Chapter 16

Shen Liyao continued to stare at Zhao Mingxi as she picked out the coriander leaves for Fu Yangxi.

He didn’t believe the rumors from the International Class about how Zhao Mingxi would give Fu Yangxi desserts everyday. But now that he saw it with his own eyes, he had no choice but to believe it.

He clenched his fist tightly. It felt as if a huge pot of oil was boiling in him, making him feel anxious and annoyed.

Even he himself was not aware of the reason why when he saw such a scene, it was like a needle had been pricked into his eyes. It was much too painful to watch.

He didn’t think that Zhao Mingxi had truly fallen for Fu Yangxi.

She was still angry. Angry at both her family and him.

Or else she didn’t have to purposely pick out the coriander leaves for Fu Yangxi right in front of him.

She was doing this on purpose.

However, if she was hoping for him to approach her again, that would be impossible. Since he’s already done it once, he won’t do it again.

His pride wouldn’t allow it.

Shen Liyao calmed down. He decided to first allow Zhao Mingxi to cool off. Then when she’s done with her tantrum, everything will go back to normal.

He lowered his gaze. He was unwilling to look at them again as it might disrupt his feelings. Thus, he picked up his bag and walked out of the library with a quick pace.

The cold wind blew at him ruthlessly. Shen Liyao still had the paper which he made highlighting the important areas of the Hundred School Tournament in his hands. He walked up to the trash can. With a cold expression, he crumpled up the paper and was about to throw it away when he hesitated. In the end, he opened up the paper with a frown.

He walked to a desk at the main entrance, folded the paper and placed it within the pages of a book. Then, he passed it to the librarian. “Hello. Please help me pass this to a student from the International Class.”

*

Fu Yangxi crossed his arms as he leaned back on the chair, his eyes glaring at Shen Liyao.

Only when Shen Liyao left the library did he withdraw from throwing daggers with his gaze.

He dipped his head to the left and stole a glimpse at Little Mask* who was beside him.

ray’s note: while it is not explained in detail, i would assume that mingxi is wearing a mask similar to that of a surgical mask, if not a cloth mask.

Mingxi was earnestly picking out the coriander leaves.

Fu Yangxi observed her for a while. In the end, he couldn’t help but to ask, “Who was that? A friend of yours?”

Mingxi followed his gaze to look at the entrance. She belatedly realized that he was talking about Shen Liyao.

Mingxi hesitated before speaking, “I guess.”

“You guys are rather close, huh?” Fu Yangxi feigned a tone of nonchalance. He tried his best not to let his jealousy seep through. “I saw how he kept on staring at you. Does he have something to say?”

“We’re alright.” Mingxi answered. If the fact that she was avoiding Shen Liyao nowadays didn’t mean that their relationship was just ‘alright’, then she didn’t know how else to describe it.

Thus, she added, “We’re merely acquaintances.”

It wasn’t until Mingxi was done speaking did she feel that something was odd. It had been almost two weeks since she transferred to the International Class. Usually, this fop would either ask her to leave or get her to run errands for him. She could decipher his behaviour of giving her gifts today as a way to repay her, but why was he suddenly asking her about the people from the Gold Medal Class?

As Fu Yangxi was dissatisfied with this answer, he threw a glance at Shen Liyao’s figure and asked again, “He looks like the kind who would make a show of being decent and proper. Are his results good?”

Mingxi asked, “Why do you ask?” Why is he suddenly curious about his results?

Mingxi immediately understood him. Although her current results were not bad, there was still a huge gap between her and Shen Liyao.

Is Fu Yangxi trying to get someone else to do his homework for him?

“Young Master Fu, you should get those thoughts out of your head.” Mingxi instantly put down the chopsticks and tried to promote herself. “Just let me do your homework for you. I can even imitate your writing. There is no one out there who is as patient as I am when it comes to doing your homework, so why do you want to seek greener pastures?”

Fu Yangxi’s mind went black for just a second before he came back to his senses.

Jealousy! If this isn’t f*cking jealousy then what is it?!

Did he say something? Why was she making such a fuss out of the mere act of doing his homework?!

Fu Yangxi tried his best to stop the corners of his lips from curling upwards. Seeing as how Zhao Mingxi was still looking at him, he quickly controlled his emotions and with the utmost arrogance, he waved his hands as if he was annoyed. “Alright, alright. I won’t let other people do it.”

Mingxi let out a sigh of relief.

Meanwhile, the tips of Fu Yangxi’s ears flushed red.

The look which Ke Chengwen gave Mingxi was filled with disbelief. He wanted to say something, but he was hesitant.

Mingxi was focused on everything she did, including simple and delicate matters like picking out coriander leaves. Fu Yangxi used his hand to support his head as he observed the concentrated look in her eyes as well as how the light reflected on her eyelashes.

“Done.” Only when Mingxi returned the chopsticks to him did he come back to his senses.

Fu Yangxi took the chopsticks. As his heart was filled with joy, his appetite became better. He began to eat in huge mouthfuls.

He ate quickly like a vigorous windstorm, but he was also very quiet.

Meanwhile, Mingxi was happily looking at her flower pot. Another three tiny buds had grown. She was going to approach 500 buds soon. Fu Yangxi is such a good person.

While good guy Fu Yangxi was eating, the phone which he had placed on the table suddenly vibrated. He picked it up and unlocked it with one hand before taking a glance at the notification. Jiang Xiuqiu had sent him a WeChat message.

However, before he opened up Jiang Xiuqiu’s message, he was reminded of something— Has Zhao Mingxi sent him a text today?

Zhao Mingxi would give him desserts, send him three WeChat messages and help him do his homework every day without fail.

He was actually unused to it when he didn’t receive the texts today.

“Did you damage your phone today?” Fu Yangxi pretended to ask in a casual manner.

Mingxi was doing the homework beside him. “No.”

—Then why didn’t you send any messages to me? But Fu Yangxi couldn’t get himself to ask her.

He continued to pretend as if it was of no matter and scoffed, “Oh, thank God. You have finally stopped harassing me via text.”

“Didn’t you mute me?” Mingxi questioned.

“Of course I muted you,” Fu Yangxi said. “I don’t even understand what you send me every day. What should I do if not mute you?”

Mingxi said, “Oh.”

It’s good that I’m muted.

As she was quite busy for the past two days, she actually forgot about this. But thanks to Fu Yangxi, she was reminded of it.

Her daily messages nowadays did not amount to any significant amount of buds anymore. Nonetheless, something was better than nothing.

Furthermore, based on Mingxi’s analysis, it would be better for her to continue because what if this setting was similar to QQ whereby continuous messages would lead to a random wheel of fortune?

She immediately took out her phone and opened the WeChat app right in front of Fu Yangxi. Then, she sent Fu Yangxi three emojis.

Fu Yangxi who was at the side caught a glimpse of this. “...”

What the heck? She’s blowing me off!

Was she always this nonchalant when she sent me those WeChat messages every day?

Fu Yangxi used to think that she would contemplate for a long time before sending messages to her crush.

Fu Yangxi’s mind almost stopped working. He really didn’t understand girls.

His phone vibrated. Jiang Xiuqiu sent him another WeChat message. Fu Yangxi opened it and took a glance. “What the f*ck did you buy with my card? Those who don’t know me might think that I like cross-dressing!”

“Tsk.” Fu Yangxi replied with one hand: “Fu Zhiyi just came back and my mother already brought him to meet my grandfather. Since I sensed that something troublesome is about to happen, I didn’t use my own card. When you get back to school you can use my card to buy your fishing rod.”

Jiang Xiuqiu was appeased by this, hence he softened his tone. “Wait a minute. Are you the one pursuing her or is it the other way around? You’re this close to falling head over heels for her.”

Fu Yangxi replied dismissively: “What are you afraid of? She’s not here for my money.”

He paused, then as if he was showing off, he tapped a number of words on his screen and replied: “She used the money that I gave her previously to buy gifts for me. You didn’t know this, did you? :)”

…

“What if she has a long-term plan for major returns?”

“She might not be interested in your money, but she might be interested in the life of being part of the Fu family.”

“After all, she doesn’t know that you have an elder brother. After your real elder brother died, your mother, in her madness, took in Fu Zhiyi as a replacement for him. She even tried her best to get the old man to give his share to Fu Zhiyi. The people out there have no idea about the true happenings of the Fu family and still think that you are the only heir. They think that Fu Zhiyi is merely a cousin of yours.”

“If— I’m saying if—”

“Fu Zhiyi becomes the one to receive the inheritance.”

“Will she approach you, or will she approach Fu Zhiyi?”

Jiang Xiuqiu was not joking this time. His tone was serious.

Although these were not kind words, as someone who had grown up with Fu Yangxi, he had to say them.

They had seen too many similar occurrences in their age. Of course, he had to admit that there weren’t many with a tenacity like what this transfer student has, at least according to Fu Yangxi— She didn’t even want 100,000 yuan.

“I’m sticking to what I’ve always told you. Throughout our whole lives, I’ve never seen someone who pursued you because of your character. You have such a bad personality.”

Fu Yangxi lost his composure. “...You’re on thin f*cking ice. How many times do you want to repeat this?”

Jiang Xiuqiu ignored him and continued: “So what makes this girl special?”

Fu Yangxi stared at the whole bunch of messages sent over by Jiang Xiuqiu.

When he looked through it again, his mindset was very different from how it was before.

At the beginning, he was curious about the transfer student and had been teasing her all the time. He wasn’t bothered by Jiang Xiuqiu’s words at all. If the transfer student was approaching him for some unknown reason, he would straight up wave his hands and say goodbye to her.

But this time, these words became harsh to the eye.

For some reason, a sense of fear crept into Fu Yangxi’s heart.

A few moments later.

“Impossible.” Fu Yangxi didn’t know if he was saying this for Jiang Xiuqiu or himself. He sent: “Just keep your jealousy to yourself. If you continue saying such words I’ll block you. :D”

However, after he sent this, Fu Yangxi’s good mood was all but gone.

He subconsciously looked toward Zhao Mingxi.

Zhao Mingxi was still doing her work silently. She was very pale, and when she was quiet, she looked like a piece of jade; it was a view that calmed his mind.

Her black middle-length hair was tied into a ponytail today, revealing her creamy neck.

Fu Yangxi noticed that a red string was hanging around her neck. There seemed to be a good quality jade pendant on it— It didn’t look like an accessory that current 17 or 18 year old girls who would prefer to wear earrings and outrageous necklaces would usually wear. Instead she looked like someone from a small town, emitting a vibe of a gust of wind blowing through a camphor tree in summer.

She seemed to be attracting the attention of a few bugs as there was a bottle of hydrosol on the table. This explained the faint fragrance on her body.

Fu Yangxi couldn’t help but to pull up his pants a little to reveal his ankles. He wanted the mosquitoes to bite him instead.

However, he didn’t have the blood type that attracts mosquitoes.

Although Mingxi noticed Fu Yangxi’s stare, she didn’t stop writing. She turned to take a glance at him and asked, “What’s up?”

As if he got caught, Fu Yangxi immediately retracted his gaze. He stretched his arms upward nonchalantly and cleaned up the takeout boxes. “I’m done eating. It’s almost 10p.m., when are you going back to your dorm?”

When he finished his sentence, he gave Ke Chengwen a look.

Ke Chengwen instantly understood him. “Oh, these things are far too heavy. Since we’re guys, we’ll help you bring them back to your dorm room.”

Fu Yangxi continued the act by furrowing his brows, as if he was forced to do it. “Fine. I’ll help you out.”

While he was speaking, he casually tossed his phone aside.

*

The screen on Fu Yangxi’s phone was bright.

It displayed the conversation between him and Jiang Xiuqiu. He deleted a few other messages as well as his replies, save for the one that said ‘Fu Zhiyi becomes the one to receive the inheritance’.

He raised his head slowly to look at Zhao Mingxi.

“Then let’s go.” Zhao Mingxi stood up and packed her things. Just as she moved, she accidentally saw the message that Fu Yangxi received.

Mingxi’s mind immediately went blank. She was stunned.

“What happened?” Fu Yangxi pretended as if he was not aware that his phone was unlocked.

Mingxi quickly averted her gaze. “Nothing.”

However, her mind was in shock—

What did she just see?!

So the reason why Fu Yangxi was texting someone with such a stern expression was because they were talking about this?

And to think that Mingxi was originally planning to approach Jiang Xiuqiu and Fu Zhiyi once they came to school.

However, from the looks of it, she won’t be able to approach this Fu Zhiyi anymore. There was no point for her to offend Fu Yangxi who was a 6% for someone who was a 2%.

—As for the inheritance, it had nothing to do with her. It wasn’t as if these young heirs would give her a penny from it.

At that moment, fence-sitter Mingxi made a choice.

She will try her best to avoid Fu Zhiyi in order to prevent her benefactor Fu Yangxi from hating her and stopping her from freeloading on his luck.

“Let’s go.”

Suddenly, Mingxi caught sight of a cut on the back of Fu Yangxi’s left hand. As he had pulled his sleeves over his hands just now, she didn’t notice it. It was due to him having to clean up the takeout that he revealed the injury.

Perhaps it was because of Fu Yangxi’s unusually pale complexion that the red marks on the cut seemed to be quite deep.

“Wait. I have something to do.” Mingxi quickly said.

The light bulb on her head lit up. How many tiny buds will grow from her buying band-aids for this young master?

Once she finished, she picked up her bag and ran out of the library.

While the convenience store was quite a distance away from the school, it should only take her about 10 minutes to get there and come back.

“What’s up with her?” Ke Chengwen was confused as he looked at Mingxi’s retreating figure.

“...”

Fu Yangxi kept his phone with a dark expression.

“Let’s wait.” Fu Yangxi pulled out a chair and sat down once more. But this time, there was a dark aura around him when he sat down.

As time passed, Ke Chengwen felt like he was getting more and more depressed.

A while later, Ke Chengwen couldn’t help but to look at his watch. “Xi ge, it couldn’t be that she was too shy to take all these so she found an excuse to slip away first, right?”

Fu Yangxi thought: She did slip away first, but it wasn’t because of these things.

He took his phone and stood up in annoyance. As he put on his jacket, his face was so scrunched up that water was about to be squeezed out from it. There was also a sense of sorrow in his expression.

“Forget it. Let’s go.”

He did predict that Zhao Mingxi would not pass his test this time; that after seeing that message, her attitude toward him would change. He was prepared for it. But what he didn’t expect was for her to be so direct as to immediately slip away! She was too f*cking decisive!

What was he supposed to say? As expected of her?!

She wasn’t interested in his money.

Yeah right. Turns out, she was just like many others, waiting just because of their interest toward his status as the inheritor.

Fu Yangxi felt worse than when he thought she was interested in his money. It was as if someone had stabbed him with a knife.

He shouldn’t have tested her. He should’ve taken her by the back of her collar and tossed her out the moment she ran over to him at the beginning.

Fu Yangxi and Ke Chengwen walked out of the library.

Fu Yangxi threw the takeout box into the trash can with a loud clang.

Ke Chengwen was pushing the luggage as he asked, “Are you going home tonight?”

Fu Yangxi ignored him. He continued to walk down dejectedly.

Ke Chengwen had no idea what transpired just now. He could only follow him.

However, just as Fu Yangxi was walking down with heavy steps, he suddenly stopped and looked ahead. Zhao Mingxi was running up.

She was running up to him.

*

A High’s library was a very tall building. The stairs leading to it had about 50 to 60 steps. During cold nights such as these, there were no lights around them save for the luminescence coming from the nearby snack street. It poured down in a manner similar to that of the Milky Way.

Zhao Mingxi was carrying her old school bag with her back against this Milky Way. There were beads of sweat appearing on her clear forehead.

Her footsteps sounded quick, and there was also the noise coming from the beat of her bag hitting against her back.

Fu Yangxi’s heartbeat quickened.

Mingxi ran to him. She gave him and Ke Chengwen a questioning look. “Didn’t I say to wait for me?”

You guys couldn’t even wait 10 minutes?

Fu Yangxi’s mind went blank. For some reason, his voice was a little hoarse as he stammered, “...I thought you weren’t coming back.”

“I went to buy something. Come here.” Mingxi pulled him to a corner of the steps where the flowerbed was.

He didn’t know why, but the current Fu Yangxi was as if he had been pulled out of the mindset of a Demon King. He lowered his gaze to look at her, his feet following her steps as he obediently allowed her to pull him to the corner.

Mingxi took out the things she bought from her bag. There was a bottle of iodine, a pack of cotton swabs and a single use gauze roll.

“As your cut is a little long, I figured that band-aids might be too small for it. Don’t worry, this gauze was made of pure cotton. Just bear with it for a while, it’s better than letting it inflame. I can’t believe I didn't see this just now. You actually had the gall to hide it under your sleeves. You’re only making the wound more prone to inflammation by doing so.”

Mingxi passed him the things. “Clean this up before going home.”

“...”

Fu Yangxi was looking at her with a lowered head. His Adam’s apple bobbed in his throat, but he did not reach out to take the items.

“What happened to you?” Mingxi raised a hand and waved it in front of him.

Fu Yangxi couldn’t describe how he was feeling right now. He couldn’t even display any other expression— there was only a weak and gentle look of vacancy.

He thought that the moment she saw that message, she would stop approaching him; that maybe Jiang Xiuqiu was right; that since she wasn’t here for the money, then she must be here with a long-term plan for major returns, for anything else.

But it seemed like it wasn’t so. At least, she wasn’t here for any of those two reasons.

This was the first time that someone liked him so seriously and treated him with so much devotion. The tips of Fu Yangxi’s ears were not turning red anymore. Instead, there was an unusually serious emotion stirring within him. His heart was beating fast.

“Fu Yangxi?” Mingxi said his full name.

Only then did Fu Yangxi come back to his senses as if he was harshly awakened.

Yes. That’s right.

Test, what the hell was he testing for?

Jiang Xiuqiu was just blindly jealous of him.

Zhao Mingxi truly liked Fu Yangxi— as a person!

Fu Yangxi lifted his brows slightly before carefully observing Mingxi. He first raised an eyebrow and smiled. Then, a half laugh appeared before he finally burst into an expression of happiness.

Mingxi: ??? Did his intermittent neuropathy* strike again?

ray’s note: a type of nerve injury.

Fu Yangxi appeared to have understood something. He licked his molars and said with the utmost arrogance, “Oh, so the reason why you left in such a hurry was because you wanted to buy these for me?”

He placed extra emphasis on the words ‘for me’.

Mingxi was very sleepy. She didn’t want to prolong this conversation any further. She had already bought the iodine, but if he didn’t apply it on his hand, the buds wouldn't grow.

Therefore, regardless of the consequences, she opened the bottle of iodine and the pack of cotton swabs before pulling his hand over to her.

“Hey woman, what are you doing?” Fu Yangxi was shocked. He immediately retracted his hand and with a flushed face, pulled over his jacket which was messy due to her pulling earlier. He looked around them. “Stop tugging at me. We’re in public.”

“I’m trying to apply medicine on you,” Mingxi said. “If you don’t want to, forget it.”

“Seeing as how you—” Fu Yangxi still wanted to annoy her.

Mingxi expressionlessly pressed the cotton swab on his hand.

Fu Yangxi instantly yelped in pain, “Gently! Gently!”

Mingxi held his hand and applied less pressure on it. She slowly applied the iodine on the wound.

Fu Yangxi licked his lips. He couldn’t help but to smile when he saw how gentle she was.

The wound on the back of Fu Yangxi’s hand was quite deep. It seemed as if it was cut from a piece of glass. But shards of glass would at most inflict cuts on one’s palm or fingers, so why was he cut on the back of his hand?

When Mingxi first transferred to the International Class, she thought that he was an arrogant and domineering school hunk. But now Mingxi felt that he wasn’t as bad as he seemed. Thus, she didn’t feel as afraid of him anymore.

Furthermore, Mingxi didn’t ask him where this injury came from. After all, everyone had something they didn’t want anyone else to know about.

Just like how no one asked why Mingxi only came to the city from a small town after 15 years; why Zhao Zhanhuai only picked up Zhao Yuan and never her; how she didn’t want to answer these questions.

She simply helped him clean up his injury without interrogating him.

…

The two of them were very close to each other as Fu Yangxi leaned in. When Mingxi was done and raised her head, she almost touched Fu Yangxi’s face. This person had an extremely handsome and outstanding face. Even his Adam’s apple was beautiful, filled with the hormones of a young man.

Mingxi’s mind was in a haze. She took one step back. “It’s getting late. I should get back.”

Fu Yangxi said, “Right.”

Ke Chengwen was being a third wheel as he squatted down at one side. Only when Fu Yangxi and Mingxi started to walk toward the dorms did he follow them.

The two of them sent Mingxi to the dorms. After speaking to the lady in charge, they carried the items upstairs.

Then, Mingxi sent them downstairs.

Fu Yangxi had his hands stuffed in his pockets. He was in high spirits. Just as he was about to say nonsense like ‘Little Mask, are you happy seeing as how a handsome guy and a not so handsome guy had sent you back to your dorms tonight’, Zhao Mingxi had already covered her ears and ran upstairs.

Fu Yangxi: “...”

Ke Chengwen didn’t care if he was ashamed, he laughed out loud.

However, as Fu Yangxi was in a good mood, he didn’t want to make a fuss about it.

He called Jiang Xiuqiu with the aim of showing off to him. “If you say such things again I’ll stop being friends with you.”

Jiang Xiuqiu still couldn’t help but to ask, “Since she’s not interested in money nor the surname Fu, what is she interested in?”

Fu Yangxi touched the gauze at the back of his hand and tried his best to contain the shy smile on his face. He gave a final answer.

“She’s interested in me.”

Jiang Xiuqiu: “...”

Ke Chengwen: “...”

Fu Yangxi made up his mind. Since he was certain that she was interested in him and that she genuinely liked him, he would have to treat her even better from now on.