Shen Liyao continued to stare at Zhao Mingxi as she picked out the coriander leaves for Fu Yangxi.

He didn't believe the rumors from the International Class about how Zhao Mingxi would give Fu Yangxi desserts everyday. But now that he saw it with his own eyes, he had no choice but to believe it.

He clenched his fist tightly. It felt as if a huge pot of oil was boiling in him, making him feel anxious and annoyed.

Even he himself was not aware of the reason why when he saw such a scene, it was like a needle had been pricked into his eyes. It was much too painful to watch.

He didn't think that Zhao Mingxi had truly fallen for Fu Yangxi.

She was still angry. Angry at both her family and him.

Or else she didn't have to purposely pick out the coriander leaves for Fu Yangxi right in front of him.

She was doing this on purpose.

However, if she was hoping for him to approach her again, that would be impossible. Since he's already done it once, he won't do it again.

His pride wouldn't allow it.

Shen Liyao calmed down. He decided to first allow Zhao Mingxi to cool off. Then when she's done with her tantrum, everything will go back to normal.

He lowered his gaze. He was unwilling to look at them again as it might disrupt his feelings. Thus, he picked up his bag and walked out of the library with a quick pace.

The cold wind blew at him ruthlessly. Shen Liyao still had the paper which he made highlighting the important areas of the Hundred School Tournament in his hands. He walked up to the trash can. With a cold expression, he crumpled up the paper and was about to throw it away when he hesitated. In the end, he opened up the paper with a frown.

He walked to a desk at the main entrance, folded the paper and placed it within the pages of a book. Then, he passed it to the librarian. "Hello. Please help me pass this to a student from the International Class."

Fu Yangxi crossed his arms as he leaned back on the chair, his eyes glaring at Shen Liyao.

Only when Shen Liyao left the library did he withdraw from throwing daggers with his gaze.

He dipped his head to the left and stole a glimpse at Little Mask* who was beside him.

ray's note: while it is not explained in detail, i would assume that mingxi is wearing a mask similar to that of a surgical mask, if not a cloth mask.

Mingxi was earnestly picking out the coriander leaves.

Fu Yangxi observed her for a while. In the end, he couldn't help but to ask, "Who was that? A friend of yours?"

Mingxi followed his gaze to look at the entrance. She belatedly realized that he was talking about Shen Liyao.

Mingxi hesitated before speaking, "I guess."

"You guys are rather close, huh?" Fu Yangxi feigned a tone of nonchalance. He tried his best not to let his jealousy seep through. "I saw how he kept on staring at you. Does he have something to say?"

"We're alright." Mingxi answered. If the fact that she was avoiding Shen Liyao nowadays didn't mean that their relationship was just 'alright', then she didn't know how else to describe it.

Thus, she added, "We're merely acquaintances."

It wasn't until Mingxi was done speaking did she feel that something was odd. It had been almost two weeks since she transferred to the International Class. Usually, this fop would either ask her to leave or get her to run errands for him. She could decipher his behaviour of giving her gifts today as a way to repay her, but why was he suddenly asking her about the people from the Gold Medal Class?

As Fu Yangxi was dissatisfied with this answer, he threw a glance at Shen Liyao's figure and asked again, "He looks like the kind who would make a show of being decent and proper. Are his results good?"

Mingxi asked, "Why do you ask?" Why is he suddenly curious about his results?

Mingxi immediately understood him. Although her current results were not bad, there was still a huge gap between her and Shen Liyao.

Is Fu Yangxi trying to get someone else to do his homework for him?

"Young Master Fu, you should get those thoughts out of your head." Mingxi instantly put down the chopsticks and tried to promote herself. "Just let me do your homework for you. I can even imitate your writing. There is no one out there who is as patient as I am when it comes to doing your homework, so why do you want to seek greener pastures?"

Fu Yangxi's mind went black for just a second before he came back to his senses.

Jealousy! If this isn't f*cking jealousy then what is it?!

Did he say something? Why was she making such a fuss out of the mere act of doing his homework?!

Fu Yangxi tried his best to stop the corners of his lips from curling upwards. Seeing as how Zhao Mingxi was still looking at him, he quickly controlled his emotions and with the utmost arrogance, he waved his hands as if he was annoyed. "Alright, alright. I won't let other people do it."

Mingxi let out a sigh of relief.

Meanwhile, the tips of Fu Yangxi's ears flushed red.

The look which Ke Chengwen gave Mingxi was filled with disbelief. He wanted to say something, but he was hesitant.

Mingxi was focused on everything she did, including simple and delicate matters like picking out coriander leaves. Fu Yangxi used his hand to support his head as he observed the concentrated look in her eyes as well as how the light reflected on her eyelashes.

"Done." Only when Mingxi returned the chopsticks to him did he come back to his senses.

Fu Yangxi took the chopsticks. As his heart was filled with joy, his appetite became better. He began to eat in huge mouthfuls.

He ate quickly like a vigorous windstorm, but he was also very quiet.

Meanwhile, Mingxi was happily looking at her flower pot. Another three tiny buds had grown. She was going to approach 500 buds soon. Fu Yangxi is such a good person.

While good guy Fu Yangxi was eating, the phone which he had placed on the table suddenly vibrated. He picked it up and unlocked it with one hand before taking a glance at the notification. Jiang Xiuqiu had sent him a WeChat message.

However, before he opened up Jiang Xiuqiu's message, he was reminded of something— Has Zhao Mingxi sent him a text today?

Zhao Mingxi would give him desserts, send him three WeChat messages and help him do his homework every day without fail.

He was actually unused to it when he didn't receive the texts today.

"Did you damage your phone today?" Fu Yangxi pretended to ask in a casual manner.

Mingxi was doing the homework beside him. "No."

—Then why didn't you send any messages to me? But Fu Yangxi couldn't get himself to ask her.

He continued to pretend as if it was of no matter and scoffed, "Oh, thank God. You have finally stopped harassing me via text."

"Didn't you mute me?" Mingxi questioned.

"Of course I muted you," Fu Yangxi said. "I don't even understand what you send me every day. What should I do if not mute you?"

Mingxi said, "Oh."

It's good that I'm muted.

As she was quite busy for the past two days, she actually forgot about this. But thanks to Fu Yangxi, she was reminded of it.

Her daily messages nowadays did not amount to any significant amount of buds anymore. Nonetheless, something was better than nothing.

Furthermore, based on Mingxi's analysis, it would be better for her to continue because what if this setting was similar to QQ whereby continuous messages would lead to a random wheel of fortune?

She immediately took out her phone and opened the WeChat app right in front of Fu Yangxi. Then, she sent Fu Yangxi three emojis.

Fu Yangxi who was at the side caught a glimpse of this. "…"

What the heck? She's blowing me off!

Was she always this nonchalant when she sent me those WeChat messages every day?

Fu Yangxi used to think that she would contemplate for a long time before sending messages to her crush.

Fu Yangxi's mind almost stopped working. He really didn't understand girls.

His phone vibrated. Jiang Xiuqiu sent him another WeChat message. Fu Yangxi opened it and took a glance. "What the f*ck did you buy with my card? Those who don't know me might think that I like cross-dressing!"

"Tsk." Fu Yangxi replied with one hand: "Fu Zhiyi just came back and my mother already brought him to meet my grandfather. Since I sensed that something troublesome is about to happen, I didn't use my own card. When you get back to school you can use my card to buy your fishing rod."

Jiang Xiuqiu was appeased by this, hence he softened his tone. "Wait a minute. Are you the one pursuing her or is it the other way around? You're this close to falling head over heels for her."

Fu Yangxi replied dismissively: "What are you afraid of? She's not here for my money."

He paused, then as if he was showing off, he tapped a number of words on his screen and replied: "She used the money that I gave her previously to buy gifts for me. You didn't know this, did you? :)"

"What if she has a long-term plan for major returns?"

"She might not be interested in your money, but she might be interested in the life of being part of the Fu family."

"After all, she doesn't know that you have an elder brother. After your real elder brother died, your mother, in her madness, took in Fu Zhiyi as a replacement for him. She even tried her best to get the old man to give his share to Fu Zhiyi. The people out there have no idea about the true happenings of the Fu family and still think that you are the only heir. They think that Fu Zhiyi is merely a cousin of yours."

"If— I'm saying if—"

"Fu Zhiyi becomes the one to receive the inheritance."

"Will she approach you, or will she approach Fu Zhiyi?"

Jiang Xiuqiu was not joking this time. His tone was serious.

Although these were not kind words, as someone who had grown up with Fu Yangxi, he had to say them.

They had seen too many similar occurrences in their age. Of course, he had to admit that there weren't many with a tenacity like what this transfer student has, at least according to Fu Yangxi— She didn't even want 100,000 yuan.

"I'm sticking to what I've always told you. Throughout our whole lives, I've never seen someone who pursued you because of your character. You have such a bad personality."

Fu Yangxi lost his composure. "…You're on thin f*cking ice. How many times do you want to repeat this?"

Jiang Xiuqiu ignored him and continued: "So what makes this girl special?"

Fu Yangxi stared at the whole bunch of messages sent over by Jiang Xiuqiu.

When he looked through it again, his mindset was very different from how it was before.

At the beginning, he was curious about the transfer student and had been teasing her all the time. He wasn't bothered by Jiang Xiuqiu's words at all. If the transfer student was approaching him for some unknown reason, he would straight up wave his hands and say goodbye to her.

But this time, these words became harsh to the eye.

For some reason, a sense of fear crept into Fu Yangxi's heart.

A few moments later.

"Impossible." Fu Yangxi didn't know if he was saying this for Jiang Xiuqiu or himself. He sent: "Just keep your jealousy to yourself. If you continue saying such words I'll block you. :D"

However, after he sent this, Fu Yangxi's good mood was all but gone.

He subconsciously looked toward Zhao Mingxi.

Zhao Mingxi was still doing her work silently. She was very pale, and when she was quiet, she looked like a piece of jade; it was a view that calmed his mind.

Her black middle-length hair was tied into a ponytail today, revealing her creamy neck.

Fu Yangxi noticed that a red string was hanging around her neck. There seemed to be a good quality jade pendant on it— It didn't look like an accessory that current 17 or 18 year old girls who would prefer to wear earrings and outrageous necklaces would usually wear. Instead she looked like someone from a small town, emitting a vibe of a gust of wind blowing through a camphor tree in summer.

She seemed to be attracting the attention of a few bugs as there was a bottle of hydrosol on the table. This explained the faint fragrance on her body.

Fu Yangxi couldn't help but to pull up his pants a little to reveal his ankles. He wanted the mosquitoes to bite him instead.

However, he didn't have the blood type that attracts mosquitoes.

Although Mingxi noticed Fu Yangxi's stare, she didn't stop writing. She turned to take a glance at him and asked, "What's up?"

As if he got caught, Fu Yangxi immediately retracted his gaze. He stretched his arms upward nonchalantly and cleaned up the takeout boxes. "I'm done eating. It's almost 10p.m., when are you going back to your dorm?"

When he finished his sentence, he gave Ke Chengwen a look.

Ke Chengwen instantly understood him. "Oh, these things are far too heavy. Since we're guys, we'll help you bring them back to your dorm room."

Fu Yangxi continued the act by furrowing his brows, as if he was forced to do it. "Fine. I'll help you out."

While he was speaking, he casually tossed his phone aside.

The screen on Fu Yangxi's phone was bright.

It displayed the conversation between him and Jiang Xiuqiu. He deleted a few other messages as well as his replies, save for the one that said 'Fu Zhiyi becomes the one to receive the inheritance'.

He raised his head slowly to look at Zhao Mingxi.

"Then let's go." Zhao Mingxi stood up and packed her things. Just as she moved, she accidentally saw the message that Fu Yangxi received.

Mingxi's mind immediately went blank. She was stunned.

"What happened?" Fu Yangxi pretended as if he was not aware that his phone was unlocked.

Mingxi quickly averted her gaze. "Nothing."

However, her mind was in shock—

What did she just see?!

So the reason why Fu Yangxi was texting someone with such a stern expression was because they were talking about this?

And to think that Mingxi was originally planning to approach Jiang Xiuqiu and Fu Zhiyi once they came to school.

However, from the looks of it, she won't be able to approach this Fu Zhiyi anymore. There was no point for her to offend Fu Yangxi who was a 6% for someone who was a 2%.

—As for the inheritance, it had nothing to do with her. It wasn't as if these young heirs would give her a penny from it.

At that moment, fence-sitter Mingxi made a choice.

She will try her best to avoid Fu Zhiyi in order to prevent her benefactor Fu Yangxi from hating her and stopping her from freeloading on his luck.

"Let's go."

Suddenly, Mingxi caught sight of a cut on the back of Fu Yangxi's left hand. As he had pulled his sleeves over his hands just now, she didn't notice it. It was due to him having to clean up the takeout that he revealed the injury.

Perhaps it was because of Fu Yangxi's unusually pale complexion that the red marks on the cut seemed to be quite deep.

"Wait. I have something to do." Mingxi quickly said.

The light bulb on her head lit up. How many tiny buds will grow from her buying band-aids for this young master?

Once she finished, she picked up her bag and ran out of the library.

While the convenience store was quite a distance away from the school, it should only take her about 10 minutes to get there and come back.

"What's up with her?" Ke Chengwen was confused as he looked at Mingxi's retreating figure.

Fu Yangxi kept his phone with a dark expression.

"Let's wait." Fu Yangxi pulled out a chair and sat down once more. But this time, there was a dark aura around him when he sat down.

As time passed, Ke Chengwen felt like he was getting more and more depressed.

A while later, Ke Chengwen couldn't help but to look at his watch. "Xi ge, it couldn't be that she was too shy to take all these so she found an excuse to slip away first, right?"

Fu Yangxi thought: She did slip away first, but it wasn't because of these things.

He took his phone and stood up in annoyance. As he put on his jacket, his face was so scrunched up that water was about to be squeezed out from it. There was also a sense of sorrow in his expression.

"Forget it. Let's go."

He did predict that Zhao Mingxi would not pass his test this time; that after seeing that message, her attitude toward him would change. He was prepared for it. But what he didn't expect was for her to be so direct as to immediately slip away! She was too f*cking decisive!

What was he supposed to say? As expected of her?!

She wasn't interested in his money.

Yeah right. Turns out, she was just like many others, waiting just because of their interest toward his status as the inheritor.

Fu Yangxi felt worse than when he thought she was interested in his money. It was as if someone had stabbed him with a knife.

He shouldn't have tested her. He should've taken her by the back of her collar and tossed her out the moment she ran over to him at the beginning.

Fu Yangxi and Ke Chengwen walked out of the library.

Fu Yangxi threw the takeout box into the trash can with a loud clang.

Ke Chengwen was pushing the luggage as he asked, "Are you going home tonight?"

Fu Yangxi ignored him. He continued to walk down dejectedly.

Ke Chengwen had no idea what transpired just now. He could only follow him.

However, just as Fu Yangxi was walking down with heavy steps, he suddenly stopped and looked ahead. Zhao Mingxi was running up.

She was running up to him.

A High's library was a very tall building. The stairs leading to it had about 50 to 60 steps. During cold nights such as these, there were no lights around them save for the luminescence coming from the nearby snack street. It poured down in a manner similar to that of the Milky Way.

Zhao Mingxi was carrying her old school bag with her back against this Milky Way. There were beads of sweat appearing on her clear forehead.

Her footsteps sounded quick, and there was also the noise coming from the beat of her bag hitting against her back.

Fu Yangxi's heartbeat quickened.

Mingxi ran to him. She gave him and Ke Chengwen a questioning look. "Didn't I say to wait for me?"

You guys couldn't even wait 10 minutes?

Fu Yangxi's mind went blank. For some reason, his voice was a little hoarse as he stammered, "…I thought you weren't coming back."

"I went to buy something. Come here." Mingxi pulled him to a corner of the steps where the flowerbed was.

He didn't know why, but the current Fu Yangxi was as if he had been pulled out of the mindset of a Demon King. He lowered his gaze to look at her, his feet following her steps as he obediently allowed her to pull him to the corner.

Mingxi took out the things she bought from her bag. There was a bottle of iodine, a pack of cotton swabs and a single use gauze roll.

"As your cut is a little long, I figured that band-aids might be too small for it. Don't worry, this gauze was made of pure cotton. Just bear with it for a while, it's better than letting it inflame. I can't believe I didn't see this just now. You actually had the gall to hide it under your sleeves. You're only making the wound more prone to inflammation by doing so."

Mingxi passed him the things. "Clean this up before going home."

Fu Yangxi was looking at her with a lowered head. His Adam's apple bobbed in his throat, but he did not reach out to take the items.

"What happened to you?" Mingxi raised a hand and waved it in front of him.

Fu Yangxi couldn't describe how he was feeling right now. He couldn't even display any other expression— there was only a weak and gentle look of vacancy.

He thought that the moment she saw that message, she would stop approaching him; that maybe Jiang Xiuqiu was right; that since she wasn't here for the money, then she must be here with a long-term plan for major returns, for anything else.

But it seemed like it wasn't so. At least, she wasn't here for any of those two reasons.

This was the first time that someone liked him so seriously and treated him with so much devotion. The tips of Fu Yangxi's ears were not turning red anymore. Instead, there was an unusually serious emotion stirring within him. His heart was beating fast.

"Fu Yangxi?" Mingxi said his full name.

Only then did Fu Yangxi come back to his senses as if he was harshly awakened.

Yes. That's right.

Test, what the hell was he testing for?

Jiang Xiuqiu was just blindly jealous of him.

Zhao Mingxi truly liked Fu Yangxi— as a person!

Fu Yangxi lifted his brows slightly before carefully observing Mingxi. He first raised an eyebrow and smiled. Then, a half laugh appeared before he finally burst into an expression of happiness.

Mingxi: ? Did his intermittent neuropathy* strike again?

ray's note: a type of nerve injury.

Fu Yangxi appeared to have understood something. He licked his molars and said with the utmost arrogance, "Oh, so the reason why you left in such a hurry was because you wanted to buy these for me?"

He placed extra emphasis on the words 'for me'.

Mingxi was very sleepy. She didn't want to prolong this conversation any further. She had already bought the iodine, but if he didn't apply it on his hand, the buds wouldn't grow.

Therefore, regardless of the consequences, she opened the bottle of iodine and the pack of cotton swabs before pulling his hand over to her.

"Hey woman, what are you doing?" Fu Yangxi was shocked. He immediately retracted his hand and with a flushed face, pulled over his jacket which was messy due to her pulling earlier. He looked around them. "Stop tugging at me. We're in public."

"I'm trying to apply medicine on you," Mingxi said. "If you don't want to, forget it."

"Seeing as how you—" Fu Yangxi still wanted to annoy her.

Mingxi expressionlessly pressed the cotton swab on his hand.

Fu Yangxi instantly yelped in pain, "Gently! Gently!"

Mingxi held his hand and applied less pressure on it. She slowly applied the iodine on the wound.

Fu Yangxi licked his lips. He couldn't help but to smile when he saw how gentle she was.

The wound on the back of Fu Yangxi's hand was quite deep. It seemed as if it was cut from a piece of glass. But shards of glass would at most inflict cuts on one's palm or fingers, so why was he cut on the back of his hand?

When Mingxi first transferred to the International Class, she thought that he was an arrogant and domineering school hunk. But now Mingxi felt that he wasn't as bad as he seemed. Thus, she didn't feel as afraid of him anymore.

Furthermore, Mingxi didn't ask him where this injury came from. After all, everyone had something they didn't want anyone else to know about.

Just like how no one asked why Mingxi only came to the city from a small town after 15 years; why Zhao Zhanhuai only picked up Zhao Yuan and never her; how she didn't want to answer these questions.

She simply helped him clean up his injury without interrogating him.

The two of them were very close to each other as Fu Yangxi leaned in. When Mingxi was done and raised her head, she almost touched Fu Yangxi's face. This person had an extremely handsome and outstanding face. Even his Adam's apple was beautiful, filled with the hormones of a young man.

Mingxi's mind was in a haze. She took one step back. "It's getting late. I should get back."

Fu Yangxi said, "Right."

Ke Chengwen was being a third wheel as he squatted down at one side. Only when Fu Yangxi and Mingxi started to walk toward the dorms did he follow them.

The two of them sent Mingxi to the dorms. After speaking to the lady in charge, they carried the items upstairs.

Then, Mingxi sent them downstairs.

Fu Yangxi had his hands stuffed in his pockets. He was in high spirits. Just as he was about to say nonsense like 'Little Mask, are you happy seeing as how a handsome guy and a not so handsome guy had sent you back to your dorms tonight', Zhao Mingxi had already covered her ears and ran upstairs.

Fu Yangxi: "…"

Ke Chengwen didn't care if he was ashamed, he laughed out loud.

Only

However, as Fu Yangxi was in a good mood, he didn't want to make a fuss about it.

He called Jiang Xiuqiu with the aim of showing off to him. "If you say such things again I'll stop being friends with you."

Jiang Xiuqiu still couldn't help but to ask, "Since she's not interested in money nor the surname Fu, what is she interested in?"

Fu Yangxi touched the gauze at the back of his hand and tried his best to contain the shy smile on his face. He gave a final answer.

"She's interested in me."

Jiang Xiuqiu: "…"

Ke Chengwen: "…"

Fu Yangxi made up his mind. Since he was certain that she was interested in him and that she genuinely liked him, he would have to treat her even better from now on.

The first thing Mingxi did once she got back to her dorm room was to happily count the money, no, the buds in her flower pot.

Three buds seemed to have grown from the act of picking out coriander leaves; another five buds from buying him medicine and applying it on him. With the addition of the previous 15 buds, she should have a total of 23 buds… So why are there 38 buds right now?!

Wait a minute. Then is her face—

Mingxi happily took off her mask and looked at her reflection in the mirror.

It's really gone!

She couldn't even see any marks or scars despite the close distance. Whoa, this is amazing.

It was the first time since she came to this life that she almost cried out of joy.

System: "That's because you held his hand."

Mingxi calculated for a moment before replying in shock, "I can get 15 buds from just holding his hand?"

Then what was the point of her planning her actions so meticulously? She might as well have held a sign saying '520'* while running toward Fu Yangxi the moment she saw him and stuck their hands together with a loud clap.

ray's note: 520 is an internet slang word used by the Chinese as a shortcut to say I love you.

System: "Didn't you notice the time? Your fingers touched his fingers for a total of three minutes. That was the first time you've had such a long duration of physical contact with him, and the impact is usually stronger during the first time."

To be honest, Mingxi wasn't paying attention to the time. As Fu Yangxi kept on trying to pull his hands back while she was applying the medicine on him, she had no choice but to hold on to his fingers.

When the system said this, it made the whole situation sound so erotic.

The system wondered out loud: "I'm surprised that he wasn't upset about it."

Mingxi was shocked too. She wondered if it was because she kept on crossing the line with Fu Yangxi that he had gotten used to it already.

It was true that Fu Yangxi didn't seem to hate her as much any more. There were even signs that he was gradually accepting her as a friend.

This was certainly a good thing for Mingxi.

Mingxi washed her face with tremendous vigor. Then, she squatted down and began to clean up the things lying around her feet.

As the items in the luggage were all stuffed together carelessly, when she first saw it in the library, she couldn't exactly see what Fu Yangxi had given her.

Only when she finally sorted through them did she realize that they were all branded items. There were designer autumn and winter sweatshirts and coats. Mingxi was rather tall for a girl. She was also pale and thin, so any size would be wearable on her. She tried it on, and was surprised by how well it suited her.

Aside from clothes and shoes, there were also miscellaneous items like scarves, toothpaste and even a pillow stuffed in a corner.

Mingxi would never return these, because if she did, according to Fu Yangxi's personality, he would definitely get mad. Then things would become even more troublesome for her.

Therefore, Mingxi quickly worked out the cost of these items.

She calculated based on the tags. A rough estimation came up to about 70,000 yuan*.

ray's note: as of 23/1/21 it is 10,799.30 USD.

Looks like I can only work hard to buy and repay the same worth of items to Fu Yangxi.

I'll just take these as an advance payment.

The next morning, Mingxi woke up early and went to the hospital. She wanted to consult a dermatologist.

It was the same dermatologist who was in charge of her previously. The other could still remember her. When he saw that she had come for a check up, he said, "I'm gonna need you to take off your mask so that I can examine your scar. Did you consistently apply sunscreen and the medicine I gave you? We wouldn't want the scar to expand—"

But before they could finish, Mingxi had already taken off her mask.

"…" The doctor was stunned.

He distinctly recalled that when Zhao Mingxi came to him two weeks ago, the scar on the left side on her face was still substantially big.

He quickly walked over and held Mingxi's face, turning her head from left to right. "How did it heal so quickly? Did you get it operated?"

But it was impossible for a surgery to produce such flawless results. It was as if there was no wound at all in the first place!

"I don't know. Maybe it was because I consistently applied the medicine, hence the speedy recovery." Mingxi was in an extremely good mood today, so much so that even the strongest winds would not deter her. A world where she didn't need to wear masks anymore. She could finally breathe without any difficulty.

The doctor felt that this was a medical miracle. He had never seen a recovery so perfect.

"Well, congratulations."

While the two of them were talking, the nurse who came in to take something couldn't help but to steal a few glances at Mingxi. When this girl came in with her mask on, others only felt that her eyes were really pretty. Who would've thought that the moment she took off her mask she would be so beautiful—

She was so fair that she seemed to be glowing. It was the kind of appearance that would immediately stand out in a crowd. If it wasn't because she was wearing her school uniform, others would have thought that she was a young celebrity.

And not just any celebrity. She would be the kind that would be famous even with just her visuals.

Mingxi asked, "Do you think I can stop wearing my mask from now on?"

"I think so." The doctor gave it some thought before continuing, "But I would recommend you to observe it for another two days. Wait till tomorrow. If there are no signs of itchiness or unusual heat, then you can take it off permanently. Nonetheless, you still have to apply sunscreen everyday."

Two days. Mingxi felt that she could wait. She didn't want any accidents happening in this life.

When Mingxi left the hospital, she was planning to continue revising at the library. However, it was at this moment when her phone vibrated.

The user whom she privately messaged the other day with regards to their post had actually replied to her.

That person only gave her an address and requested for her to meet them this afternoon for a chat.

Mingxi, who was standing by the bus stop, was so excited that she almost jumped. She said to the system, "This is the exact definition of double blessings."

Could this be the good luck drawn in after her change in luck?

System: "I think this Professor Gao is on the list of people who you can freeload on as well. He's even the kind with a weird personality. Although he is ranked at the middle, it would be good to come in contact with him. The only downside is that he might be a little harder to deal with, so you should be extra cautious. Don't get scolded and kicked out by him."

Mingxi said, "Understood."

Professor Gao's house was located in a rather secluded area. It was in an alley filled with hanging clothes.

When Mingxi found the house number, she politely knocked on the door twice.

A while later, there were sounds of footsteps shuffling. The moment the door opened, an old man with half grey hair wearing a white singlet put on his spectacles before proceeding to look her up and down.

Mingxi had only seen this Professor Gao once in her past life and it was before her college entrance examinations. He looked even more haggard back then. Although he didn't teach the majority of students in her school, they have all seen him before. So if she were to pretend not to recognize him, then it would be too fake.

Thus, Mingxi feigned a look of shock. "Professor Gao?"

The old man took a glimpse at the uniform she was wearing. "You are a student from our school?"

"Yes." Mingxi figured it would be impolite to keep her mask on so she quickly took it off. "I didn't think that it would be you, sir. I'm working part-time while studying."

"Senior Year 3?"

"Yes."

It was easy for a clean girl without any makeup on to leave a good impression on him.

Although the old man had an odd personality, he couldn't allow Mingxi to continue standing outside. Thus, he said stiffly, "Come in first. I want to ask you a few questions."

Mingxi followed him in. Only then did she realize why he retired so early in her past life.

The courtyard which was only about the size of a palm was overflowing with greenery, but it seemed quite barren. There was a pole where no grass grew, and on it was hung the dirty clothes of a child around 10 years old. The sun hasn't been coming out recently, so if his grandson were to dirty his clothes, he wouldn't be able to dry them on time.

It was undeniably challenging for an old man to take care of such a child.

If she didn't take a closer look, she wouldn't have noticed that at the corner of the patch of overgrown grass, there was a little boy who looked around the age of 12 to 13. His back was facing them as he stared quietly at the ants.

Seeing as how Mingxi had stopped walking and was looking in that direction, the eccentric old man with pulled a long face.

"This job isn't as easy as you think. If you want to earn some allowance you might as well go take some tutoring jobs or work at the local arcade. You should leave now if you feel like you are uncomfortable with it."

"I'm not uncomfortable. Go ahead." Mingxi quickly picked up her pace and followed the old man to the living room.

What the old man wanted was for someone to do math questions with his autistic grandson. Only by doing this will his grandson enter into a quiet world of his own.

Obviously, it was impossible for him to hire a care worker from the hospital. Female care workers who are about 40 to 50 years old wouldn't understand these. Moreover, it would be financially burdensome for the old man to hire someone who specializes in education. Thus, after some careful contemplation, he had no choice but to hire a student working part-time to come over every weekend.

Nonetheless, it was difficult for him to find a student suited for the job. No one in school knew that he had a grandson with such an illness. The old man was also prideful, so he wouldn't ask for help from any of the students he taught.

When he casually posted about this in the school's forum, not many replied. So the old man could only leave this matter aside and take some of his own time out to take care of his grandson.

To his surprise, half a year after he made that post, Mingxi showed up at his door.

The old man gave Mingxi a Sudoku puzzle and asked her about her schedule as he sat aside with a stern expression. Mingxi felt extremely nervous during the whole session, but she had no choice but to do her best while answering his questions.

After she was done, the old man examined it.

"Not bad. Your mind works fast, but you have a bad habit. You jump through the steps, making it seem as if your logic is unclear." the old man casually remarked.

Professor Gao did not mention the shock that he was currently feeling. This child answered the puzzle in an unconventional manner— It was impossible for him to know her standards just by this one test.

But he was certain that she was above the level of the Normal Class.

Since she was so quick-witted, even if she had continuously failed to join the Tournament, she should be able to obtain rather outstanding results in school. So why had he never heard of her before?

The old man furrowed his brows and looked at Mingxi. He said coldly, "Did you used to use your feet to take the exam?"

Mingxi: "…"

Mingxi thought that Professor Gao had a bad impression of her. Just as she was awaiting to fall in a pit of despair due to his impending rejection, the old man changed the direction of the conversation, "Come here once every Sunday. I'll give you 200 yuan for each session, is that alright? I know the money isn't much, but if you have any questions that you are unsure of, you can mark them down and ask me later. The only two conditions I have is that you cannot be late and you must not mention this to anyone in school."

Mingxi was so happy that she immediately stood up. "Alright. No problem!"

Mingxi then spent the rest of her afternoon here at this old man's house. She even made dinner before she left at night.

Her attentiveness was obvious, but it wasn't to the point where it made one despise it. Instead, it would make others relate her to a tender bud that was trying its best to make its way out of the stone cracks in order to live under the sun.

The old man and his grandson were obviously amazed by Mingxi's cooking skills as they actually cleared up all the food.

Mingxi even helped them clean up and washed the dishes after dinner.

Although the old man had a peculiar personality, he felt ill-at-ease at the thought of letting a little girl wash the dishes for them.

He quickly entered the kitchen. His expression was evidently gentler as compared to when Mingxi first came through their door. "Leave them to me. You can go home now."

The moment Mingxi returned to school, she immediately went to the library to write down the reasonings that Professor Gao had unintentionally taught her while she was playing with his grandson.

When Mingxi thought of how she would be given preferential treatment from such an outstanding trainer, it was as if the thrilling sound of war drums were beginning to play in her heart. She had finally gained some confidence for the upcoming Hundred School Tournament.

Meanwhile, Mingxi who was currently working hard toward her own survival didn't even notice that she was steadily moving up the ranks of the School Beauty Contest.

When Fu Yangxi saw how Mingxi was trying her best to hold in her tears a few days ago, he felt that she must have been really affected by how those gossipers said she was plain-looking— After all, there was not a girl in the world who didn't care about their appearance.

It didn't seem as if Fu Yangxi's consolation was of any use as Mingxi was still ignoring him.

Thus, Fu Yangxi forced his followers to vote for Mingxi to the point that she reached the Top 20.

He thought that Mingxi would be happier when she sees this. She wasn't inferior to anyone as she had around 500 votes.

However, Fu Yangxi didn't think that he should continue voting for her beyond this point. He had a petty reasoning for this. If he voted for her to the point where she gets 1st place, what should he do if everyone notices how she has long eyelashes, fair skin and is good at making desserts?

The transfer student did not look like someone with a strong will. It could be possible that she might fall in love with another and give them desserts instead.

Fu Yangxi wanted to keep her for himself.

However, there was another batch of people who were fervently voting for Zhao Mingxi.

If the way E Xiaoxia treated Zhao Mingxi previously could be described as envy— Envious that she was promised to marry Shen Liyao since they were born; that she had the gall to appear in front of Shen Liyao when no one knew what she looked like since she always had that mask on.

Then right now, E Xiaoxia absolutely abhorred Zhao Mingxi. This feeling emerged when Shen Liyao brought E Xiaoxia to the back of the academic building with a cold and terrifying expression before mercilessly asking for the truth behind Zhao Yuan's allergy incident.

She came to know Shen Liyao way earlier than Zhao Mingxi. She was also the first to appear before Shen Liyao. So why did Shen Liyao only speak and provide extra lessons for Zhao Mingxi?

E Xiaoxia did not have the courage to pursue Shen Liyao, but Zhao Mingxi actually had the bravery to openly express her crush toward Shen Liyao.

She hated this sort of gallantry.

When E Xiaoxia saw how Zhao Mingxi made it to the Top 20 of the School Beauty Contest, she felt disdained and irritable. Why was she everywhere? What qualifications did she have to even join this contest? Who knows what she looks like behind that mask?

Even if she had pretty eyes, it didn't mean that the rest of her face was the same, right?

If she was truly beautiful, then she ought to be flaunting it. Who would wear a mask everyday just to cover up a small scar?

E Xiaoxia almost had the thought of buying a bunch of fake accounts to vote others up and pull Zhao Mingxi down so that she would stop becoming such an eyesore.

However, upon giving it further thought— Why don't she just go with the flow and get her to the top?

If she manages to get to the higher ranks, the moment the judging is completed, everyone from within and outside their school would be curious as to how Zhao Mingxi looks. They would have the assumption that she is absolutely beautiful. Then, when Zhao Mingxi has no choice but to take off her mask, everyone would be so disappointed and leave immediately— How hurtful would it be to Zhao Mingxi's self-esteem?

E Xiaoxia quickly put her thoughts into action.

It was easy for her to do this as she only had to spend tens of thousands of yuan to hire others to help with the voting.

While E Xiaoxia was voting, the neighboring school's Kong Jiaze also noticed the fact that Zhao Mingxi's votes were soaring in A High's School Beauty Contest.

She was smart enough to pick up on it and immediately got the people around her to start voting for Zhao Mingxi.

With the help of these two sides, by the time it was Monday, Zhao Mingxi's votes had already got her up to the Top 2.

As E Xiaoxia still wanted to continue being friends with Zhao Yuan, she did not dare to hire people to get Zhao Mingxi to the first place.

Thus, Zhao Mingxi's votes were around 2,900 while Zhao Yuan's votes were around 3,000.

Mingxi was unaware of all this. She just felt that when she entered the academic building on Monday, everyone was giving her odd looks.

She wasn't the only one wearing a mask in school. There were many students with flu or rhinitis who would wear them too. Usually, no one would even spare her glance and she would blend in with the crowd completely.

However, for some reason a lot of girls were staring at her as she walked to school. Their gazes were of curiosity and they kept on muttering, "This? Just with this and she got into this year's Top 2?"

Mingxi endured it all the way to the International Class. She noticed that Fu Yangxi wasn't here yet. To be honest, Mingxi had already gotten used to his habit of arriving late and leaving early.

Mingxi directly sat down at her seat.

Maybe it was due to the label of 'Fu Yangxi's deskmate' that the people who were staring at her in the International Class were way lesser than those outside. Nonetheless, there were still many curious looks.

"What's going on?" Mingxi couldn't help but to stop and ask one of Fu Yangxi's followers.

That follower stuttered, "You'll understand once you see the School Beauty Contest page."

Mingxi turned on her phone in confusion. Just as the page was loading at a snail's pace, there were already a bunch of curious people crowded outside the class by the corridor. They filled up the space outside the International Class.

As classes had yet to start, a lot of people came to watch the fun. There were even people from Kong Jiaze's school among them.

There was someone in the crowd who said, "What a joke. This is the person in 2nd place from your school this year?"

Zhao Yuan who was in the Evergreen Class kept her phone with a furrowed brow. When she saw E Xiaoxia pushing for people to go join the crowd at the International Class upstairs, she felt a sense of foreboding. Thus, she hurriedly went there as well.

After E Xiaoxia and her group of friends arrived at the corridor outside the International Class, the noise of the crowd got evidently louder.

"Around 2,900 votes. How fake. Can you take off your mask for us?"

Ke Chengwen had just arrived upstairs and squeezed himself into class. When he heard this, he knew that something was wrong. He quickly called Fu Yangxi. "Xi ge, you have to get here immediately. There's a crowd of people outside our class forcing the transfer student to take off her mask."

Then, Ke Chengwen immediately hung up before the other could go into a fit of rage.

He leaned toward the windows and yelled at the people who were trying to get in, "Don't you have classes as well? Why must you come to another class to look at their girls? Get lost!"

After Ke Chengwen said this, the followers in class began to drive people out.

Mingxi's forum page was fully loaded. She finally knew what was going on.

"…" What the heck? Could this be the legendary murder from adulation?

She heard someone in the corridor speak with a tone of mockery, "Ugly."

Mingxi caught E Xiaoxia's expression.

She felt as if this voice belonged to E Xiaoxia.

While Mingxi was not the kind who would cause trouble, she was also not one who would shy away from it.

Nonetheless, she could still hold her anger in from being called ugly. Honestly, as long as a girl doesn't cry from being called ugly, it would be considered a very strong move.

She stood up abruptly.

Ke Chengwen didn't know what she wanted to do. He was just afraid that she would start crying from all the bullying. So he quickly blocked off the entrance to their class. "Just wait a little more. Xi ge will be here soon."

In the end, before he could finish his sentence, the students outside watched as the transfer student slowly took off her mask.

Only

The air suddenly became quiet; eerily quiet.

Ke Chengwen still had no idea what had transpired as he continued to block people off at the door.

"She…"

"How is she…"

Everyone was looking at Zhao Mingxi in shock, so much so that their responses became slow.

Her eyes were clear and beautiful, as if it was reflecting the stars of the morning sky. Her facial features were fair and enticingly gorgeous.

It was a kind of delicate beauty that well surpassed Zhao Yuan and Kong Jiaze. Such purity and flawlessness to the point that they could only gawk in awe as they could not think of any words to describe her.

Mingxi looked toward E Xiaoxia and asked callously, "If I'm ugly, then what are you?"

Chapter 18

The corridor was so quiet that they could hear each other breathe.

When Zhao Mingxi first transferred here, she always wore a mask due to a facial injury. Even while she was eating she would be seated at a corner with He Yang. Thus, no one would've thought that she had an appearance which would far exceed a celebrity's.

Based on everyone's knowledge and experience, there were many with beautiful eyes, but rarely was there anyone who would look good upon taking off their masks.

So how could Zhao Mingxi be an exception?

Furthermore, there was another reason as to why E Xiaoxia was very certain that Zhao Mingxi was either ugly or average looking—

It was because Zhao Yuan had never refuted her when she said this!

Every time, Zhao Yuan would just furrow her brows and reprimand her softly, "Don't talk about Mingxi like that."

This sentence could be understood in two ways. One: 'You're wrong. Mingxi is actually very beautiful.', and two: 'Zhao Mingxi already feels inferior due to the injury on her face and appearance, so you shouldn't talk about her like this. She'll feel worse if she hears it.'

Obviously, a normal person would think of the latter.

Moreover E Xiaoxia.

Thus, for the past year, E Xiaoxia held the assumption that Zhao Mingxi was not only ugly, she also liked to steal Zhao Yuan's things; that she was bad in her studies and was very thick-skinned.

It was only at this moment when E Xiaoxia understood the reason why Shen Liyao would ignore every other girl except for Zhao Mingxi.

Why despite Zhao Mingxi's pursuit, he would only put up a cold farce instead of pushing her away like how he did with herself as well as countless other girls.

Why whenever she spoke of Zhao Mingxi's appearance, Zhao Yuning would ask her to take a look at herself in the mirror first— Turns out, Zhao Yuning meant what he said literally!

It was because Zhao Mingxi was special. She was so gorgeous that no one could compare to her.

Her actions of riling people up and calling Zhao Mingxi ugly in front of so many people was as if she was a clown who had never looked at her own reflection before.

E Xiaoxia went deathly pale. She suddenly felt as if she had become the subject of a joke!

A good majority of people were there because they were curious upon seeing how the corridor outside the International Class was filled with people. They did not know what was actually going on.

Someone couldn't help but to exclaim, "This is the most beautiful girl in your school? She is definitely worthy of the name. She's so pretty!"

The person beside him came back to his senses and replied, "It's not her. She's currently ranked 2nd in the contest."

"Oh my God! If she's in 2nd place, then the one in 1st place must be some other-worldly beauty. Who is she?"

Someone in the crowd pointed to Zhao Yuan. "Over there. I think she came here too."

"…" The one who asked for the person in 1st place went quiet immediately.

They couldn't help but to ask in a small voice, "—Just this?"

A lot of people's attention turned to focus on Zhao Yuan.

She was pretty, but between her pure and innocent delicateness and Zhao Mingxi's bewitching beauty, she would definitely pale in comparison.

The color on Zhao Yuan's lips was gradually fading.

She almost couldn't maintain her expression as she desperately wanted to hit E Xiaoxia.

How could there be such a dumb person? She didn't ask her before making a move and just did her own thing. In the end, she even implicated her.

Zhao Yuan couldn't stay here any longer. She turned around and pushed against the people behind her, trying to escape.

Meanwhile, some people who knew the true story snapped out of their trance. They started to stare at E Xiaoxia. "E Xiaoxia, you used us."

The one who spoke was a boy from the Evergreen Class.

A short while ago, Zhao Yuan's friends and E Xiaoxia suddenly yelled out in the Evergreen Class, "I can't believe that Zhao Mingxi from the International Class has around 2,900 votes. They must be bots, right? Everyone knows she's ugly."

After that, E Xiao took the lead and brought a bunch of people to the International Class to mock her. A lot of people weren't sure of the situation, hence they decided to follow them.

They originally thought that she was really ugly, yet now they know that she's actually a goddess.

As to who ignited and fanned the fire, it was obvious.

Those within their friendship circle understood what was going on. The looks that they gave E Xiaoxia as well as the friends around her were filled with shock, mockery and satire.

"How terrifying of her to do such a thing out of envy. In the end, she only managed to shoot herself in the foot."

Someone whispered, "Do you think this has something to do with the current school beauty? Isn't E Xiaoxia quite close to her?"

The people who came to fan the fire were all Zhao Yuan's friends, including E Xiaoxia and Pu Shuang. No one would believe them if they were to say that this had nothing to do with Zhao Yuan.

Seeing as how the fire was spreading in her direction, Zhao Yuan became utterly discomfited. If she doesn't draw the line between her and E Xiaoxia today, the news of this incident might just reach Zhao Yuning's ears soon.

And if it reaches Zhao Yuning, their whole family will know too.

She allowed her thoughts to settle before turning to face the crowd. Using a condemning tone, she said to E Xiaoxia, "E Xiaoxia, what do you think you're doing? Was the previous incident of triggering my allergy not enough that now you want to hurt Mingxi too?"

"An allergy incident?"

"What happened there?"

"Oh my God, what kind of person is E Xiaoxia? Her targets are all pretty girls. Could it be because she's jealous?"

The moment Zhao Yuan said this, she lost everyone's attention.

E Xiaoxia looked at Zhao Yuan in disbelief. Did Zhao Yuan forget how she used to help her?

"You're tearing me down too—"

But before E Xiaoxia could finish, Zhao Yuan cut her off, "I can't believe you did all this just because you and Mingxi like the same person. I don't have a friend like you!"

Zhao Yuan's eyes were red-rimmed when she said this. Then, she feigned a look of disappointment, turned and squeezed her way out of the crowd.

E Xiaoxia: "…"

E Xiaoxia didn't think that things would advance in this direction. She broke out in cold sweat; her mind blank.

She turned and tried to escape.

If he lets her go, when Fu Yangxi comes later he'll definitely throw a fit. Thus, without thinking of the consequences, Ke Chengwen went up and pulled on E Xiaoxia's school uniform in an attempt to drag her into the International Class. "Where are you off to? Didn't you want to see her? Come in then. I, for one, would like to find out who's the uglier one here!"

E Xiaoxia was on the verge of tears. "I'm a girl! Have you no manners?!"

"Shut up. What are manners? Can they be eaten?" Ke Chengwen was unbothered by her words. He continued to haul her into the class.

The other followers also went up to drag Pu Shuang and a few other girls in.

Pu Shuang's boyfriend was unhappy upon seeing this. "Let go! E Xiaoxia was in the wrong for this matter, so why are you involving other people as well?"

As there was always a sense of rivalry between the three classes, the accumulative hate had been repressed for a long time, and the personal abhorrence of one person could easily be reflected as belonging to that of a whole class.

The students from the Evergreen Class immediately squeezed to the front. They pushed Ke Chengwen's shoulder. "What right do you people from the International Class have to teach a lesson to us from the Evergreen Class? You think you can do anything just because you're rich?"

The corridor was a mess to begin with due to the crowd. While they were tugging, no one knew who started a fight, but after that the scene immediately exploded and turned into chaos.

The two sides were unwilling to back down. In the end, the boys from both classes began to throw punches at each other!

Mingxi who was standing at the entrance to the class was continuously shoved around by others. She was in shock.

What in the world is going on?

She was merely annoyed at E Xiaoxia and wanted to make her eat her words. So why did it suddenly become a war between two classes?!

One of the followers found an opening while he was being choked and yelled at her, "Sister-in-law, get back in class!"

Mingxi couldn't hear him properly. He wanted her to clean up the class?*

ray's note: 大嫂 (pronounced dà sǎo) = sister-in-law. 打扫 (pronounced dǎ sǎo) = clean up

However even if Mingxi wanted to enter, she couldn't do so. She was sandwiched in the middle of the chaos, and she was gradually becoming dizzy because of it.

Furthermore, she was stepped on twice by some random follower of Fu Yangxi who rushed forward, hence her head was buzzing faintly.

Nonetheless, just as she was pushed and was about to scream from almost hitting the corner of a table at the first row…

Someone pulled her back.

In the midst of chaos, she picked up a familiar scent of pine along with a faint hint of medicinal herbs.

Mingxi didn't need to turn to know that Fu Yangxi had come.

For some reason, this scent gave her a sense of calmness in the middle of this madness.

Then, two hands went through the bottom of her armpits and picked her up.

Her feet had suddenly left the ground as she was strongly carried to another table.

Before she could turn to say her thanks, she saw another guy who was about to collide with them. Mingxi immediately retracted her feet and crawled unto the table in a flurry.

The unlucky guy hit the table with a loud 'thud'.

The unluckier Mingxi could not find her balance as she directly fell from the top of the table.

But instead of hitting the ground, she fell into Fu Yangxi's arms in a dramatic manner.

The overwhelming scent of pine took over all her senses. While she fell, she could even see the furious expression on Fu Yangxi's face as well as the redness at the tip of his ears.

Fu Yangxi balanced himself as he carried her in his arms.

"Are you alright?" Fu Yangxi looked down at her in worry.

Then, his body instantly went stiff.

This was the first time that Fu Yangxi saw what Zhao Mingxi actually looked like.

The morning mist had yet to dissipate, allowing a faint yellow light shine through the glass windows as it landed on her pale, clean and beautiful face.

Fu Yangxi couldn't help but to let his eyes wander from her spotless forehead, to her alluring eyes, then down to her plump lips.

Both the entrance to their class and the corridor were clamorous, but over here it was so quiet that it was as if they were in a painting.

The sweat on Fu Yangxi's forehead as a result of his rushing and the worry on his face were as if they had all been frozen.

He swallowed hard.

This was the first time in his life that his thoughts had slowed down. He lost all his senses; his mind empty. The redness at the tip of his ears were creeping unto his face while his heart was beating fast.

But he couldn't feel any of it.

He was like a quiet fool who had never left his comfort zone as he stared dumbly at Zhao Mingxi.

"Thank you." Mingxi regained her balance and tucked her messy strands of hair behind her ears.

She was about to raise her head to look at Fu Yangxi when she realized that 10 buds had grown in her pot—!

What's going on?!

Was it because I hugged Fu Yangxi?

Mingxi had never tried hugging Fu Yangxi despite the fact that the system repeatedly told her that physical contact would result in a rapid increase in the amount of luck. It was similar to how Wi-Fi worked. The nearer one was to the router, the better the signal.

However, Mingxi felt that the things she used to do were far too weird, and it had probably caused this Young Master Fu to hate her.

So if she were to purposely come into close contact with him, wouldn't he just pick her up and throw her off the top of a Ferris wheel?

Yet in the end, such a coincidence happened.

Mingxi regretted it so much that she almost wanted to slap her thighs. If she reacted a little faster, she wouldn't have let him go.

Just while Mingxi was about to hastily seize this rare opportunity by pretending to lose her balance and fall into his arms again…

Fu Yangxi straightened his back.

Having failed to obtain another hug, Mingxi wrung her wrists.

When Mingxi heard the noise surrounding them, she quickly raised her head to look at him. "Oh no, Young Master Fu, they are fighting."

Fu Yangxi thought foolishly, 'Of course I know that they are fighting, but dammit why is her mouth so small, her lips so pink and plump, the bridge of her nose so tall, her skin so bright and translucent, why is she so pretty— Wait a minute. They're fighting?'

What has that got to do with me?

"Where?" Fu Yangxi continued to lower his head and ask dumbly.

Mingxi felt as if he had suffered brain damage after nearly drowning. She wondered if she should slap him twice. Nevertheless, she yelled, "They're fighting outside! Please stop them!"

"Outside— Oh, they're fighting outside, f*ck." Fu Yangxi immediately came back to his senses and pushed Mingxi to the second row where it was outside the boundaries of the fight. Then, he stepped on the table at the first row and walked to the scene of the fight.

Fu Yangxi's spiky red hair was extremely eye-catching. Someone in the corridor shouted.

The boys from the Evergreen Class who came to join the fight suddenly lost all their wits. They looked over. When they saw that it was him, they quickly tried to escape.

Those who saw him had all ran away. As for those who didn't, despite their frustrations, they were dragged away by others.

It was as if someone had sprayed the insect repellant, causing all the cockroaches to run. There was even someone who left their Air Jordans on the ground.

Fu Yangxi's gaze turned to one which belonged to the school overlord. Just now as he was rushing upstairs, he heard someone say, "Ugly." The voices belonged to a girl and a boy. Due to his height, it didn't take long for him to accurately pinpoint Pu Shuang's boyfriend who had led the wave of mockery and pulled him out by his collar.

Mingxi stood by the window and watched him dumbfoundedly. She thought that he was going to drag him to the teacher's office.

Instead, he threw a punch at him.

Mingxi: "…?"

I asked you to stop the fight, not join it!

In the midst of chaos, someone called for the dean.

Ke Chengwen panted as he retreated into class. He didn't really dare to look at Mingxi's face, so he whispered with a flushed face, "Don't worry. No one can win against Xi ge in a fight."

Mingxi asked, "Why? Is it because he's really good at fighting?"

No wonder they all ran away the moment they saw him.

Ke Chengwen puffed out his chest proudly and said, "No. Have you heard of the Fu family's legal team? They are known for winning all of the Fu family's cases. They have never lost a suit! Whoever fights against Xi ge can only receive beatings, because if they fight back and cause him to lose even one strand of red hair, the Fu family will sue the other until they lose all their assets!"

Mingxi: "…"

That sure is something to be proud of, huh?

Chapter 19

Such a huge thing happened so early in the morning.

The two classes didn't even need to attend the flag raising ceremony anymore.

The dean was so angry that his saliva was spitting everywhere as he spoke.

As expected, Fu Yangxi, his followers as well as a dozen students from the Evergreen Class had been caught and taken to the office.

Despite the fact that the office was at the end of the left side of the academic building, the dean's voice could still be heard from afar, "You are students from the Evergreen and International Class, but those who don't know might think that you guys are from some Ultimate Class*! You guys are seniors, but once again, those who don't know will think you guys are from some boy band who purposely came here to have fun!"

ray's note: the dean/author was referring to 'Ko One', the taiwanese drama. it is about a class in a school that only accepts delinquents and rejects from other schools.

"Why did you all learn from Fu Yangxi? He can use his family's money to buy planes to play chess with. But if you guys don't study, the only thing you can do once you go home is rear chickens! The teachers don't dare to bother him while he's sleeping in class, but if your teachers don't care about you then when you guys grow up you can only move bricks!"

The dean was very familiar with the ways of including hidden meanings in his stinging words. Prior to this, Fu Yangxi didn't care about anything he said. He merely allowed them to enter one ear before exiting through the other. However, he felt that today's words were especially unpleasant.

What if Little Mask heard what he said all the way in class because he yelled it out so loud?

Fu Yangxi yawned before throwing a glance at the dean. "Can you lower down your voice? What are you gonna do if the investment fund for the new academic building next year disappears by one block?"

The dean immediately lowered his voice.

However, Mingxi who was in the classroom heard everything clearly.

As they currently had a morning self-study period, she used a book to cover her head before turning to ask Ke Chengwen in shock, "Can his family's money really be used to buy a dozen airplanes just to play chess with?"

The original novel was very detailed in terms of the main characters as well as side characters like her. As for the others, the author would only describe them in one-liners.

Thus, she only knew that the Fu family was rich. She didn't expect them to be this wealthy!

"I guess."

As Mingxi's piercingly beautiful face got closer to his, Ke Chengwen felt as if he almost couldn't breathe.

For some reason, it was as if the air had become sweet and soft.

What's going on? Is this a girl's charm? It is very different from the stinky scent of a boy's sweat.

Why didn't he notice that the transfer student was this pretty?

To be honest, he had never actually taken a good look at the transfer student. That mask covered her face firmly, only revealing her forehead and a pair of eyes. As there were many girls with pretty eyes, Ke Chengwen didn't pay much attention to her.

Ke Chengwen regretted it.

He regretted it so much.

If he knew that the transfer student was this pretty, he would have jumped in to save her on the first day when she was being bullied by Xi ge!

Then this whole thing would no longer have anything to do with Xi ge!

"You're not going to wear a mask anymore?" he asked.

Mingxi explained, "My face was injured before I transferred here last year. Now that I'm fully healed, I won't need to wear it anymore."

Indeed, the transfer student was still the transfer student. Her tone was still as stable and calm as ever.

However, now that she had an attractive face, Ke Chengwen felt as if her voice was as sweet as a nightingale's.

Ke Chengwen replied, "Thank goodness. It would be such a waste otherwise."

Sigh, Xi ge is so lucky.

When Fu Yangxi came back from the office, he saw how Ke Chengwen was stretching out his neck in order to speak to Zhao Mingxi. His expression was as if he was her pet dog.

Not only him, all the boys and girls in class couldn't help but to throw a few glances at Zhao Mingxi while they hid their heads behind their books.

Fu Yangxi felt like everyone wanted to steal Mingxi away.

What a perilous situation.

He pulled a long face and walked to his seat with big strides. He used both his hands to pull Ke Chengwen up by the back of his collar and dragged him to a spot furthest away from Zhao Mingxi. Then, he squeezed over to his seat. "Can't you obey the rules? Why are you talking to each other when it's supposed to be our self-study period?"

When he finished speaking, his eyes swept through the class.

The followers who were staring at Zhao Mingxi hastily retracted their gazes.

Ke Chengwen was speechless. He thought: 'Oh please, the person who disobeys the rules the most is you.'

Fu Yangxi sat down in his own seat.

After he sat down and realized that Zhao Mingxi was right beside him, a wave of heat rose up his cheeks rapidly.

"Thanks for what you did just now." Mingxi used a book to cover her head and turned to the right. "The dean didn't punish you, did he?"

The moment Zhao Mingxi leaned closer to him, Fu Yangxi stiffened. It wasn't an exaggeration to say that he was like a statue with red spiky hair.

As he did not dare to look at her, he leaned away from her slightly and replied in an uncomfortable manner, "Wh-What else can he punish me with? I just have to cl-clean the toilet."

Clean the toilet? That's another opportunity to freeload on his luck.

Mingxi quickly offered, "I'll help you, Young Master Fu!"

For some reason, Fu Yangxi was like a rabbit that was forced to a corner in fear of being defiled. In an attempt to hide himself, he leaned toward the seat near the wall. "There's no need for that."

Mingxi didn't know if he heard her, so she leaned closer to him. She raised her head a little to look at what the teacher was doing before whispering, "Please, Young Master Fu. Leave the matter of cleaning up the toilet to me!"

She's going too far!

Fu Yangxi felt that she was purposely trying to flirt with him. She took off her mask, revealing such a beautiful face and she even had the audacity to speak to him like this. The breaths that left her lips were chilly as he felt it on his elbows.

Furthermore, it wasn't that difficult of a task to clean up the toilet. Even if he didn't get his followers to do it, he could still do it on his own.

She probably just wanted to stick with him.

"M-Male toilet." Fu Yangxi's heart was beating fast as he held his table tightly. He spent a lot of effort to make sure that his words were flowing smoothly as he stared at the table. "You can't do it."

Mingxi could only reply, "Okay then."

She looked a little disappointed.

"Why are you stuttering?" Mingxi suddenly looked toward Fu Yangxi with curious eyes.

Fu Yangxi spent a long time to build the core foundation of his mentality right now—

Don't be nervous.

If I'm already this tense when she's near, if we ever do anything else in the future I'll be even more nervous.

He secretly sucked in a deep breath before attempting to look at Zhao Mingxi directly. Come on, she's just prettier than the average person. It wasn't like he wasn't quite a handsome guy himself!

In the end, his face flushed red the moment he laid eyes on her. F*ck, I'm still so anxious!

"I did-didn't stutter."

"Then wh-why are you—"

Fu Yangxi closed his book with a loud clap and hastily cut her off by diverting the topic, "Speaking of which, what were those people doing?"

Fu Yangxi was referring to the group of people from the Evergreen Class.

Mingxi shrugged and explained, "E Xiaoxia from the Evergreen Class had some private grudge against me, but it's all over now. Everything has been settled."

Fu Yangxi had never even heard of the name E Xiaoxia. To be honest, he couldn't even really remember the names of his fellow classmates, moreover students from the other classes.

The only girl's name that he remembered until now was Zhao Mingxi's.

He will probably never figure out that the private grudge which Zhao Mingxi was talking about was the matter of her having pursued Shen Liyao before and that their grudge was between rivals in love. He would most likely think that it was some misunderstanding between girls.

Thus, Fu Yangxi furrowed his brows as he contemplated if he should get someone to warn that person called E Xiaodong or something to stop doing things behind Mingxi's back.

While they were whispering to each other, a follower who was pretending to read couldn't help but to take a peek at Mingxi again.

Fu Yangxi looked back at him with a vicious glare.

Fu Yangxi had the thought of making Mingxi wear her mask again because so many people were staring at her now.

He was unhappy.

However, he was reminded of how girls would always want to appear beautiful. Now that her face was free of scars, she must be very happy.

Therefore, Fu Yangxi retracted this selfish thought.

He looked at the bag behind Mingxi. When he saw that she was still using the old one, he asked, "Did you not like the bag?"

Mingxi realized that he was referring to the bag he gave her last Friday. Her eyes curled into half moons as she whispered, "I like it, but I wanted to leave it out under the sun for a while before using it. I'll probably be able to bring it to school tomorrow."

Fu Yangxi was overjoyed. He scoffed arrogantly, though his pompous head of short hair similar to that of a porcupine seemed to have softened slightly. "Whatever. It's yours anyways."

Mingxi hesitated for a moment before continuing, "But it doesn't change the fact that I didn't do anything to deserve this. Even if I continue to make desserts for you for the next three years I will not be able to repay your gifts. Young Master Fu, I think I should just repay you once I've earned some money."

Fu Yangxi thought: 'Then continue making desserts for the next three years! Why not?!'

Could it be that you'll become tired of me after three years and you'll go after another person?!

Fu Yangxi flipped through the pages quickly. He raised a brow and said grumpily, "What are you doing three years from now? Are you going overseas? Or are you going to the moon?"

He paused.

Fu Yangxi gathered all his courage and replied while pretending as if he was not bothered at all, "It's not as if I won't think about it if you ask me to go overseas with you."

Mingxi asked, "What?"

What is he talking about?

When Fu Yangxi saw her dumbfounded look, he pulled a long face.

Sometimes he wondered if Zhao Mingxi truly liked him, or else why was she still politely calling him Young Master Fu? Also, she didn't even think about their future! Could it be that she's merely stringing him along?

Fu Yangxi's emotions plummeted like a rollercoaster.

"What do you mean, Young Master Fu?" Mingxi asked when she noticed how despondent he looked.

"Why are you still calling me Young Master Fu?" Fu Yangxi asked begrudgingly.

Calling him by his full name was way better than this unfamiliar title.

The way she called him Young Master Fu every time made it seem as if he was her employer.

On the other hand, Mingxi thought that what he meant was that after that fight, their relationship had turned from one between the hater and the hated to one between a boss and his follower.

Considering how he had been the one to protect her today, she should take him as her boss just like how the others did, right?

Mingxi immediately accepted her own advice, "Xi ge."

Xi… Xi ge?

Whenever Fu Yangxi heard Ke Chengwen and the others address him as this, he would feel nonchalant about it, if not a little weird.

However, when he heard it from Little Mask…

His heart skipped a beat and both his ears and face flushed red.

How… How cute.

Fu Yangxi's mood was lifted once more. He felt way better now.

He used a book to cover his face, the corner of his lips curling up to form a soft smile.

Chapter 20

The news of this incident spread like wildfire. Within a day, everyone knew that there was a beauty in the International Class.

Someone secretly took a picture of Zhao Mingxi standing in front of her class this morning and used it to replace the existing one in the School Beauty Contest's webpage.

Thus, everyone who was curious went to look at the forum.

A lot of people were instantly doubtful. "This picture has been photoshopped, right? Or else why haven't I ever seen such a beauty in school before?"

There were even some who began to analyze it. "Look at how badly photoshopped are the frames of the door behind her. This beauty is too much. Never has there been a normal person with such perfect features. What's the point in studying? She might as well go ahead and become a celebrity."

"Exactly. If she really looks like this, she would've been very famous not only in our school but also in other schools. So how is it possible that this is only revealed now?"

These types of comments were endless. Those who did not see her with their own eyes retained their doubtful attitude. Even those who saw Zhao Mingxi this morning and commented 'she is really that beautiful' were attacked by the netizens.

Nonetheless, it couldn't stop the uncontrollable rocket-like rise in Zhao Mingxi's votes on the voting page.

Before school ended today, the popularity of the three words 'Zhao Mingxi' was close to surpassing Zhao Yuan's.

E Xiaoxia leaned on her table and buried her head in her arms. She felt as if someone had taken off all her clothes and punished her. She did not dare to raise her head for the whole of today, moreover listen to what the teacher was saying.

Surprisingly, no one from the Evergreen Class mocked her. At most there were some girls who disliked her talking about her in hushed whispers.

However, E Xiaoxia was really sensitive. No matter what people said, she would take it as if they were talking about what happened this morning; as if they were all laughing at her.

After class, Miao Ran who was her close friend came to assure her. She patted her shoulder, "Don't worry. This incident will blow over after a few days. It isn't anything huge anyway. You're just jealous of her. Every girl is bound to have such thoughts. It's understandable."

When E Xiaoxia heard such assuring words, she was on the verge of tears. She raised her head from her arms, "Exactly! Why is everyone blaming me? Who would've known that Zhao Mingxi was such a beauty when she wore that mask everyday? If everyone were to blame someone, they ought to blame her for leading everyone on!"

When the two girls who were sitting behind them heard this, they looked at each other. They both felt that E Xiaoxia was really brazen. Only she would still find excuses for herself at such a time.

However, in every class there would be a group of girls who were not to be messed around with. Aside from the prettiest and peace-loving Zhao Yuan, E Xiaoxia was the center of her small group.

They really didn't have the need to mess with E Xiaoxia.

Thus, they continued to bury their heads in their homework, pretending as if they didn't hear anything.

Even Miao Ran felt as if E Xiaoxia's words were a little too shameless. Nonetheless, she didn't comment on it. Instead, she continued to assure her, "Yeah. If it was me, I would think that she became ugly after her facial injury as well, and that she didn't dare to show her face to everyone."

E Xiaoxia wiped her tears. "I feel like a joke."

"It's alright." Miao Ran continued to console her patiently.

It was only now that E Xiaoxia felt better and could calmly think of where things went wrong.

She looked at Zhao Yuan who was sitting in the first row with mixed emotions. Then, she whispered to Miao Ran, "But what I didn't expect was for Zhao Yuan whom we've always placed on a pedestal to strike me when I'm down. She didn't think of me as a friend at all."

"Yeah…" Miao Ran didn't know if she should agree with her on this. There was a crack in E Xiaoxia and Zhao Yuan's friendship. If she were to agree, she would be made an enemy of Zhao Yuan.

Pu Shuang who was closer to Zhao Yuan had just returned from applying medicine on her boyfriend. When she walked over from the back, she coincidentally heard what E Xiaoxia said. She immediately slammed the bottle of antiseptic on E Xiaoxia's table.

"E Xiaoxia, how shameless can you be? You were a fake friend who triggered Yuanyuan's allergy! I was wondering why Yuanyuan wasn't talking to you for the past few days. Turns out it was because something like this happened. If it wasn't because of your embarrassing actions today that dragged Yuanyuan into the mire, Yuanyuan would still continue to keep this secret for you. I feel so bad for her— She's already being a great friend. What else do you want?!"

"Is Zhao Yuan really as unproblematic as you say she is?" E Xiaoxia decided to just shed all pretense of cordiality. "Didn't she silently agree whenever I said that Zhao Mingxi was ugly?"

Pu Shuang was enraged. "Don't you slander her. When has Yuanyuan not stopped you whenever you said this? She would always tell you to not say such nonsense."

As E Xiaoxia knew that she could not win this fight, she began to sweat out of anxiousness. She was on the verge of cursing out loud. "Are 'don't say such nonsense' and 'don't say such a thing' the same?!"

As their quarrel was getting increasingly loud, they attracted the attention of many in class.

The boys sitting in the back row had yet to talk to E Xiaoxia about how she triggered the fight between the two classes this morning. They couldn't believe that she still had the courage to make such a fuss here. A boy got impatient and said, "Why are you guys fighting? Can't you take this outside?"

When Miao Ran saw this, she tugged on E Xiaoxia's clothes and whispered, "Forget it. Don't pull Zhao Yuan into this anymore. The boys in class will definitely lean in favor of her because of how pretty she is."

"I see how it is. No matter what happens, you guys will always be on Zhao Yuan's side!" E Xiaoxia was disheartened. She glared at Pu Shuang. "Are you guys Zhao Yuan's friends or my friends?"

Pu Shuang replied to her with a cold look before walking off.

E Xiaoxia sat down firmly on her seat. She felt helpless. Why was it that no matter what she said or how she tried to explain herself, her classmates and even her friends around her would still choose to remain by Zhao Yuan's side?

Zhao Yuan was at her seat as she did her homework, but even after half a day of writing she still had no idea what she had written on the draft paper.

She was unsettled, and she did not have the mood to deal with E Xiaoxia and Pu Shuang's fight.

Pu Shuang walked over and took a glimpse at the questions for the Tournament on her table. "Yuanyuan, are you preparing for the Hundred School Tournament?"

Zhao Yuan's lips were pale as she replied, "Yes."

Upon seeing how pallid she looked, Pu Shuang tried to console her. "This whole incident was solely caused by E Xiaoxia. No one thinks that it is related to you. You're usually a really kind person, so don't worry about it."

Zhao Yuan smiled and raised her head. "Thanks, Pu Shuang. I know."

Pu Shuang paused for a moment before saying, "You go ahead and prepare for the Hundred School Tournament. I'll stop bothering you now—"

As she was speaking, she was reminded about how Zhao Mingxi's votes were about to surpass Zhao Yuan's on the forum. Although Zhao Yuan never expressed her interest in such matters, Pu Shuang couldn't help but to give her a few assuring words.

"The School Beauty Contest is nothing, your results are the true achievements. Despite Zhao Mingxi's beauty, her results are only so-so. She couldn't even qualify for this year's Hundred School Tournament. Yuanyuan, you are far more outstanding than her."

"Agreed." Another girl came and consoled her, "I think that mere beauty is useless. People would be more attracted to girls with brains. Otherwise, why wouldn't Shen Liyao from the school's representative team spare even one glance at Zhao Mingxi?"

As Zhao Yuan listened to these assuring words, her mood was gradually lifted.

However, she felt unsettled about one thing. Back then, the doctor said that the injury on Zhao Mingxi's face would only heal after two or three winters, and she would also need to apply all sorts of sunscreen and chemicals. So why was it that her face had completely recovered in less than one year?

Zhao Yuan initially thought that Zhao Mingxi would have to keep on wearing that mask until they graduated from high school.

But now she had taken off her mask, and she was even prettier than before. The whole school was about to witness her beauty.

As Zhao Yuan didn't feel so good, she couldn't help but to stand up. She planned on going upstairs to the International Class.

She paused. After contemplating for a while, she picked up the paper containing the key areas that she highlighted for the Hundred School Tournament.

After all, even if she did help Zhao Mingxi point out the key areas, she would still be unable to participate.

E Xiaoxia had her eye on Zhao Yuan. When she saw that Zhao Yuan had stood up, she quietly stood up as well.

Mingxi was struggling to get used to how everyone was staring at her now that she had finally taken her mask off.

After all, she had her mask on for the past year. Whenever she walked in the crowd, most people would just think that this sick person had a really hot body. They would never look closely at her mask.

Thus, it had been a long time since she had received such an amount of attention.

Now that she had taken off her mask so suddenly, not only were the students in the International Class staring at her as if she was a new national treasure, even the students from beyond her class could not help but to come over to take a look.

Mingxi put down her pen. The moment she left her class, a few boys surrounding a tall, huge and rather good-looking guy pushed him to her, urging him to give the ticket in his hands to Mingxi.

"Zhao Mingxi, Li Haiyang wants to ask you out for a theater date!"

"Hahaha, be quick and accept him!"

Mingxi recognized them. They were the boys from the Evergreen Class. Two of them had even participated in this morning's fight.

The boy called Li Haiyang was especially stiff. He did not dare to look at Mingxi. He turned to speak to the others around him, "Let's go."

However, although he said that, he still took out two tickets from his fists and coughed before giving them to Mingxi. "It's at 6pm this Friday. Would you be interested?"

A few followers who were sitting by the entrance of the International Class shouted, "Leave! None of you from the Evergreen Class are good people. We just had a fight this morning, and now you're trying to pursue someone from the International Class?!"

The fight was creating a lot of noise and it was becoming louder by the second. But Fu Yangxi had his noise-cancelling earphones on and he was sleeping on the Pikachu pillow that Zhao Mingxi had gotten him. The silver noise-cancelling earphones were worth a few tens of thousands of yuan, hence the quality was really good. The moment he put it on he couldn't hear anything else.

Ke Chengwen was anxious. He quickly reached out and pushed Fu Yangxi's back. "Xi ge, how are you still sleeping when the fire has already reached your eyebrows? Wake up!"

As Fu Yangxi was forcefully pushed awake, he was really angry and pissed. He slammed the earphones on the table and turned to glare at Ke Chengwen. "Are you sick of living—"

Before he could finish his sentence, he saw what was happening outside.

He immediately stood up, his actions so quick that his chair almost broke.

"Where the hell did these people get their courage from? Do they think I'm dead?!" Fu Yangxi clenched his fists and was about to walk there.

Ke Chengwen instantly pulled him back and whispered, "Calm down! If you go out and hit them now, the whole school will know that you like the transfer student."

"I do like—" Fu Yangxi was enraged. "How is it possible for me to like her?! She's the one pursuing me! Are you crazy? Since when have I liked someone? How dare you say such a thing!"

Ke Chengwen looked out and said, "Oh? I think the transfer student rejected him."

"Xi ge, you know about the immersive theater's tickets, right? You watched it last year. It was a show called 'Sleep No More'. They sell for around a thousand yuan each, but the transfer student actually rejected him."

Fu Yangxi tried his best to suppress the boiling anger within him. Due to his height advantage, he was able to look out the window.

As expected, he saw Mingxi tell that guy called Li Jingyu or whatever, "Sorry, I want to focus on my studies."

After saying that, Mingxi didn't even take the tickets before she turned and came back into the class.

Fu Yangxi took a glimpse at the guy who gave her the tickets. He saw how despite his apparent disappointment and awkwardness from such an embarrassing moment, he still tried to force out a smile.

Fu Yangxi felt relieved.

He scoffed as he was no longer anxious nor frustrated. He sat down in a manner as if he was her true partner, placing one leg on top of the other in happiness as he watched the disappointed group of people outside leave.

He didn't even need to say anything. Little Mask could handle herself.

She wouldn't even spare a glance at anyone else other than him.

Ke Chengwen scratched his chin in contemplation as he spoke, "But I think Zhao Mingxi really wanted to see that show. I saw how she stared at the tickets for a really long time."

"That's easy." Fu Yangxi scoffed again before taking out his phone to book the tickets.

He recalled how Zhao Mingxi did everything she could to clean the toilets with him and how she was firm when she rejected that boy's offer just now.

When he compared the two, it affirmed his theory of how she treated him differently from others.

The more he thought of it, the happier he became. Even his lips had curled up to form an unconcealable smile.

But…

At the same time, Fu Yangxi felt as if something was odd—

When she rejected him, why did she say "I want to focus on my studies" instead of saying "I already have someone I like"?