Xue Jiao saw Li Sitong sitting on the sofa with a dark expression as soon as she entered the door, as if a storm was about to break.
The air was thick with tension and a faint sadness.
When she walked in, Li Sitong suddenly turned her head, clearly surprised: "You're back so early?!"
In the past, every time she went to the Gu family, she would stay for several days before being urged to return.
Xue Jiao understood why she was upset. No mother would like her daughter to be close to the two people who had deeply hurt her, yet that was exactly what Gu Xue Jiao used to do. Every time she returned from the Gu family, she would quarrel with Li Sitong for a while.
So Xue Jiao nodded, put down her bag, and walked over to squat in front of Li Sitong, looking into her eyes: "Mom, I don't like Dad."
She spoke very seriously, her eyes fixed on the woman on the sofa.
Li Sitong froze, then slowly opened her mouth: "Wh...why?"
Her voice was hoarse and soft.
"Because they wronged you, and they weren't genuinely good to me either." With a face that bore a slight resemblance to Li Sitong's, Xue Jiao looked particularly sincere at this moment. Her big eyes were fixed on Li Sitong, filled with warmth and apology.
Li Sitong sat there dumbfounded, as if petrified, not moving a muscle.
"Waaah—" She suddenly pulled Xue Jiao into a tight hug, pressing her head against her chest, and burst into loud sobs.
"What's wrong? What's wrong?" Cheng Shuo rushed out of the room in a panic, and shortly after, Cheng Mingze came downstairs.
"Sitong, what's the matter?" Cheng Shuo looked at the weeping Li Sitong with worry and anxiety, pacing around nervously.
Cheng Mingze narrowed his eyes: "Gu Xue Jiao, did you make your mom angry again?"
Xue Jiao: "..."
She patted Li Sitong's back: "Mom, don't cry."
"Jiao Jiao—you've grown up—my daughter!" Li Sitong continued to cry.
Cheng Shuo: "..."
Cheng Mingze: "..."
So it wasn't Gu Xue Jiao causing trouble again?
—
It took Xue Jiao and Cheng Shuo a lot of effort to calm Li Sitong down. Perhaps too moved, when she found out Xue Jiao hadn't eaten yet, she immediately went to the kitchen herself and made a table full of dishes, insisting on watching Xue Jiao eat.
Xue Jiao looked at the two unappetizing dishes and a bowl of white rice in front of her...
If she remembered correctly, Li Sitong... was a kitchen disaster!
She swallowed hard: "Um... Mom, you should eat too."
"No, no, I just want to watch you eat!" she said while piling food onto Xue Jiao's plate.
"Uncle Cheng and brother, do you want some midnight snacks?" Xue Jiao tried to struggle.
"No need! At my age, eating too much at night isn't good!" Cheng Shuo said before quickly making his escape.
Cheng Mingze sensed danger and immediately tried to go upstairs, but the cheerful Li Sitong stopped him: "Mingze! You're still growing! Come, come, eat something!"
She forced him to sit at the table and brought another bowl of white rice.
"Eat, eat, eat more!" Li Sitong happily kept adding food to both their plates.
For the first time, the two exchanged a meaningful glance, both seeing sympathy in each other's eyes...
—
After dinner, Xue Jiao returned to her room and diligently worked on her homework. The weekend assignments were substantial, mostly consisting of textbook exercises and workbooks.
She had already finished the textbook exercises during breaks, a habit she had always maintained.After the teacher finished the lecture, Xue Jiao immediately seized the break time to work on practice problems—partly to reinforce the newly learned knowledge while it was still fresh, and partly to free up more after-class time for additional exercises.
The material wasn’t difficult, as it was all knowledge she had already mastered and was now reviewing to solidify. So, in just over an hour, she finished all the math exercises and most of the physics problems before finally going to bed.
Lying down, she mapped out a study plan for the holiday, then closed her eyes.
Ding— Her phone chimed.
Xue Jiao glanced casually at the screen—Lin Zhihua.
Though she hadn’t planned to check, she picked it up and opened the message—it was a picture, a panda hugging bamboo.
Her eyes lit up as she imagined the usually serious man standing in front of a claw machine. A smile tugged at her lips as she replied—
[Wow!! You actually got it! Amazing! 👍]
Almost instantly, a reply came—
[Mn.]
Xue Jiao: "..."
How was she supposed to keep the conversation going with such aloofness?
She had no choice but to send—
[Goodnight.jpg]
There was no response for a long time. She set her phone aside, settled into bed, and closed her eyes.
On the other end of the phone—
"Chen Yan, send me some trendy stickers and emojis."
"..."
Chen Yan hung up the phone, utterly bewildered, then stared at his own barren messaging app...
He usually mirrored his boss’s tone—barely even using punctuation, let alone stickers.
Almost immediately, he called Tan Qi.
Tan Qi was equally baffled after hanging up, but since Chen had given him three minutes, he quickly forwarded his entire sticker collection.
Thus, Lin Zhihua received the following assortment—
[Dumbass.jpg, Friendship Over for 3 Seconds You Bottom.jpg, Mwah.jpg, Stop Acting Cool.jpg...]
Lin Zhihua: "..."
Just as Xue Jiao was drifting off, her phone buzzed again. She fumbled for it and glanced at the screen.
[Goodnight.jpg]
A vintage-style sticker—a massive rectangle with a dazzling, multicolored background featuring an oversized moon that shimmered, along with two enormous, glittering words: Good Night.
Xue Jiao: "..."
——
On Sunday evening, Xue Jiao was sitting on the balcony memorizing vocabulary when Li Sitong walked in, looking utterly dejected.
Xue Jiao turned to her in confusion, then hesitantly asked, "Mom? What’s wrong?"
Li Sitong approached and gazed at her.
Compared to half a month ago, Xue Jiao looked like a completely different person. Gone was the exaggerated, almost horrifying style—replaced by a clean, pure appearance. Her face bore a slight resemblance to Li Sitong’s, but the remaining features were even more refined.
Her large eyes looked up at her mother—obedient, sensible, delicate, and heartbreakingly sweet.
Li Sitong pulled her into a tight hug, pressing her head against her chest.
"Jiao Jiao... Promise me you’ll always stay this well-behaved... okay?"
Her voice was soft, laced with sorrow.
Xue Jiao hesitated before murmuring, "Okay..."
She reached up and gently patted the woman’s back. "Mom, what happened?"
Li Sitong rarely showed vulnerability in front of her children, so she just shook her head lightly.
Earlier, she had gone shopping with a friend, intending to buy some nice clothes for Xue Jiao, who had been so well-behaved lately. Coincidentally, she ran into Wu Wanjun at a high-end boutique.The dress displayed in the shop window was beautiful, and the sales assistant was holding it up for Wu Wanjun to see. The ladies around her all agreed that Gu Shiyun would look perfect in it.
Li Sitong didn’t know where her sudden burst of anger came from, but she rushed over and confronted Wu Wanjun, demanding to know why she always bought suitable clothes for her own daughter but only picked mature and flashy outfits for Jiao Jiao.
What had Wu Wanjun said back then?
Probably still wearing that gentle smile while uttering words that seemed fine on the surface but were laced with disdain for Xue Jiao upon closer listening.
Li Sitong had been furious.
Then, a middle-aged woman beside Wu Wanjun added another remark, each word piercing her heart—
"Li Sitong, you’re a failure as a woman. Your man didn’t want you, he abandoned you, and even your only child—you couldn’t raise her properly!"
It was true she hadn’t raised Xue Jiao well. She knew it. She was the laughingstock of their social circle. Even after marrying Cheng Shuo, everyone was still waiting to see her downfall.
She tried her best to fit into the Cheng family, to be kind to everyone, yet the elders still preferred the sharp-tongued Liu Yazhen over her.
Not just because she was a second wife, but also because—she didn’t know how to raise a child.
"Jiao Jiao, always be good… Just don’t act like before. I don’t ask for you to be outstanding, just… just don’t cause trouble."
She spoke softly, and Xue Jiao could roughly guess why she was upset.
Much of the book’s content still lingered in her mind. Li Sitong had been mocked countless times because of her daughter, Gu Xue Jiao. Humiliated, she would return home, see Xue Jiao’s messy state, and lose her temper, leading to explosive fights between them.
Xue Jiao sighed lightly. "Mom, I can do more than just not cause trouble. I can… become your pride."
In her past life, she couldn’t even dream of being someone’s pride. In this life, she would keep striving—for herself, and for this woman who loved her but didn’t know how to say it.
Li Sitong suddenly let go of her and hurried back to her room. Xue Jiao knew she was crying.
"Hey—" Li Sitong shut the door, and another voice spoke up.
Xue Jiao looked up. Cheng Mingze stood with his hands in his pockets, his face cold. "No one expects you to be a pride. Just don’t cause trouble and upset your mom—that’s enough."
With that, he turned and left.
Xue Jiao: "…"
Just how much of a public nuisance was Gu Xue Jiao’s reputation???
——
On Monday morning, Xue Jiao arrived on time for the early self-study session.
She sat down, took out her books, and began reciting from the textbook.
"Hey, bookworm!" Yi Tianyu plopped down beside her, resting his face on the desk and staring at her in exasperation.
Xue Jiao didn’t even look up, as if she hadn’t heard.
"Bookworm, if you’re this diligent, how come your grades are so bad?" Yi Tianyu muttered.
As Gu Xue Jiao’s deskmate, he knew firsthand just how hard she studied!
Her level of dedication made Yi Tianyu think even the top student in their class couldn’t compare.
Yet despite all that effort, he’d heard she once scored single digits in math. How was that even possible?!
Seeing that Xue Jiao still ignored him, he gave up and sprawled across the desk to sleep.
"Class, I have great news for you!" The chubby math teacher announced with raised eyebrows.
"What is it?" At the mention of good news, all eyes turned to him eagerly.
The math teacher was always smiling, but his grading was ruthless—earning him the nickname "Smiling Tiger."
Now, grinning like the Maitreya Buddha, he said, "No classes on Thursday and Friday this week!"
Many students’ eyes lit up.The smiling tiger added another line: "So good luck with the monthly exams on Thursday and Friday!"
"Ahhh—" The students groaned in unison.
Xue Jiao didn't feel much about it—exams made no difference to her—but not everyone thought the same way.
"Cousin, good luck with the monthly exams! I still remember you saying you'd surpass me!" Cheng Mingjiao said with a smile. The few girls who were close to her immediately burst into mocking laughter.
A flash of triumph crossed Mingjiao's eyes as her gaze shifted to Yi Tianyu beside her.
Looking at his handsome, bold face, her cheeks flushed slightly. "Um... Yi Tianyu, good luck to you too!"
Yi Tianyu stared at her in horror: "Why are you mocking me? I never made any bet with you!"
"Hahaha!" The surrounding crowd erupted in laughter. At first, no one had thought much of it, but after Yi Tianyu's remark, everyone suddenly felt Mingjiao's words had carried a hint of sarcasm.
Author's note: Yi Tianyu: Don't scare me like that, I'm easily frightened!
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