Chapter 121 - The Legend

When Gu Xiqiao came back home, Xixi and Haha were already like peas in a pod.

“Beauty Qiao!” Xixi flapped its wings and circled above Gu Xiqiao’s head. Tears gradually swelled up in its beady eyes. “My poor little Beauty Qiao, boohoo…”

Jiang Shuxuan’s eyes narrowed. He reached out and grabbed Xixi by its claw before flinging it out the door. Haha, standing inside the building, looked down at Xixi with contempt. Then, without making a noise, it climbed up the stairs behind Gu Xiqiao.

Xixi, who was left outside, screeched, “Haha you scheming b*tch!”

A phone call came just as Gu Xiqiao entered her room. Feeling exhausted, she wanted to lay down and take a nap but upon realizing who the caller was, she felt recharged again. It was Tang Yanling.

She did not notify the Yin family about her surgery. Firstly, Gu Xiqiao felt that the marrow transplant was just an insignificant operation and secondly, she felt that more trouble would brew if she told everybody about her decision.

With this in mind, the only reason why Tang Yanling knew about her operation would be none other than that loose cannon, Wu Hongwen!

It really wasn’t too big of a deal but due to Wu Hongwen’s exaggeration, Gu Xiqiao’s operation was described as akin to a battle to the death with the Grim Reaper. Hence, upon receiving news from Yin Shaoyuan, she rushed straight to their house and had a conversation with Mrs. Zhang that stretched over an hour.

It was before noon when Gu Xiqiao woke up. There were a few missed calls on her phone which turned out to be from Luo Wenlang, Yu Ning, and Wu Hongwen.

Though, it seemed that the only person urgently looking for her was Yu Ning, who presumably had the latest test results for their holographic helmet prototype.

“Miss Gu, the new helmet has now hit the production line. September is when we have decided to launch the product.” Yu Ning sounded rather excited about this. “I have already started trial runs for the virtual network browser but we lack manpower in the office. I have a handful of hacker friends and I’d like to bring them over to help with the project. What do you think?”

How bad could the friends of the godly hacker get? Even if they weren’t on par with Yu Ning’s skill, they should be pretty competent. However, Gu Xiqiao was a little skeptical of why these programming gods would be so eager to visit her little shrine called the Nine Heavens Corporation.

Hearing Gu Xiqiao’s doubt her friends worried Yu Ning. “Miss Gu, do you really not understand the fundamental meaning of our virtual world? To put it simply, you could squeak a tiny squeak on our official website and there’ll be countless engineering masters rushing to offer their service to our project!”

Yu Ning felt awed whenever he spoke about this matter. He had originally come here to see just who it was that created that software that he was unable to break. To think that Gu Xiqiao would give him an even bigger surprise, the virtual helmet, a virtual network, a virtual world! These were all things that he predicted would only come out in the next decade. It never crossed his mind that they would appear right in front of him so quickly, and partly shaped by his own two hands too.

Still, Gu Xiqiao was the biggest miracle that ever presented itself to him. She had given him countless creative inspirations, like that source code, or that nanochip… these were all courtesy of Gu Xiqiao. Neglecting her sleep schedule, she managed to produce a plan which was a major factor why the virtual helmet was able to take the world by storm. For some reason, the market’s reaction turned out exactly as she had predicted.

Yu Ning recalled the time when he asked Wang Bo, how capable Gu Xiqiao was. Why did she have so many geniuses working under her and why were they all so loyal?

Wang Bo’s answer was direct, “Miss Gu is an incredibly magical person.”

While Yu Ning did not understand what Wang Bo was saying at that time, he certainly understood now. To be able to create a brand new virtual world, how magical was that?

Of course, being the skeptic that he was back then, Yu Ning scoured the net for Gu Xiqiao’s information. He was prepared to search high and low, turning over every rock in order to look for strips of information about this mysterious girl. He thought that she would keep everything about her secret, just like that unbreakable software she created.

To his surprise, her information could be found with just the click of a few buttons. Even articles that talked about her in a bad light were out in full display on the internet.

The illegitimate daughter of a wealthy man, stealing, the number one scholar of N City… and the Nine Heavens Corporation that she secretly owned.

Seeing these gave Yu Ning the first taste of just how “magical” this Gu Xiqiao was.

Although Yu Ning wasn’t particularly well-versed in the realm of business and enterprise, he still knew about the big three investment groups that were funding Nine Heavens Corp. Not only was their investment virtually risk free, the interest rate was at a staggering 10%! Even the financially-illiterate Yu Ning knew just how holy that digit was. He had mistaken Luo Wenlang as the person who was responsible for this all but to think that it was her all along! Even Luo Wenlang kowtowed under her feet as if she was a saint.

You could pick a random member from the higher-ups of the corporation and they’d all turn out to be elites. Every company thirsted for such men to be a part of their project but they were all concentrated in the tiny Nine Heavens headquarters. Yu Ning couldn’t help but smile at that thought. Hanging up the phone, he returned to his work, with the intent of lifting this company up to the heavens!

***

Mu Zong has been busy with farming activities in the rural village these days. He had sufficient capital as well as labor, not to mention Wu Hongwen who had his back. And so, their PR campaign has developed at such a pace that in the end, Mu Zong had nothing to do with the project.

Mu Jiatong was scheduled to undergo an operation so Mu Zong had to return to N City. Initially, he thought that he’d be given a ton of jobs to settle and that he’d be too busy to return but he would soon discover that their entire project had no need for him; everything had been planned beforehand by Gu Xiqiao. Even though Muzong was assigned the role of supervisor, in reality, he acted as nothing more than an office decoration.

There weren’t even final tasks given to him before his departure, which made him question the meaning of it all.

“Mr. Mu, I heard you’re going to N City? Could you bring these to Little Gu?” News that Mu Zong was about to leave spread quickly around the village. Most of the villagers had things which they needed Mu Zong to bring to Gu Xiqiao. They were mostly food items produced exclusively in their humble village.

He did not expect her to be so popular among the villagers. As Mu Zong received a bag of items from Li Yanmei’s hands, he suddenly recalled Gu Xiqiao’s words. “Miss Gu asks you if you would like to continue with your studies?”

“Huh?” Li Yanmei raised her head to look at Mu Zong. She totally did not expect to hear that question.

It’s been almost a month since Mu Zong moved here and Li Yanmei’s a year or two older than Gu Xiqiao. She was a sensible, hard-working person but her education stopped after graduating from high school. From what he heard, she had a brother who was studying in a big city but it’s been two years since he last came home.

“I’m saying, would you like to continue studying?” repeated Mu Zong patiently. “If you’d like, follow me back to N City. We’ll continue where you left off.”

Back then, when she had dropped out of the national finals, Gu Xiqiao ran home from her school to interrogate her about her foolish decision. She’d even offered to pay for her tuition fees but Li Yanmei turned down her generous offer. It wasn’t just tuition fees she had to worry about. She also had to fork out a sizable amount of cash for food, rent, and other miscellaneous expenditures. Relying solely on Gu Xiqiao was out of the question. Her mother’s health was waning and someone in her home had to make a sacrifice, and so she did.

Then one day, a bunch of Gu Xiqiao’s “friends” arrived at their village, saying that they wanted to develop their land and that the villagers need not be forced out of their homes. Even so, they were required to patch up their houses. If possible, they were urged to turn their houses into farmhouses but the villagers were also given the option to choose a regular, residential building too. After that came the construction of various tourist magnets around their village, followed by a pool of nine to five jobs for the villagers to take up.

This was the dream which the villagers sought. Even though their mountain has yet to reach its maximum potential, they were willing to help as workers. At the very least, they received a steady flow of a couple hundred yuan per day, which was miles ahead of what they got when toiling away in the rice fields.

A new cement road was completed just under two weeks’ time, linking the village directly to N City. Apparently, they were even discussing the construction of a high-speed causeway over the new road, which of course, shocked the villagers.

The neighboring villages definitely enjoyed the overflowing benefits but they were still envious of Baixing Village.

The problem that remained for their village was the issue of money management. Li Yanmei thought about how her mother was finally able to walk again after taking the pills left by Gu Xiqiao. ‘The day when she fully recovers is just over the horizon,’ she thought.

“I’d like to further my education,” said Li Yanmei with a serious expression.

“Very well. Pack up your things. We’ll head for N City tomorrow morning.”

After wrapping up the villagers’ gifts into a secure bundle, they left for N City on the morning of the next day.

Upon arriving at N City, he did not head first for the office, nor the hospital. Instead, he chose to check-in at a hotel which was located nearby Gu Xiqiao’s residence.

“Boss!”

Mu Zong was talking to Gu Xiqiao over the phone outside his hotel’s entrance when a familiar voice boomed from behind him. Turning around, a chubby face entered his field of view.

He was none other than Liu Weiqing. This traitor who he once despised so much he wanted to skin him alive! Never had it crossed his mind that he would bump into this bastard again.

Mu Zong hung up the phone. With his mouth curled downwards, he greeted the man in a mocking tone, “Mr. Liu.”

Mu Zong had almost gone bankrupt when Liu Weiqing sold him out. Even if ten thousand years had passed, he could never forget his despicable face.

“Big boss, can I talk to you for a moment?” asked Liu Weiqing with a wary smile.

Out of a sudden, Mu Zong recalled Liu Weiqing’s reaction when he had went to question him previously. Pompously, that man had said, “Brother? How dare you even call me that!? If you wanna act so brotherly then why did you refuse to transfer half of your shares over to me?”

“Nope, tell me what you want to say right here, right now.” Mu Zong had become so distracted by his thoughts that he stopped caring about Liu Weiqing. In fact, he felt a sense of gratitude towards him. If not for what he did, forcing him between a rock and a hard place, he would not have stood in the place he was standing in today.

Back then, Liu Weiqing looked down on him and even joked that he was not worthy of being his friend. How the tables have turned for this slimy bastard to call himself “boss” respectfully like the dog he was.

Mu Zong was standing in a much higher place now. He had burned Gu Xiqiao’s phrase, “Nine Heavens is aiming for the world” into his brain. Ever since the launch of their virtual helmet, his superficial friends had started contacting him again. Knowing that he was now holding the General Manager of the world-famous Nine Heavens Corporation, they must’ve regretted their attitude towards him back then.

This especially applied for Liu Weiqing. Back then, he had stolen the secret formula of Mu Zong’s company and as if to add insult to injury, he’d even taken away most of his talented employees. Even so, Mu Zong was able to rise again and this time, the winds were blowing in his favor.

This backstabbing sonuvab*tch thought that life would be easy after his daughter managed to marry a rich, influential man. What he did not expect was Mu Zong being an acquaintance of said man. In fact, his daughter, who was once a fairly popular celebrity, had been put back on the shelf, returning to obscurity.

Worse still, he had been made redundant by his own company. Virtually every confidential document was kept out of his reach and ever since Nine Heavens’ emergence, their company had been on the decline and at a rapid pace at that. Thus, Liu Weiqiang was extremely excited to see Mu Zong once more. He hoped that he could forget the past and give him a helping hand this time.

If only he knew about what Mu Zong would become today, he would not have sold him out back then!

“Boss, I got my company’s confidential plan right here. If you agree to let me work at Nine Heavens, this file will be yours,” said Liu Weiqiang with a cunning smirk.

Even Li Yanmei looked at Liu Weiqiang in shock. ‘What a shameless man!’ she thought.

Mu Zong chuckled. He now understood the phrase, “dogs will never change their habit of eating sh*t”.

“Liu Weiqiang, I see you haven’t changed one bit. Do you think that I even need to know about your little secret?”

Leaving Liu Weiqiang alone outside, Mu Zong brought Li Yanmei into the hotel. No matter how he yelled for Mu Zong to stop, the man kept on walking. He ground his teeth in frustration.

“Rascal! How can his luck be so good?!”

Speaking about luck, Mu Zong felt blessed to have met Gu Xiqiao. If not for her, he probably would still be struggling in some unknown corner of the country. Whenever it came to his job, he made sure to put in all his effort because of what Gu Xiqiao did for him. She was the whole reason why he could regain his pride today.

The reason why Gu Xiqiao picked this spot for Mu Zong was so it would be easier for them to meet up. Having just come out from an operation, she was barred from exiting her home and was placed under surveillance by Mrs. Zhang. Still, she managed to slip out of the house like a secret agent.

Gu Xiqiao’s eyes lit up the moment she saw the pair sitting in the private booth, waiting for her.

“Sister Mei!”

“Little Gu.” Li Yanmei was excited to see Gu Xiqiao. This was her first time coming to such a large city. Skyscrapers dotted the landscape and everything seemed almost foreign to her, a country bumpkin. At the very least, seeing her beloved friend’s face gave her a sense of familiarity amidst the alienating city.

Li Yanmei passed a bag over to Gu Xiqiao.

“Shi Tou wanted me to give you this. He misses you a lot.”

Gu Xiqiao retrieved a piece of paper from the bag. Looking at it, there was nothing but unrecognizable scribbles all over.

“Don’t listen to his bullcrap.” Gu Xiqiao stared at the paper for quite a while and still failed to decipher its meaning. Sigh, she never could understand what that boy was thinking. “We’d just chatted last night over the computer. He told me that you were coming y’know. Even asked me if you’re gonna stay here forever.”

Gu Xiqiao left her present for Shi Tou before her departure. Fortunately, he was able to figure out how to use a computer within the span of a few days. In fact, he was able to add her as a friend on social media.

Discovering a new function of his computer, Shi Tou made his first move. He chatted with Gu Xiqiao so much that she thought he might’ve grown sick of seeing her face. To her amazement, the boy was able to make his first video call with her through his webcam.

“Shi Tou! Shi Tou! Shi Tou!” Xixi, who was perched on Gu Xiqiao’s shoulder, screeched as it hated being left out of conversations like that.

Hearing the bird speak, Gu Xiqiao turned away from Li Yanmei and finally gave Xixi the attention that it longed for.

“What a pretty little bird. Is that what they call a parrot?”

“That’s right.” Gu Xiqiao patted Xixi’s tiny bird skull to silence it. The only reason she brought the noisy bird out was out of fear that it might expose her secret to Jiang Shuxuan.

“Look at its beautiful feathers!” Mu Zong, who was an avian enthusiast, guessed that it should fetch quite a high price in the market.

“Beautiful! Beautiful! Beautiful!” repeated the bird. It flapped its wings and hopped over to Mu Zong’s shoulder. “Screeeeeeeeeeeeeeech!”

That roughly meant “you got a good eye there mister,” in bird language.

If Haha was here, he undoubtedly would’ve said, “What a retard!”

Noticing the noise it was creating, Gu Xiqiao picked up Xixi and threw it out of the door. After that, she made sure to shut the window. And so, the room returned to its tranquil silence.

“Qiao Qiao, won’t it get lost or something?” Li Yanmei asked worriedly as she looked out of the window. “What if it gets caught by someone?”

“That would be much appreciated,” replied Gu Xiqiao with her teeth gritted. That stupid featherball promised not to cause so much noise before they left the house but it just couldn’t keep its promise could it? One day, Gu Xiqiao swore, she would pluck all its feathers out!

Mu Zong gazed at the bird that flew in circles outside the window.

“It’s pretty smart. What species is it? I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a bird before.”

Gu Xiqiao grinned. “A mongrel.”

Smack!”

Xixi, who was perched outside the window had lost its balance and fell down to the first floor. It could feel how unloved it was. Wasn’t it the purest of all breed, the Vermillion Bird? Mongrel? That was clearly referring to that ugly ass mutt at home!

Today, Gu Xiqiao had braved the risk of getting caught by Jiang Shuxuan in order to meet Mu Zong. Of course, this was all for the sake of her family. She took out the plan that she had churned her mind inside out to produce and passed it to Mu Zong.

“Take a look at this. If you agree to it, then please pass it to Luo Wenlang. He’ll know what to do.”

Mu Zong was awestruck when he noticed a name contained in the plan. A merger with another one named Gu? That Gu? Was she kidding?

“I don’t think I can handle pranks like this.” Mu Zong did not dare to flip the page over. He knew just who this Gu person was to Gu Xiqiao. To simply propose a merger with this man was no ordinary task. “Are you serious?” he asked.

Although Mu Zong had faith in Gu Xiqiao, the same could not be said for himself and Luo Wenlang. “This is a huge step up. I think it’s better for you to handle this yourself. I don’t think I and Wenlang will be able to oversee a merger of such an epic scale.”

Only Gu Xiqiao could ever successfully pull off such a thing, he thought.

“Look at the steps I’ve written inside. Uncle Mu, I’m planning to head to the capital with Wenlang so you will inevitably be the man in charge here. It’s going to be beneficial for you in the long run to handle the merger with Gu Enterprise.” said Gu Xiqiao as she tapped her fingers on the table.

Mu Zong silently thought to himself, ‘Stop laughing, you’re scaring me.’

“Have faith in yourself, Uncle Mu. You have a phone don’t you? If there’s any problem bugging you, just give me a call. I’ll deal with it, I promise.” Gu Xiqiao rubbed her chin. If she were to handle this matter all by herself, she’d have to wait until after her new semester starts. Though, she was confident that she could deal with the Gu family even if she was based in the Imperial Capital.

But with Mu Zong’s help, there wasn’t the need for Gu Xiqiao to dirty her hands. She had high hopes for the man. After all, in her plan for the future, he was going to handle important matters for their company. Although he was what you would call a corporate “veteran”, Gu Xiqiao wanted him to get a taste of what it was like on the battlefield. The second reason why she assigned this job to him was… because she didn’t feel like doing it herself.

With Gu Xiqiao’s assurance, Mu Zong accepted the responsibility he had to shoulder. It had been a couple of months since he joined Gu Xiqiao’s team and within this period, he had spent countless hours talking to her over the phone about his job, from which he learned quite a number of valuable lessons.

Although Gu Enterprise was by no means, an easy target, it had an abundance of capital, both financial and human. That alone, in Gu Xiqiao’s opinion, was well worth the shot. In addition, she wanted to use this as a chance to prove her might.

Mu Zong tucked away the thick file, rich with essential information. This was what Gu Xiqiao poured her time and effort into compiling, and so he had to treat it with respect. He had a feeling that its contents would surprise him, in a positive manner of course, but he did not flip it open instantly. He feared that opening it was like opening Pandora’s Box, once open, he’d never be able to shut it back. What’s more, Mu Jiatong was going to undergo a surgery tomorrow, so he wanted to ensure that the operation goes as smoothly as possible.

After all, it’s not like there weren’t cases like as mentioned before. A major part of the company’s employees would always be so captured by Gu Xiqiao’s proposals that they would even forget to eat. Back then, when a bunch of freshly graduated financial analysts received her proposal plan, they studied it day and night, especially the new formula that she specially drew up for the company, what more to say of Wang Bo and Yu Ning, those nutcases.

A large part of them scratched their heads at the lines of source codes Gu Xiqiao came up with.

There was a lot of crazy stuff that stemmed from this one girl and most were experienced firsthand by Mu Zong. And so, he wanted to wait until after Mu Jiatong’s surgery had ended before opening that file.

“Oh right, Uncle Mu.” Gu Xiqiao fished out from her pocket, a candy wrapped in parchment. “Give this to Tong Tong. Make sure she eats this by today. Let’s hope her surgery goes well. I’m gonna visit her too, after it’s completed.”

“Alright.” Mu Zong glanced at her beaming smile. He grinned to himself. No matter how well she is performing, Gu Xiqiao is just another young lady.

Seeing his odd smile, Gu Xiqiao rubbed her nose in confusion. “Well then, I’ll be leaving now.”

“Let’s go together.” Mu Zong too, got up from his chair. “I’ll help you with your friend’s affairs before going to the hospital.”

“Thank you, Uncle Mu.” Gu Xiqiao contemplated for a while before continuing, “Remember that apartment unit that you assisted me in buying? I still haven’t moved in so you should let Sister Mei live there. It’s quite close to the school too.”

That unit was bought when she was hellbent on moving out a month ago. A lot of things happened in that one month and she decided that she didn’t want to move out just yet. Li Yanmei was in luck as Gu Xiqiao was more than ready to let her move in for now.

“Sure, I’ll bring her there then.” The moment they stepped out of the hotel’s entrance, they were greeted by Xixi, who swooped above their heads and landed on Gu Xiqiao’s shoulder. Seeing the milk candy in Mu Zong’s hand, it locked its eyes with its master.

“Chiiiiiiiiiirp!” (Beauty Qiao you don’t love me anymore! You’ve fallen in love for another trashy outsider again!)

Gu Xiqiao slapped the bird off her shoulder but Xixi stubbornly returned to her shoulder. The way they interacted was, to the regular passerby, interesting to watch.

The sight of a pretty young lady walking down the street created an image in the minds of a great deal of pedestrians. “A young, pixie manic dream girl with eyes as clear as the crystal, on a summer stroll with her fiery red pet bird. The bird’s feathers, equally as bold and pretty as its master, flickered like flames under the sunlight as it danced about her shoulders. The bond between bird and girl was peaceful and filled with unconditional love.”

In reality, it was more like:

“Girl! Tell me if you love me or not!”

“Heh heh.”

“If you don’t love me, don’t tell me you love that sh*thead Haha mutt! Boohoo!”

“Shut your trap!”

“Hell naw! If you don’t love me then who do you love!?”

“Haha.”

“As expected. I knew something was going on between you two! I want a divorce!”

“Too bad. Now beat it!” She smacked the noisy bird onto the concrete sidewalk.

“Argh! What did I say just now? I have no idea what I was saying…”

Mu Zong stared at their bizarre interaction before beginning their walk to the apartment that supposedly was located near the school district.

For some reason, he felt hatred in that bird’s eyes. Mu Zong looked down at himself. Apart from that candy in his hand, and that document file he held, he had done nothing else that might possibly piss the bird off, right?

“Mr. Mu.” Seeing that Gu Xiqiao had finally left, Li Yanmei finally found the courage to ask a question she had began to wonder about. “What is Miss Gu actually doing?”

She felt something was off. It was not like they were trying to exclude her from the conversation but no matter how hard she tried, she just couldn’t keep up with what they were saying. Though, based on her vague understanding of their conversation, she could conclude one thing: Miss Gu seemed like a very smart individual?

Although Gu Xiqiao withheld her identity from the public as Nine Heavens’ founder, she had never tried keeping it a secret from the people around her.

Mu Zong answered her question in a straightforward manner, “To be honest, Miss Gu’s my boss. She’s the big boss behind the curtains.”

“What!?” Li Yanmei was wide-eyed. That was way too shocking. How could she be able to rise into a young boss when she had just left their village six months ago? She knew that Gu Xiqiao was a clever girl whom the village elders loved to teach but her achievements in this city astounded her. No wonder, there were so many people looking to develop their village.

“Haha, it’s pretty surprising innit? Though, it’s been a rough ride for her too.” Mu Zong drove his car to a spot nearby First City High. His memory of Gu Xiqiao and the incident with her family still remained as clear as day.

Back then, the Gu family was like a giant mountain, squeezing down on them to the point of asphyxiation. Now, the chance had come for them to break this mountain down. Though, that was easier said than done. Still considering the progress they had made… it wasn’t too hard was it?

If someone were to hear Mu Zong’s innermost thoughts, that man would undoubtedly feel an urge to strangle him. Not too hard? Didn’t he know that countless families caught up in investment failures committed mass suicide? How many speculators plunged to their deaths from skyscrapers alongside their stock prices when the bubble bursts?

***

Mrs. Zhang was still out buying groceries when Gu Xiqiao returned home. She sighed in relief, knowing that she had dodged that old lady’s endless nagging.

Xixi flew down from her shoulder and hopped over to Haha’s kennel in an arrogant manner.

“Chiiiiiiirp!” (I went out with the girl for a great big, tasty meal today.)

“Woof woof woof woof!” (So what?)

“Chiiiiirp! Chiiiiiiiiiirp!”(She loves me!)

Haha went silent as it brought out two precious paintings he tucked away at the back of its kennel. Seconds later, it tucked the paintings away, perhaps out of fear that the jealous featherball would snatch it away.

Xixi: ‘F*ck!’

“Chiiiiiiirp!” (Look at the bell the master has bought me.)

“Bark! Bark! Bark! Bark! Bark!” (I believe that the master’s taste is better than that.)

Seeing the poop-colored bell hanging on Xixi’s neck, Haha in reality, was so envious that rage bubbled up within him.

Xixi: ‘… That’s right, this was snatched away from the hands of a child. But why would I admit to that!?’

“Chiiiiiiirp! Chiiiiiiirp!” (You’re just jealous of me! Hmph!)

Haha was too lazy to entertain the bird now. It proceeded to lick up the water in its bowl. After all, action was louder than words, or in this case, barks.

Xixi peered at the expensive-looking bowl, then at the dull-colored bell on its neck. In an instant, something inside of it snapped.

Seeing Xixi getting so pissed off prepared Haha for a good long afternoon siesta. After all, it needed its daily dose of torture before drifting into dreamland~

Gu Xiqiao stealthily sneaked upstairs, trying to look as if she hadn’t left the second floor at all. However, the moment she arrived before the door of her room, she discovered that the door to the study room opposite of hers was wide open. Sitting comfortably on a wicker chair facing the doorway was Jiang Shuxuan, looking at her with a deadpan expression.

“Brother Jiang…” Gu Xiqiao’s body went stiff and her fingers curled up tightly.

‘Didn’t he say that he would return at night last night? Liar!’

Feeling that she had been lied to, Gu Xiqiao wore a pitiful expression on her face.

Jiang Shuxuan put down his book and sighed in disappointment. “Come in. I have something to tell you. I won’t scold you, I promise.” If not for that final phrase, she would not have stepped into his room.

Since he was a man of his word, Gu Xiqiao slid into the room quickly. “What’s up?”

“Do you have a more skilled computer expert at your disposal?” Jiang Shuxuan knew very well about Gu Xiqiao’s connections in that field. “We’re facing problems at the base and we need the help of such a person.”

Gu Xiqiao remembered that he mentioned the same thing before but she had forgotten about it soon after. “Yes I do, but I’ll have to ask that person first. Is it a very urgent matter?”

Good thing she was still a somewhat reasonable person. She planned to ask Yu Ning about it in a “friendly” manner and if he turned her down, she would offer another new source code in exchange for his service. But, if that does not satisfy him, she’d have to resort to the caveman method—knock him unconscious and drag him home.

“If possible, I’d like to have it done in 2 days’ time. Anymore and I won’t have the time to handle this issue once I get back to the capital.” There were a ton of jobs waiting for him to settle at the Imperial Capital and his stay at N City certainly meant that he had been neglecting his work. Even so, the boys in Jing Capital dared not speak up about this.

Gu Xiqiao narrowed her eyes. “Then I’ll try to ask as soon as I can. I’ll keep you updated.”

Jiang Shuxuan nodded. The most suitable individual for this job was that God Lo person from the hacker forum. However, that guy was like a slimy rat; he had vanished without a trace after supposedly returning to the Imperial Capital. The entire forum scratched its head at whether he had really disappeared or whether he was just lurking around under a false identity.

He rested two of his fingers on Gu Xiqiao’s inner wrist to take her pulse.

“You should take a rest this afternoon. You’re allowed to go out tomorrow but don’t stay out too long.”

Gu Xiqiao half-heartedly mumbled a response as she was more focused on looking at Jiang Shuxuan’s fingers. They looked clean and well-maintained. His fingers were long and slender, with a pronounced bone structure. Although he was no artist, he possessed the hands of a good artist.

“Hurry up and take a shower. I’ll be waiting for you downstairs with your soup.” Jiang Shuxuan knocked his knuckles on her skull.

“Okay.” Gu Xiqiao sighed. Soup. Soup again.

She had to down an entire bowl of soup before finishing her lunch. It was hard, but she managed to fall asleep afterward but it wasn’t long before Xixi came flying into her room. “Beauty Qiao wake up! Wake up! Wu Hongwen’s with a hot babe downstairs!”

“Scram!” Gu Xiqiao could no longer stand this annoying bird. Suddenly, a pillow came flying from the direction of her bed, slamming into Xixi’s beak.

This was proof that sleeping with the windows open posed a dangerous risk.

Yawning a few times, Gu Xiqiao got out of bed. Wu Hongwen and Xiao Yun were downstairs, and since there wasn’t anything urgent, she decided to settle the matter about Yu Ning first.

***

Yu Ning, who was in the middle of breaking a source code, almost turned his phone off when it rang nonstop. Picking it up, he realized that the caller was Gu Xiqiao and so he answered the call.

Gu Xiqiao explained to him the issue with the base and their need for an expert programmer. Who would’ve thought that Yu Ning would turn her down in an instant. Now in Nine Heaven’s computer engineering laboratory, he was like a duck in water. He was just a few steps away from literally moving into the laboratory as a permanent resident. Every day, he would spend hours at the lab, studying various programs and related documents.

How could he not do that? Everything that Gu Xiqiao brought to that lab were sensational pieces of equipment that added to his arsenal. Yu Ning was pretty much in a computer freak’s paradise now. He had barely scratched the tip of the iceberg and he was already feeling like he had reached the peak of his career. So how could he possibly be moved by the outside world anymore?

Having prepared for this outcome, Gu Xiqiao opened her mouth. “I’ll give you a plan to break the source code.”

“I don’t care what you sa-” Yu Ning stopped mid sentence. “Give me five or I won’t go!”

“Two.” Gu Xiqiao was prepared to haggle down to the bitter end.

“I need at least four!” Yu Ning would lose his cool every time they discussed this matter.

Gu Xiqiao poured herself a glass of water. “Best I can do is two.”

“Three! No less than three…”

“Bye, I’m hanging up.”

“Hold up!” yelled Yu Ning. “Two is fine! Pass me his contact number right now!”

“Done deal,” said Gu Xiqiao before she hung up.

Downstairs, Xiao Yun and Wu Hongwen were seating on the sofa watching television while talking to Mrs. Zhang. They were paying Gu Xiqiao a visit today and came with the intention of asking her when they should leave for the Imperial Capital.

“I’ll go before my semester starts but I don’t have a specific date in mind yet. I’ll leave it up to you both.”

Xiao Yun made the call for them. “Then let’s set it at three days later, on the second day of registration.”

Xiao Yun’s university semester started on the same day as Gu Xiqiao, and the registration for both schools lasted for three days, so they picked the second day, which they felt was the Goldilocks’ zone.

Seeing that Gu Xiqiao had more or less recovered from her operation, it was time for the two to leave for an afternoon training session now. Wu Hongwen played dead on the sofa. “Er Qiao, I don’t wanna get beaten up by Yao Xiaomu again. When will I ever be able to beat him up?!”

“Let’s see,” replied Gu Xiqiao who lifted Haha up to her lap. Her pink lips curled into a subtle smile. “Maybe in your next life?”

“…” Wu Hongwen was on the brink of forfeiting his friendship with her.

Xixi, who after a tremendous struggle, managed to crawl out from underneath the heavy pillow, started screeching wildly upon seeing Haha in Gu Xiqiao’s embrace. “Chiiiirp chiirrrp!” (Let go of my girl!!!!!!)

Haha shot it a glance before turning away.

Seeing how Haha was ignoring itself, Xixi flew circles above the dog’s head.

“What’s up with that bird?” asked Xiao Yun curiously.

Silently, Gu Xiaoqi read out the word with her lips, “He’s sick, needs medication.”

Smack!”

Xixi had become so dizzy from flying circles that it dropped out of the air and onto the floorboard.

***

After receiving a special permission from Jiang Shuxuan, Gu Xiqiao left early the next morning to pay Li Yanmei a visit.

School started early for Li Yanmei. Mu Zong brought Li Yanmei to the headmaster’s office as an introduction and then proceeded to handle the standard paperwork before finally going to the hospital.

Gu Xiqiao’s unit was new. Although it was clean, there was a lot of clutter, which Li Yanmei spent her time clearing up. That resulted in her not having enough time to walk around the school and familiarise herself with the environment.

And so, she woke up extra early the next morning and after buying her lunch at a stall downstairs, she made her way to N City’s best school, which coincidentally was also her dream school. Though, the entry requirements for this establishment was high. Only those who scored top in their districts could land a place in this school.

Now that she was blessed with the chance to study here, words could not describe the joy she felt.

Taking in a deep breath, she stood in front of its pearly gates, observing the students and parents walking in and out of the school. It was only after a while when her emotions settled down that she decided to step in through the gates.

Leading into the school was an eight lane asphalt road. There were many voices around her but she discovered that they mostly spoke of the same person—the top ranker of this year’s national finals.

“Have you heard? The top ranker and runner up of this year’s national finals are students from this academy. Believe it or not, it’s because of my idol that I have decided to transfer here! Maybe I’ll even be able to get some of that magical aura!”

“Unlike you, my parents forced me to transfer to this school. First City High’s hit the jackpot haven’t they?”

“…”

A lot of them seemed to be transfer students.

Li Yanmei too, had grown a bit curious about the schools’ performance. The students’ results were posted on a nearby bulletin board so she had to squeeze through a large crowd just so she could get a good view at the digits.

As she did so, words like “national goddess”, “talent” and “two academic maniacs” were being thrown around repeatedly among the students.

Finally she reached the front of the crowd. Li Yanmei sighed in relief. As she raised her head, she wasn’t looking for any particular individual but in the end, her eyes ended up looking at a large print of a girl’s photo.

Although it was the type of photo you’d get for your ID card, that face still looked as pretty as a painting. No wonder these students were all gathered around here.

Li Yanmei was awe-struck. She gulped in surprise. She knew who this person was! She was none other than Little Gu! That Little Gu with whom she had shared a meal with yesterday! The one whom she grew up with at the village!

Although, it was shocking and it was hard for her to accept. Although she knew from young that Gu Xiqiao was an intelligent girl, she simply couldn’t get used to how mystical she actually turned out to be.

Slowly panning down, Li Yanmei was astonished to find that she had managed to obtain near perfect scores for every subject she took.

There was a large number of new students who were expressing their regret for not joining the school earlier to witness the genius in real life.

There were also a bunch of other students posted at the back of the bulletin board, presumably from other classes. Apart from that, there was also the headmaster’s own words, which read: “This batch of students are definitely the most exciting ones I have ever seen in my career! Starting today, we will be abolishing the class system that differentiates students in terms of their grades! We hope that you too, will be as miraculous as these students!”

The words made an impact on Li Yanmei, who stared at the headmaster’s words for a long, long time. Although there were missed calls from Mu Zong on her phone, she was too focused on the writing that she forgot all about that matter.

Finally, her memories returned when she squeezed her way back out of the crowd. Seeing that the caller was none other than Gu Xiqiao, Li Yanmei looked back at the bulletin board.

“…what? You want to show me around the school? No way! Stand right there! I’ll come for you!”