Sweet Kiss - Chapter 14.1

The next morning, Li Yansui woke up because she was hungry.

She slowly opened her eyes and saw a ray of sunlight shining into the room. That’s when she realized she had overslept.

How long had it been since she had a proper night’s sleep? She couldn’t even remember.

Li Yansui stretched lazily, got out of bed, put on her shoes, and walked downstairs.

In the dining room, breakfast was already on the table. Aunt Wang was carrying another bowl of freshly made noodle soup and called her over, “Yansui, come eat quickly.”

Li Yansui planned to eat just a little before going to school, but then she heard Aunt Wang say from the kitchen, “By the way, that young man from next door came over early this morning. He asked me to tell you that he already asked for a leave on your behalf. You can go whenever you want today.”

Bai Tingzhou had probably guessed her phone would be off, so before heading to school, he specially came to leave the message with Aunt Wang.

She wasn’t sure how long their video call had lasted last night, but her phone had powered off by the time she woke up.

Hearing Aunt Wang’s words, Li Yansui felt a warm feeling rise in her heart.

“Thank you, Auntie. I got it,” she replied, and then began eating breakfast slowly. There was no need to rush.

Besides, she had already asked someone to look into the matter last night.

If all went well, things would be settled today.

Li Yansui wasn’t the kind of person with a lot of free time. She knew there was no need to waste too much energy on something that could be fixed with a bit of money and a few clicks.

At that time, Bai Tingzhou had already arrived at school.

When Qi Jinyang saw him at the door, he was shocked. “What, the sun’s rising from the west today?”

Bai Tingzhou, who normally cut it close at least three out of five days, was actually early today.

Ignoring Jinyang’s teasing, Bai Tingzhou opened his locker, put his bag inside, then sat down and asked quietly, “Any results from what I asked you to look into last night?”

Qi Jinyang’s family worked in this kind of business, and he himself had plenty of connections. For someone like him, digging up the truth behind the rumors about Li Yansui was easy.

Qi Jinyang smiled as he pulled a laptop from his bag, found a file, and handed it to Bai Tingzhou. “Here. You’ll like this.”

Bai Tingzhou looked at the screen. A photo suddenly popped up.

The background was clearly a bar. A girl was sitting on a guy’s lap, striking a smug pose for the camera. The guy was slouched on the sofa, looking nonchalant and trying to appear cool.

But with all the colorful lights shining on their faces, the whole picture looked more creepy than cool.

Bai Tingzhou frowned and pushed the laptop away in disgust. He turned his head. “Them?”

Qi Jinyang laughed at his reaction, which was exactly the same as his own when he saw the photo last night. At the time, he thought he was seeing things.

He pointed to the guy in the picture and explained.

The online post had been made by the girl.

And the reason? Jealousy.

The guy was a junior in high school. He was a typical playboy—handsome, rich, and popular. He attracted a lot of girls. But he never took relationships seriously. Once he got bored, he’d move on and shamelessly say things like, “I never said we were a couple.”

Because of that, he already had a bad reputation at St. Philomena School.

Still, some girls kept chasing after him.

The girl in the photo was one of them. Everyone at school knew she had been chasing that guy for a long time. People even called her a “simp” behind her back.

All it took was a small gift from the guy to make her fall even harder.

But the good times didn’t last. He got bored of her.

And right then, Li Yansui transferred into their school.

The guy had his eyes on Li Yansui but knew she was out of his league. So, when he broke up with the other girl, he made it seem like it was Li Yansui’s fault.

Later, that girl managed to snap this photo—maybe by following him or something else.

And since she was a forum admin, posting a rumor was no big deal.

After explaining everything, Qi Jinyang shook his head. “Honestly, that girl is so dumb. One sentence from him and she believed everything…”

Before Jinyang could finish, Bai Tingzhou got up and walked out.

“Hey, where are you going?” Jinyang shouted as he chased after him.

But Bai Tingzhou didn’t reply. With one hand in his pocket, he walked straight toward the school auditorium.

“Seriously?” Jinyang watched him walk away and sighed, then ran after him. If something happened, it’d be a big deal.

When Jinyang finally caught up backstage, he saw Bai Tingzhou calmly reviewing his speech notes. He looked completely relaxed.

Oh, right. How could he forget?

He flopped onto a bench, panting. “You could’ve told me you had a speech to give. I nearly passed out chasing you.”

“I thought you were going to do something crazy,” he added, still out of breath.

Bai Tingzhou simply gestured for him to calm down.

Today, the school auditorium was packed with students from all grades. The event was for the freshmen, and Bai Tingzhou was their chosen speaker. He just needed to give a short speech and could leave afterward.

Eventually, the host’s voice echoed through the hall:
“Now, let’s welcome the freshman representative, Bai Tingzhou, to the stage.”

Bai handed his notes to Qi Jinyang and said, “Let me show you what real crazy looks like,” then walked off.

He walked up the stage calmly, his back straight and posture confident under the lights.

Jinyang was still stunned. “Holy crap…”

The crowd erupted in applause.

“Hello, everyone,” Bai Tingzhou said as he stood at the center of the stage, all eyes on him.

He scanned the audience and quickly found two familiar faces. Then he began his speech, speaking steadily and clearly.

The students below couldn’t stop whispering:

“Wow, that’s Bai Tingzhou?!”

“He’s so handsome!!”

“Too bad he won’t share his WeChat…”

“So frustrating!”

But Bai Tingzhou wasn’t affected at all. He finished his prepared speech perfectly.

Then, instead of saying “thank you,” he paused and added,
“I believe most of you have seen what’s been happening on the school forum lately. I’d like to share my thoughts about it. Would everyone mind listening?”

The audience exploded.

No one expected him to bring up that topic during a formal school event, right in front of the school leadership.