He Would Never Like Her

Byron furrowed his brows tightly. What kind of tricks was this ugly girl, Valentina, playing to catch his attention? Humph! Even if he were to die, he would never be interested in this woman! The class quickly ended. After class, all the boys in Augus's class surrounded him. "Augus, I heard that the fat girl in Class 8 is your sister. Why have you never mentioned it before?" "Isn't your family in a bad financial condition? How did your sister become so fat?" "If your family wasn't poor, why didn't your parents treat your leg and make you become crippled?" Augus sat with his head lowered, his fingers tightly clenched into fists. "I heard your sister always ranks last in exams!" "She only gets around twenty points in math. Is that true?" "Why is she so stupid! Is she mentally challenged?" Augus abruptly raised his head, his clear eyes filled with anger. "My sister isn't mentally challenged! She's very intelligent!" "Haha! Always ranking last, what else could she be if not mentally challenged? Anyone else could do better than her by guessing blindly, right?" Augus clenched his fists in rage, his handsome face flushed red. He wanted to Valentina her but didn't know where to start. ... Grade 3, Class 8. Valentina was leaning on the desk, lost in thought. She had no money, no phone, and many things were difficult to handle. She needed to figure out a way to make money to buy a phone. Many money-making methods flashed through her mind, but she sadly realized that all those paths crossed the line of the law. Alas! How annoying! At the podium, the teacher noticed Valentina sighing on the desk and became immediately infuriated. "Valentina! What on earth are you doing?" Valentina remained leaning on the desk without any reaction. The teacher, in a fit of rage, threw down the textbook. "Since someone doesn't want to study, she might as well drop out! Don't be here affecting other students and holding the class back!" Valentina raised her head, her eyes slightly bloodshot, looking somewhat unruly. "Are you talking about me?" Laughter immediately erupted in the classroom. Who else could it be besides her? The teacher said impatiently, "Come up here! Solve this problem!" Everyone looked at Valentina, eagerly awaiting her stammering and flustered response. But Valentina merely raised her eyebrows and got up, heading towards the podium. "Forget it!" The teacher suddenly gestured dismissively. "It's a waste of everyone's time to have you up here. Go back to your seat!" Ignoring the teacher's words, Valentina picked up the chalk and began to write swiftly. Her handwriting was strong and vigorous, not inferior to that of a skilled calligrapher. After she solved the problem, no one paid attention to whether she answered correctly or not. They were stunned by her beautiful handwriting. Everyone stared blankly at Valentina as she stepped down from the podium, disbelief filled their eyes. This couldn't be possible. When did Valentina's handwriting become so beautiful? The teacher stared at the answer written on the blackboard, adjusting her glasses. The more she looked, the more astounded she became. This answer was flawless! Wasn't Valentina supposed to be bad at math? How could she answer this difficult question correctly? The teacher became more and more troubled by her thoughts and finally stared at Valentina, whispering, "A blind cat stumbled upon a dead mouse!" ... After the school was over, Valentina initially thought that Augus would wait for her at the school gate. But when she arrived at the school gate, she found Augus limping and moving forward without uttering a word, his head lowered. Valentina's gaze flickered, and she quietly followed behind him. Just by seeing what he had experienced at school today, she knew that he had been bullied just as much as the original Valentina. And the root of it all was his leg. If she had money and silver needles, Augus’s leg could actually be healed quickly. Thinking of this, Valentina sighed softly. A penny was hard to come by! "Augus!" Valentina called out. Augus's steps paused for a moment but he didn’t turn around. Valentina raised an eyebrow and shrugged. She caught up with him and walked side by side. The two of them remained silent as they boarded the bus and continued on without speaking. It wasn't until they got off the bus and walked towards the urban village that Augus finally asked in a low voice, "Can you study seriously for the SAT?" Valentina looked at him thoughtfully. "Yes." She had always planned to do well on the test. She had shown outstanding performance since she was young and was used to the admiring gazes of others. Being looked down upon by those people at school today almost made her want to flip the classroom upside down. She abhorred living each day like this. When Augus heard her answer, he finally breathed a sigh of relief, didn't say anything else, and walked into the house with his head down. Back at home, Valentina changed her clothes and prepared to go out for a night run. Selena loudly stopped her. "Where are you going? Wash the dishes quickly!" The kitchen was piled up with dishes that Selena had left there the whole day, specifically waiting for Valentina to come back to wash them. Valentina didn't even turn her head and treated her as if she were air, walking straight out of the house. "Hey! You brat! I'm talking to you, didn't you hear me?" Selena cursed angrily. Augus came out of his room, silently went into the kitchen, and started washing the dishes. Selena rushed in, "Son! Go back to sleep! How can you wash dishes?" "If someone has to wash them, it should be that brat Valentina..." After leaving the yard, Valentina could still hear Selena grumbling. She sneered, looked ahead, and started her night run. After persisting in morning and night runs, as well as exercising whenever she had time and controlling her diet, Valentina quickly lost weight in half a month. Her face became thinner, and her chin became sharper. And Her figure was no longer as plump as before. Even in her school uniform, she looked quite adorable. The money in her meal card was running out, which was convenient because Valentina didn't eat dinner while losing weight, so she didn't ask Selena for money. She was afraid that if she were to lose control of her fiery temper, Selena would end up injured. A few more days blinked by. One evening, after Valentina finished her night run and took a bath, she lay on the bed, thinking about how she could make money. Just then, a strange noise came from outside the window. Valentina's ears pricked up, and she immediately rolled out of bed. The urban village, shrouded in darkness, was especially quiet. In the dim alleyway, a man dressed in black, clutching his gunshot wound in the abdomen, gasped for breath as he awkwardly navigated through the narrow lane. His strength was waning, and he eventually collapsed in a corner against a wall. The people chasing him temporarily fell behind, and the man took deep breaths, supporting himself against the moss-covered red brick wall, struggling to stand up. Suddenly, a shadow covered his head, and the man stiffened, raising his head warily. Valentina stood quietly in front of him, looking down at him. Moonlight poured down, illuminating the man's pale face. Doubled over in distress, his abdomen was riddled with bloodstains. He was panting heavily, like a dying fish gasping for the last few breaths. As Valentina got a clear view of the man's face, her eyebrows slightly quirked. He looked familiar. Had they met before? The man looked up, squinting at Valentina, and whispered hoarsely, "Leave if you don't want to die!" Valentina’s pupils slightly narrowed, a faint flicker of surprise skimming her eyes. The next second- "Are you injured? Do you need my help?" The man froze, seemingly surprised by Valentina's boldness. "You're seriously injured. If you don't stop the bleeding soon, you'll go into shock within half an hour," Valentina said calmly. In the distance, the sound of well-trained footsteps was rapidly approaching. Sweat dripped from the man's forehead, and his gaze immediately became alert. Valentina glanced behind her and then swiftly grabbed the man's hand. Before he could resist, she took out a carbon pen and quickly wrote a series of numbers on his arm. "Go over there, turn left, then run to the very end. There's a dog hole you can use to escape. If you're not dead, remember to transfer money to my account." The man was both surprised and doubtful, looking at Valentina suspiciously. "If you don't leave now, you won't be able to." Valentina calmly said. The man took a deep look at her, clutched his wound, and hopped over the wall from the Ricardo family's courtyard. He jumped into the back alley, stumbling away. He had barely left when the black-clothed people chasing him arrived in front of the Ricardo family's small courtyard. The moment they appeared, Valentina could tell that they were just like her. They made a living by walking on the edge of the law. However, these men were too low-ranked and not yet qualified to join the Shadow. Seeing Valentina wandering in the courtyard late at night, a black-clothed man menacingly asked, "Hey! Did you see an injured man pass by here?" Valentina squatted on the ground, looking as if she were playing with mud. In reality, she was cleaning up the bloodstains left by the man. The scent of roses filled the air. But the strong fragrance couldn't conceal the smell of blood. The black-clad men glanced at each other, and their gaze towards Valentina immediately turned fierce. Valentina lifted her head, her face donning an innocent and foolish look, and pointed in the other direction, "A man just ran over there." Seeing that she was mentally disabled, the black-clad men didn't question further and hurriedly chased after the direction she pointed. Valentina threw away the stick in her hand, clapped her hands, and went back inside. She closed the door and went to sleep, waiting for the money to be transferred to in her bank account.