Chapter 8: School Bully 8

Meanwhile, behind them, An Xiyan was still utterly absorbed in Wang Zilong’s “betrayal” and making a scene.

“Listen to me!”
“I won’t listen, I won’t!”
“Stop this.”
“How dare you say I’m being unreasonable? You’re the one being unreasonable!”
“How am I being unreasonable?”
“How are you not being unreasonable?”
“Fine! Even if I am being unreasonable!”
“You are unreasonable in the first place!”

It made one’s teeth ache. They were like two hopeless children. Anyone with even a shred of sense would not want to keep watching, let alone someone as composed and perceptive as Leng Heming.

She did not expect any sudden enlightenment; it would be enough if Leng Heming, whose eyes had been clouded by that saintly halo, could at least wake up a little.

Before class, the first thing was to change seats. The school worked rather efficiently.

They also announced that the arrangement had been made because Li Qingyu was injured, and everyone should try not to disturb her while she recovered.

Sent to the back corner of the classroom, with classmates glancing over with amused eyes, Xi Ning felt oddly relieved when An Xiyan turned back and looked at her with misty, resentful eyes.

Xi Ning still slipped out of the classroom every time class ended. There was a back door, and before An Xiyan even had a chance to turn around, she was already gone through it in a flash.

With her arm in a triangular sling, the kind that connected the arm to the neck, she stood out far more than in ordinary clothes.

“Hey, beauty!” One hearing that foppish voice was enough to know who it was.

The moment Hua Zeyun appeared, the whole world seemed to become three shades pinker.

There he was, a strikingly handsome young man leaning against the wall in front, a half-bloomed red rose between his lips, head slightly lowered, posing with practiced elegance. His eyes, marked by a peach blossom mole, sent over a single languid glance, and that look alone carried a seductive charm to the bone.

Xi Ning rolled her eyes and was about to turn away when a lazy, nasal voice drifted from behind her.

“Yesterday I bailed you out. Not even a word of thanks?”

Xi Ning had no choice but to turn back. “Oh. Thanks.”

Hua Zeyun slipped the rose into the breast pocket of his uniform, hands in his trouser pockets, and strolled over slowly. Resting one arm beside her in a wall-pin pose, he asked with a smile, “I heard you moved all the way to the corner. Were you really hiding from An Xiyan?”

Xi Ning burst out laughing and shoved him away.

“Don’t go around flirting with people as if it’s second nature. We’ve known each other for years. If I were vulnerable to your act, I’d have gone all starry-eyed like the other girls long ago.”

It had only been three years, and they weren’t even in the same class, but Hua Zeyun was the sort of flirtatious young master who could turn familiar with anyone at a glance. He was the kind of man everyone knew.

Rejected, he showed no embarrassment at all and remained as smiling as ever. “So what really happened yesterday?”

“I don’t want to talk about it. Even if I did, you wouldn’t believe me.” Xi Ning sat on the steps beside her, looking up with a long sigh. “No one believes me anyway.”

Hua Zeyun came over and sat right beside her. “Just chatting. If I don’t believe you, I’ll take it as a fairy tale. What if I happen to believe you?”

He was sitting so close that any other girl would already have been flustered and racing at the heart.

Xi Ning thought for a moment, then asked, “Let me ask you something. You’re an expert in this area.”

Hua Zeyun smiled with alluring beauty.

Xi Ning asked, “Is there a set formula for pursuing someone of the opposite sex?”

“An expert in that?” Hua Zeyun nearly spat out a laugh. “You really are flattering me.”

“I’m serious.” Xi Ning was very earnest, speaking in a precise, methodical way. “It’s not just that pursuing girls has its tricks. Women pursuing men have tricks too. I’m starting to feel that her methods are deeply calculated...”

A flash of light flickered in Hua Zeyun’s upturned, phoenix-like eyes, but he kept smiling. “Who are you talking about?”

Xi Ning did not answer directly. Instead, she pretended to be lost in thought.

“Never saying someone is your friend, so you can keep several people at once. Putting on a pitiful face, saying nearly the same things to several people, bursting into tears at the drop of a hat. Tears really are useful. They can be used for lying, begging forgiveness, stirring sympathy, or showing sadness. Every emotion can be handled with them.”

Then, smiling brightly at Hua Zeyun, whose face had already lost its amusement, she said, “What a pity. I can’t do that, or I could be a real master of romance too. Class is about to start, so I’m leaving.”

Hua Zeyun was still the kind of man who flirted with every girl but never truly committed to any of them. His skill at keeping several strings in the air was far greater than An Xiyan’s, though of course the female lead’s halo gave her the advantage.

Whether he took her words to heart or not, the point was simply to disgust him a little. The original host had been too proud, believing that spreading rumors was the work of petty people, and in the end no one believed her, leaving her to such a tragic fate.

At lunchtime again, once the teacher left, Xi Ning dashed out through the back door and ran to the entrance of Wang Zilong’s classroom.

The moment Wang Zilong saw her, he frowned and came over. “I only agreed to accompany you to and from school. You expect me to eat with you too?”

With an air of resignation, Xi Ning said, “Don’t you want to see An Xiyan more often?” Out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of Leng Heming sitting in the classroom.

Each grade had three classes. Leng Heming and Wang Zilong were in the same class, so Wang Zilong often hung around with him. He Yuxuan and Hua Zeyun were in the same class, but the two of them had only an ordinary relationship and did their own thing.

Wang Zilong’s brows were practically knotted together. “I already made it clear to her. She won’t bother you again. Is that enough?” His voice was already loud, and now the whole class could hear him.

Xi Ning, however, put on an expression of delighted surprise. “Really? That’s wonderful. Thank you so much.”

“You...” Wang Zilong was momentarily speechless. After taking a breath, he said with disgust, “Don’t think everyone is as vicious and ugly as you are. Xiangyan won’t cling to you. Bad company corrupts good morals. The farther she stays from you, the better.”

Which of your eyes saw me as ugly? You’re the one who’s blind.

Xi Ning turned her head and saw An Xiyan coming out of the classroom. Seeing Wang Zilong chatting with her in the corridor, her face instantly darkened as she walked over.

The black lotus probably thought she was trying to steal Wang Zilong. She called him her brother, but in truth she still wanted to hold him tightly in her grasp. Coming over now might simply have been a way to win Wang Zilong over, not necessarily to cause trouble for her.

Xi Ning immediately hid behind Wang Zilong and asked timidly, “Look, here she comes again. Hurry up and take her away.”

Didn’t he just say she wouldn’t come bother her again? And yet here she was. Not even a minute had passed, and he had already been slapped in the face. Wang Zilong’s expression was definitely ugly.

When An Xiyan came over, Wang Zilong went straight to her with an accusation. “I already told you not to provoke her. Why can’t you listen?”

Not expecting to be scolded the moment she arrived, and for the sake of another woman at that, An Xiyan froze. Then tears of crystal clarity quickly welled in her eyes.

“Brother Zilong, how can you say that?”

Her voice broke. As she cried, the tears fell in strings like pearls, round and distinct, while the tip of her not-quite-high nose turned slightly red, giving her an even more rabbit-like innocence. It made one want to pull her into one’s arms, wipe away her tears, and comfort her tenderly.