Chapter 2

Leaving the Zhao family home was easier than Mingxi thought it would be.

This solidified the fact that in her past life, she was indeed wrapping a cocoon around herself. The moment she took the initiative to abandon this family, she would no longer have her panties in a bunch due to those negative emotions.

Now, Mingxi only had her mind set on how to save her life. She had a strong capacity to act. The next morning when the procedure to transfer classes was complete, she began to move her books.

The system gave Mingxi a flower pot filled with only soil and nothing else— It was something only Mingxi could see.

“Every time you collect some luck, the buds will grow. Only when the pot is filled with fully-grown plants will the negative energy around you be dispersed. It is only at that moment when your ending will stop being ‘unable to die a natural death’.”

“Furthermore, if you manage to fill this pot to the brim, your luck may even exceed that of Zhao Yuan’s.”

Mingxi asked, “Will this affect the people who I’m freeloading from?”

“No. Have you ever heard of a Wi-Fi hotspot? You can freeload on their luck and their own luck will not decrease whatsoever.”

Mingxi was relieved.

When she received the pot, she was so overwhelmed with emotion that she purposely tried it on her class monitor. Before leaving her class, she gave him a warm hug.

Her class monitor was shocked.

While Mingxi was hugging her class monitor, her eyes were focused on that pot which was floating on air, as if she was a husband waiting for his wife to give birth.

…In the end, despite having hugged for a whole three minutes, the soil in the pot didn’t even budge.

It was frozen like a photo.

Mingxi was speechless.

The system reassured her, “Your class monitor is rather useless as his return rate is only 0.000001%. You should just place your effort on those who are at the top of the list.”

Mingxi felt unnerved.

This pot was the size of her head. How long will she take to fill it up?! As for the matter of having more luck than Zhao Yuan, she was indifferent about it. She just wants to avoid dying of terminal illness.

With a broken heart, Mingxi took her books and went downstairs with her class monitor to where the Evergreen Class, Gold Medal Class and International Class were.

She was wearing A High’s uniform which was wide and dark. She had black hair which had grown to her collarbones and fair skin. There was a red string around her neck and attached to it was a piece of jade.

There were droplets of sweat on her pale nose. As usual, she had a mask on her face.

Mingxi found it difficult to breathe with the mask on, but she couldn’t just toss it aside.

In her past life, she didn’t listen to the doctor’s advice to wear a mask. Instead, she just put on sunscreen. In the end, there was always a faded mark on her face that even scar-removal creams could not remove.

While it wasn’t obvious from afar, the moment one took a closer look, it was like a small patch of dirt on an otherwise beautiful vase. It was to the extent of making the creator say, “God is so unfair for leaving a mark on perfect things”.

If her face was fully healed, Zhao Yuan would no longer be the prettiest girl in school.

Mingxi felt helpless. Perhaps it was because she was the villain, hence she would always lose to the main character.

In short, she must be patient in this life. Everything can be done after her wound is healed.

*

Shen Liyao was dealing with the gifts which people had stuffed into his table over the weekend. His incomplete circuit board and thick stack of competition workbooks were squashed together due to the presents.

With a loud ‘bang’, the trashcan was brought to the side of his table.

He lowered his eyes and didn’t even bother to look at the presents before sweeping them off his table and into the trash.

Using two fingers, he took a pink colored letter out.

The person who gave this love letter was probably afraid that he won’t even look at it before throwing it away, hence they purposely tied a dead knot with narrow silk and bound it with a gold medal on his table.

Shen Liyao’s cold brows were so furrowed that it could probably squeeze a fly to death.

In the next second, with a loud thud, both the love letter and gold medal were thrown into the trash.

A few people who were leaning by the windows suddenly yelled, “—Isn’t that Zhao Mingxi? She’s moving her things here? Whoa, she actually managed to get into the Top 5!”

Shen Liyao who was pulling out his chair paused his actions.

Ye Bai turned over to him from the window. “Hey, God Yao, do you know what we just saw? Zhao Mingxi is downstairs! She’s really something, refusing to give up until all hope is gone. A whole year of waking up early and sleeping late— just to be in the same class as you. What do you think?”

“Boring.”

Shen Liyao didn’t seem to be affected by this at all. He sat down, lowered his gaze and connected his miniature robot’s circuit board. “It’s a school rule that those in the Normal Class who have achieved the Top 5 in their results can change their class. This is her right. It has nothing to do with me.”

“You guys are about to be in the same class. What are you gonna do when she takes her pursuit one step further the moment she transfers to our class?”

“She immediately moved her things here after the announcement of our results. She’s so quick to take action!”

Shen Liyao’s eyes remained still as he looked down. He said coldly, “I don’t want to be in a relationship.”

Everyone’s tiny flames of gossip were put out by Shen Liyao’s coldness.

Ever since Zhao Mingxi transferred to their school a year ago, she had never taken off the mask. They heard that it was because of an injury on her face which required her to avoid the sun. Even so, no one in the Gold Medal Class was actually interested in her appearance. They assumed that she just looked slightly above average or plain.

They were more interested in the matter of Zhao Mingxi pursuing Shen Liyao. This girl was fierce. She also had perseverance as she climbed all the way to the Top 5 from around 20 Normal Classes just to transfer to the Gold Medal Class.

However, based on Shen Liyao’s indifferent look, they all knew that he wasn’t at the least interested in his family friend.

Ye Bai touched his nose. “But don’t you worry. Even though she made it to our class, if she fails to catch up with us, she’ll still have to return to her original class. She won’t be here for long. If she bothers you too much and it affects your competitions, the teacher will also send her back.”

Shen Liyao furrowed his brows. Just as he was about to say something...

Zhao Mingxi and her class monitor’s figures appeared at the hallway.

“Here they come.” Someone laughed. “God Yao, your days are about to get so much more interesting. Good luck—”

However, before they could finish their sentence, they saw Zhao Mingxi and Class Six’s class monitor walk past their class with her books in tow.

“...”

The Gold Medal Class went quiet for a full five seconds.

Ye Bai was startled. “That’s the International Class up ahead. Did she make a mistake?”

*

What was going through the minds of everyone in the Gold Medal Class wasn’t something Mingxi was concerned about.

When she entered the International Class through the back door with her books, black spots started to appear in her vision and she felt as if she was stepping on cotton.

“This would happen occasionally in my past life too. I thought I had low blood sugar. Wait a minute—” Mingxi suddenly realized, “This couldn’t have been an early symptom of my terminal illness, right?”

“It was. What else did you think it would be?” System: “The author of this novel cared about logic and foreshadowing too, alright? No matter how hated the villain was they couldn’t just kill them off with a random illness. They would definitely use detailed sentences like ‘Zhao Mingxi suddenly felt unwell’ or ‘the bruises on Zhao Mingxi’s legs didn’t fade even after a long time’ to prepare and hint the readers.”

“...” Mingxi no longer had the energy to chat with the system. With her books in her arms, she swayed into the class. Aside from the darkness in her vision, there were also pale light spots lying on different seats.

System: “Those are luck. The brighter they are, the higher they are on the list I gave you.”

Like a drowning fish, Mingxi rushed toward the brightest spot without thinking twice.

After collapsing on the seat, she released the books she was holding, allowing it to fall all over the floor.

Without thinking any further, she rested her head on the table, faced the source of bright light coming from her right and took a deep breath.

Unexpectedly, the slight smell of rosin with a hint of Chinese herbal medicine mixed in it filled her nostrils. Like a rush of fresh air entering her brain, it immediately soothed the uncomfortable sensation that Mingxi was feeling.

As for the pot in front of her, a tiny, thin and weak seedling appeared shakily. It wasn’t even a centimeter long and looked like it was only a tenth of a complete bud— Nonetheless, this caused Mingxi’s eyes to widen and she almost cried out of joy.

“What is this?! Why did the first one suddenly appear?” she asked the system in delight.

System: “Look who’s seated beside you.”

Mingxi raised her head.

The whole of the International Class went dead silent. Everyone’s eyes were on her.

Everyone was watching when this unfamiliar girl with a mask entered their class with her books. Without even greeting them, she dipped her head and rushed toward the second last row of their class and sat down!

When she was done, she even took a sniff out of Fu Yangxi.

Amidst the shock, someone said, “F*ck, you’re so brave.”

Someone with a low voice reminded, “The one beside you is Xi ge and you dared to sniff him. When he wakes up you’re done for.”

Xi ge = Fu Yangxi?

Mingxi immediately looked to her right.

What she first saw was the back of someone’s head, covered with red spiky hair which screamed ‘I’m the boss’.

The young boy was slouched on the table. He had on a pair of silver noise-cancelling headphones and was hugging his sports jacket. He was taking a nap with his back facing her. He was at least 188cm tall, and she knew this because his legs were all curled up underneath the table. His black, long-sleeved outfit made his pale neck stand out more. There was a thin niello skull chain around his neck.

From Mingxi’s point of view, she could only see half of his face. There was a tiny mole at the end of his right eye. He looked ethereal despite his slightly furrowed brows, as if he was a walking unruly and undefeatable young urban migrant.

The words ‘violent and dumb beauty’ immediately appeared in Mingxi’s mind.

Someone asked, “Who are you? No one has ever sat there before!”

Mingxi turned her head to look at that person and answered, “I'm Zhao Mingxi and I’ve just transferred here from the Normal Class. Why can’t I sit here?”

“Do you have a death wish?” That person was stunned. “Have you ever heard of the Fu family’s young master?”

Oh, the school hunk.

Anyone who dared to sit beside him would definitely be threatened before being forced to run errands for him.

But Mingxi was eager to help Fu Yangxi run errands.

If she did it often enough, wouldn’t an abundance of luck go to her?

Since she was going to die no matter what, Mingxi didn’t feel like a dumb 17-year-old child could bring as much of a threat as a villain’s bad luck.

Mingxi took the opportunity again and secretly sucked in a deep breath, continuing to absorb the value of luck on Fu Yangxi.

Although the amount was only as much as her fingernail and its effects were very minor, when she saw the pale white light which was surrounding him cross over to her, she felt hopeful.

She remained calm as she picked up her books from the ground. “Alright, I got it. But since there’s nowhere else I can sit, I’ll just sit here first.”

The students of the International Class were shocked.

While there were quite an amount of people who tried to get closer to Fu Yangxi, it was the first time that someone did it like this masked girl with her attitude of ‘nothing to lose’.

She even continued to sniff him.

Like a cat, she sniffed Xi ge.

Oh my God.

Due to the commotion, Fu Yangxi stirred awake.

When Fu Yangxi woke up, no one dared to even murmur another word. They were all waiting for Fu Yangxi to blow up in anger.

Fu Yangxi took off his noise-cancelling headphones and threw it on the table. He ruffled his hair listlessly. The action looked so soft.

Then, he reached into his drawers to look for something. With his eyes closed, he took out a few white bottles. She didn’t know if they were vitamins or something, but a few pills fell out on his hands.

With the brightest gaze similar to that of someone seeing a Wi-Fi hotspot on the street, seeing an iced watermelon during summer or seeing the most expensive cat in the cat café, she handed him the water on his table.

“Thanks.” As Fu Yangxi just woke up, his voice was a little hoarse.

He drank a mouthful of water with closed eyes before swallowing the pills.

It wasn’t until after he had swallowed them that he noticed Mingxi’s existence.

Fu Yangxi reacted by standing up abruptly. As he was tall and had long legs, the table behind him was almost knocked over. He gave Mingxi a condescending look. Pulling a face, an aura of ‘strangers beware’ appeared around him. “Who is this girl? What is she doing beside me?”

Everyone in the International Class thought, obviously she’s here to pursue you.

Patiently, Mingxi explained to her best future Wi-Fi hotspot, “I am Zhao Mingxi. I’ve just transferred here from Normal Class Six.”

F*ck, everyone thought. She actually worked hard to get into the Top 5 just to transfer here.

It must’ve been hard for her to study and revise till late at night.

Wow, how much does she like him?

Fu Yangxi had clearly thought about this as well, hence he felt slightly uncomfortable. He refrained from spilling the curse words that were at the tip of his mouth, but he still appeared furious. “Change your seat. No one has ever sat beside me before.”

Mingxi knew this wouldn’t be an easy task. She shuffled against her seat, refusing to move. If she wanted to change seats, she would’ve done so ages ago. But with a glance, she saw that the luck on Fu Yangxi was the most prosperous one out of everyone in the International Class— As long as she continued to sniff it out of him for a few days, a few buds could grow in the span of ten days to half a month.

“Asking me to leave would be equivalent to asking me to die.”

Mingxi thought of this in her mind, but she suddenly felt that the whole class had gone quiet.

She raised her head and saw that everyone’s jaws were dropped as they looked at her in shock.

Fu Yangxi’s ears instinctively flushed red. With a flustered and exasperated tone, he said, “What- What did you say?”

F*ck. She realized that she had uttered her thoughts out loud.

“Take her books and get her to move.”

The moment Fu Yangxi coldly huffed out these words, the International Class’ homeroom teacher rushed in angrily with her books. Once she entered the class, her eyes were scouring the room until it landed on Fu Yangxi.

Mingxi abruptly recalled what had happened here.

The original novel focused mainly on Zhao Yuan, Zhao Zhanhuai and her while the plots regarding Fu Yangxi were little. But Mingxi remembered that in her past life, it was precisely the day after Zhao Yuan was discharged from the hospital when the posters in front of the school gates were put up, criticizing the International Class students who had participated in the motorcycle race over the weekend.

Of course, it was impossible for someone with Fu Yangxi’s status to be punished, hence the names on the list belonged to rather irrelevant students.

However, since the homeroom teacher was glaring at Fu Yangxi, this definitely had something to do with him.

As expected, in the next second, the homeroom teacher walked over angrily and tossed them a copy of the newspaper. “Fu Yangxi, look at what you’ve done!”

The newspaper landed in front of Mingxi so abruptly that her eyelid twitched. She took a glance at it and realized that due to this matter, A High made it to the news. Their homeroom teacher’s bonus was probably taken away, hence her anger.

It seemed as if a lot of people in their class knew about this as they all immediately went quiet.

Fu Yangxi cuffed the edge of a chair with his leg and sat down boldly. He took the newspaper in his hands and gave it a brief glance before laughing, “Madam Zhang, what year is it? You’re still reading the newspaper?”

The homeroom teacher was absolutely furious as the veins on her forehead popped, “You really think that no one can control you? Go and run 30 laps now! If you refuse, I won’t do anything and wait at the office until your parents come!”

The smile on Fu Yangxi’s lips disappeared. He stared at the homeroom teacher, and just as he was about to say something, Mingxi who was beside him stood up with a screech.

“Can I run in his place?”

The students in the International Class were holding their breaths to begin with, but now with this, all their jaws had collectively dropped to the ground.

System: “The return rate of luck in exchange for hard work is the highest. If my calculations are correct, after you’re done running, there should be at least three new buds.”

Mingxi was so overwhelmed that she almost fainted. Her eyes brightened. 30 laps meant 12 kilometers, and this was how much luck was she going to earn?!

The hand that Mingxi had raised was shaky and anxious. She suddenly felt that it wasn’t that hard to reach a whole pot of luck. Perhaps she could really escape the destiny of a terminally ill female supporting character!

But everyone aside from her was thinking, f*ck, does she like him that much?

There were quite a number of people who attempted to get closer to Fu Yangxi, but honestly, the girls who truly liked him were few and far in between. They either did it because of money or because of the Fu family. Aside from these, the most people did was to send him love letters and chocolates. This was the first time that someone did something to this extent.

They weren’t the only ones who were staring dumbfoundedly. This was also the first time that Fu Yangxi had seen such a spectacle in all his 17 years of life.

He had seen people who were afraid of him, people who were trying to suck up to him, and even people who said that they liked him, but he had rarely ever seen anyone who was truly willing to do something for him.

Fu Yangxi finally turned and gave Mingxi a good look. The young girl’s figure was slender and her skin was as pale as jade. The trembling hand that she had raised was as small as an onion— She was clearly afraid of the 30 laps that even her hands were shaking, yet she still volunteered.

The homeroom teacher was seething in anger and such emotions were quickly directed at Mingxi. “Fine. You go. If you don’t finish them, you’re not allowed to come back to class!”

“Alright!” Mingxi shot out like an arrow.

—Was she so afraid that the homeroom teacher would continue to punish Fu Yangxi or take back her words that she actually ran out without even thinking twice?

Ke Chengwen who was seated in the last row picked his jaw up from the floor and gave a pat on Fu Yangxi’s back, “Xi ge, my God, where did you pick up this girl? She’s absolutely—”

As he couldn’t find a better word to describe it, Ke Chengwen could only use basic words, “Smitten with you.”

Fu Yangxi was looking out the window at Mingxi’s retreating figure. He was trying his best to appear cool and collected, but he couldn’t stop his ears from flushing red.

He lowered his gaze and licked his lips to control his joy and delight.

“Sigh,” He appeared to have a headache, “I can’t help that I’m so charming.”

“I can’t actually let her run 30 laps, how embarrassing would that be for me?” He spoke slowly, “Send someone to the gym to replace her.”

“...”

*

The news of what happened in the International Class was as if it had grown legs as it spread to the whole school quickly. The Gold Medal Class received the news right after class had ended.

A boy rushed in. “Breaking news! God Yao, you’re free! I heard that this time, Zhao Mingxi requested to transfer to the International Class!”

Due to Shen Liyao, the Gold Medal Class heard a lot about his most avid pursuer, Zhao Mingxi. Thus, when they all heard this, they looked back at him with shocked expressions.

Ye Bai asked, “How is this possible???”

That boy said, “Also, it looks like she’s changed her target now— She seems to be going after Fu Yangxi. The International Class said that she got punished to run laps because of Fu Yangxi.”

“...”

Everyone went silent for five seconds.

“What’s up with Zhao Mingxi? Shen Liyao, is she doing this on purpose?” Ye Bai refused to believe it.

How could she be pursuing Fu Yangxi when she had never even seen him before?

But aside from this, what could be the reason for her transfer to the International Class? She finally entered the Top 5 and obtained the chance to change classes, yet she didn’t come to the Gold Medal Class.

It won’t be as easy for her to get into the Top 5 again next month.

“It’s none of your business.”

Shen Liyao unconsciously looked out the window. There was no one on the tracks as punishment laps were usually done at the indoor gym.

However, when Ye Bai looked over at him, he quickly looked back at his work.

For some reason, his expression appeared to be even more cold and rigid than it ever was before. “Go back to your seats.”

...