Chapter 10

Ke Chengwen diffidently chose not to answer this question. Instead, he directly changed the topic. “Xi ge, why don’t you just get someone to move her table back?”

Fu Yangxi raised an eyebrow as a form of warning: “?”

Ke Chengwen was oblivious to the danger around him as he continued to plan, “Or you could beat around the bush. You can force the homeroom teacher to arrange for you guys to sit together. Then when she’s here, you can pretend as if you’re pissed because the homeroom teacher forced you guys to sit together. Wouldn’t that conveniently allow her to sit back here?  It could also save you from the possibility of getting cervical spondylosis because of how you have been continuously turning to look at her.”

When Fu Yangxi heard the last sentence, he almost picked up a book to hurl it at Ke Chengwen’s head. “She’s the one pursuing me, not the other way around! When did you see that I wanted her to move back here?”

Ke Chengwen retracted his head.

Fu Yangxi was about to explode in anger. “Why did you come up with such a messed up idea? Did I say that I wanted to be her desk mate? Didn’t you see that I was getting better sleep due to her minding her own business for the whole of this morning?”

“Yes.” Ke Chengwen quickly agreed with his words. “Like I said, why would Xi ge want her to be his desk mate?”

Fu Yangxi scoffed arrogantly.

Ke Chengwen continued to suck-up to him. “Sigh, I think that the transfer student doesn’t know how to appreciate favors. She actually wants to try playing hard to get with you.”

However, Fu Yangxi furrowed his brows. “How could you talk about her like that?”

Ke Chengwen: “…?”

Fu Yangxi said, “It’s only normal for her to be sad because I moved her table away so early in the morning. Don’t gauge the heart of a girl with your own mean measure. ‘Playing hard to get’ is such a bad term.”

Ke Chengwen: “—”

Fine. It was his fault.

It’s so difficult to survive as a male.

Two periods of afternoon class passed in the blink of an eye.

As there was an evening self-study session today, the teachers of various subjects gave a little more homework. Furthermore, as Mingxi was busy answering the messages on the discussion about replacing some students for exams, she couldn’t spend time on figuring out ways to approach Fu Yangxi.

She looked at her pot which had not grown at all today. It was still stuck at seven buds. She felt a little worried. “Fu Yangxi hates me. He’s unwilling to sit beside me. What other ideas do you have so that I can increase a lot of my luck in one shot?”

If she only relied on running errands for him or giving him sweets, only two or three buds would grow each time and that was far too slow.

She didn’t know how long she would need to keep this up.

The system said: “You have read novels before, right?”

Mingxi: “Yeah. I read a lot of them.”

The system asked: “When you read those novels, which parts would make your heartbeat speed up in happiness?”

Mingxi thought for a moment before saying, “That would naturally be when the main characters make physical contact with each other.”

“That’s it,” the system said. “Your actions of sending Fu Yangxi gifts and helping him run laps can only be perceived by the readers of the original novel as you turning from a side character to one of his followers. Although they might feel better about you, it’s not much— Will you remember the followers of a popular character? Therefore your luck won’t increase by a lot when you do these things.”

“However— If you can go beyond being a popular character’s follower and have more interactions with them, then the amount of luck you can obtain at one go would greatly increase.”

Mingxi understood it immediately. “If I physically touch the people on the list I will obtain more luck?”

System: “Yes.”

Mingxi felt unsettled. The mere act of wanting to sit beside Fu Yangxi had earned her nothing but glares full of unwillingness.

If she was to launch herself into his arms, she would be beaten to death by Fu Yangxi at the age of 17 instead of dying in this life at the age of 23 due to cancer.

The system encouraged her. “You should just give it a try, see how many buds will grow if you touch his skin. I don’t think he will hit you if you accidentally made contact with him.”

Mingxi started to think of ways to touch Fu Yangxi in a way that would seem purely accidental.

After all this talk, it seemed like she would still have to be Fu Yangxi’s deskmate.

Only when they are seated together can no one notice if she accidentally touched Fu Yangxi’s elbow and apologize.

*

Mingxi didn’t know if her will to live was so strong that even God had heard her.

In the middle of the second period, when the homeroom teacher saw that she was sitting alone in the last row, she actually called her up and asked her if she had adjusted well to the class.

Mingxi immediately seized the opportunity and shook her head. “I’m not used to it. That spot is too far from the board.”

Mingxi didn’t say much. Her eyes were black and her hair was soft and obedient-like.

She left a great impression on the homeroom teacher. She asked, “Then where do you want to change your seat to?”

Mingxi hesitated for a short while before saying. “I think the only remaining seat is the one beside Fu Yangxi.”

The moment the homeroom teacher heard the name of this overlord, she knit her eyebrows so strongly that it could probably wedge and kill a fly. “You want to sit with him? I think you would prefer to sit alone.”

Nonetheless, Mingxi was adamant. “Just let me sit there. Fu Yangxi’s English is very good and he can help me… Actually, he is quite a nice person.”

The last sentence was spoken against Mingxi’s will.

Anyway, no matter if the homeroom teacher agrees to her proposition or not, there was no harm in trying.

*

Outside the door, Ke Chengwen who had brought a bunch of people to listen in on their conversation was shocked. He quickly ran back to the International Class.

“Xi ge, the transfer student just told the teacher that she wants to sit beside you!”

A follower mimicked Mingxi’s tone and spoke softly to Fu Yangxi, “Just let me sit there. Fu Yangxi is quite a nice person.”

“Leave me alone.” This time, Fu Yangxi was completely awake. He grabbed hold of a book and threw it on the board with a loud ‘thud’. That boy quickly moved away. Meanwhile, the whole class was in an uproar.

Fu Yangxi scratched his head in annoyance. Although he was trying his best to appear angry and frustrated, the tips of his ears couldn’t help but to flush red.

What is up with the transfer student? Why is she so clingy? She can’t even hold it in for one day. Seeing as how she didn’t do anything this whole morning, I thought she had already given up. But in the end, she secretly went and made such a request to the homeroom teacher.

She is really so clingy!

Mingxi who had just returned from the office could hear the noise coming from her class even from a distance. However the moment she entered, everyone went quiet.

Around 40 pairs of eyes were staring at her.

? What happened?

The homeroom teacher stuck her head out from behind and said to Fu Yangxi, “Get a few people to move Zhao Mingxi’s seat back. Don’t bully the transfer student. How impolite of you to let a girl sit alone in the last row?!”

The followers in the class all looked at Fu Yangxi.

If Fu Yangxi didn’t say anything then they wouldn’t dare to make a move.

Fu Yangxi had his arms and legs crossed. He glared at the homeroom teacher with a dark expression.

But inside, he was feeling anxious—

What is wrong with these people? Why aren’t they listening to the homeroom teacher’s instructions?

The homeroom teacher was so exasperated that her head was beginning to hurt. “Move it!”

Still no one budged.

Fu Yangxi: “…”

Fu Yangxi furrowed his brows and put down his leg. He stood up in annoyance before mumbling with an unwilling expression, “I’ll do this one favor for the homeroom teacher. Move it.”

Two followers immediately began to make the move.

When the homeroom teacher saw this, she glared at Fu Yangxi. Only after that did she take her books and leave.

Just like this, a short while later, Mingxi followed after them with her books and sat beside Fu Yangxi once more.

*

As the lesson was beginning, the noisy atmosphere in the class had no choice but to quiet down.

Mingxi secretly glanced to her side at Fu Yangxi. Fu Yangxi continued to sleep with his jacket tucked underneath his head. He had his noise-cancelling headphones on while his head was buried in his arms. She couldn’t see his expression, but his ears were flushed red. It was almost as red as the arrogant color of his hair— Mingxi assumed that he was angry.

He was probably extremely furious for being forced to sit with her.

She came to a conclusion that Fu Yangxi probably hated her even more now that she had done such a thing. This might badly affect her when she approaches him in the future, hence she wrote a note.

[I’m sorry. It was the homeroom teacher who arranged it. I didn’t know about this as well.]

Mingxi was very careful with her words.

Fu Yangxi opened one eye and looked over from his arms. He watched as a long and jade-white finger pressed on a note and pushed it over to him gently. Then, as if it was escaping, the finger retracted quickly.

The note that she gave him was as if it carried a hint of warmth.

Fu Yangxi snorted and did not raise his handsome face which was flushed red.

He only reached out two fingers and pulled the paper to him in a manner as if he was annoyed.

After taking a glimpse at the content of the note, the corner of Fu Yangxi’s lips couldn’t help but to curl up.

It’s obvious that she was the one who asked the homeroom teacher to change her seat, yet she’s telling me otherwise.

Liar.

He understood.

A girl’s crush is like a poem, right?

Fu Yangxi scoffed and raised his head. He used his left hand to cover his face, conveniently covering up the redness in his cheeks. With his right hand, he picked up the pen on the table and quickly wrote a few words on the note.

Then, he bunched it up and threw it back.

As he wasn’t looking, he missed and the note ended up at the right corner of Mingxi’s table.

The teacher who was at the podium seemed to be approaching them.

Fu Yangxi immediately reached out to take it.

Zhao Mingxi stole a glimpse at him. She felt that this was a good opportunity so she pretended to take the note as well. She wondered how many buds would grow from pretending to bump into his hand.

As opportunities seldom knocks twice, Mingxi immediately reached out her hand.

As expected, both their fingers came in contact with each other.

Fu Yangxi’s fingers were cold and he instantly felt the softness and warmth coming from the girl’s fingers.

As if he had been electrocuted, he retracted his hands in anger. He questioned her with a whisper, “What are you doing?”

“Sorry.” Mingxi apologized softly as well.

Then, Mingxi opened the note. Fu Yangxi only wrote a cold word on it: “Whatever.”

Mingxi let out a sigh of relief. Although Fu Yangxi didn’t seem to be happy about this, he was too lazy to fight against the homeroom teacher due to such a small matter. With this, there seems to be some progress and she can now sit on this seat in peace.

Mingxi then raised her head and immediately noticed that five new buds had grown in her pot.

In addition to the initial seven, she now had a total of 12 buds.

What’s going on? So much had grown just because our hands touched for the first time???

Mingxi wanted so bad to touch the hands of every single person at the top of the list.

Fu Yangxi continued to use the book to cover his face. Through the corner of his eyes, he saw how Mingxi’s eyes were unabashedly curled up in happiness.

His face instantly flushed red as well and his heartbeat sped up.

—Did she have to act like this? She only touched his hand. It wasn’t as if she had won him over. Did she have to be this happy?

So clingy. What am I to do in the future?