Si is ecstatic when he gets in.
He has only three other real friends, who jokingly refer to themselves collectively as the F4, to signify their relative failure in almost everything that used to matter, at least to him: success in school, with women, and in acquiring wealth. Not one of them would have ever before dreamed of getting into such a prestigious university, forget the cream of the crop, which was Mingde.
Not even Si, for that matter. Atleast, not until he had just received his letter of acceptance on a scholarship to Mingde! He could not believe it. He was poor enough to know that his acceptance into the university was a game-changer, and he was going to give it everything he had.
He couldn't afford not to. Not with his sister now in a huge slump, refusing to go to work or even just outside, because of her fiance leaving her.
...
It hadn't always been like this. Before, he'd been living an all right—okay, pretty good—life, with his family. They had been at the higher end of the upper class, and at least compared to now, anyone could have seen they were much better off.
Life was fine, if a bit monotonous. Si always felt like he was waiting for something, someone, but he didn't know who. . . . yet it was true, that life was fine. More than fine, in fact.
And then his mother, in her greed for more, so much more, had made the ruinous deal with the loan sharks that had put them in their current state of close to poverty.
...
His sister had been devastated. Before, Zhuang had been worried if her fiance was in a good enough place socially to have Daoming Feng's blessing for their expected marriage, and now she was the one left all alone, her fiance abandoning her because of her current social status.
Si was probably the only person his older sister had left, and though he detested his mother, he couldn't leave Zhuang with only her for company.
So he started to work.
It was tough, especially at first, with every potential employer dismissing him as lazy and entitled before they'd even really met him. His wealth was gone, but his reputation of being a blue blood stuck with him.
However, and despite all the setbacks, he eventually got a few stable part time jobs. Time passed, as it always did, and it was then reaching the end senior year of high school. When he wasn't working, he was keeping his sister company or, and most probably at the time. . . studying.
God, the studying.
Of course he was interested in business, he always had been, even before his mother had drawn all of them into poverty. But there was a hard line when it came to studying it, and the long hours he had to put into the most tedious textbooks ever written, after the even longer hours at his part time work, when all he wanted to do was take a break—made everything infinitely worse, almost to the point of being unbearable.
Luckily, there was one spot of light in the midst of that dark, hopeless period.
Three, to be exact. At his new public high school for low income young adults, he met three other boys so different, but at the same time, so similar to him.
Huaze Lei, Yan Ximen, and Feng Meizuo.
Lei lived with his grandfather; the both of them aspiring musicians, although they barely made enough money to get by. Yan Ximen came from a broken home, and his only solace, escape, from the constant arguing and fights, was in his girlfriend, Xiaoyou. Feng Meizuo was probably the most well off of the three, and the most lighthearted of the intense others of the F4. He still went to the school for low income teens, though, and his friends never questioned why.
Together, they were the F4, failures from the start.
And, (at least most of them), thought they always would be.
...
He wondered how he would tell them he'd made it into Mingde.
Although he was incredibly happy about the acceptance, it was also bittersweet. He would have anyways in any other university, but he didn't want to say goodbye to his only friends he'd known in that short period of time.
But, just like he'd expected, they took the news quite well. Ximen congratulated him and told him not to worry because where he was going was quite close to Mingde. Meizuo just grinned, albeit a little sadly.
And Lei looked at him with that mysterious smile of his and said, "we always knew you were destined for greater things, Ah Si. You don't have to explain anything to us, the F4."
...
It was his first day, and he was incredibly excited.
Inside his sister's old briefcase was a packed homemade lunch of Gaifan covered rice, made also by Zhuang, who had started to recover, albeit slightly, from her depression after Si had told her of his success of getting acceptance to Mingde. He had notebooks inside, too, that were made up of old unused filler paper that Ximen had helped him bind together. Meizuo's sisters had drew hearts and flowers on the covers of the notebooks, which the poor boy had apologised profusely for, but Ah Si didn't really mind.
He kind of liked them, to be honest.
And in his hand was Lei's guitar pick, a lucky charm from when his friend had first begun to learn the instrument. He tied it with a strand of yarn around his wrist, and curled his fist around it, flexing and unflexing for support as he stepped into the music classroom. He was of course a business major, but he decided that he wanted to learn an instrument as well, in honor of Lei, who he hadn't seen in a few months already.
Si's thoughts wandered in reflection.
He ran a hand agitatedly through his hair. Here he was, at Mingde, one of the top schools in China, and the very key to getting back to the top again, and supporting his sister. Yet, as the initial excitement wore off, he realized he wasn't exactly happy.
Not unhappy, but there was still that strange, vague feeling that he was waiting for something to happen. Someone to appear. Frustrated at himself for not enjoying the moment and the sheer adrenaline of actually being in the physical results of his hard work paying off, Si turned around swiftly in annoyance.
And he hit something solid. And soft. And. . . wet?
He turned to see what it was, and he saw an angel.
...
The angel was a girl, about a half a foot shorter than him; tiny, though to be honest, as he took her in, he realized her haughty posture more than made up for it. Her hair cascaded to her shoulders, and her designer clothes suggested her belonging to an affluent family, which of course was the norm in Mingde. But that wasn't what made her an angel.
Si gazed at her intensely, suddenly unaware of the wetness coating his sneakers. There was something in the angel's eyes when she stared at him in alarm that crushed that eternal feeling of longing for something.
"You just spilled my drinks, y—you—" She shrieked at him and he was yanked sharply out of his trance.
"—what?"
"These are my mother's! I'm on a delivery run for her!"
He recovered, smirking. "You were the one standing right behind me. And you mean to tell me you're on a delivery run for her? Looking like that?"
The angel's gaze grew cold as she sensed Si's sarcasm. "Don't mess with me, commoner." She inspected his worn clothes with a hint of disgust. "I cannot believe what kind of people they let in to Mingde these days." She shook her head, turning to the girl next to her. "C'mon, Xiaozi, let's go."
Si blanched. He took a few seconds to process what had just happened. Then immediately his mind went into overdrive. What! The angel couldn't leave him now, not when he'd just found her. He was just about to say something when he noticed his briefcase was soaking wet with the drinks that she had spilled and blamed him for it.
He almost screamed in horror.
The homemade notebooks! And Zhuang's Gaifan rice! They were all ruined. He looked slowly down at his wrist, which was also suspiciously wet. "Not this too," he moaned, Lei's guitar pick dripping with liquid.
His horror turned to anger quickly. How dare this angel, albeit being the most beautiful girl he had ever seen, ruin his things!
Si quickly followed the path she had just left on. She was smiling happily, a huge contrast to her cold gaze moments before, as she waved goodbye to the other girl.
"Well, then, bye, Xiaozi. I'll see you at Li Zhen's—ah!"
Si had yanked her wrist and into him, right outside of the music room. Her face turned bright red.
"How dare you—!"
"What is this," he said slowly, and, as he saw the angel notice, dangerously.
"What? What do you mean what is this? How should I kno. . ." her voice trailed off as she noticed the contents of his ruined briefcase. ". . . oh."
"That's all you have to say? Oh?"
Si secretly didn't mind that much anymore now that he had got the angel's attention, but he kept up the act. He wanted to see what she'd say.
The angel sighed. "Alright. I'm sorry, okay? I'll find a way to pay you back."
"Pay me?" His eyes narrowed.
Her lips trembled for a second, but she soldiered on stubbornly. "Isn't that what you want?"
"No," Si said, looking aghast. "Just an apology."
Her eyes narrowed again. "No deal. Dong Shancai doesn't apologise to anyone."
Dong Shancai. So that was her name.
Si grinned, and she stared at him, confused, as he backed her towards the brick wall outside the music hall. He noted with delight as the angel, or rather, Shancai's, face heated up.
He leaned slowly towards her, catching how her breathing quickened in anticipation. She closed her eyes, pressing them tightly. Si smiled at this. Then, at the last moment, he ducked swiftly to her ear, and whispered into it.
"Sorry isn't that hard to say, you know."
Her eyes flew open.
"I will not say sorry for something that wasn't my fault! Especially not to a commoner like you!" Shancai yelled, pushing him off her and trying to not make eye contact as she pulled a couple of bills of Yuan out of her pocket and slammed them on top of the briefcase.
Before she ran out, however, Ah Si got a glimpse of the angel's face, which was dark pink and flustered.
He grinned, swinging Lei's guitar charm around his finger. Although he'd have to waste money on a new lunch (because he sure as hell wasn't accepting Shancai's money), and replace the briefcase and notebooks, he didn't mind.
Not really, that is.
Because that relentless feeling of waiting for something, anything, had all but vanished when he had met the haughty and annoying, yet fierce angel.
He wiped Lei's pick with the corner of his sweater decidedly, the wetness coating it before now completely gone.
Mingde wasn't just the physical representation of all his hard work finally paying off.
It had brought him to Dong Shancai, the key to what he'd been searching for.
And he wasn't just about ready to let go of her yet.
Idk where I got the guitar pick idea haha. I guess because I play guitar. I sing a lot too, now that I think about it, so I might make a song about Meteor Garden(JUST kidding no one wants to hear that lmao).
I feel so guilty cause of my long absence, but... FINALS. That's my excuse. Tomorrow's my FRENCH final, and I should have studied for it, but tbh that class is so so easy, and it's the only one where I don't really even have to show up and I'd still have an A in it sooooo I guess it's okay. :D
The concept for this story was basically if the roles of DS and DMS were reversed. I think I read somewhere about how the writers of MG2018 made Si a self-made business man, and if I recall correctly, I think Daoming Feng was one as well. Self-made woman, in her case, that is. So I wanted to explore the difference it would make if CaiSi had different socio-economic statuses. If that makes sense. Or if it even worked(I really hope so).
Also, I think it's so interesting that the F4 are always thought by everyone at Mingde to be good at everything, and how they always get everything they want. So it was cool to make the F in F4 stand for Failure haha. I feel a bit bad. But not really ;)
One thing I could never change was Si's cockiness. I think he'd always be arrogant, no matter how poor or rich he is/was. And Shancai will always be a bit shy and easily flustered, no matter how prideful or prejudiced she is because of the wealth she has from her mother's delivery business. Please tell me if you got the reference to the classic right there haha.
Okay, I guess that's it.
Time to go to sleep to wake up early to fail tomorrow's French final.
Till next time, dear readers. If you are still even here(I'M SO SORRY D:)
- coexistantLilli :)