"Nie Qingkong is so amazing..."
"Yeah!"
"He's so handsome, he looks so refined, and his grades are so good. I didn't expect him to be so capable!"
"Really! Really! He's a god!"
...
With his clean-cut, refined appearance and the gentle smile that always graced his face, Nie Qingkong had, within just a week of transferring, captured the attention of the girls with absolute dominance.
Especially after this exam, no one had expected him to be not only good-looking but also so academically outstanding. Many took the chance after class to sneak glances at him by the classroom door.
Although Li Xiaozhong also had good grades, his personality had been too gloomy before. Everyone was a little afraid of him, and some had even secretly labeled Li Xiaozhong with presumptuous tags like "antisocial personality" and "future murderer."
However, after the matter concerning Li Xiaozhong's parents was revealed, and everyone learned about his family and childhood experiences, no one continued to label him in secret. In fact, many sought to appease him.
Yet, Li Xiaozhong's attitude towards others remained consistent. Apart from the campus belle Xia Qingyu and the sports scholarship student Shi Xingwu, Li Xiaozhong hardly spoke to anyone else.
Though others were met with disinterest, they dared not say anything due to Li Xiaozhong's family background.
While some had envied Xia Qingyu before, not long ago, Xia Qingyu's decisive verbal attack on Qian Xiaoyue during a parent-teacher conference showed that Xia Qingyu had someone backing her, and they couldn't afford to provoke her.
Therefore, everyone now kept a respectful distance from both Li Xiaozhong and Xia Qingyu.
Now that Nie Qingkong, who was so outstanding, gentle, handsome, and approachable, had appeared, many couldn't help but have their thoughts stirred.
Nie Qingkong acted as if he was completely unaware of everyone's thoughts. He attended classes as usual, took breaks as usual, accepted everyone's well-wishes with open arms, and maintained a pleasant demeanor with everyone, appearing easy to get along with.
This made Nie Qingkong even more popular at City No. 1 High School.
However, Xia Qingyu and Li Xiaozhong both felt that Nie Qingkong was not as "gentle" as he appeared on the surface. Xia Qingyu felt uneasy seeing his smile that seemed to hide a knife.
With the release of the mid-term exam results, Xia Qingyu became even more convinced of her initial thoughts: Nie Qingkong was not a simple person.
On the day school ended, Xia Qingyu and Li Xiaozhong packed their belongings and headed out. Shi Xingwu said he had something to attend to at his family's martial arts gym and left first, disappearing in a flash.
After leaving the school, Xia Qingyu and Li Xiaozhong didn't rush home. Instead, they went to a small cafe near the school for a temporary meeting.
The main topic was about the direction of future investments. Only towards the end of the meeting did Xia Qingyu bring up Nie Qingkong to Li Xiaozhong.
Li Xiaozhong shared the same feeling as Xia Qingyu.
Nie Qingkong was very dangerous.
Although they had reached a consensus on this matter, they couldn't figure out Nie Qingkong's motives, nor did they have sufficient evidence, so they had to let the topic drop.
Leaving the cafe, Xia Qingyu and Li Xiaozhong said their goodbyes at the street corner. Li Xiaozhong crossed the road and walked east, while Xia Qingyu turned the corner and walked towards the parking lot to the west.
Her driver was still waiting for her there.
Not long after she started walking, Xia Qingyu saw Nie Qingkong, with his schoolbag on his back, seemingly waiting for her. "Hi~"
"Something up?" Xia Qingyu looked at Nie Qingkong, a hint of wariness appearing in her eyes.
"Don't be so nervous. In broad daylight, would I kidnap you?" Nie Qingkong still smiled gently. "Shall we chat?"
"I don't know you well, and there's nothing to chat about," Xia Qingyu huffed at Nie Qingkong and was about to walk past him.
"Liu Ru." Nie Qingkong uttered a name, successfully making Xia Qingyu stop. "That's a nice name, but I prefer the name Liu Nuoran."
"What do you want!" Upon hearing Nie Qingkong mention her mother's name, Xia Qingyu's brows furrowed, and her gaze towards Nie Qingkong instantly turned sharp.
"Let's chat." With that, Nie Qingkong, without giving Xia Qingyu a chance to refuse, turned and walked towards a small park nearby.
The sun was setting at this hour. The afterglow of the setting sun cast an orange hue over the old facilities in the park. Tall trees and dense bushes rustled around, as if small animals were occasionally darting through.
In the distance, only a few children dressed as elementary school students were still playing.
"Phew... So peaceful..." Nie Qingkong narrowed his eyes, gazing into the distance, then turned his head to look at Xia Qingyu. "Right?"
Xia Qingyu didn't respond. She just kept her brows furrowed, deliberately maintaining a distance from Nie Qingkong, her posture conveying a complete sense of defense.
"You don't have to be like this..." Nie Qingkong chuckled helplessly at her reaction, raising a hand to touch his nose. "I've always been quite confident in my looks..."
"How do you know my mother's name! What else do you know!" Xia Qingyu demanded.
Liu Nuoran was her mother's name from a long time ago, a name that perhaps even Xia Honglang didn't know.
Although Xia Qingyu didn't know why her mother had changed her name, she believed her mother must have had her reasons.
Now, Liu Ru was her mother's name.
How did Nie Qingkong know her mother's former name from so many years ago?
"I told you, don't be so nervous," Nie Qingkong said with a smile. "I, I really like money, I like it very, very much."
"Are you blackmailing me?" Xia Qingyu's brows were tightly knit, her beautiful eyes wide open.
"Blackmailing you? Hahaha." Nie Qingkong burst into hearty laughter. "I really don't care about the little money your Xia Corporation has!"
Hearing Nie Qingkong's words, Xia Qingyu became even more bewildered.
The Xia Corporation's valuation had increased so many times over. It was her best-performing domestic stock holding, and it had limitless potential for the future.
What did Nie Qingkong mean by saying that?
"l." Nie Qingkong continued after he finished laughing. "The genius girl who suddenly rose in the stock market, although there were also rumors of a brother and sister pair.
These two individuals, with their keen financial senses, managed to multiply their initial capital a hundredfold in the shortest possible time, accomplishing it in just a few months."
Nie Qingkong looked at Xia Qingyu and said, "These siblings you're referring to are you and Li Xiaozhong, right?"
Upon hearing Nie Qingkong's words, Xia Qingyu had a rough idea in her mind. "You actually investigated me specifically."
"No, I'm only interested in money. I merely investigated the flow of money," Nie Qingkong said with a mysterious smile, pointing at Xia Qingyu. "And by the way, I checked up on you."
"What do you want?" Xia Qingyu said, "If you want to interfere, forget it. I'm not planning to expand the team right now."
Her current team, consisting of herself and Li Xiaozhong, was enough.
Even if they were to add someone, they would never choose someone like Nie Qingkong.
Too dangerous.
"I'm very optimistic about the future potential of you and Li Xiaozhong, but rather than joining you, I'm more curious about you," Nie Qingkong said, taking a step closer to Xia Qingyu. "Especially you."
Seeing Nie Qingkong step forward, Xia Qingyu took a step back.
At this moment, the afterglow of the setting sun had dimmed, and the streetlights in the park illuminated one after another.
As Xia Qingyu looked directly at Nie Qingkong, a whimpering dog bark, accompanied by laughter, drifted over.
Xia Qingyu frowned and looked back, spotting several people not far away. One of them seemed to be kicking something with his foot, and the whimpering bark was coming from beneath his foot.
Nie Qingkong also noticed this. After seeing clearly, he also frowned, a trace of disdain appearing in his eyes.