A week passed by peacefully.
Xiong Zhi observed her every target and was simply waiting to strike at her the first victim, er, mark—Gu Zhen.
After her preparations were completed, she finally made her move.
She messaged Linfeng that he did not have to accompany her for lunch today. Besides, it would take him thirty minutes to arrive at the junior's building.
At the junior's cafeteria, Xiong Zhi, with her lunch, made her way towards the farthest corner where Gu Zhen sat alone. As usual, the boy was typing while eating lunch.
Xiong Zhi quietly sat across him and put her lunch down on the table, then ate quietly.
It took ten minutes when Gu Zhen finally took a break from typing. He finally noticed that someone was sharing his table, sitting across his seat.
He looked around. There were many empty tables since the cafeteria was vast and spacious. He looked strangely at Xiong Zhi, who was still eating with an expressionless face.
After a while, Gu Zhen no longer bothered with it and continued multitasking.
Xiong Zhi was finally done eating. She stared at him and waited until he was finished.
When she saw that there was no more food at Gu Zhen's plate, she finally spoke.
"Mr. Gu, it was nice to have a meal with you."
Gu Zhen looked at Xiong Zhi. He was guessing earlier why this girl ate with him.
'It looks like she needs something from me. Or from my father? But this girl is from the Xiong's.'
"I'm not in a good relationship with my father right now. So whatever favor you need, I can't help you," Gu Zhen said while folding his laptop and stood up. When he was about to walk away, he heard her speak.
"The favor I need is not from your father but from you and your talent."
Gu Zhen stopped and looked back at Xiong Zhi. Gu Zhen did not know what Xiong Zhi was talking about.
No one knew why he was in a bad relationship with his father right now.
In fact, before school started, his father mentioned to him that once he graduated from high school, he would bring Gu Zhen to the military school to train, hoping he could become the future general and follow his father's footsteps.
When Gu Zhen heard that, he blurted out his dream to become a game developer. His father was enraged, and they got into an argument. Now, a week had passed, and they were still at war.
Aside from his father and the loyal maids who had heard their arguments, no one else knew about his dream or this specific specialty he got.
Outside, he only looked like a weak, nerdy boy with strong military family background.
Thus, he was confused when Xiong Zhi wanted to ask a favor from him. What could a weak boy like him do without his father and his background?
Gu Zhen thought he had misheard her.
"If you cooperate with me regarding your dreams and the things you wanted to do, I will help you achieve them," Xiong Zhi added with a stern face.
Gu Zhen finally turned around and stared at her, trying to find out if she was joking. Though with her expressionless, cold face, Gu Zhen could not tell at all.
Gu Zhen returned to his seat in front of Xiong Zhi.
He taunted, "You are asking me as if you knew what I wanted. What if my dream is to spread the war in western countries? Will you help me achieve it then? With the Xiong family backing you up, maybe you can help add more to the Gu's military power, but it should not be enough to win the war against the western countries."
Xiong Zhi eyed him.
"Is that what you really want? To lead the army, to be called General Gu? "
Gu Zhen was startled. He definitely knew the answer.
He did not want to be in the military.
Since young, he had never played with toy guns or played soldier or police.
As far as he could remember, he had been playing with his computer in his room. He never had fun with anything except gadgets and computers.
At the age of nine, he knew every part of the computer. He learned how to hack, create a virus, and many other things. He enjoyed them all. So his childhood that others considered boring and dull was so full of life for him.
Even when he did not make any friends in middle school, he did not care. Until now, he did not manage to make any connections.
He was busy on his own.
He was creating his world.
He looked down at his laptop.
The world he created was there. He started it when he was ten. He had only been making revisions to it until now. Still, he knew he was ready to take a step towards realizing his dream.
Gu Zhen stared hard at Xiong Zhi. He appeared unfazed, yet his eyes that were hiding behind the glasses were burning.
"Then tell me, Miss Xiong, as the son of the Gu family, what would be my dream if not leading the army?" Gu Zhen continued taunting.
"If that is what you will be doing in the future, then I don't need your cooperation. What I need are your talent and your passion. I'm not asking for the son of the Gu family. I'm asking for Gu Zhen," Xiong Zhi said.
Once again, Gu Zhen was startled. He still could not understand what she meant. Tired of taunting, Gu Zhen directly asked Xiong Zhi.
"What do you really want from me?"
"Your cooperation…"
"In what?" Gu Zhen was getting impatient. Even if Xiong Zhi was a rarely seen beauty, Gu Zhen did not care about that. For him, computers and gadgets were the most enchanting.
Xiong Zhi smiled inwardly. It looked like Gu Zhen was baited, getting impatient now.
"Fine. I'll tell you directly. I need your skills and talent in computer programming. I am creating my own company, and I need you as one of my partners."
"Ha... Are you kidding me? Just talk to me about this thing again after we graduated from high school. Maybe I can consider." Gu Zhen tried to stand up again. This girl must be joking. How can a little girl like her, pampered since young, create her own company at this age? It would be just a plaything for her.
He had no need for that.
What he needed was a professional. Someone who could help him develop his game. To turn it into a big success.
He started to walk away when Xiong Zhi beat him to it. She walked past him and gave him a card.
"Fine. I'll give this to you for now. Call me if you change your mind."
Xiong Zhi already took a few steps away from him when she suddenly stopped and looked back at him.
"One year. I'll give you a year to decide and a chance to prove myself to you. Next year, I'll find you and ask for your answer." Then she walked away.
Gu Zhen looked down at the card in his hand.
I H Z H I
Below this letter was a telephone number and an address.
He stared dumbly at it. She already had a name for her company?
Well, that was fast.
Gu Zhen did not know that this same company was already standing in the central city with its small number of employees.
He did not know that he would be glad that he had kept this card in the future.
Gu Zhen walked back to his classroom on his own.
Xiong Zhi and Gu Zhen did not know that the moment Xiong Zhi walked to Gu Zhen's table earlier, there was a pair of brown eyes looking at them, watching their interaction the whole time furiously.
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