Chapter 25

At home, Su Cheng spread out her workbook, waiting for Teacher Zhou, and chatted with Xu Lian and the others on the side: "Today, Teacher Zhou is only tutoring me."

"Su Li isn't there?" Xu Lian said in the group chat.

"She isn't. Yesterday, Dad went to pick us up, Su Li had an argument with him, and she didn't come home," Su Cheng said.

Xu Lian sounded sour as she said: "After getting a boyfriend like Zhao Jiu, she certainly has plenty of confidence."

Su Cheng recalled the scene at the Hot Pot Restaurant yesterday where they cleared the place, and she bit her lip slightly; although it wasn't that Jiang Xiangnan couldn't do it, the way Zhao Jiu did it was truly handsome.

But it was all for Su Li.

She had originally thought that Dad going there would make the two of them break up, but she hadn't expected Su Li to actually choose to argue with Dad; she had clearly been so obedient before.

Hu Xiao popped up and said: "By the way, Su Li and Zhao Jiu have such a good relationship, yet she hasn't shown off to you at all?"

"Back when she was being messed with by Brother Jiang, she never mentioned him once; she hid it really well."

So, just how much did she like Jiang Xiangnan back then?

Hu Xiao suddenly felt it was a bit of a pity; in one's life, how many people can be loved so purely and passionately by someone?

"Why are you up so early?" Xu Lian asked; it wasn't normal for these few to be up so early.

Hu Xiao: "Going to school later to play basketball with Brother Jiang."

Xu Lian felt envious; Jiang Xiangnan didn't need to study as desperately as they did to firmly sit on the throne of first place.

Su Cheng actually had pretty good luck too; Jiang Xiangnan's family could also be considered a wealthy household.

At this moment, Jiang Xiangnan came out of the boys' dormitory, passed by the small grove, and glanced over there; a boy and a girl were sitting there working on problems together.

Young Master Zhao was crossing his legs, spinning a pen with his fingertips, flipping through a workbook, and then looking at the book on the table next to him from time to time.

Su Li seemed to be doing the same, but the table wasn't big enough; after placing two books, there was no room for the test papers, so she pressed her test paper onto her own book. Because the table was split in half for Zhao Jiu, she was a bit cautious when writing; she had to look at the book, and then lift the test paper to flip through it.

Jiang Xiangnan's phone vibrated; he looked at the messages sent by the people in the group and typed: "The Zhao Family would never let Zhao Jiu marry Su Li in the future."

Although he didn't get along with his father and stepmother, when Jiang Jiawei first entered Shengde, he had heard a little bit while passing by the entrance: Zhao Jiu was the acknowledged heir in the Zhao Family.

Jiang Xiangnan suddenly replied, and the others were stunned for a moment, all sitting up straight; he rarely replied to messages.

Su Cheng's heart skipped a beat: "Why?"

Why would he say that?

"There are many students at Shengde who like Zhao Jiu, but almost no one dares to pursue him."

"The Zhao Family is grooming him as an heir."

"His other half in the future will only be a daughter from a prominent family of equal social standing."

That was why when Zhao Jiu transferred over, he hadn't thought of that crown prince of Shengde; after all, he hadn't expected that person to like Su Li and even come over specifically.

"But what if Zhao Jiu insists on marrying Su Li?" Su Cheng bit her lip.

Jiang Xiangnan: "Impossible. The Zhao Family won't let him have that chance."

As the most favored one, his marriage is the least free. So no matter how much that young master likes Su Li right now, Su Li's future outcome will only be to be abandoned, or to be a mistress who cannot be seen in public.

Su Cheng suddenly felt relieved; remembering how Su Li had argued with Dad with such confidence yesterday, she opened her workbook.

She actually offended Dad for the sake of Zhao Jiu? Does she really think she can marry into that family?

Jiang Xiangnan also looked at the two naive people over there; they don't think Zhao Jiu can control his own future, do they?

A boy from the basketball team glanced over and said: "Looking at those two, they really seem like a match made in heaven."

Jiang Xiangnan withdrew his gaze: "They just look like a match."

The boy was stunned for a moment; why did his words sound so strange?

If you say he's sour, his tone was a bit flat; if you say he's not sour, he doesn't think highly of them.

Jiang Xiangnan hugged the basketball and walked away.

Su Li looked up at her surroundings; the sun was getting a bit strong, and she said: "We can change places!"

Zhao Jiu turned his head to look at her: "Hmm?"

Su Li started packing her books into her schoolbag: "It'll be hot in a while."

Zhao Jiu stood up and put the books on the table into his schoolbag; since this one is afraid of the heat...

"Why don't we..." Zhao Jiu hadn't finished his sentence before he paused again.

Su Li looked up: "Don't what?"

Zhao Jiu zipped up his schoolbag: "Nothing, I was just about to say we could also study in the dormitory."

Su Li raised her eyes; that's right, why did they have to come out?

Just as she was about to say they should go back to the dormitory, Zhao Jiu added: "There are no tables in the dormitory, the efficiency isn't high."

Su Li thought that was true, then looked up at her boss; should the boss donate a batch?

Zhao Jiu lowered his eyes, reached out a hand, and was about to cover her slightly bright eyes.

What is she thinking about?

It's twelve years ago now, not the time when he was in power and his word was law!

His pocket money right now was deducted because he fought with Wang Qiyun while at Shengde.

To get into Class Thirteen here, he donated a building, then there was changing the menu for the School Cafeteria, and he also has to pay this salary every month.

He is broke.

At this moment, because Zhao Jiu reached out his hand suddenly, Su Li didn't stand steadily for a moment, her feet stumbled backward, and her heel tripped over the chair.

Zhao Jiu was startled and hurriedly pulled her back; Su Li then stumbled forward, and her head slammed into Zhao Jiu's chest.

Zhao Jiu's chest felt a dull pain; he looked down at the head on his chest, grabbing her ponytail, but several short strands of hair that couldn't be tied up were sticking out restlessly. He realized belatedly that little Su, without wearing high heels, seems to only reach his chest?

He suddenly felt that his chest didn't actually hurt that much.

Su Li stood up straight and rubbed her nose; it hurt a little.

Zhao Jiu gestured again; it turned out it still reached his chin.

Su Li looked up: "Forget it, let's go to the small woods."

Her nose ached, waking her up; she remembered that Gouzi was probably a bit poor right now.

After all, he was still a student and had to be managed.

Tables and such were better off forgotten, lest he be unable to afford her wages.

The small woods would do; she had brought mosquito coils, so they wouldn't be too fed to the mosquitoes.

Zhao Jiu: "Mm."

The two of them changed course together toward the small woods.

It was Saturday, and only Grade 3 was in class, so the whole school was much quieter; the woods between the teaching building and the School Cafeteria were already dense, and at this moment, they seemed even quieter, with sunlight filtering sparsely through the leaves.

Zhao Jiu raised his eyes; without large groups of students rushing to the School Cafeteria with all their might, it seemed like a pretty suitable place for a date.

The ground was paved with cobblestones, winding forward, with small flowers planted along the edges and street lamps half-hidden among the trees.

It was probably quite secluded at night; no wonder that Jin Xun and the class committee member were strolling here.

Zhao Jiu walked in front, looking around as he went, while behind him, Su Li looked at the person walking a bit slowly in front with confusion, one hand in his pocket, the other tugging at his backpack strap.

Why was Gouzi walking so slowly?

Didn't he usually walk at lightning speed when he was at work?

Her gaze shifted to his legs in his school uniform; although he was a bit taller after becoming an adult than he was now, his legs shouldn't be short now either.

She remembered the day he dragged her while running; these legs were indeed not short.

Then why was he walking so slowly?

She wanted to hurry up and do some practice problems.

Su Li wanted to urge him, but he was the boss, so she couldn't.

Zhao Jiu walked forward for a while, his peripheral vision sweeping over a path where the trees grew in a messy, tangled way; there were many weeds there too, but someone had trodden a path through the middle.

"Over there?" Zhao Jiu pointed.

Su Li nodded: "Mm. There's a small pavilion over there."

Zhao Jiu turned and bypassed the messy, tangled trees, revealing a pavilion that looked a bit old; opposite the pavilion was a lotus pond, which was quite large, and at its end was the main road students used for class. However, in this season, the lotus flowers had withered, leaving only bare stalks.

Zhao Jiu hadn't expected that after bypassing that pile of trees, there would be such a place.

He walked to the railing and saw the fish below: "Su Li, are they a bit too fat?"

Su Li took out a tissue and started wiping the stone table: "There are many students in the school; as long as they pass by with food in their hands, no matter what it is, they have to share a bite with them."

Zhao Jiu: "..."

He turned around and saw Su Li pulling out a tissue and wiping hard.

Zhao Jiu walked over, pulled out two sheets of paper, and started wiping the stool.

Su Li glanced at Gouzi, who was bending over to wipe the stone stool; letting Gouzi wipe things made her look like an unprofessional secretary, so she said: "Boss, light the mosquito coil."

Zhao Jiu put down the tissue and went to break the mosquito coil; it was coiled tightly, layer upon layer, and Zhao Jiu followed the edge, carefully breaking it. Once, when a business trip had gone wrong and he was forced to stay in a small inn, Boss Zhao had broken all the inn's mosquito coils, and then he had practiced this skill.

Zhao Jiu held a piece of mosquito coil in each hand and asked: "Where should I put it?"

Su Li wiped the table and then the stool: "Just find two stones of the right size."

Zhao Jiu went to find stones while holding the mosquito coils, and after finding two, he brought them back and placed them under the stone table.

Su Li took Liu Jiajia's lighter out of her bag and lit it; the smoke from the mosquito coil began to curl upward.

"Alright, let's study."

Su Li took out her workbook and started doing this week's homework.

The entire physics book was finished, and the two issued test papers covered the whole book.

Su Li could already do the basic problems and the slightly difficult ones; she could tackle the hard problems now.

Zhao Jiu sat down on the side; he didn't know if it was an illusion, but he felt that little Su was a bit happy?

He took out his chemistry test paper; chemistry was also almost finished, probably ending next week.

He rubbed his brow, hurrying to review while doing the test paper.

However, leaving about a week to review the whole book, No. 1 High School was still quite humane.

Su Li suddenly remembered something and said: "By the way, remember to bring your new books next week; the teachers will probably start new lessons."

Zhao Jiu seemed to have brought all the books he didn't use back to the dormitory.

Zhao Jiu's pen pressed hard onto the test paper: "You aren't reviewing?"

Su Li: "It seems time is left for review; before every exam, one or two class periods are left for review, and then the homework assigned for new lessons is very little."

This is called leaving time?

Zhao Jiu lowered his head and continued doing the test paper, rushing to keep up; he shouldn't have been admiring the scenery of the small woods just now.