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?