Xie Ji coughed and pretended to be very busy, glancing out the window. "Um, the moon is so bright tonight, it's making my eyes water, haha, what a mess."
Lu Xunji, facing the moonlight, prevented him from instinctively running away, and took a step closer. "Aren't you going to take responsibility for me?"
"Don't do this." Xie Ji scratched his head and cried out twice, "I have to take responsibility for you, that's why I can't agree to it. I... I didn't know, Lu Xunji, I'm not ready to turn our relationship into... into that, I can't agree to it."
Lu Xunji looked at him for a long time before finally speaking, "You're not even willing to coax me?"
"No!" Xie Ji said, "I can coax you about anything, but not this. It's not fair to you. We shouldn't always live together. I... I don't know, I need to think about it carefully."
After Xie Ji finished speaking, he quickly got off the bed, glanced at Lu Xunji, and sighed, " Lu Xunji, I can't see you clearly, I... I'm scared."
Even with all his knowledge, Xie Ji could barely glimpse Lu Xunji's destiny chart, perhaps because his calculation skills were insufficient. But this sense of the unknown made Xie Ji subconsciously uncomfortable.
His skills range from Purple Star Astrology Shu to Mysterious Gates and Hidden Jia, and he is adept at manipulating the secrets Heavenly Secrets Unbounded heaven. Few people's horoscopes are so blurry in his eyes.
Do not make promises you cannot bear.
Lu Xunji sat on the bed, motionless, and said in a hoarse voice, " Xie Ji, you said you would stay with me, and you also said you were never afraid of me. What does this mean now? Are you lying to me?"
"I'm sorry, it's hard for me to explain to you." Xie Ji, barefoot, turned his head slightly. "I really need time, I'm so sorry."
"I don't want to hear it." Lu Xunji turned his head away. "Get lost."
Xie Ji bit her lower lip, hugged her pillow, and walked out, closing the door behind her for Lu Xunji.
He stood at Lu Xunji's door for a while, let out a long sigh, lowered his head, and looked a little sad.
The Little Black clung to his wrist, beeping an alarm. "Host, your favorability rating seems to be dropping!"
The favorability rating, which had been stable for a very long time, is now showing a downward trend, going from 0 to -10, and then plummeting all the way down to -300, even lower than when they first met.
A loud crash came from the door frame behind them, as if something had slammed into the door, expressing the owner's emotions.
"I messed up again." Xie Ji sat on the swing on the garden balcony, hugging a small blanket and rocking back and forth, muttering to himself, "I didn't mean to mess it up."
Little Black crawled up his skin to his shoulder, flicking its tail. "There are still a lot of points in the system shop, why don't you try to draw some Divine Sense Fruit? Perhaps you can't see through Lu Xunji's destiny chart just because your current computing power isn't enough?"
Xie Ji shook his head. "If it were an ordinary person, I could easily see it. Even for someone destined for wealth and high status like an emperor, this level of calculation should be enough... I still can't see through it, so I'm probably no ordinary person."
"Besides," Xie Ji thought for a moment, "I don't know why, but the memories within those Divine Sense Fruit make me very uncomfortable. I don't want to take any more. Anyway, my mission is just to protect Lu Xunji from being harmed by others. As for the favorability rating, I'll think of that later."
This is so worrying!
Xie Ji lingered for a while, then returned to his room.
The night's ups and downs were exhausting, and Xie Ji fell asleep quickly in bed. However, before he had even slept for two hours, it was already time for the military academy to wake up and clock in.
As dawn broke, Xie Ji, dressed in a crisp military academy uniform, stood crookedly in the crowd.
They were assigned to the sixth squad of mecha soldiers. Every morning at five o'clock, they would first run five kilometers with weights, then go to the canteen for breakfast, and then begin their day's lessons.
Lu Xunji is tall and has long legs. His long, slender legs are encased in a well-tailored black school uniform, and the high-top military boots he wears perfectly showcase the well-proportioned muscles on his calves.
He stood before everyone, bathed in the golden light of the morning sun. His expression was cold, and his eyes were dark with bruises. Even the warm sun couldn't dispel the chill emanating from him. His purplish-red eyes were slightly lowered, his usual gaze fixed on people as if they were dogs.
Many eyes were on him, and there were also many men and women from other departments standing around him.
Xie Ji avoided him, deliberately standing back and disappearing into the crowd, yawning listlessly.
The man who could make a struggling college student give up his morning sleep and get up at five in the morning just to catch a glimpse of his face—that's truly an amazing beauty.
Xie Ji shook his leg, his eyes sweeping over the admiring faces, thinking to himself, "You don't know, do you? This handsome guy you're all looking up to confessed his love to me last night!"
My charm is unmatched!
He was even rejected!
Thinking of this, Xie Ji couldn't be so smug anymore. He straightened his smug legs, stood obediently in the crowd, and began preparing his backpack for the five-kilometer trek.
Lu Xunji had just entered the class and hadn't even met his classmates yet, but he had already become the pride and backbone of the entire class. Several bolder students who went up to talk to Lu Xunji were all scared away by his cold attitude.
"Who is this guy? He's such a show-off, thinking he's so great?" A male classmate, after being turned away by Lu Xunji, returned to the group and complained, "What's with the attitude? No matter how great he is, he's still just a military academy student. If you didn't know better, you'd think he was the principal. I hate these pretentious people the most. Don't they know their place? I heard he's from the countryside, a country bumpkin the Xie Household just brought back. What makes him so special?"
Without saying a word, Xie Ji went up and kicked the man!
The man lunged forward and crashed heavily to the ground. Startled and angry, he looked back and saw Xie Ji's beautiful face.
"You're talking about my brother, huh?" Xie Ji stepped forward and kicked him again. "You're so good at finding out things, didn't you find out that the guy who insulted my brother last night is still in the ICU? What, you want to go in and join him too?"
Upon seeing that it was Xie Ji, the man immediately fell silent, clutching his backside as he scrambled to his feet in a disheveled manner. "I didn't say anything."
Xie Ji pointed at him and said, "If you want peace and quiet, watch your mouth."
The man's face flushed red and then turned pale; he hid in the crowd, too afraid to come out.
Xie Ji picked up her bag, slung it over her shoulder, did a few pre-workout stretches, flashed a sweet smile, and called out to the students around her, "Why are you all staring at me like that? Do I have breakfast on my face? Huh? Run!"
The surrounding students scattered instantly, one after another starting to run with weights.
Lu Xunji was the top scorer in the country and was indeed a specially recruited candidate, but this at most proves that he has strong personal abilities.
Military academies are never places that emphasize individual ability. The only family behind Lu Xunji is the Xie Household, which is not even among the top wealthy families.
As a result, his perfect resume and strong personal abilities did not enhance his reputation; instead, they made him a target of public criticism.
Xie Ji is different. Those young masters from top wealthy families had already made their statements on the military academy forum: to touch Xie Ji is to touch them.
With a few young masters acting like bullies, Xie Ji could completely act lawlessly, run rampant, and bully men and women in the military academy!
Fortunately, everyone now knows that this young master Xie is not an unreasonable person; he only has one bad habit: he is extremely obsessed with his brother.
Anyone who speaks ill of Lu Xunji in his presence will be sent to a military academy for treatment.
Xie Ji deliberately lagged behind, glancing up every now and then to look for Lu Xunji's spot, pondering what to eat at the restaurant that morning.
"My benefactor!"
A clear bird song came from behind. Xie Ji turned around and exclaimed in surprise, "Oh my, Little Fish, why are you up so early?"
Jin Li caught up with him, panting, "I know the individual combat team has to do a five-kilometer weighted run here every morning, so I came early to wait for you!"
"Wait for me? Wait for me for what?"
"I'm waiting for you to have breakfast together!" Jin Li ran around. "You said you were coming to visit me yesterday, why didn't you come? I even knocked on your dorm door later, but no one answered. Did you go to bed early last night?"
Xie Ji: "..."
He was probably messing around with Lu Xunji at the time, so he probably didn't hear it.
Thinking about this, he couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed and scratched his ear. "Yeah, I drank too much yesterday and went to sleep after I got back. I guess I didn't hear you. Sorry."
"It's okay, it's okay!" Little Jin Li continued running, panting, "Shall we go to the cafeteria for breakfast together later? I don't have class today, so I can go to class with you! We can even go for a walk together tonight!"
Xie Ji: "... Don't you have anything to do yourself?"
"I... I..." Jin Li almost ran out of breath, so Xie Ji simply slowed down and jogged in place.
Jin Li took a couple of breaths before continuing, "I'm bored being alone. These people from the military academy always... always bully me. My benefactor, you're a good person. I like being with you."
Xie Ji thought about it and realized that he had indeed heard that person muttering things like "sissy" and "girly" while they were eating at the restaurant last night.
He and Lu Xunji have both faced criticism, and Jin Li will probably suffer the same fate. Moreover, this little gray-haired girl is also soft-hearted; when she's scolded, she'll just whine and whimper, which will probably only embolden those people to take advantage of her even more.
"Alright, let's go together then." Xie Ji patted his shoulder. "You can't run away, just wait for me here. I'll come back and find you at the cafeteria after I'm done running, okay!"
Jin Li nodded, deeply moved. "My benefactor! I knew you were the best!"
Xie Ji gave him an OK sign, then turned and followed the group.
Five kilometers with a heavy load is neither a long nor a short distance; it was just right for Xie Ji —not life-threatening, but not easy either.
He returned to the starting point, took off his heavy backpack, and rushed to find Jin Li to have dinner together. Lu Xunji stood not far away, watching Xie Ji turn around and disappear into the crowd, then find Jin Li, hook his arm around his neck, and walk with him towards the restaurant.
Jin Li thoughtfully took out a fragrant handkerchief from her bag and wiped Xie Ji's sweat.
Xie Ji took it, and the two walked forward together, chatting and laughing.
Lu Xunji lowered his gaze.
Yes, even if he's unhappy, even if he throws a tantrum, so what? Xie Ji won't care.
Xie Ji has plenty of love and makes friends wherever she goes.
The flowers are so beautiful that even the sunlight seems to favor them.
--
Xie Ji walked with Jin Li, constantly admonishing her. "You're too soft-hearted. You need to be a little more assertive in the future, you know? Don't let others bully you, and don't cry so easily."
"I couldn't help it again, sob sob." Jin Li said, feeling wronged, "I didn't want to cry, but they were swearing so rudely!"
"Then you should curse them back. You're a special admission student; the teachers won't ignore it," Xie Ji said. "If they curse you, you curse them back!"
"But I don't know how to swear," the curly-haired boy said, his eyes welling up with tears. "My parents never taught me to swear; they said swearing is bad."
"I'll teach you." Xie Ji his strength. "Come on, learn from me, fuck your mother!"
Jin Li paused for a moment, then looked at him with her big, watery eyes.
"What are you looking at? Learn!" Xie Ji shouted, "Fuck your mother!"
Jin Li held back, her ears turning red, and finally managed a soft curse, "Fuck your mother!"
Xie Ji: "... Never mind, stop calling me."
"Why? Why?" Jin Li fiddled with her fingers. "I swore. I'm a bad person."
"I'm afraid your shout will excite the other side." Xie Ji sighed, "Never mind, let's eat first, we'll talk about it next time."
Jin Li nodded and followed Xie Ji to the restaurant.
They had special badges that allowed them to skip the line. Just as they finished getting their food, they heard a mocking voice behind them. "Hey, little sissy?"
Upon hearing this voice, Jin Li shrank back instantly, hiding behind Xie Ji and timidly peeking out her head, handing over the special badge in her hand.
"Here, take it."
Xie Ji reached out, grasped Jin Li's hand, and returned the special badge.
"What do you mean?" Xie Ji an eyebrow, looking at the person in front of him. "If you want a special badge, why don't you go get it yourself? Military academies have special assessment quotas every year, right?"
Upon seeing Xie Ji, the man looked somewhat embarrassed. His previous imperious expression vanished, and he gave Jin Li a dark look before letting out a cold laugh, "It's a misunderstanding. We're just classmates, nothing more than exchanging greetings."
After saying that, he turned to leave.
"Stand there." Xie Ji walked over. "Who taught you to greet people like that?"
The man dared not offend Xie Ji, and could only stand there with a forced smile.
Xie Ji waved to Jin Li: "Come here."
Jin Li pointed to herself. "Huh? Me?"
Xie Ji glanced at him. "Or should I be calling for ghosts?"
Jin Li lingered as she walked to Xie Ji's side and whispered, "Let's forget it, benefactor. He probably just wants my special badge to get food... I'll give it to him."
"Then why are you afraid of him?"
Jin Li swallowed hard and remained silent.
He was used to being gentle and rarely fought back when bullied.
"Insult him," Xie Ji said. "Use the most vicious words you can think of to curse him. Then tell him that you'll curse him every time you see him, and if he doesn't want to be cursed, he should avoid you. That's it."
Jin Li blinked. "This isn't a good idea, let's go..."
Xie Ji's face turned cold, and he pulled the hand away from Xie Ji's arm. "Speak."