chapter 80
The school had always taken the grade-skipping exam seriously. The test papers were classified materials — not only could no one see them in advance, even she herself wasn’t qualified to handle them.
Gu Wanwan cursed inwardly at how useless that was. Grabbing Aunt Feng’s hand, she swayed it lightly, her voice soft and coaxing:
“Aunt Feng, please, can’t you think of another way? Or maybe talk to the teacher who prepared the exam and see if you can find anything out for me?”
She hesitated, then lowered her voice even more.
“Aunt Feng, if you help me pull this off, I’ll make sure my mom gives you a very generous thank-you.”
No matter what, she had to pass this exam and get into S-Class. That was nonnegotiable.
The moment Feng Mei heard the words “thank-you,” her eyes flickered with interest.
But then she sighed softly.
“Wanwan, I already tried that. Those old-fashioned teachers are tighter-lipped than clams. There’s really nothing I can do.”
She straightened her sleeves.
“With your grades, you still have a shot if you just work harder. I need to prepare for class now — I’ll go ahead.”
If anyone saw her getting too close to Gu Wanwan, there would definitely be gossip.
Gu Wanwan stomped her foot in frustration. She was fuming.
Watching them walk away, Gu Qingning retracted her gaze. Suddenly, she understood why Feng Mei had been so hostile toward her.
A cold sneer touched her lips as she turned toward the classroom.
The first period was self-study. The classroom was buzzing with noise — until she stepped inside.
Instantly, the chatter died.
Everyone’s eyes turned toward her with odd, almost wary looks, some whispering behind their hands.
Gu Qingning’s face remained calm. She hooked a long leg around her chair and sat down with lazy, effortless dominance — the kind that carried the aura of a boss.
She had barely sat when Sun Qiaoqiao leaned close and whispered:
“Qingning, there’s a new post on the school forum… it’s about you again.”
A new post?
Gu Qingning lazily pulled a book from her desk drawer and set it on the table.
“What’s it say this time?”
“Uh…”
Sun Qiaoqiao hesitated, embarrassed even to repeat it.
Finally, she took out her phone, opened the school forum, found the post, and handed it over.
“You’d better read it yourself.”
Gu Qingning held the book down with one hand, took the phone with the other, and looked down.
[Title: The Story of the Girl Genius and Her Sugar Daddy]
[Confirmed: The top student of First High has an indecent private life — caught checking into a hotel with a mysterious man, with photo evidence.]
The photos were well edited — even to a trained eye, it was hard to see that they’d been altered.
She scrolled past the images. The comments section was already a battlefield.
A flood of insults. Every kind imaginable.
[So-called “genius girl”? The whole grade-skipping exam must be rigged. People like her are a disgrace to our school.]
[Bet her “sponsor daddy” paid her way in. She’s just a vase pretending to be pure.]
[And this is our school’s campus belle? Please. Gu Wanwan is way more qualified — better grades, good family, kind personality. Gu Qingning can’t compare.]
[Gold-digging slut like her doesn’t deserve to stay. She should be expelled.]
[Yeah, get her out of here. She’s not worthy to be our classmate.]
[Expel Gu Qingning.]
[Expel Gu Qingning.]
Before long, the comments had formed a chorus — unanimous calls for her expulsion.
Gu Qingning handed the phone back. Her dark, glossy eyes gleamed with a chilling sharpness.
They really were begging to die.
The classroom was silent enough to hear a pin drop. Even breathing sounded cautious.
Sun Qiaoqiao patted her shoulder and said firmly:
“Qingning, no matter what that post says, I believe in you.”
They hadn’t been deskmates for long, but she trusted her character completely.
Gu Qingning said nothing, just lowered her gaze to the thick foreign medical textbook before her.
Her eerie calm left everyone else stunned.
The post was that explosive — and she was sitting there like it had nothing to do with her.
Was she seriously not worried?
Just then, Cheng Yi burst into the classroom, panting.
“Boss Ning! Something’s happened — Brother Chu and the S-Class guys are fighting!”
Ever since Chu Xu had started calling her “Boss Ning,” the nickname had spread through the class.
Gu Qingning looked up, eyes steady.
“Reason?”
Cheng Yi cut straight to the point.
“It’s that forum post — the S-Class jerks were talking trash about you. We overheard, and Brother Chu went straight in swinging.”
“Where are they?” Her dark eyes narrowed slightly as she rose.
“In the discipline director’s office.”
Yao Dong hesitated a moment, then stood and followed.
The rest of the class quickly threw down their books and rushed out after her.
If Brother Chu was fighting S-Class, they had to show up and back him up.
In the office.
The air was thick with tension, like a storm about to break.
Five tall boys stood in a row against the wall. Every one of them bore bruises or scratches, some with torn uniforms.
It had been a brutal fight.
The discipline director glared at them, face dark with fury.
“You’re seniors! The college entrance exams are right around the corner, and instead of studying, you’re brawling? Are you trying to get expelled from heaven itself?”
“Director, he started it. We were just defending ourselves!”
The speaker was one of the S-Class students, face full of indignation.
Chu Xu stood with arms crossed, sneering.
“If you didn’t have such filthy mouths, I wouldn’t have hit you. So what if I did?”
The four S-Class boys glared back, fists clenched.
“You—!”
Chu Xu smirked, taunting.
“One versus four — it’s not like I’d lose. Come on, round two.”
When it came to fighting, Chu Xu had a reputation at First High — a dangerous one. Few ever dared to provoke him.
“Enough!” the director snapped, furious. “You think this is some kind of playground brawl?”
At that moment, their homeroom teachers hurried in.
“Old Xu!”
Chu Xu’s eyes lit up as if seeing salvation.
The director frowned.
“What ‘Old Xu’? Where are your manners?!”
Chu Xu slouched a little. Xu An — smiling faintly — quickly put on a serious expression.
“Director, we’ve already looked into what happened. They understand their mistake. How about this — make them write self-reflections, and we’ll call it done? The exams are coming up. No need to let something so small affect their future.”
The director hesitated.
Then a sharp female voice cut in:
“I disagree. My S-Class students are diligent and well-behaved. They don’t start fights. Now they’re injured — what if this affects their exam performance? Who’s going to take responsibility?”
The speaker was S-Class’s homeroom teacher — notoriously strict and argumentative. Students nicknamed her “The Extermination Nun.”
Xu An, however, wasn’t the type to yield easily.
He gave a dry laugh.
“So according to you, Teacher Zhao, our C-Class students are all troublemakers who never study and only pick fights?”
Zhao Yun lifted her chin with a smug, disdainful look.
“Isn’t that obvious? We’re S-Class — the top class of the senior year…”
Before she could finish, a cool voice interrupted, edged with irritation.
“So what? Is the S-Class really that great?”
