Chapter 5: The Cold School Beauty’s Fierce Love
Tao Ning, who had made Uncle Liu drive the chauffeur car like a bumper car, faced the consequences. The car’s chassis had a problem and needed repairs.
Figuring it was only a few minutes’ walk from home, Tao Ning got out of the car first.
Uncle Liu turned the car around to head to the repair shop, thinking he’d probably need to switch to a different car to pick up the young miss tomorrow.
Not far away, a group of boys in basketball jerseys walked towards them, their youthful energy radiating in the summer evening shade.
The boy at the front was tall and handsome, with sharp features. The boy in the white jersey behind him held a basketball. They were talking about something, and they all burst into laughter.
The duck-like cacophony briefly caught Tao Ning’s attention before she looked away.
The boy with the basketball nudged the boy in the red jersey at the front with his shoulder, teasing, “Yunfei, I bet you Tao Ning will come over here within ten seconds.”
Nangong Yunfei, at the front, frowned slightly, a flicker of emotion in his eyes.
Another boy said, “Ten seconds is too long, she’ll arrive on the battlefield within three seconds, hahaha.”
“The Tao family’s little ancestor’s nearsightedness is useless in front of Brother Yunfei. She can see him even from across the field, she’ll run over to deliver water right away.”
With him starting, the rest burst into laughter, only Nangong Yunfei remained unsmiling, his lips not even twitching.
However, everyone was familiar with Nangong Yunfei’s temperament. He only had patience for people he was interested in. Ultimately, he didn’t like Tao Ning’s type.
Then they all saw Tao Ning glance over, quicken her pace, and leave.
Lost in her own thoughts, Tao Ning didn’t notice that after she looked over, the group of tall boys quieted down considerably.
“Laughing like ghosts in the neighborhood at night, don’t you have homework to do?” Tao Ning muttered, rubbing the back of her neck as she walked inside. “But I’ve already sent the female lead to her doorstep, it should be fine, right?”
520 was pleased that the host was so dedicated to the task, sighing that newbies were indeed enthusiastic and meticulous, while comforting Tao Ning.
Only the boys with frozen smiles remained in the night, the atmosphere slightly awkward.
After a long while, the boy holding the basketball said, “She probably didn’t see clearly.”
“Right, right, we were standing in the shade, there were shadows, how could she see our faces clearly?”
“Tao Ning is nearsighted, five hundred degrees. The streetlights are so dim, it’s normal that she couldn’t see clearly.”
Nangong Yunfei’s darkened expression gradually improved, likely believing the explanation about the darkness and nearsightedness.
Back home, Tao Ning only saw the servants who had prepared the meal. Although Tao Yan loved her daughter, she was a busy person with little time to spend with her child. Tao Ning’s grandfather preferred the leisurely life in the countryside and didn’t live with them, only seeing them during holidays.
Tao Ning first sent a message saying she wouldn’t be online tonight, but to avoid delaying the guild’s progress, she found a substitute player.
After taking care of everything, Tao Ning hurriedly ate, washed up, and went to bed.
Being only flesh and blood, and having suddenly absorbed a large amount of memories, Tao Ning couldn’t handle it, her head constantly throbbing.
Fortunately, she was a good sleeper and slept soundly until dawn, squinting as she got into Uncle Liu’s car to head to school.
However, upon seeing her desk piled with books, the truancy factor engraved in Tao Ning’s DNA erupted again, and she promptly slumped over her desk for another deep sleep.
Heaven knew how many nights the original owner had stayed up playing games. Tao Ning felt that every time she opened her eyes, it was a hard-fought battle, severely lacking sleep.
Three minutes before the bell rang, Xu Qiuyi arrived late, carrying her backpack.
As she entered the classroom, Xu Qiuyi inexplicably glanced at Tao Ning’s seat.
Many students were already seated. The majority of Class A were diligent students, while the remaining few, like Tao Ning, were there purely because their parents wanted them to be influenced by the scholarly atmosphere.
But it clearly failed. Amidst the noisy crowd, Tao Ning slept soundly, completely unaffected, her slumped figure lost among the others.
The Class A students were quite surprised. Tao Ning arriving late or not at all was normal, but Xu Qiuyi being late was rare.
“The class representative is here. The paper assignments are already on your desk. The electronic versions were sent to the teacher last night. Do you want to take a look?”
As Xu Qiuyi walked towards her desk, she replied, “The ones sent to the teacher are fine. I’ll take the paper assignments to the office later.”
Putting down her backpack, Xu Qiuyi walked around the classroom collecting assignments, quickly accumulating a stack in her hands.
Facing the habitual offender Tao Ning, Xu Qiuyi habitually ignored her sleeping form, carefully bypassing her.
The last time she knocked on Tao Ning’s desk was because the teacher had specifically mentioned her name. Under normal circumstances, she wouldn’t approach Tao Ning.
Then she arrived at the place she least wanted to go, the center of attention – the back row by the window, Nangong Yunfei’s seat.
Nangong Yunfei had also been waiting for a long time. Before Xu Qiuyi could approach, he took the initiative: “Why didn’t you accept the thing I gave you?”
As soon as he spoke, the surroundings fell silent.
The gazes surrounding them naturally included Jin Yue, Lü Xinxi, and the Li Ziyi quartet. The quartet exchanged glances, realizing that Xu Qiuyi hadn’t lied, she hadn’t accepted the gift.
Li Ziyi wasn’t happy about this, instead raising an eyebrow and pouting.
Jin Yue could easily discern the meaning of this expression, probably thinking As if she would dare to accept it.
Everyone watched as Nangong Yunfei pulled out a gift box from his desk drawer and slammed it heavily on the desk.
Xu Qiuyi lowered her eyes slightly: “You have the right to give, and I have the right to refuse.”
Nangong Yunfei looked at her with interest: “You’re the first woman to talk to me like this.”
Xu Qiuyi moved her lips, then said, “I only accept homework, not other things.”
Nangong Yunfei abruptly stood up. Well-nourished since childhood, he was tall, and standing in front of Xu Qiuyi, he was like a mountain, making her seem like a slender bamboo.
“What if I insist you accept it?” His gaze swept over Xu Qiuyi’s hand, his voice deepening. “What happened to your hand?”
Xu Qiuyi took a step back: “Speak properly, don’t touch me.”
Nangong Yunfei: “I touched you?”
Xu Qiuyi remained calm: “Wasn’t it you who tore up my notebook?”
Everyone was confused. How did the topic return to the notebook?
“What?” Nangong Yunfei almost laughed in anger. “That tattered notebook of yours? Do you know how expensive the notebook I compensated you with is? It could buy a truckload of your notebooks!”
These words finally angered Xu Qiuyi: “You first damaged it, then lost my notebook filled with practice questions, and only compensated me with a blank notebook. What kind of compensation is that?”
Nangong Yunfei: “Do you know I looked for…”
A long, screeching sound of a chair scraping against the floor rang out, piercing enough to stop all movement.
Nangong Yunfei glared angrily at the source of the sound. Seeing who it was, his anger momentarily froze.
A sleepy, impatient voice said, “So noisy, I can’t even sleep peacefully.”
In all of Ming Rui, only one person dared to act like this in public.
Tao Ning single-handedly attracted the attention of the entire class. She herself was used to being the center of attention, arms crossed, chin raised: “What’s all the commotion about? Let me hear it too.”
Nangong Yunfei’s face darkened, and he waved his hand impatiently: “This is between me and Xu Qiuyi.”
Tao Ning said, “But you’re disturbing my sleep.”
Someone snickered, “So sour, Tao Ning, are you jealous?”
Many people in the school knew that the aloof Miss Tao had fallen for Nangong Yunfei at first sight, so this was a deliberate tease.
Tao Ning gave a cryptic smile: “You decide what my mood is.”
Although she said that, anyone could see that the young miss was in a very bad mood, extremely bad.
If there was a rage meter above her head, it would be maxed out, overflowing.
While most people assumed her anger was directed at Xu Qiuyi, Tao Ning asked Xu Qiuyi, “Xu Qiuyi, you seem to have something to say.”
Xu Qiuyi subconsciously looked at Tao Ning, her gaze meeting those phoenix eyes, perhaps even more languid due to sleepiness, shimmering with a watery light.
Tao Ning really wasn’t fully awake.
Tao Ning returned her gaze, her eyebrows twitching slightly: “Hmm?”
Suddenly realizing this was an opportunity, Xu Qiuyi knew she couldn’t continue entangled in this topic.
So she said, “Whether it’s worthwhile or not is for the compensated party to decide. Every practice question in that notebook was personally collected by me and considered meaningful. To me, it’s more valuable than a notebook worth several thousand yuan.”
Nangong Yunfei was choked speechless by these words.
Tao Ning sighed inwardly to the system: “Truly worthy of being the female lead, unmoved by poverty or power.”
520: [But isn’t the bickering-lovers plot about constant conflict and reconciliation?]
Tao Ning expressed slight disdain: “This isn’t bickering lovers, it’s a narcissistic jerk constantly causing trouble and looking down on people.”
In the original worldline, Xu Qiuyi, with her hand still stitched, rejected the gift. It was quite an ugly scene, and no one stepped in to mediate, ultimately leaving Xu Qiuyi with a reputation for being ungrateful.
It truly wasn’t easy being the female lead. Accepting the gift would lead to jealousy and ostracization, while refusing it meant being ungrateful.
The person with crossed arms suddenly hissed. Tao Ning said, “The entire notebook is gone? Isn’t this like deleting my max-level account and then giving me a new one?”
Xu Qiuyi’s words had already resonated with most of the class. Tao Ning’s analogy made the remaining few who didn’t quite understand start to empathize as well.
A max-level account deleted, everything gone, painful, so painful.
There it was again, Tao Ning’s unique perspective.
“…” Xu Qiuyi said, “So, I only accept homework, not other things.”
Tao Ning tilted her head and asked, “Yueyue, I remember after exams, some people buy good students’ notes, right? Didn’t your family’s publishing house discuss similar copyrights?”
Jin Yue flipped her golden hair, nodding, “Yes, I remember last year’s top scorer’s notes fetched a decent copyright fee, six figures or something, I forgot.”
A six-figure copyright fee, compared to a four-figure notebook, immediately highlighted the difference.
Four figures weren’t much in the eyes of Class A students, but six figures were still worth noting.
After Xu Qiuyi finished the college entrance exam, many publishing houses would seek to buy her notes, and the copyright fee would be much higher than this leather-bound notebook worth a few thousand.
Not to mention, Xu Qiuyi’s grades were truly excellent.
Lü Xinxi rested her chin on her hands, adding the final touch: “Too bad, the notes are gone.”
Everyone: “…” Although they all had one-on-one tutoring from gold medal teachers, they still felt it was a pity that the notes were gone.
The class monitor even looked at the beautifully packaged gift box with a heartbroken expression, murmuring, “Why didn’t I think of learning from the barbarians to control the barbarians before?”
Perhaps by looking at Xu Qiuyi’s notes, they could find a way to surpass her.
The class monitor’s regret reached its peak, and she condemned Nangong Yunfei, “This is your fault, how could you lose the notebook?”
Pairs of slightly reproachful eyes turned towards him, and the campus prince, Nangong Yunfei, almost couldn’t maintain his composure.
Class monitor: “You should apologize.”
Nangong Yunfei completely lost his composure: “Apologize? Me???”
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