Chapter 92 — Perhaps It Really Was Too Much

Earlier, Gu Mengyao had vented her irritation with Shen Yushu by taking it out on Wei Zhao's exam paper. At the time it had felt perfectly justified, but when Shen Yushu read the scores aloud, Gu Mengyao began to regret it, feeling she had gone a bit too far. She had even prepared herself for Wei Zhao to confront her on the way home after school, and she had steeled herself for the worst—at most, she would just apologize to him.

Yet from the moment Wei Zhao got into the car, he had not mentioned the scores at all, nor said a single word. Just as usual, he sat there quietly.

With Wei Zhao staying silent, Gu Mengyao found herself unable to sit still. Why isn't he reacting? Could he really be angry? At that thought, a trace of grievance rose in her. I was all ready to apologize to you, and now you're putting on airs?

"Hey—how can a grown man be so petty?" Gu Mengyao finally could not hold back, and gave a little huff.

Wei Zhao was just wondering when he should deliver the traditional Chinese medicine in his hand to Yang Huaijun, and Gu Mengyao's sudden remark gave him a start. He turned around, somewhat baffled. "Are... you talking to me?"

"Of course. Is there any other man in this car besides you?" Gu Mengyao said, displeased.

"Uh..." Wei Zhao cast a sweat-beaded glance at Qing Bo, who was driving beside them... and thought to himself, Qing Bo, old fellow, how tragic you are—this is the second time the young miss has had you made into a eunuch.

"Ahem... ahem..." Qing Bo, feeling quite unnerved under Wei Zhao's gaze, gave a helpless cough.

"Uh..." Gu Mengyao also realized she had been too rash—she had, once again, sent Qing Bo to the palace. She hastened to explain, "Qing Bo is the driver. He doesn't count. I meant you."

So a driver doesn't count as a man? Wei Zhao sweated even harder. What kind of logic is that? But seeing that Qing Bo said nothing, Wei Zhao naturally would not bring it up either. "How... how am I being petty?"

"Today I graded your paper. Are you angry about that?" Seeing Wei Zhao ask the obvious, Gu Mengyao shot him a resentful glare.

"Graded my paper? Why would I be angry?" Wei Zhao was somewhat at a loss. "Shen Yushu was the one who handed out the papers."

Shen Yushu, standing to the side, saw things more clearly as a bystander. She could tell that Wei Zhao truly did not seem to know what Gu Mengyao was talking about, so, stifling a laugh, she explained, "Arrow-brand Bro, Yaoyao means: she gave you a zero, so do you hold a grudge against her?"

"Oh?" Only then did Wei Zhao understand what Gu Mengyao was getting at. "That paper? It's fine. I threw it away ages ago."

Seeing Wei Zhao's utterly indifferent manner, Gu Mengyao was instantly annoyed. I go out of my way to apologize to him in good faith, and this is his attitude? If I'd known he wouldn't care at all, I wouldn't have bothered with him. Hmph.

Even if it was a zero, at least her own signature was on it. The other boys in class would have given anything for it, and he—well, he just threw it away.

For a moment, the atmosphere in the car turned rather chilly. Wei Zhao, who rarely spoke much anyway, was fine with it. But Gu Mengyao, who usually chattered away endlessly with Shen Yushu the moment she got into the car, was today wearing a sullen face, looking thoroughly displeased.

"Yaoyao, come on now, it's my fault today, all right? Don't be angry." Seeing the strange mood between Gu Mengyao and Wei Zhao, Shen Yushu—the chief culprit—carefully made her apologies to Gu Mengyao, taking her by the arm and shaking it back and forth.

"I'll deal with you tonight." At Shen Yushu's coaxing, Gu Mengyao naturally could not stay angry, though she still shot her a glare and thought: You're the one who can't stand a quiet world, always itching to stir up trouble.

In truth, Wei Zhao had never taken the earlier matter seriously at all. He had come to school with the idea of playing the jester in this mortal world, of enjoying a taste of high school life; all of it was part of his mission. Why would Wei Zhao take any of it so seriously?

Sooner or later, he might be off again into some primeval forest. Everything here was merely an interlude in his memory, destined to become a memory forever...

After dinner, Gu Mengyao, perhaps still embarrassed about the school day's events, pulled Shen Yushu upstairs with her. Wei Zhao, not standing on ceremony, sat down in the dining room and devoured his food like a whirlwind.

The Mighty General, meanwhile, smelled Wei Zhao gnawing on spare ribs and grew greedy. With his tail up and tongue licking, he prowled around the dining room. Perhaps by instinct he sensed that Wei Zhao was a rather dangerous figure, for the Mighty General dared not approach freely, and yet he was simply dying for the meaty rib in Wei Zhao's hand.

In the past, when Wei Zhao had not been around, the spare ribs left over from Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu's meals had all gone into the Mighty General's belly. But ever since Wei Zhao's arrival, he could only eat his premium dog food. Lofty as that dog food was, and no small price either, how could it ever compare to a delicious meaty bone?

Yet he was no fool. A Rottweiler's intelligence was hardly low to begin with, and dogs were far more sensitive to the outside world than humans were—which was precisely an important reason why police dogs and military dogs were bred in great numbers in so many places.

Humans cannot sense certain things, but a dog can easily detect them. So when Wei Zhao had first arrived that day and unleashed a burst of killing intent, General Weiwu had been deeply wary of him. In the dog's eyes, Wei Zhao was an absolutely dangerous thing.

So no matter how much he drooled, General Weiwu did not dare go up and snatch it. People fear death, and dogs fear death too.

Watching General Weiwu circle around the dining hall entrance, Wei Zhao roughly guessed what he wanted, and casually tossed him a few bones he had not gnawed very cleanly.

"..." General Weiwu was truly on the verge of tears. Since when had he been reduced to this treatment, only allowed to eat what others had gnawed clean? How humiliating! But having something was better than nothing, right? Besides, Wei Zhao was staring at him expectantly. If he did not eat, he might just get a beating...

At that thought, General Weiwu happily began eating the bones Wei Zhao had thrown him. Tasting the long-missed flavor of meat, General Weiwu no longer felt quite so wronged. Being able to eat at all was not bad.

Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu went upstairs, took out the test papers they had done that day, and prepared to review the places where they had made mistakes, so as to avoid repeating the same errors in the future.

Earlier, at school, because she had felt somewhat regretful, she had stuffed the test paper Wei Zhao had graded for her into her bag without looking at it carefully. Only after getting home did she begin to examine the marks Wei Zhao had left on it.

Seeing the beautiful handwriting, which had sorted out all her wrong answers and written them on the back of the paper, and had annotated the solutions in detail one by one, Gu Mengyao's heart ached. She regretted her actions that day even more. She had graded Wei Zhao's paper all wrong in a fit of pique and given him a zero, while Wei Zhao had carefully compiled her mistakes and labeled them with detailed solutions...

She really had gone too far.

Shen Yushu was looking at her own test paper when she suddenly sensed something odd about Gu Mengyao beside her. She looked up and saw Gu Mengyao wearing a deeply aggrieved expression, her eyes seemingly brimming with tears...