Chapter 40

After Qin Jing finished that line, "I also hope you'll be strong", the TV suddenly switched off. A brief hush fell over the classroom before it erupted; even those around Zhao Lianqiao couldn't suppress their gossip and openly discussed her actions in front of her.
"She's obviously jealous. Qiao Zhenzhen is better than her in every way; she wants to ruin her."
"If it's just jealousy, that's vicious. No wonder Qiao Zhenzhen suddenly grew distant, she must've seen her true colors."
"That's terrifying. If I were Qiao Zhenzhen, I'd want to stay as far away as possible."
"None of that matters, didn't you see Chi Shen's certificates? Oh my god, what a prodigy. He's won so many national awards. Does the school even know?"
The moment someone mentioned Chi Shen, the conversation immediately turned to him.
Another student answered, "They definitely don't know, otherwise they'd have boasted to the whole world by now. Qiao Zhenzhen has great judgment; she spotted his potential right away."
His comment drew a lot of agreement, but someone else objected, "He's been with Qiao Zhenzhen for two school years, and she only got close to him this year. That's hardly special insight, is it?"
"That's because she used to hang out with Zhao Lianqiao and was blinded by that friendship."
"True, once she cut ties with Zhao Lianqiao, her relationship with Chi Shen improved. Where did all this good fortune come from?"
No matter how they talked, a fourth person never came up; whenever Chi Shen and Qiao Zhenzhen were mentioned it was praise, and the moment Zhao Lianqiao was brought up it turned to ridicule. Almost everyone in the class had seen the posts, and some had been swept up emotionally. Now that they realized they'd been deceived, they weren't about to let the instigator off the hook, they were determined to sever ties with her by any means.
All manner of cruel, mocking words cut through the noisy din and reached Zhao Lianqiao’s ears. She clenched her fists so tight she could feel the strain, and, unable to bear it any longer, stormed out.
Qiao Zhenzhen watched her scrambling away in embarrassment and couldn’t help sighing to Xiao Ba, “She’s not that formidable, sometimes she’s downright foolish in how she acts. Why did I ever think she was an insurmountable wall?”
This time Zhao Lianqiao had framed her and even gone so far as to stir up trouble within their family, daring to manipulate Qiao Jian’s moves. Now that everything had been exposed, Qiao Zhenzhen could already imagine Qiao Jian thundering with rage.
“Because the host was too kind, she kept getting fooled. By the time she lost everything, even if she learned the truth, she wouldn’t be able to stand up to her,” Xiao Ba analyzed.
Qiao Zhenzhen nodded and gave a self-mocking laugh.
As soon as Zhao Lianqiao ran off, the classroom chatter grew even wilder. At one point someone couldn’t help turning back and complimenting Qiao Zhenzhen, “Your mom’s so pretty and so fierce, she’s amazing.”
Qiao Zhenzhen smiled politely and kept looking out. After scanning for a while, she finally spotted a familiar figure; her eyes lit up and she stood up at once.
When Chi Shen appeared at the classroom door, the discussion dropped noticeably. Many people stole glances at him without realizing it, but no one dared meet his eyes, only Qiao Zhenzhen smiled and waved at him.
From the moment he appeared, his gaze fell on Qiao Zhenzhen. Seeing the smile at the corner of her mouth, his expression immediately softened.
When he sat down beside her, Qiao Zhenzhen asked at once, “You were late today because you went to check the surveillance footage?”
Chi Shen nodded.
“You’re amazing, how did you think to check the cameras?” Qiao Zhenzhen marveled.
“It just occurred to me,” Chi Shen answered honestly, not mentioning that he’d started working on it as soon as the first post appeared; even if Qin Jing hadn’t come today, he had ways to clear her name.
Qiao Zhenzhen nodded, feeling very pleased. “Where’s my mom?”
“She went to the homeroom teacher’s office. She told us to focus on studying and not to worry about anything,” Chi Shen said, pausing for a second. “She said she’d handle everything and help us resolve this.”
“My mom’s so cool!” Qiao Zhenzhen grinned.
Chi Shen watched her in good spirits and the corner of his mouth lifted faintly. “Mm.”
Qiao Zhenzhen was about to say more when she noticed the dark circles under his eyes. She paused and frowned, “Did you not sleep well?”
Chi Shen said nothing. He hadn’t just slept poorly, he hadn’t slept at all.
“…You said you gathered footage from seven stores. How long did that take you?” Qiao Zhenzhen gradually realized what had happened.
Chi Shen looked at her. “Not long.”
“Liar, your eyes are red.” Qiao Zhenzhen suddenly leaned in; seeing the bloodshot veins at the corners of his eyes made her wince.
Chi Shen hadn’t expected her to come so close; he froze, then his cheeks flushed. Catching sight of someone looking their way out of the corner of his eye, he quietly stepped back. “Mind the impression.”
“…Oh my, Chi Shen actually cares about appearances now.” Qiao Zhenzhen looked amazed, as if she’d discovered a new continent.
Chi Shen was silent for a second. “If you don’t like, ”
Before he could finish, he leaned straight in.
When his breath brushed her nose, Qiao Zhenzhen’s face went bright red and she jerked back.
A flicker of amusement crossed Chi Shen’s eyes.
Qiao Zhenzhen quickly glanced around and, once she was sure no one had seen their little moment, patted her chest and looked at Chi Shen, only to catch his smile.
“…You did that on purpose to tease me?” Qiao Zhenzhen glared.
At last, a clear curve formed on Chi Shen’s lips.
[Affection +30, now 420]
Qiao Zhenzhen snorted softly; for the sake of those affection points, she chose not to make a fuss.
Chi Shen lowered his head as well, pulled out the Chinese textbook and folded over two pages for her. “Memorize these by morning.”
Qiao Zhenzhen: “……”
They stared at each other for a moment. She sighed resignedly, took the book, and started rattling off the lines. Chi Shen listened quietly for a while, but in the end he couldn’t fight the sleep and nodded off with his head down.
After Qin Jing finished talking with the homeroom teacher, they walked outside the classroom. Through the window she saw Qiao Zhenzhen memorizing and laughed, “It’s the first time I’ve seen her study like this.”
“Qiao Zhenzhen is very smart. After only a month of tutoring she climbed three hundred places in the grade. At that pace, she’ll be solidly above average by the end of the term,” the homeroom teacher said with a smile.
Qin Jing nodded, touched. “Indeed, you have to work hard…”
Before she finished, Chi Shen slumped over his desk, clearly fast asleep, and Qin Jing’s expression stiffened.
“Chi Shen is one of the rare gifted students. Most people have to earn good grades through hard work,” the homeroom teacher quickly reassured.
In short, comparing yourself to others is maddening. Qin Jing clicked her tongue but was happy for Chi Shen. “A kid like him, heaven will keep blessing him.” As for that less-bright little brat, he’d better hit the books.
After a few more words with the homeroom teacher, Qin Jing went home.
Unaware that her own mother had already labeled her a “not-so-bright little brat,” she’d spent the whole morning focused on memorizing, completely oblivious to the fact her mom had come to the classroom.
Thanks to Qin Jing and Chi Shen’s forceful clarifications, the whole thread was resolved in just one morning. Those who had been stirring up trouble quickly deleted their posts once they heard Qin Jing would pursue legal action against Zhao Lianqiao. But most deleted out of fear of being implicated, not remorse. As a result, there were fewer posts about Qiao Zhenzhen and more posts attacking Zhao Lianqiao.
People are not ones to seriously reflect and feel ashamed; Qiao Zhenzhen didn’t bother arguing with them. Right after the first period ended, the school announced the grade and class rankings.
Chi Shen remained firmly in first place, more than fifty points ahead of the second in the grade. She ranked somewhere in the four hundreds overall, with a middling class ranking, still two spots higher than Zhao Lianqiao.
Although she had always looked down on competing with Zhao Lianqiao, on a day like today, after such a decisive victory, coming out ahead of that person in the rankings was definitely worth celebrating.
So to celebrate, she skipped evening study and, taking Chi Shen with her, went over to her grandfather's to eat something delicious.
As they were almost there, Qiao Zhenzhen called Qin Sheng. Qin Sheng hurriedly sent someone to the supermarket to buy snacks and had everything ready before they arrived.
The moment Qiao Zhenzhen walked in, Qin Sheng demanded, "Weren't you supposed to be at evening study tonight?"
"Didn't I do well on the test? I'm out celebrating," Qiao Zhenzhen said with a straight face. "I already messaged my mom; she'll be here soon. When she comes to give me a beating later, you're going to have to hold her back for me."
"Why should I?!" Qin Sheng glared.
Qiao Zhenzhen put her hands on her hips: "I moved up more than three hundred places on the exam!"
"So what? There are over seven hundred science students at your school; even if you moved up three hundred places, you're still in the four hundreds, still far off!" Qin Sheng had already heard this from Qin Jing; now hearing Qiao Zhenzhen repeat it, he snorted, "Look at Chi Shen, he got first in the year and didn't make a fuss."
"Your grandfather's just being stubborn. When your mom told him you'd improved on the exam, he wanted to set off firecrackers to celebrate, now he's pretending otherwise." Qin Zhao didn't hesitate to call him out, which earned him an immediate rap with Qin Sheng's cane and promptly shut him up.
Qiao Zhenzhen grinned: "Grandpa, since I did so well, is there a reward?"
"I'll reward you with wontons!" Qin Sheng declared, and the housekeeper immediately went to the kitchen to make wontons.
Qiao Zhenzhen twitched the corner of her mouth and muttered, "How stingy."
No sooner had she spoken than she felt her sleeve tugged. She paused and turned, meeting Chi Shen's dark eyes.
"Whatever reward you want, I'll buy it for you," he said earnestly.
Moved, Qiao Zhenzhen hesitantly asked after a moment, "Anything is okay?"
"Mm." Chi Shen nodded.
Qiao Zhenzhen snickered, glanced toward the kitchen to make sure Qin Sheng wasn't looking, then said, "A kiss." She tapped her own cheek as she spoke.
Chi Shen froze, his pale face flushing red. His lips quivered, but he didn't move forward, clearly very shy.
Just then, a voice from beside them murmured, "Qiao Zhenzhen, don't be a pervert."
Qiao Zhenzhen: "..." She'd forgotten her uncle was still here.