Rebirth: A Cinderella's Counterattack

Chapter 142: Chapter 131: Clinging Tightly to Scholar God’s Thigh

Luo Qianqian followed Xu Tianyi home after school, grabbed the gift Luo Yanran had given her and left. After all, it wouldn’t be proper to linger in a boy’s house. She thought she would thank him properly later and waved goodbye without taking a cloud with her.

Early in the morning, Luo Qianqian brought breakfast she had bought to school. Luo’s Mom had been very busy lately, leaving early in the morning and coming back home late at night. Whenever Qianqian asked Mother He, she would always smile mysteriously, which made Luo Qianqian suspect something was up. So, she suggested to Luo’s Mom that they buy breakfast from outside; it would still be warm. Luo’s Mom thought about it and agreed, even giving the siblings some extra pocket money.

When Luo Qianqian got to school, Xu Tianyi was already there, alone in the classroom. Resting his head on the desk, Luo Qianqian quietly slipped through the small gap to reach her seat. Just as she sat down, she saw Xu Tianyi’s long eyelashes flutter open, his face on guard. Seeing that it was Luo Qianqian, he rubbed his eyes and sat up.

Luo Qianqian blinked, feeling a little awkward, she then said, ”Have you had breakfast, Great God?”

Xu Tianyi’s gaze fell on the plastic bag in Luo Qianqian’s hand, still steaming with warm baozi, and shook his head. ”Not yet, did you bring that for me?”

”Uh...” You can’t say it was for yourself, can you? So she nodded and handed it to Xu Tianyi. ”Not having breakfast will make your stomach hurt.”

Looking at the milk she had impulsively bought, she couldn’t help but feel relieved that there was still milk.

”Thank you.” Xu Tianyi did not disdain the simply packed dumplings, surprising Luo Qianqian. After all, wouldn’t someone from that kind of place have some table manners and not eat street food?

”You’re welcome.” Watching Xu Tianyi eat the dumplings one bite at a time, Luo Qianqian couldn’t help but wonder if he hadn’t eaten since last night and said, ”What do you eat at home?”

Xu Tianyi’s dumpling-eating motion paused, and he looked up at Luo Qianqian, whose eyes showed no particular emotion, and said indifferently, ”Instant noodles.”

”???” Luo Qianqian’s eyes widened. ”You live alone?”

”Yes.” Xu Tianyi stuffed the last dumpling into his mouth and took out a tissue to elegantly wipe his mouth.

”Do you want to come to my place and eat with us?” After hesitating for a moment, Luo Qianqian still spoke up, thinking it would be beneficial to be on good terms with the Great God for her brother’s sake, right?

Seeing Xu Tianyi’s scrutinizing gaze, Luo Qianqian hurriedly said, ”We usually have just three people eating at my house: my brother, Xiao Yu, who is my godmother’s daughter, and me. My mother and godmother always come home late, and godfather goes to help my godmother after work, so they’re not home for meals. Usually, it’s my brother and Xiao Yu who cook, with no adults around.”

”Do you normally invite classmates to your place like this?” When Xu Tianyi’s voice reached Luo Qianqian’s ears, she froze, her mind racing—what did he mean by ”normally”? It seemed like no one else but Zhang Jingjing had been to her place before.

”Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t mean anything by it; I just think it makes no difference whether you eat alone or we eat together. And if you feel bad, you could also help tutor us or something...” Luo Qianqian’s explanation was a scramble, ”No classmates have been to my home before; don’t get it wrong, I’m not... Anyway, I’ve never invited anyone over, I don’t really know how to invite people.”

”Tutoring?” Xu Tianyi looked into Luo Qianqian’s face and couldn’t find a hint of dark emotion, and after a while, he said, ”If it’s not an inconvenience.”

Luo Qianqian was stunned—did that mean he agreed?

Xu Tianyi looked at Luo Qianqian’s dazed expression and could only secretly sigh with relief; at least he wouldn’t have to eat instant noodles anymore, and perhaps he wouldn’t have stomachaches again.

”So, starting today?” Luo Qianqian spoke as she picked up her phone to send a message to Luo Shufan.

”Okay.”

This daily routine continued for a week, and then the monthly tests arrived as scheduled. There were no classes during the monthly test, so there was plenty of time for gossiping, and the test rooms were shuffled, with students from different classes mixed together.

The icy aura surrounding Xu Tianyi kept people at bay, but seeing Luo Qianqian coming and going with him every day, Sun Xuan felt very annoyed. She blamed Luo Qianqian for losing her desk mate since the teacher wanted to change their seats, but nobody wanted to swap, leading to nothing happening and leaving her to sit alone beside the lectern. She gossiped with people in the test room:

”You don’t know, but our class’s Luo Qianqian, despite her young age, is top-notch at seducing men. You know Gu Yanzhi from Class One, right? One of our top ten heartthrobs, he often comes to her to study together. You know our class president Pei Yuhao, right? Also one of the top ten heartthrobs, sitting in the seat in front or behind her, they pass notes and chat when there’s nothing else to do. And the transfer student, you know about him, right? Pretty good-looking, hooked up with her the first time they met, and they leave school together. Who knows where they go off to after school?”

Wang Wei, overhearing Sun Xuan’s words, quickly came over and chimed in, ”Exactly. She blatantly hits people at school and gets protected by the class president. Who would believe there’s nothing fishy going on?”

Gossipy Girl A’s eyes sparkled with hearts, ”Gu Yanzhi is super handsome, good at studying, and also very gentle. He’s kind to everyone.”

Gossipy Girl B clasped her hands over her heart, ”I know Pei Yuhao, great at basketball, and comes from a good family background. He has a younger brother named Pei Yutian. We went to the same elementary school. He’s super popular.”

Gossipy Girl C, ”Don’t you want to know what the transfer student looks like that made Luo Qianqian give up on Pei Yuhao and Gu Yanzhi to walk home with him every day after school?”

Sun Xuan nodded in satisfaction and said, ”In my opinion, the transfer student is better-looking. If we were to re-rank the heartthrobs, he should be number one, surpassing junior three’s He Jin.”

”Which exam room is he in? Let’s go take a look.” Watching the girls’ gossip turn entirely into a discussion about the boys’ looks, Wang Wei left, feeling out of place.

Gu Yanzhi, who had been standing at the door for a moment, stroked his chin, ”Transfer student? Since when did rumors about me and Qianqian come about?”

Meanwhile, Luo Qianqian was inside Xu Tianyi’s exam room, acting cute, ”Scholar God, just this once, okay? You have to vote for me when you go home later, and I’ll do the cooking.”

”...I’ll see,” said Xu Tianyi, after a glance at Luo Qianqian, who had a pitiful look in her eyes like an abandoned puppy. He cleared his throat and continued to read. He hadn’t told Luo Qianqian that the book he was holding was a bribe from Luo Shufan, who didn’t want her to get any votes during Luo’s Mom’s birthday dinner, and he had vividly described the disaster that befell Old Zhang’s House kitchen.

”Just agree to it, and I’ll bring you my favorite cream puff tomorrow,” Luo Qianqian implored, as she pushed down the book Xu Tianyi was reading and blinked at him incessantly.

Gu Yanzhi was stunned upon finding the exam room, ”Luo Qianqian.”

Luo Qianqian looked up and exclaimed with surprise, ”Gu Yanzhi, I went to that store you mentioned last time. The taste is fantastic.”

”Hmm, I need to talk to you about something, come here for a moment.” His gaze, however, had swept across the so-called ’transfer student’ sitting opposite Luo Qianqian, who did indeed look good, albeit a bit more frail than him.

”Then I’ll come back later, you keep studying,” said Luo Qianqian as she propped the book up for Xu Tianyi before bouncing out of the exam room. Xu Tianyi, however, frowned and didn’t turn the next page for a long time.

”What’s wrong?” asked Luo Qianqian, looking at the refined youth in front of her.

Gu Yanzhi, slightly embarrassed, scratched his head before saying, ”I just overheard my name being mentioned as I was passing by an exam hall, and then I heard that I’m rumored to be...”

”Which exam room was it?” Luo Qianqian’s brows furrowed. Such gossips, could it be those two she was thinking of?

”Exam Room 116.” Junior one’s Class Sixteen? Luo Qianqian took a few steps forward and headed straight for Class Sixteen, silently noting that it was indeed who she had expected.

”You don’t have to worry about those two, if they caused you any trouble I’m very sorry, I’ll make them pay,” Luo Qianqian clenched her fists tightly.

Seeing Luo Qianqian’s demeanor, Gu Yanzhi hurriedly said, ”I’m not bothered by it, I’m just worried you might overthink it.” As he spoke, the bell for the exam rang.

They both hurried back to their respective exam rooms.

Xu Tianyi put the book down and looked toward the classroom door, his eyes filled with gloom.