Mystery garden

It was summer break—I wore my plainly designed black shirt and brown shorts with my white canvas and socks. My black hair dropped over my back, dangling slightly with the wind. Meanwhile, Li Min wore a simple white gown, but it glistened as the sun shined on it. I had wondered if the dress had some silver particles attached to its surface. Thinking about it, I've casually decided to follow the witch to have our problem solved once and for all. If I had not agreed to her condition of showing her ability to receive the desired information I needed, I would have demonstrated hell for her. She was truly annoying, especially with her arrogance.

Just as we left the spot where I was serving my punishment, we headed straight to one of the relaxation sites in Suzhou senior high school—they labeled the place Mystery garden. Fundamentally, a garden with tall and huge shrubs, and the school artificially maintained these shrubs. It could be called one of Suzhou senior high school wonders, much to the student's adoration. The beautiful trees acted as a shade, and inside the place, the school artistically designed slabs as chairs and tables; they appeared momentous. There were various vending machines around for cold drinks. Parasol guarded most parts of the areas that the shrub couldn't to avoid heavy sunlight penetration. But what was most incredible was the student who came here. They were always in twos, much to people's adamant obeisance that people always end up becoming couples here.

Li Min led the way as she stopped abruptly in front of the mystery garden. This result made me wonder why she brought me here. Out of all the places of discussion, she chose here. Of course, this thing didn't matter to me. We got to the vending machine, got a drink for ourselves, and then decided on an area for our discussion. Many people who sat in the mystery garden stared at us like ghosts. Perhaps, in their mind, they may be thinking that we were lovers as everything that had to do with Li Min created a news headline. Yet she did these things with indifference, completely obliterating my mission of peace. As always, Li Min stood aloof and indifferent to the perception of people around her. Even if she had a glimpse into their thought, she did not bulge. She was just like a celebrity who threw herself unto an ordinary person. No, to a nuisance.

"Why did you deliberately choose a certain range of scores in your final exams?" Li Min betrayed an unbelievable expression. It was as though she could not believe that some people's goals were only to be ordinary. Well, she wasn't about to bet on that. Many people chose to be extraordinary because they might have wanted the spotlight. On the contrary, others dislike showing off, and it certainly sounded much more alluring to be a nuisance to people than a nerd. Her thought ran wild!

'Why did I deliberately choose a low score? What has that got to do with her? In fact, if I must answer that insidious question: it means people wouldn't put up guards around me for anything. Also, it allowed me to navigate freely. But I guessed it felt unbelievable to others to decide to settle for foolishness. However, what do I care about their frivolous thought? About my plans, no one could compare.'

"I did my best. That's as much as I could afford," I replied flatly.

"Liar! You certainly pulled some stunt there. All the other answers you marked out were certainly correct. It was as if you wanted me to know your capability while hiding. How ironic!"

'So what? You value yourself too much. Liar? That was menial compared to most of these pretentious ghosts. Also, even if I did such a thing, I was still far away from a witch like you. Since you had a way of knowing the truth, that's all that matters.' In fact, that certainly was my intention. It was just as Li Min had mentioned, but I guess that part did not make her settle down. Anyway, she must have somehow discovered that I had expected her to find that answer script since she had many connections to the higher authority in the school. In fact, this girl must have felt frustrated, choked, and calculated by me. But just as I was thinking about it, she rang her voice in my ears; it made me nearly spit out the drink in my mouth.

"A good plan, but you failed to recognize that I was not the only intelligent person who could deduce that. In fact, some teachers must have understood that you could easily ace the subjects, yet you did not. I am also guessing when the homeroom teacher, Jian He called for Xiu Ying to tutor the three Heng Da—this girl must have noticed that script on the table and felt the weirdness."

As I heard what Li Min said, I knew I couldn't dismiss such a possibility, but my lousy behavior had made up for that loophole. In fact, would the script be exposed on that table for eternity? Even if someone thought I was smart, there was no possibility of being sure because I was a mixture of grain and sand. My ruffian behavior would make them rather loathe me than cooperate with me; it was much to my pleasure.

As if reading my thought, Li Min shoved back her long black hair proudly with unbelievable arrogance. "You must've thought that even though anyone discovered that you're holding back, your cover as delinquent would play a role, shading you. That could probably work with people like our homeroom teacher, who hated you and would rather kill himself than cooperate with you, but what about the people like Xiu Ying. Her character is unpredictable. Or even Kang Hop and Wei Yan, those teachers would never be blinded with hatred, or confuse superiority with results."

'She certainly was right in what she said, but why would she care so much. I would instead remain ruffian so that people would let down their guard around me. Also, it is troublesome to be in the limelight.'

Thinking of changing the topic, I took a sip of my drink and smiled lightly. "You said you would reward me with some information, right." I reminded Li Min. After all, I did score a perfect record even though it was mysteriously.

"Well, from a simple view, you did not do anything. In fact, you only gave me hard labor instead. So, I wouldn't say you deserved any information, but since I had pleaded for the school to lessen your punishment, I believe it served as cutting the information short." She said guilelessly.

"You arrogant wench. Don't think of playing tricks with me. I never asked you to reduce my punishment. What sort of excuse is that?" I bellowed angrily, almost turning attention to our table. But much to my surprise, Li Min still remained indifferent. What the hell did she mean by cutting the information short? I never asked you to settle my personal grievance with the school?

As Li Min noticed my anger and displeasure, she remained expressionless. If anything, she was unconcerned. "It's definitely not a problem with you, but I did not want to waste time. I aligned with you because of your abilities, nothing more. What would you say if you wasted time serving punishment? So, I had to act for my sake even if it means hurting you."

'Selfish bastard. People can never have a different approach to solving problems. They had to choose the method that would be most useful, even if it hurts others. I was irritated with such people, and they made me want to choke. What does she want from me anyway? I could say she was already academically outstanding. Why does she want to hang around me?'

"You may think however you please. I did not want to beat around the bush with you anyways. Whatever I did was for myself alone. It doesn't matter if you were dissatisfied with me. There is no guilt to that." Li Min spoke as though my mind was a screen in front of her. Reasonably, it was certainly good to work with intelligent people because they read the mood and every insignificant habit and people's atmosphere. They had understood you before you spoke, so in any case, planning some things with these people works incredibly fast and produces substantial results. The only downside with them was that they are too clever that you literally find it difficult to hide your thought process from them.

I sighed

"Enough! I believe I might not necessarily need you to acquire the information I need. If your background is strong, there must be people closer to you in status. I will only look for them. Besides, I'm not in a hurry." I said impassively. In any case, there was no need to waste my time again with this person. I'm nobody's servant.

She panicked for the first time before she feigned indignation.

"The one thing I could give for now is not much. The three prince families are like invisible hands controlling this Lei country behind the scene like a puppeteer controlling his puppets. They are also the wealthiest. The difference between their amount of resources with those found in the lower province is like heaven and earth." Li Min said everything in one breath.