The bad value system is measuring values.

Chapter 171 The Boss

After being isolated, Zhong Huanli sat down next to Qiao Xiao as she wished.

"Qiao Xiao, it's a pleasure to sit next to you."

She ignored me.

"Qiao Xiao, shall we walk home together after school tonight?"

She remained silent. Fine, I won't ask her anymore. I'll just follow her.

When school was over, the students quickly packed their bags, but Qiao Xiao sat quietly in her seat, seemingly waiting for someone.

"Who are you waiting for?" Zhong Huanli, who had finished packing her schoolbag, stood beside him. "They've all left, why didn't you pack?"

Qiao Xiao awkwardly clutched her pink, tattered bag and huddled to one side.

"you…"

She spoke up!

Zhong Huanli bent down, wanting to listen carefully to what she was saying.

"Stay away from me."

Zhong Huanli was puzzled, but still obediently took a few steps back.

"Is it far enough?" he asked.

She looked up at her incredulously, "You're just like an NPC."

Zhong Huanli's voice suddenly brightened, "So it really was you laughing back then."

He stared at her intently, and for some reason, he was drawn to her gaze. Her face wasn't particularly beautiful, but it possessed a deadly gravitational pull, like a black hole. Even Zhong Huanli didn't notice the slight change in his emotions; his heartbeat seemed to stop abruptly for the 0.01 seconds he was gazing at her.

"Dont look at me!"

"I...I'm sorry." He then realized his lapse in composure.

“Let’s go home from school together,” Zhong Huanli suggested again.

Qiao Xiao quickly shook her head, "No."

"Why? Do you have someone else with you?"

Upon hearing the word "others," Qiao Xiao's face darkened instantly, her eyes filled with panic. She couldn't help but cover her face, and then two streams of tears flowed down her cheeks.

"Did someone hurt you?" Zhong Huanli looked at her silently with a serious expression.

Her gaze was blank, and she didn't say another word.

Just then, footsteps suddenly came from outside the door. A group of girls who looked like hooligans blocked the doorway. They were nonchalant and had no trace of ladylike manners. They were no different from street punks.

Zhong Huanli looked warily at the door, shielding Qiao Xiao with her body. Qiao Xiao looked at the back of the figure in front of her, her eyes filled with confusion and bewilderment.

"Hey! Qiao Xiao, I didn't expect you to have an extra helper today."

Zhong Huanli: "You are not students in our class, please leave."

The girl with reddish hair, who was leading the group, swirled her hair around her neck and strode in arrogantly. She glanced at Zhong Huanli defiantly and said domineeringly, "I'm coming in, what can you do to me?!"

When she looked directly at Zhong Huanli, she suddenly blushed, and after a moment, said, "I didn't expect you to be so good-looking."

She tilted her head to look at Qiao Xiao, who was hidden behind Zhong Huanli, and said with a light smile, "Don't hide. When did you get a boyfriend? You didn't even tell us."

Qiao Xiao blushed and, holding her breath, said, "He's not my boyfriend."

The red-haired girl suddenly grinned mischievously and gave Zhong Huanli a deep look. "Not my boyfriend? Then let me take a good look at him." As she spoke, she reached out and touched Zhong Huanli's face.

To her surprise, Zhong Huanli quickly dodged, gave her a disdainful look, then took a few steps back to Qiao Xiao's side and slowly said, "Disgusting."

The gang leader stared at him in disbelief: "What did you say?!"

“Disgusting.” Zhong Huanli suspected she hadn’t heard him clearly, so he repeated it solemnly, and even louder.

The gang leader exclaimed, "I suspect you've gone mad!" She lunged forward to slap him, but Zhong Huanli swiftly grabbed a chair and shoved it in her direction, knocking the gang leader to her knees.

Zhong Huanli said indifferently, "Go back now, you can start anew."

The gang leader looked at him with a mixture of resentment and fear. She suspected he was mentally ill, and she shouted, "What kind of man hits a woman?"

Chung Huan-li: "You're so rude, I don't think I can define you as a woman."

The boss found this guy's words incredibly sharp, so she called to the people around her to help her up. Despite her resentment, she had no choice but to leave.

Watching their departing figures, Qiao Xiao suddenly breathed a sigh of relief. Zhong Huanli turned to look at her and said calmly, "Let's go."

Qiao Xiao looked into his eyes, nodded blankly, and Zhong Huanli reached out his hand. Qiao Xiao shook her head, "We can't do this..."

Zhong Huanli: "Aren't we friends?"

Qiao Xiao: "Friends?" She blinked a few times. "No, you'll be unlucky if you stay with me. You'd better stay away from me."

Zhong Huanli: "Why do you say that about yourself?"

Qiao Xiao: "I am a cursed lone star."

Upon hearing her words, Zhong Huanli's heart skipped a beat, and his eyes inexplicably stung. He sternly questioned, "Who said that about you?!"

Qiao Xiao: "Everyone around me says that people who come into contact with me will become unhappy."

Zhong Huanli shook her head and said firmly, "No, Qiao Xiao, listen to me."

He crouched down, making her look completely into his eyes, and then said in an incredibly gentle tone, "Listen to me, I long to be close to you more than anyone else. Don't let those who stay away from you try to influence you; they don't understand you."

“But…” she was about to retort.

"No buts! If such rumors exist, then I will personally shatter them!" His voice was not yet fully mature, still carrying a hint of immaturity, but his words were so powerful and forceful, as if an invisible force was rising up, quietly stabilizing Qiao Xiao's turbulent heart.

Qiao Xiao thought to herself, "Zhong Huanli is really strange, much stranger than me."

She didn't know how to describe her current feelings. It was as if a pure white space had suddenly appeared in a chaotic world, so clean it was almost frightening, yet it seemed to be slowly swallowing up the edge of darkness, blurring the boundary between white and chaos.

But she really couldn't resist wanting to touch that pure realm.

She didn't know Zhong Huanli, but today she learned a lot about him, and he was helping her. Why? She didn't know; it was as blank as a sheet of paper.

"And your answer, Qiao Xiao?"

"What?" She finally came to her senses.

Zhong Huanli suddenly brought her face close, staring intently at Qiao Xiao without any other emotion, and said with a hint of dissatisfaction in her tone, "Don't get distracted."

Qiao Xiao shrank back, "I...I'm sorry."

Zhong Huanli's tone immediately softened, and he asked again, "Would you like to walk with me after school?"

"Ah."