Chapter 71 - Thank You, Schoolmate Cheng Mingchi

Now Du Xiaoxian had become a celebrity in the school because of the news about her being with the four noble young masters that night. The whole school were discussing this, bubbling with noise. When she walked on campus, there were always people pointing their fingers at her. Du Xiaoxian already got used to it, because she had always been the focus of people’s attention ever since she entered the school. However, she did not expect that even strangers would greet her. They would walk up to her and kindly nod at her, “Hi, Du Xiaoxian!”

Du Xiaoxian was always frightened by such sudden greetings. She could calmly ignore people’s contempt, but she was rather nervous and helpless facing their friendliness. Her usual response was a dumbfounded smile.

She was rushing to the teaching building with three pineapple buns in her hand, when suddenly someone called her, “Hi, Du Xiaoxian!”

Du Xiaoxian stopped and turned around. It was a boy that she didn’t know. He swaggered his way towards her with his hands in his trousers pockets. He was very tall, and his hair on his forehead was a little long, covering one side of his eyebrows. He eyed Du Xiaoxian up and down and asked with his chin raised, “Are you Du Xiaoxian?”

Du Xiaoxian nodded and moved her heels quietly, trying to keep a safe distance from him.

“You’re not as old-fashioned as they told me.” The boy said, “What are you up to?”

Du Xiaoxian took another step back nervously, “I…am going back to the classroom.”

The boy looked at the pineapple buns in her hand and laughed, “Turns out you were running errands.” He suddenly strode over and grabbed Du Xiaoxian’s hand, “Follow me!”

Du Xiaoxian was shocked and struggled at once, “What are you doing?”

“Come and play with big brother, yeah?” The boy didn’t let go of her. Du Xiaoxian was too anxious to hold onto the pineapple buns. She struggled and began to kick him with her feet. She couldn’t let other men touch her no matter what!

The boy probably did not expect that the seemingly weak Du Xiaoxian had such great strength. It was quite painful to be kicked on the knee by her. He was a little angry, so he forcefully twisted Du Xiaoxian’s hands behind her back and dragged her forward.

Suddenly, someone shouted, “Let go of her!”

Du Xiaoxian was facing his direction, but she did not see clearly where he came from, as if he had appeared out of thin air. The gentle looking boy with glasses glared at Yu Yuanpo angrily, “You, let go of her!”

“Cheng Mingchi, you’d better mind your own business!” Yu Yuanpo said fiercely.

“I’ll get involved no matter what.” Cheng Mingchi rushed over to save Du Xiaoxian.

Yu Yuanpo loosened his grip on Du Xiaoxian’s hand, but threw a punch at Cheng Mingchi. They were standing close to each other, Cheng Mingchi was so focused at pulling Du Xiaoxian that he didn’t manage to dodge the fist. Beaten right in the face, he found his nose bleeding immediately.

Seeing the blood, Yu Yuanpo was stunned for a moment and ran away at once.

Du Xiaoxian hurriedly squatted down to check on Cheng Mingchi, “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine.” Cheng Mingchi wiped his nose. The bright red blood on his hand looked terrifying. Seeing blood was still running out of his nose, Du Xiaoxian became anxious. She took a handkerchief out of her pocket and gave it to Cheng Mingchi, “Stuff it in your nose, or else it will keep bleeding.”

Cheng Mingchi looked at the snow-white handkerchief and hesitated, “No…no need.”

“Hurry up, the blood is reaching your mouth.” Du Xiaoxian became distressed, she furled her handkerchief and stuffed it into Cheng Mingchi’s nose, “Alright, raise your head high, and it will stop bleeding in a while.”

Cheng Mingchi sat on the ground and looked up at the sky, saying, “Thank you!”

“No, I should thank you.” Du Xiaoxian said, “I didn’t know there were bad people even in school.”

Cheng Mingchi smiled, “Bad people won’t have signs on their faces. How do you know? Most students in this school came from rich families. They have been spoiled to be domineering since childhood. Bullying people is a piece of cake for them. You just need to hide away from them in the future.”

Du Xiaoxian said, “Aren’t you from a rich family?”

“No.” Cheng Mingchi said, “My parents are just ordinary employees. I’m an exchange student, so I can study here. My name is Cheng Mingchi.”

Du Xiaoxian had heard Yang Liying talk about exchange students before, she immediately opened her eyes wide and said, “And then you must be doing very well in study!”

Cheng Mingchi smiled, “Not bad. Studying here is not so stressful. Students don’t care about grades that much, because they are all from rich families, even if they don’t do well in study, they still live a luxurious life. I’m different. If I don’t work hard, I’m afraid I won’t even be able to feed myself in the future.”

Du Xiaoxian lowered her head and thought to herself, if it weren’t for the young master, she probably wouldn’t even be able to fill her stomach either!

“My name is Du Xiaoxian, and I’m not from a rich family either.” She thought for a moment, but introduced herself anyway. She didn’t try to keep a safe distance from Cheng Mingchi, because she somehow felt quite close to him who had the same background with her.

“I know who you are.” Cheng Mingchi was still looking up, “But aren’t you a rich girl? I heard that you are quite familiar with those rich young masters!”

“I…” Du Xiaoxian pulled out a blade of grass and played with it in her hand, saying slowly, “Someone paid my school fees.”

“Oh.” Cheng Mingchi only answered and asked no further questions about this. He took off the handkerchief, touched his nose and found that the bleeding had stopped. He unfolded the handkerchief and said, “It’s dirty. Let me wash it before returning it to you.”

“No need,” Du Xiaoxian hurriedly waved her hand, “It’s yours now.” This handkerchief was an incomparably precious memento from her mother. However, Du Xiaoxian felt that no matter how precious it was, it could not be compared to Cheng Mingchi’s help just now. After all, he even had a nosebleed for her.

Cheng Mingchi picked up the pineapple buns on the ground and put them in Du Xiaoxian’s hands, “Go back to the classroom. It’s almost time for class.”

Du Xiaoxian gave him a pineapple bun and said, “Thank you, schoolmate Cheng Mingchi.”

Cheng Mingchi smiled, “When we meet again in the future, just called me by my name.”

Du Xiaoxian smiled, waved her hand at him and left with two pineapple buns.

The moment she returned to the classroom, Yang Liying complained that she didn’t have time to eat before class because Du Xiaoxian had been away for so long. Du Xiaoxian didn’t explain and just apologized to Wang Qian, “I lost one on the way back. I’ll buy you one next time.”

Wang Qian was very close to her now, so she didn’t mind, “It’s fine. Next time I’ll buy one for you.”

Yang Liying rolled her eyes at Wang Qian with a poker face and threw the pineapple bun into the desk. While Du Xiaoxian was wondering if she had made another new friend today. Gu Nianbin said that not everyone could become a friend and told her to keep her eyes open to see if the person was worth it. Now she began to understand his words. Yang Liying and Liu Tiantian were not real friends, because they were still domineering and always asking her to work and run errands for them. Du Xiaoxian did not care about doing things for them, but when they were compared to Wang Qian, the difference was very obvious. Wang Qian was kind to her now, she spoke kindly to her and smiled sincerely at her. She had a true friendship with Wang Qian, so she gave her pineapple bun to Cheng Mingchi because she knew that Wang Qian would not blame her.

When school ended in the afternoon, Du Xiaoxian saw Cheng Mingchi again. They were separated by a few people and nodded at each other with smiles. Wang Qian asked in a low voice, “Who is that?”

“His name is Cheng Mingchi, an exchange student.”

“That is Cheng Mingchi!” Wang Qian let out a low cry, “The one who was always in the top three?”

“I guess. If there’s no second Cheng Mingchi in our school, it’s him.” Du Xiaoxian said as she watched him riding a bicycle on the roadside and left.

Wang Qian shook her head, “It’s a pity that although he is talented, he doesn’t have a wealthy family. Otherwise, he would have a bright future!”

“I think he will have a bright future regardless of his family background.” Du Xiaoxian said.

“Alright, I agree. Enough about him.” Wang Qian held her arm and said, “It’s still early. Come with me to the mall.”

“What do you want to buy?”

“A present,” Wang Qian said, “Isn’t it Yang Liying’s birthday next month? I haven’t decided what to give her yet. Let’s take a look first! What are you giving her?”

Du Xiaoxian sighed, “I don’t know either! I’m not good at this.”

Wang Qian took the opportunity to ask, “Then how come you chose such a beautiful purse for me last time?”

Du Xiaoxian smiled embarrassedly, “I didn’t choose it. My brother helped me pick it. He knows better than me.”

“Your brother has a good taste.” Wang Qian said, “Introduce him to me sometime!” Since Du Xiaoxian was familiar with the noble young masters, her brother would not be an ordinary person. Or if Du Xiaoxian was really the illegitimate daughter who was just accepted by the family as Yang Liying said, her brother must also be a noble young master. It would be great if she could know him as a benefit of her close relationship with Du Xiaoxian.

Du Xiaoxian said awkwardly, “He is not my biological brother, and he is very busy, so he may not have time…”

Seeing her hesitation, Wang Qian confirmed her guess that Du Xiaoxian had a half-brother!

Du Xiaoxian texted Gu Nianbin that she wanted to go to the shopping mall with her schoolmate. Gu Nianbin agreed very happily, telling her not to worry about money and buy anything she liked using her card. Du Xiaoxian read his words and felt very sweet in her heart. She selected a hug emoji and sent it. Gu Nianbin would send her many kiss emoji every day. She was always embarrassed to text back the same emoji. At most, she would send a hug emoji to him. But Gu Nianbin was very happy to receive it anyway. As long as she dared to express her feelings, he would be very satisfied regardless of the content.

They arrived at Jinxiu Shopping Mall, the largest and most luxurious mall in G City, which offered only expensive and high-end goods. There weren’t many customers here, but the ones who chose to come here would all spend money generously.

The shopping environment of Jinxiu Shopping Mall was quite good. Its lobby was like a park with artificial hills, fountains, flowers and trees. There were also many benches with different shapes for customers to rest in.

Wang Qian led Du Xiaoxian through the lobby to the back. That was the real entrance to the mall. All kinds of products formed a dazzling display for Du Xiaoxian’s eyes. She stopped in front of a showcase of female shoes, carefully picked up a pair of shoes and looked at its price tag.

Wang Qian said, “Do you like it? I can buy it for you.”

Du Xiaoxian hurriedly shook her head. Although she didn’t care about price as much as before, she still thought it was too expensive. A pair of shoes cost more than 2,000 yuan!

“Try them on. They should fit you.” Wang Qian asked the shopping guide to help Du Xiaoxian try on the shoes.

Du Xiaoxian really liked this pair of shoes. She thought to herself that it would be OK if she just tried them on, so she sat down and put on the shoes. They were exactly her size and were very comfortable.

“It’s pretty. Shall I pay the bill?” Wang Qian said, “as a gift for you.”

Du Xiaoxian looked at the shoes in the mirror. They were fine and exquisite, fitting nicely on her feet. But she struggled slightly in her heart and said, “No…Let me look at something else.”

Wang Qian said, “Alright, we’ll buy them later if you don’t like other shoes.”

But with only a few steps out of the shop, they were caught up from behind by the shopping guide. She handed the packed shoes to Du Xiaoxian, “Miss, someone has bought these shoes for you.”