Pretending To Be A Boss

I asked her why later on.

She said vaguely,

"Because only Tang Xian allows me to follow him. I can't get close to anyone else."

I thought to myself, so be it. Even if there was a burden following me, a complete idiot, it wasn't something extraordinary. It was just two annoying fellows together.

So I let her follow.

Indeed, in everyone's eyes, Yan Xiaoling liked me, but she was like the blood of a mosquito on the wall. Even though I loathed her, I couldn't wipe her away, so I just let her be.

No one would say anything.

Only Ke Shang Lu and his friends knew that the riot between the second and first years was caused by me standing up for Yan Xiaoling.

So in the second year, Yan Xiaoling becoming my sidekick gradually became something everyone got used to.

The number of people bullying Yan Xiaoling also lessened a lot.

Yan Xiaoling, however, did not change her style. She still smiled only at me.

She had become a bit wiser and could see that some things were not worn on people's faces, but hidden in their eyes.

Eyes filled with a mix of sympathy, superiority, and disdain – she gradually recognized them, so her smiles became even rarer.

But every time I looked at her, she still smiled like an idiot.

I asked Yan Xiaoling, what if, in the sixth year, there was no talent? Without talent, one would be demoted to the bottom.

She said, "I can follow Tang Xian. Wherever you go, I'll go."

I said, "What if I don't let you follow? I don't know what my talent is, but I will surely have one. The place I'm meant to go in the future is somewhere you absolutely can't reach. In this 'Pyramid', the distance between people is not confined by mountains but by the hierarchy between them."

I didn't know if Yan Xiaoling understood.

But for the first time, that idiot showed a frightened expression.

It was as if the sand she carefully held in her hand was still slipping through her fingers.

Seeing Yan Xiaoling looking scared, I felt irritated again and said, "If you try harder, I might let you follow."

She began to smile again. As simple as when we first met.

I couldn't be bothered to calculate the future. I thought, even if I took a drag along, I could still live well.

Yan Xiaoling indeed tried very hard. Sometimes she no longer followed me and was alone, buried in a pile of books in the classroom.

But it was useless. Her grades were always at the bottom, even the new juniors were not dumber than her.

So, the second year slowly came to an end. Yan Xiaoling, with her stagnant grades, faced the third year.

The third year was not as long, at least for Yan Xiaoling, it was very brief.

That year, I began trying to reconcile with others, slowly improving relationships with everyone. Of course, there were still many who hated me. Some even hated me more after I reconciled with Ke Shang Lu and the others.

But it was strange, something I thought impossible to change in the first year inexcusably began to slowly shift.

It was as if another personality was being born within my soul.

That year, my relationship with Ke Shang Lu and the others gradually improved. Stay connected via My Virtual Library Empire

I tried to be less harsh in my perspective towards others.

But I still didn't believe in Santa Claus.

It was also that year when Yan Xiaoling's constant presence behind me caught more and more attention.

Perhaps it still had some novelty. Like the smartest person always being accompanied by the dumbest one. The gossipers increased as well.

In Yan Xiaoling's eyes, fear began to take hold—shards of locked-up fear. I didn't care, thinking it was just her troubling herself.

But not long afterward, she did something very foolish..."

As the rather lengthy story reached this point, Tang Xian stopped.

It was only after some long pauses that Li Xiaoyu came back to her senses.

She remembered the name Yan Xiaoling; she knew it.

It was a name she had overlooked.

She saw it while checking the transfer student list for the third year.

Because of her poor grades and stupid manner, Li Xiaoyu subconsciously judged that Tang Xian couldn't possibly like such a person.

But things turned out completely different from Li Xiaoyu's expectation, with the smartest person always having the dumbest person by his side.

"What happened... why did she transfer?"

"She didn't transfer; she just left," Tang Xian said in an even tone, maintaining this flat emotion throughout the story.

Li Xiaoyu, however, did not quite understand.

"Where did she go?"

"Yan Xiaoling was very foolish. She believed whatever others said, without ever changing.

She wanted to become smarter because only by being smarter could she stay by my side.

Not knowing where she heard it from, someone told Yan Xiaoling that in the center of the lake, there was a fish, and finding this fish would make her smarter.

Clearly, they were deceiving her, but she lacked the ability to discern. Especially when a group of people scared her, saying I didn't want her anymore.

So Yan Xiaoling swam toward the center of the lake.

After she swam to the center, she looked at the distant people shouting:

"Where's the fish? Where is it? I can't find it..."

The laughter grew louder, and people on shore were eager to see Yan Xiaoling scramble ashore in a sorry state.

But it did not take long for their laughter to die down.

Because Yan Xiaoling had no intention of swimming back to shore.