A stumbling block!

Class Seven had no classes that afternoon, and he had already spoken to Song Pianzhou, the class Youth League secretary, that morning.

Song Pianzhou had also told him that the situation had been explained to their class adviser and teachers.

Most of the teachers had also heard the school announcement calling Yao Tao to the office, so neither of them had been marked absent that morning.

Unable to find his bag, He Zhen sent a message to the class group chat.

He Zhen: Has anyone seen my bag?

The class group chat immediately came alive.

"Class rep, you finally snapped out of it. Fu Xin took your bag."

"We couldn't stop her. She just looked at us with those tearful eyes."

"She insisted on taking your bag for you."

"Fu Xin also asked us to pass a message along to you."

What baffled their classmates most was that Fu Xin actually needed someone else to pass a message to He Zhen!

He Zhen stared at his phone, his gaze darkening slightly.

Remembering their clash in the school cafeteria at noon, he couldn't understand why Fu Xin had come back to look for him.

If she wanted to join the Student Council, she didn't necessarily need him. Qin Zhen could help her too.

Or was it...

He Zhen began to question Fu Xin's motives.

The disturbingly unfamiliar Fu Xin and the Fu Xin of his imagination kept wrestling with each other in his mind.

"What's wrong?" Yao Tao looked at He Zhen, whose expression had soured again, with deep concern. "Are you feeling unwell?"

[He didn't eat anything unusual. Lunch was only a little late, and he had a little cake before that.]

[Why does he look so awful again?]

[What kind of condition is this?]

He Zhen calmed down considerably.

Fu Xin, Fu Xin. These days, just hearing her name automatically gave him a headache.

"Nothing," He Zhen said. "Fu Xin took my bag."

"Oh." Yao Tao fell silent for a moment.

[What's coming will come!]

[Ugh, once Fu Xin starts shedding tears, she'll be way more intimidating than my crocodile tears.]

[My darling's about to fall for it again.]

[How am I supposed to save him?!]

[When she's all you see~]

Yao Tao sang a couple of lines.

[Fine, fine, I know you're playing hard to get. Happy now?]

[I bet Fu Xin's panicking now.]

[She found out ahead of time how messy things were around Qin Zhen.]

[She obviously can't beat Guan Xingchen's fangirls.]

[See? Every single time, the first safe harbor Fu Xin thinks of is He Zhen.]

[Happy times never last!]

[In the end, my feelings were wasted!]

Yao Tao had already launched into her own little drama.

He Zhen: ...

"I'm going to get my bag." He Zhen wanted to know whether Fu Xin really was the way Yao Tao described her.

He was torn.

On the one hand, he really had given up on Fu Xin. On the other, after so many years of friendship, he couldn't be that cold.

"Wait for me." He Zhen was deeply conflicted.

"No." Yao Tao refused without hesitation. "I have plans with someone, and I'm going to meet them. Goodbye, He Zhen."

[You stand people up every day. Don't drag me down with you!]

[Hmph!]

[Jerk!]

[I despise you!]

He Zhen didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

Yao Tao hadn't been like this three minutes ago.

"Send me a message when you get to the hospital." As He Zhen spoke, he removed Fu Xin from his blocked contacts.

[Tch!]

[Stay out of this beauty's business!]

[Bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh!]

[What, do you really think I'm one of the fish in your dating pond?]

[Jerk!]

[Taking after Fu Xin!]

[Pah!]

[Only I get to keep a dating pond!]

[Do you have any idea how vast mine is?!!!]

He Zhen chuckled. Her dating pond really was vast, wasn't it?

She had drained every otome game dry.

"I'll worry," He Zhen added.

[Pah, go worry about that precious baby of yours!]

[Who'd believe you?!]

[I'm mad!]

[It'll take at least ten cakes to make me happy!!!]

Yao Tao walked away without looking back.

When He Zhen contacted Fu Xin, she was arguing with some other girls.

"Do you think every man in the world is He Zhen?"

"Oh, stop it. He Zhen's finally opened his eyes. Don't go talking nonsense."

"Exactly!"

"You're going too far!" Fu Xin's phone rang just then. Her eyes lit up when she saw the caller ID. "Zhen! Save me!-"

The girls exchanged looks, and one of them snatched Fu Xin's phone with lightning speed.

"Where are you?" He Zhen's voice came clearly from the other end.

The girl hung up on him and angrily tossed the phone back to Fu Xin. "Remember this! Make whatever mess you want with whoever you want, but stay the hell away from our Xingchen!"

"Exactly!!!" The other two girls walked away indignantly.

"Wait, isn't he still blind?"

"That senior girl is completely useless!"

"I honestly admire her nerve. Does she really think everyone's in love with her?!"

"Damn it, we should've beaten Fu Xin up before that blind idiot He Zhen got here!"

"Exactly, exactly!"

"Teach her a lesson!"

"What are you talking about?" Guan Xingchen came around the corner. "Were you giving Fu Xin trouble?"

"No..." The three girls averted their eyes.

"Where is she?" Guan Xingchen's face was expressionless, but his voice made it clear that he was unhappy.

"Over there." One girl pointed reluctantly, then worked up her courage. "Guan Xingchen! Don't fall for her. Her private life is a mess! Don't get mixed up in it!"

"Her private life is a mess?" Guan Xingchen stopped in his tracks. "Is this how you slander an innocent girl?"

"What's innocent about her?" another girl demanded angrily. "She's got Qin Zhen in one hand and He Zhen dangling from the other. Wake up, Guan Xingchen. She's doing it on purpose!"

"What I hate most is people who judge other people's lives without knowing the truth." Guan Xingchen looked at them coldly. "I suggest you stop spreading rumors. You're girls too. Don't you know how much rumors can hurt?"

The three girls ran off angrily. One of them was even crying.

"Ahem. Xingchen, wasn't that a bit much?" someone beside Guan Xingchen said.

"I'm going to find Fu Xin," Guan Xingchen said curtly.

Another boy raised both hands over his head. "Fine."

He slung an arm around the other boy's shoulders and led him away.

Unable to get through to Fu Xin, He Zhen had no choice but to search for her himself, one place at a time.

Afraid that something really had happened to her, he lost his bearings on the sprawling campus.

He remembered the many times he had run around like this, searching everywhere for Fu Xin.

When he found her, Fu Xin was crying with his bag in her arms, and Guan Xingchen was crouching in front of her.

Fu Xin sobbed, "I'm just an ordinary girl. Why does everyone force me to choose?"

"Now that I've made my choice, why are they still pressuring me?"

"Qin Zhen does it, you do it, and so does He Zhen!"

"I've already admitted I was wrong. I know I didn't do the right thing."

"But aren't they at fault too?"

"Every single one of them just says pretty things!"

"At least... at least I won't give myself to anyone lightly before marriage!"

"Zhen, he! Zhen, he!..." Fu Xin was crying uncontrollably, her words a jumble.

He Zhen stopped walking toward them.

Neither of them noticed his approach.

They were both caught up in their own emotions.

"I won't pressure you." Guan Xingchen gazed at her. "He Zhen's nothing special either. Why not choose me?"

"It's too exhausting." Fu Xin wiped her tears. "Zhen always takes good care of me. He's different from you."

"Things around Qin Zhen are too complicated. Too complicated. It hurts so much."

"Your fan club is too fierce."

"I'm scared."

"Zhen would never let that happen. He always handles everything so well."

"All year, whenever I cried, his heart would ache. He gave me everything I wanted."

"Ever since he met Yao Tao, he's changed!"

"How could he change so quickly?!"

"He's no longer the Zhen I knew!"

Fu Xin cried as she said, "I really want to be with him now. I truly want to be with him."

"I can handle everything too," Guan Xingchen said. "Don't go to him. Come to me."

Fu Xin blinked at him. "But..."

Guan Xingchen suddenly lifted his head and kissed her.

Fu Xin didn't resist.

He Zhen found it rather laughable.

Yao Tao had been right about everything.

At the same time, a chill crept into his heart.

Her tears were actually a weapon she used to manipulate him.

Without him realizing it, her crying had become a blade that hurt other people.

Had she cried like this in front of Zhong Shengtai too?