The sun was beginning to set, and the pets at the pet park were gradually heading home one after another.
After playing all afternoon, Ji Dadan was exhausted and fast asleep in Ji Zhaoxi's arms.
Xie Sili, holding onto Leiting's leash, smiled as he bid Ji Zhaoxi goodbye.
"See you tomorrow."
With something still weighing on her mind, Ji Zhaoxi nodded hesitantly. "See you tomorrow."
Just as Xie Sili was about to turn around, Ji Zhaoxi suddenly asked in a small voice, "Xie Sili, everything I told you before about Jiang Shiyi... did you believe it?"
Xie Sili paused, considering what kind of answer she was hoping to hear.
"I believed it."
Hearing his answer, Ji Zhaoxi's face paled, and she gave a low hum of acknowledgment.
Seeing her expression, Xie Sili sighed. "But I didn't believe all of it. I have my own judgment about what kind of person Jiang Shiyi is."
Ji Zhaoxi's eyes instantly lit up. That was good.
Xie Sili suddenly spoke up, "Xixi, can I call you that?"
His eyes curved into a smile. "I heard your mother call you that the other day."
Ji Zhaoxi froze for a moment. Her ears instantly turned red, flushed with embarrassment.
"I guess... that's fine."
It sounded a bit strange coming from an outsider, as usually only her family called her by that nickname.
After the two parted ways, Ji Zhaoxi carried Ji Dadan and headed home.
Her mind was still lingering on what Xie Sili had just said to her.
"Xixi, you might not have noticed, but whenever it's just the two of us, you always seem especially concerned about Jiang Shiyi."
"I thought we were friends now. Maybe, in the future, we could talk about something else?"
Ji Zhaoxi frowned, gently pinching Ji Dadan's ear.
But other than Jiang Shiyi, what else did she and Xie Sili have to talk about?
Monday was probably the most painful day for any student.
As soon as they arrived at school in the morning, the complaints in the classroom never stopped. The content of the complaints was mostly the same, generally lamenting how quickly the weekend had flown by.
There was still some time before class started when an unfamiliar boy suddenly appeared at the door.
"Excuse me, could you please call Jiang Shiyi out for a second?"
The boy had dyed hair, and the stud on his earlobe caught the light. He was holding something in his hand, with only a corner showing, but the experienced Ji Zhaoxi could tell at a glance that it was a love letter.
He was not Jiang Shiyi's type.
Jiang Shiyi was called out. The two stood in the corridor. The boy's face flushed bright red as he shoved the love letter into Jiang Shiyi's hands.
Passersby watched the spectacle with amusement, but the boy only had eyes for Jiang Shiyi. Wearing a gentle smile, Jiang Shiyi handed the love letter back to him.
The boy refused to take it, staring at her intently. With a helpless sigh, Jiang Shiyi placed the love letter on the floor.
As Ji Zhaoxi watched, she was suddenly startled by the boy's shout. Jiang Shiyi's expression remained unchanged, still wearing that faint smile, looking incredibly calm.
Ji Zhaoxi suddenly felt that Jiang Shiyi and Xie Sili were very much alike.
In the end, the boy picked up his love letter and left with a look of resentment.
He came back a few more times over the next couple of days, but he was rejected by Jiang Shiyi every single time.
Ji Zhaoxi really wanted to tell the boy that when pursuing someone, you shouldn't just look at their standards, but also consider your own.
But she never expected that the boy would actually seek her out.
The two of them had been locked in a standoff in the corner for quite a while.
"You hate Jiang Shiyi, don't you?" The boy looked at Ji Zhaoxi with a hint of disdain in his eyes.
Jiang Shiyi was so outstanding that it was perfectly normal for other girls to be jealous of her, and he figured he would only associate with that kind of girl.
Ji Zhaoxi didn't say anything; she just kept her head down.
The boy started to grow impatient. "What are you pretending for? I've already heard about the things you did to Jiang Shiyi. Aren't you just jealous of her?"
"Here's the deal. You do something for me, and once I get together with Jiang Shiyi, I'll pay you."
Ji Zhaoxi cherished her opportunity to study at High School A, and she also cherished her future.
"No, thanks."
The boy glared at her in disbelief. "You dare refuse me? Do you know who I am?"
Ji Zhaoxi honestly shook her head. "It doesn't matter who you are. I don't want to help you."
Furious, the boy lunged forward to hit her. Startled, Ji Zhaoxi immediately picked up a rock from the ground and smashed it against his head.
The intense pain completely dazed the boy.
He had never expected Ji Zhaoxi to fight back.
Taking advantage of his stunned state, Ji Zhaoxi quickly slipped away.
Why was she so unlucky? This guy failed in his confession to Jiang Shiyi, and somehow she ended up getting dragged into it.
Afterward, Ji Zhaoxi pushed the incident to the back of her mind.
But she never imagined that there would be a follow-up to this matter.
A few days after she injured the boy, her homeroom teacher suddenly called her into the office.
"Ji Zhaoxi, were you the one who caused the injury on that boy's head?" the homeroom teacher asked tentatively.
When the grade director came to him earlier, he almost thought he had misheard the name.
Ji Zhaoxi—the Ji Zhaoxi who usually didn't even dare to speak, the most well-behaved Ji Zhaoxi in the class.
She smashed someone's head with a rock? He didn't believe it.
Under the homeroom teacher's encouraging gaze, Ji Zhaoxi slowly nodded her head.
The homeroom teacher's expression changed, and Ji Zhaoxi hurriedly explained.
"Sir, he cornered me and demanded my help. I was so scared that I refused him, but then he suddenly lunged at me. I really had no other choice."
With red eyes, Ji Zhaoxi spoke vaguely.
The homeroom teacher's face instantly turned dark. "Which corner?"
Ji Zhaoxi choked back a sob. "The corner by the wall near Building 2. The security camera there is broken; he definitely chose that spot on purpose."
"That little bastard!"
The homeroom teacher slammed his hand hard on the desk. He looked at Ji Zhaoxi, who didn't dare to look up, and carefully chose his words. "Then, Ji Zhaoxi, did he... do anything to you?"
Ji Zhaoxi shook her head. "Sir, he didn't have the chance. I ran away as fast as I could when he wasn't paying attention."
At the same time, a post on the school forum was brewing up a storm. It was about a certain two-faced girl in the sophomore honors class and all the things she had done to Jiang Shiyi.
Meanwhile, Ji Zhaoxi, who was still in the office, remained completely oblivious.
Hearing this, the homeroom teacher finally breathed a sigh of relief. He comforted her, "The school and I will definitely get justice for you in this matter. For now, you go back to class. I'll call you over when there's an update."
By the time Ji Zhaoxi walked out of the office, every class had already started discussing the contents of the trending post.
The main reason was that the post was written with too much vivid detail. The main character's name, her photo, what she did, the time, and the location were all crystal clear. The post quickly climbed to the number one spot on the school's trending list.
At first, only one or two students in her class were talking about it, but then the voices of discussion grew louder and louder.
"Was she called to the office just now because of this?"
"Definitely. The teachers always find out about these things before we do."
"I knew it. I felt something was off about that class fund incident last time."
Suddenly, the classroom door was pushed open.
Seeing the person who walked in, the classroom instantly fell silent.
As if she hadn't noticed the strange atmosphere in the class, Ji Zhaoxi calmly sat back down in her seat.
The others exchanged silent glances and didn't say another word.
