Chapter 64: Breaking Up, Sobering Up

This is an incident about moral kidnapping being morally kidnapped in return.

If Lin Yuechan didn’t agree now, what she had just said would become extremely ironic and laughable. Caring deeply about face, she finally gritted her teeth and agreed: “Fine, but I don’t have that much money on me now. I’ll give it to you when we get back to school.”

“How troublesome,” Fang Chuning took out her phone and waved it, “It’s just a matter of transferring money. No need to wait until we get to school.”

She suddenly leaned in close, looking at her seriously, “You’re not planning to renege and have the mother who works hard to earn money for her son pay this 20,000 for you, are you?”

For the first time, Lin Yuechan hated someone so much. She hated that this person’s studies weren’t as good as hers yet stood higher than her at school, hated that she met Xu Muzhou earlier and could monopolize Xu Muzhou’s attention, and hated even more that she wanted to humiliate her in public.

“If your money is with your parents, you can call them now.” Fang Chuning was unmoved by the girl’s resentful gaze.

Under pressure, Lin Yuechan had no choice but to take out her phone, preparing to transfer the 20,000 to her.

Just as she was about to enter the password, Fang Chuning spoke up, “Forget it, 20,000 really isn’t much to me, but it’s different for you. You’d better keep it.”

She picked up her helmet and straddled her bike, looking at the still sobbing little boy, “Don’t casually scratch other people’s cars in the future, otherwise the police sister will really arrest you, understand?”

There was fear in the little boy’s eyes as he nodded hurriedly, “I… I understand…”

Only after the young woman rode off on her bike did the onlookers slowly disperse, seeing there was no more show to watch.

The little girl finally dared to go comfort the boy. The boy, hiccuping with sobs, walked up to the girl and looked up, “Thank you, Sister Yuechan…”

Lin Yuechan patted his head without saying a word.

She didn’t feel happy that Fang Chuning didn’t make her pay compensation. On the contrary, she felt that Fang Chuning was indirectly humiliating her in public, and the resistance in her heart only increased.

The incident was fermenting. Because it was filmed by a passerby and posted online, most people were curious and gossipy, criticizing the boy. When the scene of moral kidnapping appeared, netizens unanimously mocked it, and the debate was very intense.

This matter also spread to Xinxing School. Although the people in the video were blurred, it wasn’t hard to recognize them.

Lin Yuechan’s heart was a bit chaotic due to her classmates’ discussions and mockery. She was more worried that Xu Muzhou would have the same view as those people, and couldn’t help but exaggerate when telling him the “truth” of that day. The young man seemed to believe her, and his attitude towards her didn’t show any change.

However, at this moment, Xu Muzhou wasn’t paying attention to what she was saying at all. What kind of person she was had nothing to do with him. What he cared more about was that Ningning hadn’t spoken to him for more than half a month.

He had thought that by deliberately getting close to Lin Yuechan to attract her attention, she would surely not be able to resist for long and would take the initiative. But unexpectedly, over this half month, she was even deliberately avoiding him.

This result made Xu Muzhou feel a bit uneasy, but more than that was an unbearable emptiness and itching, like a drug addict, desperately wanting to get close to her and say a word to her.

The unbearable restlessness made Xu Muzhou irritable. His peripheral vision kept glancing towards outside the classroom.

“Xu classmate…” Lin Yuechan wanted to say something more, but the next second the young man suddenly stood up and walked quickly out of the classroom. She looked over and just saw the young woman’s figure passing by outside the classroom, her heart immediately filled with mixed emotions.

Fang Chuning had just returned from running. She originally wanted to go for a cup of coffee when someone suddenly called out to her from behind. The familiar voice made her heart skip a beat, and she slowly turned around.

Xu Muzhou walked towards her, his eyes greedily licking her face, but what he said was, “Is what’s online true?”

“What?”

“Lin classmate said the video online was edited. She said you were the one who troubled that child first. Is that true?”

Xu Muzhou’s heart was pounding, just for the two of them to finally speak after so long.

Fang Chuning looked at him expressionlessly, her heart half chilled by his questioning, “Which answer do you want to hear? True? False?”

Xu Muzhou couldn’t help but take half a step closer, “I want to hear you say it.”

Fang Chuning stared at him for a moment, then turned and walked away.

The young woman’s unusually cold demeanor left Xu Muzhou at a loss. Insecurity and grievance twisted together, his chest faintly aching, his eyes even more obscure.

After each class adjusted their seating, they would select class monitors, study committee members and other class cadres. Not only that, but there would also be election forms for student council president and vice president every semester. As long as the votes exceeded the previous president, one could be elected. However, this election at Xinxing was just a formality.

No one would want to challenge Fang Chuning’s position in the school.

So when someone posted the election form on the school bulletin board, they were a bit incredulous.

“Lin Yuechan? Who’s that?”

“Seems to be from the president’s class. I heard her studies are really impressive.”

“What background? Amazing, actually daring to compete with Fang Chuning for the top position!”

“Just a poor bookworm. I heard she’s been very close to the vice president recently, and the relationship between the president and vice president seems to have become very bad.” The girl looked around and lowered her voice: “I heard she stole the president’s boyfriend!”

“No way, really?”

“Just a poor bookworm?”

Everyone was half skeptical.

The girl who spread the gossip shrugged, “I just heard it too. We’re not in the same class, how would I know so clearly.”

The voting results came out quickly, and unexpectedly, there were quite a few votes for Lin Yuechan. Among them, the most eye-catching was the name at the top.

Xu Muzhou.

In front of the bulletin board, Fang Chuning’s face was expressionless, her mouth containing the candy Gao Qiong had just given her, the taste turning bitter.

“This Lin Yuechan really doesn’t know what’s good for her. Xinxing is all yours, yet she dares to compete with you. She must have been driven crazy by studying.”

It’s precisely because she knows, that’s why she wants to challenge, as if to say, without privileged conditions, she couldn’t compete with her at all.

Fang Chuning pushed the candy around in her mouth with her tongue and walked to the left.

Gao Qiong followed behind her, knowing she was in a bad mood, and didn’t mention what shouldn’t be mentioned, “Hey, why don’t we skip school and go play games?”

The young woman didn’t respond to her, and her direction wasn’t towards the classroom, but towards the tennis court. A small match between boys had just ended on the court, and it was the girls’ turn to take the court.

Fang Chuning walked straight onto the court. Everyone instinctively made way until she stopped in front of a girl. Fang Chuning bit through the candy in her mouth and looked at the person in front of her, “Shall we have a match? If you win, the position of president is yours.”

Lin Yuechan reflexively raised her hand to push up her glasses, only to remember she wasn’t wearing glasses today, “Then what if I lose?”

Fang Chuning thought seriously for a moment, “I haven’t thought about it. We’ll talk about it when you lose.”

Lin Yuechan pursed her lips, “What shall we compete in?”

“What you’re good at. Aren’t you only good at studying? Then let’s compete in studying.”

For a woman, such words seemed more like a belittlement. Lin Yuechan gritted her teeth, “Why don’t we compete in what Fang classmate is good at? I don’t mind either way.”

Fang Chuning smiled, showing a beautiful set of white teeth, “Alright, then let’s compete in tennis.”

Compete in tennis with Fang Chuning?

Everyone had only one thought: she’s overestimating herself.

In the spectator stands, Xu Muzhou stared at the young woman competing with others. He should have been happy, but there was an extremely bad premonition in his heart. He comforted himself that it was because they had been apart for too long, and soon they would be together again.

“I said how could she be so quiet when someone stole her boyfriend, sure enough she couldn’t hold back,” Qin Shaoqing’s mutter beside him made his heart settle down.

News of the competition spread quickly, especially when people guessed that the two were love rivals, competing for the school heartthrob. Because of this, more than half the school came to watch.

The match wasn’t too formal, best of five sets, taking turns to serve.

This was a match without much suspense, yet everyone still watched with great interest. Lin Yuechan served first. In the beginning, the two played gently, rallying back and forth for five minutes. In this leisurely state, Fang Chuning lost the first point.

Everyone sighed, not knowing if she did it on purpose or what.

The next serve was Fang Chuning’s turn.

Sweat slid down her fair forehead. Fang Chuning casually dropped the ball on the ground and let it bounce back into her hand. She slowly raised the ball, letting it overlap with the sun, then gently tossed it up and swung the racket hard. The lime-green tennis ball instantly shot towards the opposite side.

For a moment, the tennis ball seemed to turn into a bullet, carrying killing intent, coming straight for her brow. Lin Yuechan’s eyes suddenly widened, and by the time she reacted, the ball had already bounced off the ground at her feet.

Even the spectators couldn’t clearly see the direction of the serve. The court was silent.

Until the referee blew the whistle, one-all, change of server.

Fang Chuning was like a beast out of its cage. Every ball not only carried power, but was also an extreme edge ball. The later it got, the stronger she hit. While Lin Yuechan could still return a couple in the beginning, towards the end she was already exhausted.

This match with no suspense ended when Lin Yuechan fell to the ground. The stands immediately erupted in fierce cheers.

Everyone tacitly looked towards Xu Muzhou, but Xu Muzhou ran down from the stands towards the fallen girl, helping her up.

Fang Chuning was slightly out of breath, sweat soaking through her entire back. The sunset shone on her face, and at this moment she had never been more clear-headed.

She threw the racket on the ground and walked over, looking down at them across the net.

Xu Muzhou looked up, lightly biting his red lips, “Fang classmate…”

“Xu Muzhou.”

The words he was about to say were interrupted by the young woman. This was one of the few times the young woman called his full name.

She just looked at him coldly, enunciating each heartbreaking word, “From now on, you and I have no more connection. Let’s break up.”

Break up…

Xu Muzhou’s pupils contracted sharply. He opened his mouth, wanting to explain to her that everything was just him acting out of spite, that he just wanted her to experience this kind of jealousy too, that he was already prepared to reconcile with her, that the two of them could be like before again.

But it was as if someone was gripping his throat. He couldn’t say a word.

Her figure, leaving without any lingering attachment, was reflected in his pupils, growing more and more distant. Fear expanded infinitely.

It seemed someone was calling him, but he couldn’t hear clearly. He staggered to his feet, pushed through the crowd, and hurriedly left the court.

In the men’s restroom, Xu Muzhou put the hand that had touched Lin Yuechan under the faucet to wash. He kept scrubbing his fingers, not stopping even when they turned red.

It must be because he touched that woman that she got angry. He should have been more careful, shouldn’t have tried to test her bottom line.

Xu Muzhou frantically kept squeezing hand soap, washing over and over again, until his lips turned pale before he stopped.

After leaving the restroom, he walked towards the classroom. He was desperate to explain clearly to her that he only liked her, would only love her, that as long as she agreed not to mention breaking up again, he would do anything she wanted.

She wasn’t in the classroom. He called her, but the prompt was that her phone was turned off.

Xu Muzhou was at a loss. For the first time, he felt his mind go blank. The hand holding the phone was trembling.