The Furnace

Qin Muchu followed Dai Mubai to a secluded corner, confusion written all over his face. He glanced around warily. "What are you doing? Let me make one thing clear: I only like women."

"Fuck, I don't like men either!" Dai Mubai laughed in exasperation. "I want your advice about Zhuqing and me."

"Uh, don't you call yourself a master of romance? You need advice from me?"

"Stop making fun of me." Dai Mubai's expression turned serious, and he gave a bitter smile. "Back then, for various reasons, I was under enormous pressure. After coming to Shrek, I more or less gave up on myself and did a lot of ridiculous things. To tell you the truth, Zhuqing and I have been engaged since childhood. She was only eight when I left home. I thought that without the engagement tying her to me, no one in her family would make things difficult for her. But I never expected her to come looking for me anyway."

Qin Muchu sat down beside him. "And now? Have you still given up on yourself?"

"Of course not," Dai Mubai said earnestly. "You've probably noticed that ever since you and Xiao Wu enrolled, I've been training hard. I realized I'd been a frog at the bottom of a well. Compared with what you and Xiao Wu face, the person I'm up against is nothing. And now that Zhuqing has come to the academy, I want to build a life with her. But she's always so cold to me. No matter what I do, she ignores me. I'm out of ideas. You and Xiao Wu are so close—you must know what to do. Help me." A note of pleading entered his voice toward the end.

Qin Muchu rubbed his chin and thought for a while. "Honestly, I