Her wrist felt as if it were being clamped by red-hot iron tongs, and her bones emitted an overwhelmed groan.
Su Ruanruan stumbled as she was dragged down the hallway, her vision fracturing through a veil of tears.
“L-let… let me go… I beg you…”
She tried to pry Lin Lie’s fingers off, but that meager strength meant nothing to a School Bully who trained constantly. Instead, her fingertips, white from exertion, looked pale and weak against the tanned, powerful arm.
“Shut up. If you keep making noise, I’ll gag you.”
Lin Lie did not look back. Her voice carried a volatile irritability at being disturbed, along with a certain… irrepressible excitement.
“No one goes to the Old School Building up ahead. It’s the perfect place to talk. If you don’t behave, I don’t mind collecting some ‘interest’ there first.”
‘The Old School Building.’
Those three words were like a bucket of ice water, dousing the last of Su Ruanruan’s lingering hope.
In her memories, her predecessor had heard rumors about that place countless times — it was the school’s recognized “lawless land,” the nightmare’s end for countless victims of bullying. Once dragged inside, past that rusted iron door, no one would ever know what happened.
Despair surged over her like a tide, and the feeling of suffocation made Su Ruanruan’s vision darken.
‘Is it really… over?’
Just as Lin Lie’s hand was about to touch the iron door leading to hell —
” — What are you doing over there?”
A voice, cold as an icy spring yet carrying an unquestionable authority, abruptly pierced through the dry, stagnant air of the corridor.
Lin Lie’s movements suddenly froze.
Su Ruanruan looked up through teary eyes, like a drowning person grasping at a floating log.
At the other end of the hallway, silhouetted against the morning light streaming through the window, stood a girl. Her long, straight black hair cascaded down to her waist like a waterfall, and her pristine Student Council uniform traced her tall, elegant figure. The bright red Discipline Armband on her left arm shimmered with a piercing cold light under the sun.
Gu Qingleng.
The Student Council President and the eldest daughter of the Gu Group.
The moment she saw this figure, Su Ruanruan’s first reaction wasn’t the joy of being rescued. Instead, a chill shot from the soles of her feet to the top of her head, instantly freezing her blood.
‘It’s her!’
Everything had been arranged by this woman! She was the mastermind who had deliberately induced her predecessor to spend excessively and take out Induced Loans.
“Tch, President Gu.” Lin Lie released her grip in annoyance and turned to face the newcomer, her eyes filled with a trace of wariness. “What are you doing in this dump so early in the morning? Does the Student Council even care about remote corners like this?”
Gu Qingleng ignored Lin Lie. Her gaze moved past the volatile School Bully and landed precisely on the shivering Su Ruanruan, who was slumped on the floor.
Her gaze was calm and deep, devoid of any “malice.” Instead, it felt strictly professional.
“Lin Lie, even if she is a debtor, are you trying to test the Student Council’s limits by resorting to private punishment on campus?”
Gu Qingleng walked forward slowly. Her high heels clicked rhythmically against the marble floor, each *tap-tap* sounding as if it were stepping on someone’s heartstrings.
“Or do you want the Lin Group’s stock price to fluctuate because of such a nasty campus scandal?”
Lin Lie’s expression shifted.
She glared at Gu Qingleng before finally scoffing. “Fine, you win.”
She shot a vicious glare at Su Ruanruan on the floor and silently mouthed a threat: “Wait until school’s out.”
Then, with her hands in her pockets and a lingering aura of violence, she turned and strode away.
A deathly silence returned to the hallway, broken only by Su Ruanruan’s ragged breathing and Gu Qingleng’s approaching footsteps.
“It’s all right now, Su Ruanruan.”
A slender, porcelain hand reached out to her. It was Gu Qingleng’s hand, her fingertips showing the delicacy of one who lived in luxury.
Looking at that hand, Su Ruanruan’s body instinctively recoiled. Her back pressed hard against the cold wall, like a small animal driven into a corner.
“Don’t… don’t come any closer!”
She bit her pale lip. Though her voice trembled violently, she mustered all her courage to shout, “I know it’s you… Pure Stream Finance belongs to your family… the Induced Loans, my mother’s job… you arranged all of it, didn’t you?!”
The air seemed to freeze in that second.
Gu Qingleng’s hand, suspended in mid-air, paused for a moment. Her pitch-black eyes narrowed slightly, appearing somewhat surprised. But in an instant, the frost on her face melted, replaced by a helpless, even slightly apologetic, bitter smile.
“So… you found out,” Gu Qingleng sighed, slowly withdrawing her hand. She did not show any rage at being exposed; instead, she looked weary and pained. “Since you know, that’s for the best. There is some ‘inside information’ regarding your debt that I think we need to discuss face-to-face. Come with me to the Student Council office. This… isn’t the place to talk.”
Su Ruanruan was stunned.
The other woman’s candid attitude left her bewildered. This was completely different from the “hideous face after a conspiracy is exposed” that she had imagined.
Between the Old School Building, where she might be tortured, and the Student Council office, which seemed reasonable, she hesitated for a moment. Ultimately, she gritted her teeth, used the wall for support to stand up, and followed Gu Qingleng.
***
Student Council office.
The thick, soundproof door blocked out all the noise from the outside world. The room was filled with a faint scent of incense, causing one’s tense nerves to relax unconsciously.
“Sit.”
Gu Qingleng took off her intimidating uniform jacket. Wearing only a white silk shirt, she looked both capable and approachable. She did not sit behind the large desk that symbolized her power, but instead sat on the sofa opposite Su Ruanruan, maintaining an equal eye level.
“Su Ruanruan, first, I want to apologize.”
Gu Qingleng’s first sentence left Su Ruanruan completely dumbfounded.
“A-apologize?”
“Yes.” Gu Qingleng took a document from under the coffee table and pushed it toward Su Ruanruan, her expression serious and tinged with guilt. “I only discovered this yesterday when reviewing the subsidiary’s accounts. Several business managers under Pure Stream Finance exploited auditing loopholes to issue illegal loans to minors like you just to meet their quotas. They even… manufactured bad debts through induced consumption.”
Su Ruanruan looked down. The document clearly showed a list of terminated employees and a series of stern internal rectification notices. The red official seal was startling.
“The auditor who issued your loan has already been fired and handed over to the legal department,” Gu Qingleng said, looking into Su Ruanruan’s eyes with a sincerity that was impossible to doubt. “Su Rou — your mother — is an employee I respect very much. She is hardworking, kind, and diligent. If I had known you were her daughter, I would never have allowed my subordinates to do something so harmful to you both.”
The psychological defenses Su Ruanruan had built began to crack.
‘That’s right… the Gu Group’s assets are so vast. As the eldest daughter of the family, Gu Qingleng is busy with 1,000 things every day. How could she personally monitor a small loan of over 3,000,000? And she even fired those people… Was it really her subordinates doing it behind her back? Was it really a misunderstanding?’
“But… over 3,000,000…” Su Ruanruan murmured, tears starting to well up in her eyes again as her voice choked up. “I really can’t pay it back… if my mother finds out…”
“That’s why I asked you to come here.”
Gu Qingleng stood up and walked to a tea cabinet to begin brewing tea. The moment her back was turned to Su Ruanruan, the corners of her mouth curled into a playful arc, but her voice remained gentle and reliable.
“Since it was a management oversight by a company under the Gu Group, as the person in charge, I have an obligation to help you clean up this mess.”
She turned around, carrying a cup of Soporific Black Tea that emitted a rich aroma, and placed it gently in front of Su Ruanruan. The amber tea rippled slightly in the porcelain cup.
“I have already instructed the finance department to freeze the interest growth. You can pay back this money slowly, with no deadline and no late fees.” Gu Qingleng sat down next to Su Ruanruan and reached out, gently smoothing her messy bangs with a tenderness as if she were handling a treasure. “In fact… if you are willing to cooperate with the Student Council on some simple paperwork, I can use the ‘Work-study Program’ to help you gradually offset the principal.”
Su Ruanruan’s eyes widened in disbelief.
No interest? No deadline? And she could work to pay off the debt? This was like ascending from hell straight to heaven!
“Is that… really okay?” she asked cautiously, fearing it was just a beautiful bubble that would pop at a touch.
“Of course.” Gu Qingleng’s fingertips carried a reassuring warmth as she gently stroked Su Ruanruan’s cheek. “You are Su Rou’s daughter; it’s only right that I look after you. I wouldn’t want her to be sad because of this, would I?”
This sentence struck Su Ruanruan’s weakness perfectly.
The reason she was so scared and desperate, in the end, was all for her mother. And Gu Qingleng had not only solved the debt crisis but also perfectly maintained her image in front of her mother.
‘I actually suspected she was a bad person… I’m so terrible.’
Guilt and gratitude instantly filled her heart, washing away her previous fear.
“Thank you… thank you, Sister Gu!” Su Ruanruan cried out from the bottom of her heart, her eyes red. “I will definitely work hard!”
“You’re welcome. Here, have some tea to calm your nerves.”
Gu Qingleng pointed to the cup of black tea, her gaze so gentle it felt like one could drown in it — an almost motherly light.
“This is my special soothing tea. I’ve added some herbs to relax the nerves. Drinking it will help you forget the unpleasantness Lin Lie caused just now.”
Su Ruanruan didn’t hesitate for a second.
In her logic, the misunderstanding had been cleared, and Gu Qingleng was the great benefactor who helped her punish the wicked and save her family. How could she possibly harm her?
She picked up the exquisite bone china teacup and brought the amber liquid to her petal-like lips.
The tea was very sweet.
It was smooth on the palate with a strange, scalp-numbing sweetness that slid down her throat and into her stomach, instantly turning into a warm current that spread throughout her body.
“Is it good?” Gu Qingleng watched her throat move, her voice as soft as a lullaby.
“Mm… it’s a bit sweet…”
Su Ruanruan had just put down the cup and wanted to say something more, but suddenly felt the world around her sway.
An intense, irresistible sleepiness washed over her like a tide.
Her body felt as if its strength had been sucked dry, becoming soft and weak; she couldn’t even lift a finger. At the same time, a surge of heat rose from her abdomen, causing her cheeks to flush an unnatural crimson.
“What… happened…”
She shook her head, trying to stand up, but she collapsed limply onto the sofa.
Gu Qingleng slowly leaned down, her long fingers gently grazing Su Ruanruan’s unconscious cheek as she whispered into her ear like a demon’s murmur:
“What a naive child… believing whatever you’re told.”