Chapter 63: Confusion

Extremely Eyesore

“Hey, aren’t you going to sit with the vice president?”

Fang Chuning looked in the direction Gao Qiong was pointing. The young man was chatting and laughing with the girl next to him, seemingly unaware that she had entered the classroom.

She lowered the corners of her mouth, looking down at her fingers.

Anyone could tell something was wrong from this behavior. Gao Qiong hesitated, “Did you two have a fight?”

A fight?

If only it were just a fight. They weren’t even fighting.

Just before, they were sweetly thinking about using her own money to treat him to food, buy him little gifts, and go on dates like a normal couple.

Now everything had turned to bubbles.

Fang Chuning’s nose stung, her fingers moving on the desk, her eyes rimmed with red.

“Ningning…” This was the first time Gao Qiong had seen her like this.

The class bell rang, and a female teacher in formal attire walked into the classroom. The start-of-term procedures were as usual – first roll call, then introductions, followed by seating arrangements. “The seating chart will be handled by the president and vice president. Now turn to the first page of your books, we’ll begin the lesson.”

Almost all class affairs each semester were handled by her and Xu Muzhou. Normally, Fang Chuning was used to this and wouldn’t have felt a ripple. But given the current state of their relationship, she was so nervous that her mind wandered during the very first class of the semester.

After class, Fang Chuning, who should have waited for him, went to the president’s office first.

Inside, apart from the sofa rest area, there were two office areas. Xu Muzhou’s position was in the lower left, quite close. Even so, when they were inseparable before, they still felt it was too far, so he simply sat right next to her, pressed close together.

At least at that time, Fang Chuning could feel that he liked her.

So… was it because she had done something wrong?

The door to the president’s office opened, and Xu Muzhou walked in. He glanced up at the person pretending to be busy over there, gently closed the door, and walked to his own position as if nothing had happened.

The atmosphere was so quiet it made one uncomfortable.

Fang Chuning, unsettled, secretly glanced at him, wanting to speak but afraid of annoying him. She tried hard to concentrate, shifting her gaze back to the ranking list.

About two minutes passed. These two minutes felt like years to her, extremely torturous.

A knock on the door came at the right time. They both looked up, instinctively making eye contact. Fang Chuning’s gaze flickered away, and she spoke first: “Come in.”

It was Lin Yuechan who entered. She walked straight towards Xu Muzhou’s direction. “How’s the revision going?”

Xu Muzhou responded with a shy smile, “It’s almost done. Could you take a look for me?”

“Sure.” Lin Yuechan glanced over it. “For the daily duties, would it be better to arrange two people per group?”

The girl pulled up a chair and sat beside the young man. The two discussed as if no one else was present. Although it couldn’t be called intimate, to Fang Chuning’s eyes, this was already a huge shock.

She was supposed to be his girlfriend, at least they hadn’t broken up yet.

What was this…

Fang Chuning gritted her teeth, staring hard at the words on the ranking list, her hand gripping the pen so tightly it was almost breaking.

She had never felt so pathetic before. She wanted to go over and pull Xu Muzhou back to her side, to shout at him that she was his girlfriend, that he shouldn’t be ambiguous with someone else in front of her.

But when she had this impulse, she couldn’t help but remember the harsh words he had said that day, which had even given her nightmares for several nights.

She was afraid that if she did this, he would say even more chilling and hurtful words.

Fang Chuning bit hard on the tender flesh inside her lip, her eyes now covered with a thin layer of mist, no longer as bright and clear as before.

What had she done wrong? Why did he have to humiliate her like this…

Until she tasted a hint of blood in her mouth, a clear teardrop welled up in her eye and fell onto the paper with a “plop”.

Xu Muzhou, who had been paying attention to the girl’s attitude, felt his heart tremble. That tear was like a red-hot coal falling on his heart, the burning pain making his eyes redden as well.

Seeing the young man suddenly go quiet, Lin Yuechan asked puzzled, “Xu?”

Xu Muzhou didn’t look at her, “I can handle this myself. Lin, you can go first.”

Everything was fine just now, how…

Lin Yuechan glanced in Fang Chuning’s direction, feeling somewhat unwilling, “Alright then, I won’t disturb you.”

After she left, only the two of them remained in the president’s office.

Xu Muzhou pursed his delicate cherry lips, his eyes slowly turning towards the girl. Just as he was about to say something, he saw her suddenly stand up, not even looking at him, grab the ranking list and quickly walk out.

The slammed door made a huge noise, as if venting frustration.

After a long while, Xu Muzhou slowly withdrew his gaze, landing on the book on the desk. He pressed down hard with the pen tip, viciously tearing the paper with Lin Yuechan’s suggested duty arrangement in half.

The writing pen in his hand was like a blade. He frantically scribbled on the paper with a cold face, until the paper was completely shredded. He suddenly threw the pen to the ground.

Ink splattered everywhere, as black and thick as his current mood.

…

School rooftop

Gao Qiong leaned against the wall, tilted her head back and slowly exhaled the white smoke from her mouth, then extended the cigarette towards the dejected girl in front of her, “Want a puff?”

Fang Chuning’s unfocused pupils moved slightly, her slightly dazed gaze shifting to the cigarette in her hand. She hesitated for a few seconds, slowly took it, put it to her mouth and inexperiencedly took a hard drag.

“Cough cough cough cough” The smoke instantly invaded her mouth, nose and eyes, making her cough violently, tears coming out.

Gao Qiong hurriedly helped her catch her breath, “I told you to take a puff, not try to kill yourself with it.”

Finally recovering, Fang Chuning rubbed her eyes and glanced at her with dissatisfaction.

Gao Qiong grinned, “That’s more like it. Don’t always look like you’re half dead, it’s very unpleasant to see!”

Fang Chuning threw the cigarette on the ground and crushed it with her toe, “You don’t have to look. You have so many friends anyway, you can go find them.”

“But you’re my best friend. Do I look like someone who would abandon her bestie and not care?”

The girl’s sincere words plus her odd expression finally made Fang Chuning’s lips curl up slightly.

Gao Qiong put her arm around her shoulders, “What are you planning to do next?”

What to do?

Fang Chuning looked up at the azure sky, her heart suddenly feeling lost, “I don’t know… Maybe, I won’t study here anymore.”

If the final result between them could only be breaking up, she wasn’t sure if she could accept watching him be with someone else. The thought of him being together with another person, being inseparable, even kissing, made her heart feel like it was being squeezed by a hand.

Gao Qiong patted her shoulder comfortingly, “Do what you think is right.”

Don’t be confused, this is who you are, Fang Chuning.

…

School had been in session for several days, and Fang Chuning felt the days passing in a daze. She wanted to adjust her mood, so she drove out for a spin by herself.

After driving around the seaside, she drove to West City Street and stopped outside a snack shop, planning to eat something before going back. However, just a few minutes after entering the shop, a child ran in and told her: “Sister! Someone is scratching your car!”

Fang Chuning was holding a paper bowl of fish balls, looking down at her, “Why would someone scratch my car?”

“It wasn’t me, it was my friend. He made a bet with me, saying if he dared to scratch your car I’d have to buy him something delicious. I don’t want to buy it, hurry and go look!”

The little girl urgently pulled at her clothes. Fang Chuning calmly ate a fish ball and followed behind her.

Sure enough, a small crowd had gathered where she parked, everyone discussing. Some knowledgeable ones recognized the car brand, “Flybird A20, I heard there are only three in the world, worth as much as a house in the city center. With such a deep scratch, the repair cost would be at least 200,000.”

“Really?”

“If you don’t believe me, you can take a photo and search online. I’ve never been wrong about cars.” The woman was quite proud.

The little girl pulled Fang Chuning through the crowd, and indeed saw an obvious scratch on the car body. The culprit was a little boy who looked only about 8 years old. He seemed to realize he had made a big mistake due to the attention he attracted and the things people were muttering, shrinking there looking like he was about to cry.

Fang Chuning bent down to examine the scratch, eating fish balls while asking him: “Did you do this?”

The little boy’s face turned red, too scared to speak.

“You’ll have to pay for it. Do you have money?”

The little boy burst into tears, “I-I don’t have any…”

“Then let your parents pay.”

“My parents don’t have that much money…”

Fang Chuning blew on a steaming hot fish ball, scaring him, “Then you’ll have to come with me to the police station. You might go to jail.”

The little boy was completely terrified, crying loudly, “I’m sorry sister… I’m sorry… wuwuwu I want my mom…”

The little girl who had pulled her out was also scared stiff. She just didn’t want to treat him to food every time, she didn’t expect scratching a car would cost so much money.

Suddenly someone pushed through the crowd. Fang Chuning’s brows immediately furrowed.

Lin Yuechan glanced at her, then squatted in front of the little boy, “What’s wrong, Liang Liang? Don’t cry, tell Sister Yuechan who bullied you?”

The little girl next to them explained: “Liang Liang scratched someone’s car, he has to pay a lot of money.”

Lin Yuechan noticed the scratch on the motorcycle, comfortingly patted the boy’s head, stood up and looked at the girl, saying disapprovingly: “He’s just a child, is it necessary to scare him like this?”

Fang Chuning lost her appetite, “Didn’t he scratch my car?”

“This amount of money is nothing to you, but do you know Liang Liang’s family only has his mother raising him with great difficulty? What’s small change to you can easily crush their whole family.”

Fang Chuning never thought she’d be morally kidnapped one day. She laughed coldly, “So what? They’re poor, they scratch my car, and I deserve it?”

“If you insist on twisting my meaning, there’s nothing I can do.” Lin Yuechan pushed up her glasses, saying coolly, “But now I can understand why Xu would choose to distance himself from you.”

Those words were like a torch lighting a fuse. Fang Chuning’s eyes flashed with viciousness as she suddenly grabbed her collar, lifting her slightly, and warned in a low voice: “You’d better not piss me off.”

The girl’s imposing manner made Lin Yuechan’s eyelid twitch violently. Although she didn’t speak again, her eyes still defiantly stared back.

There were whispers all around, but no one dared to step forward to stop them.

Fang Chuning released her collar, stepped back, her expression returning to calm, “Since Lin is so kind-hearted, how about this.” She patted the motorcycle seat, “If Lin is willing to help him pay this money, then considering we’re classmates, I’ll give you a discount. 20,000.”

20,000 wasn’t a small sum for them either, but it was affordable. It was just a question of willingness. The whispers around grew louder, and Lin Yuechan’s face darkened slightly.

“How about it? Just 20,000 to save a family. Lin won’t refuse, right?”