Chapter 37: Chapter 37: Seems Like One Person_1
"After all this time, Ranzi is still a jerk. I grabbed this fancy mud for nothing," Jing Haichuan said with a regretful smack of his lips.
"Damn it, I almost forgot about that!"
As soon as Li Xingwang heard this, he immediately grabbed a handful of fancy mud from his red hair and slapped it onto Jing Haichuan's face before running off.
"Like your face is clean!"
Seeing this, Fang Ren couldn't let him off and immediately scooped some mud from his own face to slap back, and hastily retreated after the deed.
In an instant, Jing Haichuan's face was covered in mud.
"Fuck! You two just wait!"
Suddenly, the three grown men were causing chaos by the river, and after a while, Fang Ren also took off his shirt and, bare-chested, joined in the fish catching, while Mu Huanqing sat on a stone by the little river, watching their playful antics, feeling that Ah Ran's friends were actually quite nice.
After catching seven or eight carp, Fang Ren came back to the shore to chat with Mu Huanqing. She would have been bored alone since, aside from him, there was no one else she knew.
"Tch, going on a picnic and not forgetting to bring your girlfriend. How long have you been chasing Qian Qian? Men really are pigs," Li Xinyue, who was starting a fire to boil water, said disdainfully to Liu Qianqian nearby while watching Fang Ren in the distance.
"It was I who rejected him first, so stop talking about him," Liu Qianqian kept adding firewood to the small pot, seemingly unfazed.
"Qian Qian, do you actually like him or not?" Li Xinyue frowned and said, "You were all smiles before, but as soon as he brought that girl over, you suddenly stopped smiling."
"Huh?" Liu Qianqian was stunned, instinctively touching her face, "Really?"
"The change in your expression was very obvious," Li Xinyue gave her a look, "It seems like you were trying to play hard to get to make this fool treasure you more. But too bad, now your fish has slipped away."
"What are you talking about, Xinyue? How could I ever do such a boring thing?" Liu Qianqian frowned, "I already said, I don't plan on dating any of the guys from school."
"Oh? So, who is your target, a prince from Tianjiang?" Li Xinyue chuckled.
At the mention of Tianjiang, Liu Qianqian's brows furrowed deeper, and she threw the firewood into the pot fiercely, standing up with complex emotions, "The last thing I want is to marry a man from Tianjiang."
"Huh? Why not?"
"No reason."
...
"Fang Fang... Fang classmate!"
Just as Fang Ren was talking with Mu Huanqing, a girl suddenly ran over. Fang Ren turned his head to find that it was Jian Qi'er, known throughout the school for her naivety.
She was wearing tight sportswear today, and upon further inspection, her figure wasn't bad at all, but with her loosely hanging hair and a face one-third covered in shyness, it did not match her sportswear.
Going out for a picnic, at least she should tie her hair into a ponytail to look better. Wasn't she afraid of her hair falling into the pot while boiling water, or blocking her view while hiking?
"Who is she?"
When Mu Huanqing saw the girl running over, she leaned towards Fang Ren's shoulder and asked softly.
"A very innocent girl from our class," Fang Ren said with a smile.
After saying this, Fang Ren turned to Jian Qi'er, who had rushed over, and asked, "What is it, you didn't want to call in sick as soon as you heard about the picnic?"
"No no no," Jian Qi'er immediately waved her hands in denial, "How could I make a special case out of a class activity? Wouldn't that make me seem capricious?"
"You are already quite capricious," Fang Ren responded helplessly.
Jian Qi'er glanced at Mu Huanqing next to Fang Ren and started to stammer nervously again, "Th-that, Fang classmate, who is this beautiful older sister?"
"Girlfriend," Fang Ren replied generously.
Upon hearing the word 'girlfriend,' Jian Qi'er quickly hid the hand with Fang Ren's Space Ring behind her back. In a short moment, she removed the ring and stashed it in her shorts pocket.
"You you you, hello, I am Jian Qi'er, who sits behind Fang classmate. He has helped me a lot with my studies, please take good care of me," Jian Qi'er said in her silly way, bending at a 90-degree angle in a bow that made her look all the more adorable.
Mu Huanqing glanced at Fang Ren and then stood up, her face bearing a polite smile, "Hello, my name is Mu Huanqing, Ah Ran's... fiancée."
At the word 'fiancée,' Jian Qi'er's face lit up with excitement, "Wow, fiancée, are you going to marry Fang classmate?"
"Yes, we are getting married on May 20," Mu Huanqing nodded.
"Wow, with your beauty, you will definitely be the most beautiful bride in the world when you put on the wedding dress," Jian Qi'er said excitedly, her big eyes sparkling.
"No, it's not that exaggerated…" Mu Huanqing replied somewhat shyly.
"No way, you definitely will be," Jian Qi'er insisted.
Fang Ren, listening to the two of them chatting intermittently, felt that this was nice. There weren't many people here who could talk with Mu Huanqing, and having a girl who could bring her along would make many things more convenient.
"Silly girl, what task did the class assign to you?" Fang Ren asked.
"Gathering firewood," Jian Qi'er replied.
"Qing'er, you go pick up some too, so we can eat together later," Fang Ren said.
"Okay," Mu Hui Qing nodded.
"Don't go too far," Fang Ren warned and then dove back into the river, catching fish and chatting with two young masters.
Jian Qi'er led Mu Hui Qing to a nearby grove to collect firewood. Despite her seemingly foolish expression, she never stopped talking.
Since it was a school trip attended by all students, there were naturally some Cultivation System students showing off by flying on their swords in the sky.
Meanwhile, in the sky above, Wang Shuai paused on his flying sword, looking down at Fang Ren by the riverside, a cold sneer crossed his face.
He hadn't managed to embarrass Fang Ren at school, but now that they were on a trip in the dense forest of the mountains, with no cameras around, all he had to do was wait for Fang Ren to be alone, and then he'd have his chance to deal with him.
"Fang Ren, today I'll let you know the price of entangling with Liu Qianqian, and as for that little girlfriend by your side, I want to see if she can accept what you look like after being crippled!"
Wang Shuai thought to himself with a chilly heart, his gaze shifting to the distant Liu Qianqian and Mu Hui Qing, who was collecting firewood with Jian Qi'er, excitement sparking in his eyes.
"Sister Qing, your ring is so beautiful."
In the grove, Jian Qi'er dumbly admired the Space Ring on Mu Hui Qing's right hand.
Looking down at the ring on her hand, Mu Hui Qing smiled blissfully and said, "This is the engagement ring Ah Ran gave me."
"Engagement... engagement ring..."
There was a stiffness in Jian Qi'er's expression.
In her mind, she couldn't help criticizing Fang Ren—such a "straight man." Though the Space Ring was undoubtedly precious, using it as an engagement ring without any embellishment, at least setting something on it... he was just too straightforward.
"Yes," Mu Hui Qing said, touching the ring fondly, "Although it's not very pretty, I like it a lot. To me, it's the most beautiful ring, and nothing can replace it."
"Sister Qing, you and Fang Ren must have a great relationship," Jian Qi'er commented.
"What's Ah Ran like at school?" Mu Hui Qing couldn't help probing for information about Fang Ren's past.
"Fang Ren? He's a guy with strange behaviors but a very gentle personality..."
Of course, Jian Qi'er added more praise—the conversation was in front of his girlfriend, after all.
After a while, Jian Qi'er suddenly said with a silly smile, "Sister Qing, I just realized your silhouette resembles the famous Xuan Nv from the heavens."
"Is that so..."
Mu Hui Qing was momentarily stunned, then laughed it off.
"Really, I feel like you and she could have been cast from the same mold in terms of hair and figure," Jian Qi'er chuckled. "If I had seen Xuan Nv, she must look a lot like Sister Qing."
"Why?"
"Because they say Xuan Nv is the most beautiful woman in the world, and Sister Qing is the most beautiful person I've ever seen."
"Thank you, you're very beautiful too."
Mu Hui Qing really liked this simple and naive girl. Suddenly, she felt that Ah Ran was right, there really are more good people in this world.
How could such an innocent girl be bad? However, Jian Qi'er's real identity and true nature were unknown to her, and she was perhaps still too trusting of her own kind. Fortunately, the words that Fang Ren had said earlier made her maintain a trace of vigilance when dealing with anyone.
Even for the naive girl in front of her, her heart felt the girl was not bad, but she still kept a hint of vigilance.
After all, these were words from Ah Ran, and she had to remember that Ah Ran would never harm her.
"Xuan Nv... huh?"
Walking behind Mu Hui Qing, Jian Qi'er's silly expression slowly faded, and the eyes behind her old-fashioned glasses grew sharp.
Observing Mu Hui Qing's silhouette, she frowned tightly, "But Xuan Nv has been confirmed dead, could all this be my overthinking?"
As mealtime was approaching, the class began to prepare all sorts of wild fruits and fish.
"It looks like we forgot to bring our barbecue seasoning," a girl suddenly remarked.
"I'll go get it."
Liu Qianqian, the class president, immediately stood up.
Seeing her about to leave alone, Fang Ren quickly stood as well, taking his small backpack and heading towards the nearby grove.
He had said he would help Liu Qianqian.