Yue Jin stood helplessly by his bedroom door, worries filling him as he was unsure of what to do with the new information that Lu Xun had given him just minutes before. He stared at the brunette that refused to leave the room until he received a proper answer about the things that was going on. Yue Jin never knew about anything that was hurting Cao Pi, seeing as the raven had never told anyone until this week, apparently. He didn't want Cao Cao to find out about it, and he just so happened to seemingly drop the bomb about something such as this? Is he making these things up? Or was Cao Pi completely serious and he really wanted to take this risk with Lu Xun?

They broke up though. Cao Pi has nothing to do with Lu Xun... Unless he really wants to eventually... Marry... Lu Xun? What...? I'm so confused..

"What are you going to do, Lu Xun? How did you find out?" Yue Jin questioned, trying to get more information before the confusion completely settled in.

"I'm going to decline him, again. Again and again until he gets the point-"

"It's either you accept it, or you let Zhu Ran stalk you everywhere you go."

"I don't want to marry anyone."

"I'm not telling you to marry anyone, I'm telling you to look into what you're doing. Do you want someone like Zhu Ran to keep trying to hold onto you each day that you take a new step, or would you rather seek protection under Cao Pi?"

"Neither. I don't want any of that." Lu Xun sighed and looked to the side, completely unsure of what he should do himself. However, he decided to keep a leveled head, and try his best to carefully plan out the next stage of action.

"Then why don't you figure out what you want to do, and tell Cao Pi? Then tell Zhu Ran? Whomever you tell first... I'm sure they'll understand after a while."

The older brunette watched his adoptive son stare at the floor, clearly in deep thought of what action he should take next. Soon giving an awkward cough and shaking his head slowly, he figured that it was something within all of this that Cao Pi must have just wanted for himself, to please himself.

Wait...

Wait, wait, wait...

Yue Jin gasped, holding onto Lu Xun and giving him a worried stare, "I think I remember what Cao Pi wanted!" He almost completely yelled and shook his adoptive son.

Lu Xun gave him a slightly confused gaze, which was washed over with a slight joy. "Then tell me!"

"He's trying to protect you from Zhu Ran! Remember what you told me about how Zhu Ran was basically your stalker, and he would do anything to get to you. When you broke up with Cao Pi, everyone knew that Zhu Ran was going to try and get to you, and when you two turned out to be dating, Cao Pi, he was really worried! He didn't want you to be with him, he wanted you to be by his side the whole time, and because Cao Pi is selfish, he didn't remember that one simple thing!"

"How you didn't remember to tell me this? Instead of telling me that you didn't know what to do?"

Yue Jin gave an awkward laugh and a shy chuckle, "Yeah... I forgot... But I mean- you're really smart! You'd be able to figure it out, I really thought you would have!"

Lu Xun's eyes shifted off to the side, "Do you think you have an idea of when Cao Pi could have shown symptoms of having any type of sickness?"

"Cao Pi must have hidden everything, like how his father did. I'm really sorry, I don't know much more than what you know... You could try to ask someone else who's closer to Cao Pi? Someone that always communicates with him from years ago?"

"Who would that be?"

"He... There'd be a few, honestly. Zhen Ji might have a clue, Guo Jia should probably know a lot. Sima Shi, and Sima Yi are definitely two of his closest communication statuses."

"Anyone... Else?" Lu Xun let out a heavy sigh, realizing that he's never really talked to any of those people, and wished that Cao Pi had easier people to communicate with aside from people just from Wei and Jin... Then again, they definitely are close in school and company.

"No... Not that I really know? I think the best bet would be- Well... Aside from his siblings, of course. But I don't think that he told any of his siblings anything. However, you should be able to just talk to Sima Yi, he might be the easiest person to get to."

"Cao Pi had another brother, there were two older siblings before him, but I remember him telling me that one of them walked out of his life one day. Do you know who I'm talking about?"

"Cao Shuo? He disappeared years ago. He's probably living his life somewhere, or he's dead."

"Question."

"Yes?"

"How many of the Cao family are actually living with some type of sickness?"

"Uh... Four, I believe? With Cao Pi included. Why?"

"Cao Cao's not included in that?"

"No... Why?"

"I feel like... Cao Cao somehow managed to get his other children sick but... Cancer isn't contagious..."

"It definitely isn't. Seeing as Cao Cao died from something completely different."

"What did he die from?"

"I have no clue. He... The doctors told us that he died from something that he had for several years."

"Okay, I'll be... Right back. I'm going to go talk to Sima Yi and see what I can get from him."

"I'm sorry I couldn't be better help. I'll see you later." Yue Jin mumbled, waving his son away, and closing the door behind him.


Lu Xun found his way over to Jin's main building, in hopes that he would be able to find the man of need. With walking into the school building, and walking around in the main hall, he had high hopes for being able to find Sima Yi, wherever he could be. So far, the biggest fear for Lu Xun would have to be just possibly running into Cao Pi somewhere around here as he aimlessly wandered.

However, he froze almost instantly, feeling a cold hand rest on his shoulder. The heat out of the brunette's body felt like it was being washed away just by the simple touch.

"What are you doing here?" The man questioned, turning Lu Xun to face him. "Aren't you from Wu? You're.. Lu Xun aren't you? You're not trying to cause trouble over here, are you?" He questioned.

"Aren't you... Jia Chong?" Lu Xun questioned, taking a respective step back. "I'm looking for Principal Sima, is he... Around?"

Jia Chong rose an eyebrow, on his pale and blank face. "He's here, follow me." He pointed in the opposite direction and led the brunette to the proper location, "But, why do you need him?"

"Shouldn't you ask me that before you lead me to where he is?"

"I trust you, Lu Xun. If I was weary about you, I would have kicked you out just the moment that I saw you."

Lu Xun nodded, staring down to the floor as they reached their location, with Jia Chong opening the door and letting the people inside the room that he was in need of assistance. Jia Chong closed the door after Lu Xun walked inside, and bid his farewell. Lu Xun stared at the man in question, who returned a blank-faced stare as his attention was placed completely on him.

"What is it that you need?" Sima Yi questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"About Cao Pi, I... I wanted to ask you something."

Sima Yi pointed to the seat in front of his desk, indirectly telling Lu Xun to sit down in which the brunette obeyed. "What about him?"

"There's actually a lot of things but.. The first question had to do with what he told me recently. He said that he wanted to get engaged to me. What do you think?"

"What-..." Sima Yi's voice was a tad higher than usual, "What do you mean? I don't have an opinion of this, I have no idea what he's thinking."

"Yes but... I'm completely confused on what to do, I don't want to say yes, but I don't want to say no."

"Then tell him that you'll wait, why is it that hard? If you don't want to be with him right now, then tell him that you don't want to be with him right now. Don't be an idiot." Sima Yi pointed out rather harshly.

"The problem is that I'm still dating Zhu Ran." Lu Xun added.

"What...? You're what? When was this?" Sima Yi sighed, "I don't want to be in your little high school drama. Figure out what you want and leave the elders out of this."

"I'm scared, Principal Sima, please." Lu Xun felt himself begging. "Please just help me this once, I won't bother you again. Tell me anything that could help."

Sima Yi thought for a moment, letting his eyes wander until he realized that he should mention something to Lu Xun. "Did you know that Cao Pi was suffering from lung cancer?"

"What?!" Lu Xun jumped up from his chair as quickly as he could. "WHEN?!"

"Since he was 17, if I can remember correctly. Cao Pi hasn't told anyone anything of this, so I suggest you keep this quiet."
"Why? His family should know about this, something like this shouldn't be kept in the dark."

"Lu Xun, listen to yourself. Cao Pi is the most well known out of all of Cao Cao's children, if he was known for suffering with some type of cancer, people would see the Cao family as something different."

"Something like what? A family that has people dying left and right from different diseases? An actual family that lives and dies from some sort of natural cause and is actually functional? What did Cao Cao die from anyways? One day he was perfectly fine, the next day he's dead, what the hell was that, honestly?"

"Why would they tell anyone that they're not a healthy family? What sense does that make, Lu Xun?" Sima Yi found himself defending the family, "They keep it in the dark, they never want anyone to know if something's wrong with them. The only person that knew that Cao Cao was dying, aside from the doctor, was me. Same goes for Cao Pi, because they trust me, I'm close enough to the family that they trust me with things such as this. They left their lives in my hands, and I can't help them. One already died by something that I couldn't help cure, and the other's going to die within the next ten or so years because of the type of cancer that he even has, honestly." Sima Yi explained. "I wouldn't want to tell anyone that I was dying either."

"But there would have been signs, right?" Lu Xun questioned.

"There's always signs, but not all the time are they noticeable. Cao Pi probably suffers the most when he's alone, and knowing him, he covers his signs up very carefully. But answer me this, when did you break up with Cao Pi?"

"Some time ago... We just kinda took a break, I guess?"

"And you're dating Zhu Ran now?"

"Yeah."

"That was ridiculously stupid of you, I wouldn't do something like that."

"Well.. We both decided that we would."

"For what? When?"

"Not too long after Cao Cao died."

"Cao Pi's probably depressed, I don't know. He keeps a lot to himself, and if he wants to get engaged to you, he obviously has a reason for it."

"He wasn't happy when he was with Zhen Ji, that's all I'm certain of."

"Oh god, he and Zhen Ji, that was the most interesting thing that happened to him since Guo Jia. Speaking of which, is Guo Jia finally in a hospital? He's the only one that we knew that was suffering visually from ALS, and we of Jin and Wei wish to keep him safe until his time comes."

"Last I heard of Guo Jia, he and Cao Pi dated for two days, then he disappeared... I'm not completely sure what happened to him."

Sima Yi's face slowly changed to that filled with worry, "Oh, I see." He nodded slowly, "Lu Xun, I don't know how to help you, whatever's going on is between you and Cao Pi at this point, have him clear everything up for you. Have him redeem himself, and I suggest just blatantly leaving Zhu Ran, that boy causes nothing but a fuss."

Lu Xun sighed rather defeatedly, thanking Sima Yi for listening to him and trying to assist in some sort of way. Lu Xun made his way out of Sima Yi's office, and stretched out some of his stress. "I don't understand any of this anymore."

"Well, why don't you break up with Zhu Ran for starters. After you do that, you can talk to Cao Pi about how you're actually feeling and ask him to tell you about his sickness and have him explain why he's being so forceful with this engagement."

Lu Xun practically jumped out of his shoes, turning on his heel to see the son of the man he was just conversing with. "S-Sima Shi, it's... Nice to see you?" He practically asked himself, giving a sheepish laugh and a deep breath to collect his thoughts. "Are you actually helping me though?"

"Yes." Sima Shi nodded simply, "The only reason as to why I'm doing this though is because..." Sima Shi sighed, "Cao Pi was actually really happy when he was with you. I have no idea as to why he told you that he didn't want to be with you anymore or anything like that, and told you that he wanted to take a break... Cao Pi's being an idiot and everything's going into hell because of it. There's a lot of things that need answers."

"Speaking of answers.. Do you remember when... Actually... No, now's not the time to talk about that." Lu Xun shook his head quickly, "Cao Pi's important to me, I admit to that, I really do care about him. I just... Don't know what to do."

"Talk to the idiot, you idiot."

"Well-uh! E-ech..! No! No I'm not!" Lu Xun found himself frowning at the slighter older and much taller man. "I refuse to, and the reason is this-... Everything has just been so confusing around here lately! I mean- Don't you remember when we were all hypnotized or whatever, and we were all helping rebuild the school? I'm pretty sure everyone here remembers that, and we just ignore it, for what?! It happened, it's a part of our lives, and we're just going to pretend like we had nothing to do with it? Who was that guy, where did he come from, and what did he want from us? How did he manage to get us all to do those things?! You don't think about those types of things when it comes to some random mystic just running around our school for god knows what reason?! Not only that, people drop dead left and right in this school and everyone pays attention to it for god knows how long before we all just move on? Cao Pi, by the sound of things, has had lung cancer from before I even met him, and only just now, while I'm involved with someone else, he wants to throw everything into my face and make me want to go back to him?! I'm just- I'm so furious with everything that's going on in this school, I'm honestly tired of it! I'm tired of everything here, and everyone just keeps trying to push me to do things, just...! NO!" Lu Xun felt the anger coursing through his veins, which wasn't something he was completely used to, but he was just completely fed-up with everything this school had to offer him, and he just wanted a break, and a lot of answers. The answers were definitely more important than the break, but... A this point, both were necessities.

"Lu Xun.." Sima Shi found himself sighing heavily, "I understand, there's a lot of things you want answers to... Trust me, I'm pretty sure we all want answers in some way or another."

"What about Guo Jia? Is he even at the hospital? There's so many things about him that I'm worried about too... I just... I just want answers, Sima Shi. Answers to the things that people seem to always ignore... Why is that so hard?"

"It's not, I promise you." Sima Shi tried to reason with the brunette, "things happen, people change, people do things that upset others. It happens." He continued, reaching to rest his hand on Lu Xun's shoulder, which he felt was shaking, most likely with anger. "Everyone wants answers. That day wasn't a fluke, I'll tell you that. Father and I are searching for answers when it comes to that, and when we find out... We were planning on explaining what happened that day. We were just hoping that no one would wonder about what happened until we could properly explain with all of the answers-"

"And that's what gets me!" Lu Xun smacked Sima Shi's hand away from him, "I'm sick and tired of people hiding things until the last minute, or until they feel like it's their duty to talk about it! Just come out and say it!"

Sima Shi could only stand in shock, watching the brunette practically glow in flames. "Lu Xun.."

"No, I'm done. I don't want to talk to you anymore." Lu Xun mumbled, turning on his heel to leave the building without any more words to the older man. "I'm tired of this." He whispered to himself as he left.

"That boy actually has a temper, I'm shocked. He's been so laid back till now..." Sima Shi mumbled to himself.


"Sis! Come, look! I found this really pretty dress and I think it would suit you so much!" Xiao Qiao smiled, holding up a red sundress with gold-inscribed flowers on the hems. "It's super cute and it reminds me of you so...! Here!" She pushed the dress onto her older sister who had just finished putting her hair into two ponytails.

"Xiao... This looks like the dress father gave you for your birthday, you never wore it?"

"It's not that I never wore it... I just don't like dresses so-"

"You never wore it, Xiao." Da Qiao gave her little sister a rather judging look, "Why didn't you just tell father that you didn't want it?"

"I did! He told me that he... Wanted to see me wear it one day.." Xiao Qiao lowered her head slowly, "I like wearing shorts, pants, tights! Not... Dresses and skirts! You know me!"

"It'd be nice for you to dress up on special occasions, Xiao."

"But, Da!"

"No, Xiao. Please don't argue with me about it. I'll take the dress, but at least consider those types of things when you're going to something important, okay?" Da Qiao stated, calmly taking the dress from her little sister to go and put it in her room.

"Okay...!" Xiao Qiao smiled, watching her sister walk away, "At least I don't have to worry about the dress anymore."

Da Qiao and Xiao Qiao had planned their afternoon to go out shopping with each other and to eat sweets, just to have a wonderful time together, just two siblings. Of course, in the Dynasty Academy, nothing goes as planned, and the sisters expected that. They specifically planned for the fact that they'd possibly run into someone that they know, which they found themselves doing.

Xiao Qiao ran over to give the brooding brunette a hug, whilst he sat on one of the lonely benches that he found when he first ate during lunch time. Da Qiao gave a small smile as she walked up to him and sat a distance away. "It's been a long time since you came to sit here. Is everything still a mess?"

Lu Xun looked over to the older sister, giving a soft smile to the both of them as he hugged the younger sister back. "Yeah, it's... It's definitely been a ride, and it's still going."

"What are you going to do?"

"I really don't want to worry about it. But... I guess the first step would be breaking up with Zhu Ran?"

"Well... I'd say, when everything dials down, you'd be able to make a more... What's the word I'm looking for..."

"Reasonable?" Xiao Qiao questioned.

"A reasonable choice can work, yes. Thank you Xiao."

"Yeah, I guess so." Lu Xun gave a short laugh which was quickly followed by a heavy sigh. "I just prefer the beginning of the year, where I hadn't met Cao Pi, I'm pretty sure my life would have been so much more simple than what I'm dealing with now."

"You want simple?!" The trio turned in their seats to stare at a group of students who were undeniably familiar to them. "Let me tell you a story!" The girl with long black hair smiled as she ran up to the trio.

"Guan Yinping!" Xiao Qiao smiled and waved to the girl who greeted her back happily.

"While Wei and Wu are over there being SUUUUUPER difficult, us in Shu are just casually living life, and having fun! Here, I'll tell you a story about what happened to us these past few days while you guys were dealing with so much confusion and death defying stuffs!"

Lu Xun shook his head and closed his eyes, "We're just going to let this happen? Just going to let the Guan family come literally out of nowhere and tell us a story? That's just going to happen?"

Xiao Qiao shook Lu Xun quickly, "When did you become such a killjoy? It's Shu, they're not hurting anyone! Besides, I wanna hear the story!"

Da Qiao gave a cautious smile to her brunette friend before turning her attention to Guan Yinping once more, "You know there's a lot on his plate, this is pretty stressful for him. Go on and tell us your story."

"Sure! Okay, so I'm just going to start with when I first noticed something was wrong with Wei and Wu, okay?!"


Flashback:

"Yinping, we're going to go find Jiang Wei, and we're probably going to go roller skating, or bowling, do you want to join us?" Guan Suo questioned, peeking his head past her door that was slightly open, "I know you get upset if I don't invite you to go places with me."

"Is... Bao going to be there?" Guan Yinping questioned quickly, jumping up from her seat on her small couch to turn and look at her older brother properly.

"Well... Yes? She's my girlfriend so we do a lot together."

"Aw dang, I really would ship you with someone else... Like... Xiahou Ba or someone..." Guan Yinping sighed heavily as she whispered her response.

"What?"

"Nothing! Yeah, I'll go! I want to go have a lot of fun too, don't ever leave me out of things like that!"

"Say, question.. Have you heard anything about Lu Lingqi since she started studying under Wei?"

"Lu Lingqi? That really pretty chick who's Lu Bu's daughter? Um... I don't recall hearing anything about her since then, why?"

"I was wondering if she'd-... Never mind, go ahead and get ready, we'll be leaving in an hour! Meet us in my room when you're ready!"

"Oh.. Okay then, sure!" Guan Yinping watched her brother close her door carefully, letting only a soft 'click' echo through the room as she stood there in silence. "Lu Lingqi... Huh..."

After figuring out a wonderful outfit for Guan Yinping to show off, the girl dressed primarily in green smiled to herself in the mirror, fixing the buns in her hair and wrapping the last of the ribbon in a knot. Giving one last look, she chuckled to herself and looked at the clock to make sure she was still on time. "Oh... Good! I didn't spend a lot of time doing what I needed to do. Okay... Now before I go to Guan Suo's... I have to see if I can find Lu Lingqi."

The moment Guan Yinping noticed there was something wrong with the relationship between Lu Xun and Cao Pi had to do with the fact that Cao Pi was helping Lu Xun with the mob of boys trying to ask him for something. "What in the world is going on there?... Is Lu Xun okay..?" She stopped to watch the situation unfold, with Cao Pi hugging Lu Xun, with a microphone in his hand. "Ah... Well.. Cao Pi doesn't seem like the type of person to yell.." She mumbled quietly to herself.

After watching the scene go through a little longer, she realized that she was going to be completely late for everything watching her favorite couple do whatever they were doing. "Gotta find Lu Lingqi! If I can find her, I can double back to Guan Suo's place without any more problems!" She said to herself confidently, running in any direction that seemed fit.

After spending a few minutes running around the campus, she figured the next place she should search would be in the Wei building, which was pretty risky since she's a part of Shu and they know it, but she had someone that she really wanted to find! Running around the corridors in the Wei building, Guan Yinping decided to stop and look at the scenery, noticing that Wei's halls were not only a lot cleaner, but the walls were just a simple shade of dark blue, with occasional posters here and there telling the students to make sure they're focused on their work for exceptional rewards.

"Wow... Compared to Shu... Wei really is all work and no play... Huh.."

"Yeah, a lot of the time kids from Wei tend to... Branch out and try other places. Wei isn't for everyone, afterall."

Hearing the sudden voice caused the small girl to scream and turn as quickly as possible to defend herself. "What- What are you doing! Go awa- Guo Jia?! Why are you not at a hospital by now?!"

"I'll answer that question after you answer mine," Guo Jia gave a small laugh, "Why are you in here, there's nothing for you in Wei's building."

"Of course there is!" Guan Yinping couldn't stop wondering if Guo Jia's condition was alright, but she was worried about being kicked out before even finding the reason why she came in here in the first place! "I'm looking for someone!"

"Is that someone me? Because I'm more than happy to spend my time with you, if you catch my drift." Guo Jia gave a chuckle and a suggestive look to the younger girl.

"Ohhhh. If my father heard you saying that, you'd be twenty feet underground." Guan Yinping shook her head, "I'm looking for Lu Lingqi, I heard that she was studying under Cao Pi so I figure the best place to search for her is here."

"Well, you've definitely come to the right place then." Guo Jia nodded slowly, "She's here, she's actually in class right now. She has some of the later classes so that Cao Pi can do his work before teaching her things that she needs to know during the evening times."

"How long until she gets out? I'm kinda in a rush."

"A rush for what?"

"A family outing! Something you don't know about!"

"Harsh... Very harsh indeed." Guo Jia chuckled, "Her class just started, I don't think you're going to be able to get her to spend time with you today."

"Shoot, really?! That freakin' sucks!" Guan Yinping groaned. "Alright, fine, I'll be back later to come and pick her up! Let her know that I want to spend time with her!"

"Why do you want to spend time with her out of all people? Don't you have enough friends?"

"Why are you questioning a woman?"

"You're not-... Ah..." Guo Jia let out a small sigh.

"What's wrong? Are you okay?!" Guan Yinping instantly became worried, not wanting to argue with the sick man, she ran up to him and grabbed onto his arms, "Please don't tell me you're dying right now!"

"Well..."

"No! I don't want to see you die in front of my eyes!"

"You obviously have no idea what I'm suffering with." Guo Jia casually removed Guan Yinping's hands off of his arms as he sighed once more. "I'll be dying no matter what I do."

"Guo Jia... I'm worried about you.."

"It's nice to know that such a lovely girl is worried about me."

Guan Yinping lowered her head, "I want to make sure that you graduate... That you get to see everything that you've ever wanted... That you get to have the life that you've wished for.. I want to see you succeed, be happy... Not struggle..."

"Don't you have somewhere that you need to go to? I'll talk to Lingqi, you just go do what you have to do."

"GUO JIA!" Guan Yinping found herself yelling, startling the blonde, "I... I've always been super worried about you, ever since I found out-"

"Guan Yinping.. Isn't there someone that you're interested in?"

"Huh? Oh... Yes.. But... He's a teacher so... I don't- I don't think we'd ever be able to work out..."

"That's true, yes. A teacher dating a student is absurd, but people still do it, and sometimes they make it work."

"Are you telling me to try and go out with that teacher?"

"Isn't that what you want?"

Guan Yinping shook her head and started to wave her hands around in all kinds of motions, "Guo Jia! Please, promise me that you'll go to the hospital!"

"I already did." Guo Jia said calmly, digging a hand into his jacket pocket to show her a small bottle of pills. "That's where I just came from, actually."

"Then how did you know that Lu Lingqi was in class?"

"I know her schedule, did you ever think of that?"

"Ohhhh..." Guan Yinping sighed at her own stupidity, "So the medicine's for the... ALS, right?"

"Yep. I can only subdue it, there's no cure."

"Have you ever thought of putting an end to your misery?"

"No." Guo Jia chuckled, "It's honestly never crossed my mind. From when I was kidnapped by Zhen Ji, to where I no longer had anything with Cao Pi... I'm starting to think there's more to my life than just flirting away. Who knows. Maybe this disease might just change me, and I might actually want something serious, rather than whoring around like I used to."

"Oh! That's an amazing thought! I'm so proud of you, I really want you to follow through with that!" Guan Yinping gave a supportive punch to his shoulder, where he sheepishly began to rub from the pain. "Oh sorry.."

"I was actually lying. I'm not going to stop being the guy that I am just because of this. It makes me want to do more, because I don't know if I'm even going to live to graduation. Let's have hope though. I still have a good few more years left in this hell."

"What-... Guo Jia!"

"You must really like saying my name. I can make you say it more, if you'd let me." Guo Jia gave another one of his suggestive smiles, causing the small raven girl to take a few steps back.

"Take care of yourself, Guo Jia."

"Don't you have somewhere to be?"

"Oh-OH SHOOT! I'M GOING TO BE LATE." Instantly changing her attention, Guan Yinping ran around Guo Jia and made her way out of Wei's building without any second thoughts. Rushing to try and find the quickest route back to Shu's building, she had less than ten minutes to be able to meet up with her family and friends before they leave to go on their 'adventure'.

Of course, just because of Guan Yinping's luck, she found herself running head-on into Xu Shu, who was innocently finding his way to his office so that he could work on grading papers like he normally would.

In an instant, papers went flying everywhere, and the girl was lying face flat on the ground, whilst Xu Shu was attempting to stand up as quickly as possible. "Uh... Guan Yinping... Are you okay?" Xu Shu asked carefully, gaining his balance and offering a hand out to the raven who continued to lay down because of embarrassment. "Do you need help?"

"No... I'm fine, thanks." She mumbled, slowly standing up. "Sorry.. Mr. Xu Shu... I have somewhere that I really need to go to, so... I'll be going now." She said, trying her hardest not to stare at the teacher in the face. "I'm sorry, I should go. I really have to go. My brothers are waiting for me. I'm sorry for knocking you over, I hope that I haven't hurt you. Please, forgive me." She turned on her heel and ran away as quickly as possible, leaving Xu Shu with his mouth slightly ajar, wanting to say something to the young girl.


"I'm sorry... I couldn't get Lu Lingqi to join us today..." Guan Yinping returned to her siblings, looking completely defeated. "Sorry..."

"It's okay, don't look so defeated. We'll invite her out for next time so that we can all have fun together, okay?" Guan Xing smiled to his little sister, giving her a long hug, "Look, it's time for us to go, we were waiting on you, Jiang Wei, and Zhong Hui.. But I'm not too sure if they're going to join us today either."

"So it's just going to be us..?" Guan Yinping looked at the small group in front of her, consisting of Guan Xing, Zhang Bao, Guan Suo, Bao Sanniang, Guan Ping, and Xing Cai. "This is completely unfair... Let me invite another guy or something, so that I have someone to be with while you guys are being stupid jerks flirting away with each other!"

"Then invite someone, it's perfectly fine! We're fine with anyone!" Guan Suo smiled to his little sister, "Meet us at the front gate in ten minutes though, we have to catch the bus in twenty." He chuckled, petting and ruffling Guan Yinping's hair as he walked out of the room with Bao Sanniang latched onto his other arm.

Guan Yinping sighed as she watched the couples tell her to hurry as they all walked out of the room in pairs, and turned to walk out of the room herself, closing the door behind her. "That's completely unfair, you guys... You know I'm interested in someone I shouldn't really like... Now who am I going to find on such short notice...?"


Just adding a small A/N here as well: I wish to be able to answer a lot of things within these next few chapters, while adding in characters that weren't inside the story as often as the main few. My intention, with Shu, would be to cover things that weren't answered or left you all confused whilst reading. So, the next chapter or two will be written in italics, please don't be confused about that while reading.

Thank you all for being so patient, and I will continue to work hard for you all. Fighting!