The car wasn't allowed on campus, so Uncle Li had no choice but to drop her off at the gate.
He pushed open the driver's door, braving the increasingly heavy rain, and opened the rear door. He kindly supported the upper edge of the door frame and said, "Young mistress, we're here."
"Okay."
Shen Jianyi opened her umbrella. As soon as she stepped on the waterlogged ground, her white sneakers got a bit wet.
She walked straight into the campus. Uncle Li didn't leave until he was sure Shen Jianyi had safely entered the school gate and her back had completely disappeared from his sight.
Maybe it was because of the cloudy and rainy day. The students in the classroom were all drowsy, and a few were already asleep on their desks.
There was still half an hour before the compulsory course. She sat in the middle seat by the window and took out the book *Personality Psychology* and started reading.
She even suspected that if hypnosis didn't work on Lu Jinsheng, it might be because his irritability was another personality of his. However, before learning more, Shen Jianyi couldn't jump to conclusions.
A dozen minutes passed.
Shen Jianyi was sitting there, engrossed in her reading. Just then, the giggles of girls came from the previously quiet classroom.
"I told you so. She wouldn't dare tell her family!" The short - haired girl leaned against the desk in the first row and laughed boldly. "I saw her just now. I bet she won't be able to make it to today's class."
Song Qi lowered her voice. "Is it really okay for us to do this? After all, she's from the Lu family. We're offending the Lu family!"
The short - haired girl looked disdainful. "So what? She's just an adopted daughter. Do you really think the Lu family will care about this? She deserved to be bullied for offending our Sister Lanxi."
Not long after, a blonde girl came over. She leaned in, with a seductive smile on her red lips. "You know what? No matter how much we bully her, her expression never changes. She's so arrogant. This Lu──"
"Hey!" Her words were interrupted by Song Qi. "Keep your voice down. Her sister - in - law is sitting behind. Be careful she comes after us."
"Tsk tsk tsk. What are you afraid of?" The blonde girl said proudly. "I just heard from Sister Lanxi that Lu Xuezhang's father intends to match them up. It must be that the senior doesn't know about this yet. Otherwise, he would have divorced that woman long ago."
The girls covered their mouths and laughed.
All these words reached Shen Jianyi's ears. No wonder Lu Yuan and she had arrived at school at about the same time, and Lu Yuan had even been a bit faster in the end, but she still hadn't come to class. It turned out these little girls were up to no good.
Shen Jianyi didn't stand up immediately to expose or teach them a lesson. Instead, she quietly observed everything from behind.
"Ding ding ding."
The bell for class rang. The professor walked in from outside with a book under his arm. He coughed and looked at everyone, then started calling the roll.
Everything went smoothly until it was Lu Yuan's turn. There was no response.
The professor pushed his gold - rimmed glasses and said seriously, "Lu Yuan isn't here, right?"
Skipping this professor's class would result in a demerit, which would naturally affect one's credits.
Just as he was about to cross out her name on the attendance list, the classroom door was pushed open from the outside. The girl gasped slightly, with a flushed face, and said, "Present!"
Seeing her disheveled appearance, the professor didn't make things difficult for her. "Take your seat first. Leave earlier on rainy days next time."
"…Okay." The girl's voice was cold.
Her gaze swept across the seats in the classroom and finally landed on the seat in front of Shen Jianyi. This whole row was empty, and she looked extremely out of place.
The professor opened his PPT and started teaching.
Shen Jianyi accidentally looked down and saw that the girl was soaked from head to toe. Her black hair was still dripping water. She slowly pulled her hair to the front, revealing her fair neck.
Shen Jianyi frowned slightly but said nothing. She just stared quietly for a few seconds before looking away.
Shen Jianyi didn't listen to a single word in this class. There was only one compulsory course today, and she could leave school near noon.
She packed up her books. When she was about to leave, she glanced to the side and saw that the girl didn't even have an umbrella. Shen Jianyi tightened her grip on her umbrella, wanting to hand it over but then put down her arm and turned to leave the classroom.
…
The rain outside showed no sign of stopping and was getting heavier. She opened her umbrella and walked on the avenue lined with poplar trees.
Uncle Li's car was waiting outside. She put her books on the back seat. Just as she was about to get in, she thought of something and stepped back onto the ground.
"Bang──"
The woman closed the car door, and the rainwater on the car body trembled twice.
Uncle Li held an umbrella in his hand and stood there, looking completely confused. "Young mistress, aren't you going back?"
There was no emotion on Shen Jianyi's face. It was hard to tell if she was happy or angry. It seemed that she had always been like this. Uncle Li couldn't guess what was on her mind.
The woman's voice sounded even colder against the backdrop of the rain. "I still have something to do. You can go first."
"But──" Uncle Li couldn't help but feel worried.
She turned around, her eyebrows as calm as ever. "It's okay. I just have some questions to ask the professor. I won't be back too late."
Uncle Li didn't say anything else. He had no choice but to drive away.
Because of the rain, there were very few people walking around on the campus of Huaqing University. The woman held a transparent umbrella and walked unhurriedly through every corner of the school, and finally stopped behind the equipment room in the back playground.
The back wall of the equipment room was a very secluded place. Almost no one would come here, especially when it was raining.
"Lu Yuan, I didn't expect you to dare come to school today."
The person speaking was the blonde girl. She was wearing a short skirt, and the rain was washing over her thighs, making the colorful tattoo on them even more obvious.
Lu Yuan was surrounded by a group of girls. She remained calm and slightly raised her chin. "Why wouldn't I dare?"
"You!" The girl raised her hand to slap her.
Before she could act, she was stopped by the girl beside her. Song Qi whispered a reminder, "We can't hit her. Otherwise… if the Lu family really cares, we're all done for."
"Slap──"
The raised hand landed on Song Qi's face. She stood aside, looking wronged.
The blonde girl had vented her anger. She shook her hand and said indifferently, "You offended our Sister Lanxi. You won't be able to study at Huaqing anymore. Do you know what happened to the last person who offended Sister Lanxi?"
Hearing this, Lu Yuan remained calm. She casually took two steps back and hid under the eaves to avoid getting as much rain.
Lu Yuan wasn't scared at all. She said casually, "Should I know?"
"You!!"
The blonde girl was so angry that she could only glare. Since she didn't dare to hit Lu Yuan, she could only take her anger out on others.
She warned, "The last person dropped out of this school. You'd better be prepared."
Lu Yuan let out a soft scoff. "No need to remind me. I'm not her."
The girl looked weak, but her eyes were extremely determined, which gave people a creepy feeling.
The blonde girl snorted twice and left. Lu Yuan was left alone. She let out a sigh of relief, leaned against the wall, and slowly slid down to squat on the ground.