Chapter 103: Zheng Shujun Is Missing
Chi Shuyan thought that she had dodged this bullet. She finished her meal with difficulty under the piercing gaze of her father, Chi Lingyan. Then, she turned around and slunk off to her bedroom.
“Yanyan, wait.” Chi Lingyan called out to Chi Shuyan.
Chi Shuyan, who had one hand on the banister as she was going up the stairs, froze. She felt uneasy and didn’t even dare breathe. Could it be that Dad had noticed something?
While she was staring blankly, Chi Lingyan began to urge her, “What are you waiting for? Come down quickly. Since you’re heaty, Dad will put some cool antibiotic cream on you.”
Chi Shuyan hurriedly acknowledged his words and ran down to take it from Chi Lingyan’s hand.
Chi Lingyan blocked her with his left hand and raised his right arm high, a gentle smile on his rugged, handsome face. “Are you still treating me as an outsider?” After speaking, he unscrewed the cap of the ointment.
Chi Shuyan wanted to cry without tears: “…” Dammit!
After returning to her bedroom, Chi Shuyan locked the door and jumped into bed. She buried her whole head under the soft pillow like a turtle, her cheeks burning.
When her lips were red and swollen with heatiness, her father would always smear the antibiotic cream on with his calloused fingers. She never gave it much thought.
But just less than an hour ago, some beastly man had been nibbling on her, and her life suddenly felt so thrilling. Until now, she didn’t know if her father had seen something or not.
The phone rang and Chi Shuyan glanced at it before ending the call hatefully.
After a short pause, the phone rang again. This time, Chi Shuyan just blacklisted a certain someone directly. Most importantly, she didn’t have to feel conflicted about giving him an explanation. Last time, she took advantage of him and forced a kiss on him. Now, the two of them could be considered even.
…
w.a.n.g Yichun received the envious gazes of almost all the teachers with a blank face.
Did they know that his wife was about to give birth? Even if he were to hold a celebration feast, there was no reason to look at him so enviously. Half of the people here were married and had children.
“Teacher w.a.n.g, congratulations, you definitely will be known as the best teacher this year.”
“Yeah, Teacher w.a.n.g, how did you teach your students, tell us.”
“Teacher w.a.n.g, you’re so awesome, you’ve become a celebrity overnight. Your cla.s.s produced the third highest scorer in the province. How on earth did that Chi Shuyan from your Cla.s.s 5 do it? 730 points! She’s only five points behind the top scorer.”
w.a.n.g Yichun nodded, then immediately widened his eyes and came back to his senses. “What the h.e.l.l? 730 points? Our Cla.s.s 5?” He was so surprised that his hometown accent came out.
“Yes, Teacher w.a.n.g, you’re so slow,” a colleague said.
w.a.n.g Yichun was instantly bowled over by this huge pie from the sky. He couldn’t be blamed for not knowing; he had been busy taking care of his pregnant wife in the last few days. He had accidentally dropped his phone into a basin of water, and it had to be written off directly.
Of course, w.a.n.g Yichun had the time to buy a new one, but when he thought about how the college entrance exam results were coming out soon and how his Cla.s.s 5’s ranking always lagged behind, he just wanted to cry from the pressure.
The thought of Wen Mingzhu’s despicable expression of power made him gnash his teeth in fury. Wasn’t it just because she relied on her backing to pick a top cla.s.s? Otherwise, how could she be named the most outstanding teacher every year?
Thus, w.a.n.g Yichun didn’t want to add to his troubles. Even if it was only a short moment of peace, he didn’t go and buy a phone, so naturally, he missed such big news.
“I had no choice, my phone broke.” w.a.n.g Yichun instantly grinned from ear to ear, as proud as a chrysanthemum swaying in the wind. “I knew that child Shuyan was a good seedling with potential. Fortunately, I have a good eye and had Teacher Wen send her over.”
The other teachers all spat on w.a.n.g Yichun shamelessly in their hearts. Wasn’t this blatantly exaggerating his good eye? This guy, w.a.n.g Yichun, just had the devil’s luck and picked her up.
Back then, if Wen Mingzhu hadn’t insisted on transferring that student out and even beseeched the princ.i.p.al, would w.a.n.g Yichun have been able to pick up such a good seedling? If only their eyes had been a little clearer back then… Everyone felt some regret in their hearts.
At the same time, all the teachers in the school rejoiced in Wen Mingzhu’s misfortune. Since coming to Ning’an First Middle School, she just relied on her backing to strut around. When had she ever suffered such a huge loss?
“Teacher Wen, that student Chi Shuyan seems to have transferred from your cla.s.s. How could you give up such a good seedling?” A teacher who was at odds with Wen Mingzhu needled her.
“That’s right, Teacher Wen is so generous. I would definitely be unwilling to part with such a promising seedling.”
When she heard the ridicule and mocking, Wen Mingzhu’s face turned so ugly and she almost tore up the lesson plan she was holding. The impact of this news had kept her awake the whole of last night. Today, seeing so many people crowding around w.a.n.g Yichun, her face turned green and white with endless regrets.
How could she have been blinded by greed back then and coveted that little bit of money from Wu Wenyun’s mother, Yang Yuzhen, and sent such a good seedling to Cla.s.s 5? Otherwise, she would have been the one in the limelight today. It wouldn’t be her turn to be laughed at secretly.
This wasn’t a joke. The third highest scorer in the whole province was from Cla.s.s 5, the top scorer in the whole city was from Cla.s.s 5, and the top cla.s.s in the whole school for this year was Cla.s.s 5. Even if her cla.s.s was in second place, the top student in her cla.s.s only scored 630 points. It was a full 100 points difference! It was a huge gap with Chi Shuyan.
And this was with the increased difficulty of the exam papers! Wen Mingzhu’s intestines turned green with regret.
…
Fuzhou City had the third highest scorer. When the leader of the Education Bureau found out the news from the admissions office, he was so happy and excited that he was about to go crazy. All these years, at every provincial hall meeting, even if the province leader didn’t directly call out names to criticize them, they themselves knew that he was saying it for them to hear.
But now their Fuzhou City was no longer a hindrance and wouldn’t pull down the county’s ranking; they had produced the third highest scorer.
The leader of the Education Bureau couldn’t wait to buy an advertis.e.m.e.nt and play it on a loop, beating gongs and drums to spread the word everywhere. It would be best for the entire country to know that their Fuzhou City produced the third highest scorer in the province, only five points behind the top scorer!
The firecrackers at the entrance of Ning’an First Middle School were so loud that even the deaf could hear them. Many pa.s.sersby were drawn by the loud noise, and a lot who loved to watch the fun couldn’t help but gather curiously.
When they saw the banner hanging at the top of the gate, they were instantly enlightened. There were waves of exclamations, especially from the parents who crowded around the school gate, and they were generous with their praise and envy.
“Warmly celebrating our city’s Ning’an First Middle School’s Cla.s.s 5, Chi Shuyan, who scored first in the city in the college entrance examination and third in the province!”
When Chi Shuyan arrived at school, she was immediately surrounded by the Cla.s.s 5 students like monkeys and Li Xiaoting’s piercing scream rang in her ears.
Not only that, but many students from the first and second years also came to join the fun. They took videos on their phones and stood on tiptoe in excitement to admire this senior who was the third highest scorer in the whole province. As everyone watched, Chi Shuyan held up the sign for a 10,000-yuan scholars.h.i.+p which the school princ.i.p.al presented to her. Her face was about to go stiff from smiling. She collapsed and wondered if she should cover her face! This was too scary!
It was with difficulty that Chi Shuyan finally snuck off to the toilet for a break.
Li Xiaoting ran in after her, shouting happily as if she was afraid that n.o.body would know she was in the toilet. “Shuyan, Shuyan, several of the questions you explained to me appeared. My parents were thrilled with the college entrance exam result. I told them it was all thanks to you. When are you free? My family will treat you to a meal. Don’t you like crayfish? My mother is especially good at making this dish…”
“Must you talk about eating in the toilet?” Chi Shuyan was speechless.
“Haha, am I being too happy? My mom thought I wouldn’t even make the second cut, but I actually just made the first cut.” Li Xiaoting’s cheeks were also flushed with excitement.
Just as Li Xiaoting was about to say something else, her phone rang. Li Xiaoting took a look at the screen. “Uncle Zheng… calm down. Maybe Shujun is in school. What, you came to school and can’t find her?” The smile on Li Xiaoting’s lips instantly froze.
It turned out that Zheng Shujun had fallen out of the rankings!
Chi Shuyan and Li Xiaoting only found out about this from Zheng Shujun’s father when they arrived at her house.
Li Xiaoting’s eyes widened in disbelief. Zheng Shujun’s grades were pretty good, and Shuyan had clearly lent that exercise book to Zheng Shujun. Even if Zheng Shujun performed badly, she shouldn’t have failed three papers. That shouldn’t be the case!
Chi Shuyan listened to this news in a daze, and recalled the terrifying image of Zheng Shujun’s dismembered corpse on the day of the first exam. Her eyes suddenly widened and she suddenly had a bad premonition.
But it had only been half a month, plus, she had a Protective Talisman. Chi Shuyan herself had suffered her luck being borrowed over five years in her previous life. However, she suddenly realized a huge problem. She couldn’t make guesses about Zheng Shujun’s situation based on her own experience.
Chi Shuyan tried hard to recall the image she had seen at that time. It seemed to be in the wilderness, and there was no other information.
“Uncle, do you have any of Shujun’s personal effects?”
Zheng Shujun’s father was stumped, not understanding Chi Shuyan’s intent, but he still said sincerely, “Shujun loves to read essay collections; does that count?”
Chi Shuyan nodded.
Zheng Shujun’s father immediately took out an essay collection from his room.
“Shuyan, it’s more important to look for Shujun now. Why are you looking for an essay collection?” Li Xiaoting was already burning with anxiety. “Should we call the police first? But she hasn’t been missing for long enough. What should we do?”
Chi Shuyan gave Li Xiaoting a casual glance, and Li Xiaoting inexplicably shut up, in awe of Chi Shuyan’s calm gaze.
Chi Shuyan didn’t hide anything from the two of them either. She took a page out of the essay collection and pulled out a talisman. The talisman landed on the page and quickly turned into a small paper man that swiftly pointed in a particular direction.
The two were stupefied, especially Li Xiaoting, who was bewildered. “Shuyan, are you performing magic?” But Shuyan wasn’t that tactless.
“Uncle Zheng, do you have a car?” Chi Shuyan ignored her, looking calm.
“Yes, but where are we going to find her?”
“Look in this direction.”
Zheng Shujun’s father knew that it was very unreasonable to listen to a little girl, but Chi Shuyan had already become the third highest scorer in the province, and was discarding all that honor to come and help. Even if this was a prank, she wouldn’t use her own matter for a joke. Her calm face, in particular, somehow made him trust her.