"What should we do?"
"Can the plan still continue?"
"Why did Xia Qingtian show up out of the blue?"
"Exactly, with her around, how can we..."
"Shh..." Yu Qian immediately made a shushing gesture, glanced around, and then said in a low voice, "What are you afraid of? We hired people from outside school. Even if Xia Qingtian investigates afterwards, she won't find us. It's Xia Qingyu herself who is asking for it, flirting around!"
"But..." The person seemed to want to say something more, but was interrupted by Yu Qian.
"In any case, this is something we planned together. It's too late for you to back out now. We might as well go with the flow."
Hearing Yu Qian say this, the other girls looked at each other with worried expressions.
They disliked Xia Qingyu and wanted to teach her a lesson, but it seemed Yu Qian was the one who brought this up.
They were just watching the show and fanning the flames, so why did it become "we planned together"?
Xia Qingtian's sudden appearance had caught them off guard.
They still remembered what happened at the last parent-teacher meeting. If Xia Qingtian found out what they were planning, who knew what she would do!
"This time, we're just hiring people to put on a play. We're not hitting or scolding her. We just want to show Li Xiaozhong and Nie Qingkong Xia Qingyu's true colors. We're eliminating evil for the people, doing a good deed. Why are you all chickening out?" Yu Qian said, "Moreover, whoever comes will at most cause a scene and then leave."
"Even if Xia Qingtian is capable, she can't find a needle in a haystack!"
Hearing Yu Qian say this, the expressions of the others softened considerably.
"Alright, let's go eat first," Yu Qian then showed her usual smile and said, "Later, we'll just watch the show."
The others then managed a somewhat unnatural smile and followed Yu Qian to the cafeteria.
At the same time, Xia Qingyu was unaware that danger was approaching. She was wholeheartedly putting dishes into Xia Qingtian's bowl: "This is delicious, that's good, and try this too."
"Mhm, okay, I'll eat it." Xia Qingtian felt that her eating speed couldn't keep up with Xia Qingyu's pace of serving food.
The Li Xiaoxiao siblings next to them were in a similar situation.
"You can't be picky. Eat this too, have a bite of this and then I'll give you a bite of that, here, this is your favorite." Li Xiaozhong was also constantly serving Li Xiaoxiao, paying close attention to nutritional balance in the process.
"Mmm... I don't like that. Can I have more of this? I love this! This one!" Li Xiaoxiao pointed to the dishes she liked while eating.
Shi Xingwu, sitting beside them, ate his own food while blinking and watching the other four.
Good heavens.
They were eating at the same table, so why did it feel like he was an outsider?
Ridiculous!
Across an aisle, Nie Qingkong sat diagonally behind them, his gaze involuntarily falling on Xia Qingyu.
Didn't she say she couldn't be bothered with others?
When he was injured, he didn't see Xia Qingyu being so busy and attentive.
"Ungrateful child..." he murmured, placed his chopsticks on the edge of his tray with a clatter, then stood up and walked out of the cafeteria.
A while later, Xia Qingtian also finished her lunch, exclaiming that she couldn't eat any more.
Only then did Xia Qingyu leave her alone. She also ate a few bites and felt full.
"You guys go back to the classroom first. We have to go to the small conference room," Li Xiaoxiao said while drinking her beverage and checking her phone for notifications in the "Little Assistants" group chat. "See you this afternoon."
Hearing Li Xiaoxiao say this, Xia Qingyu and Li Xiaozhong didn't pester them anymore. They dragged the somewhat clueless Shi Xingwu and left the cafeteria first.
Xia Qingtian and Li Xiaoxiao headed to the small conference room, reminiscing about their high school days along the way.
"Back then, I saw you spending so much time with Mo Jianing every day, I didn't talk to you much," Li Xiaoxiao said with a smile.
"Everyone has their reckless youthful years." Hearing Li Xiaoxiao mention Mo Jianing, Xia Qingtian's lips turned downwards, but she also recalled many of her times with Mo Jianing in this high school.
At that time, Mo Jianing was very vain and a little insecure. While enjoying her kindness, she didn't forget to belittle Xia Qingtian's taste in words, calling her a nouveau riche.
She borrowed money from Xia Qingtian multiple times but never returned it. Expenses for gatherings, trips around the city, and even drinks and snacks when they went out were all paid for by Xia Qingtian.
If Xia Qingtian hadn't symbolically asked for some money back from Mo Jianing when recording songs before, Mo Jianing would probably never have returned it.
Recalling seeing Mo Jianing at the business conference she attended with Mr. Gu before, Xia Qingtian let out a scoff.
Without her, the "nouveau riche's" financial power, to pave the way for her, without her voice as a support, Mo Jianing's life seemed exceptionally difficult.
Otherwise, she wouldn't look so much older.
However, since then, Mo Jianing hadn't contacted her again, and she really didn't know how she was doing now.
She hoped Mo Jianing would be more resilient in the entertainment industry. If she just collapsed, it would be quite boring.
As they chatted and laughed, they reached the small conference room. The other little assistants had already arrived. As soon as Xia Qingtian and Li Xiaoxiao were seated, the grade director arrived, smiling and saying, "Everyone is here, right? Let's begin now that everyone is here."
"Have you all settled in this morning?" the grade director got straight to the point. "We just received a notice that an alumna from our city's No. 1 High School wants to participate in a talent show. This alumna thought of our school, so she wants to film a support video here. It won't be long, just five minutes. She hopes our students can cooperate, and it's also a way to promote the school."
"The school's intention is that the academic pressure for the second and third years of high school is quite heavy, so they want to select students with good external appearances from each class in the first year. It will take at most one or two class periods."
"You are the teaching assistants for each class in the first year, so why don't you recommend them?" The grade director looked at Xia Qingtian and the others with a smile. "By the way, students who participate in the video shoot will receive a class-wide shared award, which is custom stationery from our school. It's not valuable, but it should be a memorable experience. Each class will recommend one boy and one girl. What do you think?"
"The activity is quite good, but we've only been here for half a day. It's not easy to decide who to choose. Why not let the students vote anonymously?" someone suggested.
"That's fine too," the grade director nodded. "Then we'll do an anonymous vote during the silent reading time this afternoon."
"Director, who is the alumna?" Li Xiaoxiao asked curiously.
"She's in your graduating year," the director said with a smile. "Mo Jianing."
"..."