Chapter 163: Chapter 161: Bai Qi's Misunderstanding (Second Update)_1
The elderly man shook his head with a sigh, "Let nature take its course; your parents certainly hoped you would live without worries and not suffer from the whims of society. Instead, you prefer to charge ahead, which is nothing like your name."
Having finished speaking, the old man put away the folder and placed the pen back in his shirt pocket before walking away.
"Thank you, mentor."
...
On the school's main path, the old man looked down at his folder, staring at the name "Fang Renran" and frowned, "Why does this name seem so familiar?"
As he walked on, a young teacher approached him. Upon seeing the older man, he immediately greeted him with a smile, "Vice Principal, where are you off to?"
The old man glanced up at the young teacher, "I'm submitting the competition advancement information for a student."
"Ah?" The young teacher paused in surprise, "Do we still have students participating in this competition from the two schools? There is hardly any chance of success there, it's just humiliating and subject to disdain, there's really no need to go."
The old man did not continue the conversation and instead asked, "Do you know a student named Fang Renran? I feel like I've heard this name before."
"Vice Principal, don't tell me you're talking about the fiancé of the princess?" the young teacher said.
"The princess's fiancé..." The old man suddenly remembered something, with a sudden realization: "The eldest young master of the Fang Family?"
The young teacher replied, "There are such rumors, but in reality, Family Head Fang Zheng of the Tianjiang Fang Family only has one daughter and no sons. The specifics are still quite vague."
The old man nodded, "If it's him, then it's a different story."
"Vice Principal, is the student participating in the Alchemy competition actually that Fang Renran?"
"Exactly."
"But... although his background might be noble, according to his academic records, his medical grades have always been the third from last in the class, when he participates... it might just be for laughs."
"Always the third from last?"
"Right. Strangely, he manages to land precisely in the third-to-last spot every time, he's really a genius in that way," joked the young teacher, laughing.
The old man shook his head, a smile on his face, "Not necessarily, this kid could be quite extraordinary."
"Vice Principal, are you suggesting that..."
"Born into nobility without arrogance, humble despite youthful success."
...
As soon as Fang Renran returned to the classroom in the afternoon, he was immediately surrounded by Li Xingwang and Jing Haichuan, facing a barrage of friendly pats and punches.
"I heard you're participating in the Alchemy competition!" Li Xingwang shouted.
"Yeah, some old man just announced that I had advanced," Fang Renran replied.
"Are you freaking stupid?" Jing Haichuan yelled, "Have girls become too difficult to chase, or have you run out of condoms? Why the hell would you put yourself through this embarrassment?"
"Exactly! Do you know how many people will mock and jeer at you after you've advanced? Those top-ranked college students are so smug, and for someone from a bottom-ranking university like you, you're sure to become a laughingstock," said Li Xingwang.
"No big deal, I'll just take first place," Fang Renran said.
"Damn! Bro, has your brain short-circuited?" Jing Haichuan exclaimed, "Or has indulging with the princess these past few days caused memory loss due to kidney failure?"
"First place? If you even manage to get second to last, I'd hire eight bands to shoot fireworks for you!"
"Is it really as exaggerated as you guys make it sound?" Fang Renran said with embarrassed laughter.
"Dude, do you realize? In our competition zone, everyone is a monster! Three-level pills, do you know about them? Those are the kinds of pills we could never make in our lifetime, and those guys can make them in two hours!" Jing Haichuan exclaimed.
"Sounds... pretty impressive," Fang Renran said with a dry laugh.
"Man, this morning when you weren't here, didn't the class president inform you about all this? And you still dare to go," Li Xingwang said.
"Just take care of yourself during the competition," Jing Haichuan patted Fang Renran on the shoulder, "If it's really bad, just forfeit. It's better than being ridiculed by those arrogant folks."
Upon hearing this, Liu Qianqian, who was sitting at the front of the class, walked over and said, "Although I didn't inform everyone properly, I have a lot of faith in Fang Renran's ability."
Jing and Li were stunned to hear her say this.
What did she mean by having faith in Ranzi's ability? Didn't she know that Ranzi had perennially been the third from last in class? It was obvious she was trying to set Ranzi up!
Jing and Li exchanged glances, then looked back at Liu Qianqian.
"Class president... you can't let love turn into hate. We're all classmates, you can't take personal revenge like this," Jing Haichuan said earnestly.
"What?"
Liu Qianqian was startled, how had she turned from love to hate, settling personal scores under the guise of the public good? What she said was the truth, if she couldn't trust Master Qing'an's abilities, then whose could she trust?
Li Xingwang was also looking at Liu Qianqian with a serious face, and said, "Although Ranzi is indeed kind of scummy, hooliganish, and even a bit perverted now, these still can't justify your disgust toward him, you know!"
"I..." Liu Qianqian didn't know how to explain herself for a moment, never having imagined that these two guys' wild speculations were no less potent than those of their female classmates.
Fang Ren was even more dumbfounded, when had the two guys beside him become like this? Were there no normal people around him anymore?
"Don't look at Ranzi in such a sorry state now, but class leader, have you forgotten who made her this way?" Li Xingwang said sternly, "That's right! It was you!"
"Damn, Li is absolutely right!" Jing Haichuan said to Liu Qianqian with great agitation, "If it wasn't for your push-and-pull tactics back then, the woman forcing Ranzi to take kidney tonics now would definitely be you!"
"You guys! What are you talking about!"
When Liu Qianqian heard the three words "kidney tonics," her entire face couldn't help but turn red. She gave up on explaining and sat back down in her seat, fuming.
Seeing Liu Qianqian return in a huff, Li Xinyue immediately approached and said, "Qian Qian, you really did wrong on this matter. Even if you dislike him, you can't use this kind of thing to trap him."
"Xinyue, you think so too?" Liu Qianqian felt completely helpless.
"Do I have a choice but to think so? Look at you, you walk around with the smell of jealousy all over you every day, and when people say you played hard-to-get, I don't think they're wrong at all."
"What hard-to-get? You don't understand," Liu Qianqian frowned.
She had truly acted under the pressure from her family, and it had nothing to do with playing hard-to-get.
Sitting in the back, Bai Qi felt instantly displeased when she heard Liu Qianqian had not told Fang Ren about this morning's events. She had thought that when Fang Ren spoke to her at lunch, he already knew all about it.
Now that Fang Ren was still in the dark, she felt Liu Qianqian was purposely setting him up. Talking about trust among classmates, didn't Liu Qianqian, who has been class leader for three years, know that Fang Ren couldn't do alchemy? And Liu Qianqian had no clue about Fang Ren planning to cheat.
Anyway, she just felt that Liu Qianqian deliberately didn't tell Fang Ren, wanting him to face humiliation later.
"Hey, don't think like that. The class leader didn't mean it that way."
Fang Ren was still making excuses for Liu Qianqian, when suddenly Bai Qi came over and pulled him to sit down at the back of the class.
Seeing this, Jing and Li didn't feel it was appropriate to join in; they thought it better not to listen to the private conversation of the soon-to-be-wed couple.
"How could the class leader do something like this?" Bai Qi whispered to Fang Ren.
"This thing... it's not her fault."
Fang Ren said awkwardly, after all, Liu Qianqian knew his true identity, which was why she didn't tell him these things, as there was no need to worry.
"You're still defending her. She's setting you up," Bai Qi said unhappily, feeling even worse, as she had heard from classmates that Fang Ren used to like Liu Qianqian. Combined with Fang Ren's current protective attitude, Bai Qi suddenly felt that Fang Ren still had feelings for Liu Qianqian.
"It doesn't matter. I'm going to cheat anyway, does it make a difference who my opponent is?" Fang Ren said.
"What do you mean it doesn't matter! She didn't know you were going to cheat before. She didn't inform you about such a critical matter!" Bai Qi frowned.
Fang Ren, looking puzzled at her reaction, said, "Even if she did trick me a bit, there's no need for you to be so upset..."
Bai Qi's expression went blank for a moment, then she said earnestly, "How can I not be upset, you are my fiancé. Her tricking you is like ignoring me."
"..."
Fang Ren was embarrassed, thinking that Liu Qianqian also knew about Xuan Nv having lived with him. According to Bai Qi's logic, didn't that mean Liu Qianqian also didn't take Mu Huanqing into consideration?
"Let's not talk about that." Bai Qi frowned, glanced at Liu Qianqian in the front and then turned back to Fang Ren, "So now that you know who you're facing next, can you still tell me what you said at noon?"
"Are you talking about promising to cheat to get you into the finals?"
"Yeah."
"One thing doesn't affect the other," Fang Ren said.
Hearing him say this, Bai Qi couldn't help but feel grateful.
In her eyes, Fang Ren was continuing with the competition just for her. If not for her request, Fang Ren would likely choose to withdraw, like the other students preparing for the competition, but he insisted on going because of her.
As for the reason, Bai Qi thought it was because of something she heard last night while she was drunk; she vaguely remembered Fang Ren admitting his liking for her, even though she was a bit out of it at the time.
But she felt confident she hadn't misheard.
Bai Qi's expression twisted in conflict for a moment, then she said, "Or maybe... you should withdraw. I won't go, and you don't have to take the risk."
"Why the sudden change?" Fang Ren was surprised.
After a pause, Bai Qi whispered, "I already owe you a great debt, I don't want to be indebted to your affection as well..."