Chapter 37: The Schemed School Beauty (7)

Sunday was the day boarding students returned to school early.

Fu Siwan had transferred in just last week under special circumstances. She’d already spent a full week at the school by now, so starting this week, she naturally had to come back on Sunday like everyone else.

Tonight’s dinner had been prepared ahead of time. Bai Qian ate quickly and set down her chopsticks to find Fu Siwan gnawing away at a braised pork trotter, soft and tender from hours of stewing.

The woman carried the bowls and chopsticks to the sink. “Where’s your schoolbag? Got everything packed?”

Her tone held the most natural sort of concern, like any parent seeing their child off to school.

Fu Siwan trailed after her, clutching a white porcelain bowl in her greasy left hand. She handed it over while chewing on the mangled chunk of trotter meat in her mouth. “I left it on the sofa earlier.”

Bai Qian shot her a disgusted glance, took the bowl, squirted in some dish soap, added a couple drops of water, and smeared it onto the girl’s hand.

Fu Siwan tilted her head up slightly to look at her, catching sight of the woman’s gentle, captivating profile. She quickly averted her gaze.

The schoolbag was a new one Bai Qian had bought her last week.

With her slender fingers, Bai Qian unzipped it and peered inside. The bag was pathetically sparse, containing only a single Chinese language textbook. Her mild expression vanished in an instant, replaced by exasperation. “Fu Siwan! You had a whole two days this weekend, and all you packed was one Chinese textbook? And it doesn’t even have a single note inside?”

The girl had just finished eating and showed no sign of resting. Instead, she sat on the sofa, munching on a freshly opened bag of dried squid strips.

She paused at the words, a rare flicker of guilt crossing her face—like a child caught red-handed by a parent. “The teacher’s been going over last week’s quiz questions all this week. I just got here; I don’t have anything.”

“What about the quiz paper itself? Didn’t you ask the teacher for a copy after class?”

Fu Siwan lied without batting an eye. “I did. Teacher said there weren’t any left.”

Bai Qian knew right away the girl was fibbing. She set the bag down and walked over, ready to give her a proper talking-to.

But the disobedient little rabbit beat her to the punch. “I never liked studying anyway. If you’re only keeping me around to raise some studying machine, then just send me back!”

Fu Siwan’s attitude was infuriating. Bai Qian stared at her and couldn’t help but raise her hand.

The girl’s eyes flickered at the motion, her rabbit-like eyes reddening faintly. Yet she still tilted her chin up stubbornly, as if to say, go ahead and hit me.

The woman sighed. She wanted to ruffle her hair but remembered what she’d said before and pulled her hand back. “Fine. Starting tomorrow, you’re dropping out.”

Fu Siwan’s taut emotions shattered at those words. Her pink lips turned nearly white under the bite of her teeth, but she remained as stubborn as a mule, refusing to utter a single word of softness.

“Keep eating. I’m going to make a call.”

Bai Qian retreated to her room for a chat with the homeroom teacher. By the time she finished, her temples were throbbing.

She emerged to see Fu Siwan’s lonely silhouette, schoolbag on her back, heading for the door.

“Fu Siwan, where are you going? I’ve already spoken to your homeroom teacher. Starting today, you don’t have to go to school anymore.”

Out of her sight, the girl’s hand at her side clenched into a tight fist. Her nails dug deep into her palm, nearly piercing the skin.

After Bai Qian spoke, not only did the girl not stop, she quickened her pace. Realizing something was wrong, Bai Qian hurried after her and managed to catch up just before the elevator doors.

“Did you misunderstand something?”

Fu Siwan kept her head down, ignoring her.

Bai Qian reached out, cupping the girl’s chin and gently tilting it up.

What met her eyes was the little rabbit’s tear-brimmed gaze, heartbreakingly pitiful.

She sighed. When had this crybaby side of hers emerged?

Still, the fact that she was willing to cry in front of her meant something.

—The little rabbit was finally letting her true temper show.

Bai Qian wiped away the girl’s pitiable tears and softened her voice to explain the misunderstanding she’d already guessed at. “Dropping out doesn’t mean I’m stopping your studies or washing my hands of you.”

Sure enough, at those words, the girl’s rigid tension eased noticeably.

“I didn’t think it through properly at first. I just wanted to get you into a new learning environment, but I forgot to consider things from your perspective. Now that I’ve given it real thought, you’re already behind the rest of the class. Throwing you in to study with them might do more harm than good. So starting tomorrow, I’ll hire a private tutor to give you one-on-one lessons. That way, you can make the most of the time you have left. Does that make sense?”

Fu Siwan’s emotions gradually calmed under the woman’s gentle words. Hearing this, her face flushed slightly as she pulled her hand free and took two flustered steps toward the house. Only then did she gruffly demand, “That squid jerky from earlier was pretty good. Go buy a few more packs for me!”

Bai Qian hurried after her and grabbed her again, chuckling lightly. “I’m not your servant, you know. If you want something to eat, come with me to buy it.”

~~~

In this world, the College Entrance Exam was divided into liberal arts and sciences.

At Li Lanzhao’s insistence back then, Fu Siwan had chosen the science track.

There were more boys in the science classes—that was Li Lanzhao’s reason for making her pick it.

Fu Siwan had zero interest in studying to begin with, so arts or sciences made no difference to her.

For every exam subject, Bai Qian had hired private tutors for her. She’d even asked a veteran teacher to draw up a weekly study schedule tailored to Fu Siwan’s current level.

In this way, Fu Siwan effectively brought “school” home with her.

New Year’s was fast approaching.

At Bai Qian’s request, Fu Siwan took a family-style final exam on her own. It was the perfect chance to gauge the girl’s progress over the past while.

The teenager had a pretty good idea of how she’d score. When the tutor helplessly handed the test paper to Bai Qian for review, she bolted from the room.

Seeing the abysmal score scrawled at the top of the page—a two-digit number starting with 3—Bai Qian nearly exploded with rage. “Fu Siwan!”

Bang! The door slammed shut, muffling the woman’s thunderous roar.

The tutor assured Bai Qian that Fu Siwan had always been attentive in their lessons, never once slacking off. She’d assumed the girl was actually absorbing the material, but this score was an eyesore that slapped her right across the face.

With a sigh, the tutor took her leave, leaving Bai Qian alone. She stared at the number in the score box, torn between laughter and fury.

Once she’d calmed down, Bai Qian smoothed out the crumpled test paper as best she could and headed to the door of the secondary bedroom. She knocked.

“Fu Siwan, are you sure you want me to go grab the spare key and let myself in?”

Two seconds later, the door creaked open from the inside.

The girl cracked it just enough to show half her face.

Defiance mixed with unease in her expression, making her look for all the world like a husky that had torn the house apart while its owner was out—except little puppy looked more dopey, while she looked more heartbreakingly pitiful.

Bai Qian couldn’t help but laugh at the sight. All her anger evaporated in an instant.

“Want to talk?”

Fu Siwan met her gaze steadily for a moment before pulling the door open a bit wider.

Bai Qian tore open a fresh pack of squid jerky and handed it to the girl, who had perched on the edge of the bed.

Fu Siwan took it and popped a strip into her mouth, only to hear the woman speak up.

“You know, this is my first time playing the role of guardian.”

When Bai Qian talked, she always stood ramrod straight, chin tilted down to meet her counterpart’s eyes.

Fu Siwan, by contrast, had no choice but to crane her neck upward to look at her.

She hated the feeling of inferiority that posture evoked. Her delicate brows knitted together, and she forgot to chew the squid jerky now sitting in her mouth, her aversion plain on her face.

Bai Qian didn’t notice at first and pressed on. “Beyond just being your guardian, though, what I really want is to be your friend—the kind who’d listen no matter what happened to you, the kind you’d actually want to open up to.”

The woman kept her eyes fixed on Fu Siwan the whole time. When she saw the girl’s face growing darker by the second, the beloved squid jerky untouched in her mouth, realization dawned at last. Slowly, she sank into a crouch until their gazes were level. Tentatively, she asked, “So, Fu Siwan, my little friend… would you like to be friends now?”

The woman’s thoughtful gesture sent Fu Siwan’s heart pounding. A blinding, intangible light pierced straight into her eyes, making them sting and water.

Squatting like that couldn’t have been comfortable, but Bai Qian’s expression didn’t flicker. As always, she indulged her without question.

“You hate my bed or something?”

Fu Siwan’s voice came out hoarse, brimming with grievance—the kind that could burst through its thin barrier at the slightest touch and flood the whole room.

Bai Qian chuckled at her goldfish-level memory. “Last week, when I wanted to come in and tidy up for you, who was it that told me not to touch anything in her room?”

Truth be told, she didn’t mind the girl’s territorial streak—like a puppy marking its turf. If anything, it saved her the effort of cleaning up.

Fu Siwan averted her eyes awkwardly. She remembered now and had no idea what to say.

Bai Qian steered the conversation back. “None of that matters. You have your own boundaries, and I won’t force my way past them. That’s not what I came here to say. Fu Siwan, you’re an adult now, so I don’t need to spell it out for you—you know full well how crucial the College Entrance Exam is to someone’s life. I’m not here to lecture you like some know-it-all. I just want to talk to you as a friend. So tell me, honestly, what’s really going through your mind?”

The woman’s warm hand settled over hers, fingers interlocking tightly. “I regret not being part of your life for those first dozen or so years. Bursting into your world like this means my perspective is bound to be a little narrow. For that, I apologize. And now that I’ve thought it through, I realize you haven’t invested much effort into your studies before.”

“Throwing you straight into this intense study routine must feel like a shock to the system—you’re bound to push back. And the facts prove I was right to reflect on it. Fu Siwan, I’m putting the decision in your hands now. Take your time. Think it over calmly. What kind of person do you want to become? What do you envision for your future?”

As Bai Qian stepped out the door, she couldn’t resist glancing back.

“I know there’s more than one path to success. But no matter what you choose, learning is essential. If you can’t even handle the basics of studying theory right now, how do you expect to make it in the future?”

“I’ll be waiting right outside. Whenever you feel like you’ve sorted out your thoughts, come tell me. I won’t rush you—after all, pondering your life’s direction is no simple task. But please don’t keep me waiting too long. Because even as I wait for your answer, the future version of you is surely waiting for it too, isn’t she?”