After the sports meet, Huo Guining became good friends with Chen Xi, Fang Yuan, and Qi Xin.
Before this, due to her mentally mature nature, Huo Guining had never developed friendships with her classmates. Even in her previous life, she had few friends because of her weak constitution, which often led to hospital visits.
This time, the experience of bonding with the girls felt novel to her.
In their free time, they often went out together to have fun. Sometimes Huo Guining would bring her sketchpad, other times she'd just join them in their carefree activities.
Huo Xiaozheng noticed that Guining's anxiety had visibly decreased, which eased his worries considerably.
That year, although Huo Guining's academic performance still far surpassed her classmates, she didn't skip any grades. She also continued to hold her position as deputy class monitor.
On Huo Guining's birthday, which fell in the depths of winter, the Huo family had a rare argument over her birthday celebration.
"I've got one foot in the grave already. Am I not qualified to compete with you, her father, for the right to organize the birthday party?" Old Master Huo fumed, his mustache quivering.
Zheng Jinxiu, though reluctant to watch, couldn't help but chime in: "Xiaozheng, look, for the past few years, you've had complete control over Guining's birthday celebrations."
"Isn't it our turn this year?"
Huo Xiaozheng sat calmly in a corner of the living room, his expression unchanged as he heard this.
"It's not that simple," he said, taking a sip of tea and speaking leisurely. "In previous years, I always listened to Guining. Whatever she wanted, I made it happen."
"This year is different. I have my own ideas."
Hearing his sophistry, Old Master Huo nearly choked on his anger. "I should call Guining down here to listen to your nonsense!"
Huo Xiaozheng's lips curled into a smile, his eyes brimming with confidence, as if to say, 'It's useless, Guining loves her father very much.'
Zheng Jinxiu sighed, "Oh, your father and I are already in our seventies. This joy of family... oh..."
Huo Xiaozheng's smile faltered. When the hard approach failed, they were now playing the family card?
Huo Yueze, wearing an expression identical to Huo Xiaozheng's, came down from upstairs. He had finally gotten a day off to visit his grandparents at the old house, only to stumble upon this drama.
"Grandpa, Grandma, stop acting. Guining is grown up now and has her own friends. She might prefer to celebrate with them," Huo Yueze said, exasperated.
Huo Xiaozheng frowned, pondering silently. Recently, Guining had been spending more of her free time going out. According to the bodyguards' reports, she got along very well with those three girls. The four of them were always laughing and having fun together, no matter what they were doing.
Thinking about it, Huo Yueze's words made sense.
"That's easy to solve," Huo Xiaozheng said. "We'll just invite all her friends over."
Huo Yueze retorted, "Would you invite your friends to Guining's birthday party?"
Huo Guining nodded immediately: "That would be great."
With the major decision made, a week before Huo Guining's birthday, Old Master Huo contacted her to ask if she had any specific requests for the party.
Huo Guining told Old Master Huo her wishes in great detail.
After a long silence, Old Master Huo finally agreed readily.
Meanwhile, Huo Guining extended invitations to her friends.
"Are you free this Friday evening? I'd like to invite you to my birthday party," Huo Guining said, handing out invitations to Chen Xi and the others.
Chen Xi let out an exclamation of admiration: "Wow, these invitations feel so luxurious!"
The invitations featured traditional Chinese landscape paintings, with the content handwritten by Old Master Huo himself.
The calligraphy was exquisite, the writing style dignified.
Huo Guining explained, "My grandfather wrote these."
The three girls exclaimed in unison: "Your family really dotes on you!"
Huo Guining smiled and waved it off.
Chen Xi's voice was a bit too loud, standing out in the classroom that had just finished lessons.
A classmate who overheard snapped, "Chen Xi, you're such a bootlicker. You envy everything. Are you that desperate for attention?"
The speaker was Zeng Zhilin. She was quite pretty and hung out more with girls from other classes, often gathering in a small clique.
There were rumors that she frequently bullied younger students.
Chen Xi had once secretly gossiped about it, swearing that someone had photographic evidence, and warned Huo Guining to stay away from them.
Now it seemed...
Huo Guining frowned: "Zeng Zhilin, we're in high school now. Don't you understand basic courtesy?"
Huo Guining usually appeared very easy-going in class, so Zeng Zhilin hadn't expected her to confront her like this.
But being publicly embarrassed made Zeng Zhilin very angry.
"Say that again if you dare!" she challenged.
Huo Guining's lips curled into a slight smile, her eyes filled with disdain.