rose ashes

"Master, today is the first day of school. You don't want to be late for class, do you?" Bian Yao paced anxiously at the door, watching Ye Gu leisurely choosing sneakers by the door.

Bian Yao's complaint was met with a sidelong glance from Ye Gu without any emotion, "I've never seen you like going to school so much before. Are you in such a hurry to reincarnate?"
Bian Yao was embarrassed, "...Okay, Master, take your time to choose, I'm not in a hurry at all."

Today is the first day of becoming a high school student. Ye Gu does not have any emotions. For him, it is just a promotion from junior high school to high school. Apart from the change in status, there is no difference.

Sitting in the car, Bian Yao could always sense that Ye Gu was absent-minded. This kind of highly anticipated appearance had always been his special privilege, and it was something he always enjoyed. But today he was out of character, looking listless, as if everything was about to fall apart.

"What's wrong? You look like you're in a bad mood." Bian Yao threw a bottle of water to him. Ye Gu lowered his eyes and looked at the water in his hand and sighed.

"I don't know how she is..." Ye Gu's voice was suppressed in his throat. Bian Yao didn't hear it clearly, so he asked "what". Ye Gu just shook his head and said it was nothing.

As expected, Ye Gu was still a prominent figure in the school. When everyone was talking noisily, he walked through the crowd alone, as if no one heard him.
Bian Yao couldn't pull him back in time: "Master, please walk slower, why are you in such a hurry?"

Ye Gu was in no mood. He just felt a lot of noise in his ears, which was more annoying than Bian Yao's nagging in his ears.

At the freshman ceremony, Ye Gu looked around, searching for someone, but his casual glances always made the girls a little excited, and they and their friends around them shyly wondered if he was looking at them.

Xi Jinzhou arrived late and remained silent when he saw his condition.

"Next, please welcome our freshmen—"

Ye Gu felt extremely bored and wanted to leave, but Xi Jinzhou suddenly pulled him back to his original position.
"Look at the stage."
Ye Gu frowned, and when he looked up——
"The freshman representative, Luo Yang, is coming to the stage to speak! Everyone, welcome!"

As if something was holding his sight back, Ye Gu stared at the person on the stage without blinking. Her long, smooth hair was tied into a high ponytail and hung behind her. Her amber eyes, set on her white porcelain face, were like clear water. The mole on her lip was her distinctive feature as always.

Luo Yang looked at the huge crowd of people below the stage, not knowing whether they saw him or not, but just when they looked in his direction, they happened to look away.

Ye Gu had rehearsed a hundred ways of meeting her in his mind, but he didn't expect this one to be the most dull one. He thought he was very familiar with her, so familiar that they could be family, but in the end, it was just like that, and they didn't even glance at each other.

...Forget it, it doesn't matter if she doesn't have it. He wants to know if she is okay during this holiday when he lost contact with her.

As a student, Luo Yang naturally understood that students did not like to attend long meetings, so she quickly finished her speech and slowly walked off the stage amid thunderous applause.

Ye Gu stood in the last row of the team, alone, with no one around him. At first, there was a teacher standing here, but perhaps because Ye Gu's aura was too strong, the head teacher cleared his throat and went to the front of the team after standing there for a while.

The continuous speeches of the teachers made Ye Gu drowsy, as if he was still in junior high school. Now in high school, the teachers still liked to indoctrinate people.

A faint cold fragrance filled his nostrils, and Ye Gu felt blessed. He slowly opened his dozing eyes and saw Luo Yang standing next to him, holding a speech manuscript in his hand.
"I haven't seen you for two months. You've grown taller."

Ye Gu sighed softly, wanting to say something but stopping himself. In the end, he just glanced at her slightly sideways, and quickly retracted his gaze for fear of being discovered.
"I haven't seen you for two months. You're still as beautiful as ever." But she didn't look happy at all.
Of course Ye Gu didn't say this. The two of them stood shoulder to shoulder and looked at each other in silence.

Just when the freshman ceremony was about to end, Ye Gu finally couldn't bear it any longer. He grabbed Luo Yang's wrist and held it lightly, and he could easily break free with just a little force.
Luo Yang looked back at her with a calm gaze.

"So you're still going to disappear?"

The teacher on the stage had finished his speech, and the audience burst into customary applause as usual, echoing throughout the auditorium.

Luo Yang's thin lips moved, but his answer was completely swallowed up by the deafening applause.
When the voice faded away, Ye Gu didn't hear anything clearly, but he was too embarrassed to ask again. He just nodded as if he understood and replied "Oh" pretending to understand.

After returning to the classroom, Ye Gu found a seat in the second to last row and sat by the window as usual.
But half a minute later, he quickly realized that he was no longer sitting at the same table with Luo Yang, but he still habitually saved the window seat for her.

A little lost, Ye Gu stood up, and a familiar voice sounded in his ears: "Master, is there anyone sitting here?"

With the sun behind him, Luo Yang curled the corners of his lips slightly and looked at Ye Gu who had just stood up.

Ye Gu rubbed the back of his head in annoyance, his tone seemed very irritable, "No."
But even so, there was no way to say no to her.

If Bian Yao knew about this, he would definitely be ridiculed and spread widely. Fortunately, Bian Yao was not in the same class as them.

High school is different from before. The college entrance examination has been set as a high priority on the first day of school, and all courses officially begin teaching on the first day, except for some maverick teachers who always like to chat with students about life in the first class, such as their grade director Guangmingding.

Guangmingding wears glasses and looks kind, but his seriousness and caution are revealed everywhere.
Although the Ye family also has strict family education, Ye Gu still doesn't like this kind of atmosphere where he has to preach from time to time. While Guangming Ding was speaking eloquently on the podium, Ye Gu took out his school uniform jacket and put it on the table, preparing to take a nap with peace of mind.

I don’t know how long it took, but a clear and loud “Ye Gu” echoed throughout the classroom.

Ye Gu opened his eyes dazedly, but the expected glare did not come as expected. When he turned his head, he saw a few books standing by the window, with a faint light on the edges of the pages.

Guangmingding seemed very dissatisfied with his condition, and its eyes were like an eagle, staring at him fiercely, as if judging him.
"It seems that our classmate Ye Gu has seen his future. Now he can sleep peacefully."

Most of the students in the class just wanted to watch the fun when the teacher singled out this troublemaker, and some even thought it was funny.
Everyone looked at each other, wanting to see how embarrassed Ye Gu looked after being defeated.

Ye Gu looked at Guangmingding openly, as if he agreed with his answer, and nodded slightly, "It's about right."

The unexpected answer caused a low exclamation and jeers in the class. Guangmingding's face did not look so good, but he was not on the verge of exploding. He just had a heavy breath and stared at Ye Gu for a moment without moving.

"Then, classmate Ye Gu, tell me what you think you can accomplish in the future? And also say that you think you already have the qualities to realize your ideas, and you can relax yourself so much at such an important stage."

Ye Gu looked at Guangmingding, feeling like he was confronting someone, but Ye Gu didn't seem to care about his contempt and condescending lecture, and just stuffed the school uniform jacket on the table into the belly of the table with one hand. "I can't tell you clearly what I want to do in the future, but I can tell you that there is nothing I can't do if I want to do it, such as becoming a leader in an electronics company, or... becoming an honorary alumnus in your future. It depends on which one you want me to be."

The respect in his tone could not hide the arrogance and pride in his bones. Whispers began to appear in the classroom, and some classmates started to make groundless speculations and ridicule about Ye Gu.

Luo Yang saw all of this and said nothing, but she knew that Ye Gu was not joking or bragging.

Because since he was very young, Ye Gu's strong and unremitting persistence in things has somehow proved that if he wants something, there is nothing he cannot get in the end, such as winning the national computer championship, or the provincial Olympiad championship. It's just that he never participates in interviews or receives too much attention. At the request of the Ye family, the media did not leak too much information about the championship, so it is normal that few people know about it.

The discussions in the class became more and more intense, and some boys even ridiculed Ye Gu with malicious intent.

"Young Master, please understand that this is a teaching reform class. Any person here may be better than you. What are you bragging about? It's really funny."

The sharp sound instantly spread throughout the classroom like a stone thrown into a lake, causing ripples that spread out and grew bigger and bigger.

Like a fuse, everyone started talking, but Ye Gu didn't seem angry at all, he just smiled leisurely.

Luo Yang swallowed gently, she was most familiar with Ye Gu's expression. If he would still smile when being blatantly provoked like this, it meant that he was very angry, so angry that he wanted to fight. But fortunately, he was restrained enough and would never fight with others in such situations.

I just silently observed three seconds of silence for the person who had just provoked Ye Gu.

Guangmingding suddenly slapped the triangle ruler on the podium and said, "Why do you think I asked Ye Gu to stand up? Was it to teach him a lesson or to let you laugh at him?"

The noisy class was no longer noisy. Under the majesty of Guangmingding, everyone returned to their original state tremblingly, but there was an indescribable low pressure in the air.

Guangmingding suddenly laughed a few times, which scared the students so much that they dared not speak anymore.
He walked down from the podium and stopped when he slowly walked beside Ye Gu.

"No one should know who won the provincial Olympic championship last year." Guangmingding narrowed his eyes and looked at the boy who had just started to provoke him. His tone was not quite smiling, "What the classmate just said is right. There are many talents in our class. No one is without some skills and achievements."

"Who is the hidden dragon, who is the crouching tiger, no one knows, but today I can tell you about this tiger. Sorry, Ye Gu, this matter will not be approved by you."

Ye Gu silently clicked his tongue and wanted to stop it, but he was no match for the quick-tongued Guangmingding.

"The champion of the provincial Olympiad last year was Ye Gu. I was one of the judges, so I had met him before today. This kid has been arrogant for a long time. Not to mention you, I can't stand it either. But the only thing I have to admit is that what he said is right. There is nothing he can't do what he wants to do, so far."

Thinking back to meeting Ye Gu last year, Guangmingding was the least optimistic about him. Among a group of high school students, he seemed to have no competitiveness, yet he was so outstanding. He was so arrogant that it seemed that no one could be taken seriously in his eyes.

In academic work, arrogance is the most taboo. Guangmingding felt at the time that this guy would definitely be the first to lose. When he made it to the second game, Guangmingding told himself that this guy might be lucky and had some good luck in exams, but it stopped there. It was not until Ye Gu was arrogant all the way to the finals and won the championship in one fell swoop, but refused any interviews and news reports, that Guangmingding was sure that this was the first time he had misjudged someone and the first time he had judged someone by his appearance.

The reason why I wanted to ask him to stand up just now was that I still couldn't stand this kid's arrogance, but I also wanted to teach him a lesson. Such a good seedling should not lose his development because of too much arrogance.

"Today's lesson is to tell you that sometimes people are arrogant because they have the capital to be arrogant, but at the same time, they still have to learn to be humble. For example, classmate Ye Gu is too arrogant, and sometimes people want to beat him up, right?"

The atmosphere was instantly eased by Guangmingding's joking tone, and the tension slowly eased and the confrontation was no longer tit-for-tat.

/ / /
Just five minutes into the break, there was a commotion in the corridor and the crowd dispersed.

Someone ran to the office of Guangmingding, panting, and held onto the door frame: "Teacher! Ye Gu and Jiang He are fighting!"

The screams of the girls in the corridor mixed with the staggering footsteps and the voices of those who wanted to stop them, all mixed together like a chaotic hodgepodge.

Jiang He sneered sharply. Although Ye Gu was holding his collar, he still didn't let him off: "What? Are you angry because of shame? Did I say something wrong? You were just a chess piece that was abandoned!"

Ye Gu had already thrown a punch, and the people around him were unable to stop him in time. The veins on the back of his hand bulged, and he looked at Jiang He with a low growl, his eyes like a beast.
"If you have the guts, say it again. I'll beat you until no one recognizes you, believe it or not."

Jiang He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and smiled evilly: "Why, what do you care about what I say about her?"

Ye Gu suddenly realized something. He lowered his fist, which had been raised high, tremblingly and forbearingly, and smashed it hard against the wall. His finger bones turned red instantly.
"She is my business. That's it. Jiang He, remember this."

(End of this chapter)