“Lu Xun, don’t forget me when you strike it rich!” Qian Wei said with deep feeling. “In the future, if you become successful, remember to bring me along to get rich too! If you become a lawyer, a partner, make sure to give me the best cases! And if I end up working under you, you have to look out for me, take care of me—don’t make me work overtime, give me a bigger year-end bonus, and if you know any good guys, introduce them to me—ideally the type with lots of family money but both parents deceased, so there won’t be mother-in-law issues…”
“What kind of nonsense are you even thinking about?”
Whether it was just Qian Wei’s imagination or not, Lu Xun’s pace seemed to have slowed.
“Lu Xun, are you out of energy? Walk faster! Any slower and I might bleed to death!” Qian Wei urged. “I feel dizzy now, everything’s going dark, my body’s getting cold, and I feel drowsy too. I’ve seen on TV shows that if you fall asleep at a time like this, you never wake up again…”
“It’s September. Tonight’s temperature is twenty-six degrees.”
“That’s only because my blood keeps flowing out, taking my body heat with it.” Qian Wei put on a tragic expression. “I don’t even dare look at my wound. I’m afraid I’ll pass out at the sight of all that blood. I have to be strong!”
“So is there anything else you’d like to say?” Whether it was Qian Wei’s imagination or not, Lu Xun’s voice no longer sounded tense at all—if anything, it sounded unhurried, almost amused.
“There is, I still have more.” Qian Wei struggled on. “If I survive this, I hope you’ll help me on the jurisprudence final exam…”
“Let you copy off me, you mean?”
“If it’s you offering to let me see, that’s not copying—that’s mutual assistance for shared progress, the wealthy helping the less fortunate first…”
“Anything else?” Lu Xun asked as he walked.
Qian Wei was awash in feeling. Heaven had eyes—giving her this chance to take a knife for Lu Xun hadn’t been for nothing. At least he knew how to repay a kindness, actively asking what else she wanted in return. Now was the time to reap the rewards—time to make her demands!
“I hope that no matter what happens in the future, you’ll always treat me with warmth and solidarity.”
“Anything else?”
“I know you never skip your major classes—could you occasionally sign in for me?”
“Anything else?”
“I hope you’ll help out with the law school skills competition my roommate Liu Shiyun is organizing next month.”
“Anything else?”
Why so many “anything else”es? This level of cooperation from Lu Xun wasn’t normal! Something was definitely off. Qian Wei snapped to attention, sensing something wrong, and looked up—only then did she spot the problem.
“Hey!! Weren’t you taking me to the health center? When did you turn around and head back?! Lu Xun, you can’t do this—you’re the one who told me to name my demands, and now you’re annoyed I named too many and you’re not taking me for treatment, just going to let me fend for myself?! Don’t forget, that counts as criminal negligence! I got hurt saving you—you have a duty to help me! If anything happens to me, you’ll be held responsible!!”
“Qian Wei, you look plenty healthy to me. No need for the health center.”
To make sure Lu Xun took her seriously, Qian Wei exaggerated. “My hand got cut with a knife! I feel even colder now, I can barely see!”
“Is that so?” Qian Wei only heard Lu Xun’s voice, tinged with something like a suppressed laugh. He pointed at her injured hand. “But your wound stopped bleeding a while ago.”
“…”
Qian Wei looked down—sure enough, it really had stopped bleeding…
She’d been too scared earlier to look closely at the wound. Now that she did, she nearly fainted from embarrassment—it was just a shallow, thin scratch, and the blood that had first welled up had already dried and clotted…
She looked up and found Lu Xun watching her with a smile.
This was truly, deeply mortifying…
“Um… the bleeding probably just stopped…” Qian Wei tried to laugh it off. “Good fortune favors the virtuous, ha, ha ha ha.”
But Lu Xun didn’t spare her an ounce of dignity, grinning. “It stopped right around when you were talking about wanting me to introduce you to a good guy.”
“Thank you for that spectacular performance. You can get down off my arms now.”
Lu Xun, you absolute beast, I will never let this go!! Qian Wei hopped down out of his arms, wishing desperately for a hole to crawl into. No wonder his pace had been getting slower and slower—turns out he’d been enjoying the whole show at her expense! She should have known—of course a second chance at life wasn’t going to make winning over her future boss Lu Xun this easy! This was hard mode, plain and simple!
“Oh, and for tomorrow’s breakfast, I’d like the vegetarian shumai and the crystal soup dumplings from the cafeteria. Remember to get up early and grab them for me.”
You win this round!! Qian Wei glared venomously at Lu Xun’s retreating back—if looks could burn, there’d be two smoking holes in it by now. Sure, the wound was minor, but did that mean the sentiment of her having taken a blade for him counted for absolutely nothing?
“Stop glaring at me.” Lu Xun somehow seemed to have eyes in the back of his head. “Come with me to the men’s dorm.”
“No! I refuse! I have principles!!”
Lu Xun glanced at her. “Don’t get ahead of yourself. I’m not letting you into my dorm room. Just wait downstairs.”
In the end, Qian Wei couldn’t stand up to Lu Xun’s overbearing insistence and obediently waited at the entrance of the men’s dorm. It was getting late, and the building would be locking its doors soon; plenty of guys were hurrying back before curfew. Seeing her still standing there, several of them couldn’t help but glance her way, making her feel like some kind of lovesick girl staking out the men’s dorm.
Thankfully, Lu Xun had some decency and didn’t keep her waiting too long. After a bit, he came walking out of the dorm entrance carrying a bag, and tossed it to her without ceremony.
“Hydrogen peroxide and bandages.” He kept it brief. “From what you gave me last time. Clean your wound yourself when you get back, don’t let it scar.”
Just as Qian Wei was about to say thanks, Lu Xun continued, “After all, you’re not me. Scarring might affect your chances of finding a partner.”
“…” Qian Wei wanted to travel back one minute and stop herself from ever intending to say thank you.
“Thanks.”
Qian Wei blinked, only then realizing that “thanks” hadn’t come from her—it had come from Lu Xun, standing across from her.
He seemed a bit awkward with expressing gratitude too, looking off to the side. “Don’t be so reckless next time. When men are fighting, stay clear of it.”
“…”
Seeing Qian Wei not responding, Lu Xun sounded a bit impatient again. “Did you hear me?”
“Oh… yeah, I heard you…” Qian Wei thought for a moment, deciding to try to secure a little something for herself. “Since you want to thank me, then about tomorrow’s breakfast, could it maybe…”
“Right, tomorrow you don’t need to bring breakfast to the dorm. I’ll meet you at the cafeteria, I’ll get it myself.” Lu Xun finished speaking and waved a hand at her. “Go on back.”
That gesture had all the air of an emperor waving off a servant boy…
Qian Wei thought, why was she so unlucky, why did her future boss have to be the domineering, entitled type even as a young man? To show his gratitude for her taking a blade for him, this was the extent of his “generosity”—waiving her free delivery service… You could’ve at least waived the whole breakfast-grabbing gig entirely!