Even when he was only standing there, he exuded a commanding and imposing aura. With his body clad in black suit and windbreaker draped over his shoulder, he stood tall even amidst the older generation entrepreneurs and successful businessmen in the country. His light colored hair was brushed backward, showing his clean forehead and high bridge nose. He scanned his eyes around and in the end, they fell onto Ren Zexi who was gawking at him with a stupid expression on his face, a smile formed on his lips. "Sorry for being so late, Zexi."
His voice snapped everyone out of their reverie and uproar followed soon after. The air turned restless and antsy. It was as if Lu Yizhou was a piece of fragrant meat and everyone was a starving wolf who was more than eager to take a bite out of him.
"CEO Lu, I didn't know that you would be here. Such a coincidence! Are you here for Ren Zexi?"
"CEO Lu, I am Qu Lanji's father. My daughter has always been talking about Ren Zexi. I want to express my gratitude because he took care of her a lot."
Above was the ruckus among parents. Whereas the students were focused on a totally different thing.
"Damn...so that's Young Master Ren's uncle. This is the first time I have seen him in person. He looks so young! I have always thought that those cameramen edited his whole face but it turns out he's even more handsome in person!"
"His hair is so bright and those eye colors… Is he mixed? He looks like a Causasian."
"Oh my God, I am going to fall in love if I keep on looking at him like this…"
"Hey, wake up. He's already 41, okay?! He's capable enough to choose every single beautiful woman in the world and you still won't have a chance!"
"He's 41?!! No wait, what do you mean I don't have a chance?"
"Uncle Lu!" Ren Zexi couldn't bear to listen to his classmates ogling Lu Yizhou anymore and called out angrily.
It was really a dilemma, he wanted to show off Lu Yizhou to the whole world so that everyone knew such an amazing person existed on Earth but when that man received more attention than necessary, the only thing Ren Zexi could think of was to hide him inside his pocket and not let anyone saw him!
Lu Yizhou raised a hand to interrupt the parents who fought to talk to him. "Excuse me, today is our children's day so let's focus on them first." Turning to Teacher Shu, he nodded politely. "My apologies for being late, Teacher Shu."
Teacher Shu snapped out of her thoughts and answered in stammer, a suspicious faint blush across her cheeks. "N—No, you're just in time. Here is Ren Zexi's report card. He did very well. Congratulations, CEO Lu, he's the first place among the third year of S High and also the first in the whole country."
Loud applause and excited cheers resounded through the class.
"That's Young Master Ren for you!"
"Just as expected from our prince!"
Huang Zhihe guffawed. "You're really a monster! No one can ever defeat you!"
"Wait a minute—" All eyes turned to Jing Xuehao who had just spoken. "How—I mean, how could I be in second place? Aren't we supposed to be the same?" He had a full score for God's sake! Don't tell him it was because Ren Zexi was a Special student and that's why the teacher put him first and foremost!
"Classmate Jing," Teacher Shu said. "Ren Zexi is indeed the first rank because his score is higher than yours. In the foreign language composition, he has created a remarkable essay filled with creative ideas that were out of the box and that's what compelled the teachers to give him extra points. If there's something you still want to ask, you can come to me in the teacher's office later."
Jing Xuehao clenched his fists, trembling.
"You're Jing Xuehao?" As Lu Yizhou came forward to receive Ren Zexi's report card, he suddenly turned to the teenager and said in an impassive tone. "Second rank is also good."
Ren Zexi noticed the flicker of anticipation in Teacher Shu's eyes as she handed the report card toward Lu Yizhou. In a spur of anger, he strode forward and received it himself before handing it over to Lu Yizhou with his own hands.
Why… Why did everyone have the potential to be his rival?! It was unforgivable!
"Uncle Lu, I—" He turned to Lu Yizhou to find the man's attention was placed on Jing Xuehao with a measuring look in his eyes. Meanwhile, Jing Xuehao also gaped as if not expecting that Lu Yizhou would talk to him. The two stared at each other for a short while. However, in Ren Zexi's perspective, it was as if they were surrounded by a barrier he couldn't pass through.
Indescribable fury surged in his chest and when his eyes met with Jing Xuehao, he glared at the teenager and tugged on Lu Yizhou's hands gently. "I am not feeling too well, Uncle Lu..." He said as he leaned on Lu Yizhou's shoulders.
Automatically, Lu Yizhou's attention refocused on him and his arms went around his waist, supporting him. "Where do you feel unwell?" He held his palm to measure Ren Zexi's forehead. "Did you catch a cold?"
Ren Zexi lowered his sight to hide the triumph of finally getting Lu Yizhou's attention to himself and murmured weakly. "I feel nauseous…"
Lu Yizhou frowned and asked Teacher Shu. "Where is the infirmary?"
"It's on the third floor of this building, you only need to turn left once to find it, Sir." Teacher Shu gestured in worry. "Sorry, I—"
"Teach!" Huang Zhihe raised his hand. "I will take them to the infirmary!" He was the Class Monitor so Teacher Shu let out a sigh of relief and nodded. She still couldn't leave the class without any supervision.
Huang Zhihe's eyes locked with Ren Zexi for a moment and the former gave a wink. Ren Zexi felt like his whole scheme had been exposed. Mortified, he buried his head into Lu Yizhou's shoulders, flush crawled down to his neck.
"Bear with it for a while." Lu Yizhou misunderstood that his condition worsened and told Huang Zhihe impatiently. "Lead the way."
"Aye, aye, Sir!" Huang Zhihe saluted and gestured ahead. The three people disappeared, leaving a classroom full of dumbfounded people.
"Oh my. I have never seen Young Master Ren acting so coy before…"
"That's called pampered, alright? Didn't you notice that CEO Lu's attention had only been focused on Young Master Ren alone? He didn't even notice us — these mundane people!"
"Ugh, I also want someone like CEO Lu to spoil me…"
"No, I want to be CEO Lu so that I can cup Young Master Ren within the palm of my own hands…"
Jing Xuehao returned to his seat in daze and only snapped out of his reverie when Guang Li waved his hand in front of his face. "Hey, what's wrong? Why is your face so red? Do you also feel unwell?"
"No…" Jing Xuehao shook his head. "It's nothing." He pressed his lips tight and touched his cheek, it felt warm, almost feverish. That's weird, why did his heart beat so fast when CEO Lu talked to him?
Snap out of it, Jing Xuehao! You should focus on the matter at hand, he told himself.
This wasn't the time to be distracted by other things!
This time, he had been totally humiliated! How could Ren Zexi score higher than him? It was really hard to believe. No, he shouldn't have trusted it until he saw Ren Zexi's answer sheets with his own eyes.
The only reason people treated Ren Zexi differently must be because he had Lu Yizhou behind his back. Yes, that must be the only explanation why!
If… Jing Xuehao couldn't help but wonder. If he also had someone like Lu Yizhou, how nice would it be?
.
.
.
Mini theater:
Lu Yizhou: "Second rank is also good."
Inwardly, he added. "Still not as good as first though." #smug #proudparent