Chapter 139: Be My Girlfriend

Maopu Chinese

The moment that woman stepped out of the fish tank, I felt as though space and time in the living room had frozen completely. Even Bai Rushuang, whose faint breathing I could still hear at first, seemed to have been frozen in place.

My consciousness remained perfectly clear as I watched that peerlessly beautiful woman walk toward us, one step at a time.

As she drew closer, I felt an overwhelming majesty bearing down upon us. The pressure was so great that I could barely breathe.

The woman stopped in front of Bai Rushuang and me, then looked us up and down with evident curiosity. At last, she gave us an extraordinarily affectionate smile and gently blew toward us.

It was a breath of red mist. When it enveloped Bai Rushuang and me, I was astonished to see the wounds on my body healing at incredible speed, crusting over almost instantly. The woman continued smiling, nodded at us, then turned and walked back into the fish tank.

I abruptly opened my eyes and instinctively sprang up from the sofa. Dawn had already broken outside, while Bai Rushuang was still sleeping beside me.

The first thing I did was examine my injuries. To my astonishment, nearly all of them had healed. Even the several whip marks on my face had vanished completely.

Bai Rushuang woke soon afterward. When she saw how quickly my wounds had healed, she opened her mouth in shock.

“Wooden Fish, how did your injuries heal so quickly?”

I gave a vague sound of acknowledgment and looked toward the fish tank. The rainbow koi inside had pressed its head against the glass, staring at Bai Rushuang and me with its round, wide eyes.

I could not be certain whether what I had seen the night before had been a dream, but I still sent the rainbow koi a grateful look.

After that, I offered no further explanation. I simply pulled Bai Rushuang into my arms and kissed her without a word.

She instinctively dodged away. “Wooden Fish, what are you doing? Have you gone crazy?”

I had indeed gone crazy. Seeing Bai Rushuang dressed in a long gown of ancient design, looking like a celestial maiden, I could no longer control myself.

“Gluttonous Snake, you agreed last night that if I survived, you would become my girlfriend. You can’t go back on your word now!”

Bai Rushuang stared at me with wide, innocent eyes. “Wooden Fish, you—you actually took that seriously?”

“Of course I did.”

With that, I pounced on her again. This time she did not dodge. After a moment of half-hearted resistance, she and I began kissing passionately.

After a while, I instinctively tried to carry her into the bedroom and take things further, but Bai Rushuang refused. Realizing that I had lost control of myself, I hurriedly pulled her into my arms instead.

Neither of us said anything after that. We simply leaned against each other on the sofa for a long time.

At last, Bai Rushuang said, “Wooden Fish, if we truly get together, perhaps one day we may separate for many reasons. When that happens—”

She had not finished speaking when I interrupted her.

“Rushuang, I don’t care what happens in the future. All I know is that right now, you are with me, and that is enough.”

Then I turned toward the fish tank and said, “Gluttonous Snake, from this day forward, I, Wu Dao, will love only you with all my heart. No matter what happens in the future, I will never abandon you. Let that rainbow koi be our witness!”

Bai Rushuang chuckled but said nothing. She, too, looked toward the rainbow koi. The fish was opening and closing its mouth happily, blinking at us without pause.

Yet Bai Rushuang’s gaze had grown somewhat distant, as though she had remembered something. In the end, she drew a deep breath and buried her head firmly against my chest.

At noon, Bai Rushuang and I went out to eat. During the meal, I asked her what sort of relationship she had with Qinghe, who the woman in blue was, and what her true identity was. Bai Rushuang did not answer a single question, and eventually I stopped asking.

Afterward, we wandered around outside for a while before returning separately to our own schools.

When we parted, Bai Rushuang suddenly asked me a very strange question.

“Wooden Fish, if one day you discover that I am not the person you have seen or imagined me to be, will you still love me?”

I did not understand what she meant. She continued, “I mean, if I became someone else—” She seemed unable to explain further and finally waved it off. “Forget it. Let things be whatever they are.”

I smiled, lightly brushed a finger over her nose, then kissed her forehead.

“Gluttonous Snake, no matter what you become in the future, I will always love you.”

On the taxi ride back to school, I switched on the phone I had turned off the day before. I found a great many messages and missed-call notifications, most of them from Dadi and the others, asking how I was and where Bai Rushuang had taken me.

I smiled. To keep them from worrying, I immediately called Dadi back. However, the person who answered was Moro, the foreign English teacher from our class.

I froze for two seconds. “Teacher Moro, how did Dadi’s phone end up with you?”

Moro replied from the other end, “All your friends were taken to the police station. When Li Yi was taken away, he left his phone with me and said that if you called, I was to tell you what happened.”

I was startled. “When did this happen?”

“This morning,” Moro replied. Then he asked, “What exactly happened yesterday? Why did so many influential and wealthy people come to the school looking for the administrators and demand that they hand someone over? The whole affair has become enormous. It alarmed a large number of police officers, and the school authorities have been driven nearly frantic.”

Only then did I realize what had happened. Dadi and the others had brought so many people to rescue me the previous night, and the people they had confronted were all wealthy, powerful young heirs from the city. When Dadi and the others saw how badly I had been injured, they must have lost their minds with rage. No wonder they had fought so fiercely.

My heart immediately began to pound. I was terrified that they might have accidentally inflicted serious injuries on one or two people—or even killed someone. If that had happened, the matter would be impossible to resolve peacefully.

In my anxiety, I gave Moro no further explanation and hung up. Then I called Peng Li.

As soon as the call connected, Peng Li asked where I was and what had happened the night before. Why had my friends come into conflict with so many sons of wealthy families from the city?

I did not know how to explain it either, so I asked how Dadi and the others were doing and whether they were in any danger.

Peng Li said he had already made arrangements. They were not in any immediate danger, but the affair might have grown rather serious. There was a possibility that my brothers could be sentenced to prison.

I was so alarmed that I immediately told the taxi driver to turn around and head for the police station.

When I arrived, I saw that Peng Li was already waiting outside. I hurried over to him.

“Brother Peng, what exactly is going on?”

Peng Li sighed. “It’s actually nothing too serious. Your friends got into a mass brawl with a lot of wealthy young men from the city yesterday, and the other side suffered some injuries.”

“Were any of them seriously injured?”

“No. Those young heirs aren’t fools. When they saw so many people charging at them with weapons, anyone who could run had already run. Besides, many of them had bodyguards with them. In truth, it wasn’t anything major.”

Only then did I let out a breath of relief. “If that’s the case, then Dadi and the others should be fine, right?”

Peng Li shook his head. “Not necessarily. The families on the other side are all rich and powerful. Those young heirs have been pampered their entire lives. Since last night, we’ve received at least ten letters from lawyers, all accusing your friends of intentional assault—or even attempted murder. This matter could be minor or extremely serious. If it gets out of hand, your friends could even receive life sentences. That’s what happens when the other side has money and influence.”

Maopu Chinese