Chapter 36

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A Grown Man at Heart (2)

Apparently, Huo Cheng, Shen Wanying, Ji Yao, Zhao Yimeng, and Fang Yichang had formed a study group that met at the library every day to study.

The most dubious part about all of this – how on earth had Fang Yichang gotten involved in a top students’ study group??

It really was enviable.

After such a turbulent time, they finally reached the end: the day before the exams.

Shen Wanying and Huo Cheng still participated in the afternoon’s Archery Club activities.

Since the day Tian Yu had suddenly segregated the practice field into male and female sides, opportunities for the male students to encounter Shen Wanying became increasingly rare. They had gone to discuss the matter with the president himself, to persuade him to restore the practice arena to its former state.

Of course, he couldn’t promise anything, unless the ones making the request were able to win Huo Cheng over.

The male students were not the only ones unhappy about gender-segregated practice. The membership of a man as handsome as Huo Cheng had been hard-won, and everyone wanted to see him. Even better if they could watch him in action.

As far as Tian Yu was concerned, it was wishful thinking. Huo Cheng was cold and distant, did they think he was someone whose mind they could change? It was laughable.

Speaking of Huo Cheng, Tian Yu was, of course, aware of who the top rank in the level had gone to, once again. Generally speaking, between looks, intelligence, and athleticism, most people would lack in one or more areas. Huo Cheng, exceptional in all three, was truly peerless.

Then again, only someone like that can be worthy of the equally peerless Lady Shen.

Mid-thought, he watched Shen Wanying and Huo Cheng walk into the room together. He hastily walked over, asking attentively, “My Lady, is your injury better? If you still need to rest, you can sit out and help the others check their form instead.”

“That’s okay, I’ve recovered enough to walk,” she replied. “Archery isn’t strenuous on the legs, so I’ll be fine.”

“That’s good, that’s good.”

When they finished talking, they went to change into their uniforms. The national competition was in two months, and sign-ups for the competition team had already begun. Tian Yu waited for Huo Cheng to emerge from the changing room, then thrust the registration form in his face. “Fill this in!”

Huo Cheng scanned the room for a place to sit and began filling out the form.

Tian Yu followed him, very pleased with himself. “The finals are in July, and before that will be the elimination round. You’re new to this, and you’ll definitely get into the finals, so please try to hold back a bit, don’t reveal your full ability too early!”

“Mm.” Huo Cheng finished writing and handed the form over.

Tian Yu gave it a quick, satisfied, smugly continued on his way to hand out registration forms to the rest of the students.

The elimination round was open to everyone in the Archery Club, so the day’s practice was dedicated to training for the upcoming competition.

Originally, Tian Yu had wanted to hold an extra hour of practice each week for the competition, but that was met with the approval of a grand total of zero people in the club. He was beginning to feel that he had embarrassingly little authority as the club president.

But with the exams and accompanying parent-teacher conference looming, he reluctantly gave in to them.

After practice, having changed out of his uniform, Huo Cheng waited for Shen Wanying in the practice room.

Tian Yu saw him standing there and walked over to ask, “Huo Cheng, you’re not leaving yet? Are you thinking of staying back for that extra hour of practice?”

Huo Cheng ignored him. Tian Yu noticed his silence and prattled on, undaunted. “Oh, you must be waiting for Lady Shen.”

Huo Cheng spared him one glance.

Tian Yu continued, with a sense of schadenfreude, “Lady Shen has already left!”

Huo Cheng frowned. “Left?”

“Yeah, she didn’t even wait for you, eh.” Tian Yu’s glee was written all over his face.

Huo Cheng pondered for a moment, picked up his bag, and left.

Shen Wanying was a faster walker than he had expected. He only caught sight of her when he left the school gates, a lone figure on the sidewalk.

So, she wasn’t being chauffeured back today…

Huo Cheng stared at her retreating figure for a moment, then moved to catch up with her.

The Huo family’s chauffeur, noticing that Huo Cheng had decided to walk instead, gave chase in his car. “Master Huo Cheng.”

The chauffeur drove slowly to keep up with Huo Cheng’s pace, rolled down the window, and asked, “Are you not taking the car?”

“I feel like walking for a bit today, you go home first,” Huo Cheng replied.

“Then I’ll drive along behind you.”

“No need.” Huo Cheng continued to refuse. “Just return first.”

Not wanting to force him, the chauffeur could only acquiesce. “Alright then. If you need anything, don’t hesitate to let me know.”

“Mm.”

After the chauffeur drove off. Huo Cheng followed Shen Wanying across the road, and into a left turn.

This isn’t the route back to Shen Wanying’s house. Is she visiting a friend?

What kind of friend is she meeting that she wouldn’t have her driver take her to the meeting?

He frowned and continued to follow at a distance.

After another five minutes, Shen Wanying turned onto a straight road.

Huo Cheng followed suit.

It was quiet; there were few people and even fewer cars. She walked for a while longer before stopping in front of a sweets shop.

Huo Cheng stopped before he reached the shop. The front of the store consisted of French windows; if he walked over now, he would definitely be able to see who Shen Wanying was meeting there, but the likelihood of her also spotting him was very high.

He didn’t have a good enough reason to give for why he was there.

Experience said that she would linger, but not for long, before going on home.

He saw a girl with a head of curly, pink hair wearing a black baseball cap. When she emerged from the store, her head was slightly bowed, and she used the visor of the baseball cap to obscure her face.

He didn’t manage to catch a glimpse of her face, but her stature was very similar to Shen Wanying’s.

Huo Cheng was a little stunned. He hesitated for a moment, before deciding to follow the girl.

The girl turned onto the main road, and a little distance later, entered a KTV just off the main road.

He followed her into the KTV.

The receptionist on the first level saw him and greeted him warmly. “Welcome! Do you have a reservation?”

“Yes,” Huo Cheng replied monosyllabically, and without waiting for her to ask him the details of his reservation, went upstairs by himself.

He went straight to the third level, and was ready to turn left at the corridor when a person materialised in front of him, blocking his path.”

“Dude, what are you doing following me?”

As Shen Wanying finished her question, she nearly spat out her lollipop in horror as she realised that the person who had been following her was – of all people – Huo Cheng!!!

There she was, with her pink hair, blinding lemon yellow baseball shirt, and black leather miniskirt, a lollipop in her mouth. She’d even put makeup on! It was just foundation and lipstick, but she had stood there and yelled at Huo Cheng with flaming red lips and called him dude.

In Shen Wanying’s short life, there were many moments she wished she was dead. But this? This one took the cake. She had never wanted the ground to swallow her up as much as she did at this moment.

Huo Cheng was also shocked. She had told him once that in times of high stress, she would go to a KTV to vent her frustrations. So when he saw the girl he followed enter a KTV, he’d been convinced it was her.

What she had failed to mention, however, was that she dressed up like this to go sing karaoke.

After a three-second pause that felt like a lifetime, Shen Wanying summoned all the athleticism afforded to her in her years of training and ran for her life.

Huo Cheng was blocking the lift door, so she could only run towards the corridor. He remembered that her leg had only just recovered, worried that she would injure herself again, he gave chase in the hopes of stopping her.

Shen Wanying had booked a private room, and sprinted towards her assigned room, hoping to bar herself in it, only to notice that the door had no lock. Cornered, she had no choice but to hide in the restroom.

But Huo Cheng was too quick for her. Before she had time to run to the restroom to hide, he had pushed open the door and entered the room.

The floor of the KTV was slippery, and Shen Wanying’s Doc MartensCurious cats click wasn’t exactly suitable for running in. At the sight of Huo Cheng, she panicked and tripped. Seeing her topple forward, he stepped in to steady her.

“Be careful.”

The two of them tumbled onto the sofa, the cap on her head rolling off to the floor, her short pink hair brushing the side of his neck. She stared at the person below her dumbly, her mind blank.

Huo Cheng was not as panicked as she was, but this situation presented him with another problem: His body was still that of a teenager’s, but in his mind, he remained a grown man who remembered the… harmonious married life he had enjoyed with her in the future.

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Author’s Note: Originally there was supposed to be one more sentence, but I was afraid it would get flagged, so I left it as is 🙂

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