Chapter 34 - 31: Alone in the Study

Fenglin Villa In the evening, Gu Yanjing didn’t have dinner. Just before dinner, some work suddenly came up, so he went to the study and didn’t come out until after nine. After dinner, Qiao Yuxian waited for him on the first floor while watching a TV show. At nine thirty, Aunt Mei came out from the kitchen with a bowl of noodles: "Ma’am, do you have a moment?" "Hm?" Qiao Yuxian looked at her. "I have some work I haven’t finished. Could you take these noodles to sir in the study?" Aunt Mei inquired. "Is it okay for me to go to the study?" Qiao Yuxian asked. "Of course." Aunt Mei said with a smile. Qiao Yuxian thought for a moment, stood up, and took the tray: "Sure, I’ll take it up." "Thank you, ma’am." Qiao Yuxian carried the noodles upstairs, and at the study door, she knocked twice. After waiting a while without hearing any sound, she knocked twice more and then opened the door. Gu Yanjing sat at the desk, sitting upright, the top button of his shirt undone, appearing like a tall pine covered in snow, cold yet unrestrained. He looked up at the door after hearing the door noise and then no more sounds. Qiao Yuxian peeked her little head in, blinking at him. Seeing him look up, she smiled: "May I come in?" "Hm." Qiao Yuxian steadily held the tray in one hand and pushed the door open with the other, entering the study. The study was also quite empty. With floor-to-ceiling windows and two walls lined with bookshelves, though not filled with many books. But on the desk, besides the computer, there were quite a few documents stacked. "Aunt Mei made noodles." Qiao Yuxian stood by the coffee table, "Here to eat or...?" Gu Yanjing got up, walked to her, took the noodles, then headed back to the desk. With her hands suddenly free: "Then I’ll..." Gu Yanjing put the noodles on the desk: "Make yourself comfortable." Qiao Yuxian raised an eyebrow, clasping her hands behind her back: "Does ’comfortable’ mean... I can stay here too?" Gu Yanjing replied softly: "Hm." "Won’t I disturb you?" Qiao Yuxian asked politely, but her eyes were filled with eagerness. "No." "Then I’ll get my assignments to do here." Gu Yanjing glanced at her: "Hm." Qiao Yuxian went to fetch her translation textbook and some papers. Upon returning to the study, she contemplated where to sit, finally walking to the desk, and requested more: "I want to sit here." Gu Yanjing ate his noodles, unhurriedly and elegantly. He lowered his gaze and said lightly: "There’s a chair over there." Qiao Yuxian placed her book on the desk and went to get a chair. Gu Yanjing put down his chopsticks and cleared some space in front of the desk. The desk was large, with the two sitting across from each other, yet still leaving quite a bit of space, not crowded at all. Qiao Yuxian grabbed a chair, sat down, and placed her book properly, then opened her phone... She originally opened her phone to check the homework assigned in the group chat, but once she did, she first opened Weibo and browsed around. By the time Gu Yanjing finished his meal, she had moved on to the school forum, checking its updates. She lay on the desk, arms under her head, tilting her head to look at her phone. Gu Yanjing glanced at her but said nothing and continued working. The study was quiet, occasionally interrupted by the sound of pen on paper, pages turning, or slight keyboard clicks. In the vast space, these occasional sounds accentuated the silence. Gu Yanjing had spent many nights in such an environment. Tonight was like any other, except that Qiao Yuxian made no sound whatsoever. But it was different from usual, as if the fluorescent lights were tinged with a warm hue, adding warmth. Qiao Yuxian got tired of lying down and changed her position. The forum was bustling, almost overwhelming her. There were videos of her visiting the School of Journalism and Communication, and videos of a counselor apologizing to her in the classroom that afternoon. And at precisely seven in the evening, the boy who initially posted deleted his old posts and put up a clarification post. He explained how he fabricated rumors for popularity and detailed his mindset throughout his rumor spreading. He talked about his warped mentality and resentment towards wealth due to being unable to pay for his grandmother’s medical treatment. He wrote at length, roughly over 800 words. Deep remorse. Finally, he thanked Qiao Yuxian for not revealing his identity, giving him a chance to change his ways, and said he wouldn’t use this account anymore. Qiao Yuxian took a look. The comments were either scolding the guy, feeling sorry for her, or praising him for his kindness. She glanced briefly, exited his post, and started looking at others. Gradually, Qiao Yuxian noticed more and more posts about Jiang Shouzhuo. Everyone was discussing why Jiang Shouzhuo hadn’t come forward to clear the air since Qiao Yuxian didn’t accept his gift, allowing people to slander Qiao Yuxian. Qiao Yuxian clicked on the most popular post. [Maybe Jiang Shouzhuo doesn’t know. Not everyone checks the forum.] [I bet he knows. He used to be very active on the forum. It’s just a strange coincidence that he’s been particularly quiet lately.] [I have two guesses. One, Jiang bears a grudge because of Qiao’s rejection, letting others spread rumors to vent his hatred. Two, Jiang is waiting for Qiao Yuxian to find him to clarify, so he can gain some benefits. What kind of benefits, you can guess.] [No way. Jiang doesn’t seem like that kind of person.] [Don’t be fooled by appearances. There were rumors in small circles before that Jiang was quite the player. Of course, very few people knew this, and gradually everyone forgot.] [Let me expose another thing. For three days, there was no surveillance at the corridor of the Foreign Language Institute. These three days were the day before, the day of, and the day after Qiao Yuxian met Jiang Shouzhuo.] [Everyone knows this, right? Someone wanted to know what really happened that day, and used an excuse to check the security footage. The security room said the footage was broken.] [No, no, no, my friend from the computer science department checked. It wasn’t broken, it was hacked. There are obvious traces, but my friend’s skills weren’t enough, couldn’t recover it. As for who hacked it and for what purpose, it’s unclear.] Below, there were dozens of lines of question marks and exclamation marks. [Damn, why didn’t you say this earlier?] [Damn! I said it a long time ago, but no one listened! Look at the date on the screenshot!] There was a screenshot from a few days ago attached at the end. [Who’s been mindlessly following rumors, making everything sound so true, yet everything is false in the end.] [Well... How do you think Qiao got that footage?] Another line of exclamation marks followed below. [That’s a good question.] [This is nothing, have you seen someone go directly past the college and straight to the school’s office building? And at noon that day, the school released a statement, the secondary college released a statement, and the counselor was directly dismissed. This is Jing University! Jing University!] [Just a word of caution to everyone, don’t mess with Qiao Yuxian, be careful.] ... Qiao Yuxian was reading intently when a chilly voice floated above her: "Not doing your homework?" Qiao Yuxian instinctively pressed the screen-off button and sat up straight. Gu Yanjing was looking at the emails on his computer, not at her. Qiao Yuxian glanced at him, reopened her phone, actually checked the group for homework this time, then took out paper, and grabbed a pen from the pencil holder. The class monitor posted the key points in the group, and since they are key points, they are likely to be on the final exam. As she wrote, she committed them to memory. She bowed me to the earth. She made me feel ashamed beyond measure. ... When wine is in, wit is out. When drunk, wisdom is gone. ... After writing, she switched to a new sheet of paper. The teacher assigned two paragraphs for translation, from Chinese to English. She read through them and started writing on the paper. Gu Yanjing glanced at her earnest little face, after a while, got up and poured two glasses of water, placing one beside Qiao Yuxian. After placing it, he looked at what she was writing. The English was beautifully and neatly written, with an occasional letter showing her own little habits. Qiao Yuxian noticed he was looking, her pen paused, and she looked up at him: "What? Checking my homework?" Gu Yanjing met her eyes, didn’t speak, didn’t move. Qiao Yuxian directly handed over what she wrote: "Here." Gu Yanjing took it and glanced through it. "How is it? Any advice from Mr. Gu?" She looked up at him, eyes sparkling with a smile. Gu Yanjing put the paper down, pointed at a paragraph: "Too many short sentences. Use some complex sentence structures to make it more formal." Qiao Yuxian looked at it, then nodded in agreement. She looked up at him, eyes curved in a smile: "Okay, Mr. Gu. Thank you, Mr. Gu." Gu Yanjing also looked down at her, and after a moment, gently flicked her forehead, then returned to his seat to continue his work. His touch was so light, like a feather gently brushing by. Qiao Yuxian felt like she’d been slightly burned there, she was stunned for a moment, then after a few seconds, raised her hand to touch her forehead where he’d flicked, rubbed it a bit, then switched to a new sheet of paper and started writing again.