TFS | Chapter 3

Xu Linruan gave him a faint glance, said neither yes nor no, and Qi Yue took that as agreement and left feeling completely satisfied.

Until noon, he never showed up again.

Xu Linruan finished her morning classes one by one as usual. Right before lunch, Qi Yue sent her a message saying he had something come up at noon and would not be coming to find her.

Xu Linruan looked at her phone, did not care at all, and stuffed it back into her desk drawer.

Ding-a-ling…

As soon as the bell rang and the last class ended, the classroom instantly grew noisy. The students rushed toward the cafeteria, impatient to get there. Only after most of them had left did Xu Linruan gather up her textbooks and walk out of the classroom at an unhurried pace.

Originally, Qi Yue had planned to come over and find her directly, but then he thought that being too proactive would make him seem cheap, so he deliberately sent a message like that, planning to leave her hanging for a while.

His good buddy Xu Zhou happened to glance at his phone and raised a brow with a light chuckle. “Oh? You’re actually serious?” He stood up, slinging his jacket over one shoulder in a carefree, handsome motion. “Can’t tell at all, Qi Yue. You even bet yourself into the wager?”

The young master was already feeling impatient. He grabbed a book from the side and threw it at him. “Bet your mom.”

Xu Zhou reached out and caught the book, then asked in surprise, “What’s wrong? You got your feelings guessed, so now you’re lashing out in embarrassment?”

“But that’s understandable, too. A pretty girl like Xu Linruan, it makes sense if you end up falling for her.”

Qi Yue rolled his eyes at him and shoved his phone into his pocket. “What’s the joke? What kind of person do you think I am, Qi Yue? If it weren’t for the wager, do you think I’d be serving some young miss so humbly? What a joke!”

So what if she was pretty? He had seen plenty of pretty girls.

Xu Zhou let out an “oh” and looked at him with an expression that clearly said he was enjoying the show. “Then what was that considerate little message for? You got too deep into the act, so now you can’t pull out?”

“How could that be? It’s only because that woman wanted to break up with me!”

The moment he brought that up, the young master could not help grinding his teeth. Tell me, why did she have to do that? Fine, break up if she wanted to, but then she had to go and humiliate him too. Wasn’t that just obviously looking down on him?

He thought to himself that aside from being a little bad at school, he did not really have any other flaws. He had money, he had looks, so why did she look down on him? Why did she want to break up with him?

Was it because she smiled nicely?

What was so great about that?

Who did she think she was, huh?

The young master had always had this bizarre confidence in his own charm. In his mind, he was only ever the one who dumped other people. There had never been a case of anyone dumping him.

That was the classic line of the Qi family’s young master, always this shamelessly double standard.

Xu Zhou looked at him with a strange expression.

Qi Yue lifted his brows naturally. “Why are you looking at me like that? What, too much?” He crossed his arms, a hint of malice in his eyes.

“Besides, who told her to offend me first? I’m exactly that petty. She dumped me first and still dared to bad-mouth me. Of course I have to get revenge hard.”

“Cough, so, did Xu Linruan dump you?”

“…”

Damn it. I said all that, and you still can’t just pretend you didn’t hear something this embarrassing?

Qi Yue was so angry he ground his teeth, and before he could stop himself, he threw another book at him.

Xu Zhou dodged it easily. Seeing that he was still angry, he smiled and patted him on the shoulder. “All right, stop being mad. It’s just a bet, nothing serious.”

Qi Yue crossed his legs and said in a very spoiled, very arrogant tone, “No way. If I don’t finish the wager, how humiliating would that be? I still don’t believe it. With my IQ, I can’t even take down one Xu Linruan?”

Xu Zhou chuckled with both hands in his pockets. “Forget it. I think you’re just getting worked up. It’s only Xu Linruan. Does she really deserve you putting this much thought into her?”

“Right, a billiards hall just opened near the school. The place looks pretty good. Since you don’t have class this afternoon anyway, want to check it out together?”

“Get lost. I’m broke.”

…

Even though they both kept saying they had no money, they still went to the billiards hall together. The elevator took them straight up to the seventeenth floor and into a very nice private room. Three or four billiards tables stood in the center, sofas lined both sides, and several boys who were fairly familiar with them sat in front of the counter.

The moment they saw the two of them, they came over at once, complaining, “Why are you only getting here now? We’ve already played several rounds.”

Qi Yue rolled his eyes contemptuously. “You should be grateful I even came. Shut up already.”

The young master walked to the billiards table, took the cue from one of the boys nearby, and took a shot. The balls exploded across the table. The boy next to him could not help twitching his mouth. After not practicing for a long time, this guy’s skills were still just as, uh, dazzling.

Qi Yue did not care. He was the kind of person whose enthusiasm lasted three minutes. After playing for a while, he found it boring and, losing interest, tossed the cue onto the table and casually found a seat to play on his phone.

The girl sitting beside him inexplicably felt her ears heat up. Qi Yue did not notice that someone was beside him, but Xu Zhou had good eyes. Seeing the girl’s cheeks turn red, he could not resist teasing him. “Qi Yue, are you blind? There’s such a pretty girl sitting there and you didn’t even notice? You’re out playing and still glued to your phone?”

Qi Yue looked up and glanced at him, then cursed, “None of your business.” Only when he turned around did he notice the girl sitting beside him. She was wearing a white dress, had fair skin and big eyes, and looked decent enough.

He casually swept his gaze over her before looking back down at his phone, looking too lazy to deal with her.

The girl did not seem to mind his coldness much. After being teased by Xu Zhou a few times, she relaxed somewhat too. She stood up, went to the counter to get a bottle of drink, and handed it to Qi Yue. Looking at him shyly, she said, “Qi… Qi Yue, I’m Song Yimin from the middle school next door. This is for…”

Before she could finish, Qi Yue could not help but wave her hand away. He said with some impatience, “You’re blocking my light. Move over to the side.”

The girl stood still. She had probably been stunned by his words and did not react for a moment.

The young master was not a patient person to begin with, and he was used to getting his own way. His brows snapped together at once as he looked up at her. “I told you to move to the side. Did you not hear me? How am I supposed to type like this?”

Song Yimin finally reacted and immediately retreated to the side with red-rimmed eyes. She had heard that the reputation of the school bully from First High was terrible, but she had not expected his personality to be this awful.

She had never in her life met such an ill-mannered boy. The girl’s face turned ugly at once, but the boy in front of her was not someone she could afford to offend, so she could only hold back her grievance and sit off to one side with the drink.

Xu Zhou, sitting nearby, watched the show with a smile. If one had to say, Qi Yue was really merciless when he got sharp-tongued. Look how wronged the girl had become, her eyes red as anything.

Several girls who had come with them looked rather pleased at Song Yimin’s humiliation. On the surface, they spoke words of comfort, but inwardly they were dismissive. Who told you to bring drinks to him so eagerly? Qi Yue already had a girlfriend, and you still deliberately pushed yourself in. Who else would he snap at if not you?

Song Yimin sat on the other side with reddened eyes, her fingers absentmindedly twisting the sofa. The girl beside her, Jiang Mian, could not hold back any longer. This guy was way too much, treating girls with absolutely no manners at all.

She stood up and walked over to Qi Yue. He was carelessly playing on his phone. While he was busy typing, Jiang Mian forcefully snatched his phone away. Qi Yue did not react at first, but once he came to his senses, he immediately flew into a rage. Who the hell was looking to die, daring to grab his stuff?

He looked up, and the girl’s voice came from in front of him. “Hey, isn’t this going too far? Yimin kindly brought you a drink, and it’s fine if you don’t appreciate it, but you actually told her to move farther away!”

The girl standing before Qi Yue was dressed in a school uniform. She had a delicate, cute face, her hands on her hips, cheeks round, and even with such a fierce expression she still looked very harmless. Xu Zhou, glancing over a few times, seemed to have developed some interest.

Several girls nearby had gathered to watch the show.

Qi Yue gave Jiang Mian a sweeping look as if she were an idiot. His tone was disgusted and impatient. “Where the hell did this bumpkin come from? Do you have no eyes? I told her to move farther away, so what’s it to you? Who gave you the nerve to grab my stuff? You think I’ll go soft just because you’re a girl? I’m telling you one more time, give me the phone!”

His tone was rather harsh, and his expression was not good either, especially since he said it in front of so many people he knew.

The atmosphere suddenly turned a little subtle.

The girls sitting on the sofas wore expressions of schadenfreude, while Song Yimin looked nervously at Jiang Mian, a trace of embarrassment appearing on her face.

The other boys, on the other hand, looked as though they had seen it all before. Clearly, they were very familiar with Qi Yue’s personality.

Jiang Mian’s face turned red with anger. Her chest felt tight. She clutched the phone tightly and hid it behind her back, looking at him aggrievedly. “Why are you cursing at people? Is bullying girls really something to be proud of?”

Qi Yue stood up. Perhaps because of his height, the moment he rose he gave off an overbearing air. With his arms crossed, he carried himself like he was above everyone else, arrogant and annoying enough to make people want to punch him. “Who cares about you? Give me back my phone now.”

Xu Zhou, who knew him fairly well, also understood what kind of person Qi Yue was. He was a troublemaking devil, and he would not become tender or considerate just because the other person was a girl. In his eyes, men and women were the same. Whoever made him unhappy, he bullied them hard.

The girl’s face looked rather awkward. She bit her lip and tucked the phone into her pocket, maintaining a stubborn front. “No, unless you apologize first…”

Qi Yue grew even more impatient. “Who do you think you are? Why should I apologize to you?” As he spoke, he reached out to snatch the phone back from her.

Jiang Mian stumbled back in panic.

As he suddenly drew near, she felt a little flustered and her face heated up. For some reason, her heartbeat sped up a little. She could only raise her voice to hide her panic. “W-what are you trying to do?”