Chapter 178

Words : 1430 Updated : Oct 9th, 2025

Shen Qingtang didn’t even know why she had followed Ji Nian outside. It was just an instinctive reaction upon seeing Ji Nian run out. "Teacher, thank you for your trouble." As soon as Shen Qingtang stepped out, she saw He Xiang, his face pale, trying to keep his voice steady as he thanked the homeroom teacher. Perhaps he didn’t realize that his face was streaked with tears and his hands were trembling uncontrollably. The homeroom teacher hurriedly led He Xiang away. Only then did Shen Qingtang turn her attention to Ji Nian, who was standing by the railing. Ji Nian furrowed her brows slightly, realizing that it was He Xiang’s grandmother who was in trouble, not He Xiang himself. "Ji Nian, do you care a lot about He Xiang?" Having learned from Gu Xiuyuan about what had happened between Ji Nian and He Xiang during her absence, Shen Qingtang felt a complicated mix of emotions. "It’s normal to care about a classmate," Ji Nian replied, shaking her head, oblivious to Shen Qingtang’s subtle shift in mood. Life and death were fated. Ji Nian could only detoxify, not cure illnesses. She had no way to treat He Xiang’s grandmother’s condition. The only thing she could help with was the financial aspect. After all, when she had sponsored He Xiang, she had promised to take care of his grandmother’s medical expenses. With that in mind, Ji Nian sent a message to Zuo Yi using her smartwatch, instructing him to contact the hospital. Sighing inwardly, she thought about how she had accidentally caused He Xiang to be targeted by Zhao Heng. This was her way of making up for it. "Let’s go. Isn’t the next class art? Is it oil painting or sketching this time?" Ji Nian pulled herself out of her thoughts, and Shen Qingtang, seeing her return to her usual self, decided to put He Xiang out of her mind. "It’s oil painting," Shen Qingtang replied. Meanwhile, Zuo Yi, who had just received Ji Nian’s message, was keeping an eye on a press conference. Being a secretary had turned into a hereditary position for Zuo Yi. Not only did he have to work for the boss, but he also had to work for the boss’s daughter. Thankfully, the pay was worth it. Otherwise, Zuo Yi might have—in a fit of rage—turned himself into a fluffy creature. "Is this the universal antidote? Could the Chen family be fooling us by filling it with coffee extract?" Some people always pick on the weak. This person had singled out Chen Mo, but of course, they didn’t dare mention the Ji family. Was it because they didn’t want to? Without Zuo Yi needing to do much, a stoic-looking assistant kept a close eye on the person who had just spoken. It was clear that this was a deliberate provocation. If they reacted with anger, it would only play into the other party’s hands, and negative headlines would flood the news tomorrow. Seeing that they were handling it well, Zuo Yi turned his attention back to the message Ji Nian had sent. It took him a few seconds to recall who He Xiang was. For Zuo Yi, this was just a matter of making a phone call, so he easily completed the task Ji Nian had assigned him. Fate was a strange thing. Ji Nian would never know that her appearance had set He Xiang on a completely different life path from the one he was originally destined for. He Xiang, waiting outside the ICU, was deathly pale. Despite it being summer, his entire body felt icy cold. His eyes were glued to the red light above the operating room, refusing to look away even as his eyes grew sore. Throughout this, the homeroom teacher kept trying to comfort him: "He Xiang, don’t worry. Your grandmother will be fine." "And don’t worry about the surgery costs. The kind sponsor will take care of it." His words seemed to penetrate the isolated bubble He Xiang had trapped himself in. In his numb, rusted mind, a thought suddenly surfaced: What would have become of him without that sponsor? He had come from the mountains, entering a school that was never meant to accept him. Even though no one physically bullied him, the indifference and strange looks were even more painful. He had thought that things would gradually get better, that he would eventually adapt. But then, out of nowhere, he learned of his grandmother’s illness. What would have happened to He Xiang... The boy’s eyelashes drooped. It wasn’t hard to imagine. He would have likely dropped out of school, just like the other kids in his village, unable to afford the exorbitant medical fees. He would have taken his grandmother back to their hometown. But fate’s cruelty didn’t stop there. He Xiang couldn’t even begin to fathom how harsh the world could be to someone it decided to mistreat. The weight of its cruelty would press down on him like a mountain, leaving him no room to breathe. During art class, Ji Nian, who had been checking if the "Desperate Dad" series had released any new collaborations, suddenly remembered something. Come to think of it, He Xiang reminded her of a character from the original novel. That character, unable to afford his family’s medical expenses, had been tricked, his hands and feet cut off, and his tongue removed to be used as a test subject for experiments. Despite his tragic fate, the character had survived and, against all odds, climbed his way back up, eventually taking over the organization that had ruined him. Once he had gained power, he returned to S City to look for his family, only to discover that on the day he had been taken, his family had sensed something was wrong and left the hospital. In the dark, they had been mistaken for thieves and beaten to death. [I remember a lot of readers felt sorry for him. He had quite a fanbase, especially since he became a pure embodiment of hatred after his transformation, hating everyone who lived in the light.] Ji Nian’s hand paused. [What pure embodiment of hatred?] I’m in class, and you’re secretly watching dramas in my head? The system, caught off guard, scratched its digital behind and replied coldly: [It’s nothing.] It had just occurred to the system that the antagonist in question was probably still a child now, around the same age as Ji Nian and her friends. Many readers had speculated whether Ji Tingzhou’s later vegetative state was his doing, given how much he hated the protagonist’s group. But there was no trace of him now, and the author had never explicitly stated why Ji Tingzhou had ended up in that state. It was all just reader speculation, so the system couldn’t tell Ji Nian, especially since the antagonist was just a seven-year-old child at this point. [I wonder how the press conference is going. I really want to watch the live stream.] Though Ji Nian wasn’t too worried with Chen Mo there, she was still curious. After all, in her previous life, her work had never received this kind of attention. Who would have thought that in this world, a simple antidote she had casually developed would warrant a press conference? As soon as school was over, Ji Nian practically ran out. Neither Gu Xiuyuan nor Shen Qingtang could catch up with her. "Wei Yang!" Ji Nian ran up to Wei Yang, her eyes filled with barely contained excitement. But today, Wei Yang seemed off. He wasn’t good at lying, so his expression was conflicted, as if he wanted to say something but had been ordered not to. Ji Nian, being sharp as ever, immediately noticed something was wrong. "Wei Yang, did something happen? Can I help?" Her face instantly turned concerned, her emerald-green eyes filled with worry as she looked at him, as if afraid he had been bullied. Wei Yang, seeing her like this, turned his head away, his face twisting in distress. The family head had forbidden him from telling Ji Nian, but... but... In a moment of resolve, he turned back and, seemingly out of nowhere, pulled out a small yellow chick headband, quickly and precisely placing it on Ji Nian’s head. Ji ‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‍Nian, her bangs flattened: ? Wei Yang let out a sigh of relief. Ji Tingzhou had forbidden him from telling Ji Nian, but he hadn’t said anything about telling a chick. "Something terrible has happened, little chick." "The family head and Chen Mo got into a fight."

Chapter 178

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