An hour later, Xiao Zhihao left Murong Yu's office with bloodshot eyes. He kept his head down when he was walking through the corridors so that no one could see his eyes.
BAM!
"Argh..." Xiao Zhihao groaned as he clutched his chest.
"Argh..." a female voice groaned.
When Xiao Zhihao looked at the floor in front of him, there was a younger girl in everyday clothing who was sitting on the floor while rubbing her forehead furiously. She was wearing a jacket and a pair of ripped jeans. Underneath the unzipped jacket was a black t-shirt with metal unicorn on it.
"Are you blind?!" the girl snapped as she glared at him. She then put out a hand.
When Xiao Zhihao looked at her hand with a blurred expression, she rolled her eyes and said, "Help me out! You bumped into me."
Xiao Zhihao reached out and helped her out. As he watched her dust pants off, he added with an annoyed voice, "You were the one who bumped into me."
He looked at her hair, which reached her shoulders, before thinking, "Is this girl homeschooled? But that's a weird hairstyle. What kind of kid choose to dye only a patch of hair? And smack at the forehead too."
The young girl looked at him, and her previously defiant expression turned soft, and she pouted. When Xiao Zhihao saw her lips quivering, he immediately added, "Don't cry! It's not your fault, alright? It's just an accident."
"So it's your fault?" she asked while looking at him with watery eyes.
Xiao Zhihao's mouth gaped open slightly. He did not want to play this kind of game at the moment, so he just shook his head and walked away, hoping that the girl would leave him alone.
However, when he walked away, the young girl refused to give in, so she followed behind him.
After a while, Xiao Zhihao sighed loudly and turned around. "What do you want?" he asked in an irritated tone.
"Did you cry?" she asked curiously, obviously choosing to ignore his tone.
"No, I didn't."
She ran to his front and pointed at his eyes. "Your eyes are red. You cried earlier, didn't you?"
He swatted her hand away gently before walking. He knew that she was still following him, so he asked without looking back, "What do you want?"
"I'm bored."
"Go home. Are you even a student at this school?"
"No. I'm waiting for my brothers."
"Then go wait for them. Leave me alone."
She shrugged. "They are having a club meeting at the moment, and I'm bored."
"Go bother someone else then."
"I don't know anyone else."
"Look!" Xiao Zhihao turned around so abruptly that she bumped into him, and her head, which reached his neck bumped into it. Xiao Zhihao coughed slightly as he rubbed his Adam's apple. "Come on. I don't know you. You shouldn't follow a stranger around even if I'm just a teenager."
"Not like you can do anything to me. My brothers would skin you alive."
Xiao Zhihao sighed. "Who are your brothers?"
"Jack and Lyle."
Xiao Zhihao raised a brow when he heard Jack and Lyle's names. "You mean the Du brothers?"
She thought about it for a moment before saying, "If they are the only ones with that surname, then I guess yeah. Do you know them?"
Xiao Zhihao nodded. "We are acquaintances."
"Like real acquaintances or are you one of their fanboys? They have a lot, you know."
"We are working on a project at the moment. But... they never mentioned that they have a sister."
"Project?" the young girl repeated his word before falling in deep thought. She suddenly looked up at him and asked, "Xiao Zhihao?"
"You know me?"
The young girl placed a hand on his shoulder as she smirked and said, "Of course I know you. I also know your secret identity online."
Xiao Zhihao gently picked up her hand and dropped it before asking, "Who are you?"
The young girl looked around before grabbing Xiao Zhihao's hand. She led him to a quieter area before saying with a proud expression, "The name is Quinn. You may call me 'Your Majesty' or just 'Quinn'. Either way, I'm fine with it. Jack and Lyle are my godbrothers."
"Quinn..." Xiao Zhihao thought for a while, and he realized that Lyle Du mentioned this name before, back when he first asked him to join him on this online celebrity project. "Oh..."
"You've heard of me?" she asked with a smile. She folded her arms as she looked at him up and down. "I've heard the song that you guys published. It's pretty good, and I think the number of subscribers doubled every week."
Xiao Zhihao did not say anything. He recorded that song with Lyle Du and his team a few weeks back, and it was quite a success as well. To protect his identity, Lyle Du hired an artist to draw a anime-style photo of him, which was then used as his avatar online.
Xiao Zhihao was initially happy about that, but with Yun Qi's passing, he did not have the energy nor mood to deal with it. Nor did he want to talk about it at the moment.
"Do you know where they are? I can take you there if you don't."
Quinn glanced at her Rolex watch. She knew where the room was since Jack Du sent her a map earlier, but she did not want to walk alone. Therefore, she looked up at him and shook her head with a forlorn expression. "I kept getting lost."
Xiao Zhihao sighed and said, "I'll take you there then."
Along the way, Quinn Rong kept talking and asking Xiao Zhihao questions, but the latter either ignored her and replied with a very short answer. After a while, Quinn Rong gave up and merely walked next to him quietly.
Perhaps it was because she was obviously too young to be a student here, or perhaps it was because of her outfit, or perhaps it was because of the arrogant way she walked, as if she owned the school ... or perhaps it was because of her hair, but no matter what the reason was, Xiao Zhihao was glad that she took everyone's attention away from him.
When they were near the meeting room, Quinn Rong suddenly yelped and ran to the two teenage boys who just walked out. There were lots of girls and guys waiting outside the room, which made it harder for Quinn Rong to reach them, especially with her size.
However, when Lyle Du noticed her unique hair among the students, he immediately reached out to grab her hand that was waving at him.
"Lyle!" Quinn Rong yelled happily before jumping on Lyle Du, who caught her deftly. "I miss you!"
Lyle Du smiled at her.
"Gasp!"
There was a loud collective gasp sound coming from the other students. Lyle Du rarely smiled at people. It made them wonder who this girl was, and there were some students who were shooting daggers at Quinn Rong.
However, instead of feeling threatened, Quinn Rong merely stuck her tongue out at them cheekily.
Lyle placed her down on the floor before saying, "I told you to wait in the car. Why did you come here?"
"I was bored!" she said with a pout. "Your meeting took forever!"
"Well, I told you I had a huge meeting," he said, before signaling her to walk with him.
As they walked, Jack Du said with a smirk as he glanced down at her, "You got fatter."
"That's not fat!" Quinn Rong made a biting gesture at him before snapping, "I'm hitting puberty!"
Jack placed his hand above her head and shook his head. "Nope, still a shorty!"
"Have you forgotten about the last time I kicked your balls?" Quinn Rong asked with an evil grin. "Godmother is not here to protect you this time."
Upon hearing her threat, Jack Du placed his hands on his crotch area before running away. Quinn Rong was about to give chase, but Lyle Du pulled her back.
"Enough, you guys are old enough to behave."
Quinn Rong sighed. "You're as strict as ever. Like Godfather. My mothers would have a field trip with you when they see you."
Lyle Du frowned. Quinn Rong's mothers, Judge and Layla Rong, often teased him because of how much he looked like his father, down to his temper and behaviors.
"Oh," Quinn Rong slapped her hands together and said, "I met the singer boy earlier."
She then looked around before sighing in disappointment. "He didn't follow us."
"Huh?" Lyle Du looked at her. "Singer boy?"
"Z."
"Oh, you didn't blow his cover, did you?"
Quinn Rong shook her head. "No, but I let him know that I'm in this as well. He seems upset though. Do you know why?"
Lyle Du sighed and nodded. "I heard that his best friend passed away recently, and somehow, that information got leaked out. I guess everyone had been giving him weird looks, which probably made him uncomfortable."
"Is it just looks?" she asked.
"What do you mean?" Lyle Du asked.
"He's injured. There are cuts on his face, and there are bandaids on his hand as well. Here." She pointed to her knuckles on one hand and said, "I think that's a punching wound. I'd get the same injury in kickboxing classes every now and then."
Lyle Du frowned. He took out his phone and texted his friend, to ask him to check on the matter with Xiao Zhihao. After he was done and put away his phone, he looked at Quinn Rong and said, "I'll deal with his matter. Let's go home now. I'm sure Dad and Mum would be very happy to see you."
She grinned widely. "I can't wait to see Little Monkey and Baby Wyatt! I'm so excited!"