I Just Want to Freeload on Your Luck - Chapter 43
Fu Yangxi didn’t come back. Mingxi spent the night alone.
After turning off the lights, the whole room suddenly felt empty. Only a light blue lamp was left in the hallway, emitting a faintly shining light. Most of the other places were kept in darkness.
The 200 square meter apartment was originally big, and since it was without much furniture, it looked empty.
But now there was not even a sound, so it was completely deserted and silent, with a boundless feeling of bone-chilling cold.
This was different from what Mingxi thought.
She thought that the place where Fu Yangxi lived, considering his flamboyant and wanton personality, must be very lively, with a lot of noises and the love of his parents and friends.
But this was not the case.
Mingxi discovered that she knew very little about Fu Yangxi.
She stayed in the apartment by herself. As her heart was troubled, she did not fall asleep at night.
Mingxi couldn’t help but to get up and go to the bar to pour a glass of water.
Although the owner was away and it would be a bad idea to explore this apartment alone, Mingxi couldn’t help but look around.
She felt an itch in her heart. She was very curious about what movies Fu Yangxi would usually watch, so she went to the second floor and browsed through the vinyl and movies in the theater room. There were mostly niche science fiction films in the collection, and there were some covers in purely foreign languages, so she couldn’t distinguish what kind of genres they were.
What was surprising was that although Young Master Fu was as sharp as a blazing sun, he was not a messy person. The movies were all numbered.
Mingxi took a photo of these movie catalogs. She planned to choose the ones he hadn’t seen when the two of them watched movies in the future.
Next, Mingxi, with her pajamas, went to another room on the second floor to take a look.
On the table lay the sweeping robot that was disassembled and half repaired. The gray and black parts were placed there casually. Mingxi subconsciously wanted to go over and take a look, but her upbringing made her feel that it was not good to touch other people’s things at will. So she just looked at it from afar for a while.
After walking around the apartment, all the places gave Mingxi the feeling of only two words:
Vast and empty.
After so long, it was already past midnight.
It was late at night.
Mingxi quickly went downstairs to her room.
She looked at the ceiling and couldn’t sleep, tossing and turning constantly. She couldn’t help but to turn over the chat dialog with He Yang and stare at the 1,096 chat records with ‘Fu Yangxi’ in a daze.
The feeling of an unfamiliar itch reappeared in her heart.
What a mess. When Mingxi came back to her senses, she had already started searching on Baidu— How to judge whether I like someone or not.
Mingxi was startled and wanted to withdraw from the page on instinct. However, she licked her dry lips and still couldn’t help but glance over the page with a stiff posture.
The first result was impressively: ‘When you can’t help but understand the other person’s preferences.’
Mingxi glanced at the photo she had taken of the movies and was immediately shocked.
She covered her face, buried her head in the pillow and took a few deep breaths.
After a while, after being mentally prepared.
Mingxi continued to scroll down.
The second one was: ‘When you can’t help but stare at the other person and think that the other person looks good.’
Mingxi’s blood had flown to her scalp, and her face became hot for some reason.
The third one was: ‘You can’t sleep because of the other person and worry about the other person.’
That was Mingxi’s last straw.
She threw the phone aside and faced the ceiling. Then, she raised her legs and did a few kicks and cycling motions, trying to forget what she had just seen.
But Pandora’s Box had been opened, and some things were uncontrollable.
After a while, Mingxi was still scratching her head and cheeks. She couldn’t help but get up, grabbed the phone, swallowed her saliva and continued to look down.
She looked down one by one.
Then.
She found that she could relate to almost all of them.
Mingxi scrolled down to the last one. The last one was: ‘When you start to doubt whether you like the other person, open this test because of this and satisfy them one by one, then there is no need to doubt, the answer is ‘yes’.’
Mingxi: “…”
???
Mingxi couldn’t sleep at all now.
She lost all sense of tiredness.
One sheep.
Two sheep.
Three Fu Yangxi.
…
Mingxi’s heart was pounding as she lay on the bed. In the end, she didn’t get a wink of sleep all night.
Mingxi has always been a good sleeper. This was the first time that sleep had eluded her in so long.
The sky was turning white, and the Zhao Mingxi today continued to lie on the bed like a salted fish with her eyes open, very apathetic.
…
The next day.
Mingxi thought that Fu Yangxi would come back the next day. Because she couldn’t sleep, she got up early and started cleaning. She pulled the sofa to the floor-to-ceiling window, unloaded the curtains and threw it in the washing machine. After the washing was done, she dried the curtains and used all her effort to hang it up again.
She was so busy that she was sweating all over. Just like that, the whole morning passed.
During the cleaning, Mingxi found Fu Yangxi’s broken phone case.
She couldn’t help but search through Taobao and ordered herself a phone case that was exactly the same as the original one.
Fu Yangxi did not come back at noon.
In the afternoon, Mingxi searched the Internet for a bunch of answers on ‘How to stop my elders from matchmaking me with someone I don’t like’. Then, she racked her brains to organize the words, deleted and edited it, before sending it to Aunt Dong. She wanted to clear things up about what happened at the western restaurant.
Next, she went to Professor Gao as usual to accompany his grandson and study.
When she came back at about eight o’clock in the evening and put in the password, for some reason, she was expecting to see Fu Yangxi sitting on the sofa, playing games.
But when she opened the door, everything on the bar was intact, the same as when she left.
Fu Yangxi still didn’t return.
*
On Monday, Mingxi went to school in the cold wind. The seat beside her was still empty until the second period. It was just as it was when she left with Fu Yangxi last weekend.
She couldn’t help turning her head to find out some news from Ke Chengwen in between classes.
However, Ke Chengwen was also confused. He held the basketball and said. “I don’t know. Xi ge used to skip school all the time. The dean and Mr Lu are used to it. The fact that he attended classes every day last month was actually really surprising.”
“And if you don’t know why he didn’t come, how would we know? Didn’t you go to his house this weekend?”
Speaking of which, Ke Chengwen couldn’t help but speak with envy, “Although I know Xi ge’s address, I’ve never even gone through the door of his apartment before. How is it? How big is it? How is the life of a rich person living alone?”
Mingxi was too shy to tell Ke Chengwen that she not only went through the door, she also knew the password to open the door.
Because Fu Yangxi did not reply to the message, Mingxi was really upset. So she couldn’t help but ask Jiang Xiuqiu in the afternoon, “Did something happen with his family? He hurried back on Saturday.”
While receiving another love letter, Jiang Xiuqiu took the time to raise his peachy eyes and glanced at Mingxi. Then, he said, “Don’t worry about him, Little Mask. It shouldn’t be anything bad. He has a cousin who returned to China not long ago and wants to transfer to our school. He may have gone back because of this.”
Ke Chengwen couldn’t help but defend Fu Yangxi, “Xi ge said no one is allowed to call—”
Jiang Xiuqiu smiled and said, “He’s not here, isn’t he? So he can’t stop me.”
The two of them went off arguing. Mingxi returned to her seat and continued to write her homework thoughtfully.
Jiang Xiuqiu and Fu Yangxi have known each other for the longest time. If he says it’s nothing, then there shouldn’t be anything serious.
It may indeed be that I was over-concerned.
Mingxi was somewhat relieved.
On the following Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, Mingxi moved out of his house and returned to the school dormitory.
Fu Yangxi never came.
Except her, all the students in the class were obviously used to it.
Only then did Mingxi understand what Ke Chengwen meant when he said that Fu Yangxi had a lackluster attitude.
No wonder he didn’t remember the names of the homeroom teacher and classmates.
With the rate of his attendance, it would be surprising for him to remember anyone’s name!
For three whole days, none of the young seedlings in Mingxi’s flower pot grew. She tried her best to make herself less disappointed, but some uncontrollable emotions broke out in her heart, unable to restrain its growth.
For example, Article 5 of ‘How to Determine Whether I Like a Person’— When you miss that person.
Mingxi bit her lip as she sorted out the papers that had been placed on Fu Yangxi’s desk these days. She stuffed them into the drawer of his desk. The training camp was about to begin. The final day of the training camp was the preliminary round, so Mingxi didn’t have time to think about anything else. She began to devote herself to practicing numerous sample questions.
In the second period on Thursday afternoon, Mingxi sorted out her homework and sent it to the office. When she walked towards the office, she saw a tall figure coming out of the dean’s office at the end of the corridor and went downstairs in a flash. The figure looked very much like Fu Yangxi, but not so much— his short hair was pitch black.
Mingxi subconsciously crossed through the crowd in the corridor and hurriedly chased after him, but the other party had already come downstairs quickly. In the end, not even a corner of his shirt could be seen clearly.
The class bell rang in the academic building. Mingxi was stopped by Mr Lu, so she had no choice but to turn her head and enter the office.
The cold current hit more and more violently. The last leaf in the school turned yellow and withered in the blink of an eye.
There was heavy rain the next day.
There was stagnant water everywhere in the school.
Mingxi put on a thick coat, a scarf, tied her hair into a bun and packed her luggage. She packed a Tournament question book and a large stack of draft paper in her school bag. Then, she went to camp with 20 other people. A group of people came to the school gate in the cold wind, waiting for the school’s rented bus. The cold air condensed into white snow.
Shen Liyao paused when he saw her. He walked towards her on his own initiative.
Mingxi was holding tightly onto the white phone case with a small mask painted on the back. She turned to look inside the school, wanting to see if Fu Yangxi was here today. After looking back, she found that Shen Liyao was standing beside her with a black suitcase. She frowned and moved a few places to the right.
Amidst the cold wind, Shen Liyao’s face changed.
The other 19 people who participated in the training camp were a little surprised when they saw this scene.
The first surprise was that God Yao would take the initiative to stand beside Zhao Mingxi. The second surprise was that Zhao Mingxi refused to stand beside him, as if she did not want to stay with him.
—But this is Shen Liyao!
Six people from the Evergreen Class came, including Zhao Yuan and Pu Shuang. Three from the International Class came. Besides Zhao Mingxi, there were two students specializing in English. The remaining 12 places were all taken by the Gold Medal Class. In addition to the five from the School Representative Team, there were also seven people who were all from the Gold Medal Class.
Mingxi counted. There are a total of seven girls. When the time comes, I wonder how they are going to allocate us in the hotel.
While she was thinking about this, Pu Shuang couldn’t help but whisper to Zhao Yuan, “They won’t put us and Zhao Mingxi together in the hotel, would they?”
Zhao Yuan didn’t say a word.
Ever since the incident with Zhao Zhanhuai’s company, she lost a lot of weight and did not look very good.
She quietly turned her head to look at Zhao Mingxi. She saw Zhao Mingxi standing alone against the cold wind at the end. Her white earlobes were becoming more and more pale from the cold. She had tied her hair up in a bun, revealing a slender swan-like neck. Several boys couldn’t help but look at her.
Zhao Yuan clenched her fingers involuntarily and squeezed the suitcase tightly.
Doing more was a wrong move. Now, everyone in the family feels like I am competing with Zhao Mingxi.
——Zhao Mingxi only did well in that one exam. Maybe she was just lucky. Otherwise, why were her grades so bad before?
Zhao Yuan decided to do nothing first. She will wait for the results of the Tournament 10 days later to get rid of Zhao Mingxi completely.
In this group, except for Zhao Mingxi, the others were all veteran contestants.
They have participated in training camps year after year.
Zhao Mingxi was the only one who was suddenly squeezed in this year because of the spot given by Professor Gao.
20 people thus became 21 people.
It was conceivable that when a strange face suddenly appeared in a small circle, they would inevitably be excluded and questioned.
Zhao Mingxi’s monthly test scores were good, but she was fortunate enough to get a chance to be ahead of others. Isn’t it a bit unfair?
The crowd became clear about this fact quickly. So Zhao Mingxi was left alone.
Even the two people from the International Class were left out and stood in the corner.
Shen Liyao and the people on the School Representative Team wanted to be with her and help her blend in, but she walked away on her own.
Mingxi didn’t care about this at all. The bus drove up and she was the last one to quietly get into the car with her luggage.
The training camp was in a hotel near a university. On the first day, Mr. Jiang hurriedly arranged the room. Then, he started counting the number of people and issued the test papers.
The rhythm suddenly swelled.
Mingxi didn’t have time to think about other things. She spent all her time practicing questions until 11 o’clock in the evening.
A group of people with the highest intelligence quotient gathered together, so the atmosphere obviously changed. When discussing theories, it was not an exaggeration to say that there was invisible gunpowder in the air.
Meals were also rushed, taking only around 10 minutes to finish.
Mingxi liked this pure atmosphere very much, save for the incident when she had to go out and buy some food to supplement her energy the next afternoon and found that her pencil case, test papers and school bag were all thrown into the trash can when he came back.
“…”
Mingxi endured it for two seconds, resisting the sudden throb of the veins on her temple. She calmly walked over and picked up her school bag— the one that Fu Yangxi gave her, from the red trash can.
There would inevitably be some unfinished milk, discarded banana peels and spicy strips in the trash can.
The test papers and pencil case were deliberately turned out of the school bag and thrown in. They were useless now as they were all stained with oil. Only the bottom of the school bag was stained with sewage, but it was dripping with dirty water.
Mingxi’s mood exploded in an instant.
Holding her school bag with two fingers, she coldly glanced at the training classroom, “Who did it?”
There were only a few people in the classroom. Shen Liyao and his group went to the neighboring university to play basketball. At the moment there were only five girls and three boys in the classroom.
Mingxi instantly looked at Zhao Yuan. Zhao Yuan stood up subconsciously. She hurriedly walked over and handed her a tissue, “Mingxi, wipe it quickly. Maybe it can still be used.”
Not Zhao Yuan. Mingxi estimated that Zhao Yuan would not use such inferior methods.
Besides, Zhao Yuan was not there when she went out just now.
Carrying the school bag dripping with dirty water, she strode across the class and asked the other people in the classroom one by one, “Was it you? Or you?”
“No, no.” The three boys were shocked.
They never expected her attitude to be so tough. Two girls panicked instantly.
Mingxi walked up to Pu Shuang and another girl from the Evergreen Class angrily, “Was it you two?”
The oil dripping from the school bag dripped on Pu Shuang’s knees. Pu Shuang stood up angrily and dusted her pants, “Zhao Mingxi, be careful. Do you know how much my pants cost?”
“So it’s you.”
The moment Mingxi exposed Pu Shuang, she picked up the school bag from her desk drawer, pulled open the zipper, walked to the trash can and turned the bag upside down.
Pen bags, notebooks, laptops and other things crashed into the trash can and made a dozen sounds.
The whole classroom was silent.
Everyone dared not breathe.
Pu Shuang was dumbfounded. After she came back to her senses, she screamed and rushed to grab her bag. “Zhao Mingxi!”
Mingxi threw her school bag in right before her eyes.
“Were you involved as well?” Mingxi looked at the other girl from the Evergreen Class again.
Seeing how shocked that girl was and how she refused to look into her eyes, Mingxi walked over, took her school bag and threw it into the trash can.
The second school bag was thrown into the trash can and it couldn’t make any contact with the oil, so Mingxi stepped on it.
The whole classroom was stunned.
“Zhao Mingxi, what kind of attitude is this? Isn’t it enough to throw just one? Besides, we simply thought your school bag was trash since it fell on the ground, so what’s wrong with throwing it in the trash can?”
Mingxi said coldly, “So if you are standing on the ground and I think you are rubbish, is it okay to throw you in the trash can?”
“Come on.” Mingxi rolled up her sleeves to grab the girl who talked back to her.
The girl didn’t expect Zhao Mingxi to be so scary when she got angry. She felt deceived by her sweet appearance. She immediately shrank to the wall.
Mingxi’s face was calm, but she was trying her best to suppress the anger in her heart. Mingxi grabbed her wrist and dragged her to the trash can.
This was a matter between the girls. As the three boys found it inappropriate to intervene, they merely stood there, staring dumbfoundedly.
The girl was so scared that her tears came out. She desperately held on to a table, but she didn’t expect Zhao Mingxi to use all her energy. In the end, the table was also pulled along to another row.
Only then was that girl completely scared. “Zhao Mingxi, let go. I was wrong.”
Zhao Mingxi pushed her hand away coldly. The girl hurriedly grasped her fiery and painful wrist.
Pu Shuang looked at Zhao Mingxi in shock— Based on her memory, Zhao Mingxi was not like that. She used to go to the Zhao family’s house with E Xiaoxia. If they broke one of Zhao Mingxi’s belongings, most of the time, Zhao Mingxi would just bear with it without making any noise.
She never expected that the current Zhao Mingxi no longer cared about the way the Zhao family would look at her because she had already left the Zhao family. Therefore, she had to take her revenge.
In the past, she thought that the Zhao family would teach a lesson to the people around Zhao Yuan because of this, but this hope was lost. Now Mingxi must learn to protect herself.
She walked towards Pu Shuang.
Pu Shuang swallowed. She took a step back and sat down on the chair.
“This is the first time and the last time.” Mingxi warned, “If you do these small tricks behind my back, it will be retaliated against you a hundredfold.”
Another girl from the Evergreen Class who had her school bag thrown away by Mingxi had the courage to say, “You came in by sheer luck, and there will be no next time. Do you think you can make it to the final? You will not be in the next finals training camp.”
Mingxi stared at her. “Even if I don’t make it, do you think you will? How about this – whoever has poorer results in this preliminary contest will drop out.”
The group of people sucked in a cold breath.
What a huge and risky bet!!!
Pu Shuang felt that Zhao Mingxi was simply too arrogant. She passed the exam only once, but she still wants to enter the finals???
Pu Shuang couldn’t help but angrily say, “I accept. Whoever has poorer grades will drop out! Everyone here will be a witness! Zhao Mingxi, don’t you lose at that time and not drop out!”
Zhao Yuan who was at the side looked like she wanted to stop Pu Shuang but couldn’t stop her.
“Okay, the bet is on.” Mingxi looked at Pu Shuang. She picked up the paper and pen on a person’s desk, wrote a line of words and placed it in front of Pu Shuang. “Sign this!”
Pu Shuang gritted her teeth and signed it.
Shen Liyao and his group also returned. Their expressions changed when they saw this scene in the classroom.
This episode soon traveled to the ears of Mr. Jiang.
Naturally, Mr. Jiang punished them. Although Pu Shuang and the others were the first to make the move, Zhao Mingxi also threw away two school bags and doubled the retribution. So he gave a lesson to both sides, scolding them for making the training camp a mess and that they should focus on learning.
Shen Liyao was listening outside. He couldn’t help but push the door and enter to explain the situation to Mr. Jiang.
Meanwhile, Zhao Mingxi was still staring at the soiled school bag. It was her birthday today, how unfortunate.
When the two special students from the International Class saw this, they quickly called Fu Yangxi.
*
They didn’t have Fu Yangxi’s contact information at first, but before coming to the training camp, Fu Yangxi came to the school to find them on Thursday. He gave them his mobile phone number and asked them to look after Zhao Mingxi. He told them to call him if anything happens.
Even if they were only things as small as a sesame seed.
The two were shocked.
Not many of the followers in the class had Young Master Fu’s mobile phone number. They have now directly advanced to the first level. Can they squeeze into the core circle around the prince?
When Fu Yangxi received the call, he put on a calm face while having dinner with Grandfather Fu.
The old man looked at his short black hair and found it very obtrusive. He couldn’t help it. He threw his chopsticks on the bowl, frowned and said, “You stayed here and pestered me for a few days. When will you leave? Why did you suddenly think of dyeing your hair?”
Fu Yangxi didn’t answer. Instead, he asked, “When will you restore my authority?”
After he returned from Tongcheng with a private jet, the old man froze his account. Some people who could be sent in the past could not be done anymore. Now, there was only Lawyer Zhang who would dare to not listen to the old man and help him in private.
“You want me to restore your authority? Why don’t you look at what you do all day long?! You make trouble all the time, you are one of the last in terms of your school grades and you don’t go to the management courses I arranged for you!”
As the old man spoke, his anger was rising.
He glanced around. If it weren’t for the guy who would stop him, he was really going to beat the kid with his old arms and legs.
“I’ll go.” Fu Yangxi said suddenly.
The sound of the old man’s scolding stopped abruptly.
He looked at Fu Yangxi incredulously. Even the servants beside him looked at Fu Yangxi in shock.
Lawyer Zhang, who had stayed behind to eat at the same table, also opened his eyes wide.
The air quieted down.
In the evening the sky was dim and heavy with mist.
Fu Yangxi took a mouthful of food without raising his head. “I plan to behave properly, so you ought to restore my authority to me.”
“Why?” The old man couldn’t help blurting out.
For the past five years, this kid barely went to school. And when he did go to school, he would always be sleeping. He dragged the International Class down with his own efforts. If it weren’t for the Fu’s donation of buildings, he would have been sent out of A High a long time ago, having given nothing but headaches whenever the dean and principal saw him.
In addition, he did not go to all kinds of occasions where the Fu family needed him, such as charity banquets and bidding meetings.
Last year, he didn’t even show up for a shareholder meeting held by his grandfather for him.
A group of people waited for him. In the end, all of them left with a long face, and because of this matter, they directly lost a few foreign partners.
With his cynical and lazy appearance, even if the old man made up his mind to let him inherit the business, the board of directors might not all agree because they were afraid that the Fu family’s future would be ruined in his hands.
“What other reason can there be?” Fu Yangxi raised the corner of his mouth and sneered indifferently, “You are going to send Fu Zhiyi into our school. If I don’t restore my authority, will you just watch as he trumps over me?”
“What the hell kind of thinking is this?!” The old man was enraged at what he said, so much so that he could feel his high blood pressure spiking on the spot. He rolled up his sleeves and picked up the iron spoon, ready to beat him across the table.
Fu Yangxi quickly dropped the dishes and chopsticks and jumped away stealthily.
At this moment, he answered the phone. After the call, his expression changed, and he ran away without eating.
The old man threw down the spoon, panting. He asked Lawyer Zhang, who was seated next to him, “Where is he going?”
Lawyer Zhang said, “I am 80% sure that he went looking for that girl again.”
“…”
The old man sat down. His face was not so ugly anymore. He even greeted Lawyer Zhang and his secretary, “Eat, this is a family dinner, so everyone should eat more.”
The secretary listened to the hum of the car coming from outside the yard and the sound of it being driven away. He couldn’t help asking the old man, “Is Young Master Fu serious? Didn’t he not care about Fu Zhiyi before? Why does he suddenly want to fight against Fu Zhiyi now?”
In the past, the old man forced Fu Yangxi to sign and transfer the shares to him. When that happened, he didn’t even raise his eyelids. He didn’t care much about the benefits that Fu Zhiyi, his uncle’s illegitimate son, got from the Fu family.
Why was he suddenly—?
The old man snorted, “This kid, he’s afraid that we will see through his thoughts. He didn’t come to me, asking for his authority because of Fu Zhiyi. He did so for that little—”
The old man suddenly asked Lawyer Zhang, “What is that little girl’s name?”
“Zhao Mingxi.” Lawyer Zhang quickly said, “Are you going to give her a sum of money to make her leave Young Master Fu—”
“What the hell? You and Fu Yangxi have watched too many TV series, haven’t you?” The old man was furious. “I’m just asking.”
The old man murmured to himself, “Now it seems that her existence is also a good thing?”
Back then, the kidnapper was the Fu family’s business enemy. As he was forced to go bankrupt by the Fu family, the kidnapping was his form of revenge.
However, Fu Yangxi who survived alone would still inevitably be complained about by everyone in the Fu family.
At that time, he gave the 13-year-old Fu Yangxi a choice.
Escape or endure.
Either take the money that has been squandered for several lifetimes, go abroad, and stay away from the Fu family. In this case, he will never be stabbed behind his back in the future, and he won’t have to suffer the hurtful words of the people who survived. The shadows of his brother and father will never be seen on him.
Or stay and take on the part of responsibility that belonged to him. It may take a long time for everyone to heal their wounds. In this process, he may be traumatized by his mother and his other relatives because of their healing process.
At that time, the old man thought, if Little Fu Yangxi chose the first one, then maybe he could only transfer the property to others in the end.
Unexpectedly, Little Fu Yangxi, who was only 13 years old at the time, chose to stay.
It’s not that he couldn’t escape, but he chose to bear and endure. In his own way, he became an emotional outlet and healed the scars of that year for everyone.
Few people would have the courage to make such a decision, not to mention that he was only 13 at the time, so the old man made up his mind at that time, it had to be him.
But Fu Yangxi who stayed behind also faced a problem. He couldn’t be too good, and he couldn’t live too well.
If he lived too well, laughed too happily, he would feel sorry for those who died because of him.
Even if he could pass the obstacle in the form of other people’s complaints, he couldn’t face his own heart.
So in the past five years, he exiled himself, changed his hair color and changed his personality. He lived as if he was enacting revenge on himself, like a waste of a person. He refused to be better and refused to get in touch with the family business, let alone take a cruise ship like the other rich kids.
The most he ever spent was on that last plane.
He just lived a simple high school life.
But now, the old man heard him say with his own ears, “I plan to do things right.”
The old man felt a mix of emotions for a while.
When a person has something they care about, they will want to live well.
When he has someone he wants to fight for, he will walk out of the darkness of the past.
The girl next to him may be the one who can drag him out.
It was not her hand that pulled him out, but his desire to like her surging in his heart.
Because he likes her, he wants to be liked by her, so he wants to be better.
That’s why he had the idea of leaving the quagmire that used to trap him.
The old man suddenly smiled to himself, and the wrinkles on his face stretched out. “This little bastard… What are you doing? Everyone, please help yourselves.”
The old man happily picked up a few dishes and emptied both plates with great appetite.
The people on the table looked at each other in confusion.
Mingxi returned to the hotel room after being lectured.
Because there were a total of seven girls, in the end she was assigned to her own room.
She didn’t find the washing machine in the hotel room, so she turned on the faucet, put her school bag in the bathtub and squatted down to clean it by herself.
The hotel was very deserted. The gray marble floor tiles were icy and the lights were not so bright, only the lamp beside the bed glowed yellow. There were unturned magazines on the coffee table and the curtains were pulled tightly shut. The atmosphere was very desolate.
Mingxi’s sleeves were folded to the elbows. Because there was no washing powder, she squeezed a little shower gel and vigorously scrubbed the oil stains on the school bag.
She watched as little blobs of yellow oil floated to the surface of the water in the bathtub.
Her face was reflected in the water. A few strands of hair were scattered around her cheeks.
At this moment.
A very strong thought came to Mingxi’s mind.
It would be great if Fu Yangxi is here.
The tall Fu Yangxi, with short red hair and looked like a morning sun.
She suddenly.
Really missed Fu Yangxi.
She wanted to send a message to Fu Yangxi and ask him where he is now.
She wanted to ask why he hadn’t appeared for seven days.
Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday.
Adding that Saturday night, it was a little more than seven days.
Today was Mingxi’s birthday. However, not many people knew it, not even Aunt Dong and the others.
In the past, Mingxi was adopted by her grandmother. Because she was adopted, she didn’t know her exact birthday. At that time, her grandmother gave her a random date. It wasn’t until after she had returned to the Zhao family two years ago did she know that her date of birth was October 24th.
But even if she knew it, it wasn’t on her ID card. The Zhao family changed the date on her ID card to October 14th, the same as Zhao Yuan.
Mingxi didn’t care if she had a birthday party or not. She had no accurate concept of this nor was she a person with a sense of ritual.
She just—
Missed Fu Yangxi.
Mingxi suddenly turned on the faucet and flushed down the foam in her hand. Then, she picked up her phone.
She clicked on the dialog with Fu Yangxi and strongly wanted to send him something. Her mood now seemed to be back to the moment when she first sent Fu Yangxi WeChat messages and stared at the potted young seedlings, not knowing what to send. The only difference was that now she wasn’t even looking at her flower pot.
She didn’t know since when did her reason for getting close to him changed from simply trying to freeload on his luck to getting warmth.
Or maybe, she likes him.
When the word ‘like’ appeared in her mind, Mingxi’s heart began to pound and her blood rushed to her limbs, making her brain feel hot. She felt so impulsive that she wanted to send a message in the next second. However, in the next second, all the negative and timid emotions poured in.
Mingxi has never experienced this kind of feeling before.
She used to think she liked Shen Liyao, and she also worked hard to understand Shen Liyao’s preferences.
But Mingxi found that when she used to like Shen Liyao, she didn’t miss him, she didn’t feel like crying when she was protected, and she didn’t feel so relieved when she was supported. She never had insomnia nor had she ever been nervous because Shen Liyao ignored her.
Mingxi thought, if my emotions towards Shen Liyao was a crush, then what is this emotion of intense desire?
Or, at that time, what I had for Shen Liyao was only admiration and a need to please.
Mingxi entered on WeChat: “I miss you so much.” Delete.
“Are you okay?” Delete.
“Where are you now?” Delete.
Before she could type out a whole sentence, she deleted them.
She didn’t know what to send.
Mingxi thought for a long time. Finally, she rubbed her head, threw her phone aside in frustration and continued to squat down to wash her school bag.
Just then, she heard several screams in the next room.
It seemed like Pu Shuang’s voice. “Who threw away my luggage?????!”
The soundproofing of the hotel room was not very good.
Several girls screamed, “My shoes were also thrown away. When I came up just now, I saw that the shoes in the ditch looked like mine. I thought they weren’t mine, but now they’re all gone!”
“Is it Zhao Mingxi?”
“Zhao Mingxi came back after us.”
“I’m so annoyed. Go and check the surveillance! I don’t even have one shred of clothing in this cold weather.”
Then, a few girls rushed to the front desk of the hotel.
Mingxi was dumbfounded. She stood up immediately. For some reason, she suspected that Fu Yangxi was behind this.
For such an arrogant act of revenge, who could it be besides Fu Yangxi?
She stood there for a while. Suddenly, she heard movement outside the door.
Mingxi walked toward the door immediately— Did he come?
Mingxi didn’t even bother to look through the peephole, she rushed over and opened the door happily.
However, standing outside the door was Shen Liyao.
Mingxi’s expression faltered for a moment. She was a little surprised. Shen Liyao was holding a small butter cake, and on the other hand he was holding a bag. It looked like a gift.
After two years of acquaintance, they could be considered as childhood sweethearts. Thus, Shen Liyao knew her real birthday.
When Mingxi saw that it was him, the secret hope in her heart suddenly dimmed.
Shen Liyao also noticed the change in her expression. He frowned slightly and said, “Don’t take what happened today to heart. Those girls have been scolded by Mr. Jiang anyway. Your mind should still be focused on studying. If these things happen again, just tell the teacher or me— Let’s go, I’ll take you out for your birthday.”
With just such a sentence, Mingxi knew that she and Shen Liyao were not compatible.
Don’t take it to heart.
But for her, there were some things that were impossible not to take to heart.
Shen Liyao was a person with a good family background and did not lack anything in his life. He could never imagine how much she wanted to be loved by the Zhao family nor how much she wanted Shen Liyao’s appreciation.
Mingxi’s excitement was dimmed. She opened her mouth and was just about to refuse when suddenly, she caught a glimpse of a familiar figure at the corner of the stairs.
Although it was only a flash, Mingxi’s heart skipped a beat and she chased after the figure instantly.
Outside the hotel was a spacious boulevard.
The moonlight shone on the ground, appearing cold and icy.
Mingxi watched the familiar figure in front of her. He was tall and thin in the moonlight, and the shadow of the leaves fell on him. His pace was fast.
Mingxi’s heart was beating fast. Yes, she didn’t get it wrong on Thursday. It was Fu Yangxi who came out of the dean’s office that day.
It’s just that she didn’t know that he dyed his hair black.
He came, but why did he turn and leave?
Fu Yangxi felt that he shouldn’t have shown up. When he came, he saw the two people at the entrance of the hotel room.
He stood in the corner with his knuckles all pale. The blood rushed from his limbs to the top of his head, turning his whole body cold.
Although he was mentally prepared before coming, that he might meet Zhao Mingxi who was with Shen Liyao, but he found that even if he really wanted to accept this fact, he still felt terribly defeated.
The sky was very dark.
Mingxi couldn’t catch up with him. Mingxi couldn’t help stopping.
“Fu Yangxi.” Mingxi shouted.
Suddenly, she could feel her grievance seeping out of her sour nose.
—It was an emotion she would not have towards others.
“I—”
Mingxi didn’t know what to say. She merely hadn’t seen him for a few days, yet suddenly he felt unfamiliar. Moreover, she could see that Fu Yangxi had been avoiding her, although she didn’t know why. But Mingxi couldn’t help but stop him.
A lot of emotions felt sour at its core.
Finally, they all gathered in the brain, and the sentence that blurted out was, “My shoelaces are untied.”
The air seemed to stand still. The moonlight swayed and the shadows of the trees on the ground were also rocking with the wind.
Fu Yangxi stopped abruptly.
His tall figure moved and his shoulders began to turn.
At this moment.
Everything seemed to have slowed down.
Fu Yangxi turned his head and glanced at Mingxi.
He didn’t say a word and suddenly began to walk back.
After two steps, he ran towards her with his head lowered.
It was quiet all around. Mingxi looked at him.
The sound of shoes stepping on the ground seemed to be stepping on Mingxi’s heart with each step.
Fu Yangxi ran back, silence and the injuries of being abandoned hanging from his dark hair.
She didn’t want him anymore, but whenever she yelled he would come back.
He knelt down and tied Zhao Mingxi’s loose shoelaces.
He did it very slowly.
Mingxi lowered her eyes and broke the silence, “Are you here to celebrate my birthday?”
“Yeah,” Fu Yangxi replied dully.
He laced Mingxi’s shoes and stood up.
Mingxi raised her eyes to look at him. Today’s Fu Yangxi was a little different from normal.She didn’t know if it was because of his black hair, but his eyebrows were heavier and the arrogance between his eyebrows was gone, only the retreat and the unwilling youthful spirit remained.
He looked behind Mingxi.
Mingxi subconsciously followed his gaze and turned her head.
When he saw Mingxi turning her head, his whole body stiffened. He said in a soft voice, “I’ll spend your birthday with you after you’re done with the others. No matter how late, please call me later, alright?”
“I’ll wait for you.” Fu Yangxi retreated to the most humble position.
“Zhao Mingxi! You can’t go.” Shen Liyao chased after Mingxi from the hotel with big strides.
Mingxi realized what he was carrying in his other hand a transparent crystal box with gold medals in it.
He wanted to give this to her.
“I’m serious,” Shen Liyao calmly said. “About what I said to Aunt Dong that day.”
Fu Yangxi also saw it clearly. He glanced at Mingxi subconsciously and swallowed. He tried his best to suppress the hostility and jealousy that was surging in his eyes and turned to leave.
He couldn’t keep watching, otherwise he couldn’t guarantee what he would do.
“Wait.” However, Mingxi grabbed his wrist.
Mingxi was afraid that he would run away.
Mingxi wasn’t sure whether Fu Yangxi liked her or if he just treated her as a follower.
But she instinctively wanted to clear up the relationship with Shen Liyao in front of him.
Even if he wasn’t aware of his own feelings yet and just treats her as a follower, she didn’t want him to misunderstand her.
Fu Yangxi was stiff and didn’t turn his head. He wondered, does she want me to stay and witness Shen Liyao’s confession to her?
Or does she want all three of us to celebrate her birthday together?
Fu Yangxi’s heart went cold. He thought hopelessly, Little Mask really is heartless.
But the next second.
What he heard was—
“Sorry, I don’t want to celebrate my birthday with you.”
Fu Yangxi felt dizzy. Is she saying this to me?
He was like a stiff stone slab falling down an endless pit, like he was about to fall into a nightmare. He took a deep breath, turned his head slowly and looked at Zhao Mingxi.
But Zhao Mingxi was looking at Shen Liyao.
Wait a minute?
The next sentence Zhao Mingxi said to Shen Liyao was, “Shen Liyao, I’m sorry. I’ve told you clearly several times that even before I changed classes I stopped liking you.”
“The other day I was coerced by Aunt Dong to eat together, but because I was concerned about the pride of my elders, I didn’t say this on the spot.”
“I went to explain the truth to Aunt Dong afterwards. She should also respect my opinion in the future and she will not forcefully match the two of us anymore.”
With each sentence coming from Mingxi, Shen Liyao’s face turned a shade paler.
However, Fu Yangxi was stunned for the first time. Then, the blood poured back little by little, and his pale face returned to a healthier look little by little.
His brain hummed and his heart pounded— Little Mask is rejecting Shen Liyao?
She isn’t rejecting me?
She’s rejecting Shen Liyao?
She said she didn’t like Shen Liyao even before she changed classes?
Fu Yangxi’s sanity returned bit by bit, and he also slowly regained sensation in his cold limbs.
She said she doesn’t like Shen Liyao.
She didn’t like him long before she changed classes.
That early?
——Fu Yangxi realized that he almost laughed out loud so he quickly clamped his lips shut.
“So please take your birthday gifts and cake back. I don’t like you.”
Mingxi’s attitude was firm, cold even.
“If you continue doing this in the future, we won’t even be friends anymore.”
Shen Liyao’s face was extremely ugly.
Even though he realized that Zhao Mingxi was avoiding him, he never thought that she would be unwilling to even celebrate her birthday as friends.
Why did things turn out to be like this?
…
He wanted to say something, but Zhao Mingxi had already dragged Fu Yangxi away.
…
Fu Yangxi was being dragged by Zhao Mingxi. At this moment, his whole person was like an old TV set in disrepair, thinking over and over again about what Zhao Mingxi had said to Shen Liyao.
Every time he repeats it, the corners of his mouth would move a little upwards uncontrollably.
The frequency of his heartbeat had reached its highest peak and blood surged up to his head.
His whole person was light and fluttering. If he wasn’t being dragged, he might have floated to the sky.
“Little Mask, you—”
Mingxi held his hand, her eyes sparkling. “Xi ge, let’s go celebrate my birthday.”
Warmth came from the palm of her hand, warming Fu Yangxi’s frozen blood. All the sadness in the past few days seemed to be driven away by this sentence.
What she said was ‘Xi ge, let’s go celebrate my birthday’.
Not ‘Shen Liyao, let’s go celebrate my birthday.’
Does this mean that Shen Liyao is now a passerby to her?! Passerby A! Passerby B! Passersby C!
Fu Yangxi confirmed this again.
Fu Yangxi suddenly said, “Is there a playground around here?”
Mingxi: ?
Fu Yangxi wanted to run 300 laps around the playground. He suppressed his expression, trying his best not to behave as ecstatic as the MVP of the national football team.
“So where did you disappear to for the past few days?”
“I was held back by my grandfather.” Fu Yangxi was too embarrassed to say that he saw her, Shen Liyao and the Dong family eating at a western restaurant and found a place to hide in frustration.
…
Half an hour later, Mingxi was wearing Fu Yangxi’s coat, and was taken to a private room in a luxurious hotel.
There were pink, yellow and blue balloons everywhere in the box. “Happy 18th Birthday” was pasted on the windows.
The biggest cake was pushed out by Dong Shen and He Yang.
Ke Chengwen and Jiang Xiuqiu were both here. Jiang Xiuqiu was woken up when they both entered the room.
Mingxi’s nose felt sour. She couldn’t help whining, “I thought you guys forgot my birthday.”
“How is that possible?” Ke Chengwen exaggerated, “Xi ge—” Xi ge would remind us almost 800 times a day.
Fu Yangxi stepped on his foot before he could say it.
The expression on his face was distorted.
They all sat down around the cake.
Because it wasn’t 12am yet, she couldn’t blow out the candles and cut the cake.
Jiang Xiuqiu sat lazily in the corner. He took a look at Zhao Mingxi, followed Zhao Mingxi’s line of sight which fell on Fu Yangxi and suddenly laughed playfully. He suggested, “Let’s play a game of truth.”
The atmosphere suddenly warmed up.
Minxi couldn’t help but allow her attention to fall on Fu Yangxi. She felt a little regretful about the fact that he had dyed his hair black. Red was also very nice, but… how do I put this into words… His temperament is different now. He is still the same person, and he’s still very handsome. The more Mingxi looked, the faster her heart beat.
The moment she realized that she likes Fu Yangxi, she began to think that Fu Yangxi was good in every way.
Fu Yangxi was sitting next to Zhao Mingxi. All the sadness and grievances during this period of time turned into a redness that spread from the tips of his ears.
What’s going on? Why do I feel like the way Little Mask looks at me has changed a little?
Is it my misperception again? Or am I being overly narcissistic again?
The first spin of the wine bottle turned to Mingxi.
Jiang Xiuqiu glanced at Fu Yangxi then at Zhao Mingxi. He asked out of the blue, “Zhao Mingxi, my question is, if Fu Yangxi and Shen Liyao fell into the river at the same time, who would you save?”
Fu Yangxi’s body went stiff. He couldn’t help but glare at him and motioned with his eyes which said, ‘You’re so f*cking impatient to ask this kind of question. Zhao Mingxi just ended her last crush, so she will definitely choose Shen Liyao. You’re just purposely trying to irritate her—’
But he didn’t expect to see Mingxi answer without even a second thought, “I will save Fu Yangxi.”
“…”
???
Fu Yangxi looked at Zhao Mingxi incredulously, his mind blank.
Jiang Xiuqiu seemed to be smiling. He quickly spinned the wine bottle a second time. It turned to Zhao Mingxi again. “Looks like we’ll have to ask Zhao Mingxi a second question. Is Fu Yangxi better looking with red hair or black hair?”
Fu Yangxi became nervous again.
Little Mask will definitely choose black…
In the end, he heard Zhao Mingxi answer, “As long as it’s Fu Yangxi, everything looks good.”
“…”
The people in the private room: “…”
Zhao Mingxi thought so in her heart, so she said so on her lips.
She kept her gaze on Fu Yangxi’s face. She hadn’t seen him for a week, so she couldn’t help but look a little more.
Ke Chengwen said, “Little Mask, you’re pretty good at complimenting people.”
In this joyful atmosphere, Zhao Mingxi made Fu Yangxi’s cheeks hotter and hotter. His heart was about to explode.
Thump, thump, thump.
He clenched his hands in his pockets, his face flushed. What’s the matter? Did Little Mask suddenly open up the six vessels of the body*?
*According to ancient Chinese medical theories, there are in fact, only two main vessels in the body, namely the Conception and Governor vessels, located at different acupuncture points which control the flow of the human body’s Yin and Yang energy respectively. Fu Yangxi most likely got the numbers wrong (cute).
Jiang Xiuqiu immediately asked the third question, “If Ke Chengwen and I fell into the water at the same time, who would you save?”
Mingxi’s mind was still on Fu Yangxi, so she subconsciously said, “I will save Fu Yangxi.”
“…”
The whole room fell into silence.
An awkward atmosphere started to spread out.
Ke Chengwen couldn’t help yelling, “There is no Fu Yangxi in this question!”
“…” Mingxi let out a slow noise of realization. “Oh, then I- then I will save Ke Chengwen.”
Ke Chengwen: …
Wait, what’s the matter with your reluctant expression???
“Well, what can I do when I am simply too charming?” The cool and cocky Fu Yangxi has returned.
He tried hard to hold back the corners of his mouth from rising.
However, the little bird in his heart had resurrected on the spot, flapping its wings frantically, wishing to stand upside down and do 300 push-ups. All this exposed his joy and delight.