Chapter 93: Turning
Yu Yuan wanted to refute her, to say that Jian Zhan was just fearmongering.
But reason told her that Gu Qinghuan wasn’t wrong.
After all, there were already people in Class 12 who had been “burned”—although Ning Fu seemed fine now, that didn’t mean that just because everything looked okay on the surface, there wouldn’t be “accidents” later.
She didn’t know how to reply in the group chat, but Jiang Chuchu jumped in first.
Jiang Chuchu: [?]
Jiang Chuchu: [You added your sister into the group?]
Yu Yuan’s heart skipped a beat, then she saw Yu Xin reply: [Mm.]
Yu Xin admitted she was her sister? This acknowledgment made Yu Yuan feel dizzy.
Why would she admit this “imposter” as her sister? There were so many things Yu Yuan couldn’t compare to Yu Xin in, and she had stolen more than ten years of the superior life Yu Xin should have had.
Why could Yu Xin so calmly admit she was her “younger sister”?
Yu Yuan’s chest felt tight and sour. She held her phone and slowly typed into the group chat: [If I tell you, you can’t drag me into it.]
Yu Xin looked up at Yu Yuan, who glared back with a show of fierceness but inward timidity, “What are you looking at? If you tell on me and they retaliate against me, what then!”
“We won’t tell,” Yu Xin thought for a moment, “but if they really bully you, just put all the blame on me.”
She smiled lightly: “Don’t be fooled by how skinny I am—I can actually take a beating.”
Since childhood, she’d been hit by her foster parents more times than she could count. She knew how to dodge in ways that minimized the pain.
Yu Yuan suddenly shot up: “Take a beating? What are you talking about! You’re still the biological daughter of the Yu family! If those boys weren’t Yan Zhengqing’s lackeys, using his power to bully others, they wouldn’t even dare touch you!”
“Besides, if they’re after you all, they won’t have time for me. Even if they do come after me, I… I still have Xiaoxue! She can just tell Yan Zhengqing for me!”
“If worst comes to worst, can’t I just run? I’ll run to my brother and have him deal with them!”
The more she spoke, the more confident she felt. She mentally counted her “connections” and realized she wasn’t completely without allies—her tone immediately became more casual.
Scooping up Sesame, who had been playing with the pompom on her slipper, she secretly stroked the soft fur on its belly twice before shoving it back into Yu Xin’s arms. Then she pushed Yu Xin toward the door, clearly showing her the way out: “Go on now. I’ll post the list in the group later, and you can figure out the rest yourselves!”
She shut the door with a smooth, practiced motion.
Standing outside with Sesame in her arms, Yu Xin lowered her head and asked, “Sesame, did you eat enough?”
Sesame gave a meow: The freeze-dried food was delicious! But Mom, the cat isn’t full yet! Tell Auntie to give the cat more!
“As long as you’ve eaten enough.” Hugging Sesame, Yu Xin went back to her own room. When she checked the group chat, Yu Yuan had posted four names—and then immediately left the group.
Jiang Chuchu: [Why did she post and run?]
Gu Qinghuan: [To avoid leaving a record? If someone checks her phone, they might find she was passing information.]
Jiang Chuchu: [……]
Jiang Chuchu: [The way you put it makes it sound like we’re running some underground operation.]
Gu Qinghuan: [Aren’t we basically turning her over to our side?]
Jiang Chuchu: [Fair enough.]
Yu Xin put Sesame down, then typed into the group chat: [Is there any way to retaliate against these people without implicating Yu Yuan?]
Gu Qinghuan: [That’s simple—just make sure they don’t know the retaliation has anything to do with us.]
Jiang Chuchu: [You make it sound so easy…]
Gu Qinghuan sent a smiley face.
Yu Xin thought about it—among all the people she knew, Gu Qinghuan’s emotional intelligence was probably the highest.
She had always used her EQ for getting along with people, but if she ever turned it toward doing bad things…
Yu Xin quietly rubbed her arm. Why did it suddenly feel a little cold?
Gu Qinghuan had no idea what Yu Xin was thinking. With the names in hand, she immediately passed them to Bao Qingsong.
By the way, after today’s “live exercise” of collecting Class 12’s student data, Bao Qingsong had already earned the title of Class 3’s intelligence-gathering expert—the universally acknowledged “Bao Informant.”
Bao Qingsong: [Who are these people?]
Gu Qinghuan: [Exactly what you think.]
Bao Qingsong replied with a thumbs-up emoji: [As expected of the class president!]
Gu Qinghuan: [Look into these people carefully first—just investigate for now, nothing else.]
Bao Qingsong: [No problem!]
Gu Qinghuan thought for a moment and added: [Also, check on that student named Ning Fu.]
Bao Qingsong: [Why investigate Ning Fu?]
Gu Qinghuan: [Because she was the last student we managed to identify.]
Class 12 had exactly 20 students. In theory, if you asked around enough, you’d get the full list.
But in reality, everyone was stuck at 19 for ages before an outside student who knew Ning Fu from middle school finally confirmed she was Class 12’s 20th member.
Bao Qingsong still didn’t fully get it, so Gu Qinghuan explained: [In a class of just twenty people, for someone to be completely overlooked, it’s either because her presence is extremely low, or because everyone is deliberately avoiding her.]
Gu Qinghuan: [If it’s the former, fine. But if it’s the latter—combined with Class 12’s atmosphere…]
Bao Qingsong instantly caught on: [She might be a victim of group bullying!]
Gu Qinghuan sent a nodding emoji: [Now that we’ve noticed, I don’t think we can just ignore it. Can you check?]
If they were face-to-face, Bao Qingsong would have been pounding his chest in assurance: [Leave it to me! Monitor, you just wait!]
After ending the chat with Gu Qinghuan, Bao Qingsong hugged his laptop and immediately started frantically searching for information from the couch.
His sister, Bao Rujian, came back from the kitchen with some fruit. She leaned on the back of the sofa, watched him for a moment, then suddenly asked, “Are you doxxing someone?”
Bao Qingsong nearly jumped out of his skin: “Of course not! I’m a law-abiding citizen!”
“Hmph, as if you’d have the guts.” Bao Rujian nodded slightly. “So what are you digging up on these students for?”
Bao Qingsong scratched his head. In the end, he couldn’t withstand the crushing sibling pressure, so he honestly explained the conflict between Class 3 and Class 12.
When she heard that Gu Qinghuan wanted Ning Fu investigated, Bao Rujian clicked her tongue: “Your class president’s pretty sharp. She’s a promising one.”
Bao Qingsong immediately became wary: “Our monitor’s eyesight isn’t great—she can’t get into the police academy.”
Not that he thought the police academy was bad, but the way his sister sounded made it seem like she wanted Gu Qinghuan as her subordinate. No way! His sister was so fierce—if the monitor fell into her hands, life would be miserable!
Bao Rujian narrowed her eyes: “Were you just talking bad about me in your head?”
“Nope!” Bao Qingsong sat up straight. “Absolutely not!”
Bao Rujian didn’t press further. She thought for a moment and said, “By the way, this Yan Zhengqing… is he the son of that Yan family who runs an entertainment company?”
Bao Qingsong nodded, confused.
She pondered for a few seconds, then patted his shoulder: “Keep digging. And if there’s any progress, report back to me too.”
With that, she tossed a kiwi in the air and walked back to her room.
Bao Qingsong rolled his eyes at her retreating back. As for whether he’d report…
Of course he would! That was his sister—how could he possibly resist?
