Chapter 39: Miss

After Sakiharu Wen left, the atmosphere between Li Zuhao and Kaixin Min once again plummeted to an icy cold.

Ace of Swordsmanship Saki Haruka came and went in a hurry, but the impact she left behind was extremely strong.

Throughout the following morning classes, everyone in Class 9, Grade 1 was in a chaotic daydreaming state, all mentally gossiping and imagining scenarios.

No one was paying attention to the lessons.

It was like watching a drama and suddenly the plot just cut off halfway.

Or like the story becoming more and more obscure, the characters all speaking riddles with no clear meaning, leaving everyone confused.

Li Zuhao himself didn’t even notice all these details.

His mind was still focused on how to deal with President Lei.

Because this time, he really didn’t mean to stir up conflict between Kaixin Min and Sakiharu Wen.

It wasn’t even his idea to invite Sakiharu Wen, and he had no idea about the deeper emotional turbulence inside Kaixin Min.

Not to mention mentally unstable Li Zuhao — even Zhuge Liang wouldn’t be able to predict that Kaixin Min would suddenly become filled with hostility toward Sakiharu Wen out of jealousy.

As mentioned before, this wasn’t the first time Kaixin Min and Sakiharu Wen had met.

They had met before with no signs of conflict.

I, Li Zuhao, really can’t understand a girl’s mind.

However, Li Zuhao analyzed the personalities of Kaixin Min and Sakiharu Wen.

Their situations were quite similar in his eyes.

They were both proud, martial arts-oriented beauties who had beaten each other up, then been manipulated by their own schemes, feeling guilty and sympathetic inside, gradually turning into two harmless little goldfish.

Because their positioning and abilities were similar, and they were both on the same path,

Kaixin Min’s jealousy toward Sakiharu Wen was inevitable.

The silence in Class 9, Grade 1 lasted until lunchtime dismissal.

Li Zuhao left straight away after school, without saying another word to Kaixin Min.

Kaixin Min sat on a bench, sulking in anger, unwilling to face her own feelings or reveal her fury easily.

She didn’t want to be the kind of love-struck fool with no brains.

But if she didn’t fight for it, she would lose everything.

To fight for a man, she would have to abandon her logic.

Why was it only Sakiharu Wen and Li Zuhao who could reconcile?

Why was it only her who got to redeem herself first?

Why was it only she who could sleep peacefully every day?

While she would live a lifetime weighed down by regrets over abusing violence, unable to eat well or sleep soundly, possibly even losing much of her desires.

“I can’t accept this!”

Kaixin Min slammed the table suddenly and dashed out.

This time, she was really going all in, heading to the Swordsmanship Club Dojo to stake her ground.

She couldn’t just let Sakiharu Wen be the only one to redeem herself; she had to redeem herself too.

However, Kaixin Min was overthinking…

She went to the Swordsmanship Club to cause a scene, but Li Zuhao did not go directly to the club.

He went to the Jihuang Academy Cafeteria instead.

Of course, after school, the first thing was to eat!

Eating was one of the reasons Li Zuhao could persist in surviving in this new world.

The original owner of his body still had some money.

Although most of the suspicious illegal funds from his deceased parents had been frozen, a bit of legitimate salary was still left for his own upkeep.

Li Zuhao basically used this money to buy better, tastier food, and ate well every day.

The purpose of the Jihuang Academy Cafeteria was specifically to cater to poor students.

The dishes were mainly ordinary staples like rice and noodles, designed to fill bellies with affordable, tasty food.

So, rich kids and spoiled brats generally wouldn’t eat in the Jihuang Academy Cafeteria.

Right outside the school gate was Golden Gourmet Street, full of high-end restaurants serving the wealthy.

Li Zuhao was relatively wealthy but preferred the simple, common meals here.

Another main reason was that going to fancy restaurants outside usually meant dining in groups with friends.

But he didn’t have any wealthy friends to eat with.

Ordering too much was wasteful; ordering too little felt awkward at those grand restaurants.

“It’s awkward.”

“Curry steak, curry fish balls, tofu soup, and a bowl of white rice.”

Li Zuhao finished ordering and sat in a corner of the cafeteria waiting for his food.

It wasn’t that he particularly liked curry; he just hadn’t tried it before and wanted to taste something new.

Because Kaixin Min liked curry and had a strange taste, he wanted to try it as well.

Soon, the waiter brought the dishes over.

This also showed how different Jihuang Academy Cafeteria was from ordinary school cafeterias.

Because ordinary school cafeterias didn’t have waiters; students usually served themselves.

When he really started eating, Li Zuhao realized again that the wound on the corner of his mouth still hurt, so he could only eat in small bites.

Before, he had always eaten ravenously, feeling satisfied only by eating wildly.

“My palm was injured before so I couldn’t hold chopsticks, now the corner of my mouth is hurt too. Can’t heaven just let me have one meal without trouble?”

But today, there was no way to eat heartily.

He could only eat slowly, elegantly, very reservedly, which was also very time-consuming.

Looks like he wouldn’t be able to quickly go clean the sports club surroundings today.

After all, he had to eat.

Right now, Li Zuhao had no idea how such a small delay would trigger a strong butterfly effect.

“Whoo~ whoo~”

Cold wind blew through the forest path.

Kaixin Min arrived at the large training dojo of the Swordsmanship Club, spying secretly from outside.

“Student, do you need something?”

But she was quickly caught by the Swordsmanship Club sisters; she was way too conspicuous.

Kaixin Min was obviously a girl who didn’t understand stealth at all — she didn’t know what it meant to hide herself.

She was blatantly standing right outside someone else’s door, trying to peek in.

How could she not be noticed?

She was just too straightforward and open in her actions.

“I’m looking for Senior Sakiharu Wen.”

Kaixin Min didn’t even lie. She spoke bluntly and directly without any subtlety.

“Junior, what do you want with Sakiharu Wen?”

The senior from the Swordsmanship Club was a little suspicious but still polite.

It had to be said, Kaixin Min clearly didn’t look like she was here to join the club.

If she were a junior member, they would welcome her with open arms.

Kaixin Min’s outfit clearly marked her as part of the after-school delinquent crowd.

Bad girl leaders don’t join clubs, and as long as they don’t cause trouble for clubs, the clubs show some mercy.

“…”

Kaixin Min fell silent for a moment.

She really didn’t know how to answer.

She didn’t even know why she was looking for Sakiharu Wen.

Her actual target was to catch both Sakiharu Wen and Li Zuhao.

“Student, do you have some conflict with Sakiharu Wen?” the Swordsmanship Club junior asked suspiciously.

“No problem.”

Since she didn’t know how to explain, Kaixin Min got lazy and refused to say anything, acting arrogantly and turning to leave.

“Student, wait.”

The Swordsmanship Club sisters wouldn’t let her go that easily and instantly blocked her path.

“What do you mean by this?”

Kaixin Min raised her brow, her gaze sharp.

“Let go of our Bad Girl Leader!”

Suddenly, a group of delinquent girls jumped out from behind the trees and bushes nearby to back Kaixin Min up.