A Gentleman Judges Actions, Not Intentions

"Being this fearless, are you really that good at fighting?"

Wang Ge asked curiously.

"I'm decent. Fight enough, and you naturally learn." Gu Panyan answered casually, then turned to glance at Wang Ge. "A top student like you probably doesn't fight much, right?"

"Yeah. Basically no one picks on me, so I've never had many chances to fight." Wang Ge nodded.

Probably because of how families educated their children here, most people felt an inexplicable sort of "respect" or "admiration" toward top students. They thought top students were all impressive and were unwilling to provoke them.

And Wang Ge had always been the "other people's child" growing up. He was handsome and excellent at school, so few people ever showed him any obvious hostility.

"I'm jealous," Gu Panyan said quietly. It did not sound like empty politeness.

"Did you fight often?" Wang Ge asked.

"I used to. But now... no one really dares to provoke me anymore, so I don't fight much."

"Did a lot of people used to mess with you?" Wang Ge pressed curiously. "I think you have a pretty good personality. You shouldn't have people constantly looking for trouble with you, right?"

It was a dark, windy night, with a lone man and woman together. This was a good opportunity to get to know Gu Panyan, and he certainly would not let it pass.

"I have a good personality?" Gu Panyan looked somewhat stunned.

"Yeah, that's what I think." Wang Ge nodded. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing. It's just that I've heard words like 'vicious' and 'violent' so often that hearing you say I have a good personality makes me want to laugh."

"I really do think you have a good personality," Wang Ge emphasized.

"Mm-hm, mm-hm." She gave a perfunctory hum. "Thank you for the compliment, Mr. Gentleman."

Several dark lines appeared on Wang Ge's forehead. "You're going to end up with no friends if you keep acting like this."

Gu Panyan casually kicked a stone by the roadside. It flew far away into the darkness and vanished without a trace.

"I wouldn't have friends even if I didn't act like this," she said.

There was no loneliness or resentment in those words, only the carefree indifference of someone who had long since grown used to it.

Wang Ge fell silent for two seconds when he heard that, realizing he had said the wrong thing. He quickly changed the subject. "I heard people say you studied pretty well in your first year of high school. How did you end up like this now?"

"I just didn't want to study anymore. What else could it be?"

"Why did you suddenly stop wanting to study?"

Gu Panyan glanced at him. "Why do you keep digging into everything? What, are you running a background check?"

What a heavy sense of guard. Why are high school students these days all so hard to deal with...? Wang Ge silently sighed to himself.

"We have to keep walking anyway, and it's not like we have anything better to do. We're just chatting." He explained, "My life is dull and boring, like a stagnant pool. There's nothing worth talking about. But you're different. I've heard plenty of rumors about you before. Your life sounds very eventful, and that makes me curious."

"Eventful my ass." Gu Panyan sneered disdainfully. "Picking fights everywhere, swearing at people the moment I see them, getting called 'bitch' and 'slut' by so many people, openly and behind my back. Can that kind of life be called eventful?"

Her tone was full of mockery. It was impossible to tell whether she was mocking others or herself.

Wang Ge could tell Gu Panyan did not care about those things, so he smiled. "At least no one dares to mess with you now, right?"

"Of course. I earned that with my fists and feet." Gu Panyan snorted coldly. "Only by beating them until it hurts and making them fear you will they stop daring to bully you. If you chicken out, get scared, or give in halfway through, who knows how badly they'll bully you?"

Before she had even finished, she came to her senses and shook her head. "Seriously, why am I telling you this? You wouldn't understand anyway."

Wang Ge shook his head and chuckled. "Actually, I'd be happy to listen to you."

"Give me a break." Gu Panyan returned to her lazy demeanor. "Don't put on this warm, considerate guy act. Your words may sound nice, but as for what you're thinking inside... heh."

"What do you think I'm thinking?"

"Too lazy to say it, in case you get embarrassed." She yawned and curled her lips slightly. "Still, you're surprisingly not that annoying."

You've really misunderstood me. I don't have any evil intentions. I'm only doing this to complete the system's mission... Wang Ge grumbled inwardly, but he did not think Gu Panyan was narcissistic or full of herself.

After all, he had skipped evening self-study in the middle of the night, dragged Gu Panyan out to skip school and watch the stars, and deliberately chatted with her along the way. If he said he had no interest in Gu Panyan, who would believe him?

Besides, any whole, normal, healthy man would more or less have some romantic thoughts upon seeing a pretty girl. That was perfectly normal.

That was also why most people believed there could be no purely platonic friendship between men and women.

Gu Panyan clearly understood this and was well aware of her own charm, so it was perfectly normal for her to think that way.

But even if she were beaten to death, she would never imagine that Wang Ge was actually a mission fanatic.

It was just a system mission, that was all.

"No matter who it is, people will inevitably have some filthy, dark thoughts they cannot show others. But that doesn't mean everyone is a bad person." Wang Ge chuckled. "The difference lies only in whether they can control themselves and whether they act on those dark thoughts."

Gu Panyan nodded in agreement. "You're right. Right now, I really want to find an excuse to beat you up. Even though you haven't provoked me and I don't dislike you, I just haven't fought in a long time and my hands are itching. I also want to see whether beating up a top student feels different from beating up a bad student."

Wang Ge:?

"Ahem." Gu Panyan's expression did not change. "I accidentally said what I was thinking. Sorry. Go on."

Seeing Gu Panyan being so "sincere," Wang Ge thought for two seconds and decided to be "sincere" too.

Her guard was a little too high. Ever since he had first become her deskmate, none of his attempts to probe her had worked even once.

It seemed he would have to take an unconventional approach...

With a shift in thought, Wang Ge wore a relaxed expression and said, "Fine, I admit it. You really are very beautiful. Among the people I know, there are very few girls as pretty as you, so it's normal for me to have thoughts about you. It's normal for some of those thoughts to be dark, too. I'd want to pursue you, hold you tightly, kiss you, sleep with you, and maybe even take advantage of this dark and windy night to drag you somewhere deserted nearby and force myself on you..."

Gu Panyan frowned. Just as she was about to say something, she heard Wang Ge continue:

"See? Since we both have dark thoughts, how about we satisfy each other? I'll let you beat me up, and then you let me..."

He was only halfway through when he saw Gu Panyan looking like she was about to make a move. He hurriedly took two steps back and raised both hands in surrender. "No, no, no. I'm joking."

"It's fine. Don't be afraid. I think what you said makes a lot of sense, and I agree." Gu Panyan cracked her knuckles and approached him with a smile.

Sensing that things were going badly, Wang Ge turned and ran, shouting as he fled, "Don't! I was wrong! I won't dare do it again..."

"Don't run!" Gu Panyan shouted. Poor Wang Ge had barely taken a few steps before Gu Panyan grabbed him by the back of his collar.

Wang Ge looked utterly despairing. He had not expected that, as a grown man, not only was his combat ability worse than Gu Panyan's, he could not even outrun her.

Fortunately, Gu Panyan was not truly angry. After kicking him irritably, she let him go.

Wang Ge rubbed his butt and grinned at Gu Panyan. "I saw that you said what you were thinking, so I came clean too..."

Gu Panyan rolled her eyes at him and ignored him.

If other girls heard the lewd thoughts he had voiced earlier, they might call him disgusting. If it were more serious, they might even slap him. But Gu Panyan would not react that way. Her experiences over the years had made her deeply understand that this was actually a rare and precious quality.

When others had their inner thoughts exposed, they only acted as if their tails had been stepped on, desperately arguing and denying it, sometimes even angrily lashing out. How could they be like Wang Ge, who not only admitted it openly but even voiced thoughts darker than that?

Simply saying those things required courage beyond that of ordinary people, as well as a sincerity most people lacked.

That made her see Wang Ge in a different light.

But she still maintained her guard. Who knew whether Wang Ge had said it deliberately just to make her lower her defenses?

Wang Ge did not care about her attitude. Instead, he smiled and said, "Those thoughts really are filthy and shameful to speak aloud, but

you can't deny everything I did tonight just because I have those thoughts, or decide that all my actions tonight were driven by improper motives, right?

A gentleman judges actions, not intentions."

After saying that, he smiled slightly and pointed up at the sky.

"Look up there."

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