Chapter 25 — Best Frenemies

"What do you mean, you won?" Gu Mengyao was baffled.

"I bet on Wei Zhao to win, of course." Shen Yushu's face flushed as she looked at Wei Zhao. Though bolder by nature than Gu Mengyao, she still couldn't help blushing at the thought of what she had just seen.

Gu Mengyao said nothing, clearly still not recovered from the incident.

"I didn't win. They just went off to change clothes." With that, Wei Zhao returned to his seat. He felt thoroughly humiliated today, having let two girls see that. It was his treasure, meant only for his future wife's eyes, and now the two of them had gotten a look at it ahead of time.

Zhong Yongliang did not reappear all morning, and Gao Xiaofu and Zhang Naipao had vanished along with him. Presumably the three of them had gone to bathe and buy clothes, which would hardly be done quickly.

At the noon break, a bespectacled boy sitting in the row ahead of Wei Zhao turned around. "Hey, brother, where are you eating lunch?"

"I don't know yet. Is there a cafeteria at this school?" Wei Zhao had been worrying about where to eat, and here someone was kindly striking up a conversation. He asked at once.

"There is. I'll take you there." The bespectacled boy extended his hand in friendship. "Let's get acquainted. My name's Kang Xiaofeng."

"Wei Zhao. Nice to meet you." Wei Zhao shook his hand.

Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu had vanished the moment class ended, but at school Wei Zhao had no need to worry; there was basically no one who could harm them.

The two walked out of the classroom shoulder to shoulder, and it was plain that Kang Xiaofeng loved to talk. "So, brother, what school did you come from?"

"I came out of the mountains," Wei Zhao said, making no secret of his past. "You could say I never really had any proper schooling. It's very poor out there, no formal schools."

"Ah, then your grades must be excellent!" Kang Xiaofeng looked at Wei Zhao in surprise. After all, there were only two ways into City No. 1 Middle School: one was to buy your way in, and the other was to test in with high marks. The first needed no explanation — so long as you were willing to spend the money, the school would take you. The high scorers came in several tiers too, the best of them having all tuition and fees waived plus a monthly stipend of a thousand yuan.

Since Wei Zhao said his hometown was poor, without even a proper school, it must be a deeply impoverished, backward place. And judging by his clothes and manner of speech, he hardly seemed to have any powerful connections behind him, so buying his way in was even less likely. The only remaining possibility was that he had gotten in on his grades.

"So-so..." Wei Zhao said with a bitter smile. About his own identity, he could hardly explain too much; let Kang Xiaofeng think whatever he liked.

"Ha, brother, you're too modest." Kang Xiaofeng had himself tested into No. 1 Middle School, and in his heart he rather looked down on students like Zhong Yongliang who paid their way in to kill time. Seeing that Wei Zhao had also gotten in on his grades, he took an instant liking to him.

The two headed toward the cafeteria together. Along the way, pretty young female students were everywhere, and Wei Zhao felt dazzled by the sight.

"Brother, so you're into that too!" Noticing Wei Zhao's eyes roving about, Kang Xiaofeng gave a sly grin and said in a low voice, "But let me tell you, there are only a handful in this school who really count as top-tier."

"Top-tier?" Wei Zhao blinked and asked. Though his gaze had swept over a few girls just now, he had mostly been looking at the school's facilities and surroundings.

"Hey, brother, no need to play innocent with me." Kang Xiaofeng clapped him on the shoulder. "At our age, it's only natural to have thoughts about pretty girls. But looking is fine, and a little fantasizing in your head is fine too — actually chasing them, though, and you'll just get a nose full of dust."

Wei Zhao smiled wryly at this. So the boy was a wolf in sheep's clothing — he looked refined enough, glasses and all, but underneath he was a lecher.

Seeing Wei Zhao stay silent, Kang Xiaofeng assumed he was unconvinced, and went on: "I'm telling you, brother, don't take it hard. The truth is, these days good grades aren't everything. Sure, that counts for something, but what girls like most is a handsome, dashing fellow — and most important, a pocket full of cash. We can forget about it."

"Ha, that theory of yours is rather interesting," Wei Zhao said with a laugh, though inwardly he disagreed. To girls like Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu, money had long since lost all meaning — otherwise, with Zhong Yongliang's family background, how could he possibly have failed to win one over?

"Of course. But theory alone is useless. The few top-tier girls at our school have their standards set sky-high." Kang Xiaofeng shook his head.

"Top-tier? Who are they?" Wei Zhao's curiosity was piqued. He had nothing better to do anyway, and since Kang Xiaofeng seemed intent on getting close to him, having one more friend at school couldn't hurt.

"Ha, come on, brother — don't tell me you haven't noticed? Right here in our class, we've got two of them." Kang Xiaofeng grew rather smug as he said this. Sure, the beauties had nothing to do with him, but they were in his class all the same, and boasting about that was enough to make other people jealous. Not for any other reason — just for the feast it was for the eyes.

"You can't mean Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu, can you?" Those were the only two girls' names Wei Zhao knew, and back when he'd looked over Gu Mengyao's file, he'd learned she was the school beauty — and her close friend Shen Yushu was naturally one in ten thousand as well.

"What the hell — no way, brother. You've only been here one morning and you've already got both their names?" Kang Xiaofeng's mouth dropped open into an "O," and a look of astonishment spread across his face.

Seeing that expression, Wei Zhao knew he had definitely been misunderstood. But there was no way he could explain the strange, unclassifiable relationship between himself and Gu Mengyao, so he had no choice but to silently accept the title of pervert.

"You don't have to look at me like that. Honestly, I'd bet eighty percent of the boys in this class dream about those two," Kang Xiaofeng said with a chuckle, pushing up his somewhat faded gold-rimmed glasses. "But the only one who dares to actually go after them is Zhong Yongliang."

"Zhong Yongliang's family must be loaded, right?" Wei Zhao knew that the feud between himself and Zhong Yongliang was already set. As long as he kept doing his job of protecting Gu Mengyao, that feud could never be resolved — unless Zhong Yongliang gave up pursuing Gu Mengyao himself.

So Wei Zhao decided to learn a thing or two about Zhong Yongliang from Kang Xiaofeng.

"What, you didn't know?" Kang Xiaofeng was taken aback, then laughed. "Oh, right — you're from the mountains. I forgot. Zhong Yongliang's family is filthy rich. His father, Zhong Sanguo, owns the Kaidi Grand Hotel, and the family has several other businesses in this city too — places like Echo KTV and Kaka Disco all belong to them."