Chapter 97
Zhuang Chi followed An Chen out of the Presidium office, but before she had taken more than a few steps, she heard a bang from behind. It was Ling Jing, rushing out in a panic.
“Fighting is not good—ah, they haven’t started yet, that’s great!”
With a look of relief that said “I made it in time,” Ling Jing inserted herself between the two of them in three quick steps, spreading her arms like a mother hen protecting her chicks. “Count me in! I want to hear about the interview too!”
“…” An Chen looked down grimly at the hand she had placed in front of his chest. “You don’t look like you’re here to listen to me.”
Ling Jing couldn’t care less, spouting a string of nonsense with wide eyes as she righteously shielded Zhuang Chi behind her. An Chen grew angry just looking at her. “What are you doing? Do I really look like I was going to drag Zhuang Chi out for a fight!”
Hearing him say it himself, Ling Jing blinked and cautiously sized him up for a long moment before shaking her head solemnly. “Not really. You look more like the type to grab Zhuang Chi by the shoulders and shout at her, ‘I was the one who met Ximian first!’”
“…”
Not just An Chen, but Zhuang Chi was also speechless. Only now did she belatedly begin to worry that Ling Jing’s presence might just make things more chaotic. The veins on An Chen’s forehead were about to pop. He glared furiously at Ling Jing, who glared right back, not forgetting to whisper a small comfort to Zhuang Chi, “It’s okay, big sis is here, don’t worry. He can’t beat the two of us.”
She was already operating on the premise of a physical fight. And she was really getting the hang of this “big sis” role! Zhuang Chi started to get a headache and had to step in to smooth things over—how strange, wasn’t she supposed to be the one at the center of this?—and slightly separated the two, who were at daggers drawn. “Shouldn’t we find a place to sit down and talk first? We’re not far from the office right now, if we speak any louder, they’ll hear us inside…”
Under her mediation, An Chen first led them to an empty classroom. As he closed the door behind them, Ling Jing’s ears twitched, and she became even more alert than a police dog. “Isn’t this place a bit remote? There should be security cameras in this classroom, right?”
“Yes, yes, there are! Besides, I never intended to fight!”
An Chen was thoroughly exasperated by her. He sat down across from Zhuang Chi with a huff and sighed, “…About you and Ximian…”
“So you’re really starting with that, huh? No more preamble?”
…She also wanted to hear about the interview experience. Zhuang Chi muttered this softly, but An Chen shot her a glare, and she quietly shut her mouth. She then saw him continue with a melancholic and pained expression, “…I know you can’t force matters of the heart, but regarding your relationship, I really can’t offer my sincere blessings right now…”
“Hey, wait a minute, I—”
“Ximian and I grew up together. We were childhood sweethearts, innocent playmates…”
“…No, wait a second, Gu Ximian and I are still—”
“I started liking her back then. When she presented as an Omega, I was determined to present as an Alpha, and fortunately, my efforts paid off, and I really did—”
“—Gu Ximian and I are not dating yet!”
Once An Chen started talking, he couldn’t be stopped. Zhuang Chi had no choice but to take a firm stance and interrupt him. The effect was excellent. An Chen’s sorrowful “reminiscing” came to an abrupt halt, replaced by a complex expression of shock and bewilderment. He stammered as he repeated, “Not… not dating yet?”
Hearing him repeat it made her feel melancholic as well, but what wasn’t true, wasn’t true. She couldn’t just silently accept it—Gu Ximian hadn’t agreed to it, after all. Wouldn’t that ruin her reputation? Thinking this, Zhuang Chi nodded somewhat listlessly. “…Not yet.”
“Huh??”
Before An Chen could react, Ling Jing had already squeezed in front of her, her eyes filled with disbelief. “Why?? Didn’t you two kiss the day before yesterday? I didn’t see wrong, did I? She kissed you, right?”
…Having it said out loud like that was honestly a bit embarrassing. Zhuang Chi stammered, “Y-yes, we kissed, but…”
“!” An Chen finally reacted at this moment. He suddenly shot his head up, then ferociously pushed Ling Jing aside and leaned forward. “Don’t tell me you rejected Ximian! How could you reject her! She even kissed you! Zhuang Chi, what is wrong with you—”
Here we go again! An Chen’s old habit was acting up again! Did he want her to be with Gu Ximian or not! Zhuang Chi was bewildered. Before she could say anything, he grabbed her by the shoulders and started shaking her, looking both angry and indignant on Gu Ximian’s behalf. Zhuang Chi had to struggle to stop him, and Ling Jing, having come to her senses, joined in to hold down the furious An Chen. “You need to calm down first, we haven’t even gotten the full story. We have to let Zhuang Chi finish!”
As she spoke, she abruptly turned to Zhuang Chi, her long hair whipping An Chen in the face, but she paid it no mind. Her face was still a mask of disbelief and incredulity, but she was much more rational than An Chen, at least knowing to ask first, “…What on earth happened?”
She didn’t even know where to begin explaining. Zhuang Chi thought hard for a while before finally summarizing, “…I made her angry.”
“…” Ling Jing was silent for a long moment, then asked with a confused and blank expression, “Is your kissing technique that bad…?”
Zhuang Chi instinctively wanted to retort, “That’s not why she’s angry,” but the words caught in her throat. What stopped her from this thoughtless rebuttal was the memory of their kiss yesterday—hadn’t Gu Ximian seemed to get angrier and angrier after the kiss? As she thought about it, she suddenly became unsure and said hesitantly, “That… probably isn’t the reason, right…?”
“R-right, Gu Ximian doesn’t seem like the type to get angry over something like that,” Ling Jing said, also finding it a bit absurd. She then muttered, “…Besides, if that were the real reason, there’s no way to fix it. It’s not like you can find someone else to practice with, right?”
What outrageous words! Zhuang Chi shook her head vigorously at the thought. Ling Jing coughed dryly in embarrassment and changed the subject. “It’s fine, it’s fine. Eating jelly is the same, right? I’ve seen people say that eating jelly feels similar to kissing?”
“…” Zhuang Chi silently compared the two in her mind and said hesitantly, “…I don’t think they’re very similar?”
“—What on earth are you two talking about!”
An Chen, who had been held down in silence for a long time, finally couldn’t take it anymore. He slammed the table and stood up, glaring. “Stop talking about ki—hey, you, first tell us the specific reason you made Ximian angry!”
But the problem was that she couldn’t tell the two of them the specific reason. Zhuang Chi struggled to choose her words carefully, and could only be vague. “It’s just that I’ve been hiding some things from her, and I only officially told her yesterday. Then she got angry and said she’d only forgive me after seeing my future performance…”
“…” Ling Jing listened, her mouth half-open, looking like a not-so-bright cat. She made a sincere guess, “…Future performance? Don’t tell me she’s really talking about your kissing technique?”
“Stop bringing that up!” An Chen’s face was flushed red. He wiped his face irritably, feeling as if all his hair was standing on end. But after thinking for a moment, he slowly calmed down. “…But it’s not entirely without reason. That might be one of the criteria.”
“?!”
Zhuang Chi was devastated, overcome with immense self-doubt. An Chen sat back down, arms crossed, and analyzed with what seemed like a very rational and reliable expression, “In other words, Ximian is not satisfied with your past performance—and this performance might not just refer to one aspect, but perhaps many things, like the aforementioned ki-kissing technique.”
He stumbled over the word. An Chen composed himself and continued, “That is to say, as long as you make improvements and show your improved performance and good attitude to Ximian, then—wait a minute, why am I helping you analyze this! I should be taking this golden opportunity to pursue Ximian myself!”
He suddenly came to his senses mid-sentence. Zhuang Chi watched An Chen abruptly stand up. She felt that what he had just said made a lot of sense and wanted to hear more, so she humbly asked for advice, “How do you plan to pursue her? Can you teach me too?”
“Who would teach their own love rival?! Your attitude of not seeing anyone as an enemy is really infuriating sometimes! Even a Samoyed has more vigilance than you!”
It seemed she had been scolded. Zhuang Chi lowered her head with some regret, thinking she would have to figure it out on her own. Just then, Ling Jing darted over, pushing An Chen aside with an air of unshirkable duty. “Stingy! It’s okay, big sis is here. I’ll analyze it for you!”
“First!” she said, raising a finger with great seriousness, then fell silent for a long time before finally squeezing out, “…Don’t make Gu Ximian angry.”
“…”
Wasn’t the whole reason for this conversation today because she had made Gu Ximian angry?
Zhuang Chi silently pressed her lips together. Judging from An Chen’s expression, it seemed he had used a great deal of effort to swallow the word “obviously.”
After saying it, Ling Jing couldn’t keep a straight face either and hurriedly added, “In short, just don’t do things she doesn’t like. For example, when I sent my hawk to snatch her inhibitor ring, that was a bad example… Ah, I know! You can’t be rash and rush things!”
Oh, that sounded like it made some sense. Zhuang Chi nodded humbly, listening to Ling Jing ramble on. “Even if you’re anxious, you have to take it slow. You absolutely can’t try to take shortcuts just because you’re in a hurry. That will just annoy her!”
“Second!” Perhaps feeling that what she had just said was particularly insightful, Ling Jing was much more confident with her second point. She said earnestly, “When you have time, reflect on your kissing technique.”
Zhuang Chi shuddered as a few bizarre images flashed through her mind, and she fell into deep self-doubt.
“…Sigh, let me take the third point.”
Probably unable to listen anymore, An Chen finally sighed and rejoined the conversation. “In the end, only one thing is most important: you have to respect her wishes.”
“Ask for her opinion before doing anything, and don’t be presumptuous when she hasn’t said yes…” His words were somewhat pointed. An Chen glanced at Zhuang Chi and snorted lightly. “Especially since you two aren’t together yet, you need to be mindful when talking to others. Otherwise, if others get the wrong idea, it might make Ximian angry… Speaking of which, maybe we should have the Propaganda Department ask fewer questions about you two—or just not ask about your relationship at all? Wouldn’t Ximian find it awkward?”
…That seemed reasonable. Just as Zhuang Chi was thinking it would be better not to ask, she heard Ling Jing, who was putting her learning into practice, have a sudden realization. “You just said to ask for Gu Ximian’s opinion before doing anything, so why don’t we just go ask her about this?”
And just like that, the three of them trooped back to the Presidium office. The moment they entered, they were met by three pairs of eyes, which made Zhuang Chi feel quite uncomfortable. She was practically walking with the same arm and leg forward by the time she reached her seat. But she remembered her task. Shortly after sitting down, she peeked over at Gu Ximian, only to meet her gaze. Before she could speak, Gu Ximian beat her to it. “What did you guys talk about? You were gone for so long.”
“Just… chatted casually,” Zhuang Chi said, blinking guiltily, not expecting to be addressed first. She forced the topic to change. “We talked about the interview. Speaking of which, do you think it’s better to ask the Propaganda Department not to ask about us? They’re going to write a promotional article and post it for the school. If they really publish it…”
The more she spoke, the more she felt that given the St. Blaisedon students’ penchant for drama, there was no telling how the Propaganda Department would embellish the story if left unchecked. She thought Gu Ximian would, nine times out of ten, agree to tell them not to ask. But after waiting for a long time, she heard Gu Ximian say, “…It’s nothing. If they want to ask, just let them.”
“…?”
The answer was the complete opposite of what she expected. Zhuang Chi looked over in astonishment, only to see Gu Ximian avert her gaze. Her voice, however, was very calm. “It’s something that’s already happened. Hiding it would seem stranger.”
…Oh, that made sense too. Zhuang Chi, who found reason in everything she heard, nodded in understanding, then hesitated. “Then… if they really ask a lot about that, how should I answer?”
“…” Gu Ximian pursed her lips, trying to look nonchalant as she said softly, “Whatever. Just answer truthfully.”
It would be great if they published the article, Gu Ximian thought. It would be best if everyone knew how close she and Zhuang Chi were. As long as there were no strange questions, it wouldn’t be a problem to create the atmosphere she wanted—one where everyone would automatically associate her with Zhuang Chi, where mentioning one would naturally bring up the other. Gu Ximian wanted that atmosphere, where everyone tacitly acknowledged that they belonged to each other.
With that kind of atmosphere, it would be easier to either push Zhuang Chi into action or for her to continue giving Zhuang Chi hints… Sigh, why was she even thinking about these things? She was racking her brains, constantly scheming. Was this what it was like for other people when they wanted to be in a relationship?
Gu Ximian felt a little melancholic, but she quickly cheered up, placing high hopes on the promotional article that hadn’t even been written yet.
The Propaganda Department moved quickly. They completed the interview with Zhuang Chi that same day, and just one day later, the promotional article was posted on the official account and the forum.
Gu Ximian clicked on it the first chance she got, only to find that for some reason, this year’s Propaganda Department had unexpectedly asked mostly serious questions about the ball. She scrolled for a long time before finally finding the single question about their relationship.
【Next is a personal question, just a quick one to satisfy everyone’s curiosity: Are you and student Gu Ximian currently dating?】
…The moment she saw the question, her heart sank. A very ominous premonition washed over her. Gu Ximian silently read on.
【Zhuang Chi: …Um… Not yet.】
Gu Ximian flipped her phone face down, closed her eyes, and only after a long while did she let out a deep sigh.
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