Ten-Year Loyal Dog’s Road to Chasing Her Wife (GL) - Chapter 46

Chapter 46

Qiao Wan knew why she was called Her Royal Highness; that’s what they called her on the school forum.

Before Qiao Wan, if someone posted on the school’s Tieba forum asking who the school beauty of Longting No. 1 High School was, the students’ answers would have been the lotus flowers in the creek or the phoenix flowers lining the school paths. But after Qiao Wan, almost everyone would tell them it was Qiao Wan.

Qiao Wan was the only “Princess” of Longting No. 1 High School.

It was because of her looks, and also because of her family background.

No matter which way you looked at it, she was the one and the only one.

Admittedly, people often felt indignant. After all, Qiao Wan wasn’t the only good-looking person; her status as the “only one” relied on having a better family than everyone else.

But then again, being born well is a skill in itself. So what if her family was rich? You couldn’t wish it away, and jealousy was useless.

Besides, Qiao Wan didn’t have any particularly annoying traits. Although everyone knew her family was wealthy, she was just like everyone else eating at the cafeteria and buying snacks. If you didn’t know better, you’d think she was no different from anyone else.

“I really want to choose the science track too,” Qiao Wan said softly, looking up at the dense canopy of the trees above her. “I heard the options for science are really broad, while the choices for liberal arts are relatively fewer both for universities and majors. Plus… No. 1 High seems to be better at science, right?”

Choosing a track is the first major choice a high school student makes. Often, parents don’t forcefully interfere, but for the students, this is the first decision they make that could affect their future. In reality, the pressure is immense. Usually, as soon as teachers start mentioning the track selection, the students begin to feel anxious.

The phrase heard most often in high school is that the Gaokao (college entrance exam) is the only chance to change one’s fate; if you miss it, there will be no chance to turn your life around.

Under such circumstances, how could the students not be anxious?

Choosing the wrong track feels equivalent to failing the Gaokao, and failing the Gaokao means one’s whole life is over forever destined to be a manual laborer moving bricks or sweeping floors, watching others live in luxury. To anyone, that feels like a hard pill to swallow.

“Actually, you don’t need to care so much,” Qiao Mo suddenly said. “It’s not time to choose between liberal arts and science yet. You still have about two months to think carefully about what to pick. And it’s not like you’re choosing blindly; your midterm results will be the basis for your choice. Finally, if you choose and find you don’t suit it, you can switch tracks, you’re a little silly.” Qiao Mo reached out and lightly flicked her forehead. “Maybe you’ll be a bit behind on coursework and won’t adapt at first, but generally speaking, you’ll adjust eventually. Your life trajectory isn’t changed just by one track selection.”

She spoke with such certainty that Qiao Wan almost believed her, completely coaxed by her words. “You’re the same age as me; how do you know so much?”

“Because I have an older brother and you don’t,” Qiao Mo winked. “When I was very young, my brother told me that the reason he was born before me was so he could walk the path first and see the hardships and obstacles for me. That way, I could just bypass them when my turn came.”

Actually, you can’t, Qiao Wan silently complained in her heart. Right now, the two siblings were basically at two extremes: one was a top student and the other a slacker; one was good-looking and the other was… not. There were many similar contrasts. But one thing they seemed to share was that both siblings were just too cute, weren’t they?

Like angels.

This whole family was like angels, so gentle toward one another.

“Before, my brother also promised the family that his grades would improve once the tracks were split,” Qiao Mo shrugged. “In reality, you’ve seen how that turned out.”

…A slacker was still a slacker.

If you went to the sophomore grade and grabbed a ranking sheet right now, you would definitely find Qiao Rui’s name within the bottom hundred. Qiao Mo lowered her eyes and said softly, “Maybe in the eyes of others he isn’t much, but I’m still glad to have a brother like him. At least he can tell me that no matter how things are now, at least don’t regret the choices you once made. No single wrong choice can make a person sink into an abyss of failure forever, and success, as an ethereal thing, has never had a single standard of judgment. So, just make a choice you won’t regret, and that’s enough.”

Who can bypass the individual themselves to judge whether a person’s life is a success or a failure?

What if it’s a success? What if it’s a failure?

“What does your mom want you to choose?” Qiao Wan suddenly remembered parents were involved and asked.

“My parents never interfere in these things. Children have their own blessings. At least regarding my choices, my parents never intervene; at most, they give suggestions. The only exception would be if my choice was extremely wrong,” Qiao Mo smiled faintly.

Qiao Wan could hardly believe her ears. “Just like that?”

This was different from the parents in her impression. Shouldn’t they manage everything to fit the role of a parent? If they just let go and the child didn’t drift away, what were parents even for?

But looking at Qiao Mo, Qiao Wan felt that maybe it really could work that way.

“It would be great if you could choose liberal arts too.” It had been so hard for her to make a few friends, especially Qiao Mo. She felt that in her future life, she might never meet someone so gentle yet so open-minded. She seemed to know everything and be able to do everything. Even though they were both just freshmen, it felt as if she had turned on a “cheat code”—whenever you were by her side, you felt an unprecedented peace.

Outside, the wind and rain might be bleak, but with Qiao Mo, there was permanent tranquility.

Qiao Mo smiled but didn’t promise her. Qiao Wan could understand; after all, compared to science, liberal arts was truly Qiao Mo’s weak point. When it involved her future, Qiao Mo probably wouldn’t joke around, let alone be impulsive.

No one could afford that joke, and no one could do that for another person.

If Qiao Mo really gave up science to embrace liberal arts, Qiao Wan would truly think she had gone crazy.

“Assemble!”

Seeing that Class 5 had already entered the field, the female class monitor, Gongxi Bitong, timed it perfectly to gather everyone. “Assemble under the shade of the trees over there. Don’t dawdle. I’ll break your legs if you do.”

Qiao Mo was the first to jump off the rock and reached out her hand to Qiao Wan. “Come down.”

Qiao Wan was already very familiar with this and grabbed her hand to jump down. But after landing, she remembered something and dazed for a moment. “Why do you always like doing this?”

Qiao Mo looked blankly at her own hand, then smiled. “Maybe because my brother does it often, so I’ve gotten used to it.”

Gentleness is contagious, and so are good manners.

The rock Qiao Wan had been sitting on was hidden by bushes, but now that she had come out, there was a stir in the square. However, since the school leaders were present, no one dared to go too far, so most of the boys just looked up to catch a glimpse of Qiao Wan.

Qiao Wan wasn’t some kind of mascot loved by everyone; only a portion of the boys liked her. Most people had just heard her name and were curious about what she looked like bystander fans who, after seeing her, thought she indeed looked quite good.

Compared to the “school grass” fever sparked by Yuan Tianci, it wasn’t even worth mentioning.

“So it’s that girl…”

“She’s a bit shorter than in her photos.”

“But she really is beautiful.”

“Even with curly hair, she’s surprisingly pure and delicate.”

“The feeling of a first love?”

“What kind of weird feeling is that…” A boy said with a dark expression, pushing his companion away. “If you want her, go chase her. If you catch her, then it’ll be a real first love feeling. I’m telling you, don’t think high school girls are ugly; you’ll see the same group of people in college anyway, and maybe they’ll be even uglier then.”

“Right, right, at least they’re all-natural now; it might not be the case later.”

“I feel like I’m a part of the Princess’s hemline!”

“Pervert!” The boy who called himself a hemline was promptly covered with a jacket by his companions and given a beating. He wasn’t let go until Class 11 finished their calisthenics. By the time he finally regained some of his senses, Class 11 had long since vanished back into the formations. In a crowd of 1,500 people, he couldn’t find where Qiao Wan was.

The entire calisthenics competition lasted from 8:30 AM until 11:00 AM. The square was one of the few areas in No. 1 High not covered by shade. Now that the sun had risen, it felt scorching hot, and everyone began to feel the fear of being dominated by military training again.

Even more terrifying was that for the sake of neatness and aesthetics, the girls were all wearing summer uniforms. The short sleeves were indeed cool, but the area of skin turning red and hot from the sun was also much larger.

Furthermore, for the sake of the camera, umbrellas were not allowed.

Students could only shield their eyes with their hands to see anything at all.

“This is crazy, hurry up and finish so we can go back…” People in the formation started complaining. “It’s so sunny and hot, someone’s going to get heatstroke.”

“It’s just a calisthenics competition. Why film it? What’s there to film?”

Just then, a reporter happened to aim a camera at that area, and the students immediately shut their mouths.

Longting was only so big, and No. 1 High was the top institution. Therefore, every time No. 1 High had a small event, the local TV station would come to film it. Whether it was the previous opening ceremony, the current calisthenics competition, or the future New Year’s Eve gala—as long as there was the slightest stir, the TV reporters would show up.

This was a treatment unique to No. 1 High, and a distress unique to No. 1 High.

As the temperature rose higher and higher, Qiao Wan also began to feel impatient, especially when she felt her uniform sticking to her back from the sweat. She grew even more annoyed:

Damn, it’s hot.

Suddenly, she felt a wave of coolness in her hand. Because the sweat on the back of her hand was evaporating, this ticklish bit of coolness became exceptionally obvious.

With a quick glance out of the corner of her eye, she saw the corner of a fan flash by—she felt more and more that Qiao Mo was truly magical. Where did she conjure such a small fan from?

In this still-sweltering November, that little fan became a secret shared between her and Qiao Mo—after all, while she could feel the coolness, everyone else was still drenched in sweat.