7: Chapter 7 The Insignificant Character in a Pampered Novel

Class break.

Xu Zhao had just leaned over her desk to rest when a hesitant voice reached her ears: "Zhao Zhao, why are you staying in the dorms? Isn't it good to live at home? Mom and Dad are very concerned about you. Your grades have dropped so much lately, I'm really worried about you—"

Xu Zhao didn't want to pay her any attention. She turned around, facing away from her to continue resting with her eyes closed.

But Xu Jiao's voice sparked whispers among those nearby. Some were discussing the issue of Xu Zhao's recent sharp decline in grades, while others were praising Xu Jiao for being such an understanding and good older sister. There were voices of schadenfreude and voices of criticism; the noise was so loud that she really couldn't sleep.

Xu Zhao simply sat up: "You're at the bottom of the grade, yet you're worrying about someone at the top. What gave you such confidence?"

As soon as Xu Zhao finished speaking, the surrounding classmates finally realized—oh, right! Even if the Study God's grades had dropped significantly lately, she was still in the top ten of the grade, and before that, she had been firmly in first place.

Compared to Xu Jiao, her twin sister who was at the tail end, they were worlds apart.

Xu Jiao's pretty face instantly turned red: "Zhao, Zhao Zhao, how could you say that about me! I'm just concerned about you!"

"You should focus on yourself instead. Don't spend all day only thinking about dating and forget your primary duty as a student. Even if I just wrote randomly with my eyes closed, I'd still score higher than you."

Xu Jiao clearly felt that the classmates' looks had changed, especially the scrutinizing gazes of the girls in the class, which carried obvious dislike.

Indeed, they used to think Xu Jiao was Yinghua's School Belle and Young Master Li was from the illustrious Li Family, making them a match made in heaven—a talented man and a beautiful woman. But thinking about it now, they were still high schoolers. Although some others had secret crushes, no one was as blatant and intimate as Young Master Li and Xu Jiao, hugging each other in the hallways, on the tree-lined paths, and on the playground... they were everywhere. Just what they had seen personally was more than three or four times.

How could Xu Jiao stand such a grievance? Her eyes immediately reddened: "Zhao Zhao, I've clearly worked very hard. I'm studying so hard. You know that I read and do practice problems until midnight every night, but my grades just won't go up. I can't compare to you, so what can I do? Should I blame Mom for passing all the good genes to you?"

The genes say: "I'm not taking the fall for this."

"Then who is the person video chatting with boys until midnight?" Every morning at the breakfast table, the topics were either sharing "little secrets" from their chats with Mother Xu or "incidentally" showing off how considerate and good a certain Li was to her.

Xu Zhao really had no interest in exposing her; she just didn't want her to use studying as a scapegoat.

"Don't say you read and do problems until midnight every night only to still be at the bottom. It's not good to mislead classmates who actually want to study hard."

Originally, only some of the girls felt Xu Jiao was acting a bit like a "green tea," but now even the boys who wanted to study hard felt those words were absolutely right. Especially in the past when they didn't test well, the understanding Great School Belle had comforted them, saying that even if she read until midnight every night, her grades wouldn't go up because learning depends on talent.

In the past, they thought the School Belle's words were so reasonable and felt instantly healed.

Thinking about it now, they were all the same—they were just pretending to work hard.

The School Belle flirted with Young Master Li until midnight every day, so how could she possibly focus on books? They were no different; they just opened their books and then played games until midnight, comforting themselves that they had worked hard because they stayed up late every night.

With such results, they truly couldn't complain.

The Study God was indeed the Study God, hitting the nail on the head.

The students who had previously comforted themselves also woke up a bit. Slacking off is slacking off; did they really expect good results from it? Talent exists, but such people are few after all; it's still a matter of getting out what you put in.

"I'm not going to say I study until midnight anymore; it seems I've just been loafing around too." Outside the window, Zhou Chi rubbed his nose, feeling a bit embarrassed for some reason. Study God Xu had poked right at his heart.

"—It's Gu Yunjing from Class 3!" The classroom was in an uproar again. He wasn't called the School Tyrant for nothing; the key was that the School Tyrant had both looks and power.

It was Cheng Yi who spoke up to ask: "Cough... Xu Zhao, is after school tonight okay?"

"Okay," Xu Zhao nodded.

"Then wait a bit after school, and we'll come find you. Brother Gu has a lounge in the school; we'll go there."

"Fine."

"Zhao Zhao, how can you be with people like them? What are you going to do!" Xu Jiao used this to pivot away from the previous topic, saying indignantly, "They, they are all—"

"We are all what?" Gu Yunjing's lips curled slightly in a roguish smile. His school uniform was draped casually over his shoulder, and probably because he had just finished playing basketball, there were still sweat beads hanging from his unruly hair. With one hand tucked in his pocket and the other holding a basketball, he glanced over nonchalantly.

Xu Jiao was instantly stunned. Being looked at by someone with such outstanding looks, her cheeks actually heated up involuntarily, and she said in a muffled voice, "I wasn't talking about you."

With this look of a young girl in love, anyone with eyes could see what was going on.

Gu Yunjing immediately lost his appetite. He glanced at Xu Zhao; the Little Study God was much more pleasing to the eye. "Wait for us after class, don't run off. I have things to do tonight."

The implication was that the young master's time was precious, and she couldn't afford to waste it.

What a temper, Xu Zhao scoffed inwardly.

Halfway out, Gu Yunjing turned back to scan the crowd, finally letting his gaze settle on the top of that lowered head: "Don't just follow whoever calls you."

Meaning?

Sure enough, they heard the dutiful translator, Zhou Chi, add loudly: "If Liang Yiqing comes looking for you again, tell her to come to Class 3 to find us."

"Okay, I got it." Xu Zhao, who had always been a loner and stood up for herself, actually felt the sensation of being protected. Her mood was a bit subtle.

Gu Yunjing glanced over. This time she answered quickly and loudly, her porcelain-white little face lighting up with a smile that was quite innocent and cute—but that smile was for the translator next to him.

Hmph, a bit of an eyesore.

"Zhao Zhao..." Before Xu Jiao could continue, class started again.

What Teacher Chen said in class made Xu Jiao feel even more inferior: Xu Zhao was going to participate in the National Mathematical Olympiad Preliminary. Hadn't her grades dropped lately? How did she still have the chance? Even A-Yan had a tutor hired by his family recently and was cramming at home every day, putting in a lot of effort to prepare for this competition.

Living under the same roof as Xu Zhao, she naturally knew that Xu Zhao loved to study, but she had never taken extra lessons. She liked to soak in the library or lock herself in her room all day. No one knew what she was doing secretly in there, so how were her grades so good? Sometimes, they were even better than the consistently excellent A-Yan.

If Xu Zhao knew her inner thoughts, she would probably correct her: Your A-Yan has always been in eternal second place, okay?

This time, because Xu Zhao was bullied and her grades dropped to eighth in the grade, Li Yan still didn't reach first place. It was probably because dating consumed too much of his mental energy; after all, he had to think of ways to coax his little Jiao Jiao every day. He wasn't bullied like she was, yet he actually fell to tenth in the grade.

In that case, Li Yan really had never surpassed her.