Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Zhong Rufeng watched her back view—her thin shoulders exposed to the air, her slim waist seemed ready to break at the slightest touch, and her slender body so frail that it made one enamored of her. Yet, her spine was burning with elegance, so pencil-straight that it was like a powerful sword which could puncture the sky, quietly towering amongst the colds, emitting an unbending aura.
He looked towards the light at her—the sunlight shining upon her body actually made him feel burned as if a moth darting into flames!
He suddenly went after her with large strides.
“I’ll show you around the school grounds! Get you familiarized with the surroundings!” Zhong Rufeng said as he walked alongside her with a large stride, tilting his head slightly to look at her beautiful, elegant face.
Wen Xinya was also quite fond of Zhong Rufeng. After all, he had saved her once previously, was Grandfather Zhong’s grandson, and was even the future mayor of the capital city—she had much to gain and nothing to lose to be in his good books. Thus, she smiled and nodded. “Okay! Trouble you, the honorable ex-president of the student union at Lan Feng, to show me around.”
She spoke with a playful tone characteristic of young girls, the smile on her face was like white snow melting for the first time, with pure, childlike innocence, making his heart skip a beat for no reason. “Let’s go, the quaint scenery at Lan Feng Institute is exquisite in many ways, very much worth a look.”
Zhong Rufeng brought Wen Xinya on a trail within the school premises of Lan Feng. The trail was laid with exquisite and smooth cobblestones, with gorgeous and feminine crepe myrtle flowers planted along both sides of the trail, their branches reaching out in a thousand soft postures—all lovely, timid, and frail. It was the blooming season of crepe myrtle flowers—white, red, and purple crepe myrtle flowers were decked out in full bloom, extremely beautiful.
“So pretty!” Wen Xinya praised uncontrollably.
Zhong Rufeng watched as her beautiful face complemented the brilliant branches full of gorgeous crepe myrtle flowers, right at the pinnacle of their youths. “These crepe myrtle trees are already rather aged—look, the tree trunks are smooth and clean, showing off their veins.”
Wen Xinya knew that the crepe myrtle trees grew and shredded their outer skins every year, and only the older crepe myrtle trees did not grow outer skins anymore. “I heard that the crepe myrtle trees are quite ticklish—not sure if it’s true.”
Zhong Rufeng listened to her childlike words and chuckled uncontrollably. “You’ll know after trying.”
Wen Xinya indeed stretched her hand out to touch the outstretched branches. Instantly, the branches and leaves of the tree swayed and quivered, even giving off meek hustling sounds. She widened her eyes and said, “Indeed, it’s true. How amazing.”
Her slightly widened eyes sparkled with a smart glow, as if the sun’s rays suddenly gathered, so shimmery and outstanding that made one unable to shift his eyes away. He suddenly thought of a phrase, then felt a gush of impulse, and broke a branch full of the most gorgeous crepe myrtle flowers off.
As the crepe myrtle flowers lying in his palm, he looked blankly at them with a palpitating heart.
Teasing the branches of the crepe myrtle trees continuously, Wen Xinya was having a lot of fun when she realized that Zhong Rufeng did not catch up. She instinctively turned back to look at him and saw him looking at his palm, zoning out.
“What’re you looking at—you’re zoning out.” Wen Xinya strolled back to him and looked at his palm. When she saw the crepe myrtle flowers lying within his palm, she couldn’t help but tease him. “The honorable President Zhong, is your behavior considered damaging plants within the school premises?”
“There’s an old saying: ‘Gather ye rosebuds while ye may, for the same flower that smiles today, tomorrow will be dying!’ I’m being poetic,” said Zhong Rufeng confidently, instinctively looking at her hair which was tied up loosely in a bun, sealed with a yellow rosewood hairpin—how perfectly beautiful it would be if paired with a crepe myrtle flower.
Wen Xinya laughed uncontrollably. “Hurry, stop talking like this—this style doesn’t suit you. If it were Si…”
Wen Xinya’s words suddenly trailed off. She suddenly thought of Si Yiyan—the way Zhong Rufeng talked just now was so much like Si Yiyan. However, the tone was different—Zhong Rufeng had spoken confidently, making one laugh. If it were Si Yiyan, he would have definitely expressed it with a meaningful tone of voice, with a tinge of humor, making her thoughts run wild.
She also recalled how he had bunned her hair up for her, drawn her eyebrows, and filled in her makeup that day, subconsciously making comparisons between him and Chu Jingnan in her heart!
She realized that whether was it looks, background, or mannerisms, Si Yiyan was far superior to Chu Jingnan.
Compared to Si Yiyan, Chu Jingnan was like scum!
No! The two of them simply couldn’t be compared!
“What were you saying?” Zhong Rufeng noticed her expression—in a dilemma one moment, deep in thoughts the next, ever-changing, and vaguely conjured a sense of danger. Si… obviously, a person’s name followed. Who was he? Who was able to trigger such rich and varied expressions in Wen Xinya?
With a smile, Wen Xinya gathered the emotions on her face. “Nothing much. Just suddenly thought of a friend!”
Zhong Rufeng nodded plainly without asking further, gradually strolling out of the crepe myrtle flowers trail. The scenery opened up into an extremely huge lake. The clear waters of the lake shimmered under the sunlight, as thin bits of light rays danced on the surface of the lake—it was very beautiful.
Not far away, a groove of planted black bamboo emitted a refreshing bamboo scent. Seen dotting the green lawn were wooden benches constructed of elm—massive, sturdy, appealing to refined and popular tastes, and, although rather aged, showed no signs of degeneration, instead, appearing vintage, like they had braved through the storms of life.
Many pairs of couples sat all around. Wen Xinya whispered, “Lan Feng Institute allows its students to date at a young age?”
Smiling, Zhong Rufeng replied, “Naturally, it’s not allowed. While the institute bans dating at a young age, it’s an extremely tricky issue. As long as it doesn’t affect the students’ results and doesn’t negatively affect the institute, with guys and girls coming and going in pairs on academic pretexts, the institute turns a blind eye to them.”
Wen Xinya nodded, feeling that standing here with Zhong Rufeng alone, at such a nice place with beautiful scenery, amongst pairs of lovey-dovey couples, seemed rather awkward. “Let’s have a look elsewhere!”
Zhong Rufeng happily agreed and brought her elsewhere.
And Zhong Rufeng, as the ex-president of the student union of Lan Feng Institute, with an outstanding background and good looks, naturally attracted lots of attention. Many people came up to greet him, and some girls even shrieked in excitement.
Everyone was intrigued by Wen Xinya who was beside Zhong Rufeng, guessing that she could be Zhong Rufeng’s girlfriend. Guys thought Zhong Rufeng had a great taste, with a pretty and elegant girlfriend, and girls looked at Wen Xinya with eyes filled with judgment, jealousy, and envy!
Even Wen Xinya couldn’t help but mock him. “The honorable President Zhong’s fame spreads far and wide! Indeed directly known as the chick magnet—along the way I’ve been attacked by those girls’ stares as if I’d stirred up a hornet’s nest! If stares could kill, I’d definitely have already died a few thousand times. I’ve yet to even formally attend school, but have already gathered such exaggerated hatred—the honorable President Zhong indeed befits the title of the 21st-century male version of the Helen of Troy.”
And Zhong Rufeng’s response was only a helpless smile—he had originally thought that school had just only started today, and there would be few people around the campus. Who would have known…
