The pretty little follower gets targeted by the crazy guys at the elite academy

Guo Yiling's voice was very serious:

"This time, it's my turn to protect you."

The atmosphere at the scene froze instantly.

Lu Ran's chopsticks rolled off the table and landed on the floor with a crisp sound.

He didn't bend down to pick it up; he just stared at Li Ruo's profile, at the sly curve of her lips, and at the glimmer of light in her eyes.

"Are you going?" His voice was a little tense.

Li Ruo turned to look at him: "Why not?"

Lu Ran opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but the words stuck in his throat and he couldn't utter them.

I disagree.

Zhou Si's voice came crashing down from the other end of the table, hard and unresponsive, like a stone being thrown into water.

The folding knife in his hand was already closed, gripped tightly in his palm:

"Saint-Lia is in the capital, and the capital is not peaceful right now."

Li Ruo: "How turbulent is it?"

"Haven't you been watching the news these past few days?"

"I've been stuck here at sea with you for the past few days," Li Ruo said. "There's no signal."

Zhou Si choked for a moment, then the stalemate continued:

"The capital city is a mixed bag; if you go back there, you'll be a sitting duck."

"I have 137 rivals, and every single one of them wants a piece of my flesh. What do you think they'll do to you?"

Before Li Ruo could speak, Lu Xingzhou had already put down his knife and fork and calmly continued the conversation:

"In the past month, there have been seventeen underground gang conflicts in the capital, and Zhou Si's people were involved in twelve of them. The police have intervened in nine cases, with three people detained and one person prosecuted."

Zhou Si's expression changed: "You investigated me?"

"No need to check," Lu Xingzhou picked up his water glass and took a sip. "It's already been reported on the news."

Zhou Si: "………"

Li Ruo looked at Zhou Si: "You got into a fight in the capital?"

Zhou Si's jawline was taut: "It's not a fight, it's cleaning house."

Li Ruo: "Your method of cleaning house is through a firefight?"

Zhou Si retorted, "They attacked first."

Li Ruo was speechless: "And then?"

"And then... I won."

Looking at his self-righteous demeanor, Li Ruo suddenly found it a little funny, but also felt like sighing.

This person had this personality five years ago, and they still have this personality five years later.

Winning a fight makes you feel justified, even if you're not entirely in the right.

"So, you don't want to study in a city where there are constant fires, do you?"

Zhou Si stared at her longingly.

Li Ruo: "I want to!"

Zhou Si: "..."

Lu Xingzhou glanced indifferently at Zhou Si's sycophantic face:

"Zhou Si, you're making her sound like your pet cat."

His tone wasn't harsh, but every word was barbed:

"Is your problem hers? No, it's your problem. You've made too many enemies yourself, why should she cover for you?"

Zhou Si's gaze shifted from Li Ruo to Lu Xingzhou's face, and the temperature in his eyes dropped ten degrees.

"Lu Xingzhou, watch your mouth."

My mouth is very clean.

Lu Xingzhou picked up a napkin and wiped his mouth, his movements as elegant as if he were dining at a Michelin-starred restaurant.

"I'm just stating the facts."

"You locked Li Ruo up on this island for three days, claiming it was to protect her. But did you ask her if she wanted to be protected? Did she want to be locked up on this island? Did she want to—"

That's enough.

Lu Ran slammed his chopsticks on the table with a loud crack. His face flushed crimson, and his ears turned a deep red, as if they were about to bleed.

"Can you two please stop arguing? Li Ruo hasn't said anything yet!"

There was a moment of silence on the table.

Lu Ran paused, then quietly added:

"Actually... this island is quite nice, safe, quiet, and undisturbed."

"No one's bothering me."

Li Ruo repeated those four words, then looked at him: "Including you?"

Lu Ran choked.

"You swam for four hours to get to the island so as not to disturb me?"

Lu Ran's ears turned even redder.

"I...I came here..."

"I know you're here to be the third one," Li Ruo finished for him.

Lu Ran's ears turned from pink to deep red.

Pei Qingrang put his cleaned glasses back on, the lenses glistening in the sunlight.

He looked up at Li Ruo, his eyes behind his gold-rimmed glasses calm.

"Ruoruo, you can go anywhere."

"But you need to think this through: wherever you go, someone will follow you."

"It's not because they want to control you, it's because they're afraid you'll disappear again."

"That kind of fear can make them do many things you can't even imagine."

"and then?"

All the pairs of eyes sitting around the dining table turned to Pei Qingrang.

Pei Qingrang adjusted his glasses, adopting a composed and unwavering demeanor.

"Then... Imperial Capital University is actually quite good too, I can write a recommendation letter for Ruoruo."

Those pairs of predatory eyes instantly flared with rage: "You're poaching my employee???"

Pei Qingrang calmly adjusted his glasses once again: "Please don't misunderstand, I'm just providing options."

Lu Xingzhou was so angry at his clever scheme that he laughed:

"The options you've provided seem to be solely for your own benefit, don't they?"

Pei Qingrang did not deny it: "What else can I do? Who made me a professor at the Imperial University?"

Guo Yiling declared confidently, "I am still the principal of St. Lily!"

Pei Qingrang retorted without backing down: "Saint-Lya is just a bunch of spoiled brats; if Ruoruo goes there, she'll only be corrupted!"

Guo Yiling laughed: "So you admit you're a spoiled brat who graduated from St. Liaisons?"

Pei Qingrang: "Isn't Principal Guo one of them?"

"I admit I am, do you dare?!" Guo Yiling said, looking ready to go all out.

Pei Qingrang was now at a loss.

We decided to change our approach and use a roundabout tactic to steer the conversation back to the main topic:

"No matter what you say, Li Ruo is not suitable to return to Saint Lia. She needs a calm and experienced person to guide her."

"Imperial Capital University is ranked first in the country and has world-class facilities. I can personally guide her studies."

"Personally instructing?"

Lu Xingzhou pondered these four words with profound meaning:

"Your way of tutoring her is to have her sit on your lap eating strawberries?"

Pei Qingrang paused for a moment: "That was an accident."

Lu Xingzhou's expression changed: "You've been surprised for over an hour?"

Lu Ran continued to fan the flames: "That's not all. I reckon that under the guidance of the great collector Pei, Ruoruo probably won't even have any underwear left."

Zhou Si suddenly blurted out, "More than that, they even climb walls at night like little geckos!"

Pei Qingrang: "..."

He took off his glasses and wiped them again.

There was clearly nothing on the lenses, but he wiped them very carefully, as if he were trying to escape something.

Lu Xingzhou leaned back in his chair, his fingers interlaced on his lower abdomen, his posture as relaxed as if he had just finished a business lunch.

But his fingers were twisting together, his knuckles white, and his joints made a faint clicking sound:

"Ruoruo, I'm familiar with St. Lily's curriculum. You can make up the credits you missed by taking supplementary exams and elective courses."

"At the normal pace, it takes two years to graduate."

"If you'd like, I can help you connect with some internship opportunities so you can start working directly after graduation."

Li Ruo looked at him: "Senior Lu, are you helping me with career planning?"

Lu Xingzhou spoke in a tone befitting an elder: "I'm helping you plan your life."

Li Ruo tilted her head: "Have you ever considered that I might not want to be planned by others?"

"..."

Lu Xingzhou's fingers paused for a moment, then slowly loosened.

He looked at his fingers; there was a ring of whitish marks on his knuckles, marks he had made himself by twisting them.

"I thought about it, but... I couldn't help it."

Li Ruo did not respond.

She knew what he meant by "couldn't help it".

He was used to making decisions for her, thinking everything out for her, and paving the way for her.

Only in this way could he convince himself:

She is still in his life.

She did not disappear.

Jiang Wu rested his chin on the table, his amber eyes peeking out from above the rim of the bowl as he looked at Li Ruo.

He didn't speak; he hadn't uttered a single word since then.

The bruises on his lips, swollen and purple, were still glaring against his pale face.

Li Ruo glanced at him, picked up a piece of fish, removed the bones, and placed it in his bowl.

"Jiang Wu, why aren't you saying anything?"

Jiang Wu's eyes lit up, like two sparkling glass beads.

He stared at the piece of fish in the bowl for a long time, then picked it up with his chopsticks, put it in his mouth, chewed it, and swallowed it.

"Whatever my sister says goes."

His voice was muffled, but he said obediently, "Wherever my sister goes, I'll go."

Lu Ran sneered from the side, "Where are you going? What are you going to Saint Lia for? To continue being a creepy ghost, floating around Li Ruo every day?"

Jiang Wu chewed on the fish and mumbled, "I can be a doorman."

"The security guard needs a security pass."

"I can take the test."

"Do you think you can pass the exam?"

Jiang Wu tilted his head, thought for a moment, and then smiled.

That smile was so innocent, as innocent as a child who doesn't know how hard exams are:

"If I fail the exam, I'll just squat at the school gate. My sister sees me every time she comes and goes."

"you……"

Lu Ran was speechless.

He opened his mouth, as if to say, "If you squat at the school gate, the police will arrest you."

But looking at Jiang Wu's serious face, he felt that even if he said it, Jiang Wu wouldn't care.

Zhou Fangsi seemed to be suffocating from the bad emotions bubbling up in his chest.

He stood up from his chair and walked to the window.

The sea breeze blew in, causing the curtains to flutter high.

He took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, pulled one out, and lit it in his mouth.

The firelight danced on his fingertips, illuminating his face.

"Li Ruo,"

His voice came from behind the smoke: "Go if you want."

Li Ruo turned her head to look at him.

His profile was blurred in the backlight, and only an outline could be seen.

A high, straight nose, tightly pursed lips, and a slightly raised chin.

That was the demeanor he had adopted over the years in the underworld: confident, composed, and in control of everything.

But she noticed that his fingers, which were holding the cigarette, were trembling.

"Aren't you going to stop me?" she asked.

Zhou Si took a deep drag of his cigarette, and smoke billowed from his nostrils:

"You can't stop it, you've never been able to stop it."

He paused, then flicked the ashes into the ashtray on the windowsill.

"But I will visit you. Every month."

"Every month?"

Every week.

Li Ruo: "Every week?"

Zhou Si: "Every day."