Chapter 80: A Sliver of Hope

Their classrooms were in different buildings, so they separated when they got to the fork of the road.

Luo Wenlang looked at Gu Xiqiao whose skin looked like ivory under the bright sunshine, before asking, “Which university are you going to apply for?”

“A University, probably,” Gu Xiqiao replied, telling someone else about her plans for the first time. “Apparently A University and B University are just one street away from each other, and since Xiao Yun is applying for B University we would be able to visit each other too.”

“I see.” Luo Wenlang nodded, before looking away as he saw Wu Hongwen that was jogging over in their direction. “Well I’ve got to go, bye.”

Gu Xiqiao looked as he walked away.

[This boy is always so busy.] The system spirit shook its head. [According to my calculations, something bad’s going to happen to him.]

“I don’t think so.” Gu Xiqiao rubbed her chin thoughtfully as she looked over at Luo Wenlang. “When I looked at him just now, he was filled with living energy and he didn’t have any shadows over him. How would anything bad happen to him?”

[If not him, then someone close to him!] The system spirit furrowed its brow as it reconsidered its first divination.

“Even if that’s the case, they will be able to deal with it without any repercussions.” Gu Xiqiao wasn’t all that hung up over this topic, and the moment Xiao Yun and Wu Hongwen came, they talked for a while before separating to their respective classrooms.

Xiao Yun looked over at Gu Xiqiao and asked, “Old Ban is definitely going to ask us about the universities we’re going to be applying for…Have you decided?”

“You won’t be disappointed.” Gu Xiqiao smiled and patted her shoulders, before pushing open the door of the classroom.

“Surprise!”

With a loud pop, confetti sprayed out from either side of the door courtesy of the two boys with bright smiles with party poppers in their hands. Everyone in class huddled around them and looked at her, while Old Ban stood there at the podium with a rare warm smile as he watched the merry scene.

Gu Xiqiao swiped a bunch of glittery pieces of confetti off of her head as she looked at everyone, not knowing whether she should laugh.

She looked over to Xiao Yun and saw a soft smile on her face, and she channeled her chi ever so slightly to get the pieces of confetti to drop off of her subtly as she sighed.

Well, as long as they were having fun.

After all the ruckus, Old Ban sat them all down before looking at everyone with a satisfied expression. “I’m glad that everyone is here! To all my students in Eleventh Parallel Class of the Fifty-Sixth Session, I am proud of all of you!”

After he exclaimed as such, everyone in the classroom applauded thunderously.

“Your achievements have surprised everyone, even the board of directors of this school! All you guys hand rankings below the 400s at first, then after three years your grades had risen above all the other Parallel Classes and were the same as the Normal Class students, and in the last month, you all miraculously surpassed even the Experiment Class, and could even compete with the Rocket Class!” Old Ban smiled as he reported.

“Now there are some reporters from the education channel over at the office. They gave up on interviewing the Rocket Class and made a straight beeline for you guys, so be gentle, okay?”

After that, he talked about the university applications and gave them pamphlets, before letting them do as they wished.

“I’ll be at the office if anyone needs me!”

After getting the notice that everything was done with, the reporters that were waiting at the office all made their way excitedly towards the Eleventh Parallel Classroom with their gear. Not only was this class special already, the amazing girl that got the highest ranking in the entire country was in there too!

When they got to the classroom, the class monitor that sat at the first row stood up and bowed his head politely. “Hello, I’m the class monitor of our class, do you need anything?”

The reporters immediately told him what they were here for, and some of them interviewed the students in the classroom while the class monitor took out his notes upon being asked why they did so well. “It’s really nothing much, just good time management and by using the correct methods. Here’s a bunch of notes that Gu compiled for us, you can take some shots of it if you want.”

“Gu? Are you talking about the girl with the top ranking in the country, Gu Xiqiao?” As if on cue, his camera panned over to the girl sitting by the window that was flipping through the university pamphlets and occasionally looking up to reply to whoever was talking with her.

One of the reporter’s eyes brightened, and she asked curiously, “She compiled notes for everyone in the class? Wouldn’t that get in the way of her studying?”

“That’s why we’re fans of her!” The class monitor replied matter-of-factly, a smug grin making its way onto his face as if he were bragging about his own achievements. “There isn’t anyone that is so pretty, so intelligent and has such a nice personality as her in this world… Write that all down in your articles, got it?”

The reporter: “…”

She couldn’t help but look back at the girl that had a small smile on her face as she talked with someone, and accompanied with her clear eyes that shone in the sunlight, it almost seemed as if the entire world brightened along with her smile.

Click, went the camera, and the scene was frozen in eternity.

While she had been a reporter for such a long time, this was the first time that she had met with such a situation. Everyone in the class bragged more about Gu Xiqiao than themselves when they had achieved quite the feat themselves too, and their tone borderlined worship.

When the reporters finally had the chance to interview this girl, they realized that the classmates weren’t pushing the truth in the slightest. This girl was down to earth, pretty and didn’t put on any airs even though she was so accomplished.

‘A northern belle that is unparalleled, with the aura and temperament of an orchid and the talent of a goddess,’ was how everyone described her in their articles.

The very same afternoon, the term ‘National Goddess’ started trending and going viral on the internet. While there have been similar instances of pure celebrities being called goddesses on the internet, there had never been someone that had been praised so thoroughly as Gu Xiqiao.

No one even questioned her achievements at all, and only looked on in awe.

She ranked on the top of the entire country and was incredibly pretty to add onto it, and if such a person couldn’t be called a goddess, who could?

***

At Gu Manor, Master Gu’s hands trembled as he watched the news report, and all of a sudden, he grabbed his chest and started gasping for breath, the shade of his lips becoming dark as he did.

The butler hurriedly took out a black pill and fed it to Master Gu along with a cup of water, and the latter caught his breath before pointing at the door with a shaky finger. “Go! Get that useless son of mine in here!”

One of the servants immediately hurried out of the room on command along with a phone.

While Gu Zuhui was being summoned here, Master Gu continued to look at the news report over and over again.

The first top ranking student from N City, with almost perfect scores across the board that even the national channel was reporting about her! All of the higher institutions were fighting over her, which was only normal because she was the top ranker, but there were never any students that have had grades as good as hers.

Master Gu continued watching the report before lowering his head in defeat. There had never been any outstanding individuals in the past two generations of the Gu family, and he had worried over this matter over countless days and nights.

He had thought of marrying Gu Xijin off to a capable man, but now the girl was halfway insane, while he didn’t have much time left. Even though the Gu family had the resources given by Gu Xiqiao, it was only a matter of time before everything would fall into another person’s pockets under Gu Zuhui’s leadership!

He had never thought that the most suitable heir to the Gu family was right in front of his eyes…And she was pushed away with his own two hands, at that!

With her pride, she would definitely never come back again…That was the truth, but he couldn’t help but still hold hope that she could come back one day and aid the Gu family.