Chapter 43 (Part 2)

The training camp was in a hotel near a university. On the first day, Mr. Jiang hurriedly arranged and allocated the students to their rooms. Then, he started counting the number of people and issued the test papers.

The rhythm suddenly sped up.

Mingxi didn't have time to think about other things. She spent all her time practicing questions until 11 o'clock in the evening.

A group of people with the highest intelligence quotient gathered together, so the atmosphere obviously changed. When discussing theories, it was not an exaggeration to say that there was invisible gunpowder in the air.

Meals were also rushed, taking only around 10 minutes to finish.

Mingxi liked this pure atmosphere very much, save for the incident when she had to go out and buy some food to supplement her energy the next afternoon and found that her pencil case, test papers and school bag were all thrown into the trash can when he came back.

“...”

Mingxi endured it for two seconds, resisting the sudden throb of the veins on her temple. She calmly walked over and picked up her school bag— the one that Fu Yangxi gave her, from the red trash can.

There would inevitably be some unfinished milk, discarded banana peels and spicy strips in the trash can.

The test papers and pencil case were deliberately turned out of the school bag and thrown in. They were useless now as they were all stained with oil. Only the bottom of the school bag was stained with sewage, but it was dripping with dirty water.

Mingxi's mood exploded in an instant.

Holding her school bag with two fingers, she coldly glanced at the training classroom, “Who did it?”

There were only a few people in the classroom. Shen Liyao and his group went to the neighboring university to play basketball. At the moment there were only five girls and three boys in the classroom.

Mingxi instantly looked at Zhao Yuan. Zhao Yuan stood up subconsciously. She hurriedly walked over and handed her a tissue, “Mingxi, wipe it quickly. Maybe it can still be used.”

Not Zhao Yuan. Mingxi estimated that Zhao Yuan would not use such inferior methods.

Besides, Zhao Yuan was not there when she went out just now.

Carrying the school bag dripping with dirty water, she strode across the class and asked the other people in the classroom one by one, “Was it you? Or you?”

"No, no." The three boys were shocked.

They never expected her attitude to be so tough. Two girls panicked instantly.

Mingxi walked up to Pu Shuang and another girl from the Evergreen Class angrily, “Was it you two?”

The oil dripping from the school bag dripped on Pu Shuang's knees. Pu Shuang stood up angrily and dusted her pants, “Zhao Mingxi, be careful. Do you know how much my pants cost?”

“So it’s you.”

The moment Mingxi exposed Pu Shuang, she picked up the school bag from her desk drawer, pulled open the zipper, walked to the trash can and turned the bag upside down.

Pen bags, notebooks, laptops and other things crashed into the trash can and made a dozen sounds.

The whole classroom was silent.

Everyone dared not breathe.

Pu Shuang was dumbfounded. After she came back to her senses, she screamed and rushed to grab her bag. “Zhao Mingxi!”

Mingxi threw her school bag in right before her eyes.

“Were you involved as well?” Mingxi looked at the other girl from the Evergreen Class again.

Seeing how shocked that girl was and how she refused to look into her eyes, Mingxi walked over, took her school bag and threw it into the trash can.

The second school bag was thrown into the trash can and it couldn’t make any contact with the oil, so Mingxi stepped on it.

The whole classroom was stunned.

"Zhao Mingxi, what kind of attitude is this? Isn't it enough to throw just one? Besides, we simply thought your school bag was trash since it fell on the ground, so what's wrong with throwing it in the trash can?”

Mingxi said coldly, “So if you are standing on the ground and I think you are rubbish, is it okay to throw you in the trash can?”

"Come on." Mingxi rolled up her sleeves to grab the girl who talked back to her.

The girl didn't expect Zhao Mingxi to be so scary when she got angry. She felt deceived by her sweet appearance. She immediately shrank to the wall.

Mingxi's face was calm, but she was trying her best to suppress the anger in her heart. Mingxi grabbed her wrist and dragged her to the trash can.

This was a matter between the girls. As the three boys found it inappropriate to intervene, they merely stood there, staring dumbfoundedly.

The girl was so scared that her tears came out. She desperately held on to a table, but she didn't expect Zhao Mingxi to use all her energy. In the end, the table was also pulled along to another row.

Only then was that girl completely scared. “Zhao Mingxi, let go. I was wrong.”

Zhao Mingxi pushed her hand away coldly. The girl hurriedly grasped her fiery and painful wrist.

Pu Shuang looked at Zhao Mingxi in shock— Based on her memory, Zhao Mingxi was not like that. She used to go to the Zhao family’s house with E Xiaoxia. If they broke one of Zhao Mingxi’s belongings, most of the time, Zhao Mingxi would just bear with it without making any noise.

She never expected that the current Zhao Mingxi no longer cared about the way the Zhao family would look at her because she had already left the Zhao family. Therefore, she had to take her revenge.

In the past, she thought that the Zhao family would teach a lesson to the people around Zhao Yuan because of this, but this hope was lost. Now Mingxi must learn to protect herself.

She walked towards Pu Shuang.

Pu Shuang swallowed. She took a step back and sat down on the chair.

"This is the first time and the last time." Mingxi warned, “If you do these small tricks behind my back, it will be retaliated against you a hundredfold.”

Another girl from the Evergreen Class who had her school bag thrown away by Mingxi had the courage to say, “You came in by sheer luck, and there will be no next time. Do you think you can make it to the finals? You will not be in the next finals training camp.”

Mingxi stared at her. “Even if I don’t make it, do you think you will? How about this - whoever has poorer results in this preliminary contest will drop out.”

The group of people sucked in a cold breath.

What a huge and risky bet!!!

Pu Shuang felt that Zhao Mingxi was simply too arrogant. She passed the exam only once, but she still wants to enter the finals???

Pu Shuang couldn't help but angrily say, “I accept. Whoever has poorer grades will drop out! Everyone here will be a witness! Zhao Mingxi, don't you lose at that time and not drop out!”

Zhao Yuan who was at the side looked like she wanted to stop Pu Shuang but couldn't stop her.

"Okay, the bet is on." Mingxi looked at Pu Shuang. She picked up the paper and pen on a person's desk, wrote a line of words and placed it in front of Pu Shuang. “Sign this!”

Pu Shuang gritted her teeth and signed it.

Shen Liyao and his group also returned. Their expressions changed when they saw this scene in the classroom.

This episode soon traveled to the ears of Mr. Jiang.

Naturally, Mr. Jiang punished them. Although Pu Shuang and the others were the first to make the move, Zhao Mingxi also threw away two school bags and doubled the retribution. So he gave a lesson to both sides, scolding them for making the training camp a mess and that they should focus on learning.

Shen Liyao was listening outside. He couldn't help but push the door and enter to explain the situation to Mr. Jiang.

Meanwhile, Zhao Mingxi was still staring at the soiled school bag. It was her birthday today, how unfortunate.

When the two special students from the International Class saw this, they quickly called Fu Yangxi.

*

They didn't have Fu Yangxi's contact information at first, but before coming to the training camp, Fu Yangxi came to the school to find them on Thursday. He gave them his mobile phone number and asked them to look after Zhao Mingxi. He told them to call him if anything happens.

Even if they were only things as small as a sesame seed.

The two were shocked.

Not many of the followers in the class had Young Master Fu's mobile phone number. They have now directly advanced to the first level. Can they squeeze into the core circle around the prince?

When Fu Yangxi received the call, he put on a calm face while having dinner with Grandfather Fu.

The old man looked at his short black hair and found it very obtrusive. He couldn't help it. He threw his chopsticks on the bowl, frowned and said, “You stayed here and pestered me for a few days. When will you leave? Why did you suddenly think of dyeing your hair?”

Fu Yangxi didn't answer. Instead, he asked, “When will you restore my authority?”

After he returned from Tongcheng with a private jet, the old man froze his account. Some people who could be sent in the past could not be done anymore. Now, there was only Lawyer Zhang who would dare to not listen to the old man and help him in private.

“You want me to restore your authority? Why don’t you look at what you do all day long?! You make trouble all the time, you are one of the last in terms of your school grades and you don't go to the management courses I arranged for you!”

As the old man spoke, his anger was rising.

He glanced around. If it weren't for the guy who would stop him, he was really going to beat the kid with his old arms and legs.

"I'll go." Fu Yangxi said suddenly.

The sound of the old man's scolding stopped abruptly.

He looked at Fu Yangxi incredulously. Even the servants beside him looked at Fu Yangxi in shock.

Lawyer Zhang, who had stayed behind to eat at the same table, also opened his eyes wide.

The air quieted down.

In the evening the sky was dim and heavy with mist.

Fu Yangxi took a mouthful of food without raising his head. “I plan to behave properly, so you ought to restore my authority to me."

"Why?" The old man couldn't help blurting out.

For the past five years, this kid barely went to school. And when he did go to school, he would always be sleeping. He dragged the International Class down with his own efforts. If it weren’t for the Fu’s donation of buildings, he would have been sent out of A High a long time ago, having given nothing but headaches whenever the dean and principal saw him.

In addition, he did not go to all kinds of occasions where the Fu family needed him, such as charity banquets and bidding meetings.

Last year, he didn’t even show up for a shareholder meeting held by his grandfather for him.

A group of people waited for him. In the end, all of them left with a long face, and because of this matter, they directly lost a few foreign partners.

With his cynical and lazy appearance, even if the old man made up his mind to let him inherit the business, the board of directors might not all agree because they were afraid that the Fu family's future would be ruined in his hands.

"What other reason can there be?" Fu Yangxi raised the corner of his mouth and sneered indifferently, “You are going to send Fu Zhiyi into our school. If I don't restore my authority, will you just watch as he trumps over me?”

"What kind of thoughts are these?!" The old man was enraged at what he said, so much so that he could feel his high blood pressure spiking on the spot. He rolled up his sleeves and picked up the iron spoon, ready to beat him across the table.

Fu Yangxi quickly dropped the dishes and chopsticks and jumped away stealthily.

At this moment, he answered the phone. After the call, his expression changed, and he ran away without eating.

The old man threw down the spoon, panting. He asked Lawyer Zhang, who was seated next to him, “Where is he going?”

Lawyer Zhang said, “I am 80% sure that he went looking for that girl again.”

“...”

The old man sat down. His face was not so ugly anymore. He even greeted Lawyer Zhang and his secretary, "Eat, this is a family dinner, so everyone should eat more.”

The secretary listened to the hum of the car coming from outside the yard and the sound of it being driven away. He couldn't help asking the old man, "Is Young Master Fu serious? Didn't he not care about Fu Zhiyi before? Why does he suddenly want to fight against Fu Zhiyi now?”

In the past, the old man forced Fu Yangxi to sign and transfer the shares to him. When that happened, he didn't even raise his eyelids. He didn't care much about the benefits that Fu Zhiyi, his uncle's illegitimate son, got from the Fu family.

Why was he suddenly—?

The old man snorted, “This kid, he’s afraid that we will see through his thoughts. He didn’t come to me, asking for his authority because of Fu Zhiyi. He did so for that little—”

The old man suddenly asked Lawyer Zhang, “What is that little girl's name?”

"Zhao Mingxi." Lawyer Zhang quickly said, “Are you going to give her a sum of money to make her leave Young Master Fu—”

"What the hell? You and Fu Yangxi have watched too many TV series, haven’t you?” The old man was furious. “I'm just asking.”

The old man murmured to himself, “Now it seems that her existence is also a good thing?”

Back then, the kidnapper was the Fu family's business enemy. As he was forced to go bankrupt by the Fu family, the kidnapping was his form of revenge.

However, Fu Yangxi who survived alone would still inevitably be complained about by everyone in the Fu family.

At that time, he gave the 13-year-old Fu Yangxi a choice.

Escape or endure.

Either take the money that has been squandered for several lifetimes, go abroad, and stay away from the Fu family. In this case, he will never be stabbed behind his back in the future, and he won’t have to suffer the hurtful words of the people who survived. The shadows of his brother and father will never be seen on him.

Or stay and take on the part of responsibility that belonged to him. It may take a long time for everyone to heal their wounds. In this process, he may be traumatized by his mother and his other relatives because of their healing process.

At that time, the old man thought, if little Fu Yangxi chose the first one, then maybe he could only transfer the inheritance to others in the end.

Unexpectedly, little Fu Yangxi, who was only 13 years old at the time, chose to stay.

It's not that he couldn’t escape, but he chose to bear and endure. In his own way, he became an emotional outlet and healed the scars of that year for everyone.

Few people would have the courage to make such a decision, not to mention that he was only 13 at the time, so the old man made up his mind at that time, it had to be him.

But Fu Yangxi who stayed behind also faced a problem. He couldn’t be too good, and he couldn’t live too well.

If he lived too well, laughed too happily, he would feel sorry for those who died because of him.

Even if he could pass the obstacle in the form of other people's complaints, he couldn’t face his own heart.

So in the past five years, he exiled himself, changed his hair color and changed his personality. He lived as if he was enacting revenge on himself, like a waste of a person. He refused to be better and refused to get in touch with the family business, let alone take a cruise ship like the other rich kids.

The most he ever spent was on that last plane.

He just lived a simple high school life.

But now, the old man heard him say with his own ears, “I plan to do things right.”

The old man felt a mix of emotions for a while.

When a person has something they care about, they will want to live well.

When he has someone he wants to fight for, he will walk out of the darkness of the past.

The girl next to him may be the one who can drag him out.

It was not her hand that pulled him out, but his desire to like her surging in his heart.

Because he likes her, he wants to be liked by her, so he wants to be better.

That's why he had the idea of leaving the quagmire that used to trap him.

The old man suddenly smiled to himself, and the wrinkles on his face stretched out. “This little bastard… What are you doing? Everyone, please help yourselves.”

The old man happily picked up a few dishes and emptied both plates with great appetite.

The people on the table looked at each other in confusion.

ray's note: it's a little early, but since i won't be seeing you all on the day itself, let me just take the opportunity to wish everyone a Happy Chinese New Year! may your year ahead be filled with joy, health, prosperity and success!