Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
“Are you sure that they broke up?” Ishihara Taro asked skeptically.
“It’s absolutely true,” he said confidently. “In addition to Miss Gu Yanran, we have an anonymous ally confirming it.”
Ishihara Taro knew that, apart from Gu Yanran, the Ishihara Corporation had another ally who had helped them out in the past, a low-key yet formidable ally.
In terms of his identity, apparently, even his grandfather, Ishihara Wakashi, was not too clear on that.
It was unfortunate that his whereabouts were a mystery. The ally had never met up with them directly and had always contacted them over the phone.
However, even their calls would not go through at present.
When Ishihara found out that the ally had confirmed it, he was no longer doubtful.
“Haha, he actually got her a Ferrari as a Valentines’ Day gift. No wonder she has no regard for me.”
Ishihara Taro raised his head and pondered in silence for a while. He then returned to his room and started entering the events into his formula. First, he worked out the probability and, after calculating feverishly, managed to deduce the various possible consequences.
…..
Ishihara Taro was so completely wrapped up in his calculations that he forgot about his meals and neglected sleep. In the meantime, Gu Nianzhi returned to her dormitory.
The last week of studying had ended and the exams would begin the next week.
Ma Qiqi pushed open the door and saw that Gu Nianzhi had returned. She’d brought breakfast back with her and was ladling a small bowl of congee for her.
“Nianzhi! My kind and hardworking lady! Let me take your hand in marriage!” Ma Qiqi’s stomach had been growling all night from hunger so she grinned from ear to ear when she saw the delicious spread laid out on the table. She rushed over to Nianzhi and gave her a tight hug.
Gu Nianzhi pushed her away hastily and smiled as she said, “It’s all from the store. I’m not the kind and hardworking lady you speak of. You might as well get married to a chef!”
Ma Qiqi made a face at her. “I’m just saying it, don’t take it seriously.”
“Yeah, right!” Gu Nianzhi smiled and pinched her cheeks. “Quick, have your breakfast, I even made you coffee. Drink it quickly and do well on your exams.”
They would be having their first exams in the morning.
Since Gu Nianzhi wanted to graduate early, the number of papers that she had to sit for was twice what Ma Qiqi had to sit for.
Ma Qiqi only had two exams, one in the morning and another in the afternoon.
On the other hand, Gu Nianzhi had four exams, two in the morning, one in the afternoon and another one in the evening.
Ma Qiqi knew that Gu Nianzhi was busier than she was. She waved at her and said, “Don’t be concerned about me, focus on your examinations. How about staying tonight?”
Gu Nianzhi shook her head and smiled. “It’s okay, I’ll head back straightaway when my exams are over. Are you okay with staying here alone?”
“I’m okay, I’m only worried about you.” Ma Qiqi turned back and looked at Gu Nianzhi. She frowned. “You have so many exams to take, but you still insist on staying off-campus.”
“They’re just exams.” Gu Nianzhi shrugged. “I’m not worried about them.”
Ma Qiqi was stunned.
Forget it, she was worried for nothing.
Ma Qiqi huffed, turned around, and resumed eating her breakfast and drinking coffee.
Gu Nianzhi made a face at Ma Qiqi’s back, smiled, and walked back to her room.
She was not at all worried about the exams this week. She was more worried about the success of her plan.
Once the examinations began, news of her plan to graduate in advance had spread across her department, which meant that the Japanese transfer student, Ishihara Taro, knew about it already.
…
The bell rang and Gu Nianzhi walked into the exam hall confidently.
She got to her seat and saw Ishihara Taro seated right beside her.
Without shifting her gaze, she sat down, fully prepared for her first exam paper on the Introduction to Law.
Ishihara Taro did not know much about the law and had not studied the subject before, but he had a good memory, one that was almost eidetic, so he relied on last-minute studying. He’d bought a few copies of notes and study guides and had memorized them all in one night.
He had chosen to take part in this exam purely to put himself up against Gu Nianzhi.
Gu Nianzhi sat smiling as she waited for the proctor to pass down the exam scripts.
Ishihara Taro twirled his pen with an expressionless look on his handsome face. He emitted a cold aura that warned others to keep away from him, attracting the attention of many girls.
Soon, the proctor entered the exam hall and passed out the exam sheets.
Gu Nianzhi took out her pen and started scribbling furiously.
It only took her 45 minutes to complete all of the questions. She gave her answers a check before handing her exam in.
Astounded, the proctor asked, “Are you sure that you don’t want to run through your paper once more?”
Gu Nianzhi shook her head and said softly, “I’ve gone through them already. I still have another exam to take so I have to hand it in now.”
“Okay.” The proctor glanced at her and collected her exam sheet. “You may leave now.”
Gu Nianzhi quickly left the exam hall. Then, she dashed towards the venue of her second exam.
Ishihara Taro had not expected Gu Nianzhi to hand in her exam ahead of time. In the past, he had finished exams early, but to submit an exam script with one and a half hours left to spare was insane!
He glanced moodily at the door, then lowered his head and continued to answer the questions.
Time flew by. In the blink of an eye, the day had passed.
Gu Nianzhi completed her fourth exam and handed it in with thirty minutes to spare. She walked out of the classroom at 8:30 P.M. and headed to the parking lot.
However, she bumped into Ishihara Taro on the way there.
He was smoking alone under a tree.
The sight of Gu Nianzhi walking over was both surprising and unsurprising to him. A complicated and indescribable feeling stirred inside of him.
“Miss Gu,” he called out to her, a cigarette wedged between his fingers.
Gu Nianzhi stopped in her tracks and looked at him. “Do I know you?”
“Ishihara.” Ishihara Taro walked over and looked at her moodily. “Year 1 students of the Masters of Law program only need to sit for two papers today. Why did you sit for four papers?”
Gu Nianzhi raised her brows. “How did you know about the number of papers that I sat for? Are you that interested in the private matters of others?”
“…The examination schedule is posted right on the bulletin board of the department’s office. Can that be considered a private matter?” Ishihara Taro rebutted. “Anyone can find out just by looking.”
“Fine, but so what?” Gu Nianzhi pursed her lips in disdain. “The papers I’m taking, how are they any of your business?”
“I’m just asking,” Ishihara Taro threw the cigarette butt away with obvious annoyance. “Suit yourself.”
Gu Nianzhi turned around and left without a word.
This was because she knew that to people like him, information sourced personally was more credible.
Even if he’d heard information directly, he would not simply take it at face value.
As expected, Ishihara Taro took this to heart. He gazed at Gu Nianzhi’s back and he whipped out his phone. He rang up Gui Suyao. “Ah Yao, are you free tonight?”
Gui Suyao was studying for a doctorate and her finals consisted of dissertations and open-book exams.
However, she had not been doing any revision work during this time, so even an open-book exam would pose some difficulty to her.
Despite that, she nodded without hesitation when answering the call from Ishihara Taro. “Yeah, I’m free. What’s up?”
“Well, something’s up.” Ishihara Taro laughed a little. “I’ll come pick you up.”
Gui Suyao agreed happily. She then packed her books and hopped into Ishihara Taro’s car.
“Ah Yao, that first-year student, Gu Nianzhi, why is she taking four papers?” Ishihara Taro asked casually as he drove towards his apartment.
Gui Suyai was somewhat upset at his mention of another woman in her presence. Still, she said nothing about it because it concerned Gu Nianzhi.
She knew that Ishihara Taro wanted to deal with Gu Nianzhi. She told him everything she knew. “I only found out about that today. Turns out, she wants to graduate early, which is why she has twice the number of examinable subjects compared to other first-year students.”
“What?!” Ishihara Taro stepped on the brakes all of a sudden.
The luxurious sportscar screeched from the friction produced by the contact of the wheels and road surface. He came to a halt on the road’s shoulder.
“Did you just say that she wants to graduate early?! When?!” Ishihara Taro got very nervous.
Why was he only finding out about this huge news now?!
“Well, it’s this semester. One week for exams and the weekend for defending the dissertation. I just passed along the message to her today that the last professor on the dissertation committee has been confirmed.” Gui Suyao thought for a moment. “If she graduates and leaves, what will you do? Are you still going to deal with her?”
Ishihara Taro glanced at her coldly, turned his head around, and drove back to B University.
“Hey, where are you going?” Gui Suyao asked, surprised. She looked to her side at Ishihara Taro. “What’s wrong? Are you upset?”
Ishihara Taro shook his head. “I just remembered that I forgot to do something. Let me drive you back first. I’ll take you to my grandfather when the exams are over.”
Gui Suyao was initially very upset at how Ishihara Taro was going back and forth with his words. However, upon hearing that she would soon be meeting his grandfather, his only kin, she cheered up immediately…
If this continued, she would probably be meeting his parents soon!
Gui Suyao became bashful and asked embarrassedly, “…Isn’t this a little too quick? Will your grandfather mind that I’m older than you are?”
Ishihara Taro might not mind the age difference, but it is unlikely that Gui Suyao felt the same.
“You’re overthinking it. My grandfather is someone who stands to reason,” Ishihara Taro said half-heartedly. His expression was as cold as ice.
Yet, immersed in the sudden feeling of bliss, Gui Suyao could not sense it.
She thought that Ishihara Taro’s demeanor was just right. She liked the indifference.
This time, Ishihara Taro sent Gui Suyao straight to the Law Department’s Girls’ Dormitory for postgraduate students.
This was also unprecedented.
Gui Suyao was now even more certain that Ishihara Taro planned to bring her to meet his parents and make their relationship public.
The car came to a halt. Ishihara Taro did not let Gui Suyao get out of the car immediately. Instead, he held onto her, reluctant to part, and kissed her goodbye.
The roof of the sportscar was lower than that of normal cars so it was not exactly a comfortable space for kissing.
However, Gui Suyao did not feel uncomfortable at all. On the contrary, she felt even more unwilling to part with him.
Ishihara Taro raised his arms and looked at his watch while he kissed Gui Suyao.
It was 9:10 P.M.
It was almost time.
Ishihara Taro let go of Gui Suyao, gave her another kiss her on the cheek, and smiled as he said, “Go on in.”
Gui Suyai was reluctant to leave and wanted to stay on a little longer but Ishihara Taro had already released the seatbelt strapped across her. “Go on quick, we still have plenty of time ahead of us.”
“Okay, Ishihara.” Gui Suyao got out of the car at last.
She bowed and waved at the Ishihara Taro, a sweet smile on her face. “Ishihara, see you tomorrow.”
“See you tomorrow.” Ishihara Taro smiled slightly as he watched Gui Suyao walk into the dormitory.
Just then, a close classmate of hers walked out of the library. The two of them stood in the dormitory’s lobby on level one, chatting. They did not get on the elevator immediately.
Most of the students were still studying by themselves at this time. Gui Suyao and her classmate were the only ones in the lobby.
Ishihara Taro smirked.
Everything was going according to plan. He had decided to use Gui Suyao as target practice.
That classmate of hers had the clearest idea of what was going on between him and Gui Suyao…
He could not guarantee that a tattletale like Gui Suyao would not tell her about his plans to deal with Gu Nianzhi.
Ishihara Taro started his car with a cold expression on his face. He reversed and drove to the front of the dormitory building. When he was in the blind spot of the surveillance camera, he threw a gold coin out of his car in one swift movement.
The car had just left when the dormitory’s warden, a middle-aged woman, walked out of the boiler room holding a bottle of hot water.
A streak of golden light on the ground flashed before her eyes.
It was a golden coin!
She stopped abruptly and wanted to bend over to pick up the gold coin. However, because it was dark, she forgot about the parterre that was right beside her. It stood about one foot tall and was bordered by a cement masonry wall.
The bottle of hot water knocked against the parterre with a thump. The bottle cracked and broke into pieces, causing the hot water inside to splash out.
Since it was winter, the warden had on thick layers of clothes. As a result, she did not sustain any burns to her body and only scalded both of her hands.
She cried out in pain, no longer thinking about picking up the golden coin. She stretched out her scalded hands and darted to her room.
Her room on the first floor of the dormitory building was equipped with ointment for burns and scalds.
Gui Suyao and her classmate walked towards the elevator after the warden rushed into her room.
They conversed for precisely 15 minutes, as calculated by Ishihara Taro.
“Where’s my ointment? Where’s my ointment?” The warden was anxious about the pain from the scalds on both her hands. She rushed to where she kept the ointment.
It was kept in a small built-in cupboard, right beside the main electrical panel of the dormitory building.
Although the graduate students no longer had to turn off the lights at night by pulling the switch lever, the dormitory was still equipped with this control system because it had originally been built for undergraduate students.
The warden’s hands were already numbed from the pain at this point, which was inconvenient as she searched the cupboard with limp hands.
In a moment of anxiousness, she stuck her hands into the cupboard and swept everything out.
As her hands were injured, she could not control her might or the direction in which she was moving them. Since she was someone with great strength, the built-in cupboard that hung against the wall was almost torn down, affecting the main switch next to it.
The lights in the building flickered, followed by a power cut to the entire building.
By that point, Gui Suyao and her classmate were inside the elevator, which had traveled up to level 12, the topmost floor of the building.
Since there was a power cut to the entire building, the elevator doors would not open no matter what.
“How did this happened?!”
“Open the doors! Please open the doors!”
In a panic, Gui Suyao and her classmate jabbed at the buttons in the elevator and tried to pry open the elevator doors. They were also anxiously dialing up the Security Office.
It was at this moment that the warden realized that she had pulled the wrong switch. Enduring the pain, she grabbed onto the switch hastily with both hands and pulled it back into place forcefully!
The switch that had not been in use for a long time was not able to withstand the repeated push and pull. Before long, the switch emitted streaks of indigo blue sparks and the circuit started to crackle.
The lights in the entire building lit up all of a sudden, then switched off again, then it lit up again, then switched off.
This went on until the building plunged into complete darkness.
The elevator that Gui Suyao and her classmate were on malfunctioned due to a short circuit. That, coupled with the random jabbing of buttons inside the elevator by Gui Suyao and her classmate, caused the elevator to fall from the twelfth floor at a high speed.
The moment the elevator went out of control, the rapid acceleration brought about unthinkable consequences.
Gui Suyao and her classmates only had time to let out a shriek before they fell heavily to the ground in the elevator with a loud crash…
