Early morning on Monday, Gu Xiqiao checked on the stocks that she had bought, which had grown quite a lot. She had enough money for the time being, so she sold her short term stocks, and focused on the long-term stocks.
There were actually a few stocks with decent potential, but they would require at least a few years to develop so she didn’t buy them. She only bought a stock that other people didn’t dare to buy, because she knew the background behind this stock.
Xiao Yun sat at her desk memorizing poems as always, and when lunch break came around she went for a short toilet break. When she came back, her expression became strange, and she changed between memorizing poems, doing maths exercises and reading English newspapers in the next moment.
It was clear that she couldn’t focus on any task at hand.
Gu Xiqiao couldn’t bear this anymore and gave Xiao Yun a withering glare. "If you have anything to say, just say it. Don’t grind on the chair like you have hemorrhoids!"
Xiao Yun bounced in her seat as if she was caught doing something bad.
"Hey..." Xiao Yun scooted closer to Gu Xiqiao and whispered next to her ear. "You’re an illegitimate daughter?"
Upon seeing Gu Xiqiao’s hand pause in scrolling her phone, she immediately continued: "I don’t mean anything by it, I just want to know if this is true. Even if you truly are an illegitimate daughter, it wouldn’t be that big of a deal. It’s not your fault anyway, so I won’t think anything bad of you, promise!"
Gu Xiqiao took out some maths papers from her drawer calmly, her eyelashes hooded, blocking anyone from seeing her emotions, and even her tone was calm. "It’s true."
Upon seeing her reaction, Xiao Yun had already guessed the answer to her question. She had seen illegitimate daughters before, but she had never seen one like Gu Xiqiao. She was outstanding in her temperament, aura, and looks, and this was before putting all her skills into account. It wouldn’t be strange to see her as a noblewoman that had been educated well ever since she was little, but she was an illegitimate daughter? Who would believe that?
Even though she was confused, she didn’t ask any further upon seeing Gu Xiqiao’s reaction.
When they went downstairs to have lunch, a lot of people were whispering at each other and looking at Gu Xiqiao.
Schools nowadays were all like this, even a small piece of gossip could be known by the entire school within a single day and was even amplified by a few times.
Xiao Yun glared at all of them coldly, and after those people looked away awkwardly, she looked back at Gu Xiqiao. "Why don’t we go to eat at the small cafeteria?"
The small cafeteria was the most expensive in First City High with the best food, and it was frequented mostly only by children from upper society. Fewer teachers and students went there overall, which was why Xiao Yun suggested they eat there.
"No need." Gu Xiqiao kept her phone in her pocket and smirked, her porcelain skin like snow under the sunlight. "We can’t manage what other people say, and neither run away from them forever. It’s alright, I’m thick-skinned enough to ignore all of them."
There were even more people at the school canteen, and when they got there Wu Hongwen was already there, having saved two seats and gotten their food for them too.
Xiao Yun pulled Gu Xiqiao over and nodded at him. "Thank you."
Gu Xiqiao didn’t refuse, and the trio ate lunch together again. As they ate, the gazes on Gu Xiqiao became more and more unabashed, and their voices became louder and louder.
Xiao Yun treated Gu Xiqiao as a true friend and even worshiped her blindly for her skill, and upon hearing everyone gossip and slander her like this, she couldn’t help but get heated and angry. Looking at Wu Hongwen who was still eating calmly, she spoke, "Aren’t you angry at all?"
"What?" Wu Hongwen looked up at her innocently.
"Everyone’s saying that Er Qiao[1] is an illegitimate daughter, why are you so calm?" Xiao Yun raised her eyebrows. Wouldn’t a person like Wu Hongwen hate illegitimate daughters the most?
Wu Hongwen glanced at Gu Xiqiao who was still eating her lunch slowly and calmly, before speaking, "What’s wrong with being an illegitimate daughter? It’s not her fault anyway, only the fault of her father for cheating."
Gu Xiqiao finished her vegetables and set her chopsticks down on her plate to wait for Xiao Yun, and as the two left she turned her head and glanced at Wu Hongwen.
When she turned her head, Wu Hongwen only saw her side profile, her delicate and flawless features and her clear eyes that seemed to shine like pearls.
Wu Hongwen hadn’t put down his chopsticks, and his hand stopped in midair, stunned by Gu Xiqiao. He had gotten a basic understanding of this girl after following her around at school for a while.
She was a cold person. Even though she didn’t seem cool and aloof like Xiao Yun and instead warm and inviting, but her heart was guarded. This sort of person was hard to become close with, and Wu Hongwen had been prepared to battle for the long term, but it seemed that he had a chance?
Was it because of what he had said?
Upon seeing the subject of their gossip leave the canteen, the voices of the students that were chattering became even louder.
Wu Hongwen furrowed his brow coldly, his gaze impatient and malicious as he stood up and looked around. "Shut up!"
The harsh noises abruptly cut off, but Wu Hongwen was still quite pissed off. As he had said, what was wrong with being an illegitimate daughter? Was it her fault? This was the grudge of an earlier generation, so why did everyone blame her? If she had a choice, who would choose to be an illegitimate daughter? She was at the age where she should have been treated preciously by her family, but she was treated like a nuisance and so coldly that it hurt.
When Wu Hongwen took his plate to the bin, he met with Zhong Yongsi.
Neither of them gave each other good looks.
Zhong Yongsi used to respect Wu Hongwen in the past. They were both in the Rocket Class, and one of them was focused on art while the other was focused on sports without neglecting their studies, and so they were given better praise than the exam robot that always took first place in exams. But, as soon as Wu Hongwen started following Gu Xiqiao around, Zhong Yongsi didn’t talk to him anymore.
Wu Hongwen didn’t want to deal with this kid with a temper, so he only glanced at him dismissively before walking away, angering Zhong Yongsi greatly.
After Zhong Yongsi set down his plates, he went over to Gu Xijin who was waiting for him at the entrance of the canteen.
Upon seeing this, Wu Hongwen paused in his steps, his eyebrows furrowing again. If Gu Xiqiao truly was an illegitimate daughter, would she be related to Gu Xijin?
As soon as his brain got on this train of thought, Wu Hongwen started thinking of a lot of things. He suddenly remembered how Gu Xijin was the one who gave him the love letter in front of the entire class, and how he didn’t snatch it back because he didn’t care about these things. Ever since then, Gu Xiqiao became infamous at First City High and was even talked about through broadcast. Thankfully, Gu Xiqiao’s class teacher was extremely protective of his students so she didn’t get a mark on her record, but it had caused her a lot of trouble nonetheless.
His impression of Gu Xijin was quite good because she was quite pretty and had a good temperament. He didn’t want to doubt her, but she gave him a lot of reasons to do so.
Wu Hongwen squinted slightly and held the shoulder of a boy that had run over to him. "Check who it was that started saying that Gu Xiqiao is an illegitimate daughter."
[1] not a typo. Like Qiao Qiao, it’s a nickname
This 𝓬ontent is taken from f(r)eeweb(n)ovel.𝒄𝒐𝙢