Chapter 37 Parallel Class
"Alright, today is the mock exams. Perform as you would usually, no pressure! You all have been improving a lot lately, and perhaps by the time the national finals swing around, the average of our class can increase by at least ten." Old Ban waited for Gu Xiqiao to finished writing, before walking up and speaking with a relaxed tone. Suddenly, his eyes squinted slightly at a student in the class, his tone becoming abnormally gentle. "Chubby Shi, is the food tasty?"
A fat boy that sat in the middle of the class looked up immediately, and sat up straight in response, causing everyone in the class to laugh out loud, watching him wipe off the chili sauce on his cheek shyly.
Gu Xiqiao propped her chin on her palm with a smile. She liked how the atmosphere of the class now was relaxed and light, unlike the other classes that were filled with pressure and stress.
[Er Qiao, you are a tycoon!] The system held its hands to its chest as it sat in the void. In an out of character action, this host exchanged an item called the Genius Virtual Space for the parallel class using a load of points. In twenty days, as long as these people were in the area of the parallel class, their memorization ability and thoughts would become clearer and better. Combined with the data that Gu Xiqiao compiled for them, their results would improve drastically without any question!
Which was fine, but the system spirit was stressing out from the points spent!
"Calm down, I’ll level you up once I have the points for it." Gu Xiqiao twirled her pen within her fingers.
Even the ones that were sent to take their exams near this area were shocked and thought that this was a place with great feng shui.
The mock tests were taken according to the rankings of the last exam, and because there wasn’t enough space to fit all of the students in the third year classrooms, some of the students were sent to take their exams at the Combined Building.
The mock exams took two days, and the students revised by themselves between each paper.
The last paper was on English, and Gu Xiqiao passed up her answers early and waited outside the building for Xiao Yun. Xiao Yun had grown up abroad, so her English was much better than average, but even so, she didn’t finish her exams quicker than Gu Xiqiao.
No one had finished their papers this early, so there was no one walking around, and before Xiao Yun came down, Luo Wenlang did.
He was carrying a black knapsack with a baseball cap on his head which was held low, and it gave a gloomy and even somewhat suspicious air to him.
Gu Xiqiao was focused on buying stocks on her phone, so she didn’t notice him coming down the stairs. Luo Wenlang walked out to the road, and his lowered head lifted to see Gu Xiqiao who was tapping away at her phone and paused in his steps. "Gu Xiqiao?"
He took off his baseball cap, his gloomy air melting away like snow as his eyebrows were raised slightly in question, instantly becoming a pretty boy that could even rival Wu Hongwen.
"Hm?" Gu Xiqiao used this window of time to rake in more profits, and she was in quite a good mood because of this. When she heard someone call her, she looked up towards the source of the sound, seeing Luo Wenlang walk over to her.
"How have you been lately?" Luo Wenlang knew that Gu Xiqiao had gotten into some sort of trouble lately, and even though he praised her and stood on her side, he didn’t know how much help he was because he was a mere student. Besides that, he had been extremely busy working daily, and so he didn’t have any idea how things were going for Gu Xiqiao.
"It’s been good. Come, let me treat you to a cup of milk tea." Gu Xiqiao’s gaze swept over to the building and knew that Xiao Yun wouldn’t come down so quickly, so she decided to wait outside with Luo Wenlang.
Luo Wenlang wanted to refuse, but the words of refusal were stuck in his throat as he looked at her. Even though Gu Xiqiao’s expression was calm and her visage delicate, she had an air to her that made it impossible to refuse her.
And so, he could only follow behind her without a word, accepting the cup of milk tea that she stuffed into his hands.
He drank a sip of this weird drink that didn’t taste better than plain water did to him, and smacked his lips as he lamented over how such a weird drink could cost ten dollars per cup.
The duo waited outside the milk tea shop, and Luo Wenlang’s eyes squinted slightly as he saw two figures running over from the direction of the school. Putting on his baseball cap and adjusting it slightly, he nodded at Gu Xiqiao. "I have to go to work now, bye!"
Wu Hongwen who had run over with a basketball in hand was curious as he looked at the receding figure. "Isn’t that Luo Wenlang? That’s the first time I saw him stop to talk with someone."
"Do you know why he’s so hardworking?" Gu Xiqiao asked.
"Why?" Xiao Yun was quite curious too. Normally, such a genius as Luo Wenlang would have many sponsors that would invest money and resources on him, but there had never been any news of the sort.
Gu Xiqiao sighed, and replied, "Because for a person that doesn’t have anything to their name other than their intelligence, time is their only resource."
Just like Gu Xiqiao who lost everything, they had to utilize all the time they got to change their fate.
After the mock exams ended, the school let the students go back early. Because there weren’t any more holidays in the next few weeks leading up to the national finals, Xiao Yun and Gu Xiqiao went shopping. Wu Hongwen quickly refused the offer to tag along and went to play basketball with some of his buddies.
Xiao Yun pointed at a white floral one-piece skirt that was on display, and asked Gu Xiqiao, "What about this one?"
Gu Xiqiao glanced at it, before replying, "It’s has a good design, but it doesn’t suit you."
"This one it is!" Xiao Yun completely ignored the latter half of the sentence and waved the shop assistant over. "Get me one of the smallest size, please."
Gu Xiqiao rolled her eyes and looked out of the shop window, seeing a crowd converging near the escalators and hearing screams of fright and the sound of children crying coming from that direction.
[Ding! Daily Mission activated: Save the young girl that has been taken hostage on the balcony!]
[Mission Completion Reward: 10 points]
[Forced Mission activated: Soothe the emotions of the kidnapper, and prevent him from blowing up the mall!]
[Mission Completion Reward: 299 points]
[Mission Failure Punishment: Muted for ten days!]
A semi-transparent screen popped up in front of Gu Xiqiao, with the map of the mall and a red arrow pointing towards the left.
Upon seeing Gu Xiqiao leave suddenly, Xiao Yun immediately followed after her, not even getting the dress she wanted to buy.
Upon arriving at the balcony, there was a scraggly man with a head of messy hair and a pair of bloodshot eyes, evidently on the edge of insanity. He seemed to be in a heated argument with someone, while the young girl that had been kidnapped by him seemed to not be over the age of four. She had a lollipop in her mouth and was blinking in confusion at what was going on.
A few youngsters were standing across him, and the one that led them was a handsome and charismatic young man in a white shirt. Upon hearing footsteps, he stopped his negotiations with the man that was holding the girl hostage and glanced back, only to facepalm as he saw Gu Xiqiao coming this way.