Chapter 34: Is Gu Yang Some Delicate Flower?…
“Why is that guy surnamed Song coming to see Gu Yang again? And this time he even took him away?” Yu Bai was still muttering.
He turned to gossip with the others. “What do you think they went off to do?”
“Are you some neighborhood committee grandpa?” Xie Wu couldn’t help mocking him. “Even my mom doesn’t interrogate me about what I’m doing when I go out with people.”
“Did you forget?” Yu Bai said resentfully. “What kind of wild, scandalous stuff Gu Yang secretly thought about?”
“Oh, that.” Xie Wu scratched his head. “Actually, I’ve been wondering for a while—could we have misheard something back then? With Gu Yang’s half-dead personality, how could he possibly do something like that…”
As he spoke, he fell silent.
Well… maybe not impossible.
“No, I’ve got to ask him.” The more Yu Bai thought about it, the stranger it felt. He pulled out his phone and poked Gu Yang, asking what he was doing.
On the other end, Gu Yang—dizzy from reading—picked up his phone when he saw the message and replied:
“Song Yinxing brought me into a room.”
“He—”
Before he could finish typing, Song Yinxing took the phone from his hand, turned off the screen, and placed it face-down on the table.
Gu Yang stared blankly at him, as if unable to believe he’d just been treated like that.
Song Yinxing: “…”
He had just been thinking about how to solve the problems in the book, how to explain them in a way Gu Yang could understand, and what approach to use to test him. His brain hadn’t caught up in time—he’d subconsciously treated Gu Yang the same way he treated his younger brother.
Song Yinxing opened his mouth, but ultimately didn’t know what to say. He could only silently push the phone back.
Messages kept buzzing in.
But Gu Yang simply turned his head away, utterly exhausted, and slumped across the table.
Yu Bai: ?
Bro, what did he do to you? Say something!
He kept sending messages, but received no reply. Suddenly, cold sweat began trickling down his back.
He silently inhaled and showed the chat screen to the others.
Xie Wu’s expression also shifted. “Uh…?”
Yu Bai asked cautiously, “Do you think they’re…?”
“Hm?” Sitting across from them, He Ming’an set down the menu with a smiling expression.
For some reason, in the heated restaurant, Yu Bai suddenly felt a chill. He shut his mouth.
“You two have been chatting nonstop. Aren’t you going to see what you want to eat?”
He Ming’an pushed the menu toward them.
Yu Bai awkwardly accepted it and looked through it with Xie Wu.
“Class monitor, um…” Yu Bai’s face hid behind the menu, hesitant.
“Two high school students—just what exactly is going through your heads?” He Ming’an interlaced his fingers, resting his chin lightly on them as he smiled. “Hurry and order. This meal’s on me.”
“Class monitor, so generous.” Yu Bai quickly changed the subject.
And that wasn’t empty flattery—He Ming’an often treated them, and even gave them gifts during holidays.
After ordering, Yu Bai scrolled through his phone.
Xie Wu glanced at his screen and leaned closer. “Isn’t that the internet celebrity from the class next door? You’re following her?”
Yu Bai instinctively pulled his phone back. “Why are you snooping on my phone?”
“Just happened to see it. Don’t be so stingy.” Xie Wu nudged him with his elbow, eyes teasing. “Why so jumpy? You like her?”
Yu Bai, usually quick-tongued, stumbled over his words. “Don’t talk nonsense.”
Seeing his reaction, Xie Wu immediately understood and pressed on, “How do you know her?”
“Just… my family company held an event. Met her once.”
Thinking of that first encounter, Yu Bai turned his head aside, pressing a finger to his lips. Even his ears turned red.
“Then go after her if you like her! You’ve got the advantage.” Xie Wu was anxious on his friend’s behalf. “Strike first, you know? She doesn’t look like someone lacking suitors. Don’t end up watching her get together with someone else and cry into a handkerchief.”
“But we barely spoke… I’m worried she doesn’t even remember me…”
Ever loyal, Xie Wu hyped him up so hard Yu Bai was nearly reborn with confidence.
“Th-then I’ll try?”
The moment he said that, the air around him seemed even colder.
“No dating during high school.”
He Ming’an still wore that gentle smile, but Yu Bai felt a bone-chilling aura.
As expected of their walking disciplinary committee. He immediately capitulated. “…Everything I just said was a dream. I’ll engrave your teachings in my heart, Class Monitor.”
The dishes arrived.
“Mm, let’s eat,” He Ming’an said warmly.
Seeing he wouldn’t pursue it further, Yu Bai felt pardoned and quickly began eating.
Xie Wu, however, looked thoughtful. But under He Ming’an’s gaze, he picked up his chopsticks and casually said, “I chatted with Qi Lecheng last night. He’s back in the country—should be at the airport by now.”
He Ming’an’s expression paused slightly.
“Really?” Yu Bai muttered. He wasn’t particularly close to the guy.
Then suddenly, something occurred to him.
Weren’t they all classmates? Didn’t Qi Lecheng also have the “buff” that allowed him to hear Gu Yang’s inner thoughts?
“The international photography exhibition isn’t even over yet. He rushed back—must’ve seen the messages in our group chat. He even proactively messaged me yesterday to fish for information.”
Xie Wu shrugged. He was easygoing and talked to everyone in class—including Nie Ying.
Yu Bai didn’t know what to say. “He really can’t miss a thing…”
Things were already chaotic enough. Now another variable.
Thinking of Qi Lecheng’s attitude toward Gu Yang, Yu Bai forcibly pushed the thought out of his mind and stabbed his chopsticks into the nearest dish.
—
“So yesterday you were called by Song Yinxing to study the entire night?”
The next day, Yu Bai asked in disbelief.
Gu Yang nodded weakly. Today he wore a soft cashmere coat, slumped over his desk like he’d melted into it.
“As expected of the top student… truly… a role model for our generation.” Yu Bai said the last four words with great solemnity, secretly despising the filth in his own mind.
The realm of academic gods was truly different.
He Ming’an turned away, and Yu Bai realized he was suppressing laughter.
“He even asked if I’m free tomorrow.” It was the first time Yu Bai heard Gu Yang speak almost through gritted teeth. He sounded strangely more alive.
“That’s repaying kindness with cruelty,” Yu Bai nodded sympathetically. “Didn’t you resist?”
“After finishing, I slapped the workbook onto his face. He took it down, glanced at it, said I got something wrong, and told me to redo it.”
Yu Bai marveled at the emotional stability. “So are you going today?”
“No way.” Gu Yang refused without hesitation.
Yu Bai couldn’t resist teasing, “The top student in the grade giving you one-on-one tutoring—you don’t know how blessed you are.”
“You want the blessing?” Gu Yang’s tone returned to its usual low threshold.
“Haha, I couldn’t handle it.” Yu Bai quickly retreated.
At that moment, Lu Ran walked in.
Today he wasn’t alone—Mrs. Lu accompanied him.
It was the first time the class had seen such a spectacle, and they all looked over.
Mrs. Lu searched around and smiled gently at He Ming’an when she spotted him.
“Ranran hasn’t been feeling well these days. I was worried, so I brought him in myself.”
He Ming’an stood up with a warm smile. “We all understand Classmate Lu’s condition. It must have been hard for you to come.”
Before leaving, Mrs. Lu was still thinking about transferring Lu Ji into Class Eleven.
Ye Chen stirred things up from the front: “Young Master Lu’s illness is really something. Hospitalized once and even regressed intellectually—can’t even come to school without adult supervision.”
Lu Ran glared angrily.
He’d done this today to prove that even if he wasn’t the Lu family’s biological son, nothing had changed.
But the looks from classmates were even more mocking.
Furious yet unable to vent, Lu Ran stomped to Gu Yang’s desk.
“Gu Yang, come out. I have something to ask you.”
The classroom atmosphere immediately stiffened.
Lu Ran had a bad temper and was unpredictable. If something happened with Gu Yang, he might blurt out the secret about hearing inner thoughts.
Unexpectedly, the first to step forward was Ye Chen.
Though usually just a loudmouth troublemaker, he’d never actually done anything serious.
“You say ‘come out’ and he comes out? Big attitude.” Ye Chen leaned against Gu Yang’s desk, a slow smile appearing. “What, you still think you’re the Lu family’s young master?”
Lu Ran’s face went pale.
The words were humiliating enough—but Ye Chen himself was another matter entirely.
Every time he faced him, he felt an inexplicable guilt.
Looking at that strikingly similar face, he would think of Mrs. Ye—and that nightmare he could never forget.
“What does it have to do with you if I want to talk to Gu Yang?”
“How doesn’t it?” Ye Chen smirked. “We’re all classmates. If you’ve got something to say, say it here. If I let you two go alone, what if you suddenly lose control and hit Gu Yang?”
Hit Gu Yang?
Lu Ran let out a cold laugh.
Could he even win?
Besides, was Gu Yang some fragile flower that required the whole class to protect him?
Now Lu Ran was stuck—he couldn’t say what he intended in public.
Gu Yang listlessly glanced at them.
He didn’t even understand why he was being called out in the first place, let alone why Ye Chen was making such a scene.
He sat there listening to Ye Chen and Lu Ran argue, with classmates occasionally chiming in. He had no idea what they were fighting about.
Lowering his eyelashes, unseen by others, the gloom and exhaustion in his eyes deepened.
[Haha, Ye Chen and Lu Ran really are interesting. Such deep karmic entanglement. They even committed the same sin—truly a broken pot paired with a cracked lid.]
Lu Ran slowly stopped speaking.
He looked at Gu Yang with disgust and confusion, then at Ye Chen again, not understanding what Gu Yang meant.
Across from him, Ye Chen suddenly gripped the edge of the desk tightly, his expression blank as he looked down.
Gu Yang’s inner voice from that dinner day echoed faintly in his ears once more.
