Chapter 84: Gossip
On Tuesday morning, the moment Gu Qinghuan saw Qin Yue, she couldn’t help but fire back with a smirk: “So it wasn’t you who played the thief last night after all.”
Qin Yue, his dark circles prominent, replied stubbornly, “I just studied so well I was too excited to sleep.”
“Say anything, and I’ll believe it,” Gu Qinghuan waved, then spotted Yu Xin entering the classroom and greeted her: “Good morning, Xin-bao… oh?”
Seeing the dark circles under Yu Xin’s eyes, Gu Qinghuan turned back to Qin Yue: “Did you two go thieving together last night?”
Embarrassed, Yu Xin said, “I was looking up some materials last night, got carried away, and slept late.”
“Materials for what?” Gu Qinghuan asked, curious.
“Majors and courses at B University, and things like MBA programs,” Yu Xin replied.
Gu Qinghuan frowned in thought—did first-year high schoolers really need to know all that already?
“But in the end, I realized that considering academic track selection first might be more appropriate,” Yu Xin laughed.
Gu Qinghuan hadn’t even considered track selection yet—she thought it was something to think about at the end of the first semester.
Qin Yue was even less hasty. He planned to wait until the summer after first year. His older brother would be home then, and he could ask him for help deciding.
Since they hadn’t rested well, both Yu Xin and Qin Yue were drowsy that morning.
Yu Xin fared better—she could push through. Qin Yue, not so much: his head nodded like a little chick pecking all morning. If not for his big improvement this time, the teacher might have called on him.
Jiang Chuchu couldn’t stand it any longer, got burgers in advance, and as soon as morning classes ended, dragged Qin Yue to pick up the delivery and handed him her office swipe card.
“Hurry and eat, then go nap in my office,” Jiang Chuchu patted his back. “Don’t fall asleep during Su Lin’s make-up class.”
Qin Yue nodded and munched the burger; once he headed toward the office, Jiang Chuchu went back to the cafeteria to meet Gu Qinghuan and others, planning to nap in Gu Qinghuan’s office at noon.
Half a semester in—and Mingde High school doesn’t have many students per grade—famous students are gradually becoming known.
Yu Xin, currently third in the grade, was getting almost as much attention as the daughter of the Yongchang Group, Jiang Chuchu. She didn’t know how many people looked at her secretly, and it made her nervous.
“Qinghuan,” Yu Xin asked softly after they sat down to eat, “is there something wrong with me? Why do so many people seem to be staring at me?”
“No, I think they’re just watching because you’re third in the grade, right?” Gu Qinghuan replied, lifting her chin toward the other end of the cafeteria. “Look—Su Lin also gets a lot of attention.”
Following Gu Qinghuan’s gaze, Yu Xin saw Su Lin in a corner, wearing headphones, listening to English listening exercises while eating lunch.
Noticing their line of sight, Su Lin nodded at them and carried on as though nothing was happening.
Yu Xin admired Su Lin’s poise—she wanted to learn from her: fix her expression and pretend to be calm and unruffled.
Gu Qinghuan studied her for a moment—no calmness to be seen, only cuteness. To avoid discouraging Yu Xin, she wisely decided to stay quiet: with time, Yu Xin would get used to being looked at.
After lunch, the three of them headed to Gu Qinghuan’s office for a nap.
The moment Gu Qinghuan opened the office door, she heard a disgruntled meow. Looking down: the calico cat sat at the threshold, staring at them.
“Why do you look so annoyed?” Gu Qinghuan thought, checked the cat’s bowl—and saw it was empty.
The calico gave another “meow” and rubbed against her pants—in times like this, affection meant food. Once kibble was refilled, the cat started eating again. If Gu Qinghuan tried to pet it, the cat turned and glared fiercely.
“You heartless creature, just all about eating,” Gu Qinghuan muttered, climbing into her “dog bed” (a cozy cushion).
Yu Xin, already exhausted, lay down first—she hadn’t even pulled up the blanket properly.
Jiang Chuchu tucked her blanket and lay down too: “Forget the cat for now—sleep.”
Gu Qinghuan closed her eyes. The cat’s crunching stopped after a while, and she was drifting off… until she felt weight on her stomach.
She jolted awake, seeing the calico curled up on top of her belly, tail wrapped around, its round bottom facing her.
Sensing she’d woken up, the cat turned its head, stretched a big yawn, then went back to flopping down even more contentedly.
It was fair to suspect the cat had settled into her bed while she wasn’t looking.
Gu Qinghuan tried inhaling, puffing her stomach, but the cat was rock-steady. She rolled over, trying to push it off—but all that did was send the cat falling (sploot!) into the bed beside her, curling into a tight ball and still hogging space.
She gave up and curled up beside the cat—then they took a nap together.
Just before nodding off, she thought: Good thing I gave the cat flea medicine before exams—otherwise, she’d be being bitten right now.
Yu Xin took a proper nap and woke up fully refreshed.
She sat up in the bed, realized time was nearly up, and was about to wake Gu Qinghuan and Jiang Chuchu—when a furry head popped out from Gu Qinghuan’s side.
The calico peered past Gu Qinghuan’s waist, looked at Yu Xin for a moment, then strutted off to the window and jumped onto the windowsill before running away.
Yu Xin paused briefly—what the heck, this cat wasn’t unfriendly, it just didn’t care about humans?
She thought of her own Sesame cat—yes, her Sesame was still the cutest!
Because she was wary of the cat, Gu Qinghuan hadn’t dared move while sleeping and woke painfully stiff. Only after a full stretch routine did she feel better.
Afternoon classes went normally. When school ended, the four of them left the classroom amid expectant cheers from classmates.
“Class president, we’re counting on you again!”
“Don’t miss any of the notes from the genius’s notes and the board!”
“Qin Yue, has your chicken-scratch handwriting improved yet?”
Qin Yue whipped around: “Who said that just now?!”
Everyone looked at him innocently.
Jiang Chuchu dragged the muttering Qin Yue away: “Fine. You’re on board-notes photo duty; we’ll take the notes ourselves.”
In Gu Qinghuan’s office, Su Lin reviewed the errors Qin Yue had gathered—and was surprised: “The wrong questions are almost the same.”
Gu Qinghuan cleared her throat. Feeling the need to defend them, she said: “It’s not like we all tried to fall into the same trap…”
“I didn’t mean that,” Su Lin shook her head. “I just feel like your class has a solid foundation. Our homeroom teacher even praised your class.”
Gu Qinghuan instantly perked up: “Wait, your class had the highest average score this time, yet they praised us?”
Su Lin nodded: “Yes. But your class is more balanced across the board. At our school, the top few pull up the rest. Our homeroom teacher said that if the bottom students in your class scored as well as your lower placers, your class average would be even higher.”
“Homeroom teachers always want the class average to be better,” Qin Yue chimed in.
Compared to other teachers, homeroom teachers care more about the class as a whole, Su Lin thought.
She then remembered something: “By the way, when I went to the teacher’s office at lunch, I overheard the Class 12 homeroom teacher bad-mouthing your homeroom teacher.”
“What?!” they all exclaimed in unison.
Jiang Chuchu slapped the table: “Class 12 was last again, right? How dare they talk bad about our teacher!”
Gu Qinghuan quickly grabbed Jiang Chuchu’s shoulder: “Calm down—let’s find out what’s going on first.”
Su Lin spoke plainly: “The Class 12 homeroom teacher told Class 1’s teacher that even if Class 3’s average score is higher, it’s still just an average. The only truly high score is from Yu Xin.”
“Mr. Chen doesn’t consider the students’ interests—he only cares about his own stats as homeroom teacher. Pathetic.”
Qin Yue’s fur stood on end: “What kind of snobbery is that?!”
After all, Qin Yue was a typical all-subjects-balanced student—what’s wrong with that? He was still in the top 100 of the grade!
Gu Qinghuan patted Qin Yue’s back quickly: “Don’t be upset—we still have an important mission.”
Qin Yue thought she was right. He was responsible for listening to the genius explain problems and relaying them to classmates. No time to waste on obnoxious people.
He sat down and urged Su Lin: “Hurry—let’s go over the problems!”
Jiang Chuchu agreed—finish the tutoring first, then deal with this mess.
What do they mean by “only Yu Xin has truly high scores”? Where does that leave the actual 11th in the grade?!
