The vice principal immediately beamed with joy, "Tomorrow morning! I will take you then. But... your face and body are covered with bruises. Try to cover them up a bit, wear some makeup, and it's best to wear long sleeves, since it doesn't look good to have those showing."
"Alright." Xiang Wan coldly responded with a single word, brushing past the vice principal's corpulent figure and promptly left.
That evening, Xiang Wan went to bed early, attempting to force herself to sleep.
Nianniian seemed to know she couldn't sleep at all, climbing onto the bed and persistently pawing at her long hair.
Feeling helpless, she scooped Nianniian into her arms, "Stop it... Keep it up, and I'll throw you out."
Suddenly, a faint conversation could be heard from the corridor outside, it was Mrs. Zhang and Zuo Xingyun.
"Is she asleep?"
"Yes, but I reckon she can't sleep. Miss has been off milk recently and keeps having insomnia..."
"Mhmm... Remember to apply medicine to her wounds, don't leave scars."
"Got it, Second Master."
Soon, the conversation ended, and the sound of footsteps gradually faded away until they disappeared.
Xiang Wan flipped onto her stomach, buried her face in the pillow, and gripped Nianniian's chubby cat claw. "Why does he pretend to care about me so much? He caused my dad's death, and my mom is still lying in the hospital... He's a strange person, isn't he?"
Nianniian yawned lazily in response.
The next morning.
Xiang Wan got up and applied light makeup, trying her best to conceal the bruises on her face.
She also chose a long-sleeved white lace-collared school shirt with a pleated checkered skirt, as the vice principal had suggested.
Looking at herself in the full-length mirror, she saw her long hair reaching past her waist, brimming with youthfulness and vitality. With the blush on her cheeks, she looked healthy and flushed, as if temporarily pulled from the abyss, able to be that carefree girl again...
She wished it were true that she had escaped the abyss...
Mrs. Zhang urged her from outside the door to hurry up and eat breakfast, or she'd be late.
She grabbed her backpack, rubbed Nianniian's chubby cat head lying on the bed, and rushed downstairs.
Unfortunately, today Zuo Xingyun was also eating breakfast at home.
He was neatly dressed in a suit, meticulously groomed from head to toe, with a magazine in one hand and coffee in the other, an image of peace and serenity.
Xiang Wan suddenly felt no appetite, as if she could endure without breakfast...
Zuo Xingyun glanced up unintentionally, noticing Xiang Wan's delicately made-up face, and his eyes darkened slightly, "The makeup isn't bad."
Xiang Wan ignored him, sat down intending to hastily finish a few bites to avoid Mrs. Zhang's nagging about skipping breakfast.
Zuo Xingyun set down his coffee, his tone cooling down, "You're in your senior year now, close to the college entrance exams. You should be focusing entirely on your studies, it's not yet time for romance."
Annoyed, Xiang Wan glared at him, stuffed the remainder of her breakfast bun into her mouth, cheeks bulging, and stood up, mumbling indistinctly, "If you like meddling so much, have your own daughter and enjoy being a father."
Zuo Xingyun: '...'
...
Before the morning classes ended, the vice principal called Xiang Wan out to visit the "benevolent person" planning to make a donation.
It didn't take long for Xiang Wan to spot a familiar person—Teacher Emily, who had been dismissed.
In just a few days, she had become noticeably thinner and haggard, with both hands cast in plaster, seemingly having sustained serious injuries.
Seeing the vice principal, she seemed to want to greet him but turned pale at the sight of Xiang Wan and quickly turned her head to leave, her expression evasive.
The vice principal explained, "Teacher Emily is here to process her resignation. I heard she was robbed near the alley by the school the day she left. Her hands were nearly useless, tsk tsk, such bad luck..."
Xiang Wan listened expressionlessly throughout and did not engage in the conversation, making the vice principal lose interest in continuing.
The "benevolent person's" company was located in the expensive CBD area. Xiang Wan stepped out of the car, looking up at the towering office building and understood.
Only those wealthy people, with more money than they knew what to do with, would play the fool with their school.
The vice principal was already beyond excited. While waiting in the reception area, he reminded Xiang Wan again and again to not speak out of turn later, and to perform well.
Xiang Wan, overwhelmed with annoyance, nodded in assent, just wanting it to be over quickly.
The conference room.
The secretary approached the man seated at the head of the table and whispered, "The vice principal of Aes Institute is here, and he wishes to see you."
The man's slender fingers tapped impatiently on the edge of the table, his brows revealing irritation, "Don't let them in!"
The secretary swallowed nervously; his boss had been in a foul mood all morning, "Should I tell him to take the student back first?"
The man raised his eyebrows slightly: 'A student?'
The secretary quickly replied, "The vice principal didn't come alone; he brought a female student with him. She's quite pretty, with long hair..."
The man paused for a moment, "Ask them to wait five minutes."