Hotel.
Liu Jinzhong shut his laptop and stood up to stretch. “It’s finally over.”
Just three days ago, Lou Mingxin was still the high-and-mighty CEO of the Lou Group. Now, she was a prisoner behind bars.
Murder-for-hire with malicious intent—even if things were handled well, she might avoid the death penalty, but a life sentence was almost certain.
She and Meng Zhiru truly were a couple: one went in, and a few days later, the other followed. Sharing weal and woe, huh.
Jiang Fuyue had already gone back to her room to rest.
She wasn’t the least bit curious about the outcome—because every result had long since been clearly laid out in her plan.
Liu Jinzhong called out to Liu Sisi, “Girl, go pack up your things. We’re heading back to Linhuai first thing tomorrow.”
“……” Liu Sisi didn’t respond, as if she were spacing out.
“Girl? Hey—girl?!”
“Huh?”
Liu Jinzhong twitched at the corner of his mouth. “I said we’re going back to Linhuai tomorrow. Weren’t you always clamoring to go back?”
“Uncle Liu, I have a question.”
“Mm?”
Liu Sisi took a moment to find the words: “Didn’t we come to the capital in the first place to avenge Professor Xiao?”
“That’s right.”
“Then how did things turn out like this?” A flicker of confusion passed through the girl’s eyes. And looking deeper—there was a purity and sincerity rarely seen. “I… don’t know when it started, but somewhere along the way, everything changed.”
Liu Jinzhong smiled. “Ever watched a movie?”
“Of course.”
“Then you know how sometimes the opening gives you a brief snippet—a teaser scene—and only after that does the main plot begin?”
“And when you don’t know the full plot or background yet, you can’t really make sense of that little opening clip. Sometimes it’s completely confusing, right?”
“Yeah, yeah.”
“But once you keep watching and the story unfolds, the context becomes clearer. Then when you go back and watch that opening again, you suddenly get it.”
Liu Sisi nodded.
Liu Jinzhong said, “Professor Xiao was that opening clip. At first you didn’t understand, and that’s fair. But now the film has finished playing, and the whole story is clear as day. If you still don’t get it, girl, that’s on you. And you had the best seat in the house.”
“Huh?” What best seat?
Before Liu Sisi could ask, Liu Jinzhong was already waving and walking away with a smile.
If Professor Xiao was the opening clip… then that means the story started all the way back then?
And everything that followed… was just a prewritten script on film.
The director…
Was Sister Yue!
And as for herself—it seemed she had a role in the movie too?
….
The next morning, 8:00 a.m.
A flight from the capital to Linhuai took off.
By 2:00 p.m., Jiang Fuyue was already sitting in Class 3 of the Senior Class, listening to Xu Jing lecture on analytic geometry.
Wan Xiutong, for the N+1-th time, covered her mouth to stifle a laugh. Her eyes and expression were glowing with joy: “Jiang Jiang, you’re really back?! You were only on leave for a little over 30 days, but it felt like we hadn’t seen you in 300!”
Jiang Fuyue smiled slightly. Wearing her school uniform, she gave off none of the commanding aura of someone who had just orchestrated a storm in the capital.
Compared to the version of her pulling strings behind the scenes in the empire’s heart, she seemed like a completely different person.
Liu Bowen suddenly turned his head from the front. “Without you here, I had no one to discuss problems with. Sigh…”
Lin Qiao, next to him, gave a snort of laughter. “You mean, you had no one to solve problems and explain the steps for you? Discussion? As if you actually know how to solve them yourself.”
Liu Bowen gritted his teeth. “Lin Qiao! You, you, you… Can’t you just let me save a little face?!”
“You’ve already tossed your face out the window. What’s left to save?”
At that moment—
Xu Jing’s voice came from the podium: “Liu Bowen, stand up and answer—what’s the final value of angle α?”
Liu Bowen: “?” What problem are we even on?
Under the desk, he nudged Lin Qiao, hoping for a hint.
The girl ignored him completely.
Liu Bowen was livid! That’s it—no more snacks for her next time!
Might as well take back all the ones she already ate too!
Xu Jing frowned. “What, you can’t answer?”
Liu Bowen: “……” I don’t even know which question it is! There are three problems on this page, all asking for angle α. Couldn’t you at least give me a β to go off of?!
D*mn it!
Xu Jing’s face darkened. After a pause, he said: “Fine, sit down and pay attention. Stop messing around.”
Ah, so he noticed Liu Bowen whispering under the desk and was calling him out on purpose.
That Xu Jing—what a fox!
After Liu Bowen sat down, his ears were burning red. Unlike Jiang Fuyue, he didn’t have that kind of composure (or thick skin).
As a top student, not being able to answer a teacher’s question in front of the entire class was utterly humiliating.
“Lin Qiao! I won’t forget this! I just wanted a little hint and you wouldn’t even give me that. Stingy!”
“I…”
Liu Bowen: “I gave you so many snacks, and you act like you don’t even know me after eating them! Heartless!”
“It’s not—”
“You totally are!”
Lin Qiao glared. “Enough already? I didn’t even know which problem Xu Jing was asking about, so how could I give you a hint?!”
“…Oh.” He rubbed his nose. “Sorry. I’ll still bring you snacks next time.”
“Hmph! Who wants them? I don’t need your snacks!”
“Don’t be like that…”
That day, Jiang Fuyue went to the academic office to cancel her leave. The next day, she walked into the exam room with pen in hand—
The third monthly exam at No. 1 High School had begun…
