Chapter 4: Consider It Repayment

The bouquet suddenly thrust into her arms left Xia Zhiwei momentarily stunned. Then she looked up warily.

Only when she saw that the person in front of her was Su Ze did her instinctively tensed body relax.

She glanced at the crowd around them, then at Lin Wan’er standing a short distance away with a livid face, and more or less understood the situation.

She didn’t speak right away. Instead, she quietly hugged the roses a little tighter.

Then she turned to face Su Ze of her own accord and stepped closer to his side.

The spectators were dumbfounded.

Nobody had expected Su Ze to switch the target of his confession without warning. And his new target was none other than Xia Zhiwei, the campus beauty ranked first in the poll for the prettiest girl among the first-years.

Not far away, Wang Tao was reeling too.

Hang on, Su. Wasn’t this supposed to be your third confession to Lin Wan’er?

How had you suddenly veered off course and given the flowers to Xia Zhiwei instead? A little warning would have been nice!

More importantly, when had Su got involved with her?

Down in the basement?

No, that couldn’t be right. They had barely been in there! Even if Su Ze was a master of romance, surely he couldn’t land a girlfriend the very first time they met?

Wang Tao’s head was full of questions, but he quickly realized what he ought to do.

Whatever Su was playing at, as his friend he had one job: back him up!

He immediately straightened his back and marched proudly over to Su Ze’s side.

He had no idea how he could help, but they couldn’t afford to lose on sheer presence. They could figure out the rest later!

Lin Wan’er, meanwhile, had a more spectacular range of expressions on her face than anyone else in the corridor.

The sight of Su Ze giving Xia Zhiwei the flowers had left her stunned. Then came a sharp sense of being slighted, followed by anger.

She drew a deep breath, strode up to Su Ze, and demanded loudly, “Su Ze, what’s the meaning of this? What gives you the right to confess to her? I’m the one you like!”

He gave a cold laugh. “What gives me the right? Let me ask you something, Lin Wan’er. What exactly are you to me? Do I need to report to you before I ask someone out?”

People in the crowd were already whispering.

“Wait, why’s Lin Wan’er more worked up than Su Ze?”

“Didn’t she say she didn’t want a relationship? Why’s she upset that he’s going after someone else?”

“I’ve thought there was something off about the way she treats him for ages. She keeps taking his gifts but won’t date him. Isn’t that just stringing him along?”

Seeing Lin Wan’er at a loss felt so good that Su Ze could barely contain his grin. Keeping the corners of his mouth down was about as easy as controlling the recoil of an AK.

He regarded her with a half smile and continued, “Lin Wan’er, you just said you wanted to focus on your studies instead of dating. Naturally, I can’t get in the way of your grand scholarship ambitions.”

“So I’m doing what you asked and finding someone else.”

“Shouldn’t you be happy? Why are you angry?”

He put on an expression of earnest bewilderment.

Lin Wan’er stammered for a long time without managing a single answer.

Su Ze stopped paying attention to her and turned back to Xia Zhiwei.

The crowd’s attention shifted to her as well.

Having dozens of pairs of eyes fixed on her made Xia Zhiwei deeply uncomfortable.

She frowned instinctively and raised the bouquet until only half her face showed above it.

Then she looked at Su Ze, silently asking what she was supposed to do now.

He mouthed, “Just play along.”

She understood. Without hesitation, she gave him a small nod.

Su Ze’s heart settled back into place. He cleared his throat and asked loudly, “So, Xia Zhiwei, will you be my girlfriend?”

She took a small, deep breath. Then she raised her voice a little, nodded, and said firmly, “Yes.”

The corridor went silent.

Then someone in the crowd exclaimed, “She… she said yes?”

“Xia Zhiwei actually said yes?”

“No, no, no. Wait. Give me a second. Su Ze turns around and goes after Xia Zhiwei, and Xia Zhiwei says yes?”

“Have I been wanking so much lately that I’m hallucinating? How is this possible?”

Lin Wan’er was utterly stunned. Xia Zhiwei had really accepted Su Ze’s confession?

Her lips pressed into a thin line, and she clenched her fists. “Su Ze, are you playing hard to get with me?”

“If you explain yourself in front of everyone right now and admit that you and Xia Zhiwei are just putting on an act, I might consider giving you another chance to pursue me.”

Su Ze looked her up and down as though she were an idiot.

“Lin Wan’er, have I been so nice to you that you’ve started imagining I can’t live without you?”

“Didn’t you see Xia Zhiwei agree to be my girlfriend? What are you still hanging around for? Waiting for dinner to be served?”

He felt no tenderness whatsoever toward the nightmare girl with her long history of using him. In the plainest terms he could manage, he was telling her to get lost.

Lin Wan’er was so furious that her eyes reddened. Why was Su Ze suddenly acting like a different person?

How dare he speak to her like that?

Wasn’t he afraid that if he made her angry, she would never give him another chance to win her over?

The crowd was growing larger and larger. However angry and unwilling she was to let it go, Lin Wan’er knew that staying would only make her look worse.

She gave Su Ze one last look, bit her lip, and stamped her foot. Then she turned and hurried back into the classroom.

Once she was gone, the whispers started again.

“Hey, did you see? Her eyes were red. I bet she’s so angry she’s crying.”

“Seriously, she’s got the nerve to be angry? Wasn’t she the one who said she didn’t want a relationship when he was chasing her? Now he’s stopped and she’s panicking?”

“Why do you think? Her ATM’s gone. Think of all the stuff he used to give her. I’ve seen two designer bags with my own eyes.”

Watching Lin Wan’er walk away in defeat, Su Ze had never felt so refreshed.

He glanced around. There was one final step, the most important part of this whole performance.

He looked down at Xia Zhiwei holding the flowers beside him.

Then he gathered his courage, gently reached for the left hand hanging at her side, and tentatively took it.

Xia Zhiwei jolted as though she had received an electric shock. Her eyes widened a little as she looked at him in disbelief.

But in the end, she didn’t struggle or pull away.

Su Ze took careful note of how her hand felt. Cool at first, then smooth.

Her fingers were slender too. Enclosed in his palm, her hand became a tiny bundle that felt very nice to hold.

He couldn’t help marveling to himself. No wonder she was the campus beauty. Even holding her hand was a treat.

“Let’s go.”

He led Xia Zhiwei through the crowd toward the stairs.

Pulled along by him, she stumbled a little, her other hand doing its best to keep the roses from slipping out of her arms.

As they passed through the spectators, she could feel countless eyes clinging to her. By reflex, she lowered her head and hunched her shoulders, as she always did.

Only after they had gone downstairs, turned past the connecting corridor, and reached a deserted tree-lined path outside the teaching building did she dare straighten her back again.

Su Ze stopped and let go of her hand.

Turning to face her, he clasped his hands in a formal salute, then gave her a proper ninety-degree bow.

“My deepest thanks for your gallant assistance, Miss Xia. I, Su Ze, am eternally grateful and shall repay your kindness handsomely another day.”

Xia Zhiwei stood holding the flowers, a serious expression on her face. “So… you were using me as a shield just now, weren’t you?”

“Could you tell me what happened?”

Su Ze looked at her earnest face, surprised that she didn’t know about him and Lin Wan’er.

The whole sorry business wasn’t quite common knowledge across the university, but it was a fairly famous joke within their school.

Xia Zhiwei didn’t know?

On second thought, that made sense.

She always kept to herself, and she didn’t look like the sort of person who browsed the campus gossip page.

Su Ze scratched his head, unsure where to start.

Telling her the whole story would be a little too humiliating…

After thinking for a moment, he chose his words, trying to stick to the less embarrassing parts.

“Oh, it’s nothing much. I used to be an idiot, so I spent a while pursuing Lin Wan’er.”

“I came here today to confess to her again, but once I arrived, something clicked. It all seemed pointless.”

“But I’d bought the flowers and turned up already. I couldn’t just slink away. That would have been too embarrassing.”

“So I pulled you in to save the situation… I’m really sorry about that.”

Being her ATM for half a year. Buying all that overpriced takeout and all those luxury goods. Having screenshots of his antics shared in her friends’ group chat for them to laugh at.

He would sooner jump off a building than volunteer any of those mortifying details.

Especially to Xia Zhiwei.

He wasn’t exactly a man who lived by his dignity, but he had saved her life, after all. And she was the campus beauty.

He had to preserve at least a little of his image in front of her.

At the same time, he was sincerely grateful. Things had worked out today largely because Xia Zhiwei hadn’t exposed him on the spot.

He looked at her earnestly. “Thank you for helping me back there. I owe you one.”

“If there’s ever anything I can help you with, just ask.”

But she shook her head and said softly, “There’s no need. You helped me in the equipment room this morning. Now I’ve helped you. That makes us even.”

Su Ze paused. He had thought she might take the opportunity to ask for something.

After all, she had accepted a boy’s confession in public. That was bound to have at least some effect on a girl’s reputation.

Instead, she asked for nothing. It made him feel that this famous campus beauty was remarkably innocent.

To her, it seemed to be a simple maths problem. You helped me, so I helped you.

One plus one equals two. End of story.