Chapter 17

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation  Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Nie Fan could not help feeling troubled as the call was hung up with a beep. He really could not tell what Uncle Lin was thinking, having him attend classes with Lin Xinyan.

Either way, his hopes of getting a day job was dashed.

“Come on, clean up. We’re leaving.” Lin Xinyan was beaming since her cunning plan to get a personal attendant worked.

“Aren’t you worried that having me go to your school would give your classmates the wrong idea? Such as that Xu Hong?” Nie Fan said—he was actually fine with the auditing since he could just think of it as a pleasure trip and certainly no big deal.

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“It’ll be better if they misunderstand. No one will harass me from now on.” Lin Xinyan replied, quickly hiding her strangely red face.

“As you wish. I’m just your bodyguard keeping you safe anyway. Don’t blame me for being heavy-handed if your classmates try to start something with me.”

“Are you really that good? Every boy in my class is like one point nine meters tall.” Lin Xinyan teased.

Nie Fan shrugged but did not deny it.

“So mysterious. Just remember not to stir trouble at my school.” Lin Xinyan said a little worriedly then.

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“I won’t do a thing if they don’t.” Nie Fan replied flatly, although there was something else that was his core principle which he left unspoken.

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Then, having finished his breakfast, he quickly cleaned up the dishes. “Let’s go.”

“Oh, right. Nie Fan, my ankle is swelling and a little sore, what is the problem?” Lin Xinyan asked, thinking of him as half a Chinese medicine practitioner now.

“Hard to say. It could be your ankle or your soles… I need to check to see.”

“Would it need needles?”

“A massage is enough for most sore swellings.” Nie Fan chuckled. Why would some minor ailment need needles?”

“Really? Then… could you help me massage?” Lin Xinyan asked a little shyly, watching him.

“Sit on the sofa and take off your shoe.” Nie Fan was composed since it was like lifting a finger anyway.

Lin Xinyan did as she was told and took off her left shoe, shifting her posture. However, she soon felt that it was a little wrong, and tugged her skirt a little awkwardly.

Meanwhile, Nie Fan dropped to a crouch. He saw that Lin Xinyan’s foot was long and white, her skin as smooth as solid oil. Her petite ankle could be held with one hand, each toe as white as snow and having a meaty softness—this feeling just might be why girls would often either think themselves too fat or too skinny.

Nonetheless, Nie Fan could not help remembering the sight he saw when he had crashed into her bathroom as she held her leg.

Lin Xinyan seemed to have thought of something too: her cheeks were becoming hot, and the spot on her leg where Nie Fan touched was turning soft.

The air between two turned tenderly charmingly then.

“Uh, forget it.” Blushing, Lin Xinyan tried to withdraw her leg. Though she was cheerful and energetic, she always declined every boy’s advances.

Even so, Nie Fan had suddenly become quite different from the other boys in her heart at some unknown point in time… it could be the familiarity they shared in childhood that she did not feel a gap between them, not to mention that there were so many things special about him that drew her to him profoundly.

“I just need one minute.”

Nie Fan put his fingers over her acupoint and slowly rubbed it, not looking up as he calmly asked, “How does it feel?”

Just as Lin Xinyan was about to say she felt nothing, the soreness on her leg was gone. A warm stream soon followed, rising from her soles and climbing up like ants up to her calves, her thighs and then her underbelly. It was such a sensation of comfort that she could not repress a soft murmur when that warm stream flowed past her more delicate parts—it itched, leaving her even more sheepish, with both her thighs twitching.

“It feels… warm.”

“Alright, there shouldn’t be no problems for the time being. Still, it takes half an hour to clear it entirely so we’ll leave that for next time.” Nie Fan told her as he stood up.

Lin Xinyan could feel the warmth fading when Nie Fan’s fingers left her leg, and suddenly felt an emptiness.

His massage was really pleasant.

“Where did you learn all this, Nie Fan?” She asked, changing the conversation as she attempted to hide away her awkwardness.

“My father taught me.” Nie Fan could not help looking a little mournful at the mention of his father.

“Sorry, I shouldn’t have asked.” Lin Xinyan quickly apologized when she saw the sadness in his eyes.

“It’s fine. It’s all in the past.” Nie Fan smiled, withdrawing the pained emotions in his heart.

‘He really is different now,’ Lin Xinyan thought then.

She remembered that she had always clung on to him as children and fought him when he ignored him. With her dad’s constant joking of having her marry Nie Fan, the childish sentiment of younger days always left her feeling nostalgic.

And now, reuniting after being separate for years, those feelings and memories she had once believed to be distant had now returned, overlapping with the present.

***

They left the mansion together, with Lin Xinyan driving Nie Fan to school.

Her Lamborghini roared past the flat roads, passing by towering buildings and crowded streets. Nie Fan was in awe then: Yinhai definitely was no match for Ningdong, and that he himself was out of place with the prosperity here. And how difficult would it be to find a job in this big city? Most heavy labor and dangerous jobs were replaced by robotics, and any work left requires high academic qualifications and professional skill—it took a lot of luck or the help of others to get any work here, and for Nie Fan, the best job at the moment was definitely being a gamer.

For a society of definitive modernization, most tasks were accomplished through heavy machinery and humans were often idling. VR games were therefore their most joyful pastime, the mass of players collectively sustaining the many professional gamers. Likewise, major game studios popped up like mushroom after the rain, some of which boasted strong backgrounds. Aside from enjoying their wild popularity and income from in-game trading, famous gamers would also obtain income from professional tournaments, sponsorship, endorsements and the like.

Since his father had once stood at the pinnacle of gamers’ leaderboards, Nie Fan could consider himself as inheriting his father’s business.

As Nie Fan’s thoughts drifted away, Lin Xinyan had parked her Lamborghini in her school’s depot. She also helped him apply for an audit pass, which basically allows him to attend classes like any other student, the drawback of which was Lin Xinyan being marked down for disciplinary demerit if Nie Fan broke school rules, and he would also never be accepted into the school. The school’s atmosphere was quite relaxed aside from that, and their administration would not nitpick as long as school rules were not seriously breached.

The moment Nie Fan and Lin Xinyan alighted, a girl approached them and greeted Lin Xinyan.

She was quite pretty: round cheeks, narrow but long eyebrows over her large eyes. Although she was not quite tall at one point five meters, that was the precise reason she appeared dainty, even if she lost to Lin Xinyan slightly in terms of class.

“Xinyan, you’re early.” The girl said in her melodious voice, although she soon realized in shock that Nie Fan in the car as well, and therefore could not refrain from narrowing her eyes to look at him from head to toe. “Who is he? Why have I never seen him before? Could he be your boyfriend, Xinyan? Not that good-looking but he does have some style. Acceptable.”

“Nope, you’ve got it wrong.” Lin Xinyan quickly denied it. Although she had joked about it with Nie Fan earlier, she was flustered when the misunderstanding really came.

On the other hand, Nie Fan returned the girl’s greeting although a little unsettled by the girl’s measuring look. “I’m Nie Fan, her cousin. I’m just here visiting Yinhai a few days, so Xinyan brought me here for a look around.”

He had long since thought about his excuse.

However, the girl’s eyes widened as she looked suspiciously at Lin Xinyan and then at Nie Fan. “Really? There’s no resemblance between you two at all.”

“Let me introduce you: she’s Xu Xiaoshuang, she’s in the same class as me. A famous big mouth.” Lin Xinyan quickly changed the conversation while giving Xu Xiaoshuang a deadly nudge.

“Couldn’t you have left that last part out?” Xu Xiaoshuang shot Lin Xinyan an unhappy look, but extended her right hand at Nie Fan, her eyes narrowing into a thin line as she smiled. “Hello.”

“Hello.” Nie Fan returned the greeting and shook her hand, which was very white and smooth too and made him remember Lin Xinyan’s ankles. Naturally, it was just a random thought without filthy elements, and he quickly withdrew his hand.

“Let’s go in. Class is almost starting.” Lin Xinyan told them, unable to avoid a little sour feeling inside when she saw Nie Fan studying Xu Xiaoshuang.

“Let’s go.” Xu Xiaoshuang smiled and took Lin Xinyan’s hand, and the trio made their way towards the classroom.

Along the way, the students they passed by would all look towards their direction, guessing Nie Fan’s identity.

“Why are they staring at us?” Nie Fan asked in curiosity.

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“I guess you wouldn’t know, but Xinyan here is the most beautiful girl in our school. The boys chasing after her could fill three classes, so be careful and quickly tell anyone giving you a hard time you’re her cousin, or you are going to suffer.” Xu Xiaoshuang smiled teasingly.

“Who is this ‘most beautiful girl’ you are talking about? That’s just what they like to say.” Lin Xinyan denied with a reddened face.

“That’s what everyone says! Tsk, tsk. Look at those cheeks, those hips, and those boobs. Cousin, don’t you think she is?” Xu Xiaoshuang laughed, drawing semi-circles over Lin Xinyan’s chest.

“And you’re still mocking me!” Annoyed, Lin Xinyan started to tickle Xu Xiaoshuang’s armpits, making her laugh out loud.

Those two girls fooling around certainly was a completely extraordinary sight. No wonder so many boys were looking here.

Still, Xu Xiaoshuang’s words left Nie Fan feeling caught: girls definitely outdo one another these days. All he could do was smile awkwardly as he slid a peek at Lin Xinyan’s breasts—though they were nowhere near as large as those often shown on tv, they certainly could hold their own.

On the other hand, Lin Xinyan threw him a vicious glare when she caught that strange look on his face.

Pervert! Staring at a maiden’s chest… so annoying!

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