Chapter 13: Ideal School Life

The weekend was over quickly, and before I knew it, I had to return to school. Unfortunately, on Monday, we had to go for a class that I disliked the most.

Music class.

"Can I skip music lessons?" I complained to Tong Xue.

"You can sit through hours of math and history, but you can't stand music? Are you sound?"

"It's a different dimension."

Not only was I tone deaf, I tended to play whatever instrument I was assigned to mechanically, much to the annoyance of my teachers. My playing of the recorder wasn't something to be recorded because of how traumatizing it was.

Even a second chance to redo wasn't going to help my lack of talent in music. I enjoyed listening to songs, but I couldn't sing or play one to save my life. As such, I dreaded attending such lessons. Along with physics and geography, music was my bane.

Despite my reluctance, I still headed to the music studio where the classes were conducted. If I didn't, I would still have to face the music anyway.

Hiding at the back, I listened to the rest of my classmates sing while lip synching. It might be ironic, given that I had a penchant to say everything in rap and rhyme all of my sentences, but I simply was terrible at singing. I didn't want anyone to suffer the misery of listening to my off-key voice.

At the front, Song Mu Chen took the lead, his voice strong and confident. He was basically our class's Andy Lau. Standing tall and facing the rest of the class, he dictated the melody and set the pace.

"Excellent!" The music teacher, Yin Yue, praised him. She turned to the rest of the class, nodding in approval. Currently, she was at the piano, her fingers deftly pressing down keys and creating an accompaniment for our words. "All of you should learn from Song Mu Chen!"

I wasn't surprised that Song Mu Chen was so good at singing any song. It was almost literally in his name, after all.

Thankfully, the music lesson ended quicker than I thought it would. Perhaps because when everyone was having fun, time appeared to fly faster than usual. I could see everyone's disappointment when they stepped outside of the door, trudging to the next lesson.

As we did so, I noticed that Gao Fu Shuai was watching me. With a frown, I went up to him before he could muster his composure, causing him to falter.

"What on earth is the matter? Why are you looking at me? Stop doing that, I'd rather. There's nothing for you to see."

"No, it's just that..." He clenched his fists and looked away angrily. Then he mustered his courage. Jabbing a finger into my chest, he scowled. "Is there something between you and Shu Hong Qiu?"

"Not really, there isn't anything. Now allow me to ask you questions. Are you going out with Sheng Ai Qing? What transpired within your passions?"

"Ugh!" Gao Fu Shuai jolted back, and he looked away. "You…you know Shen Ai Qing is gone! Along with her friends!"

"Now that they're gone, you're moving on?" I cocked my head to the side. "Did they not simply go missing? Is there something you're not telling?"

"I…I don't know anything! I just know they disappeared after school last week! I don't think we'll ever be seeing them again…"

"Isn't it a stretch to assume they're dead? Don't you think you're getting too far ahead?"

"I…I didn't say they're dead! You're thinking too much! Besides, I've to move on! I can't keep dwelling on Shen Ai Qing forever!"

This was the complete opposite of his attitude on Valentine's Day last week, when he took her side. Not that I was going to call him out on it. Still, I couldn't help but be annoyed with his attitude. Taking a deep breath to calm myself down, I turned away.

However, Gao Fu Shuai was far from done.

"Stay away from Shu Hong Qiu! You're not worthy of her!"

"And you are?" I turned back to stare at him, an eyebrow raised. "That's bizarre."

"I'm serious!" Gao Fu Shuai puffed out his chest. "I'll be her fiancé. Our families will be coming to an arrangement soon. The Shu and Gao families will be entering a financial alliance. There is no space for you to meddle in our affairs!"

"Uh, okay? Why…?"

"Because…" The handsome, rich, blond guy took a deep breath. "…I am Gao Fu Shuai!"

"Do you have a system as well?" I asked drily. "Something that gives you cheats like hell?"

"How…how do you know that?!" Gao Fu Shuai stepped back, looking astonished. He glanced around, flustered, and stared into empty space. I immediately knew that was where his system was – a system only he could see.

Typical. Most Chinese characters these days had systems conveniently given to them so that they could cruise through life on easy mode. If only I had a system too…

"If I hit him now, I'll gain a cheat demon exorcizing technique…but if I let him hit me, then I'll gain the sympathy of the girls around me, plus 90 affection points from each of them…"

He beckoned for me to hit him. I stared at him in disbelief. Did this idiot really think reality was some wish fulfilment web novel where every character behaved like mentally retarded cannon fodder mob who existed solely for him to level up and get more cheats?

"Are you ignoring me?" Gao Fu Shuai asked incredulously. With a roar, he charged at me, but I could tell that he didn't really intend to hit me. For his system rewards, he was going to force me to hit him, no matter what.

Sighing, I stepped aside and stuck my foot out, tripping him. Gao Fu Shuai tumbled to the ground, hitting his face and rolling about. He swore and glanced up.

"What's that for?!"

"Weren't you the one who charged into the fray? Of course I would surely get out of the way."

"How could you?!" One of the girls in class cried out. "Ming Cong, you shouldn't have hit him!"

"Yeah…poor Gao Fu Shuai. Are you all right?"

"Here, have my handkerchief. You got some dust on you…let me wipe it off."

The girls were all fussing over him, checking on his faked injuries and cooing like cows over a single prize bull. Were they deluded? I never hit him. I honestly didn't know what to say. The system certainly made Gao Fu Shuai omnipotent.

"What a good actor," Yun Shan said sharply. "Did you guys not see Gao Fu Shuai was the one who attacked Ming Cong first?"

"Yeah, what's with this bullshit? Are you girls blind or something?" Tong Xue demanded. The SSS were all glaring at Gao Fu Shuai, but none of them could do anything. One of his system rewards had been master level martial arts, and he could kick their asses far more ruthlessly than I did, and still worm his way out of punishment.

"They're just siding with Gao Fu Shuai because he's rich and handsome," Song Mu Chen grumbled, disgusted.

Gao Fu Shuai paid no attention to them. His expression clearly told us that he believed they were simply jealous. In fact, he was reveling in what he thought was their envy. I honestly didn't know what to say, except that I was glad I wasn't a protagonist like him.

"Lian Hua…you believe me, right?" Gao Fu Shuai was shamelessly looking at the diminutive girl who had kept her distance from him. She jolted up and hid behind Yun Shan.

"N…no."

"Huh…" Gao Fu Shuai frowned and glanced into empty space, as if he was consulting his system. He cocked his head to the side, confused. "I thought her affection level was supposed to be positive."

Did he seriously treat our female classmates like targets to be conquered?

"Let's go," Yun Shan told her best friend and led her away, her face filled with revulsion. "Such guys aren't worth it."

Lian Hua hesitated, sparing Gao Fu Shuai one last glance, before she followed her precious friend back to our usual classroom. Clearly, she still had a crush on Gao Fu Shuai, but he had hurt her before in his pursuit of other girls. I realized that the reason why he had suddenly given up on Shen Ai Qing was because his system must have informed her that she – as one of his capture targets – was dead. Along with her friends.

How convenient.

A chill ran down my spine. His next target of conquest must be Shu Hong Qiu. That was why he was provoking me, trying to trick me into doing villainous acts that would lower my affection level with his latest heroine.

Well, as long as he didn't try to kill me or ruin my life, I couldn't care less. I had more important things to deal with, such as my mission. Also, my mission only stipulated that I protect Shu Hong Qiu. Her grandfather had forbidden me to be involved romantically with her, or he would personally track me down and haunt me when the Seventh Month came along.

After school, I went to the student council room to check on Shu Hong Qiu. Now that the art competition was over, Lian Hua had no reason to stay back late, and she went home early after spending a couple of hours doodling. Earlier, Yun Shan had exacted a promise from her to not stay back so late before she went for basketball practice. Now that she had no more excuses, Lian Hua agreed.

"I need a break from drawing anyway," she had told me before she went home. A sad smile had crept across her face, and I remembered how disappointed she was to not win the first prize for the contest. "I've been lacking inspiration for the past couple of days."

"Yeah, you should rest," I had agreed. "That's for the best."

Unlike Lian Hua, I couldn't just go home, though. I still needed to watch over Shu Hong Qiu. And so I waited outside the student council room. Making sure I wasn't loitering and looking like a stalker, I whipped out my smartphone and began reading online web fiction on the Honeyfeed website. Hopefully, BlipXP had posted the latest chapter of Supranatural. Otherwise, there was always Kazesenken's Critical Attack story. Or I could get all delusional and read Pearlyn's DelusionL.

At some point of time, I suddenly turned around, noting that someone else was there. At first, I thought it was one of the ghosts who might be haunting Shu Hong Qiu and looking for a chance to attack her. However, my wariness dropped a notch when I saw that it was Gao Fu Shuai.

"What are you doing here?" He demanded. "Stalking Shu Hong Qiu?"

This was a great example of the pot calling the kettle black…not to mention, he was dead wrong.

"Ming Cong is waiting for me," Shu Hong Qiu said, choosing that moment to step out of the student council room. The rest of the members were leaving, some of them watching curiously as they traversed the corridor. I recognized the girl from two weeks ago, as well as the other three who were present during the incident. They nodded to me in acknowledgement and I waved.

Gao Fu Shuai didn't seem to notice, though. His attention was focused solely on Shu Hong Qiu – his capture target.

"Oh, is that right? I apologize. I was worried that he was stalking you."

"Ming Cong has been accompanying me home for the past week or so."

"Eh? What? Why?!"

"I fail to see how it's any of your business." Shu Hong Qiu frowned and glanced at me. "Let's go, Ming Cong."

"Yeah, sure, all right. It's been a night."

We left Gao Fu Shuai behind, the rich, handsome anti-protagonist hurriedly consulting the system and softly arguing with it. I could hear him blaming the system angrily, as if it was the system's fault that his attempts to conquer his harem target had failed.

Yeah, such Chinese protagonists were common in this day and age. Always taking the system for granted, then whining and blaming the whole world except themselves when things didn't go their way. The concept of working hard to achieve results based on one's own merits had, sadly, been abandoned for convenient cheats.

A lot of the younger generation these days were so entitled. It was also entirely possible that the guy was completely deluded and just imagining a system. I wouldn't be surprised. Lots of kids these days read way too many trashy system novels, and they were no longer able to differentiate fiction from reality.

Paying him no attention, I followed Shu Hong Qiu to her family's car.