Chapter 6

“Is Mingxi not planning to come home?” Madam Zhao asked the Zhao family’s driver.

The relationship between Mingxi and her mother was very complicated. Although she knew that this child was her biological daughter, she had never seen her for the past 15 years, hence she felt unfamiliar around her. Physical interactions like hugs were awkward as well.

Furthermore, she had to be wary of Zhao Yuan’s feelings too— Yuanyuan has had a weak physique ever since she was young. She never fought to take anything from other people. If she realized that everyone around her paid more attention to Mingxi, would she be depressed due to the feeling of abandonment?

Therefore, for the past two years Madam Zhao always kept Mingxi at arms length.

Nonetheless, Mingxi was her biological daughter. No matter how rebellious she was, there was no way she could truly ignore her.

The driver locked the garage door, shook his head and said, “When I went to pick them up, only Miss Zhao Yuan and Young Master Yuning got on. I didn’t see Miss Mingxi at the school gate.”

“She thinks she’s all grown up now. It’s already been two days and she still hasn’t come back.” Madam Zhao looked angry.

The driver asked, “Maybe I should go look for her after school tomorrow and bring her home?”

“It’s fine. There’s no need.” Madam Zhao was rather frustrated. “I just said a few words and she decided to run away from home. Who indulged her to have such bad behaviour? If she doesn’t come home then so be it, don’t voluntarily bring her home! Also, she didn’t bring a lot of clothes and shoes. I think she didn’t even plan on staying in school for long!”

As this concerned another person’s family, the driver didn’t feel like it was in his position to say anything.

Madam Zhao turned and entered the house. Zhao Yuan wasn’t home yet as she had cultural activities today. As for Zhao Yuning, no one knew what he was angry about. Instead of having dinner, he immediately entered his room to play games the moment he reached home.

While Madam Zhao was eating a simple dinner alone, she realized that Mingxi’s specialty dish, sweet and sour pork ribs, wasn’t here. After dinner when she was watching TV on the couch, Mingxi was also not there to massage her shoulders. She felt annoyed and it was only then that she felt that the house was exceptionally cold and cheerless.

It was impossible for her to put down her pride to ask how Mingxi was doing in school. Thus, she couldn’t help but to go upstairs and knock on Zhao Yuning’s door.

“Did you see your elder sister in school today? Did you ask when she will stop all this nonsense and come home?”

“I didn’t see her. I’m in Year One, why would I be in the Year Three area for no reason?” Zhao Yuning was still thinking about how Mingxi ignored him at the canteen this afternoon. He pulled a long face. “Mom, stop asking me. Weren’t you the one who scolded her to the point that she decided to run away from home?”

Madam Zhao was stunned. She couldn’t rebut this, hence she could only leave.

When the noise outside the door dissipated, Zhao Yuning turned off his game and opened WeChat.

He couldn’t wrap his head around it. Did Zhao Mingxi have to get so angry this time— Aside from the matter of not giving him a lunchbox, she also treated him like a stranger in school by ignoring him. What did this mean? Also, she wanted to leave home for real and completely sever her ties with them?

What kind of huge matter was this? Wasn’t it just that Zhao Yuan triggered her allergy and their family scolded her a little? Previously when she got burnt, she didn’t even say anything.

Furthermore, he was planning on apologizing to her in the afternoon. It was she who ignored him first.

Then if he sent her a message on WeChat, wouldn’t that be embarrassing? For him to continuously lower his head for her?

But what if she still doesn’t come home and stop giving him lunch?

During dinner today, Zhao Yuning couldn’t swallow his food properly. All this was too out of the ordinary for him.

Zhao Yuning thought back on how he faced Zhao Mingxi’s empty room when he got home. He furrowed his brows and scratched his head. After typing and deleting several times, he finally closed his eyes, gathered up his courage and pressed send.

“Zhao Mingxi, what did your actions in the afternoon mean?”

He sat on the bed and crossed his legs. He suppressed the unhappiness he was feeling as he had to lower his head again. He planned on seeing how Mingxi was going to reply.

In the end.

Unexpectedly, he saw a red exclamation mark.

Zhao Yuning was speechless.

[You are not their friend. Please send a friend request first. After they accept, you may begin chatting.]

“…”

Zhao Yuning was stunned. He immediately called Zhao Mingxi.

But the sound of voicemail quickly came: “The number you have dialed is currently unavailable.”

He got blocked on both WeChat and on her phone????

Zhao Yuning almost fell out of bed. His jaw dropped out of shock as he stood there dumbfoundedly.

Zhao Yuning couldn’t think for a good few seconds.

This was the first time that such a thing has happened since Zhao Mingxi returned to the Zhao family.

It wasn’t as if she didn’t leave home or say that she was going to stay in school before this, but they were all unsuccessful as she would always return home after two days with reddened eyes— Actually, Zhao Yuning knew that after that old grandmother who adopted and took care of Mingxi at their small Northern town passed away, Mingxi had nowhere else to go.

But this time, she wasn’t showing any signs of wanting to come home. She even blocked him on all platforms.

Zhao Yuning quickly thought of a question. Was he the only one she blocked, or was the whole family blocked as well?

Zhao Yuning didn’t know why, but when he thought of the unconcerned expression Mingxi had when she left home, he had a feeling which couldn’t be explained in any other way but bad.

Just while he was pacing in his room, wondering if he should talk about this with his eldest brother Zhao Zhanhuai, there were noises downstairs indicating that his eldest brother had returned.

It seemed as if someone else was here as well as his mother was greeting them.

A short while later, there was a knock on his door. “Young Master, Young Master Liyao is here. He said there’s a matter to discuss. Madam has asked you to go downstairs.”

Shen Liyao was the blueprint for ‘the kid next door’. Throughout his life, he had obtained countless gold medals as well as prizes from creating new robots and winning chess competitions.

Zhao Yuning felt that he was too indifferent and arrogant, hence he didn’t like him that much. However, his parents were very welcoming toward him. Previously, they tried to bring him and Zhao Yuan together, but after Mingxi’s return, this engagement naturally turned to become one between Mingxi and Shen Liyao.

But it was rare for him to voluntarily come over to their place. Even if he came, he was always cold, as if someone owed him eight million yuan. So what was the matter today?

If he didn’t go downstairs today, he would definitely be nagged by his mom tonight.

Zhao Yuning furrowed his brows. He could only put aside the matter of being blocked by Zhao Mingxi and walked downstairs.

*

He Yang lived in the same area as the Zhao family. Thus, what happened that night at the Zhao family quickly travelled to Mingxi’s ears.

He Yang sent her a message: “I heard that Shen Liyao went to your house tonight.”

Mingxi was stunned. She had the same thought as Zhao Yuning. Shen Liyao voluntarily went to the Zhao family home— Did the sun rise from the west today?

He Yang’s message popped up again: “Someone saw him go to the Evergreen Class after class today to look for E Xiaoxia. Do you think that he got some information from E Xiaoxia and went to your house to prove how the matter of Zhao Yuan’s allergy had nothing to do with you? You can rid yourself of this matter now!”

“I don’t know,” Mingxi replied. “Anyway, I don’t really care about how the Zhao family members think of me anymore.”

In her past life, it was precisely due to the fight with her family in order to prove her innocence that she lost all common sense.

But in this life, her thoughts were clear. As long as she confirmed that the allergy incident was related to E Xiaoxia, Mingxi actually had many ways to prove this to the Zhao family as well. Be it getting the hospital’s CCTV footage or tricking E Xiaoxia to confess.

However, the problem was that Mingxi couldn’t be bothered with how they thought of her anymore. Thus, she didn’t want to waste her time on this.

To her, the care and trust of the Zhao family was like a cake.

She wanted it so desperately in her past life, but in this life it had already expired so she no longer wants it.

Nonetheless, what was Shen Liyao doing at the Zhao family home? It couldn’t be that it was as He Yang guessed whereby he was trying to help her, right?

Mingxi was washing her hair when someone gave her a missed call. Later, while she was drying her hair, she saw a missed call and message from her eldest brother Zhao Zhanhuai.

She didn’t contact Zhao Zhanhuai often, hence she forgot to add him to her blocked list.

“Liyao just came over. What happened to Yuanyuan previously seemed to have been accidentally triggered by her friend. Everyone misunderstood you, I apologize for that.”

“But Mingxi, this habit of yours of leaving home whenever you feel slightly wronged isn’t good. We’ll talk when you get home. Mom has been really frustrated for the past two days. When are you coming home? I’ll come and pick you up.”

When Mingxi saw this belated apology, she remained unmoving. She was just a little surprised.

He Yang’s guess was correct.

However, Mingxi soon felt that all this was normal.

Although Shen Liyao didn’t like her and treated her coldly, they have known each other for two years and could be considered as friends. Furthermore, Shen Liyao wasn’t just cold to her, he treated everyone the same, and someone as proud as him couldn’t just let such a matter go.

It could be that he decided to help her after finding out that she was now staying in school.

Despite the fact that what Shen Liyao did was unnecessary, Mingxi still felt grateful. It was worth how she spent so much time being in love with him in her past life.

Mingxi sat at the side of her bed, and with a light swipe of her finger, she deleted Zhao Zhanhuai’s message. This time, she searched up every single Zhao family member’s phone number and WeChat and deleted them.

The world was now peaceful.

There was no way she was going home. What could she do if she went home? Repeat the steps to getting cancer like in her past life? The fact that Zhao Yuan was a lucky child was something that could not be changed. If she didn’t spend more time on changing her fate for the better, then she might end up dying at the age of 23 again.

*

When Zhao Zhanhuai didn’t receive Mingxi’s call or reply to his text, he spoke to his mother who appeared guilty, “It’s already past 10 p.m., she must be asleep by now.”

The Zhao family members felt unsettled.

This was more apparent in Zhao Yuning. After sending Zhao Yuan to the hospital last weekend, they didn’t even bother to listen to her before scolding her. Mingxi must’ve felt so wronged then. No wonder she still hadn’t come home after so long this time.

“No one really blamed her anyway, we just said a few words! Moreover, even if Yuanyuan’s allergy had nothing to do with her, couldn’t she show more care toward Yuanyuan who was still in the hospital room instead of arguing with us?”

Although their mother appeared guilty, her words were still cruel, “Her temper has gotten worse too. Just because of a few words she decided to stay in school.”

Zhao Yuning was a little angry. “Mom, will it hurt for you to speak less?”

Meanwhile, Zhao Zhanhuai pulled her to sit and said, “Mingxi is just like a child throwing tantrums. She’ll be fine after some coaxing. I’ll go pick her up during the weekend. But after she comes home, you should still apologize to her. You’re just firm in speech but soft in heart.”

Madam Zhao furrowed her brows. “Alright. This child really stirred up the whole family. We’ll talk once she gets home during the weekend.”

Zhao Yuning who was at the side moved his lips, but in the end he didn’t manage to tell them about how Zhao Mingxi had already blocked him. Could they still bring her home— Will it be that she won’t even come home tomorrow?

When he saw the guilty and furious expression on his mother, a thought appeared in his mind.

Why is it that this matter clearly had nothing to do with Mingxi and Mingxi couldn’t even explain herself when she was right, but the whole family still blamed her at the first instance?

Furthermore, after Shen Liyao explained what happened, their mother still blamed Mingxi for being immature.

If this sort of biasness occurred to him, what would he do?

Bias.

The 16-year-old Zhao Yuning suddenly understood this word for the first time.

*

Zhao Zhanhuai’s sudden message didn’t affect Mingxi’s good mood at all. She finished her homework and looked at her fruits of labor today— 4 complete buds. She felt extremely motivated.

This afternoon she sat beside Fu Yangxi for a whole three periods of class. By right she should’ve received quite an amount of luck. However, the fifth tiny bud only moved the soil a little and didn’t even show any signs of shooting out of the earth.

She didn’t know why, but after that, the luck that she got from inhaling didn’t seem to be as strong as when she sniffed Fu Yangxi the first time she met him.

The system explained to her: “Diminishing marginal effect. The first time you appeared beside Fu Yangxi, it was equal to ‘the villainess met Fu Yangxi and sat beside him’ in the novel. It stimulates the readers of the novel, hence it can give you some luck. However, the novel cannot keep on repeating the fact that you have continued to sit beside him and breathed. The readers will criticize the writer for writing unnecessary things, thus the luck that you can get from that would be lesser.”

Mingxi was a little disappointed. She asked, “Does this diminishing marginal effect apply to everything else I do?”

“Yes, basically everything.” The system said: “On the same day, the effect of the same thing will be weaker each time it is repeated.”

“It’s so difficult to live as I still have to keep on creating opportunities.”

While Mingxi was talking, she suddenly remembered that she got Fu Yangxi’s WeChat. As she immediately went shopping after school, she had yet to send him a message.

She braced herself, blow dried her hair, got on bed and charged her phone.

On the other side, Fu Yangxi was lying on his velvet bed in the Fu Mansion with his freshly showered red hair dripping wet. He had been coldly staring at his phone for the past two hours.

He had truly underestimated the transfer student. She actually spent the 100,000 yuan he gave all in one go. He wasn’t bothered by the money, but this transfer student actually failed his experiment!

With fiery anger in Fu Yangxi’s heart, he looked up at the clock and rubbed his dry eyes before continuing to stare at his phone.

It was already 11.30 p.m.. What was up with the transfer student? She asked for his WeChat but didn’t send him any messages.

Even investors would get a “thanks” upon spending all their money on buying a person.

So why didn’t he get anything?

Even if she had her eye on his money, could she at least have some sincerity in her pursuit?

Suddenly, his phone vibrated. A notification appeared on the WeChat conversation page. Fu Yangxi immediately sprung up, causing his phone to fall off the bed.

He quickly flipped over to get it.

A maid’s voice could be heard from outside. “Young Master, are you alright?”

“I’m fine. Don’t come in.”

Over here, Mingxi leaned on her bed frame, thought of something and sent: “Young Master Fu, you can just mute me.”

After sending such a message, the other didn’t reply. Mingxi wasn’t expecting a reply anyway. She quickly looked at the flower pot. As expected, the first time’s effect was the strongest as immediately, half a bud had grown.

Mingxi got excited instantly and sat straight up.

Even though there was no response from the other, Mingxi didn’t mind. She sent another message: “Goodnight.”

This time, the fifth bud grew by a quarter.

“By the way.” Mingxi asked the system. “Will the length of the message affect anything?”

The system said: “I’m not sure. Give it a try.”

Thus, Mingxi typed randomly across the keyboard and sent: “An shiji dasuo fasheng de ka siji de ka shi kan de jian ai shen de jian a sa de jingan si jian da jian dashi jia daji ai shen de jian jiu dakai daka SDKask da san kao de sa ke da ka kan de kai ka sa ding ka si ke de ka SD ka sikeda de ka SD ka ke dao ke ka sa ding ka ka sakesi kan da kan dao ka sa ding shuang ka shuang dai ka ka sudu kuai ka danshi kan dao*.”

ray’s note: this is basically gibberish

This time, the fifth bud only grew by ⅛.

Looks like neither the length or content of the message would affect the growth of the bud.

The only thing that would have any effect would be the order of messages.

The barefoot Fu Yangxi used a clothes hanger and spent a lot of effort before successfully pulling his phone out of the bottom of the bed. The moment he switched on the screen, all he saw was this message full of nothing he understood.

He was speechless.

What is this? Why did he feel as if the transfer student was checking if he was a robot before registering for an account?

After Mingxi was done checking all the factors, she sent another “.”.

This time, there were no changes to the small bud.

Through these four tests, Mingxi could basically be certain that everyday, only the first three messages will have the effect of stimulating the growth of the bud. From the fourth time onward, the diminishing marginal effect would be close to zero.

If this was so, then it looks like she would only need to send Fu Yangxi three messages daily.

As she got another half of a bud, Mingxi happily turned off her phone and went to bed.

As for Fu Yangxi, he was trying his best to stop himself from sending her a few question marks.

He had to be cool.

A cool school hunk would not reply to the first five messages.

He had to wait until the transfer student begged in her sixth message, then only he would reply.

However on this night, even though Fu Yangxi had stayed up until morning, he didn’t get another message.

He was speechless.

With heavy eye bags under his eyes, Fu Yangxi looked at the random words on his screen. He started to question the world. Could this be another one of the transfer student’s methods to attract his attention?

This gold digger was only pursuing him for his money.

He’ll block her tomorrow.