Beauty and the Beasts

Tang Li cast a strange glance at Bai Qingqing and carefully asked, “Erm… you’re not eating anymore? Then, can I eat your food?”

“Go ahead,” Bai Qingqing said distractedly as she stared at her phone.

The show was still on, and Zhang Yu knocked on Parker’s room door.

“I want to go home.”

Zhang Yu tried persuading him for a good while, but Parker kept saying the same thing. His voice was raspy, his eyes were red, and his eyes looked dazed. He didn’t appear to be in a stable emotional state.

Bai Qingqing clenched her fists and her breathing tightened.

Zhang Yu was momentarily lost for words. Parker gulped down his saliva, and when he blinked, two strings of tears rolled down his cheeks.

He casually wiped them off and then said in a choked voice, “I only want to go home.”

As the camera pulled closer, one could see that Parker’s gorgeous golden eyes were filled with blood vessels. On his bare face, his two undereye circles were very obvious. Clearly, he hadn’t slept well these few nights.

“How can I go home?” Parker asked helplessly on camera.

Zhang Yu opened her mouth and hesitated to speak.

Actually, an accidental element like Parker was very beneficial to the show’s ratings. The production crew definitely wouldn’t let him off easily. Instead, the more upset he became, the more secretly gleeful the production crew would be.

Finally, Zhang Yu didn’t tell him that. She only said, “You’ll be able to go home in a few days. You should eat properly, don’t starve for the sake of your health.”

Parker stopped speaking. Zhang Yu had brought a large bowl of food to him. As for whether he eventually ate it, no one knew.

After this episode was broadcasted, the students around the phone were all very quiet.

Regardless of what reason it was that made Parker keep wanting to go home, he had touched the softest spot in people’s hearts.

Even the viewers who didn’t know him in real life felt heartache for him, much less Bai Qingqing.

Bai Qingqing grabbed her phone and got to her feet abruptly. “I want to apply for leave and go back!”

“Why?” Tang Li caught up to her with their lunchboxes. “Hey, your lunchbox.”

Bai Qingqing couldn’t be bothered to care about that. She ran away, leaving Tang Li far behind.

She found her form teacher and lied that she had a family emergency, and applied for half a day’s leave.

“Mm, Curtis.” As Bai Qingqing walked to the school entrance, she spoke on the phone. “I’m coming home now. Nothing. It’s just that I’m in no mood for class… Erm, is Parker at home?”

Having just delivered lunch to her, Curtis had just gotten home. He revealed a look of surprise as he said, “He’s at work.”

“Oh. It’s alright, then. I’ll go visit him at work in that case,” Bai Qingqing said with a smile as she walked out of school, feeling a tad more relaxed.

Parker, don’t be sad. I’m coming for you right now.

Curtis’s voice sounded over the phone. “Wait for me at the school gate. I’ll come and pick you up in a car.”

“No need. You don’t have a driving license yet. Be careful of getting caught…” Before Bai Qingqing could refuse, Curtis had already hung up the phone.

Bai Qingqing had no choice but to stand at the school entrance waiting for him, like an Amah Rock[1].

Shortly after, a black and shiny sedan drove over.

Bai Qingqing didn’t know much about cars, and in fact, couldn’t even remember the brand logo of the car owned by her family. All she knew was that it was a black car.

Bai Qingqing took two steps forward. Was that her family’s car?

The black car gradually slowed down before stopping beside her.

Sure now, Bai Qingqing walked towards the door with a smile.

However, the moment the door opened, a few unfamiliar men in sunglasses got off and instantly surrounded her.

Bai Qingqing froze and looked at them in confusion.

Looking into the car, she saw another two men inside, neither of which she knew.

“Who are you people?” Bai Qingqing retreated a step, but someone blocked her path.

[1] A rock that is shaped much like a woman carrying a baby on her back. According to a legend, the faithful wife of a fisherman climbed the hills every day, carrying her son, to watch for the return of her husband, not knowing he had been drowned at sea. In reward for her faithfulness, she was turned into a rock by the Goddess of the Sea so that her spirit could unite with that of her husband.