115 Welcome home
When Wang Yuxi disappeared, Lu Xuan gave his attention to Gu Shangyan who was frowning while reading the comments on the forum.
“T-that g-girl,” Lu Xuan said and then cleared his throat. “Is that girl really your cousin?”
Gu Shangyan instinctively nodded his head. In his heart, An Xiulan was his cousin.
Lu Xuan fell quiet? Ahem, did this mean this boy was hai cousin too?
“What’s up?” Gu Shangyan asked. “Are you worried about going back? Forget about your promise to your parents to return home after taking a small vacation?”
Lu Xuan pursed his lips. He had to go to his mother’s house today as he had promised that he would be back after a week. He not only took one week but two.
___
“Xiuxiu, the posts are not stopping at all!” Qiao Wei said in anxiousness.
“Should we ask them to remove her picture?” Song Ci asked.
“No benefit,” Shen Yue sighed. “They had already taken screenshots and the post is circulating everywhere. Until and unless you won’t take your name back, these people won’t stop. However, they will still discuss you now that you are in the limelight.”
“Shen Yue, this is not an official competition. People don’t have to give their name but students unilaterally announce any famous girl as the campus belle,” Mona replied.
“Oh guys, have you seen Shen Yuling’s posts? She is enraged to be replaced by a newbie. Her supporters are spamming the comment section,” Ye Jun announced.
“Comrades began the attack!”
Who could keep still before the creative and deadly swears of Class Ten K? Naturally, Shen Yuling and her minions were defeated in a few minutes. Apart from the students of class K, some facedogs were supporting An Xiulan too.
As the school ended, Shen Yuling and her minions stopped at the door of the Class Ten K to threaten the girl to take back her name. It was rumoured that Shen Yuling’s dad had some mafia connections.
“Hey, you! Come here!” Shen Yuling’s sidekick pointed her finger at An Xiulan.
An Xiulan blinked her eyes. It was her and Han Zixin’s turn to clean the class today and so they were the only students left in the class at this moment. While he went to put back the broom and other necessary things in the cupboard, An Xiulan was stopped by these girls.
“Do you know how ugly you are!” Another girl commented.
An Xiulan sighed. Why was this bullying scene not even ten per cent as interesting as the one they showed in movies?
“Are you deaf?” The first sidekick said while Shen Yuling was staring at the silent girl.
“Do you wanna hear a joke?” An Xiulan suggested. Since they were taking stupid, she would just entertain herself.
“Excuse me?”
“I said do you wanna hear a joke,” An Xiulan said once again.
“You bitch!” Shen Yuling’s second sidekick spat.
“Are you really stupid or do you take special lessons?” An Xiulan asked as she pointed at the camera on the door.
The girl swallowed and took a step back.
“Since my friend will take time to return, do you wanna grab a quick ice tea in the cafeteria?” An Xiulan suggested and the girls looked at her in bewilderment. “I will pay for your drinks if you keep me company.”
Shen Yuling blinked her eyes dumbly. Was this girl…okay?
“We could be dangerous,” Shen Yuling commented as she stirred her drink.
An Xiulan just shrugged as she took a big sip of the drink. Ah, it felt so nice to drink ice tea after drinking juices for days.
“Do you know how weird you are?” The first sidekick commented.
“Don’t get bitter, just get better, girls,” An Xiulan said with a cheeky smile. As she ended her iced tea, bubble tea and milk tea, she threw the cartoon in the trash bin and innocently sat on the chair as if she was only there to accompany these girls.
The poor girls had no idea that they were being used by a certain blockhead.
“What’s happening here?”
The girl stilled as they heard that voice. Hesitantly, they turned their heads only to come across their biggest nightmare.
“We are resolving a misunderstand here,” An Xiulan replied. “My dear friend, I was just telling these girls how I have no intention of participating in a stupid competition that has nothing to do with grades and rank. I would rather focus on English contests than this stupid beauty pageants.”
“It’s not a beauty pageant but a campus belle competition,” Shen Yuling pointed out. “And it’s not stupid.” ρꪖꪕᦔꪖꪕꪫꪣꫀꪶ
“If she says it’s stupid, it is stupid!” Han Zixin stressed.
Shen Yuling swallowed back and nodded.
“And do we have a problem?” Han Zixin narrowed his eyes on them.
“We don’t,” Shen Yuling replied.
“Then please clear the matter. I don’t want you or your stupid minions to drag my friend’s name for this stupid contest,” Han Zixin notified them.
“If his words have no effect, then my mom asked me to say this whenever someone oppresses me,” An Xiulan quoted, “My mom is a board of directors and shareholder of the school. I don’t know what this means but I guess it is something pretty cool like herself.”
“Was I cool?” An Xiulan grinned when the girls left.
Han Zixin flicked her forehead.
“Ouch,” She winced.
“Does it hurt?” He asked in concern.
An Xiulan innocently looked up and pinched his arm before running away.
“Stop right there!”
An Xiulan giggled but didn’t stop. “Catch me, Cheat Prince. If you can.”
“Don’t run,” Han Zixin said in concern. “I promise that I will not retaliate. Just don’t run or trip or fall.”
“Promise?” An Xiulan asked in hesitation.
“Cross my heart and hope to –” Before he could complete his sentence, she had already grabbed her hand and was walking hand in hand with him.
He looked at her and sighed before wiping the foam from her upper lip. “Next time, don’t use these stupid tricks to drink tea. Just tell me. What if they had hurt you?”
“I’m too stupid to be hurt!” She cheekily replied.
___
“Lanlan?” An Qinyan softly called out her daughter’s name. “Come down to meet your brother.”
An Xiulan clenched her hands but nodded with a smile. Only she knew what she was feeling at this moment. With every step that she took towards the living room, she was fidgeting inwardly.
“Ah Xuan, where are you going?” An Qinyan panicked voice brought An Xiulan out of her trance.
“To throw these ugly pests out,” Lu Xuan announced as she caught Betty and Augustine with a single hand in disgust before dumping them in the trash can. Before he could do that An Xiulan had already snatched her cats from him.
“How could you be so cruel to hurt my feline siblings?” An Xiulan glared at him and consoled the whimpering cats.
“Cruel? These ugly things ruined my clothes, my mattress and my gaming console with their shit and pee and you dare call me cruel?” Lu Xuan scoffed. “If you don’t have the manners of raising animals, then don’t!”
“Kids, no need to point fingers at each other,” An Qinyan acted as referee between them. “Meimei, take Betty and Augustine. And don’t spoil the cats. They had forgotten their training.”
“Mom,” An Xiulan whispered in a wronged tone.
An Qinyan sighed as she patted her daughter’s head. “Baby girl, Betty and Augustine are spoiled beyond words. They need to learn manners.” Turning towards Lu Xuan, she said, “And son, you need to be patient and kind.”
Lu Xuan and An Xiulan pursed their lips, too angry and sad to say a word.
“Come, we will have dinner together,” An Qinyan announced and showed them the way to the dining room.
The whole dinner was well uneventful. The whole time An Xiulan and Lu Xuan were busy giving dirty looks to each other while An Qinyan was only sighing or taking a deep breath.
“Mom, can I sleep with you tonight?” An Xiulan appeared wearing her kitty night suit and holding a pillow when An Qinyan was checking Lu Xuan’s schoolwork and syllabus.
Lu Xuan snorted. “What a baby!”
An Xiulan, of course, ignored his existence as she hugged her mother and rubbed her face against her mom’s shoulder. “Mom, I get scared at night. My forehead is warm. What if I get a fever again?”
This trick worked on An Qinyan liked magic as she held her pillow and followed her mother to sleep. As she looked behind to give a mocking look to the teenage boy, she showed him her tongue.
‘If this is how you wanna play An Xiulan,’ Lu Xuan muttered. ‘If I didn’t steal your mother from you, I wouldn’t be Lu Xuan!’
___
Author Note: Both Lu Xuan and An Xiulan are sixteen years old teenagers trying to be adults when they are nothing but children. They can’t be expected to be reasonable and logical all the time as adults. There will be jealousy, fights and of course fluff but the last part is for the future.