Chapter 375: Chapter 375: Outsmarting Oneself
Just then, a female student with a delicate-looking face walked up to Gu Jiaojiao and smiled.
"That guy was right. Gu Jiaojiao, don’t be so modest. You answered the most questions in Professor He’s class today. You’re the best in our class right now."
As she spoke, she gave Gu Jiaojiao a look of envy. Her meaning was clear: no one in their class was as brilliant as Gu Jiaojiao.
"Hmph, so what if she answered a few of Professor He’s questions? Anyone can talk a big game," another male student said with contempt.
"Hey, please don’t talk about Gu Jiaojiao like that. Professor He took a special liking to her today."
The delicate-looking female student chimed in again, acting as if Gu Jiaojiao were her own sister.
Gu Jiaojiao rolled her eyes. ’This girl is putting on an innocent act, pretending to help me.’
’In reality, she’s incredibly calculating, just trying to stir up resentment against me. Seeing how close she is to Li Yanping, they must be in on it together.’
But Gu Jiaojiao couldn’t be bothered to argue with them. She calmly addressed the female student.
"You flatter me. Professor He doesn’t favor me specifically; he probably just appreciates talented students."
Wang Ling was speechless. ’Is this pretty girl just a decorative vase? Can’t she even understand sarcasm?’
The gazes of the surrounding students immediately shifted to Gu Jiaojiao, especially the class president, Xu Bo, whose face was a mask of disdain and mockery.
One of Xu Bo’s lackeys, who had actually found Gu Jiaojiao quite attractive, saw the unhappy look on his boss’s face.
He grew angry. "It’s just one case study on polio! In Western medicine, it’s mostly rehabilitative training. In Chinese medicine, you can use a Golden Needle to supplement massage. I know that too. What’s so difficult?"
"Exactly! What’s the big deal? We’re all classmates. There’s no need to put others down to make yourself look good."
"Right. If Professor He had called on me, I would’ve given the same answer."
"It was just a simple question. Besides, Professor He did most of the talking. How does that suddenly make Gu Jiaojiao so amazing?"
Just then, the female student next to Gu Jiaojiao, Wang Ling, cried out in a shrill voice.
"Gu Jiaojiao is amazing! You’re all just talking nonsense because you’re jealous of her! I believe she’s the best in our class!"
The other students were about to argue back when they heard Gu Jiaojiao’s clear voice ring out.
"What’s your name? Do we know each other? I’m the best in the class? How come I’m just hearing about this now?"
"I... I..."
"Enough." Gu Jiaojiao bluntly cut Wang Ling off.
Her voice was as cold as ice. "There can’t be many people who think they’re as clever as you do.
You pretend to defend me, but you’re actually just trying to make enemies for me. We’ve only just met for the first time today.
What is there to admire? Like our classmates said, polio is a simple case. Anyone here could have answered that question.
Yet you deliberately made a huge deal out of it. As far as I know, I’ve never offended you, let alone dug up your family’s ancestral graves."
When Gu Jiaojiao finished speaking, the scene fell silent. It was so quiet that everyone could clearly hear a single leaf drift to the ground.
The male students who had been so indignant moments before were now overcome with shame.
In truth, they didn’t have a clue about the Chinese or Western medical treatments for polio.
They just couldn’t stand seeing another student build herself up by putting them down.
Wang Ling’s face was pale as she began to sob. She never expected Gu Jiaojiao to be so cruel and show her no mercy whatsoever.
One of the male students who had a crush on Wang Ling wanted to stand up for her, but a single cold glare from Gu Jiaojiao sent him shrinking back.
Li Yanping was the leader of their little group, but even she didn’t dare to step forward and defend Wang Ling.
She’d had some intention of befriending Gu Jiaojiao, but who could have known that her lackey would completely misread the situation!
All she could do was lead Wang Ling and another one of their followers back to the classroom. Gu Jiaojiao watched them go and scoffed.
She hadn’t wanted to be so harsh, but Wang Ling’s behavior had thoroughly disgusted her.
’Girls that two-faced deserve to be despised by everyone!’
A moment later, the surrounding students also filed into the classroom, all of them thinking to themselves that they should keep their distance from Gu Jiaojiao.
’They’d better not casually praise Gu Jiaojiao in the future. That beautiful girl is terrifying.’
’She brings up digging up ancestral graves at the drop of a hat!’
They were just naive freshmen. Some of them simply thought that Wang Ling’s attempt at flattery had backfired spectacularly.
It was only then that Xu Bo realized Gu Jiaojiao was truly not someone to be trifled with—and petty, too.
’When I get home after school,’ he thought, ’I’m definitely telling my grandpa and my dad what happened today. I’ll give them every last detail.’
The next class was for the freshmen to go to the laboratory and observe the seniors’ dissection class.
The dissection was performed on white rabbits, and the more timid female students turned pale with fright.
Gu Jiaojiao had performed craniotomies and open-chest surgeries before, so watching someone dissect a rabbit was nothing to her. Naturally, she wasn’t scared in the least.
But none of her classmates dared to look at her, so no one noticed that she remained completely expressionless the entire time.
After school, the Mu Family’s driver picked Gu Jiaojiao up near the campus. He was taking her to the Mu residence to give Mu Ziquan his silver needle treatment.
The spies had stopped tailing her. It wasn’t because they were afraid of Gu Jiaojiao, but because they felt they’d been tricked.
Ever since the Mu Family and the hospital had simultaneously released the news that Divine Doctor Su Gu would personally perform surgery on Mu Ziquan the following Sunday, those monitoring his condition had assumed the Divine Doctor was hiding somewhere in the Imperial City.
As a result, nobody was paying attention to a small fry like Gu Jiaojiao anymore. They all believed it was Divine Doctor Su Gu who was detoxifying Mu Ziquan.
The fact that their spies had previously seen the Mu Family’s car frequently picking up a freshman from the villa near the school gate was now seen as a deliberate smokescreen.
This unintended effect of misleading and distracting their enemies was something neither Gu Jiaojiao nor Su Shuochi had anticipated.
The four spies Gu Jiaojiao had captured alive had committed suicide by poison, and any remaining tails had been cleaned up by Han Jingshen.
The people who wanted to harm Mu Ziquan—or more accurately, the enemies who wanted to kill national heroes—were now completely without a lead...
Gu Jiaojiao quickly finished Mu Ziquan’s silver needle treatment and went home for dinner. Su Shuochi had already prepared a meal and was waiting for her.
The couple happily finished their meal, then entered the space together to practice their Inner Strength before harvesting medicinal herbs.
They sowed a new batch of medicinal seedlings on the now-empty plots of land. Once the herbs were taken care of, Su Shuochi would go water the vegetables and feed the chickens.
Meanwhile, Gu Jiaojiao would practice her daily alchemy fundamentals, keeping an eye on the furnace while she studied medical texts.
Gu Jiaojiao was engrossed in her studies when Su Shuochi, seeing how late it was, called for her to go soak in the Spiritual Spring.
His gaze was profound, the tenderness in his eyes as deep and gentle as still water. The look made Gu Jiaojiao’s heart skip a beat.
She obediently set down her medical book and hurried over to the Spiritual Spring Pool.
Thanks to the restorative properties of the Spiritual Spring, Gu Jiaojiao’s skin was fair and supple, so tender it looked like you could squeeze water from it.
One only had to see the look on Su Shuochi’s face every night to know just how irresistible he found her...
