialized, the chi in her body surging outwards.
[Ding! 20 points deducted! The host has received a bonus for the first time completion of a formation!]
What Gu Xiqiao couldn't see was that her formation had already taken effect, with a cloud of black smoke coming out from Wang Lixin's head. The black smoke gave off a chilling cold effect, and when it floated out, the area around it was covered with a layer of white mist.
Part of the black smoke dissipated, while another part spread out through the room, and some of it stopping when it encountered Gu Xiqiao, and slowly disappeared.
Gu Xiqiao couldn't see any of this, but Jiang Shuxuan saw it clearly with his own eyes. He turned to look at Gu Xiqiao with a slightly stunned expression.
The female model, seeing that Gu Xiqiao was ignoring her, felt the annoyance building up within her. Casting a glance to see that Jiang Shuxuan was giving Gu Xiqiao quite a focused look, she felt pleased, that was her ticket to get out of this, right?
Feeling more and more that she was being reasonable about this, the female model straightened her posture so that her breasts were slightly more pushed up and more cleavage was visible, she whined. "Master Jiang, what kind of partner have you brought out?"
Slap!
Jiang Shuxuan reached out to slap away the glass held in the female model's hand. Reaching out, he gently took Gu Xiqiao and led her out of the box. Since the matter had been resolved, there was no reason for him to stay any longer.
There were no more dangerous people here, and soon there would be people coming for the aftermath.
The entire box was silent, the noises within cutting off suddenly, including the female model, who was staring at Jiang Shuxuan in a daze, not believing that he could be so impudent.
After mingling for a few days, this was not the first time they had gazed upon his face. In their impression, he was just another ordinary second generation upstart from a rich family, but now they suddenly found that this man was different from their first impression.
The grave, stern and cold expression made it looked like his face was carved from ice, the lines on his face doing nothing but highlighting the delicate features, and even the dim light in the room did nothing to hide his elegance.
Bang!
Wang Lixin, who had been sitting in the main seat suddenly fell down in a faint, and the entire box was thrown into a mess.
***
"Xiao Yun is still waiting for me in the box, I can't return with you yet," Gu Xiqiao said, stopping in her steps during the descent to the ground floor of the building, suddenly remembering that Xiao Yun was still waiting for her.
She took out her phone, glancing at it, there were twenty missed calls on it!
Jiang Shuxuan had been holding her shoulders all this while, and just glanced at her from the corner of his eye when she said that, the corner of his mouth curving slightly. "No."
Gu Xiqiao: "..."
"You said you would follow me." Jiang Shuxuan continued in a casual tone, but his brows were slightly furrowed. As soon as they had stepped out, he had checked her energy levels in her body, and found it to be near empty. She was now in quite a fragile state, and needed to have proper rest.
With her in such a state, how could he leave her outside with a peace of mind.
"Alright, then let me call Xiao Yun," Gu Xiqiao said, glancing up at him. She felt that there was no room for negotiation on this, so she gave Xiao Yun a call. While waiting for the call to connect, she said, "Today is the last dinner with my classmates, is it really fine for me to leave early?"
"It'll be fine, you're all classmates. They wouldn't be petty about it too much. You even need me to support you while we walk right now, and you still think that you're able to head back in and play with them?" Jiang Shuxuan caressed the top of her head fondly, sighing. "You don't always have to consider other people's feelings, sometimes you have to think about yourself. People always have to put themselves as priority first and foremost."
Gu Xiqiao was stunned for a while at his words, and she lowered her head slightly, keeping quiet for a while, before responding softly, "...I know."
She was just used to it.
Xiao Yun's phone was answered by the class monitor, "Oh my god, you finally called. Xiao Yun and the other girls are tearing the washrooms apart to find you, if you still hadn't contacted us we would have gone to the hotel and caused a ruckus."
If it was anyone else, the class monitor and the others wouldn't be in this state. But this was Gu Xiqiao, and Xiao Yun had been in a panic with red eyes, almost calling Wu Hongwen over. Once their classmates saw how frazzled she was, all of them had joined in the search and swept the entire second floor, but there was still no sight of her, so they continued the search to the third floor.
The class monitor was relieved when the call came, as long as she didn't disappear suddenly, all was good.
"...you better let them know so they can come back." Gu Xiqiao felt the situation was a little amusing, and she felt touched at the same time. After waiting a while, the phone was finally back in Xiao Yun's hands.
Once Xiao Yun knew that Gu Xiqiao was with Jiang Shuxuan, only did she feel a relief course through her.
Jiang Shuxuan waited for her to end the call, before saying, "Your classmates are all decent, you're able to get along with them all."
His underlying meaning was: Forget about those people from the Gu family, they're not worth it.
"I know." Gu Xiqiao nodded, she hadn't been in contact with the people in Parallel Class in her previous life. In this life, they got along well because of Old Ban. At least these people had a grateful heart in them.
***
After heading back only did Gu Xiqiao give some serious thought about this ultimate chain mission. Because of limited authorization, the system could only access limited information. Hence, she didn't know what the final mission in this string of missions would be, and how difficult it would be.
"How many points do you need to level up to the next level?" Gu Xiqiao asked, sitting cross-legged across the system spirit in the virtual space.
The system gave a cautious look at her, [One...one thousand points.]
Gu Xiqiao lifted her eyebrows, giving the system a once-over. Her eyes were bright, which made the system have a spark of hope in her.
After half a beat, her lips shifted. "...we'll talk about it next time then."
[...] It knew it!
"When the time is right, I will definitely get you upgraded," She said, giving it a smile, a gentle expression on her face.
[Thank you, Beauty Qiao!] The system spirit's eyes sparkled brightly at that.
***
The next day was the most anticipated and dreaded day for the third-year students in N City. The results of the college entrance examination exams would be released, success or failure would be determined by it.
At 9 o'clock in the morning, all the students were out of bed and fresh, sitting in front of a computer while waiting for the results in anticipation. This was going to be the result of their hard work in studying for the past twelve years! This was the result that would determine their direction in life! This would be the clearest line of distinction between all the students!
At this moment, even the calmest person would inevitably feel anxious, not daring to lift their fingers to press the 'Enter' key.