Chapter 16
Gu Yang’s words deeply pleased Lin Lan, who couldn’t help but adore her son even more as she looked at him. However, there was one thing that really bothered her – her son’s reluctance to speak.
She worried that his silence might harm him in some way.
Gu Yang’s cheerful personality and his friendship with her son reassured her to some extent.
Moreover, she secretly hoped that Gu Yang would get along well with Lin Xiaoran.
Previously, Gu Xiuyuan had told her that Gu Yang got along well with Lin Xiaoran, but she hadn’t seen it with her own eyes, so she still had some doubts.
Now, seeing Gu Yang in person, she felt truly relieved.
“Well then, it’s settled. I’m entrusting our Xiaoran to you.”
“Okay.”
These two people, on their own initiative, decided Lin Xiaoran’s fate without considering the reaction of the parties involved.
After hanging up the phone, Gu Yang met Lin Xiaoran’s cold gaze, which felt like two sharp knives piercing his face, clearly expressing dissatisfaction with his actions.
Gu Yang’s peach blossom eyes curved into a smile, finding Lin Xiaoran’s reaction quite amusing.
It was Lin Lan who had complained about his son’s lack of words, yet whenever he faced Lin Lan, he would only pout childishly, behaving in an unreasonable manner.
But as soon as Gu Yang appeared, he seemed like a different person, making Lin Xiaoran wish he could poke two holes in Gu Yang’s face with his eyes.
Gu Yang had only agreed to Lin Lan’s request casually, without really intending to force Lin Xiaoran to speak more.
He wondered why he should bother to entertain Lin Xiaoran into speaking more? But now, seeing Lin Xiaoran’s reaction, he found it quite interesting and said with a smile, “I think Auntie makes a good point. You should speak more. Otherwise, when you go to university and get lost in an unfamiliar place, you won’t even ask for directions, and that could be troublesome.”
What’s it to you?
Facing Gu Yang’s seemingly innocent smile, Lin Xiaoran’s thin lips twitched slightly. He thought about retorting but found it pointless, so he simply ignored him, tossed his homework in front of Gu Yang, and said coldly, “If you don’t understand, ask.”
This caught Gu Yang off guard.
The deadline for marking the homework had passed, and Lin Xiaoran should know that he wouldn’t obediently do his homework anymore. Yet he had taken the trouble to write down the solution steps for the non-subjective questions for him.
This, indeed, put him in a difficult position.
He hesitated to reach out for the homework, just staring at Lin Xiaoran.
Lin Xiaoran glanced at him, understanding his thoughts, and patiently added, “Whether you write or not is your business; whether I teach or not is mine. You can refuse; I won’t force you.”
After saying that, he gestured towards the door, indicating that Gu Yang could leave.
Of course, Gu Yang didn’t leave. Instead, he looked at him with interest, his amber eyes sparkling with a strange smile, leaving Lin Xiaoran baffled and unable to resist giving him a sideways glance.
Gu Yang didn’t mind at all, still wearing his sunny smile as he asked, “Did you notice that you just said twenty-four words in one go, not including punctuation?”
Lin Xiaoran: “…”
How bored must this guy be to count how many words he said?
Lin Xiaoran remained silent, ignoring his words completely. He tapped the table with his fair fingertips, showing impatience, and gestured towards the door with annoyance.
But Gu Yang had a talent for ignoring things he didn’t want to understand. Leaning against the desk, he earnestly negotiated with Lin Xiaoran, “Come on, let’s discuss this. If you can manage to speak a single sentence with thirty words in one go, I’ll seriously complete all the homework tonight. How about that?”
Not a chance!
Raising his eyelids lightly, Lin Xiaoran’s eyes fell lightly on Gu Yang’s face, not speaking a word.
But Gu Yang understood his meaning: whether you write or not is none of my business.
Gu Yang couldn’t help but lower his head and laugh again. “Come on, look at it this way. My dad wants you to supervise my studies, and your mom wants me to teach you how to speak. We both have tasks on our shoulders now. Ignoring the words of our elders wouldn’t be appropriate, right? So I think we should cooperate. Starting today, you speak at least thirty sentences every day, and I’ll complete the homework you assign me on time every day. Doesn’t that sound fair?”
Lin Xiaoran’s lips twitched slightly with boredom, but before he could say the word “boring,” Gu Yang, still smiling, added, “Of course, if you think you can’t do it, just pretend I never said anything.”
I can’t do it, my foot!
Lin Xiaoran instantly changed his mind, glaring coldly at Gu Yang and saying firmly, “Alright, it’s a deal!”
Who’s agreeing with whom?
Lin Xiaoran thought angrily, his mouth unconsciously curling with a childish pout.
Gu Yang noticed all of this and couldn’t help but rub his nose, secretly smiling.
He knew provoking Lin Xiaoran like this should work.
Earlier, on the way back to school, he had asked Lin Xiaoran, “You know alpha’s pheromones make you uncomfortable, so why did you agree to play basketball with Guan Jun?”
After all, they were still within the campus of Qi Zhong Middle School, and Guan Jun couldn’t really do anything to him.
So Gu Yang couldn’t understand why Lin Xiaoran had agreed.
Lin Xiaoran had replied coldly, “He said I didn’t dare. Hmph!”
Gu Yang: “…”
So, the seemingly aloof Lin Xiaoran was actually so easily provoked.
It was a bit unexpected.
But this habit of his seemed quite interesting.
As Gu Yang was lost in his thoughts, Lin Xiaoran impatiently tapped the table again, prompting him to quickly take the test paper and leave.
“No rush. Haven’t you completed your mission of thirty sentences for today? Considering that today is almost over, asking you to say thirty sentences might be a bit too much. How about just one sentence with over thirty words?”
Before Lin Xiaoran could retort, Gu Yang immediately added, “You agreed to it, so you can’t back out now, right?”
Sure enough, the word “leave” was on the tip of Lin Xiaoran’s tongue, but he swallowed it back. His bright eyes stared tightly at Gu Yang, his lips pressed into a thin line, seemingly displeased with Gu Yang’s suggestion but also feeling it made sense and not wanting to argue further, feeling torn.
Gu Yang had never seen such complex emotions on Lin Xiaoran’s face before. Feeling surprisingly good, he leaned against the desk, blinked at him, and acted overly pleased.
Lin Xiaoran felt annoyed by Gu Yang’s smugness, glaring at him unabashedly, and finally spoke up, “Gu Yang, why the hell do you talk so much? Hurry up and take the test paper and get lost. Don’t disturb my sleep!”
Gu Yang: “…”
Before he could react, Lin Xiaoran, unable to hold back any longer, pushed him out and slammed the door shut.
It was only then that Gu Yang realized, subconsciously counting the words Lin Xiaoran had just spoken, that it was exactly thirty words, not a word more or less.
Unexpectedly, that kid actually managed to do it.
Gu Yang smiled, turned around, and returned to his own room. As he sat down at his desk with the test paper, he suddenly realized the agreement he had just made with Lin Xiaoran.
Lin Xiaoran had to speak thirty sentences every day, while he had to complete all the homework on time.
Damn!
Why should he?
Why did he feel like he was the one being taken advantage of?
He had finally waited until the last minute of the deadline had passed, no longer needing to pretend to be a good student. Why should he jump into the fire pit now?
Just because he wanted to hear Lin Xiaoran speak a few more words?
Gu Yang pinched his brow, feeling like his brain might be malfunctioning.
The key was that he had suggested it himself, and now regretting it would only make things worse. He could only grit his teeth and go through with it.
He could only hope that Lin Xiaoran wouldn’t fulfill the agreement and would come to him to cancel it voluntarily.
That night, he was busy doing homework and didn’t lie down until the early hours of the morning.
Fortunately, Lin Xiaoran didn’t care whether he did his homework or not, or what time he attended class. He slept soundly until nine in the morning.
After getting up and getting ready, he noticed that he hadn’t opened the gift Lin Xiaoran had given him last night.
After all, it was a gesture of goodwill, so he decided to open it. Inside was a black watch.
It looked familiar, like something many people wore.
Thinking this, Gu Yang put on the watch on his wrist, feeling that since he had accepted the gift, he should express his appreciation in this way.
After eating a quick breakfast, he left the house.
Meanwhile, Lin Xiaoran had successfully finished two classes and was about to take a nap during the break. Yang Jiale, sitting in front of him, turned around hesitantly and tapped his desk lightly. “Um… Study God…”
Lin Xiaoran looked up at him: What?
Yang Jiale smiled foolishly at him. “Um… Have you… seen the forum? Our school’s forum.”
“No.” Lin Xiaoran never cared about gossip, never looked at the school forum, and found Yang Jiale’s question extremely boring. He intended to ignore him and go to sleep.
Yang Jiale quickly handed him his phone. “Just… just… this, take a look.”
After saying that, he turned back as if his hand had slowed down, making Lin Xiaoran feel like he could eat him.
Seeing this timid behavior, everyone in the class couldn’t help but show their disdain for him.
Yang Jiale flipped them off in his mind, complaining: Am I timid? Why don’t you guys do it then? Why should I be the one to ask Study God if he’s really dating the school bully? Just because I sit close to Study God? Even if I sit closer, Study God barely talks to me.
But the classmates couldn’t contain their gossiping nature, desperate to know what was going on between Study God and the school bully. So when Lin Xiaoran arrived at school in the morning, the temporary crowd began to persuade Yang Jiale to go and subtly ask Lin Xiaoran about it.
It was the perfect opportunity since Gu Yang wasn’t there. But did Yang Jiale even want this opportunity?
On the other hand, Lin Xiaoran hadn’t directly thrown the phone back. He picked it up and glanced at it.
Yang Jiale had been showing him a post pinned to the top of the forum since last night—”Am I the only one who thinks Study God is dating the school bully?”
By now, this post had garnered over five thousand replies, all discussing whether Lin Xiaoran was really dating Gu Yang, and the more they talked, the more convincing it seemed.
Quickly skimming through, Lin Xiaoran found it incredibly boring. Just as he was about to return the phone, he noticed a new post on the homepage—”The latest evidence that Study God and the school bully are together. Click to see.”
A trace of curiosity flashed in his clear eyes. He really wanted to see what kind of messy evidence the students of Qi Zhong could come up with.
So he clicked on the post.
The main post featured a photo of Gu Yang casually entering the school with his backpack, just as usual.
But Lin Xiaoran immediately noticed the key point—Gu Yang was wearing a black watch on his wrist, exactly the same as the one on Lin Xiaoran’s own wrist.
