Chapter 274 - My mind would never change

.....

A few days later, 

At the main hall of Imperial High, where everyone from the students to the teachers was sitting in front of the stage, which looked like a professional concert stage, in absolute silence as they listened to the principal delivering a speech. Right in front of the stage were the VIPs, which consisted of the Du XiAn and members of his family as well as his friends and their families. 

And sitting right on the front row was Xiao Lei, Xiao Zhihao, and Han Ye, and all of them had very varied expressions on. Xiao Zhihao's jaws and fists were clenched the whole time as he glared at the principal, hoping to get out of this, while Xiao Lei had a calmer expression on her face.

She had been preparing herself for today for a while now, and she was sure that she would not cry. 

"Let us give a round of applause to representatives of the Xiao Family," said the principal. He started to clap, which was soon followed by everyone else in the hall. 

The loud applause was like claps of thunder to Xiao Zhihao, and he was about to stand up and leave when Han Ye, who was seated next to him, placed a hand on the boy's shoulder and said in a hushed tone, "Please stay, for your mum at least." 

Xiao Zhihao glared at him before shrugging Han Ye's hand off rudely. However, he did not storm off and merely sat on his seat quietly. No matter how angry he was with the world at the moment, he would never want to purposely hurt his mother. 

As Xiao Lei walked onto the stage with trembling legs, Xiao Zhihao continued to watch her, but his lips moved as he whispered, "I don't like you."

His words were obviously directed at Han Ye, who was seated close enough to hear him. Han Ye glanced at him briefly. Instead of getting annoyed or irritated, he merely smiled as he kept his eyes on Xiao Lei while saying softly, "I'm sorry you feel that way, but I hope that one day you can change your mind about me."

Upon hearing Han Ye's reply, Xiao Zhihao scoffed. "My mind would never change."

Han Ye sighed softly, but he did not say much. Xiao Zhihao had been through a lot, and no doubt he was feeling plenty of negative emotions at this time. 

When Xiao Lei received the reward from the principal, she looked down at everyone who was seated beneath the stage while clapping, and her eyes landed on her son, who did not have a smile on her face, and she thought to herself, "Would I be able to see his smile again?"

When she was making a short speech, her eyes would move around the hall. And it was then that she noticed the teacher who had the same name and face as the Murong Yu she knew. Knowing that it was only a coincidence and that she shouldn't stare at him, she wanted to turn her gaze away. However, the way Murong Yu was staring at her was making her uncomfortable. The way he was looking at her was like...

"Murong Yu?" she accidentally blurted out his name, which caused everyone who knew him to turn to the man.

When everyone had their gazes at him, he shrugged, as if to say, "I don't know her, and I don't know why she's calling my name."

"I'm sorry," Xiao Lei murmured as she stared at Murong Yu. "I thought you were someone I know." 

She then looked back at the front seat, where her son was staring at Murong Yu as well, and continued her speech. 

After making a short speech, she made her way down to her seat, but when she got back there, Xiao Zhihao was gone. 

"Where's Zhihao?"

"Erm..." Han Ye did not know what to tell her. The moment Xiao Lei started walking down from the stage, Xiao Zhihao had enough of everything and went out without telling anyone. 

"I think I better go find him," she murmured. Before she left the hall, she looked around, but she could not find that man again. She passed the small commemoration award to Han Ye before rushing out to look for her son. 

Han Ye watched her leave, but he did not feel comfortable about leaving her alone, especially since she did not know his way around. 

"Give me that and go after her," Luo Guangying said. 

Han Ye turned to look at him for a few seconds before nodding. Once he passed the award to Luo Guangying, he said, "Thanks." 

....

After Xiao Zhihao went out of the hall, he walked around aimlessly, unsure of where he should go. Everyone was giving him sympathetic looks, and it was pissing him off. After walking around for a while, he went to the school's award-winning track field. 

As he sat on the bleachers thinking about his father, his left cheek suddenly felt cold, and he saw a pair of loafers from the corner of his eyes. He then looked up and saw the familiar man standing next to him with two cans of Coke.

"Murong Yu."

Murong Yu frowned and gently tapped the top of his head with the can of Coke. "It's Mr. Murong when we are at school."

Xiao Zhihao glanced at the Coke and asked, "Is that for me?" 

Murong Yu smiled and nodded before giving Xiao Zhihao one of the Coke. He then sat next to Xiao Zhihao and asked, "Why aren't you with your family?" 

"I don't really want to talk to anyone at the moment." 

"Not even me?" Murong Yu stood up and pointed toward one of the exits. "Should I go?"

Xiao Zhihao rolled his eyes. "You can stay. Just don't ask me any unnecessary questions."

Murong Yu smirked and sat back down. The two of them drank from their cans of Coke quietly as they looked at the empty track field that was slowly being filled by students. Now that the commemoration ceremony ended, everyone was back to their normal schedules, and for most of them, it was the time for sports. 

"Are you sad?" Murong Yu said. 

"No."

When Murong Yu looked at Xiao Zhihao, the latter did not even turn his head to face him before saying, "The man who died is not my father."

He clenched his fingers around the can of Coke so hard that he dented it, causing some of the Coke to spill out. "He's not my father..." he murmured as he stared at the can of Coke in his hand.

Murong Yu reached over and cleaned Xiao Zhihao's hand with a clean handkerchief. Once he was done, he said, "Wanna come over to my house this weekend?"

Xiao Zhihao thought for a while before saying, "I'll let you know."

He then glanced at Murong Yu and asked, "My mum seemed to know you... And you seemed to know her too."

Murong Yu shrugged. "It's just a coincidence. Murong Yu is quite a common name."

"Is it?" Xiao Zhihao raised a brow. "She seemed to recognize you by your looks thought."

"Maybe the Murong Yu that she knew was a handsome man like me," Murong Yu said before flipping his non-existent bangs dramatically. 

"Ha. Ha." Xiao Zhihao rolled his eyes before turning his eyes back to the track field. After a while, he asked, "Mr. Murong, are you dating Ms. Li Li?"