Huang Xiu didn’t count the exact number of friend requests. Simply accepting all of them, however, took her nearly five minutes. Her fingertips ached from all the tapping. As she continued to accept the requests, a constant stream of messages poured in from her ‘new friends’. Huang Xiu found herself overwhelmed, unable to reply to them all, and unsure how to even begin, so she simply ignored every single one.
“Damn you, Liu Lu, just you wait!”
Huang Xiu gritted her teeth, seething. That wretch had truly caused her endless trouble.
She deliberately searched her friend list and, sure enough, found the familiar name.
****
The other party had also sent a message, but it had been lost in the overwhelming deluge of notifications.
[My Jin is Truly Strong: Crying cat emoji. I’m so sorry, Sister Xiu, I was wrong! (Kowtows) I just wanted to clear your name.]
Liu Lu was in a state of panic, an absolute frenzy. She hadn’t initially intended to cause so much trouble for Huang Xiu.
She had merely been annoyed with [Shi Yun] and, in a moment of pique, had revealed Huang Xiu’s situation. Who could have imagined it would incite such a complete uproar across the entire group, even leading to the new student chat being sealed?
[I’m Very Xiu: You just wait.]
After an agonizing wait, a message finally arrived—a stern warning from Huang Xiu herself.
Liu Lu involuntarily recalled the horrific image of herself tied up, suspended, and whipped in the jungle previously, and a shiver instantly ran through her entire body.
She frantically sent a barrage of messages, apologizing profusely and humbly.
Huang Xiu was indeed someone who responded to gentleness but not coercion. With Liu Lu adopting such a low posture in her apology, it became difficult for Huang Xiu to remain angry.
[I’m Very Xiu: I’ll let it go this time. Oh, right, I have a question for you. That night, you deliberately matched with me, didn’t you? Are you a hacker?]
Considering both that incident and this current one, it was clear Liu Lu possessed extraordinary information channels online.
[My Jin is Truly Strong: Hahahaha, how could that be? Sister Xiu, you’re overthinking it, hahahaha.]
‘She definitely does,’ Huang Xiu thought, seeing through the other party’s obvious pretense of innocence.
It was incredibly difficult to force someone to do something they didn’t want to online. If Liu Lu refused to speak, Huang Xiu truly had no recourse.
“Hmph, just wait until school starts. I don’t believe you won’t talk then,” Huang Xiu muttered, her expression sour.
Her persistent desire to uncover Liu Lu’s information channels stemmed from a deep-seated fear.
She was primarily afraid of her past identity as a male being exposed. While this fact was no secret to Tiandu University authorities and agencies like the Jurisdiction Bureau, very few others knew.
Among this group of new students, Liu Lu was the only one who could possibly possess such knowledge.
‘I’ll ask Teacher Yue about it when the time comes. He should have the means to help me investigate,’ she mused.
Given the personal nature of her secret, Huang Xiu couldn’t bear to wait a moment longer.
Fortunately, she had Teacher Yue’s number, and it wasn’t late at night, so she immediately sent him a text message regarding the matter.
After waiting for a long time without a reply, Huang Xiu began to wonder if she had sent it to the wrong person.
Just then, she noticed a message pop up from the mysterious [Bright as a Clear Sky] in her QQ contacts list.
[Bright as a Clear Sky: Okay, I’ll help you look into it.]
‘Wait, Bright as a Clear Sky is Teacher Yue?’ Huang Xiu’s eyes widened in surprise.
This person, who had consistently ignored her messages, had always seemed mysterious and unfamiliar to her.
[I’m Very Xiu: Are you Teacher Yue?]
Less than a second after she sent the message, a chat bubble popped up with a ‘ding-dong’ sound.
[Bright as a Clear Sky: Haha, it’s me.]
‘Then why didn’t you reply to my messages earlier?’ Huang Xiu pouted, about to send this very question.
To her astonishment, Teacher Yue had already sent the results of his investigation.
[Bright as a Clear Sky: I just checked with the AI system. Rest assured, your information hasn’t been leaked, and Liu Lu doesn’t know about your past. Her ability to match with you was indeed due to someone else’s methods, and I’ve already warned them. You can relax.]
‘Who was it?’ Huang Xiu quickly messaged, but Teacher Yue refused to say.
She now understood that this matter was truly not to be discussed, yet her curiosity only deepened. With a slight frown, she reluctantly dropped the subject.
[Flash of Lightning] had stated that the admission notice would arrive in a few days, and indeed, it proved to be true, without a hint of falsehood.
At nine o’clock the very next morning, it was delivered right to Huang Xiu’s doorstep.
At that moment, the notoriously lazy Miss Xiu had only just dragged herself out of bed to wash up, roused by her mother’s thunderous roar and aggressive blanket-flinging tactics.
Her mother’s philosophy dictated that even during holidays, sleeping until nine was considered excessively late.
As Huang Xiu shuffled towards the bathroom in her slippers, her mother incessantly chattered beside her.
One moment, she’d inquire about the exact time Huang Xiu had gone to bed last night and why she was still so groggy at nine.
The next, she’d lecture about how girls shouldn’t stay up late or sleep in so much.
Huang Xiu’s head felt fuzzy, and she merely mumbled incoherent responses to her mother’s barrage of questions.
Having slept with unrestrained abandon all night, her clothes were dishevelled, a delicate shoulder peeking out from her short-sleeved pajamas.
Even unruly tufts of hair defied gravity, standing upright on her head.
She scratched at the errant strands on her crown, attempting to flatten them, but after several attempts, she ultimately failed.
Her fair, soft toes, peeking out from the opening of her slippers, tapped impatiently against the shoe’s surface.
Knock, knock!
A knocking sound echoed from the door. Huang Xiu paid it no mind, continuing her morning routine, while her mother went to answer it.
“Xiu Xiu, your admission notice is here!”
Gurgle, gurgle… Huang Xiu was in the middle of rinsing her mouth when she heard the news, and her sleepiness vanished instantly.
Without even bothering to wash her face, she dashed out, intending to tear open the courier envelope and examine the admission notice.
However, her mother promptly pushed her back.
“You haven’t washed your face, have you? Go quickly wash your face, then follow my skincare routine,” Zhuang Wenli instructed, holding the admission notice behind her back.
“I did!” Huang Xiu retorted defensively.
“You washed nothing!” her mother scoffed, pursing her lips. “Your face is completely dry. If I go to the bathroom right now, your face towel will definitely be dry too.”
Huang Xiu fell silent.
She couldn’t win; there was simply no competing. She and her mother were not on the same level.
She was seen through completely.
“I’m going to the bathroom now. If the face towel is dry, you’ll obediently wear a dress for me.”
Zhuang Wenli’s eyes twinkled mischievously.
She had never given up on her plan to dress her daughter beautifully.
She constantly tried every trick to promote all sorts of lovely women’s clothing.
Dresses, trousers, even crop tops – clothes that would make Huang Xiu blush at a mere glance.
“No—!” Huang Xiu exclaimed in alarm, quickly turning and rushing back to the bathroom to dutifully wash her face and follow her mother’s skincare regimen.
Her skin was naturally excellent, and her metabolism was fast, making her routine incredibly simple—washing and moisturizing took only two minutes.
“Hmph, hand it over!” After washing and completing her skincare, Huang Xiu’s face was so delicate it seemed as though water could be wrung from it.
Her mother couldn’t resist caressing it twice, making Huang Xiu puff out her cheeks and pout in annoyance before finally escaping her grasp.
She snatched the courier envelope from her mother’s hand.
Rip!
She tore it open impatiently, so eager that she completely forgot her original plan to record an unboxing video!