Adopting and Raising the Male Lead and the Villain

by Usui Takumii

not mine, new novel . org

5. 81 to 100

Chapter 81 – Fashion Show (2)

Zhong Yuhuan gave Chen Mingye a call.

"I was just about to go knock on your door and see why you aren't up yet. You went to the clinic? Are you sick? What's wrong? I can take you back right now and we can look for a doctor to check you out." Chen Mingye rambled on the other end.

"Nothing serious, just a common cold. I sneezed a couple of time and felt a little dizzy. I have taken some medicine. I should be fine in a little bit."

"That's not good. Wait there. I am coming down right now, we will head back to London."

"No, don't. I will go back with Huo Chengming, we are going to Li Jinyuan's show anyway. Mr. Chen you should stay here and enjoy yourself." Zhong Yuhuan immediately rebutted his suggestion.

Plus, he just might have more fun after they were gone.

At least he could go wander around the beach.

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Chen Mingye asked in surprise, "Xiao Li is going to be in a show?"

"Yeah."

"Then let's go together. I want to go too. Let's just do it that way. You wait for me downstairs!" said Chen Mingye before he hung up the phone.

Zhong Yuhuan had no choice but to turn, look at Huo Chengming, and helplessly say, "I think we need to get Mr. Chen something next time." Even though it was Lang Jinzhi who asked him to take care of them, they couldn't just take and take without reciprocating.

Huo Chengming nodded and said, "Let's think about it some more when we are resting tomorrow."

"Mmm."

Chen Mingye came down before long and the valet brought the car over quickly as well.

Chen Mingye didn't sleep well the night before so he hired a local person today to help them drive and he took the passenger-side seat. Zhong Yuhuan and Huo Chengming sat in the back again.

After taking the medicine, Zhong Yuhuan was sleepy and she took another nap. When she woke up, she saw that Huo Chengming's jacket was on top of her.

Huo Chengming helped her up and said in a low voice, "Didn't want you to catch a cold again."

Zhong Yuhuan nodded. Just when she was about to give the jacket back to him, Huo Chengming placed his hand on hers and said, "Keep it on for now. If you take it off now, it'll be even colder."

That made sense to Zhong Yuhuan too, so she kept it on.

"Do you want to give Li Jinyuan a call?" asked Huo Chengming.

"Not yet. Let's give him a pleasant surprise," said Zhong Yuhuan as she opened up the car door and leaned over to say to Chen Mingye, "Mr. Chen, you get some rest too."

Looking tired, Chen Mingye nodded and said, "Alright, see you in a couple of days."

Zhong Yuhuan waved goodbye at him before she went upstairs with Huo Chengming.

Once they were home, Zhong Yuhuan was tired all over again.

She dropped onto the bed and fell asleep. Huo Chengming sat by her for a while. Once he made sure that her temperature did not go back up, he pulled out his notebook and started doing his homework by Zhong Yuhuan's desk.

Zhong Yuhuan didn't wake up until the afternoon of the next day. Her stomach was growling from hunger when she woke up.

Slowly, she got up, brushed her teeth, washed her face, and put on a set of new clothes. Sluggishly, she walked in front of Huo Chengming and said, "I'm tired."

Huo Chengming habitually squatted down and said, "Let me carry you downstairs."

Zhong Yuhuan smiled and said, "Okay, I can use some fresh air from higher above today too!"

Huo Chengming carried her downstairs.

Zhong Yuhuan talked softly into his ears, "We are going to give Li Jinyuan a pleasant surprise. Hmm. Are there normally flowers from fans when someone's on a show like this? He just started out and might not have any fans. Let's get some flowers for him! We wouldn't want Li Jinyuan to be sad…. And we should get him a gift too. While we are at it, we should get the gift for Mr. Chen as well…."

When she got here, she couldn't help but chuckle, "It's time to ask Zhong Chi for money again."

Huo Chengming listened quietly to her. As tedious as it was, he never had a shred of impatience on him.

And so, Li Jinyuan really didn't know that Zhong Yuhuan was back.

Chapter 82 – Fashion Show (3)

The day of the show had arrived.

A short bootcamp could only teach Li Jinyuan the basics; he would have to figure out and improve himself on top of that.

Li Jinyuan was still a young man after all and couldn't help but feel a little nervous. But he was also very good at calming his own nerves. No matter how nervous he was, he wouldn't let any bit of it show.

"Do you have the tickets ready?" Li Jinyuan asked Wei Jie.

Wei Jie nodded, "Don't worry. We saved two spots for Mr. Zhong specifically."

Li Jinyuan pursed his lips quickly and asked again, "Have anyone seen them yet?"

"No, not yet. They probably haven't arrived yet…"

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With that, Wie Jie pushed Li Jinyuan into the dressing room and said, "Miss Zhong might not be here yet, but you must start getting ready. The backstage will be chaotic later. You must pay attention and not miss your time."

Li Jinyuan nodded.

Hearing the chaotic part from Wie Jie oddly calmed him down.

Truth was Zhong Yuhuan had arrived at the venue of the show a while ago, but as they have arrived too early, she had to walk around the area with Huo Chengming, Chen Mingye, and his secretary Lisa.

Zhong Yuhuan had also given her gift to Chen Mingye.

"Oh my. You shouldn't have," said Chen Mingye with the box in his hand, looking flattered.

And he truly felt flattered. There weren't a lot of kids in his house, other than a bunch of sons out of wedlock from his father. Not even daughters. As soon as the mistresses found out they were pregnant with girls, they'd abort them. They needed sons so they can take over the family business.

That made Zhong Yuhuan the only girl he has come into contact with in all these years.

How could he not be excited receiving Zhong Yuhuan's present suddenly? He was nice to Zhong Yuhuan because Lang Jinzhi had asked him to; he was doing Lang Jinzhi a favor. But whatever the reason was, being able to receive something in return was still exciting.

Chen Mingye opened up the box in front of Zhong Yuhuan and took out the item from inside. It was an Audemars Piguet watch with black surface and gold arms.

Chen Mingye immediately swap out the watch that he had on originally, "That is awesome looking! Really awesome!"

Zhong Yuhuan smiled at him, "I'm glad you like it."

Chen Mingye went quiet for a little, then said, "Li Jinyuan's little cousin is so good at pleasing others."

Zhong Yuhuan couldn't help but smile. "Is that so?"

"Yes!" said Chen Mingye definitely.

"Let's walk around for a little longer," said Zhong Yuhuan.

"Okay."

The group wandered around the shopping center nearby and purchase a few more items.

When the time was closer, Zhong Yuhuan sent a text to Zhong Chi right before they went into the venue: [Cousin had asked Young Master Chen to take care of me during my stay here. I can't possibly give him any cheap gifts so I am not sure what to do.]

Zhong Chi was someone who was good at gauging what would be beneficial to him. Chen Mingye's status make him someone that Zhong Chi would like to have a relationship with.

As long as Zhong Chi deemed a person or a situation as beneficial to him, he wouldn't mind spending money on it.

Zhong Yuhuan set her phone to vibrate mode and put it away before entering the venue.

The venue was very quiet right now.

Zhong Yuhuan and Huo Chengming went to Chen Mingye's spot with him.

There were quite a few spots saved for him by his contact with the brands. The seats were close to the stage and had enough room for all of them.

Set up was still continuing in the backstage anxiously.

Everyone was tense like a bowstring on a bow. The workers couldn't help but started shouting. Sometimes they'd even poke the foreheads of the slower models.

Except for Li Jinyuan, who was calm as usual.

Having spent a few years with Zhong Yuhuan, he had learned a lot.

One of them being remaining calm in any situation.

Shortly, the first model went out, then the second one…

Before long, it was Li Jinyuan's turn.

Thinking that perhaps Zhong Yuhuan hasn't even arrived yet, Li Jinyuan felt even more relaxed. Doing a catwalk was as simple as eating and drinking to him.

And that's what he thought when he walked out onto the stage–

Chapter 83 – After the Show (1)

Chen Mingye had front row seats to the runway, except it wasn't at the direct front, but to the right of the runway. When the models came out, they normally started from the left side.

When Li Jinyuan walked out, he did not notice Zhong Yuhuan and those who were with her. He looked first toward the spots that his company has prepared for them.

He scanned over there and saw empty seats.

Li Jinyuan recollected himself immediately.

It was the norm for this particular brand to have a certain ratio of Asian models in their lineup. Female models were easier to be picked up, but male models, not so much. Most of them were not able to satisfy the global market or meet the criteria of what was considered attractive by international standards.

It was when everyone was starting to lose interest and perhaps even starting to doze off, when Li Jinyuan slowly entered their field of vision.

Everybody's attention was attracted immediately.

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Even Zhong Yuhuan was a little surprised.

She had seen the shows by this brand in the past, they had severe misconception of Asian style in both the design of clothing and the picking of their models. The clothes were usually contrasting bright colors such as red with green, fairly similar to what clothing was like back in the Qing Dynasty. As for the model, they would normally pick the ones with squinty eyes, tall cheek bones, and a flat face… whenever they would watch the show back in China, it would be a disaster to one's eyes.

This clothing wasn't particularly peculiar and seemingly being able to finally capture a little bit of the Asian style. The cutting was also reasonable with not more odd collars or hem.

Li Jinyuan's body was tall and straight. The set of clothes that he had on made him seemed even more casually graceful plus an aura of unruffled calmness.

He probably had some makeup on as well, and the contrast between light and darkness made him seem more profound and mature. It had provided him additional edges and the glow that of a mature man as well as an undeniable sense of presence.

All the audiences gasped almost at the same time.

Everybody's eyes were still glued to him even after he had passed the stopping point and was heading back toward the backstage.

It was only now that Li Jinyuan caught sight of Zhong Yuhuan and her group.

The changes in his expression were notable. With his back to most of the audience, his mouth curved upward slightly. He gave Zhong Yuhuan, who was sitting below the stage, a hint of a smile.

Zhong Yuhuan couldn't help but return his smile and mouth the words "amazing."

Li Jinyuan walked closer to her slowly and finally walked past her.

Once he had passed her, the smile was gone from him and even his eyes looked less bright than before.

Finally, he could no longer be seen on the stage.

All the audiences felt a loss almost at the same time. None of the models who came up behind him could grab their attention again.

Li Jinyuan returned backstage.

All the other backstage workers and models were still busy, so he had to change his clothes and remove his makeup himself.

After Li Jinyuan had finished removing his make up and washed his face, the show was almost over. Models were returning one by one, and the backstage became bustling with noises.

Wie Jie came in as well.

"Amazing! Amazing! You were truly made for this! You have captured everybody's eyes tonight… and you just took it all in so matter-of-factly!" Wie Jie walked up as he rambled on. Noticing Li Jinyuan's silence, he paused for a little before he said dryly, "I know Miss. Zhong didn't make it today, but there's no need to be disappointed… maybe there was traffic on the road…"

"No," said Li Jinyuan all of a sudden. "She was here, sitting there by the stage. I saw her." If Wie Jie paid more attention, he would be able to notice the cheerfulness hidden in his voice.

Wei Jie was a little baffled, "She came?"

As soon as he finished saying that, they heard one of the backstage workers coming inside the room while saying, "Mr. Chen, this is the backstage for the models."

Mixed in the cacophony of English, Italian, and French in the backstage, the barely understandable Chinese was all the more noticeable.

Li Jinyuan turned to look and immediately saw Zhong Yuhuan walking behind Chen Mingye, and of course, Huo Chengming as well. They had all come to the backstage.

Chapter 84 – After the Show (2)

The workers and the models split and created a path for them.

Before long Zhong Yuhuan went from walking to almost a jog by the time she arrived in front of Li Jinyuan. Li Jinyuan opened up his arms reflexively and Zhong Yuhuan brought her hidden hands to the front and shove a big bundle of flowers into Li Jinyuan's arms, "That was an amazing first show! Truly, really incredible!"

She was happy in being able to come to the backstage and give him flowers.

Zhong Yuhuan's actions immediately grab the attention of the other models. One by one, they looked over in their direction with surprised and envy.

Holding the flowers, Li Jinyuan paused for a second then broke into a smile, "Thank you, Huanhuan."

Especially after he had sensed all the envy coming from around him, he was even happier.

They could be envious all they want, but they couldn't have her.

There were lots of flowers in the world, but only one Zhong Yuhuan.

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Chen Mingye, standing next to them, smiled and said, "Are you done? Then let's go and have the celebratory dinner?"

Zhong Yuhuan said, "I'll treat."

Chen Mingye patted her on her head, "You are still a child. I don't think so. Let's go!"

Li Jinyuan nodded, "Let's go. Thank you for everything today, Mr. Chen."

His features were much softer now than they were when he was on stage. It looked like he had lost all aggressiveness all of a sudden; now he looked like a gentle and elegant little prince.

Everybody turned and headed out.

The brand had also given them some souvenirs to bring with them on their way out.

Even after he was already inside the car, Li Jinyuan was still clutching tightly onto the flowers.

Zhong Yuhuan turned and looked at Wie Jie, "Why don't you join us too Wie-ge?"

"I couldn't possibly…"

Li Jinyuan said softly, "You have done so much the last few days, Wei-ge."

Wie Jie smiled immediately and followed them in his own car.

Chen Mingye called and made a reservation at a high-end Chinese restaurant that was fairly well-known in the area. Once they have arrived and seated, Zhong Yuhuan produced the gift she had prepared and handed it over to Li Jinyuan, "Here's a gift, for your amazing performance!"

Li Jinyuan smiled helplessly.

He knew it. She still saw herself as the older sister and him as the younger brother.

Li Jinyuan opened up the box and saw a brooch. The design of the brooch was simple but unique.

"I've forgotten where I've read it from. But it was said that in your field, fashion is very important, and that's not limited to only the way you dress. It's also in the details such as your selection of cufflinks, brooches, ties, etc. You will be judged on all of them." Smiled Zhong Yuhuan as she reached out to take a sip of the water. Huo Chengming stopped her hand quickly and poured her a cup of hot tea instead.

Zhong Yuhuan took a sip of that and said softly to Huo Chengming, "This tea is not good."

Huo Chengming replied softly as well, "I'll steep you some when we get home."

Zhong Yuhuan nodded.

She didn't like coffee; she usually drank tea for caffeine while she was at school.

Hearing her words, Wie Jie, sitting on the other side, clapped and said, "Yes, yes. Miss Zhong was exactly right."

By now, Li Jinyuan finally got it. This was a gift that she just casually picked out, but she had picked it for him particularly.

That meant to say that she didn't just rush back from Cornwall; she had been back, just didn't tell him…. For the sake of giving him a pleasant surprise?

Li Jinyuan put away the box quietly and his look softened even more.

Seeing that, Wie Jie smiled and said, "What a coincidence. As soon as Mr. Li got paid, he, too, went to buy Miss Zhong a present."

Li Jinyuan suddenly looked up and glanced at Wie Jie.

Wie Jie paused a little from the look before he realized what he had just done. That should have come from Li Jinyuan himself. It wasn't his place to blurt that out. But he had already blurted it out and couldn't possibly put the cat back into the bag.

Zhong Yuhuan had gathered from the earlier phone call that Li Jinyuan was going to buy her something, so she wasn't exactly surprised.

She smiled and said, "Okay, we will unwrap it after we get home."

"Mmm," replied Li Jinyuan.

Having said that, Zhong Yuhuan produced a second box and handed it over to Wie Jie, "And thank you for everything, Wie-ge."

The gift wasn't something overly fancy, just some Chinese pastries, the kind that was vacuum sealed.

Wie Jie had been overseas for a long time. His parents were both back in China, but he had been working on his career this entire time, and everything had just started to take off so he hadn't been back to China very often. Now that he saw specialty food from China, he was touched.

With the box still in his hand, Wie Jie's eyes reddened, and the corners of his mouth curved upward uncontrollably, "Thank you, Miss Zhong. This was such a surprise. Thank you…"

After she had given out all the gifts, Zhong Yuhuan said, "Alright, let's start eating, shall we?"

"Yes, let's. Everybody must be hungry." Smiled Chen Mingye.

Everybody picked up their chopsticks, and the atmosphere became lively all of a sudden.

Indeed, Wie Jie had noticed Li Jinyuan's potential previously, but he had also saw Chen Mingye and the lot that were behind him. He was the bet that he is hatching.

But after this event, there would definitely be an added sense of sincerity in the way that he treated Li Jinyuan in the future.

Chapter 85 – After the Show (3)

The videos and pictures from the show were quickly uploaded to the web by all media sources.

As a brand that was losely followed back in China, naturally the videos and pictures of a big show would be translated and posted in China as well. Zhong Yuhuan wasn't sure what the reaction in China would be like, but Li Jinyuan's Asian looks and aura had quickly stood out overseas.

For example, after they returned to school after the Thanksgiving break, there were others who'd scream and make a fuss when they saw Li Jinyuan and ask him for his signature.

That included both Chinese studying overseas and local Caucasian students.

On the other hand, as Li Jinyuan became more popular, his workload increased. Boarding school had very limited freedom. They were not allowed to leave the school whenever they want with the exception of holidays.

So, the problem presented to him was: did he want to put his work in front of school and switch to a school that'd allow more freedom, or continue to stay at his current school?

Naturally, Zhong Yuhuan wasn't going to interfere with Li Jinyuan's decision.

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She was on the phone with Zhong Chi.

Perhaps, Zhong Chi finally noticed that he hadn't been a good father as he had not paid Zhong Yuhuan too much attention the few months that she had been overseas, so he called her proactively today.

"I had the secretary prepare the money for you already. Let me know if that wasn't enough. You should return the favor since Mr. Chen had been watching out for you. Pick something of value, we don't want him to think that the Zhong's are rude," said Zhong Chi from the other end.

Zhong Yuhuan could tell a hint of tiredness from his voice and smiled, "How's Xu Xing doing at Murphy's High School? Do you want to ship him overseas too?"

Zhong Chi replied nonchalantly, "Oh, now you care how your younger brother is doing? He's doing fine in school. I don't think he's ready to go overseas yet. Maybe in another couple of years."

Zhong Yuhuan smiled and said, "Mmm, I am doing quite well at school over here. I even got scholarships a few times, but they weren't that much money."

Senior high school always had all sorts of competitions or research subjects, so there were plenty of opportunities to receive scholarships.

"Good, keep it up." Zhong Chi was quite happy. There were lots of young second-generation rich kids who were good neither academically or in business. They were good at spending money though. So he could at least be proud of Zhong Yuhuan.

After the call ended, Zhong Chi finally looked at the people in front of him.

In front of him was Xu Yushan, Xu Yunhui, and Xu Xing. Xu Yushan stood nervously to one side and Xu Yunhui looked calm. Except for Xu Xing, he was staring at Zhong Chi with a dark look and said angrily, "I said I want to go back to the 13th High School! This place is not for me. They all looked down on me!"

"Who'd look down on you? If you have the capability, nobody would look down on you!" said Zhong Chi sternly.

The contrast between this and his earlier conversation made him even more angry.

He was disappointed deep down inside.

Xu Yunhui was only good as a mistress after all.

He thought she would be presentable and could attend events with him and that it would be alright to make her his legally wedded wife.

When, in fact, she couldn't even raise her own children properly.

Chapter 86 – Transfer (1)

Li Jinyuan didn't hesitate too long before he decided to transfer to another school.

Zhong Yuhuan wasn't surprised.

He was, after all, a male lead in a book. He might be tender and gentlemanly on the outside, but for sure he had his own decisiveness and strength underneath it.

What surprised Zhong Yuhuan was that Huo Chengming switched to a different school as well immediately after him.

Zhong Yuhuan couldn't help but smile as she asked, "Are you two going to spy on each other?"

"No!" said the two almost simultaneously.

"Okay, then you switch too. But I am staying here. Once I get into college, there will be much more freedom." There weren't a lot of academic requirements in the high school here, but there were a lot of extracurricular activities that occupied most of Zhong Yuhuan's life, much like she was back in China. Zhong Yuhuan was happy where she was and didn't want to change.

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The two quickly completed their applications to transfer and switched to a high school nearby.

It was an alright high school, but the male lead and the villain have very strong ability to learn, so the studying environment should not be that important. As such, Zhong Yuhuan didn't have too much opinion on this.

Zhong Yuhuan took a day off on the day that they started at the new school, and the three went to the new high school together.

Zhong Yuhuan watched them walk inside the school before she turned around and started walking away.

On the other end, Huo Chengming and Li Jinyuan were barely a few steps into the school before they exchanged a look and suddenly remembering something. They turned around and ran back out after her.

Zhong Yuhuan heard footsteps behind her and turned around. She saw the two tall young man following behind her.

"Eh? What's the matter?" asked Zhong Yuhuan as she stopped walking.

"It's not safe on the road," said Li Jinyuan.

"We will take you back," said Huo Chengming.

Zhong Yuhuan didn't know what to say to that, "I came here with you, then you go back with me. Are we just going to go back and forth like this?"

"We will take you back, and you won't need to come back with us again," said Huo Chengming as he grabbed her wrist before she could say anything else and waved down a taxi.

Once the taxi had stopped in front of them, Huo Chengming was the first to get in, then he pulled Zhong Yuhuan into the taxi, followed closely by Li Jinyuan. Once they were all seated, Li Jinyuan quickly closed the door.

Zhong Yuhuan sat down obediently and said, "Okay, then you two take me back to my school and come back here."

The tensed Huo Chengming finally relaxed and said, "Mmm."

Li Jinyuan started to smile a little as well.

After they the taxi arrived at their previous school, Li Jinyuan opened up the car door and got out. Zhong Yuhuan, on the other hand, said to the driver, "Don't go yet. They will take your car back." Having said that, she got out of the car.

Huo Chengming was going to get out as well before Zhong Yuhuan gave him a stare. "Chengming-ge ge, did you really want me to take you two back again? That's too much of a hassle. We will be tired."

Having said that, Zhong Yuhuan stood next to Li Jinyuan. With her hand to his back, she pushed him toward the car, "Hurry up. Go!"

Li Jinyuan stood next to the car and didn't move.

Zhong Yuhuan blinked at him and saved goodbye to him, "I am taking off now!"

Having said that, she turned around and walked toward the entrance of the school.

Slowly, she walked farther and farther away.

Huo Chengming, sitting inside the car, said in a deep voice, "Li Jinyuan, you are in my way."

Li Jinyuan frowned a little and shuffled aside a little so Huo Chengming could be able to see the back of Zhong Yuhuan as she walked away.

They still did not leave.

It was after Zhong Yuhuan had completely disappeared from their sight before Li Jinyuan slowly got back into the car.

The two young men sat quite far apart, with an obvious spot in between them. The separation was clear.

"Let's go," said Huo Chengming in a low voice.

And the driver stepped on the gas pedal.

Zhong Yuhuan walked for a little and looked up at the sky. The sky seemed a little low; like it was about to rain.

That was normal.

It rained 9 out of 10 days here. Never heavy rain, and there was no need for an umbrella.

Zhong Yuhuan licked her lips and felt a bit odd inside of her.

Was it because it was the first time they were apart in years?

They were in different schools now.

Zhong Yuhuan wrinkled her nose and thought to herself; why did I have to see myself like an old hen?

It was natural that the male lead and the villain needed to experience their own life.

They were not her kids!

Chapter 87 – Transfer (2)

As she was walking, a white boy walked by her. He smiled at her and used her English name, "Heloise, you left school today?"

Zhong Yuhuan nodded.

She knew this boy. He had deep green eyes, tall nose, and a commonly-seen pretty face for a white boy his age. When he smiled, he looked like an angel.

She had met him before during a debating contest; they were both debaters.

She couldn't remember his name anymore.

Zhong Yuhuan frowned slightly.

But, the interruption by the white boy had dissipated the odd feelings that she had earlier.

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The boy changed his direction and walked alongside Zhong Yuhuan, "Have you joined this other event? It's very interesting," said the boy to her excitedly.

Zhong Yuhuan was always interested in all sorts of random events, so she chatted with the boy until she was in front of her classroom building.

"I have to go upstairs," said Zhong Yuhuan as she pointed above.

The boy nodded and said, "Okay, I will meet you at the library next time. I have this book that I swear you'd love. I must recommend it to you! Off you go now!"

Zhong Yuhuan smiled at him and said, "Alright."

As she was walking away, the boy said loudly behind her, "Hah! I knew you have forgotten my name. My name is Langdon!"

Zhong Yuhuan paused in her way and smiled much more sincerely to him this time, "Okay, I will remember it this time."

As he was friendly and passionate and announced his own name in poise, it wouldn't hurt for her to be a little friendly toward him.

As she returned to the classroom and taken her seat, Zhong Yuhuan flipped open her textbook in front of her and that odd sensation that she was feeling earlier returned.

Was she sad that they were gone?

Zhong Yuhuan looked down and stared at the book in front of her.

Zhong Yuhuan pursed her lips, forced herself to feel more cheerful, and continued to stare at the book in front of her.

Zhong Yuhuan always had very high adaptability.

After a month of this new life, the odd sensation that she had felt had finally lessened. Li Jinyuan had gradually appeared more and more in magazines and videos. Huo Chengming, on the other hand, would give her a call once a day, rain or shine. He seemed to be quite busy as well, and every time he called her was time that he squeezed out during his breaks.

One time, Zhong Yuhuan could tell that he was tired just from his voice.

And another time, Huo Chengming went silent half way through their phone call.

Zhong Yuhuan knew what Li Jinyuan was up to, but she had no idea how Huo Chengming was so busy. She thought about it long and hard and finally gave Chen Mingye a call.

Chen Mingye picked up the phone quickly and asked on the other end, "What's going on, Huanhuan?"

Zhong Yuhuan briefly mentioned her thoughts about Huo Chengming to him, "You don't need to look into him for me. I just want to understand that there were no undesirable elements around him is all…"

Chen Mingye chuckled loudly, "And here I was wondering what was going on. So that was why you called? Xiao Huo didn't mention to you? He was helping me out on something."

Zhong Yuhuan trusted Lang Jinzhi quite a bit.

Lang Jinzhi had very high standards for himself. Never mind about anything else, at least he was a straight shooter. And since Chen Mingye was the friend that he picked to take care of her, then he would also be a trustworthy person.

Zhong Yuhuan thought about it for a little bit and didn't ask any more about what was it that Huo Chengming was helping him with.

Now that she knew he wasn't in any trouble, she didn't need to worry anymore.

They had all started doing their own things as they headed into their adulthood.

Zhong Yuhuan felt that it was also about time for her to learn more. Everything would be useful when she returned to China.

"Mr. Chen, let's do lunch some time."

"Sure!" replied Chen Mingye happily.

"I should let you go then," said Zhong Yuhuan before she hung up.

She put her cellphone away.

She suddenly felt much more relieved.

So it wasn't that difficult to raise the male lead and villain after all.

"Heloise!" came a boy's voice from not too far away.

Zhong Yuhuan turned around and saw Langdon standing there, waving at her, "I haven't seen you in a while, now that I have run into you today, let's go see that book that I told you about…"

Chapter 88 – School is Out (1)

The first quarter went by without anyone noticing.

Everybody exchanged gifts and contact information, and one by one departed from the school.

Zhong Yuhuan gave Chloe a call ahead of time, so Chloe was already waiting at the front of the school for her. Zhong Yuhuan's plan was to get into the car first then go pick up Huo Chengming. As for Li Jinyuan, he might not be at school.

Zhong Yuhuan happily picked up her backpack and headed outside.

She had just gotten downstairs before Langdon walked toward her and asked, "Going home?"

Zhong Yuhuan nodded.

Langdon smiled at her. There was a hint of shyness in his smile, but the words coming from him was very direct, "Lucas from your class had invited people from our class to go camping over the weekend… Are you going too? If so, I can go with you to pick up everything you'd need."

Zhong Yuhuan looked at him.

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He had a passionate look on him, and he wasn't trying to hide it.

Zhong Yuhuan had finally realized that for the young boys and girls overseas, they were already old enough to date, or even have intimate contacts.

In her previous life, Zhong Yuhuan had been in and out of the hospital a lot, so she had never dated.

Even though she had always been aware of how passionate boys overseas were, she still couldn't handle the way that Langdon was looking at her.

"Usually these items would be prepared by the assistants at home," said Zhong Yuhuan in a roundabout way.

"Oh, that's too bad. I have a lot of tips and hints on how to pick out these items and been meaning to share them with you." Langdon did not try very hard to cover up the disappointment on him. His bright, green eyes looked straight at Zhong Yuhuan and in them, filled with his fondness for her.

As soon as Langdon had finished saying that, Zhong Yuhuan heard an unfamiliar voice coming from not too far from her, "Huanhuan."

Zhong Yuhuan looked around and saw Li Jinyuan in a white sweater and a pair of light blue jeans. He looked clean and refreshing with no extra adornments. One could even say that he dressed a lot like someone walking straight out of a youth, puppy love show.

"Huanhuan," Li Jinyuan noticed that she was looking at him and said her name again as he approached her faster.

Had Langdon not knew who Li Jinyuan was before, he certainly did now.

He stared at Li Jinyuan and said, "You are the… Li… Li…."

"Li Jinyuan," said Li Jinyuan.

Langdon looked at Li Jinyuan, then at Zhong Yuhuan. With a heart-broken look, he said, "I see. Okay, I get it now. I'll take off now. See you on camping day."

He had already seen Li Jinyuan on TV for a few times. This was the Asian boy who started the Asian trend in the country and had a lot of fans. Even Langdon thought he was very good looking, so how could he possibly compete with him?

Having said that, Langdon left dispirited.

Zhong Yuhuan figured it out right away. Langdon had misunderstood. He thought she and Li Jinyuan were a couple?

How was that possible?

Zhong Yuhuan wasn't sure what to make out of that.

But Langdon was already long gone and, naturally, she didn't have a chance to explain.

She could only look on the bright side – at least Langdon wouldn't be courting her openly from now on.

"Who's that?" asked Li Jinyuan.

"A debater that I have met in a debating contest in the past. His name is Langdon."

"He was talking to you just because you have been in the same debating contest together?" asked Li Jinyuan as he frowned. "Was his intention pure?"

That was more or less Langdon's thoughts as well.

From Langdon's perspective, an Asian look like that of Li Jinyuan's was terribly attractive.

And, in the eyes of Li Jinyuan, a pretty body like Langdon might very well be Zhong Yuhuan's type.

He didn't know that Langdon's look was quite comment among westerners.

"The culture is more open overseas so dating at a younger age is quite common. I guess he has a little bit of that intention," said Zhong Yuhuan helplessly.

Chapter 89 – School is Out (2)

Li Jinyuan took away her backpack with one hand, just like he had done that many times in the past with her previous bunny backpack.

He pursed his lips and tried hard to hide the unpleasantness in his eyes as he said softly, "Huanhuan, you can't date too early."

Zhong Yuhuan couldn't help but chuckle, "The younger brother wants to interfere with the older sister's affairs?"

"Of course," said Li Jinyuan quickly.

Zhong Yuhuan turned and gave Li Jinyuan a closer look. His disposition has become more and more elegant. Each movement of his arm or leg exuded his attraction, no doubt a quality that he had gained through his experience from his shows.

Zhong Yuhuan asked, "What about you?"

"Me?" Li Jinyuan licked his lips and said softly, "I will, of course, not date early. I listen to the words of my big sister." This was the first time he had referred to her as "big sister" since a long time ago. He was already a young man who was much taller than her, but there was still a shred of whininess in his tone.

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Zhong Yuhuan couldn't resist smiling. She shook her head. "I didn't say you can't date early. If there's a girl that you have your heart set on, go right ahead. But you must be a responsible boy, don't be like that Barbarian Nan."

The Barbarian Nan she was talking about referred to Young Master Nan.

Hearing the two words "Barbarian Nan" immediately reminded Li Jinyuan that Zhong Yuhuan's betrothal was arranged when she was just a child between her and Barbarian Nan.

Li Jinyuan didn't look too happy ,but he immediately covered that up. He shook his head and said in a soft voice, "No, I am not going to do that. Not interested."

For someone of Li Jinyuan's age, being fond of the opposite gender was quite normal. Hearing his words, Zhong Yuhuan couldn't help but asked curiously, "Then what is interesting?"

Li Jinyuan replied without hesitation, "Earning money for Huanhuan to spend. Be a more successful person so I can support Huanhuan in the future."

Zhong Yuhuan couldn't help but chuckle.

Hearing that certainly made her happy.

It had further proven to her that she had made the right decision bringing them home with her.

Zhong Yuhuan smiled and said, "I already have more than enough money to spend."

Li Jinyuan smiled and said, "It's not the same."

"Eh? How is it not the same?"

Zhong Yuhuan looked at him quizzically, but Li Jinyuan had no intention to elaborate on that. He took one of her fingers in his hand and said, "Too crowded here. I don't want to get separated."

What Zhong Yuhuan wanted to say was "we are too old to get separated", but she didn't voice that thought after all. He meant well, why ruin something nice?

So, instead, she muttered a "mmm" softly.

When the two of them walked out of the school entrance, it had taken more than 10 minutes already.

It had just dawned on Zhong Yuhuan, "You don't have work today?"

"Wei-ge arranged a day off for me knowing that you have today off."

Zhong Yuhuan smiled and said, "That's wonderful. Let's go pick up Huo Chengming."

Li Jinyuan suddenly went silent.

Eh?

Zhong Yuhuan turned her head and looked at him quizzically.

The moment that she turned to look at him was when he said, "Oh, okay."

Zhong Yuhuan's phone rang right after that.

She took out her phone and took a look at the caller ID and couldn't help but chuckle, "Speaking of the devil." She answered the call and said, "Hello?"

It was Huo Chengming's voice coming from the other end, "Huanhuan, have you left the school yet?"

"Yeah, right outside the front door right now."

"Wait there, I will be right over."

"Huh?" Zhong Yuhuan blinked quizzically.

Huo Chengming did not hang up the phone, neither did he talk anymore.

Zhong Yuhuan looked around the school and finally spotted a black BMW slowly approaching her and stopped right in front of the school.

Li Jinyuan hadn't said another word except to stare intently at the leaf that fell on top of Zhong Yuhuan's shoulder.

He wanted to lift his hand and brush it off.

Chapter 90 – School is Out (3)

Then, the door of the BMW opened and Lisa was the first to get out before she opened up the door to the backseat.

The slender legs of the young man were the first out of the car, before the rest of his body.

He had on a black baseball jacket and black pants. At first glance, he even looked a little vicious.

But, his expression immediately softened the next minute.

He handed a bag over to Zhong Yuhuan.

Zhong Yuhuan took the bag from him and opened it up. Inside were chocolates and donuts. They smelled good and probably were freshly made, but…

Zhong Yuhuan shook her head and said, "Chengming-ge ge is such a straight man."

It was apparent that Huo Chengming wasn't quite certain about the meaning of that. He stared at Zhong Yuhuan. There was a shred of anxiousness in his vicious look. "Eh? What does that mean?"

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Zhong Yuhuan shook her head again and said, "It's a compliment."

Lisa, standing beside them, smiled and said, "The gift that Mr. Huo prepared for Miss Zhong would cause her to gain weight. Girls are always worried about gaining weight."

Immediately, Huo Chengming didn't know what to do. He reached out to take the bag back, but felt that it was wrong to take a gift back. Now his hand was just hanging there in midair and he explained dryly, "I didn't know… I didn't think about that…"

"It's alright. Having it once in a while won't make me gain weight. They smell really good." As she was talking, she pulled out a wet towelette from her purse and wiped her hands before she reached inside the back, cracked open a slit on the transparent, plastic box, pulled out a truffle ,and sucked on it.

"Sweet," said Zhong Yuhuan as she smiled and squinted her eyes. "Having sweets make one happy."

As she was talking, she pulled out another one and brought it over next to Huo Chengming's mouth.

Her fingers were a little warm and soft. Huo Chengming paused for a bit and opened his mouth reflexively. Carefully, he bit the truffle while avoiding her fingers.

This wasn't a good choice; it was a piece of dark chocolate and bitter.

But when the bitterness hit his tongue, it seemed to be converting into sweetness slowly.

Huo Chengming dared not even chew on it but just have it in his mouth. He slurred, "Mmm, it's sweet."

Zhong Yuhuan turned to Li Jinyuan and asked, "You want?"

Li Jinyuan stared at her fingers for a little and smiled, "Yes, I want Huanhuan to pick one out for me. I'm not worried about getting fat."

"Nonsense, you are a model. Of course you worry about getting fat. Just one, okay?" said Zhong Yuhuan as she fished out another truffle.

She walked up a few steps, stopped in front of Li Jinyuan, and produced a truffle in front of his lips.

Li Jinyuan, too, carefully took the truffle with his teeth.

This one tasted even worse than the last. It was a piece of white chocolate. It was already sweet enough all by itself. Li Jinyuan had it in his mouth, he could taste its sweetness without even chewing. The sweetness took over his mouth, throat, and all his organ… as though his entire body was soaked in syrup. So sweet that he couldn't even resist.

Zhong Yuhuan hadn't noticed that at all.

She pushed the bag slightly toward Lisa and smiled, "Even though Lisa also needs to watch her weight like me, you must try one too."

Lisa smiled and waved her hand, "No, it's alright. This wasn't easy to get. There were a lot of tourists and the quantity was limited. It wasn't easy for Mr. Huo to get a small bag of these. Miss Zhong should keep them to herself."

Zhong Yuhuan didn't want to be too forceful, so she just nodded and put the bag away.

She did, however, noticed something else.

Lisa's attitude toward Huo Chengming seemed to be even more respectful than before.

Chapter 91 – Reunited (1)

Lisa didn't need to return to Chen Mingye's place, so she had no intention to stay longer than she needed to. After she had dropped them off and seeing that Li Jinyuan had his own chauffeur, she left with Chen Mingye's chauffeur.

"Get in. We'll stop by and pick up some groceries on our way home," said Li Jinyuan. His tone was natural without any awkwardness.

That was good. Zhong Yuhuan let out a sigh of relief.

She had truly thought of them as real family in the last few years; she'd hate for them to grow apart from each other because they were now attending different schools.

As he talked, Li Jinyuan waved at a car which then approached them. It was now that Zhong Yuhuan had taken a good look at the car; it was a Toyota Alphard.

Not a cheap price tag on this car.

It's a pretty good model among minivans.

That meant that Li Jinyuan had rising in status among his company.

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That's a good thing!

Zhong Yuhuan's mouth curved upward, and she climbed inside the car.

After they were all seated, the chauffeur started the car and headed toward the direction of their apartment.

The car first stopped at a grocery store near their apartment. Everybody got out and planned for a big shopping trip as Christmas would be here soon.

They only have two weeks off. When it was spring break, they'd already have started their second semester; they could only enjoy themselves a bit around the Christmas holidays.

Christmas in and of itself wasn't very meaningful, but them all being together made it meaningful.

After they have walked inside the grocery story, both young men followed Zhong Yuhuan closely.

Zhong Yuhuan looked back helplessly, "Don't you want to go pick up something for yourself?"

Li Jinyuan gave her a little smile, a trace of weariness could be detected in his eyes, "I have already bought too much when I was apart from Huanhuan. Now I just want to spend more time shopping with Huanhuan."

His dialog being stolen, Huo Chengming had no other choice but to grumble in agreement.

"Alright," Zhong Yuhuan felt no guilt in bossing them around, "Let's bring home a Christmas tree, three santa hats, some French rolls, and caviar. We will also need some hot dogs, cheese, pizza, maybe some seafood such as crab or mussels. I also want to get some yogurt…."

The young men quickly memorized everything she had listed out and split up in looking for the items.

Zhong Yuhuan, on the other hand, happily pushed around the cart and started browsing for snacks that she liked, and then there was cola, red wine….

The young men were quick in their actions. Zhong Yuhuan had been stopping and going, so before she was done picking out what she wanted, the two young men were already done with the list and went back to where she was.

"You guys are already done? Okay, give me a minute." Zhong Yuhuan turned her head, then reached for a big of corn chips on the shelf.

Huo Chengming and Li Jinyuan reached out their hands almost at the same time and grabbed the bag of chips.

Zhong Yuhuan sighed and said, "Okay. I know you are both very tall. Can someone just grab that for me?"

Huo Chengming and Li Jinyuan exchanged a look, and neither one of them let go of the bag of chips.

Zhong Yuhuan couldn't help but looked suspiciously at Huo Chengming, then at Li Jinyuan, "Eh? What's going on now?"

Li Jinyuan let go of it immediately.

Huo Chengming brought the bag down before he looked and noticed that it was a bag of junk food. Huo Chengming frowned but still obediently placed it inside the shopping cart. as he looked at Zhong Yuhuan's cheerful face, Huo Chengming thought; a healthy eating style…. Would take time….. She was in a good mood today and he didn't want to put a damper to that.

They pushed their carts to the cash register.

Zhong Yuhuan was just about to reach for her purse when Huo Chengming said in a low voice, "I got this."

Li Jinyuan also said, "I got it."

Zhong Yuhuan, "….."

"Do you want to settle it with a game of roshambo. The one who loses pays?"

Chapter 92 – Reunited (2)

Li Jinyuan and Huo Chengming, with one hand still on their carts, started playing a game of roshambo with their other hands.

Zhong Yuhuan, "….."

She had finally noticed that there was something odd about the two of them.

There seemed to be an unspeakable sense of competitiveness between the two of them. She couldn't tell whether that was because they were the male lead and the villain and were destined to be archenemies or that it was just normal competitiveness between boys their age.

Zhong Yuhuan was baffled for a while there.

There was, however, an outcome from the "competition" between Li Jinyuan and Huo Chengming.

Li Jinyuan played the scissors and Huo Chengming the paper.

Huo Chengming's face immediately darkened while Li Jinyuan fished out his wallet with a smile on his face and held his cash in his hand.

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Zhong Yuhuan felt that the two of them were about to get into a fist fight so she quickly tugged Huo Chengming on his sleeve and said, "Let's go wait at the bagging station."

Huo Chengming's features softened up immediately and he said, "Mmm."

He took Zhong Yuhuan's hand into his, peeled away from the long line, and walked over to the bagging station.

Li Jinyuan had no choice but to watch them walk away from him.

But… Li Jinyuan thought to himself as he looked down at the three shopping carts behind him. That wasn't too bad, he could spend money on Huanhuan again.

The three of them picked up their bags and left the grocery shop after their shopping trip was done.

As their apartment wasn't too far away, Li Jinyuan let the chauffeur go. The three of them walked slowly toward their apartment, making frequent stops on their way.

As they walked past other shops, they had also picked up other items such as bread, crackers, salads, and turkey meat, etc.

All the shops would be closed during Christmas time, and they wouldn't be able to pick up more food even if they wanted to, so they could only buy extra food and stored them up for now.

They finally arrived back at their apartment after 30 minutes.

Chloe already had someone come and clean the apartment, so the place was spotless when they walked in.

"What should we have for dinner?" asked Zhong Yuhuan.

"I'll cook," said Li Jinyuan right away.

Huo Chengming followed suit immediately and said, "I will make a couple dishes as well."

Zhong Yuhuan got up and opened up the refrigerator's door and noticed all the food that Chloe had stocked for them – eggs, tomatoes, carrots, beef, pork, chicken, fish… even a bundle of cilantro.

Zhong Yuhuan casually picked a few items from inside the refrigerator and said loudly, "Let's cook together. We can make some western food and some Chinese food."

Li Jinyuan and Huo Chengming quickly responded together, "Okay!"

The kitchen was quite spacious and it's open-styled. After all, Westerns were not into stir-frying.

That being said, Chloe still had a hood vent installed long time ago, so even an open kitchen could be tolerable.

The three of them piled into the kitchen. As they walked around, they would rub up against each other. It wasn't crowded, but very intimate.

The empty apartment that had barely been used normally felt like home all of a sudden.

Dinner took them almost three hours to prepare.

Mainly because Zhong Yuhuan's cooking skills have a lot of room to be desired. Finally, both Huo Chengming and Li Jinyuan came to her assistance, and the efficiency finally increased.

After all the food was placed on the table, Zhong Yuhuan was a little embarrassed, "Maybe we should make something simpler tomorrow. If we keep cooking like this, you two will be tired."

"Not tired."

"As long as Huanhuan has food to eat."

Said the two young men simultaneously.

Zhong Yuhuan dropped the discussion on that and smiled at them." Try the ones I made first."

"Okay."

"Oh, we have wine too," said Zhong Yuhuan as she got up and brought over both the wine and cola. Huo Chengming also got up, brought over the wine glasses, and arranged them in front of the three of them.

Chapter 93 – Reunited (3)

Both young men decided on wine and Zhong Yuhuan chose cola.

Quickly, beverages were served.

Li Jinyuan lifted up his hand and said, "I hope that we will get together and have dinner like this again a year from now."

Huo Chengming said in a low voice, "Every year."

In the moment, Zhong Yuhuan couldn't stop smiling. She, too, lifted her glass and said, "Yes, I hope that we will get together and have dinner like this every year from now on!"

Having said that, she lifted her head and took a big gulp of her cola.

The stimulating carbonated drink flowed into her mouth with it's sweet taste. It gave her a feeling of happiness.

Huo Chengming and Li Jinyuan both looked at her.

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They looked at her white and slender fingers wrapped around the stem of the glass. They looked at how she tilted her head upward; her pale and slender neck was exposed. They looked at how she had a sip of the cola, and the color of her lips darkened from it. They looked at the happy, content look on her…. Under the light, she was sparkling and attractive.

"Eh? Why aren't you guys drinking?" asked Zhong Yuhuan dubiously.

The two young men paused and lifted their own glasses and downed the wine.

Zhong Yuhuan didn't know what to make of that and quickly said, "Hey, don't choke. And, you will get drunk if you drink too fast."

After she had finished talking, the two young men calmly put down their wine glasses. They looked calm and normal.

Zhong Yuhuan was even more curious. What kind of lives have they been living during the time that they were apart?

But she didn't ask what was on her mind right away.

They continued to eat with their chopsticks and, occasionally, Zhong Yuhuan made a mental note of their behaviors.

Dinner was over quickly.

Huo Chengming and Li Jinyuan both seemed more relaxed, as though the meal was what they needed as a relief.

"Do dishes together?" asked Zhong Yuhuan.

"Okay." The two of them got up right away and looked for a trash bag to start cleaning up the table.

After they have finished cleaning up, Zhong Yuhuan was the first to go and take a shower. After she was done with her shower, she could hear Li Jinyuan on the phone, so she walked around him and went to knock on Huo Chengming's door.

Huo Chengming quickly opened the door and welcomed her inside.

Zhong Yuhuan took a quick glance around the room and noticed a few gift boxes sitting on the carpet. She curiously asked, "Are these Christmas presents from your fellow classmates?"

Huo Chengming nodded.

Zhong Yuhuan was a bit happy.

Even though she was a little sad that neither Huo Chengming nor Li Jinyuan were as close to her as before, distance wise, they were able to walk out of the shadow of being from a welfare service, make new friends, and become popular. That was certainly a good thing!

Huo Chengming and Zhong Yuhuan sat down on the carpet together before Huo Chengming picked up his scissors and start unwrapping his gifts.

The first one he unwrapped was a music box.

The second one was a card and a box of chocolate.

The third one, after they had unwrapped it, were more layers of wrapping paper.

Zhong Yuhuan reached out her neck in curiosity and most of her body leaned toward Huo Chengming, "This must be a very valuable gift. Look at how carefully it was wrapped!"

Zhong Yuhuan smiled and said, "Is this from a girl who's interested in you?"

Huo Chengming shook his head, "No, no girls is interested in me."

"That's impossible. I bet you just didn't notice," said Zhong Yuhuan matter-of-factly.

As they were talking, Huo Chengming unwrapped one layer after another and finally he was done.

Before Zhong Yuhuan could take a look at what was inside, Huo Chengming lifted up his hand, covered up her eyes, and said, "It's nothing good." Then he tossed it away.

It was a DVD.

There was nothing wrong with a DVD. It was the title of the DVD.

Zhong Yuhuan said helplessly, "Last time we went to Brighton's nude beach and I didn't see anything at all. What is it this time? Same thing?"

Huo Chengming froze immediately.

In this country, children came into contact with this type of thing at the age of 15 to 16. Some even started smoking marijuana at this age, or carried around firearms with them, or dated casually. This was why someone would wrap something like this up as a proper gift.

Chapter 94 – Unwrapping Christmas cards and gifts (1)

"Huanhuan," Li Jinyuan knocked and walked inside. His cellphone still clutched in one of his hands.

He stopped at the door and looked at the gift boxes scattered across the floor, and then he looked at Huo Chengming and Zhong Yuhuan and asked, "Are we unwrapping presents?"

Huo Chengming finally let go of Zhong Yuhuan and said, "Mmm."

Zhong Yuhuan struggled to get out of his chest. When she looked at the box again, it was already empty.

Li Jinyuan smiled and said, "Perfect."

He then turned, walked back into his own room, and returned with a large bag of gifts in each hand, "I received a lot of gifts as well. We will unwrap them together."

Having said that, Li Jinyuan casually gave Zhong Yuhuan a look and said, "Where are all your gifts, Huanhuan?"

"Oh, there's not that many. They are all inside my backpack."

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Li Jinyuan pushed all of his in front of her and said, "Why don't you unwrap mine and I will unwrap yours. How does that sound?"

Zhong Yuhuan blinked and said, "Isn't that wrong?"

"What's so wrong about it?" rebutted Li Jinyuan. He looked kind and pure, as though his only thought was just to help her out in unwrapping her gifts.

"Alright. My backpack is still on the couch. You want to go and get it?" Zhong Yuhuan was too lazy to get up from the floor.

"Okay," said Li Jinyuan as he walked away.

They started out unwrapping Huo Chengming's gifts, and now it had turned into unwrapping Zhong Yuhuan's gifts.

Huo Chengming let out a sigh of relief. At least Zhong Yuhuan had been distracted, and she wouldn't ask what was in the box earlier.

Zhong Yuhuan didn't have a lot of gifts with her as most of them she had left in her dorm room instead of bringing them with her. The gifts in her backpack were from those who gave them to her on her way out of the campus. She had shoved them into her backpack as she received them.

By now, Zhong Yuhuan had already forgotten the constituents of those who'd be the ones to hand her gifts specifically when school was already out.

Li Jinyuan casually opened up a Christmas card and saw the blatant and straightforward words on it.

"…. Darling. I look forward to the next time we can enjoy some personal time together." As he was reading it out loud, Li Jinyuan's tone changed and he couldn't keep his tender look any longer.

"Who is this?" His voice was slightly cold as he read the signature line, "Your Maria."

Zhong Yuhuan had just popped a piece of chocolate into her mouth. She looked up and met the two young men's eyes staring intently at her.

Zhong Yuhuan quickly said, "Oh, there wasn't that much of personal time. I joined the drama club not too long ago, and she was a star in the club. I didn't know much, so she'd spend time coaching me one-on-one. And, by the way, Maria is a girl."

Having said that, Zhong Yuhuan pulled out her cellphone and flip to a picture.

"See? Here's us together."

Huo Chengming and Li Jinyuan looked over almost at the same time.

The other girl in the picture was quite tall, probably around 1.7 ~ 1.8 meter. Her blonde hair tied up into a ponytail behind her head. Her blue eyes were smiling. She had on an outfit for horseback riding and a riding crop in her hand. She has very standard European look, pretty with prominent features.

Zhong Yuhuan, on the other hand, had on an 18th century style princess costume. Her waist was slender and the bodice was white. The bottom of the dress, propped up by the bustle, was blue. On her head, there was a crooked hat covered in flowers and next to her ears, two curly strands of hair. The brim of her hat covered her entire forehead. All that could be seen was her pointy nose and her lips that was pretty like flowers. Her face seemed even more petite that it was.

Maria, using her height as her advantage, passionately had Zhong Yuhuan in her arms.

Her head, too, was tilted in the direction of Zhong Yuhuan, making them look very close to each other.

"This was the photo taken together after the close of the play," said Zhong Yuhuan. She flipped through her photo album and said, "Oh, there's a few more. But there are others in them as well."

Chapter 95 – Unwrapping Christmas cards and gifts (2)

Another picture was displayed on her cellphone.

The main character in the picture was still Zhong Yuhuan.

Standing in a circle, all the boys and girls had reached out and tossed Zhong Yuhuan high up in the air. Her hands were grabbed onto the hemline of her dress. The wide brimmed hat flew up in the air along with the hemline of the dress. Zhong Yuhuan had a bright smile on her face.

Accompanied by all her subjects, Zhong Yuhuan, indeed, looked like a 18th century princess.

Zhong Yuhuan pointed at the picture and said, "There's a mattress underneath here. It was pretty safe."

Huo Chengming and Li Jinyuan were both quiet.

They regretted a little.

They have missed so much since they have separated. They didn't get to see her play, nor did they get to see her in the princess costume.

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Li Jinyuan suddenly said, "I've heard many girls in Europe like other girls."

Zhong Yuhuan paused for a second and said, "No. That's not possible."

Li Jinyuan pursed his lips, put that card side, pulled out another, and read it out loud, "Dear Heloise, Merry Christmas! I am so sad to have to part with you. You are so pretty. You are by far the prettiest Chinese I have ever laid eyes on. Your eyes look like a starry night and your hair is like the best silk from China. Your lips are like petals…. May I have the honor to invite you to come to my beautillion ball during the holidays? Your Joseph."

Huo Chengming's lips twitched and he looked stiff, "…. Do all Europeans talk like that?"

"It's not a bad thing to praise a girl!" said Zhong Yuhuan. Then, she turned to the two young men and asked, "Don't you praise anyone else?"

"No."

"Well, that's not going to work. How are you going to get girlfriends like that?" rebutted Zhong Yuhuan immediately. "At least be a gentleman and give a lady just the right amount of praises. That would go very far with girls in the future."

"Is this Joseph a gentleman?" asked Huo Chengming.

"Hmm. Yeah. I feel very comfortable talking with him every time. For example, if you wear a skirt in the winter time, the first thing he'd say is how pretty the skirt is, instead of asking if you will be cold."

Huo Chengming's face darkened, "You want to go out in a skirt in the wintertime?"

Zhong Yuhuan blinked and said, "It's just an example."

"Not even as an example. It's wrong to wear skirts in the winter time," said Huo Chengming.

Li Jinyuan thought about it for a bit and also said, "It will be cold. Too cold. You shouldn't do that in the future Huanhuan."

Zhong Yuhuan face palmed helplessly.

What was she to do with the two of them?

"Okay, I will give a different example then. Forget about the skirt in the wintertime. Hmm, I went back to school during Thanksgiving break and he gave me a gift. He said it was for returning to school. And during Halloween, he gave me flowers…"

"Wait, what…" Huo Chengming interrupted her again, "That's not him being gentlemanly."

"Eh?"

"He's courting you," said Li Jinyuan as he chucked the Christmas card to one side.

Zhong Yuhuan said helplessly, "Alright. If that's the case, he's not a bad guy…"

"Huanhuan, you can't look at it that way. If he always make you feel comfortable around him, is he like that to everyone?" said Li Jinyuan.

Huo Chengming was even more unhappy, "Like a central A/C."

When did the teacher become the student? When did the table turn and now they were teaching her not to trust others easily?

Zhong Yuhuan wasn't sure what to make of that, but she listened to them attentively anyway.

They were all grown up. They seemed to have learned more and more.

Li Jinyuan said in a low voice, "Study hard. No dating so young."

Chapter 96 – Unwrapping Christmas cards and gifts (3)

"Okay." Zhong Yuhuan nodded helplessly.

The male lead and the villain were, indeed, different. All the boys their age were entering into adolescent, and all they wanted to do was chase after girls. But the two of them hadn't even thought about it.

Li Jinyuan opened up another Christmas card. These cards all read more or less the same.

Slowly, Li Jinyuan and Huo Chengming had it figured out. The reason that Zhong Yuhuan didn't get a lot of gifts was because all these individuals had other intentions, which was why they've decided to first write their feelings into the cards.

After all the cards had been opened, there were four gifts left.

All the boxes were quite small in size.

One was a photo frame with a picture inside of it, one was a hair pin, one was a lipstick, and the last one was a pretty brooch.

The brooch looked to be the most expensive of it all. There were pearls on it, and all the pearls were nicely shaped with same sizes. These pearls surrounded a pink crystal.

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Even Zhong Yuhuan was surprised after she saw it, "Who is that from?"

Having said that, she picked up the wrapping paper to look at the name on it, "Hah? This is from Langdon?"

"Who's Langdon?" asked Li Jinyuan. He felt that this was the question he had asked the most all day long, "What was this?"

"Hmm, he was the boy that you saw the last time you came." As she was saying it, she picked up the box and carefully closed it up and said, "I will give this back to him when I return to school. This looks quite valuable."

Li Jinyuan frowned quickly.

He recalled how Langdon looked like – blond hair, green eyes, quite handsome even by Asian standards.

Li Jinyuan wasn't very happy about it.

Ever since he entered the welfare service, he had no more relatives. Then there was Zhong Yuhuan. Well, Huo Chengming was sort of one but, naturally, Huo Chengming didn't need him to worry about him. So just Zhong Yuhuan.

She was pretty and fragile. Even if she just scratched herself a little, he'd feel a heart-wrenching pain. The years that he had been with her, what he thought about the most was how to become so strong and powerful that he could put her up in an ivory tower and take care of her.

But before he was quite ready to take care of her, some pig came out of nowhere and desired her.

Huo Chengming was even more unhappy. He hadn't even met this Langdon yet. He didn't even know what this pig looked like.

"I won't be dating anyone anytime soon. Really? You two can stop worrying about me," said Zhong Yuhuan as she sighed to herself.

They had certainly changed since they had been apart from each other.

Before this, she felt like she was an old mother hen who was always worried about her chicks.

Since they had been part, now they had become the fathers that worried about her.

As she was talking, she yawned sluggishly and said, "Alright, I am going to bathe and go to bed. You guys can clean up here and bring the Christmas cards and gifts into my room. Thanks!"

"Mmm," said Li Jinyuan as his lips curved upward again.

Judging from her reaction, none of the gifts received any special attention from her.

Li Jinyuan and Huo Chengming cleaned up the room.

Li Jinyuan carried his own gifts back to his room; those were never the purpose anyway.

Huo Chengming's room returned to its usual quietness.

Huo Chengming squatted down, pulled the disc out from under his bed, and casually tossed it inside a book.

As soon as he went back to school, the first thing he was going to do was beat up the person who gave him this gift.

Chapter 97 – Two Jackets (1)

It has been a while and Zhong Yuhuan wanted to spend some time with just Li Jinyuan and Huo Chengming, so she turned down all the invitations from her schoolmates for activities over the holidays.

However, when the camping event was brought up, Li Jinyuan still asked, "That Langdon is going to be there as well?"

Apparently Li Jinyuan happened to hear part of it when Langdon and Zhong Yuhuan was chatting about camping gear.

Zhong Yuhuan nodded. She had no reason to keep that from him.

Huo Chengming suddenly put down the sandwich in his hand and said in a low voice, "Then you should go."

Zhong Yuhuan, "Eh?"

From the way that they were acting, shouldn't they object to it and wouldn't let her go no matter what? Didn't they say they didn't want her to start dating too early?

"Go." Li Jinyuan also put down his glass of milk, smiled, and said, "I'll clean up."

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Huo Chengming asked immediately after that, "Is it today? What time do you need to leave? I'll go pack for Huanhuan."

Zhong Yuhuan gave them a dubious look and asked, "Do you two want to come with?"

"Exactly," replied Huo Chengming.

Li Jinyuan then said, "I can really use a break from all my work. I was just thinking about going somewhere with Huanhuan."

That made sense, thought Zhong Yuhuan.

They were both pretty busy. Even during these few days off, the tiredness on their faces never truely went away. Sometimes, when she woke up from hunger in the early mornings, she could still hear them on the phones.

She gathered that ever since they had transferred, they probably didn't even have that much time at school. It must be difficult for them to participate in these types of group events.

"Then we will all go together. We could leave early tomorrow morning, but I can't get up that early. Let's go to the place where we are supposed to meet up tomorrow later today and get a hotel there," said Zhong Yuhuan as she pulled out her cellphone and found a hotel.

Huo Chengming nodded, turned around, and started packing for Zhong Yuhuan expertly.

Even though they had been apart for two months, some of these things were still seared into their minds and they'd never forget.

All Zhong Yuhuan needed to do was to sit in a chair and play on her cellphone.

She could turn her head one way and catch a glance of Li Jinyuan quickly rinsing out the dishes and placing them into the dishwasher. When she turned her head the other way, she catch a glance of Huo Chengming packing for her.

None of these were very difficult things to do but, of course, it's always better when they were taken care of by someone else!

Zhong Yuhuan now has time to chat with her old buddies that she met back in China.

[Yang Sen: I am already in Sanya! Please, Zhong Yuhuan, I beg of you. Come visit here! It's very warm here! Come have mantis shrimp! Don't you miss the mantis shrimp back home?]

[Han Yingying: Huanhuan, you should come to Paris! Lots of handsome boys here! And lots to shop for!]

[Zhuang Yongning: Zhong Yuhuan, here, check out some sand from the desert…. [attached image]]

[Han Yingying: Are you crazy? Zhuang Yongning, what are you doing in the desert?]

[Yang Sen: I know. He watched one too many treasure hunting movies….]

[Zhuang Yongning: Zhong Yuhuan, come and join me in treasure hunting…]

…

Zhong Yuhuan wasn't even sure what to make out of all those messages.

[Zhong Yuhuan: Bye everyone. I am going camping tomorrow.]

[Yang Sen: Camping? ]

[Han Yingying: [ ] How long have you been studying abroad? What is it that you have been learning?]

[Yang Sen: [ ]]

[Zhong Yuhuan: Well, truth is, two classes joined forces and pulled together this camping event so we can bond…]

[Han Yingying: Wait. Are the boys in UK cute? Can I have three boys at the same time? Can I leave with three boys after the networking event?]

[Yang Sen: …. That's not okay in any country, okay?]

Chapter 98 – Two Jackets (2)

[Han Yingying: Are you all packed? [What You Need to Know When ]]

[Zhong Yuhuan: Thanks. I will keep it for now~ I probably won't be needing it. Huo Chengming was the one who's worrying about what to pack.]

[Han Yingying: Aye, for the 101th time. So nice to have an older brother! TVT]

[Zhuang Yongning: Zhong Yuhuan, you sure you don't want to come and hunt for treasure with me?]

[Zhong Yuhuan: Bye.]

[Zhuang Yongning: Aye. You have new friends now. We are just chopped liver now. Byee….]

Zhong Yuhuan stopped messing around with them and put away her cellphone. Li Jinyuan had already washed his hands and came back over, and Huo Chengming had already finished packing for both Zhong Yuhuan and himself.

"Mine is very simple," said Li Jinyuan as he walked inside his bedroom. Barely two minutes later, he came back out with his backpack and duffle bag.

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One must be a minimum of 17 years old to get a driver's license in England. The two young men wouldn't dare to risk Zhong Yuhuan's life, so Li Jinyuan just gave Wai Jie a call and have him help arrange a car for them. Wai Jie, as a very efficient person, arranged for a car to arrive at the front of their apartment in just a little bit.

The three of them took their luggage with them and arrived at the hotel.

After they have received their room keys, they went out to buy the rest of the items that would be needed for the trip. Zhong Yuhuan forwarded the item list to Huo Chengming and Li Jinyuan. All she needed to do was to follow behind him mindlessly. The two of them would take care of everything else.

Ever since a few days ago, Zhong Yuhuan had already realized that the two young men were already all grown up and could turn around and take care of her. She naturally let their roles reversed.

It's not a bad thing for boys to start taking care of others early in time.

She only needed to relax and enjoy!

How wonderful was that!

After they were done with their shopping, they returned back to the hotel and got a good night's rest. The very next morning, exactly at 8:30 AM, Zhong Yuhuan's cell phone rang. From the other end came Langdon's voice, "Good morning! Are you here? I saw a coffee shop nearby, would you like me to get you a cup of coffee?"

Zhong Yuhuan got up groggily. It took her a while for her to wake up.

"Yes. Are you here too?"

"Yes, I am here!"

Zhong Yuhuan paused for a bit after hearing Langdon's upbeat voice.

She thought Langdon had given up after he ran into Li Jinyuan last time. How come he seemed to be sounding even more passionate this time?

Zhong Yuhuan patted herself on her cheeks and said in a low voice, "No, I don't need any coffee. See you in a bit."

"Okay! See you in a bit!" said Langdon, sounding obviously happy.

Zhong Yuhuan finally crawled out of bed with great difficulty and got ready.

Before long, Li Jinyuan came and knocked on the door.

"Huanhuan, I brought you breakfast," said Li Jinyuan as he walked inside and placed the food on the small table in front of Zhong Yuhuan.

After a little bit, Huo Chengming came too. There was also a set of breakfast in his hand. He didn't seem uncomfortable at all. He looked at Zhong Yuhuan, then at Li Jinyuan, and said in a low voice, "Oh, so much food."

Her principle had always been to be fair to both of them, as such, she took a croissant roll from Huo Chengming and said, "I will have this. Sit down, let's all eat together."

One couldn't tell the slight change in emotion from Huo Chengming's look but if one was to look carefully, one would notice that there was a slight sense of relief in his expression.

The three of them had breakfast, then they went downstairs together.

Chapter 99 – Two Jackets (3)

Their bags and camping equipment were all inside the car, which made things much easier for them. They just had to go to the meeting spot with Zhong Yuhuan, then go back to their car and followed the rest of the group to their final destination.

After they went downstairs, Huo Chengming finally got to meet Langdon, Joseph, and Maria.

Oh, just hearing the string of names was enough to make Huo Chengming felt uncomfortable. And then, there were all the other ones whose names he couldn't even remember…

Langdon has the standard look of an European boy and Maria was also the standard blonde hair and blue eyed beauty.

Joseph was the only exception. He was mixed and has a bit of an Asian look to him. Mixed individuals usually get the best traits from both sides. Take Joseph for example, he has the prominent features of an European, but also the aura and delicateness of an Asian.

Huo Chengming and Li Jinyuan more or less frown subconsciously at the same time.

When Huo Chengming and Li Jinyuan were at the same school, they knew quite a few of those that Zhong Yuhuan regularly hung out with. All of them came up and greeted them passionately.

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Just like Zhong Yuhuan had described before, Joseph walked up to her and praised with an astonished, "Heloise, you're so pretty today. Nobody could wear this dress better than you!"

Zhong Yuhuan had on a long sleeve purple dress with a long hem and a layer of velvet underneath, which was keeping her very warm.

As she stood in a group of good-looking Caucasians, she was, surprisingly, the prettiest one there.

Joseph's words angered Huo Chengming.

From where he was, this Joseph was no gentleman, he was totally a player!

Huo Chengming pursed his lips and looked at Zhong Yuhuan, and all the words that he was going to say lodged in his throat… yes, yes, she was very pretty, indeed… Everything that she had learned, everything that she had experienced, they had all brightened her. As she was getting older, her features and her limbs had all grown… she was certainly much prettier than she was before!

As Joseph was talking, he pulled out a rose from nowhere and gave her a very tender smile.

"This goes perfectly with you," said Joseph as he handed her the rose.

Zhong Yuhuan couldn't possibly turn him down in front of everyone so she accepted the rose.

Now, Li Jinyuan was the one who was unhappy.

When Joseph laughed out loud, he looked a little bit like Li Jinyuan. That gave Li Jinyuan a feeling as though he had swallowed sand in his mouth, as though Joseph was wooing Zhong Yuhuan with his advantage.

"Let's get inside the car," said Huo Chengming softly to interrupt what Joseph was going to do next.

Langdon immediately rushed everyone as well, "Get in. Everybody get inside the car. We should leave soon." Obviously he didn't want to keep on watching Joseph wooing Zhong Yuhuan either.

With the distractions from all the others, Huo Chengming and Li Jinyuan's looks finally softened up a little.

At least, when they also chimed in to interject and mess around, it wouldn't be so obvious anymore… right?

When they were getting into the car, Huo Chengming took the rose from Zhong Yuhuan and quickly put it on Joseph's car door before he shoved Zhong Yuhuan into the car and quickly closed the car door.

Joseph, "….."

Joseph, Langdon, and others all looked over in Zhong Yuhuan's direction with a complicated look. One of them said in a low voice, "Ugh, Heloise's brothers are kind of stern."

"Trust me, if you have a sister, you would be just like that too," laughed one of them.

"Good point. If I have a sister like Heloise, I would hate anyone who tried to get close to her…."

Inside this car.

Huo Chengming and Li Jinyuan instinctively took off their jackets at almost the same time.

One of them asked, "Huanhuan, want to sleep some more in the car? Cover up with a jacket?"

"Yes!" She reached out her left hand, then her right hands and took both the jackets. With both of them in her arms, she curled up on the third row seat and put on both of them.

Zhong Yuhuan closed her eyes.

One jacket was warm and caring.

Two jackets…..

Were quite hot.

Chapter 100 – Camping Trip (1)

Before the camping trip, Zhong Yuhuan had done some homework. She knew that there are many well-known camp grounds in England. Some were close to lakes, some have gardens, some were next to farmlands, and some were in mountains… most of them had became well visited locations.

What surprised her was that the location that the others had picked was not the well known Knight's Camp, Hooks House Farm, or Middle Stone Farm… but somewhere located more remotely in the mountains.

The path there was a narrow mountain road.

As the caravan exited the freeway and entered into the mountainous path, Zhong Yuhuan woke up from the rattling of the car. Grabbing the jackets on her, she looked outside of the window and saw a thin layer of ice on the tree branches and a lake that was half frozen.

Winter in England was not as cold as it was back in Hai City. It rarely snowed here and even rare to have the low temperature it would require to freeze a lake.

The caravan stopped not too far from the lake, and everyone got out of their cars.

Maria pointed at a rope between two large trees and said in a low voice, "I was here last year. This was the hammock that I left here from last year."

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Someone couldn't help but chuckle. "There's no bed part anymore, now it's just a rope between two trees."

"We will just have to put a new one up tonight."

Zhong Yuhuan, too, walked out of the car wrapped in the jackets.

Perhaps, because she just woke up from the nap, as soon as she walked out of the car, she couldn't help but shiver from the cold. If she was still cold being wrapped in the jackets, then what about Huo Chengming and Li Jinyuan?

Zhong Yuhuan turned her head and looked at the two of them only to find the two young men standing straight up with no signs that they were cold at all.

"Aren't you guys cold?" She couldn't help but ask.

She hadn't expected that they'd be here. Had she known, she would have dug out her winter coat and down jackets from the bottom of the suitcases.

"Not cold," said Huo Chengming.

Li Jinyuan smiled and said as well, "Huanhuan still think of us as the fragile children once upon a time. We are not cold or hungry anymore. And we also don't keep everything to ourselves anymore."

Zhong Yuhuan smiled as she heard that, "Okay, good then."

Huo Chengming, on the other hand, started taking off his sweater too for Zhong Yuhuan.

Zhong Yuhuan put her hand on his arm and stopped him, "There's no need for that. I'll warm up in a little bit."

Huo Chengming's arm froze, and he dared not move.

Li Jinyuan pretended that he hadn't seen that. Smiling, he put one arm around Zhong Yuhuan's shoulder and said in a low voice, "Walk next to me, Huanhuan. I'll block the wind for you."

Huo Chengming struggled free from Zhong Yuhuan's hand and held her hand in his instead and said, without showing much emotion, "Yes, this way is better anyway."

Having said that, the two of them flanked Zhong Yuhuan.

That's how they have always been when they were attending school back in China – they'd flank her like two huge aspens on both sides of her, making her feel a sense of security. Thus, Zhong Yuhuan no longer felt that there's anything wrong with their behavior. She walked obediently with them toward the lake.

She took a look at the lake first.

The sky was reflected on the lake, making it a clear blue color. The other half of the lake was frozen. The clear blue and the ice met halfway, making it indescribably pretty.

"It's quite pretty here," said Zhong Yuhuan.

"Heloise!" Maria called out behind her and said loudly, "Let me help you set up your tent!"

"Thank you, but we got it!" interrupted Huo Chengming.

Maria sighed and said, "Okay, then I will just chitchat with Heloise." She snuggled up to Zhong Yuhuan as she sat down next to her.

Huo Chengming: "…"

Li Jinyuan: "…"