Chapter 136: Is It Acting Up Again?

The next morning, as soon as Gu Ci got up and went downstairs, the doorbell rang.

Accustomed to this, Gu Ci assumed it was the breakfast delivery. When she opened the door, it was indeed a breakfast delivery, but not the usual person—it was Rong Ye.

Rong Ye raised the thermal box in his hand toward Gu Ci, his peerless face wearing its customary smile. "I brought breakfast. Would you like to see?"

Gu Ci welcomed him in, and together with Rong Ye, she took the breakfast out of the thermal box and set it on the table. While she messaged the usual delivery person on WeChat to tell him that no deliveries were needed for a while, she casually asked Rong Ye, "You brought this over so early, have you eaten yourself?"

The smile in Rong Ye’s eyes deepened, though he put on a look of mild helplessness. "Not yet, I forgot in the rush and just brought everything prepared at home."

This implied there was no breakfast left at his place either. Gu Ci, having no reason to doubt him, said, "Why don't we eat together then?"

"I shall graciously accept."

Thus, when Xiao Yang and Huo Shuyue walked downstairs, stretching and yawning, they saw Rong Ye sitting at the dining table, every movement imbued with supreme grace and elegance.

Huo Shuyue gave a start; the lingering sleepiness vanished into thin air! She couldn't help but rub her eyes, thinking she must have seen wrong. Yet, when she looked again, her uncle was still sitting there. She felt a wave of despair. So, the "responsibility for three meals a day" her uncle promised yesterday meant that he would come over to eat as well?

Xiao Yang stood up straight subconsciously and greeted him, "Uncle Rong."

Rong Ye lifted his gaze slightly and gave a faint nod. "Still standing there? Sit down."

With that, he turned back to Gu Ci and placed a soup dumpling on her plate. "This tastes good; you should enjoy it."

"Thank you."

Watching the calm way Gu Ci interacted with her uncle, Huo Shuyue was truly impressed. A thought crossed her mind once more: someone like Gu Ci... she was like an elder, just like her uncle.

It wasn't that Gu Ci looked old. Rather, it felt as if Gu Ci belonged to the same world as her uncle. But then again, Gu Ci was the same age as her. Thinking about it further, her uncle was only a few years older than her anyway, and Huo Shuyue felt a sense of relief.

Huo Shuyue obediently went downstairs and sat as far away from Rong Ye as possible, eating her breakfast in silence. Honestly, although she had been sent to live here, she and her uncle rarely crossed paths and had never actually shared a meal. Even though her uncle hadn't said anything, his mere presence was enough to make her feel immense pressure.

The table was filled with a variety of breakfast items, enough for several more people. However, Xiao Yang and Huo Shuyue ate with extreme restraint. Rong Ye sat there like a great Buddha.

Finally, when they finished breakfast and saw Rong Ye gracefully put down his chopsticks and wipe the corners of his mouth, Xiao Yang and Huo Shuyue both let out a sigh of relief. But the very next second, Rong Ye stood up. "Let’s go. I’ll take you to school."

Xiao Yang: "???"

Huo Shuyue looked utterly defeated. She had thought her uncle was just saying that yesterday; she hadn't expected him to actually take them to school! And looking at the situation, it was clearly under the guise of taking her to school!

Seeing Xiao Yang’s questioning gaze, Huo Shuyue felt incredibly wronged and wanted nothing more than to slap him on the back of the head. Can't you see I'm just an excuse? My uncle really wants to take Gu Ci!

However, Xiao Yang truly didn't realize it. In his view, there was only one reason Rong Ye appeared here to eat breakfast and offered to drive them: Huo Shuyue. And Huo Shuyue had no way to argue back! After all, everyone—even Rong Ye, who had deliberately led Gu Ci to believe he was there because of her—thought it was for her. So, this blame was firmly pinned on Huo Shuyue.

***

No. 1 High School, Class 12.

Lu Youming, Yan Moyu, and the others had arrived at school early today. Seeing that everyone was there, no one spoke for a while. Instead, they took out their exercise books, as if trying to verify something.

Lu Youming stared at a problem in his book, but he couldn't concentrate at all. He knew he should have been able to solve these problems easily, but his mind felt as if it were shrouded in a thick fog. Seeing the problems becoming increasingly blurred, Lu Youming’s eyes turned red. Frustrated to the extreme, he couldn't help but slam his hand onto the desk with a loud bang.

After a long while, Lu Youming finally calmed down. He looked up to check on the others, only to find the classroom filled with a deathly silence. Realizing something, Lu Youming became even more silent.

Finally, Yan Moyu broke the silence in the room. "Are you guys... having another episode?"

Hearing this, they all exchanged a bitter, knowing smile. A heavier sense of silence and loneliness followed.

"Wow, you guys are all here so early!"

Wen Zixin appeared at the door with her schoolbag, breaking the strangeness in the classroom. She walked in and looked at her unusually quiet classmates, feeling puzzled. "What's wrong with you guys? Everyone is just..."

Yan Moyu pulled himself together and smiled at Wen Zixin. "Nothing. Looking at you, you must have studied well last night?"

At the mention of this, Wen Zixin’s eyes lit up, and she began to chatter away. "I really didn't know I had such a talent for studying! Moyu, let me tell you, I finished three worksheets last night, and my accuracy rate wasn't bad at all! Plus, I learned—no, I reviewed—quite a bit of new content, and I actually started to understand some of it! Oh, the Wen family will finally have an intellectual like me!"

Wen Zixin let out all the excitement she had bottled up overnight. She felt amazing. She didn't mention that although she had studied well at home, her efficiency wasn't as high as it was in the classroom. She thought to herself that she still couldn't help but get distracted when at home, unlike the total focus she felt in the classroom.