Chapter 10: Intentionally Late?_1

Fang Ren immediately turned off the air conditioner and said, "Shall I take you out to bask in the sun?"

"Mm."

Mu Huiqing nodded.

Even a simple gesture like this always seemed perfect to Fang Ren when he looked into Mu Huiqing's eyes.

Beautiful, adorable, obedient, gentle and considerate—she was practically the dream wife every man longed for.

After getting dressed, Fang Ren lifted Mu Huiqing from the bed and dressed her himself.

After the events from last night to this morning, he no longer felt too embarrassed when dressing Mu Huiqing.

Glancing at the time, Fang Ren sighed; he was already an hour late.

But looking at Mu Huiqing, seated quietly and looking beautiful in her wheelchair, he felt it didn't matter if he skipped classes for the whole day.

As they descended the stairs, Uncle Han had already prepared breakfast.

"Some people say they don't want anything, but in reality their bodies are very honest. Thinking you're a big guy but acting like a little girl."

No sooner had Fang Ren come downstairs than Shang Han, newspaper in hand, started to tease.

"Morning... that was an accident," Fang Ren defended himself earnestly.

"Heh, look at you, all red-faced and flustered. Do you even look like a man?" continued Shang Han.

"Look at yourself! Do you even look like a father?" Fang Ren shot back right away.

Shang Han feigned disappointment and sighed, "Yeah, you're right. Marrying Qing'er off to a wuss like you would probably not make her happy. I should find someone else for Qing'er."

"You dare!" Fang Ren was so angry he wanted to smash the table into his face.

"What's stopping me? It's your own cowardice to blame," continued Shang Han.

"I won't accept that," Mu Huiqing, seated in her wheelchair, suddenly spoke up.

Shang Han's expression froze for a moment, and he slowly put down the newspaper, turning to look at Mu Huiqing.

"Ah Ran is very good. I won't accept anyone else you arrange," said Mu Huiqing.

After hearing this, Shang Han's lips curved into a slight smile. He hadn't expected his daughter to take his joking seriously, but this also indirectly showed that she and Ah Ran had started out with a good impression of each other.

He could be at ease now.

Meanwhile, Fang Ren felt immensely touched by what Mu Huiqing had said. Indeed, an older female knew how to protect him, much better than those little girls who only knew how to act cute and charming.

Fang Ren immediately went to pick up two plates of breakfast and handed them to Mu Huiqing, looking at Shang Han with disdain, "Sister Hui Qing, let's eat outside. It's also a good chance to enjoy the sun."

"Mm."

With that, Fang Ren pushed Mu Huiqing's wheelchair towards the outside.

Seeing this, Shang Han was taken aback: "What... have I become a lonely old man? You ungrateful wretch! I raised you for over 20 years for nothing!"

After breakfast, Fang Ren quickly washed up and dashed out, reluctantly glancing back at Mu Huiqing.

She waved at him with a slight smile on her face, which was a significant improvement compared to yesterday's silence and sorrow. Uncle Han, on the other hand, stood beside her with a cigarette in hand, looking at Fang Ren with resentful eyes as if he wished Fang Ren would hurry off to school.

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"You're late again."

At the entrance of the classroom, Liu Qianqian, dressed in the school uniform with red epaulets on her shoulders, looked at Fang Ren with displeasure.

"There was a special reason today," Fang Ren chuckled dryly.

"The class ranking evaluation for this month is coming up soon, and our class already has low behavior points. Now you're cutting more points by being late!" Liu Qianqian, as class president, grew increasingly annoyed as she spoke.

In this era, universities placed a strong emphasis on character education, and even at Mediocre University, there were behavior scores for each class.

"I promise it won't happen again, for real," said Fang Ren.

Liu Qianqian glanced at the class and then back at Fang Ren, finally managing to calm down a bit, her voice softer, "Tell me the truth, are you deliberately being late because you're upset with me?"

Fang Ren frowned slightly at her words and replied, "No."

He never considered using tardiness as a petty way to spite a girl who had rejected him. It wasn't necessary, and he wasn't that petty.

"Then why didn't you attend the memorial service yesterday? You've either been late or absent these past few days."

"I've been working on a new type of alchemy medicine recently, pretty invested in it..." Fang Ren answered truthfully.

Liu Qianqian was speechless listening to him. She knew very well Fang Ren's academic prowess was nothing to boast about. His excuse of working on a new medicine was unbelievable; he was just messing around.

"Fang Ren, how many times have I told you that you lack theory, not practice? You want to practice alchemy without understanding the theoretical aspects. Isn't that just working in the dark?" Liu Qianqian stated.

"I got it; I won't cause trouble for you or the class anymore."

Saying this, Fang Ren proceeded to walk into the class.

"Are you even listening to me?" Liu Qianqian, seeing him acting as if he were deaf, instantly got angry again.

Watching Fang Ren enter the classroom directly, Liu Qianqian let out a heavy sigh.

After all, she believed that Fang Ren had changed his behavior because of her rejection and had begun using these petty things to vent his frustration on her.

Thinking back, she used to go shopping with Fang Ren every day after school before going home or returning to the dormitory. They would stick together even after class. But now, to avoid awkwardness, she could only hang out with a few female classmates with whom she was on good terms.

Many people in the school were curious why Liu Qianqian, the top school beauty, had such a good relationship with a guy as average as Fang Ren.

The matter actually dated back to three years ago when they first started school…

That day, Liu Qianqian was riding her bike around the school when she swerved to avoid a speeding car and fell into the river. The car didn't even stop, just drove away.

At that time, only Fang Ren happened to be by the river studying his little alchemy pills. Seeing the classmate fall into the river, he immediately grabbed a branch on the riverbank and jumped in.

Since he couldn't swim, he ended up breaking the branch he was holding onto, and ironically, it was Liu Qianqian, who could swim, that ended up saving him…

It was this dramatic incident that introduced Liu Qianqian to her first friend on campus. She thought he was foolish yet kind-hearted.

Who jumps in without being able to swim, not even checking if the person in the water can swim, just thinking of rescuing them without a second thought, foolish to the extreme.

As they spent more time together, their relationship improved until Fang Ren mustered the courage to confess his feelings. Only then did Liu Qianqian realize that she might have given him the wrong impression and decided to maintain some distance, to preserve the hard-earned yet fateful friendship.

But now it seemed that maintaining the distance was actually causing their friendship to crumble even more.

...

Just returning to the classroom, Fang Ren had only walked a few steps when the boy with red hair pounced over, draped an arm over his shoulder, and said with a wicked grin, "Ranzi, your method of being late isn't going to cut it. Want me to teach you a few tricks?"

The redhead was named Li Xingwang and because his family belonged to the sort of underworld clan, he sported dyed red hair in every school he attended.

The school administrator was too lazy to advise him since his family had raised him like that. As long as he didn't do anything against morals, the administrator was more than content.

"What are you thinking, how could I possibly use that kind of tactic?" Fang Ren looked at him with disdain.

"Yo, yo, yo, the whole school is talking about your pursuit of the class president. Everyone is calling your method the 'Late Arrival Technique.'" Li Xingwang teased with a wink.

Before Fang Ren could react, another boy with a square face and a cultivated air approached them with a smile, saying, "Hey, hey, hey, this is actually true. I heard that recently, in one of the physics classes, a bunch of idiots are using being late to chase their class president."

"For real?" Fang Ren was shocked.

"You think it's fake? This news is all over the campus network already."

The square-faced boy, Jing Haichuan, often mixed with Li Xingwang and Fang Ren, a close-knit group. Rumor had it that his family owned a large condom manufacturing business.

Despite his square face, Jing Haichuan was quite charming and wealthy, attracting a fair number of female students in the school.

"Is this the rhythm to fame for me?" Fang Ren said, stunned.

"Of course, I heard that a bunch of guys from the Cultivation Academy who have a crush on Liu Qianqian want to slaughter you," Li Xingwang said.

"Hey, it seems that's true," Jing Haichuan added.

"You guys... really?" Fang Ren said with a pained expression.

"Don't worry, bro, I got your back," Li Xingwang chuckled.

"What use are you if you're not a cultivator?"

"Heh, although I'm not one, my family is full of cultivators," Li Xingwang declared.

"Bro, you're epic!"

...

Today's lesson was an experimental class, essentially an alchemy lesson. Theory is only useful when put into practice; otherwise, it's pointless.

Fang Ren sat at his own experiment station, utterly unmotivated to pay attention to whatever pill the teacher was instructing them to concoct. All he could think about was how to gather the expensive medicinal ingredients needed to treat Sister Hui Qing's legs.

"What we'll be attempting today is the Qi Gathering Pill based on the theory provided three years ago by the online master 'Qing'an.' This pill represents a significant advance over the Qi Gathering Pills from four years ago, and the medicinal ingredients used are both very common and cheap. It's hailed by many professionals as one of the most perfect pills in the world, and predicted to remain unrivaled in cost-effectiveness for the next fifty years…"

At the mention of "Qing'an," Fang Ren slowly raised his head to look at the lectern.

Holy crap, isn't that his forum account name?

Isn't the pill they were about to concoct the one he theorized when he was eighteen?

Hidden talents and fame, unfazed by the world, stay low-key—that's the life motto.

Fang Ren didn't look any further, continuing to ponder if he could substitute any of the expensive ingredients in the new pill formula. After all, they cost too much, and he couldn't afford them.

Whoosh—

An arc sailed through the air, landing accurately on Fang Ren's desk.

"Fang Ren!"

The teacher on the lectern suddenly burst out in anger, "Daydreaming in my class again! Look at the last and the second to last students, even they're paying attention! You're the only one slouching!"

Fang Ren wore a bitter smile. Was he actually expected to pay serious attention to his own inventions?

"Stand up! Mention the main ingredients of the new Qi Gathering Pill. If you can name four, you can sit down!"