Chapter 8

It was a bit late so Sarah took a taxi directly to Enlightening Middle School. It was time for evening studies, so the campus was quiet. Sarah took all her belongings, opened the door to her dormitory, and walked in. After tidying her things, she scrolled her handphone and realized that the whole of T City was reveling due to the fact that James was still alive. The only thing was that he had not awakened yet. However, that did not affect the infatuated hearts of thousands of girls in T City. The forum was full of this news, followed by a picture of James’ handsome face. The number of people following this was increasing by the second. Sarah turned it off after only reading a few posts. She was not a fan of James. However, she was well aware that her acupoint skills were still at the beginner’s level. Although James was alive, there was still a long way to go for him to awaken. It would only be possible if she mastered the Nine Meridians and Eight Vessels method, or met an expert who was more powerful than her. During the evening studies, three roommates rushed in. Ann hugged Sarah, and said, “You scared me to death. Your dad said to suspend you from school. I thought you were sick. Let me check if there’s something wrong with you.” Sarah obediently got off the bed and allowed Ann to circle her three times. She then hugged Ann, pushed her to the bed, and tickled her hard. At that moment, she finally felt alive. It felt so good to be cared for. Sarah’s class teacher, Mr. Zack called out to her as soon as he saw her. “What happened to the suspension from school yesterday?” After listening to Mr. Zack’s serious question, Sarah understood that he did not want her to stop schooling. After all, her grades had always been ranked in the top ten. Besides, the Gaokao was coming up in two months—the suspension would have ruined her life. Sarah recalled Jimmy telling her to apply for a day off to celebrate her birthday. She believed her father and applied for the day off. In any case, she felt that the results of her entrance exam were not dependent on a day’s effort. As a result, she was arranged with a ghost marriage by her father. “It’s nothing. My dad thought I was sick, but it turned out to be a misunderstanding from the hospital.” Sarah casually gave a reason. She did not feel embarrassed about being in an arranged ghost marriage, but she was terrified. Mr. Zack breathed a sigh of relief, and then said, “Director Marshall from Marshall Group also called to look for you yesterday. I told her that you weren’t at school. Did she get in touch with you?” “She was looking for my dad and she has already found him.” “Oh, that’s strange. Why did she call you when she was looking for your dad?” Mr. Zack mumbled. He let Sarah go without asking any further. Sarah cherished being back at school. Yesterday, she thought she would never be able to go back to school. However, after going back, she felt as if she had been cut off from the outside world for ages. After school, Ann pulled Sarah to a claypot restaurant outside the school gate. “Hurry up, or my favorite fish balls will be sold out if we get there too late.” Both of them sat down breathlessly. A girl from the next class sat across Sarah and asked, “Sarah, is Molly your sister?” “No.” “Pfft, obviously she is. She’s the campus belle who is representing Enlightening Middle School. You don’t want to admit it because you don’t want to be compared to your sister.” “If you want to say something, just finish it. Don’t interrupt me while I’m eating my claypot.” Sarah did not want to hear Molly’s name, not because she was afraid of being compared to her, but because of Molly’s indifference toward her trauma of being arranged in a ghost marriage. She would not be able to get over it in one or two days. It would take a long, long time. She did not like the feeling of wearing burial clothes. The girl was not affected by her coldness and continued gossiping about the news, “Didn’t you read the news? James Marshall has a fiancee now. It’s your sister, Molly York.”