Chapter 406: Chapter 406: Meeting an Old Acquaintance in a Foreign Land
The moment Gu Jiaojiao finished speaking, a thunderous roar of laughter erupted from the students.
"HAHAHA, I’m dying! ’Nuwa must’ve been slacking off when she made you.’ HAHA, this girl really knows how to talk."
"No wonder the pretty girl got angry. She was just walking along minding her own business, and that other student just jumped out trying to get attention."
"Who’s this weirdo student? Everyone make way, our Shen is coming through to have a look."
Shen Ling’s lackey said this while pushing aside the students in front of him, clearing a path for his boss.
When the students saw Shen Ling approaching, they automatically parted to form a path. Soon, Shen Ling was standing before Gu Jiaojiao and Jiang Ruyan.
"Well, well, isn’t this our senior from the fourth year? So young, yet so desperate you had to latch onto an old man?"
"You... all of you... I won’t let you get away with this." After saying her piece, Jiang Ruyan turned and ran off. She wasn’t going to the cafeteria to eat anymore.
"You started it by insulting me! How are you not going to ’let me get away with it’? Are you going to run home and call your old man to come to the school and beat me up?" Xiao Rui shouted, jumping in agitation.
"We were just walking down the path, and you insulted our Xiao Rui first! Hmph, and you still want to act tough," Han Jingyi yelled at Jiang Ruyan’s retreating back.
Another wave of laughter erupted from the students in front of the cafeteria, making Jiang Ruyan so angry that she stumbled and almost fell.
In truth, she hadn’t wanted to continue her studies anyway. The only reason she was in school was to marry a good husband.
’Now that I’m married—for better or for worse—is there any point in studying anymore?’
Her wedding two days ago had exhausted her, and that night she had to attend to her drunk husband. Thankfully, yesterday was Sunday, so she could rest.
Her husband might be a bit older, but he was full of vigor. Last night, he’d worn her out again, keeping her up until the middle of the night.
Jiang Ruyan hadn’t wanted to come to school today at all, but her husband had insisted on dragging her out of bed and personally driving her here.
’I can’t very well tell my husband that now that I’m married to him, I don’t want to strive for anything and just want to be a freeloader at home, can I!’
’Now that I’m being "bullied" by my classmates at school, I have the perfect excuse. Why wait? I should hurry home!’
"Nothing to see here, she’s gone. Everyone head into the cafeteria and get your food," Shen Ling called out to the students.
Jiang Ruyan’s followers hung their heads and silently followed the other students into the cafeteria.
Xi Siya was from Qing City. She didn’t have any particularly powerful relatives in the Imperial City, so she usually just followed Jiang Ruyan around, acting pompously.
The other two followers also came from families less prominent than Jiang Ruyan’s. Seeing that even Jiang Ruyan had fled, how would they dare to cause trouble? They could only tuck their tails between their legs and behave.
The girls from Class 33 only watched Gu Jiaojiao covertly. No one dared to confront her head-on anymore.
Li Yanping still harbored some thoughts of currying favor with Gu Jiaojiao, but she just hadn’t found the right opportunity yet.
Her follower, Wang Ling, was from the countryside, and Wang Ling’s only backing was her older cousin, Wang Yuting.
Through her connection with Wang Yuting, she had met Jiang Ruyan’s group and ended up becoming Li Yanping’s follower.
Now that Wang Yuting was in "the little black room," how would Wang Ling dare to stir up any more trouble at school?
Seeing Gu Jiaojiao flanked and protected by two handsome male students, she only dared to curse silently in her heart.
Especially when she heard one of the boys recite the menu, she wished she could just pull Gu Jiaojiao away and take her place.
"Jiaojiao, I got your favorites: wood ear mushroom stir-fried with chicken, sweet and sour pork ribs, and stir-fried pork with tofu skin."
"Xiao Rui, why didn’t you get a chicken leg? Jiaojiao, I’ll go line up and get a chicken leg for you."
"The line for chicken legs was too long. I was afraid Jiaojiao would get hungry waiting," Xiao Rui said sheepishly.
"Alright, let’s all sit down and eat. We can have chicken legs another day. I like all of these dishes."
A smile touched the corners of Gu Jiaojiao’s eyes. Being waited on by such sunny and handsome "grandnephews," she felt like the Old Buddha Lady, sitting and waiting to be served her meal.
’A campus life this comfortable... I wouldn’t mind studying for a few more years.’
Not far away, Xu Bo overheard their conversation. He also knew that Han Jingyi and Xiao Rui usually called Gu Jiaojiao "Great-Aunt."
It was just like how he called her "Grandma." They only called her Jiaojiao because there were so many people at school.
He quietly instructed his two followers to go line up for chicken legs.
"Boss, don’t you usually dislike chicken legs?" one of the followers asked in surprise.
"Just go when I tell you to. Stop with the pointless chatter," Xu Bo said with cold arrogance.
On the other side, Shen Ling had also heard Gu Jiaojiao’s group’s conversation. He turned to his two followers and said, "You two, go line up for chicken legs."
"Boss, are you planning to use the chicken legs to get on that pretty student’s good side? I’ll go line up right away."
"Get lost."
"I’ll get lost on my way to get the chicken legs!"
But by the time Xu Bo and Shen Ling got the chicken legs, Gu Jiaojiao had already finished her meal and left the cafeteria.
Xu Bo, who disliked chicken legs, forced himself to eat it.
After leaving the cafeteria, Gu Jiaojiao ran into Xi Li, who was waiting for her at the entrance. "Jiaojiao, it really is you! I thought I must have misheard."
Xi Li had been high school classmates with Xi Siya and Jiang Ruyan’s group. They were all fourth-year students. She wasn’t a medical student, so she would graduate after finishing her fourth year.
"Sister Xi Li, I didn’t expect to see you here," Gu Jiao greeted her with a smile.
Even though Gu Jiaojiao was usually a rather aloof person, running into an old acquaintance in a new city was still a happy occasion.
"Jiaojiao, this school is huge, we’d never run into each other by chance. I heard people talking about you a few days ago, so I’ve been deliberately waiting for you at the cafeteria entrance."
Xi Li stepped forward, took Gu Jiaojiao’s hand, and spoke enthusiastically. She genuinely liked Gu Jiaojiao.
Besides, she had a crush on Song Zijie but hadn’t dared to confess yet. She knew that Gu Jiaojiao’s man was Song Zijie’s boss.
Gu Jiaojiao was also very familiar with Song Zijie, so Xi Li wanted to find out about his current situation indirectly through her.
"Senior, where did you hear our classmate Jiaojiao’s name?" Xiao Rui asked warily.
"It was on the day of your clinical medicine department’s assessment. I heard students saying that a first-year named Gu Jiaojiao broke the finger of a fourth-year, Jiang."
"Hehe, a rumor, definitely just a rumor. Jiang’s finger wasn’t broken at all."
"Of course it was a rumor. Jiang even made a public apology to classmate Gu Jiaojiao over the broadcast system, so now everyone at our school knows that the first-year, Gu Jiaojiao, is not to be messed with."
Xi Li was definitely on Gu Jiaojiao’s side. In her heart, anyone on good terms with Song Zijie was a good person.
"Han Jingyi, Xiao Rui, go play somewhere else. Xi Li is an acquaintance from my hometown. I want to talk with her for a bit."
Gu Jiaojiao instructed the two young men not to follow her around all the time. It seemed like Xi Li had something she wanted to say to her.
"Classmate Jiaojiao, you two go ahead and talk. We’ll go hang out over there for a while," Han Jingyi and Xiao Rui said in unison.
Their mission was to protect their Great-Aunt at school. At first, they were reluctant, but now it had become a cushy job worth bragging about.
Because all of their cousins were incredibly envious.
"Suit yourselves. Sister Xi Li, let’s go sit and talk on that stone bench under the big tree over there." After speaking, Gu Jiaojiao took Xi Li’s hand and led her forward.
"Jiaojiao, has Brother Su been in contact with Song Zijie?" Xi Li asked eagerly. She was a straightforward person.
