bioinnovel Chapter 177: Surprise! Unexpected?
Chapter 177: Surprise! Unexpected?
Xue Youyou stood alone in the center of the courtyard, gazing in the direction of the gate, a faint smile on her face, seemingly in a good mood as she waited to meet up with the others.
Before long, a series of hurried footsteps came from outside the courtyard gate.
A group of people appeared at the entrance first.
Leading the way was Lu Yutang. As soon as she entered the courtyard, she looked around anxiously, her gaze sweeping over the empty space. "Youyou, haven't Aunt and the others arrived yet?" she asked impatiently.
"It should be soon."
As soon as Xue Youyou finished speaking, the sound of footsteps from the second team came from outside the courtyard.
Ning Xiaoman carried the still unconscious Lu Yuan on her back and stepped steadily into the courtyard.
Because of regulations prohibiting the summoning of fully-formed pets on the streets, Ning Xiaoman had to carry Lu Yuan on her back herself all the way.
Lu Yuan's gray overalls were covered in dust, her baseball cap was nowhere to be seen, and her disheveled hair clung to her sweaty forehead, making her look utterly wretched. Her hands and feet were still bound with rope, and the bow on her chest had tilted to one side from the jostling, making her look both pitiful and comical.
It must be said that it's very convenient to carry around, thanks to the fact that it's strapped on.
Ning Xiaoman silently gave a thumbs up to the "helpful citizen" who tied up the deer kite.
When Lu Yutang saw her aunt looking like this, her eyes immediately reddened.
She rushed forward, taking three steps at a time, and reached out to untie the ropes that were digging into her flesh, urgently saying as she did so, "Xiaoman, quickly put your aunt down! Be gentle!"
Ning Xiaoman carefully placed Lu Yuan on the stone bench in the courtyard. Lu Yutang squatted down beside her aunt, her fingers flying as she untied the knots. When she saw the red marks on her aunt's wrist, her nose tingled, and she almost burst into tears.
But she quickly took a deep breath, raised her wrist, and summoned Qingnang Tangxian from her pet space.
A soft, emerald-green light shone forth, and with the appearance of Qingnang Tangxian, a fresh scent of herbs and trees filled the courtyard.
"Qingnang Tangxian, please help your aunt with her treatment." Lu Yutang's voice was choked with sobs.
Qingnang Tangxian floated lightly to Lu Yuan's side, the flower bud on her head slowly blooming, petals unfolding to reveal a crystal-clear dewdrop in the center. The dewdrop rolled off the petals and dripped onto Lu Yuan's forehead, instantly transforming into a layer of pale green gauze that enveloped her entirely.
A vine-like arm gently rested on Lu Yuan's wrist, and ripples of emerald green spread out from the point of contact, brushing over the marks on her wrist, causing the redness and swelling to fade away at a visible speed.
After the treatment was completed, Qingnang Tangxian changed her hand gesture again. Her slender vine fingertips touched Lu Yuan's temples, and wisps of faint purple energy were drawn from under Lu Yuan's skin and dissipated into the air—the abnormal state left over from being stunned by the electric shock.
Lu Yutang leaned close to her aunt's ear and gently shook her shoulders, her voice filled with anxiety and anticipation: "Auntie? Auntie! Wake up!"
Lu Yuan's eyelashes trembled, and she let out a muffled groan. She frowned, as if struggling to wake from a deep nightmare, and her eyelids were opened with difficulty.
The blurry vision gradually focused, and several all-too-familiar faces came into view.
Lu Yutang's eyes were red from crying. Xue Youyou stood to the side with her arms crossed. The familiar students surrounded her, and all eyes were on her.
This is... Lanzhi Courtyard!
Lu Yuan's pupils suddenly contracted.
Memories flooded back—she was crouching behind that wrecked truck waiting to depart when she suddenly heard a noise behind her. Before she could turn around, she was struck hard on the back of the neck, followed by what felt like a stun gun, and then everything went black. When she woke up again, she was here.
Found?
They've been caught and brought back!
Seeing the meaningful expressions on everyone's faces, as if they were scrutinizing criminals, Lu Yuan felt as if they were saying: "Surprised? Unexpected?"
Lu Yuan's face turned deathly pale in an instant, her lips trembled a few times, and all the strength in her body seemed to have been drained away. She struggled to slide off the stone bench, her legs gave way, and she knelt on the ground with a thud, her forehead hitting the bluestone slab heavily with a dull thud.
A standard dogeza (a type of prostration).
"Whoa—!"
Lu Yuan wailed inconsolably, her face streaked with tears and snot, completely losing any semblance of the dean's composure. She lay prostrate on the ground, her shoulders trembling violently, her voice hoarse and shrill: "Why did you bring me back?! For the sake of our past relationship, please spare me!"
Everyone was startled by her kneeling and looked at each other in bewilderment.
Lu Yuan, however, paid no attention to everyone's reactions. As if trying to pour out all her guilt, she began to ramble on and on in repentance: "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! In the preliminary round against Lei Ming Academy, I also bet on them to win! And last year, Lin Yueyao, in your round of 16 match, and the preliminary round the year before, and... basically, whenever we faced a strong team, I bet on you to lose!"
The entire courtyard fell silent for a moment.
The expressions on everyone's faces went from shock to speechlessness.
Lin Yueyao's lips twitched slightly, and she muttered under her breath, "No wonder the dean always acts so strange before matches against strong teams..."
Liu Qingchan sighed, "I knew she wasn't in the right state of mind while watching the game; turns out she bet on us to lose."
Su Wanrou sighed, her voice full of helplessness: "Dean, you really should have done that..."
Lu Yuan was still there, kowtowing with snot and tears streaming down her face, muttering a list of her crimes.
"That's enough!"
Lu Yutang finally couldn't take it anymore and suddenly raised her voice, interrupting Lu Yuan's confession session.
Lu Yuan was startled by her shout and trembled. She looked up at her niece with teary eyes.
Lu Yutang took a deep breath, squatted down, and placed her hands on Lu Yuan's shoulders. Her tone softened, but it carried a hint of disappointment: "Auntie, calm down and listen to me."
Lu Yuan sniffed and looked at her with teary eyes.
Lu Yutang said, enunciating each word clearly, "It was Luo Yan's Truth Machine that discovered your embezzlement of public funds beforehand, and also saw your unsent electronic message. Youyou said she has a way to save you. We came to bring you back not to arrest you and take you to see Mother, but to help you."
Lu Yuan was stunned, her brain seemed to have crashed, and she couldn't process it for a long time.
Lin Yueyao added from the side, "Dean, when we found you, you were tied up like a dumpling and dumped in an alley on Cuitong Street in the West District. Think carefully, who knocked you unconscious?"
Lu Yuan blinked blankly, a flash of purple lightning vaguely appearing in her mind, but she could no longer distinguish whether it was an illusion or reality.
She opened her mouth, her voice hoarse: "I...I don't know...I only remember suddenly hearing a sound like a thunderstorm, and then..."
Her voice gradually lowered, and her gaze swept across everyone's faces.
These children, the children she had placed so much hope in, yet who had betrayed her at the gambling table, now stood before her, without anger or blame, simply looking at her quietly, their eyes filled with helplessness, heartache, and something else indescribable.
She felt deeply ashamed, but when she heard Lu Yutang say that Xue Youyou had a way to save her, a spark of hope rekindled in her heart.
Lu Yuan's gaze finally settled on Xue Youyou. She practically crawled to Xue Youyou on all fours, opened her arms and hugged Xue Youyou's thigh tightly. She looked up, and her eyes on her tear-streaked face shone brightly, like a drowning person grabbing onto the last piece of driftwood.
"I am a sinner, and I am truly ashamed to accept everyone's help..."
Lu Yuan's voice trembled, and tears rolled down her cheeks, wetting Xue Youyou's skirt.
Xue Youyou looked down at the dean who was crying his eyes out, a barely perceptible tenderness flashing in her eyes.
She bent down, reached out and gently patted Lu Yuan's shoulder, her voice as gentle as a spring breeze across a lake: "Don't say that. We're teacher and student, and it's not your fault."
She paused for a moment and then said, "It's all the bookmaker's fault."
Lu Yuan blinked her teary eyes, momentarily stunned, "The...the Zhuang family?"
"yes."
Xue Youyou nodded matter-of-factly: "If the bookmakers hadn't run the betting, how could you have lost so much money, Dean? The bookmakers are making a fortune; they're the real culprits. You, Dean, are just a victim who was tempted."
Everyone: "..."
The reasoning behind this rather illogical statement, coming from Xue Youyou's mouth, was inexplicably convincing.
Lu Yuan sniffed, ignoring whether Xue Youyou was genuinely comforting her or subtly mocking her, and gripped Xue Youyou's skirt tightly, asking anxiously, "Then... Youyou, do you really have a brilliant plan to save me?"
Upon hearing this, all eyes turned to Xue Youyou. From the moment they set out to find Lu Yuan until now, they had been grappling with this question: How could a deficit of ten billion possibly be filled?
Meeting the curious gazes of the crowd, Xue Youyou slowly curved the corners of her mouth into a slightly excited smile: "There is a way... of course there is."