Ji Shu stood by the door like that until the class ended.
Only when the bell rang did she lean slightly against the wall, resting her numb legs and letting out a sigh.
After several hours, the long lecture was finally over. The instant the bell sounded, the classroom buzzed like a pot of boiling water.
Seeing Wang Jing leave the classroom, he snorted coldly as he passed her. Ji Shu feigned indifference and immediately prepared to follow, ready to leave the room. But she was half a step too slow, several fast-moving girls behind her quickly grabbed her. A few with carefully applied makeup and manicured nails waved their hands, calling out impatiently.
“Stop, The young duke wants you at the usual place.”
“You may run fast, but can you really get away? Better just submit obediently.”
Ji Shu pressed her lips together. She returned to the classroom to gather her things and saw that Lu Mingxi’s conspicuously spacious spot, larger than anyone else’s, was already empty.
She slowly moved toward the “usual place” in her memory. That storeroom had left her with too many painful memories, just the thought of it made her break out in a cold sweat every time she remembered.
But this time, it seemed slightly different.
A few boys were loitering outside the storeroom, leaning against the wall and joking around. Although laughing and swaying, they didn’t step away from the doorway, they looked like guards.
As soon as she neared the storeroom, a large hand shot out from the shadows and pulled her inside. The door closed behind her, light gradually fading as shadows enveloped her. The young man, nearly two heads taller than her, pressed her into the corner. As he bent down, he almost blocked all the light, his shadow completely covering her, leaving her world almost entirely dark.
Ji Shu shivered instinctively.
“Hmph, so you do know fear,” he murmured, his breath brushing her neck. The tingling sent goosebumps across her skin, and she fought the urge to shiver.
Lu Mingxi’s sudden proximity filled her nose with the aggressive scent of his cologne, a smell seemingly bound to his face, making her physiologically nauseous. She tilted her head slightly, avoiding his face, while through the slight gap she noticed that none of his usual attendants were behind him.
…Just him today?
In the blink of an eye, Lu Mingxi grabbed her chin and tilted her face up, clearly annoyed. His strength caused a brief, dull ache, and his pale pink hair and perfectly sculpted face soon dominated her entire vision. The direct scent of his cologne filled her nose more sharply, and she struggled to suppress the queasiness in her stomach.
With his other hand, he pressed down on her wrist, lowering his body to trap her in the corner. He scrutinized her face carefully. She looked flustered and scared, but with her lips pressed pale and tight, she tried to appear calm and collected. He raised an eyebrow, speaking casually:
“I heard you were quite full of yourself yesterday?”
Ji Shu: “…”
She forced herself to answer, “That’s not true.”
“Jiang Zhaoming said you threw balls at a lot of people during PE class.”
Ji Shu tried to keep her gaze steady: “That… was part of the test.”
“The test?”
“Yes.”
She studied Ji Shu’s expression with a skeptical look. Lu Mingxi said nothing, but the hand holding her wrist slid down, grasped her forearm, and tugged at her cuff. Ji Shu flinched, and saw him casually roll up her right sleeve with one hand, revealing the blue-green bruises underneath.
He randomly pressed his thumb over one spot, applying a bit of pressure.
Ji Shu gasped from the pain, knitting her delicate brows.
Lu Mingxi watched her reaction with a smirk, raising an eyebrow. “All part of the test too?”
The skin he pressed quickly warmed, the heat spreading along with the contact.
Ji Shu: “It’s a sports activity, getting injured is normal.”
She felt the bruised area burn uncomfortably under his touch. When she tried to pull her arm back slightly, she actually managed to slip free.
Lu Mingxi hadn’t really used much force. He lowered his gaze to watch her quickly smooth down her shirt and uniform, fastening her cuff, and the words escaped his mouth before she could react:
“So getting sent to the infirmary by the chief after being injured… also part of the test?”
Ji Shu froze for a moment.
What was he talking about?
She couldn’t help but lift her eyes to meet his. For a fleeting second, his expression seemed faintly ambiguous, but quickly it shifted to one of interest and condescending questioning. Ji Shu couldn’t understand his meaning, trying in vain to find an answer in his face, but the situation offered her no clues.
“It’s natural to instinctively seek someone’s protection, but unfortunately, this path of yours won’t get you far. Since you agreed to be my dog, there’s no reason to look for another master. Don’t you think?” Lu Mingxi lowered his voice beside her ear, speaking with heavy implication.
Ji Shu instinctively held her breath. The scent that came with his sudden proximity and the undertone in his words made her increasingly uneasy. She raised her arm, pressing it against his shoulder, trying to push him away. But her strength was weak from the lingering low fever, and the intrusion into her personal space left her in a state of indescribable confusion.
“I… I’m sorry, I’m not in a good state today.”
She didn’t delve into his words, but suddenly understood the source of his unprovoked anger.
She hadn’t chosen the option he wanted her to choose, instead, she had taken the path she thought more convenient.
She had defied his will, disrespected his authority.
“Not in a good state?” the young duke’s tone rose at the end.
“Yes.” Ji Shu didn’t explain further. She didn’t want to talk about her family matters, only trying to make her voice sound sincere to escape this suffocating scene.
“Next time, I won’t choose the wrong option,” she forced herself to meet his eyes, speaking slowly. “I’ll do better… I hope you can be satisfied with my performance.”
She didn’t know whether she had said the right thing or the wrong thing. Suddenly, Lu Mingxi reversed his hand, pressing down hard on the back of her hand. Ji Shu’s hand felt hot and painful. She lowered her lashes, suppressing the instinctive nausea caused by the overpowering scent of his custom salon perfume. From an outsider’s perspective, the two of them looked like lovers locked in an intimate embrace.
Ji Shu was the first to falter. Her legs weakened, her forehead and temples burning, feeling a dizzy haze as she slid down the wall.
Lu Mingxi reached out and wrapped his arm around her. He let out a low chuckle, a sound that seemed to hum up from his nasal cavity. Ji Shu couldn’t tell whether he was satisfied with her submissive answer, but leaning against the cold floor somehow made her a little more alert. She braced herself against the wall and struggled to stand.
She kept her head low, her voice muffled: “You’d better stay away from me.”
Covering her mouth, her black hair falling over her pale cheeks, she added, “…for the sake of your clothes.”
Lu Mingxi pressed his lips together, clearly giving her a bit of distance, but didn’t push her further. Ji Shu pulled back her arm from his embrace, and as the enormous figure stepped aside, light finally seeped in a little. The door was knocked and quickly opened.
Ji Shu lowered her head and ran out.
Before she felt like she might throw up, she rushed to the bathroom to splash some cold water on her face, trying to clear her head.
Xie Zhoulin watched the girl dash away in a flurry.
Her hair was slightly messy, her shirt hem wrinkled from being rubbed, and her face and ears flushed faintly.
He subtly frowned and looked inside. Lu Mingxi had his hands in his pockets, humming, his shoulder area slightly creased, but the rest of his uniform neat.
“I told you to rein it in,” Xie Zhoulin said coldly from the doorway, backlit by the light behind him.
The pale light outlined his sharp uniform and dark hair, glasses hiding the expression in his eyes. He stepped forward, merging into the dimness of the room, and approached Lu Mingxi.
“I’ve already been restrained,” Lu Mingxi said, squinting with a smile and shrugging. “I didn’t force her to quit, and I didn’t make her jump off a building, did I?”
His tone was audaciously self-righteous. Xie Zhoulin clicked his knuckles lightly, making a faint sound, and nodded once.
“Indeed, you’ve restrained yourself more than before.” He stepped forward deliberately, removed his non-prescription glasses, and tucked them into his uniform chest pocket. Raising his dark lashes to hide his expression, his gaze was cold and cautionary. “But you must understand, when you weren’t in my class before, I couldn’t control you. Now that you’ve listened to the duke and decided to take classes seriously, you have to bear the responsibility of being the chief’s example.”
“I don’t want any bad rumors spreading in my class. Do you understand?”
Lu Mingxi raised an eyebrow in mock helplessness, bent one leg, stepped back, and lifted his hands in surrender, his tone light: “Surrender, surrender.”
“…”
His mood today was inexplicably good. Usually, he’d be defiant or too lazy to cooperate, but today he actually went along with Xie Zhoulin’s instructions.
“I’ll also attend the chief’s meeting on Monday punctually, President,” Lu Mingxi said, hands in his pockets, eyebrows curved, striding out. He glanced at the few people stationed at the door, and they hurried away as if pardoned.
“By the way, what about that kid Chi Yaoxing? Haven’t seen him lately. What’s he busy with?”
Xie Zhoulin watched Lu Mingxi’s nonchalant figure, pressed his hand to his forehead, exhaled, and stepped out, not too close, not too far: “Mind your own business. Even if he skips meetings, he never misses a mission.”
“Tch.”
“Have the preparations for your grandfather’s birthday next month been taken care of?”
“I’d have forgotten if you didn’t mention it.” Lu Mingxi walked along slowly, greeting the students who had gathered along the corridor with eager eyes. “Everything for the old man’s celebration is handled by her. Invitations and the like should have been written months in advance.”
The two chiefs walked together, and students from all directions surged forward to catch a glimpse. The crowded, bustling corridor was packed with people, those who couldn’t get through pressed against the windows, trying to show themselves and leave a mark of their presence.
Xie Zhoulin nodded in response to the greeting students one by one: “With the duke around, you really are free of worries.”
“Anyway, she doesn’t really care what I do. As long as I don’t cause trouble, it’s fine for her,” Lu Mingxi said, glancing sideways and raising an eyebrow. “When she asked you to help, didn’t she basically say the same thing?”
Xie Zhoulin’s brow twitched as he shifted the topic: “Recently, you don’t seem to have gone looking for that special recruit much.”
Lu Mingxi paused, falling into step beside Xie Zhoulin. He seemed to think for a moment, then let out an “oh” with a nasal chuckle: “Yeah, I’ve neglected her a bit. But she’s actually got quite an interesting personality.”
Xie Zhoulin remarked: “You said the same when she splashed wine on you. You even dug up info on her middle school, and all for her—”
He didn’t finish the sentence, but the implication was clear.
As they spoke, the two of them made their way to the Student Council chiefs’ private restaurant and lounge. The chief’s self-service restaurant sat on a glass-topped terrace between Area A and Area B. In the lush open-air greenhouse garden, the scent of leaves mingled with the aroma of food. Sunlight streamed through the gaps in the foliage. The chefs had been waiting for them, ready to present menus as soon as they were seated.
Lu Mingxi clasped his hands behind his neck and said casually: “She’s different from the girls I’ve dated before, so I’m happy to stand up for her. But in the end, it’s just for fun. When did the morally upright president start caring about something like this?”
“If you’re not serious, you’d better distance yourself quickly,” Xie Zhoulin said coldly as he sat down. “Don’t wait until rumors spread on the forums. If the duke sees it, it’ll be too late.”
“It’s not a big deal,” Lu Mingxi waved it off, leaning back in his chair. He flipped through the menu with one hand, looking around disinterestedly. Then he muttered, “How strange… Chi Yaoxing doesn’t usually talk much, and now he’s not even eating? Not a single person here at this hour.”
Xie Zhoulin ignored him, lowering his head to check items off the menu with his pen. Suddenly, Lu Mingxi noticed something through the transparent railing and looked down, puzzled: “Isn’t that that kid? What’s he doing downstairs?”
Xie Zhoulin followed his gaze.
Below was the student lounge connecting Areas A and B, sparsely populated at lunchtime. A gentle breeze stirred the hanging branches, creating a sea of green.
On the glass walkway, a boy sat on a white bench under the mistletoe, covered by an oversized hoodie. He seemed lost in thought, staring blankly at the small, delicate white flowers peeking through the green leaves.