"Are they insect bites?"

Xiao Rong wrote down in a notebook to ask her.

Gu Baisheng couldn't tell innocent Xiao Rong the real cause, so she pulled her collar awkwardly. After she covered the marks, she explained unnaturally, "Oh, it seems so. I didn't pay attention to them."

Xiao Rong blinked his beautiful eyes. He pressed his lips and wrote something in the notebook after seeing her blush.

"May I teach you sign language?"

After seeing this sentence, Gu Baisheng's eyes brightened, "Of course!"

Xiao Rong nodded.

Gu Baisheng said, "But you have to have breakfast first, then you can have the strength to teach me, right?"

Xiao Rong smiled faintly.

His beautiful smile was more dazzling than any other beautiful thing on this planet.

Xiao Rong was so good-looking.

Gu Baisheng thought fondly.

...

Xiao Rong was not seriously injured, but he still had to stay at the school infirmary for a few days.

They planned to send him back home to have a rest, but his family and experience were a bit unusual.

Gu Baisheng explained Xiao Rong's situation to the Principal and asked Xiao Rong to rest at the school infirmary.

The principal was fine with it,

And agreed easily.

Gu Baisheng was in charge of taking care of Xiao Rong. Xiao Rong spent his whole morning teaching her sign language with his notebook.

Gu Baisheng enjoyed learning and found it interesting.

At noon, when her stomach growled, she then realized it was lunchtime.

"I'll get some food at the school canteen. We can keep practicing after lunch."

Xiao Rong nodded.

He thanked her in sign language.

Gu Baisheng could understand a few basic and common signs, so she smiled, "It's fine. I'm happy."

After saying so, she remembered what she learned this morning, so she made a happy gesture with her slender fingers in the air.

She didn't have large hand movements, but she did it very precisely.

Xiao Rong nodded at her and gave her a thumbs-up.

It meant "you're awesome."

Gu Baisheng laughed happily.

Chu Qin pushed open the door and heard Gu Baisheng laughing, "What are you doing, Miss Bai? What makes you so happy?"

"Oh, Xiao Rong is teaching me sign language."

Gu Baisheng turned around to explain to Chu Qin.

Chu Qin looked at Xiao Rong on the sickbed thoughtfully.

Xiao Rong's lips rose gently and his curved and smiling eyes were like streams.

A grown man like him was amazed by his look.

He was more attractive than girls.

But he didn't have the natural delicacy like girls.

His beauty was dazzling and bright, just like a diamond shining in the sky.

He was so precious and deeply charming.

He was different from those who just appeared to be pretty.

"What can I do for you, Mr. Chu?"

When Gu Baisheng saw Chu Qin stared at Xiao Rong, she couldn't help asking.

Chu Qin came back to his senses and smiled, "Oh, I just pass by and want to ask you to have lunch at the school canteen."

"Let's go. I'm about to go to the canteen."

Chu Qin nodded and held up his black-framed glasses. Before he left with Gu Baisheng from the school infirmary, he looked at Xiao Rong again.

When Gu Baisheng left the infirmary,

Xiao Rong's smile disappeared instantly.

He looked at his hands which got injured on the back and then slightly moved his fingers. He suddenly recalled the way Chu Qin looked at him.

He frowned in disgust.

...

Gu Baisheng was listening to Chu Qin talking on their way to the school canteen.

"Xiao Rong seems to like you a lot."

"Really?"

Gu Baisheng smiled.

Chu Qin nodded and recalled, "It's been 14 years since he was first admitted by this school. I remember that he hasn't smiled at anyone here."

"14 years?" Gu Baisheng was shocked, "He's been here for 14 years?"

"Yes."

"So long?" Gu Baisheng felt bitter inside.

Based on what Chu Qin said, Xiao Rong was here since he was a child.

And 14 years was such a long time.

It was long enough for a child to be an adult. It was supposed to be the most colorful years of a person's life.

But Xiao Rong was trapped here for 14 years like a prisoner?

Gu Baisheng bit her lip and felt sorry for him, "Then... When can he graduate?"

"It depends on when the Xiao Family wants to pick him up." Chu Qin sighed.

"What?" Gu Baisheng subconsciously thought the fact was more complicated than she imagined.

Chu Qin said, "Our school was found 15 years ago."

"Xiao Rong was here on the second year?"

"Yes." Chu Qin nodded and held up his glasses. He felt sorry for Xiao Rong, too, "As a matter of fact, the Xiao Family contributes a lot to the school. They donated two teaching buildings."

"That's why Xiao Rong can stay here for so many years and the school can't offer him to graduate and go home?"

Gu Baisheng realized it.

Chu Qin shook his head and looked at Gu Baisheng, "Miss Bai, even if Xiao Rong goes back to his family, he won't have good days. The Xiao Family never treats him well."

Gu Baisheng knew very little about the Xiao Family.

Although the Xiao Family was very prestigious in Beicheng,

It was no match like the Song Family.

But in the seven years when she married into the Song Family, the two families had no connection with each other.

Even when the Song Family held a birthday party for Song Zhaoyang's eldest grandson and all the people from the upper class gathered together, none of the members from the Xiao Family showed up.

This showed the two families didn't have a good relationship.

So she was even less familiar with Xiao Family's business.

"You don't know about the Xiao Family. Do you think it's good for him to graduate and go home, Miss Bai? After you get to know about it, you know staying at the school is the best option for Xiao Rong."

"But he can't stay here forever." Gu Baisheng frowned.

Chu Qin saw that she was really concerned about Xiao Rong, so he told her what happened the other day after a short hesitation, "Xiao Rong wanted to go home last month. But after staying home for two days, he was attacked by his sister's pit bull and he almost died. Do you think he can stay at such a home?"

Gu Baisheng clenched her fists.

She knew this thing more than anyone else.

It seemed that it was not only the Xiao Family who disliked this boy.

His relatives were like beasts that kept watching him and wanted him to die.

"Then he can stay here temporarily."

Chu Qin nodded, "Yes, it'll be safer for him."

Gu Baisheng still felt bad and became even curious about Xiao Rong's life, "Why does the Xiao Family treat him like this? Where are his parents?"

After hearing this, Chu Qin lowered his voice and told her after a second thought, "His mother passed away many years ago and his father dislikes him."

"Why does he dislike him? Isn't he the only son of the Xiao Family?"

"Rumor goes..." Chu Qin looked around to make sure that nobody else could hear it, and then he said secretively, "He killed his mother."

...

Gu Baisheng felt really complicated.

With her hands full of lunchboxes and other dishes, she had been thinking about what Chu Qin said on her way back.

Chu Qin had told her everything he knew, but she knew nothing more than that.

It was better to ask Xiao Rong instead.

But as an outsider, she didn't have the right to ask about his past.

Although she felt sorry for his sufferings, what she could help with was only a tiny bit of his life.

She put the lunchbox on the desk.

When Xiao Rong opened the lunchbox, she was lowering her eyes and seemed to be worried. So Xiao Rong signaled, "What happened?"

Gu Baisheng saw his movement and smiled slightly, "Nothing. I was just thinking about some boring stuff."

Xiao Rong took a bite.

He saw a piece of braised pork, so he picked it up with chopsticks, passed it to her, and invited her to eat.

When Gu Baisheng saw the braised pork, she said, "I don't want to eat it. You can have it."

Xiao Rong frowned and put down his hand sadly.

Then he wrote down on the cardboard next to him, "Are you worried that my chopsticks are dirty? They are new."

After seeing it, Gu Baisheng knew that he was sensitive, so she denied it in a hurry, "No, that's not what I mean."

Xiao Rong picked up that piece again and passed it to her.

This time, Gu Baisheng had no excuse to refuse.

So she opened her mouth and ate the braised pork.

Honestly, the cooks in the school canteen can cook really well.

After seeing her finish it, he smiled.

Then he picked up another piece and wanted to give it to her.

Gu Baisheng refused immediately and showed her lunchbox to him, "I have braised pork in my lunchbox too. Go ahead and eat your food."

After Xiao Rong saw her hold her lunchbox, he nodded and started to eat after a short hesitation.

Gu Baisheng watched him eating and then suddenly found that

There were many scars on the back of his hands, so she immediately remembered what Chu Qin said about Xiao Rong's family members.

"Do you want to leave this school?"

Gu Baisheng couldn't help asking.

Xiao Rong was in a daze. He looked up at her confusedly.

He seemed to fail to understand what she meant.

Gu Baisheng said, "The world is big."

Xiao Rong slowly digested the sentence. After a while, he put down his lunchbox and gestured with his hands, "I really want to go outside, but..."

He pointed at his throat and then his leg, "I'm dumb and limp."

Suddenly, Gu Baisheng felt sad about him.

"They don't want me to embarrass them." Xiao Rong wrote it down in the notebook and then looked at her smilingly, "This school was not so good, but now you're here. It's good enough for me."

Gu Baisheng's eyes were ready to tear.

Xiao Rong gestured, "Can you be my friend?"

"What?"

Xiao Rong looked at her eagerly and timidly and he wrote, "Ye told me that humans were social beings and had friends and relatives. But my relatives don't like me and I have no friends. What are friends like? Can you be my friend?"

"Friend?"

Gu Baisheng thought about Qu Xiaobo and her.

She smiled and explained gently, "Friends care and help each other. They share good and bad experiences. And they never leave each other when they're in need."

Xiao Rong frowned and seemed to understand.

But he didn't seem to understand it completely.

He thought about it and wrote, "What are lovers?"

"Lovers?" Gu Baisheng pondered, "They're probably those who can stay with you forever and never betray you?"

"What's the difference between lovers and friends?" Xiao Rong was confused, "Friends also cannot dump each other."

Gu Baisheng didn't know how to answer his question.