Chapter 18: The Lifting Movement

Her arms, which had been wrapped around Gu Zhenzhi’s waist, instantly loosened. Her brows furrowed in grievance as she took two steps back. “I…I won’t hug you anymore, is that not enough…” No sooner had she spoken than— “Ah!” Ruan Cha cried out in surprise as she was scooped up around the waist. Instinctively, she hooked her arms around Gu Zhenzhi’s neck.

“Troublesome,” Gu Zhenzhi’s deep voice sounded beside her ear.

Ruan Cha was stunned—had Gu Zhenzhi finally come to his senses?

She turned her head in disbelief to look at him, only to find that the man’s noble and indifferent face was as emotionless as ever, his eyes just as calm and unreadable.

She fidgeted with her fingers, sighing inwardly. A man like Gu Zhenzhi could never possibly awaken to such feelings. Perhaps, to him, this romantic, sweet princess carry was nothing more than a simple, boring lifting motion?

Ruan Cha was startled by her own thoughts.

She steadied herself, tightening her hold around Gu Zhenzhi’s neck, her demeanor bashful and coy. “Gu Zhenzhi, you’re so good to me.”

A simple sentence, yet from Ruan Cha’s lips, it became a thousand turns of longing, tender and lingering.

It was as if no one had ever treated her so well before.

And such gentle, delicate words could stir the deepest protective instincts in any man.

When she finished, she lowered her gaze, seemingly at a loss for where to look, nervously biting her lower lip.

Gu Zhenzhi merely glanced down at her, then quickly looked away, staring straight ahead. “I’m not good to you. I’m only doing this for your master’s patent.”

Ruan Cha: “…?”

Damn.

Why did she bother viewing him through the lens of a normal man?

Her smile froze instantly. She no longer wanted to say a single word.

“Since your master has entrusted you to me, you’ll go to school tomorrow.”

“No!” Ruan Cha rejected him without a second thought.

If her fellow students found out she, Ruan Cha, had returned to school, how humiliating would that be!

“You have no right to refuse,” Gu Zhenzhi paid her protest no mind. With steps as cold as his entire being, he strode into the villa…

—

Ruan Cha was forcibly dragged back onto the original storyline by Gu Zhenzhi.

Originally, she was supposed to be sent back to school by the couple from the Ruan family.

But this time, she was brought back and sent to school by Gu Zhenzhi himself.

As fate would have it, the school was the very one Ruan Cha attended in the novel.

Moreover, she ended up in the same class as Ruan Wei.

Everything seemed destined to happen.

Including the teacher before her now, who had no intention of accepting her, pride written all over her face, looking down on her with disdain.

“I’ve made myself perfectly clear: if you want Ruan Cha in our class, then send Ruan Wei from Class Seven over as a foil. Only then can I barely accept it,” Li Junmei said, scrutinizing Ruan Cha for a long while.

She held Ruan Cha’s test paper in her hand.

A glaring red “8” marked the score.

With grades like this, what was the point of joining their class?

The director of studies was so troubled that sweat broke out on his forehead. “Ms. Li, Ruan Cha was sent by the Gu family. Even if you won’t do me a favor, you should give some consideration to the Gu family.”

Li Junmei snorted. “The Gu family? Director, I know the Gu family is powerful, but look at Gu Jiayan—always first in our class. And her? Eight points? If word gets out, it’ll become the greatest disgrace of my teaching career!”

The director turned his gaze to Ruan Cha, who sat quietly on the sofa, her bright, innocent eyes watching them earnestly.

This girl looked clever enough, with such lively and spirited eyes. How could her test scores be so utterly dismal?