Chapter 531: Chapter 179: The 80s Drama Queen Forced to Become a Top Student (14)

"I think that since we’ve decided to skip grades to get out of this situation, we’re already committing to a mad dash forward. So why not pick the fastest route?"

"If we’re going to skip grades, we have to get serious. We can’t keep doing whatever we want like before. We’ll have to study like our lives depend on it."

"After all, we’re cramming several years’ worth of knowledge into one year."

Everyone looked at each other. They felt Third was right, but something also felt off, though they couldn’t quite put their finger on it.

"Third has a point. When you decide to do something, you have to accept the sacrifices it requires. When is life ever that easy, where you can get something without paying the price?"

"That’s right. Besides our parents, no one and nothing will ever let us get something for nothing."

Soon, the group reached an agreement. They would have Gong Zicheng be their tutor to help everyone study, starting tonight!

Back home, after a quiet dinner and before Xiao Xuezhen and Ren Xingchen could speak, Sheng Leyun announced, "I’m going to a classmate’s house to study tonight. It’s in Miao’er Alley. I’ll be back before ten."

"So, where do you plan on having me sleep tonight?"

Ren Xingchen spoke with a caution she herself didn’t even notice.

"Grandma Guo downstairs wasn’t doing too well today. After she went out to sweep this morning, she was just in her room, groaning in pain."

"It was a neighbor who noticed something was wrong and took her to the hospital for a check-up. They said it’s just her age and old ailments acting up. From now on, she needs someone with her at all times. Otherwise, who knows when she might just..."

"So, when she got back, she asked the neighborhood committee to find her a child to adopt as a grandchild."

Sheng Leyun nodded as she listened. She casually took a plate of strawberries and mulberries from the cabinet and, much to the resentful and indignant silence of the others, began to eat them with a cheerful CRUNCH.

"So, you’re really treating me like a burden and throwing me away?"

"Of course not," Xiao Xuezhen said through gritted teeth. "We’re asking for your opinion. Grandma Guo lives right downstairs from us. She’s all alone in a ten-square-meter room, no sons or daughters..."

"Oh, I see. So you’re after her life savings and her house?" Sheng Leyun nodded as if in sudden realization.

Ren Xingchen’s eyes widened, and she raised her voice, shouting, "Sheng Leyun!"

But then she lowered her voice, her tone laced with anger. "You were the one who told me you wanted to live with someone else, and now you’re putting on airs?"

"Either you go downstairs and be her granddaughter, or you can stay on the balcony to feed the mosquitoes at night and turn into jerky during the day!"

Sheng Leyun gave her a lazy glance and chuckled. "Then you two had better be prepared to beg me to stay in a hotel every day."

That single sentence reminded the pair of what had happened last night.

’How could they possibly endure such a gnawing feeling?’

But with this nuisance around, they could forget about any "intimate exchanges." They probably couldn’t even get a peaceful night’s sleep.

A bad feeling crept into Xiao Xuezhen’s heart. He forced himself to ask, "Sheng Leyun, since you were the one who brought up Grandma Guo to your mother, you must have been interested in the idea."

"Why are you refusing now?"

Sheng Leyun chuckled lightly. "Ah, I also said I was envious of people who live in big courtyard houses. Are you going to push me over to them, too?"

"I’m just a child, you know. The things I say and do don’t count. You adults are the ones who make the final decisions."

Xiao Xuezhen clenched his fists. The self-control he had cultivated for so many years was crumbling bit by bit in her presence.

’This brat is sheer torture! She doesn’t just kill you with one clean cut; she prefers to use a dull blade!’

"Fine. Let me ask another way," he took a deep breath and sneered. "I wonder, Comrade Sheng Leyun, what will it take for you to agree to be adopted out?"

Sheng Leyun raised an eyebrow, pretending to ponder. "Well, I’m just a child, what do I know about right and wrong? I just know that I have a mother. What kind of heartless monster, while perfectly healthy, would push her own daughter onto someone else, just to be with that dog of a man forever?"

Xiao Hailan and Xiao Haiyang buried their heads and fiddled with their fingers. Although they really disliked Sheng Leyun and didn’t like hearing their father called "that dog of a man," they couldn’t help but feel a strange sense of satisfaction. What could they do?

Ren Xingchen was so angry she felt dizzy, and as for Xiao Xuezhen, every hair on his body was bristling with suppressed rage.

"Sheng Leyun, do you really think I don’t have the guts to kill you?" he said, leaning close to her, his voice sinister.

"So you’re the one who killed my father?" Sheng Leyun looked at him, her face devoid of expression, her eyes a murky, lacquer-black that reflected no light.

Xiao Xuezhen couldn’t help but let out a cold laugh. Once again, he whispered in her ear in the faintest of voices, "That’s right. Your father’s death was indeed related to me!"

"Heh. I stepped on that MINE on purpose. Tsk tsk, who would have thought I’d gamble with my own life."

"I never expected that foolish father of yours would actually be willing to trade his life for mine."

"Oh, and by the way," he said, as if that wasn’t enough, "right before the BANG, I told him I was going to take over his wife..."

Xiao Xuezhen stepped back and said with an apologetic smile, "Yunyun, I know you’re sad and upset, but rest assured. Your father entrusted you to me. I’ll be sure to have your future all planned out."

"If you’re obedient, we can all live nicely. But if you’re disobedient and keep trying to test my limits, then, heh... I think your father would be more than happy to take you over to his side and discipline you himself."

Sheng Leyun calmly fiddled with a handkerchief, wrapping it around a pair of chopsticks. Just as Xiao Xuezhen was delighting in his veiled threats, she moved in a flash. With a sudden downward thrust, she brought the chopsticks down with every ounce of her strength.

The chopsticks went straight through the thick flesh, perfectly avoiding the bone, passing from the back of his hand to his palm and getting stuck firmly in a crack in the table!

Xiao Xuezhen was in so much pain he couldn’t even scream, as if he’d been muted. Beads of sweat the size of soybeans dripped down his face.

He tremblingly used his other hand to try and pull out the chopsticks, but it’s hard to be cruel to yourself. The moment he touched them, before he could even apply force, the sharp pain made his already arched back bend even further.

"You @#￥@%...! Sheng Leyun, I’ll k...i...l...l you!"

He hissed, his hair drenched with sweat, his gaze fierce yet fragile as he spat out his threat.

Sheng Leyun pinched the handkerchief, which was not stained with a single drop of blood. Her eyes were cold and indifferent. "Is that so? Then you’d better get rid of me quickly. Otherwise, my torment of you has only just begun!"

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