A Cold and Aloof Top Student Is Relied Upon - Chapter 30

Chapter 30: An Old Acquaintance

◎A Reunion◎

The honor roll at the front of the auditorium was updated this afternoon, and after class, a swarm of students crowded around it. The board only displayed the top fifty students, each with a five-inch photo on a red background. The very top photo was a short-haired girl. Even in a passport photo, her beautiful face and uniquely aloof demeanor were still striking through the glass display.

“No surprise at all, first place goes to Gu Zhu from Class Three again.”

“A score of 719 for science—can she spare me just a few points, please?!”

“I don’t ask for much, just a spot on this honor roll would make me happy forever!”

…

The students in front of the board chattered excitedly. The students who made the list felt a mix of love and hate for the top spot, while those who didn’t made sounds of disappointment. Behind a group of people standing on their tiptoes to see the board, a woman in a business suit and a long skirt quietly listened to their discussion for a long time. Suddenly, she asked, “Is first place really that impressive?”

The female student next to her glanced at her, and seeing that she was dressed formally and had a very kind face, assumed she was a student’s parent. The student answered with certainty, “Impressive? Of course, she is. She’s one of our school’s rare prospects for Tsinghua or Peking University. As long as she takes the exam, first place will never go to anyone else.”

“She’s that good? Then her family must be very proud of her,” the woman murmured softly, her tone gentle. As she gazed at the photo of the first-place girl, a warm smile appeared at the corners of her eyes, which were lined with fine wrinkles. She moved her finger as if to caress the photo, then put her hand down, standing there quietly for a long time.

“Ugh! I’m going home! This school has no heart, posting the grades on a Friday. They just want to make my weekend miserable!”

“Right? Just thinking about my mom asking me about my grades later is making me lose all my energy!”

“For some, going home is a blessing, but for others, it’s a curse. I hope on Monday, you can still see a whole me!”

…

The students with expressions of “no greater sorrow than a dead heart” walked past her in groups, full of the unique youthful energy of kids. The people under the board slowly dispersed, and eventually, only she was left. Luo Ning picked up her phone, unable to resist. She zoomed in on the photo and saved it.

She studied it carefully. The last time they met was a quick glance, and she hadn’t had time to look closely. Now that she was seeing her, she realized that her little one had already grown up, she didn’t know when.

There was a hint of sadness, a little regret, and also some relief.

She glanced at the time. It was getting late. The summer days were getting longer, and the sky was still a bright white. She was afraid of running into someone during the after-school rush, so she deliberately lingered for a long time. Only when the school path was nearly empty did she turn and walk toward the school gate.

But it seemed like her luck had run out.

Just as she was about to leave the school gate, she bumped into a girl. It was the girl from the honor roll, who appeared vividly in front of her. Luo Ning’s expression was filled with excitement that she couldn’t hide. She was unable to stop herself from taking a step forward, but she froze in place when she saw the coldness in Gu Zhu’s eyes.

Gu Zhu gripped her backpack strap and instinctively looked outside the school gate. Gu Baozhi’s electric scooter wasn’t at the entrance. She let out a sigh of relief while pretending not to see her, and continued walking forward.

“Gu Zhu!” Unable to hold back, Luo Ning called out to her.

Gu Zhu closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them again, her expression calm. She walked toward Luo Ning, using the angle of the security booth to block the view from outside the school. She stood by the wall and faced the person she hadn’t seen in a long time. “Hello, can I help you with something?”

She treated her like a stranger, setting an impassable chasm between them. Her attitude was firm and clear, making it difficult for Luo Ning to speak for a moment.

Her throat felt a little tight. The helplessness and awkwardness she hadn’t felt in many years were so unbearable when facing this small child. “I was just in the area today and happened to run into you. Don’t mind me.” Originally, when Bai Tan transferred schools, the plan to build a new laboratory was changed to building a bio-park. She had come this time to discuss the related matters.

Gu Zhu pursed her lips. What she minded wasn’t Luo Ning’s presence here, but whether Gu Baozhi would run into her. She was afraid that with an old acquaintance in front of her, the old wounds and past events that had been deliberately forgotten would be exposed, causing Gu Baozhi to suffer once again. “If there’s nothing else, I’m leaving now. My mom is here to pick me up.”

Luo Ning understood what she meant. So, when Gu Zhu walked away, she didn’t move. She just stood quietly by the corner, watching her retreating figure. In truth, she was already very satisfied just to see her grow up so excellently.

Her eyes were filled with comfort and longing. Through that tall and slender figure, it seemed she could see a familiar person.

“Why are you here?”

Someone had arrived beside her without her noticing. She had been so focused that she hadn’t even felt it. Luo Ning collected her thoughts, a standard smile curving on her lips, and she turned to the side. “I came to discuss some investment matters with the school. It was convenient, so I came to pick you up.”

Bai Tan was holding her backpack with one hand and pulling on her baseball cap with the other. Her face showed no expression. “Where’s Xiao Zhang?”

“Xiao Zhang is waiting outside the school. We’re in contact by text.”

Xiao Zhang was Bai Tan’s driver here. He would always wait for her at the school gate on holidays. Last week, she had a fight with her father again, so her phone was confiscated and would only be returned on the weekends. It seemed he was determined to make her follow the school rules. Bai Tan could have gotten a new phone herself, but she was too lazy to bother and too lazy to respond to the endless messages from people in her old circles.

During the week, she was with Gu Zhu every day anyway, and on weekends, when her phone was back in her hands, she could seamlessly continue chatting with her. So she didn’t care and didn’t bother to fight with that old man Bai Yingting over such a small matter.

Without dwelling on Luo Ning’s intentions for being there, Bai Tan saw that the number of parents’ cars waiting to pick up students at the entrance had begun to decrease. It was now easy to see who was who. Bai Tan walked to the school gate. “If you’re done, let’s go.”

“Okay.” Luo Ning nodded and walked beside her. “The Lin family’s elder is having an eightieth birthday banquet tomorrow night. They’ve invited you to attend. Will you be going?”

Bai Tan knew she was talking about Lin Ye’s family. She raised an eyebrow with interest, a half-smile on her face. “Of course. Prepare a gift for me. Otherwise, some people will really think I’ve been exiled.”

Luo Ning nodded. She had already gotten a hold of everything that had happened at school, including how close Bai Tan and Gu Zhu were and how Lin Ye had been targeting Gu Zhu. She had already made her own plans.

She opened the car door. After Bai Tan got in, she sat in the passenger seat herself and told Xiao Zhang to head to the prearranged location. This was Chairman Bai’s hometown, so naturally, there were many of the family’s businesses here. This time, she had come to familiarize Bai Tan with a few of the smaller ones here, as part of her training for adulthood.

On the other side, Gu Zhu and Gu Baozhi returned home. On the way, she had been watching Gu Baozhi’s mood the whole time. Only when she didn’t find anything unusual did she finally relax. Gu Baozhi probably really hadn’t seen Luo Ning. This was for the best. As long as Luo Ning didn’t deliberately show up, there wouldn’t be any more complications between them.

Gu Zhu knew Luo Ning was a smart person. Her attitude tonight had been very clear. She believed that Luo Ning wouldn’t easily approach them again.

Luo Ning had been with her for five or six years. When she was little, Luo Ning would always say “goodnight” before leaving her to sleep. In her childhood, when Gu Baozhi was often busy working to pay off debts, Luo Ning had given her meticulous care.

Gu Baozhi had once been very grateful to her. If she hadn’t found out about certain things, Luo Ning probably would have been a very important person in their lives.

Upon entering, Gu Baozhi went to make dinner. Gu Zhu went back to her room to change into comfortable clothes and picked up the pipa by her desk. She had taken a week off last week, so she hadn’t gone to the music studio. She needed to go to her teacher’s place to continue her lessons tomorrow afternoon. She wanted to practice the fingerings she had learned before while it was still early.

Only after her fingers had become familiar with the strings again and were no longer so stiff did she begin to play the practice piece her teacher had assigned, “The Chen and Sui Dynasties.” The music for this pipa piece was simple and rustic, with the solemn elegance of court music. The slides with the left hand were tricky; if you weren’t careful, it would affect the rhythm and lose its charm.

Gu Zhu’s decision to learn the pipa was entirely by accident. In her second year of middle school, she and Gu Baozhi were passing by a music studio that was recruiting students. A salesperson with a silver tongue stopped the two of them and talked about the benefits of learning an instrument in a flowery speech.

The only thing that convinced Gu Baozhi was this one sentence: “Kids nowadays who don’t have a talent are losing at the starting line. Think about it, later on, when other kids know how to do everything, and your child can’t do anything, she’ll feel so inferior. This could affect your child’s entire life.”

Gu Zhu couldn’t stop Gu Baozhi’s mind from being swayed. The cost of the lessons was not low, and she didn’t want Gu Baozhi to spend money on something like this. She stood at the door, her mouth in a tight line, stubbornly refusing to go in. But in the end, she couldn’t win against Gu Baozhi.

“As long as you’re doing well, I don’t care how hard I have to work. If you feel bad about the money, then just study hard, okay?”

At that time, she looked at the gray hairs that had appeared at Gu Baozhi’s temples so early from all her hard work. She felt sad and could only nod. And so she had been going to the music studio for almost four years now. This year, she was preparing to take the eighth-grade exam. Gu Baozhi’s goal for her was to pass the tenth grade, so as long as she learned a little faster, they could save some money on fees.

During dinner, Gu Baozhi told her that the family she worked for was having a banquet tomorrow night. She had to go out early with another colleague to do some shopping. She would probably be gone all day. She told her to be careful on her way to her lesson and to find her own lunch and dinner outside.

“Remember to text me when you leave and when you get back. Don’t talk to strangers. Don’t walk on small roads, and try to walk in places with a lot of people.”

Gu Zhu promised to do it all, a small smile playing on her lips. “I know, Mom. You don’t always have to treat me like a child.”

“In my heart, you are a child, Zhu-zi. I can’t let anyone take you away.”

She looked at Gu Baozhi. The other woman was talking to her, but her expression seemed a little distant. The grains of rice Gu Zhu was holding with her chopsticks fell back onto her bowl, and the smile on her face slowly disappeared. In hindsight, she thought:

Tonight’s dish seems to have gotten a little salty.

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