Chapter 11: If You Could Start Over

Xu Heng understood what she meant almost instantly.

It was obvious that Fan Xi had likely been there for a while, just eavesdropping outside the door the whole time.

She had timed her entrance perfectly to help him out of a tight spot just as Xu Heng was being given a hard time by the Green-Faced Beast.

With Fan Xi's help, the Green-Faced Beast didn't have much else to say; he just snorted coldly, telling Xu Heng to study hard over the summer break, that he would be notified of the make-up exam schedule when the semester started, and to keep an eye on the group chat for updates.

Xu Heng didn't argue with him; annoyed as he was, one had to be tactful in life and not show one's true thoughts entirely. He wasn't some twenty-year-old hothead anymore, so he said "okay" and left the office.

However, he didn't actually leave; he stopped at the corner of the stairwell, and a few minutes later, Fan Xi emerged from the office and spotted Xu Heng at the stairs at a glance.

"Did our top student Xu stumble?" she said, covering her mouth to laugh.

"I was busy with other things this semester and couldn't squeeze in time to review."

"I'm afraid all your focus was spent on women," Fan Xi teased.

Xu Heng touched his pocket, wanting to smoke a cigarette to ease the awkward atmosphere, but discovered he didn't actually have any cigarettes on him!

He immediately realized that he hadn't learned to smoke until his sophomore year; back then, he had been so distraught over a breakup that he could only smoke and drink to dull the pain. Now, with his heart set on pursuing Ying Ziyun, he was still a good student who neither smoked nor drank.

Fan Xi's misunderstanding was understandable; after all, failing an exam shortly after a breakup—anyone would link the two things together.

Xu Heng didn't explain, instead asking, "What did the counselor talk to you about?"

Such a low-level tactic for changing the subject would basically be ineffective against women of a higher caliber.

But Fan Xi's caliber was probably only Bronze, and her personality was relatively straightforward and simple, so she subconsciously followed Xu Heng's lead and replied: "Nothing much, just asked me to notify the students not to go swimming in the river during the summer~ and for students staying on campus not to get into fights~ things like that, emm~ and also to urge you to study. You're the only one in our class who failed, and you failed three subjects at that; the department was almost going to give you a demerit."

Somehow, the topic had inexplicably returned to failing the exams.

"I've been quite busy lately."

"Mm-hmm, I get it."

Xu Heng knew the connection between the breakup and the failed exams was inescapable, so he smiled helplessly: "Thanks for your help just now."

"It's normal for classmates to help each other, besides, didn't you help me last time too?"

"Then let me treat you to a meal?"

"Forget it, forget it." Fan Xi seemed to recall the time she treated Xu Heng to a meal at the cafeteria—it wasn't exactly something to brag about—and hurriedly refused.

Xu Heng nodded in agreement, but when he reached the fruit stand at the entrance of the convenience store, he bought some fruit. At first, Fan Xi thought he was buying it for the counselor, but when he left, Xu Heng shoved the bag of fruit into her hands.

"Huh? Hey!"

Watching Fan Xi's stunned and flustered little expression, Xu Heng burst into loud laughter and ran off without looking back.

For some reason, he just couldn't resist wanting to tease this young girl.

"This guy... he wouldn't be trying to pursue me, would he..." Fan Xi carried the bag of fruit, her small hands feeling awkward, while her heart couldn't help but mutter.

Xu Heng was actually quite handsome, just a bit unkempt; his grades had always been good, and his personality was actually alright after getting to know him better...

No, no.

Fan Xi patted her flushed cheeks. What was she thinking! How was she acting like some kind of delinquent.

Walking back to the men's dormitory, Xu Heng didn't know he had inadvertently stirred a young girl's poetic sentiments.

He was still thinking about how to muddle through the make-up exams when he saw Zhao Gaoyang's slightly darkened face at the dormitory entrance.

Zhao Gaoyang's skin was already quite dark, but his complexion was even darker than usual now, looking like a miner who had just finished working in a mine shaft.

"Old Zhao, why are you standing here instead of going back to the dorm?" Xu Heng feigned confusion, acting as if he hadn't seen the hostile expression on Zhao Gaoyang's face.

"What were you doing with Fan Xi just now?" Zhao Gaoyang asked in a deep voice.

Sure enough, he had seen him walking Fan Xi back to her dorm.

Xu Heng sighed inwardly; his "luck" was truly something—the first time he walked Fan Xi back, he was seen by his ex-girlfriend, and the second time, he was seen by Fan Xi's number one suitor.

Both of them likely misunderstood their relationship.

It was common knowledge in Chinese Language Class 3 that Zhao Gaoyang liked Fan Xi, and although everyone knew it wasn't very likely for the two of them, they would still superficially support Zhao Gaoyang's pursuit of Fan Xi.

This made Zhao Gaoyang subconsciously believe that he and Fan Xi were an acknowledged couple, and that they weren't together yet simply because the timing wasn't right.

And now, what had he seen?

His own roommate was actually trying to poach his girl!

Zhao Gaoyang was full of anger, waiting on the only path back to the dorm to demand an explanation from Xu Heng!

"Didn't do anything. The counselor called me to discuss my final exam grades, and I just happened to run into the Class Monitor delivering class materials, so we walked back together, that's all."

Xu Heng couldn't be bothered with ambiguous complications, so he explained the ins and outs of the matter directly to Zhao Gaoyang.

Upon hearing this, Zhao Gaoyang relaxed, and the expression on his face turned from cloudy to clear: "I knew you weren't that kind of person, Xu Heng."

Xu Heng was amused instantly: "What kind of person?"

"Uh..." Zhao Gaoyang stammered for a long time, unable to speak.

Xu Heng certainly knew what Zhao Gaoyang meant, but the way this guy spoke really did make him laugh in frustration.

He had originally intended to explain things clearly and continue being "surface-level brothers," but it seemed that wouldn't be necessary now.

With so many years of life experience, Xu Heng knew who could be friends and who couldn't be deeply involved with.

Although Cheng Huaiyu in the dorm had an arrogant temper, he was still much better than the narrow-minded Zhao Gaoyang.

So he stopped pretending and directly retorted: "Is Fan Xi someone to you? Is she your girlfriend or your own sister? Even if I were really dating her, it doesn't seem to be any of your business, right?"

"But... but I like her."

"Right, you like her, and then what?" Xu Heng spread his hands, "Does she like you? Or are you saying you think she likes you? If it's the latter, I can tell you clearly that Fan Xi has no such intentions toward you."

"Finally, I have nothing to do with Fan Xi, and you shouldn't use your petty little thoughts to speculate about others, lest you end up losing more than you gain and ruining the Class Monitor's reputation."

After saying this, Xu Heng didn't want to waste any more of his breath on this guy and turned to leave.

Over there, Zhao Gaoyang stood like a human sculpture at the entrance for a long time.

He had truly been stumped by Xu Heng's question.

That's right, he had been pursuing Fan Xi for so long, and the other party had even rejected him explicitly several times, yet he had never once considered the question of whether Fan Xi liked him.

Did Fan Xi really have even the slightest bit of interest in him?

Zhao Gaoyang interrogated his own soul, and then discovered with a start.

Based on all of Fan Xi's behavior over this past year, it seemed she really... had no interest in him.

Previously, Zhao Gaoyang was a male chauvinist; no matter the matter, he would always start from his own perspective, completely disregarding others, so he had never considered Fan Xi's thoughts at all.

After being educated by Xu Heng, he had awakened somewhat.

Well, awakened a little, but not completely.

After awakening, Zhao Gaoyang did not give up the idea of pursuing Fan Xi; instead, he felt fortunate that Xu Heng had lit up the path ahead of him, and unexpectedly felt some gratitude toward him in his heart.

If not for Xu Heng's words, he might still be lost in the beautiful dream of "mutual affection" between himself and Fan Xi, wishfully thinking that their relationship would naturally fall into place.

In fact, if they continued to maintain their relationship like this, the two of them could only become ordinary friends.

He should be more proactive; Fan Xi was so outstanding that he would have no chance at all if he wasn't proactive.

After clearly recognizing his position, Zhao Gaoyang decided to change his methods starting now and begin pursuing Fan Xi all over again.

This time, he would definitely succeed!

He secretly clenched his fists and swore in his heart.