Chapter 16: Plated with a Layer of Light

Gu Zhaodi and Deng Xixue reached an agreement and prepared to call the police, but Li Mu, standing by the door, panicked.

Li Mu hurriedly said, "Why call the police? It must have been Gu Zhaodi who took it. Who would hide stolen goods in the dormitory?"

Guan Xiang immediately sensed something was wrong. Did this have anything to do with her?

No, if it's not a matter of every move, then it must be Li Mu.

"Li Mu, why are you in such a hurry? Did you take it?" Guan Xiang narrowed her eyes.

Li Mu retorted, "How could that be? I'm not that poor."

Guan Xiangxin was the one who was up to something. She circled around Li Mu, then leaned closer to look at her face, which made Li Mu shrink back in fright.

He asked Deng Xixue slowly, "I seem to remember that the sunscreen Ji Hao gave you was a limited edition, right?"

Deng Xixue gave a haughty "hmm".

Guan Xiang stopped in her tracks and leaned casually against the cabinet. "That makes things easier. The ingredients in that sunscreen are quite special. Even after removing makeup, there will still be residue on your face. We can just test it and see."

As soon as he finished speaking, Li Mu subconsciously touched his face, and realizing that everyone's eyes were on him, he awkwardly put his hand down.

"I'll get a professional organization to come and collect samples right now. Whoever has this ingredient is stealing sunscreen." With that, Guan Xiang shook her phone, about to make a call.

Seeing that Guan Xiang was about to make a phone call, Li Mu panicked a little, his eyes lowered as if he was thinking about something.

Seeing her like this, Gu Zhaodi and Deng Xixue understood everything.

Deng Xixue grabbed Li Mu's hand and glared at him, asking, "Tell me, did you take it?"

"I...I...I..." Li Mu couldn't utter a complete sentence for a long time, his face turning red as he looked at Deng Xixue.

"Zhao Zhao, call the police first, and we'll let them handle it," Guan Xiang said to Gu Zhao Di.

Gu Zhaodi nodded and turned to get her phone.

Seeing that the situation was unfavorable to him, Li Mu felt a chill run down his spine and could only stammer out the admission.

"I took it, can you please not call the police?" she said, her eyes welling up with tears as she looked at the people in the dormitory.

Nan'an Middle School will not accept students with a history of theft. If the police are called, even though I am under sixteen and nothing will happen to me, I will definitely be expelled.

Deng Xixue glanced at her disdainfully, "Why can't I call the police?"

He was about to take out his phone to make a call.

"I..." Li Mu said, tears welling up in her eyes, her gaze sweeping around.

"I can kneel down for you, as long as you don't call the police." With that, Li Mu bent his knees and knelt straight down on the ground.

Seeing Li Mu kneeling in front of her, Deng Xixue didn't know how to deal with her for a moment.

"Give me back what I have." Deng Xixue's pupils dilated, and after hesitating, she reached out to Li Mu to take back the sunscreen.

Li Muzhi got up, slowly walked to his bedside, and took out sunscreen from under his pillow.

Deng Xixue was about to leave the dormitory after getting her sunscreen back. For her, getting the sunscreen back was enough; she couldn't be bothered to argue with the person who stole it.

As a result, Guan Xiang blocked his way after he had only taken a few steps.

“You haven’t apologized to Zhao Zhao yet?” Guan Xiang pointed at Gu Zhaodi.

Deng Xixue glanced at Gu Zhaodi, biting her lip lightly, extremely unwilling to apologize.

But seeing Gu Zhaodi's clear gaze and the anger in Guan Xiang's eyes...

He could only take a few deep breaths and mumble, "I'm sorry, I misunderstood you."

He left after saying that, then slammed the door and stormed out.

"Why did you frame me?" Gu Zhaodi stepped forward, looking at the disheveled girl in front of her.

Li Mu's voice choked with emotion, "I didn't mean to frame you. I thought she wouldn't find out."

Who would have thought that Deng Xixue cared so much about this bottle of sunscreen? When she took it, its packaging looked very ordinary, so it must not have been very expensive. Deng Xixue wouldn't have noticed that one bottle was missing.

Guan Xiang scoffed, "You think you're right to steal?"

"Can you forgive me? I really didn't mean it." Li Mu looked at Gu Zhaodi with a sorrowful gaze.

Guan Xiang looked incredulous and scoffed, "Where did you get such a big face? It's thicker than a city wall."

"No." The girl's cold voice rang out, showing no mercy.

She is not a saint; she has her own principles and bottom line. It is clear that Li Mu's framing and Deng Xixue's mockery trampled on her self-esteem.

"I hope you take care of yourself."

After saying that, the girl pulled Guan Xiang out of the dormitory.

"You're not going to hold it against Zhao Zhao?" Guan Xiang was still furious, feeling that Li Mu had gotten off easy.

"Deng Xixue is too lazy to bother with it, what can we do?" The girl patted Guan Xiang on the back to soothe her.

Seeing the girl turn around and comfort her, Guan Xiang blushed slightly, "Are you alright?"

Deng Xixue's words were so harsh and hurtful that they must have hurt Zhao Zhao's feelings. She still has the urge to punch Deng Xixue.

The girl lowered her eyes slightly, her voice not as clear as usual, "It would be a lie to say I'm not sad, but what she said isn't wrong either."

Guan Xiang couldn't bear to see her like this, so she reached out and touched the girl's hand, trying to comfort her.

"But as long as I have a clear conscience, I don't care what other people think." The girl raised her eyes and looked at Guan Xiang with a slight smile. The starlight in her eyes was no longer as dim as before.

"Yes, don't care about what others think. As long as you're doing well, that's what really matters."

The girl watched as Guan Xiang kept comforting her, afraid that she would get hurt, and felt a lump in her throat.

"Xiangxiang, I still want to thank you. Thank you for believing in me. If it weren't for you, I might have been wrongly accused." The girl's eyes were full of gratitude.

Guan Xiang waved her hand and said calmly, "No need to thank me. You're my good sister. If I don't believe you, who else would I believe?"

He paused, then leaned close to the girl and whispered, "I was just lying to Li Mu. That sunscreen is just a regular sunscreen; it doesn't have any special ingredients."

Gu Zhaodi stared wide-eyed at the kind, brave, and resourceful girl in front of her with admiration, feeling that this was a blessing from heaven.

"I still want to thank you, Xiangxiang."

Guan Xiang didn't want to get sentimental, so she pulled the girl aside and said, "If you want to thank me, that's easy, just buy me some water."

What would you like to drink?

"Hmm... I want to drink Coke today."

"good."

Under the bright sun, on the school street, two girls in school uniforms walked hand in hand toward the school supermarket. The sunlight shone on them, giving their friendship a glow.

After the National Day holiday, Nan'an Middle School will hold its first monthly exam.

The day before the exam, Gu Zhaodi studied frantically, fearing she wouldn't do well.

There are no regular exams at Nan'an Middle School. The only formal exams are monthly exams and midterms and finals. To this day, she still doesn't know where her grades stand in the class.

"Zhao Zhao, do you have to push yourself so hard? This is just a small test." Yao Xin, with a lollipop in her mouth, watched the girl in front of her working on her test paper.

For students like them who are academically weak, they were able to get into Nan'an Middle School thanks to their previous studies at the affiliated middle school; otherwise, they really wouldn't have been able to get in based on their grades.

Brother Dan is even more outrageous; Uncle Dan donated two buildings so that I would have the honor of sitting here.

"Shut up. Zhao Zhao is a good student. Don't disturb her studies." Guan Xiang slapped Yao Xin on the back, giving her a stern warning.

Yao Xin winced in pain and weakly suggested, "Sister Guan, could we hit her a little lighter next time?"

As he spoke, Yao Xin pointed out a small distance between his index finger and thumb.

Guan Xiang asked in a sinister tone, "Do you think I'm strong?"

Dan Si said smugly from the side, "You're not strong, you're a violent superhero."

"You're asking for death!" Guan Xiang stood up instantly and lunged at Dan Si.

Dan Si patted his chest, relieved that he had run fast enough. Seeing that she was about to pounce on him again, he immediately ran out of the classroom.

The loud noise finally "awakened" Gu Zhaodi, who was engrossed in the exam paper.

The girl asked Yao Xin, bewildered, "What happened to them?"

While watching the fight, Yao Xin replied, "The two of them are fighting."

The girl looked at Yao Xin with a puzzled expression. Anyone could tell that the two of them were fighting.

The girl shook her head helplessly, lowered her head, and continued with her own business.

With a "ding-dong" sound, the students in the classroom picked up their pens from the desks and began to work on the test papers.

This was the first time Gu Zhaodi had seen the exam paper from Nan'an Middle School. She glanced through the paper and found that the question types were very standard for the National College Entrance Examination (Gaokao).

The girl picked up her pen, focused on her work, and shut out the noise from the outside world to minimize distractions.

The entire campus was filled not only with the sound of pens falling on paper, but also with the rustling of pine needles in the quiet autumn breeze.

After finishing all the exams, Gu Zhaodi felt a little relieved. The exams weren't particularly difficult, and she had carefully completed all the questions she knew how to answer. Now, she could only wait and see what fate had in store.