Chapter 17
His chest burned as if a layer of skin were about to peel off. The classmate forced a smile. “Classmate Xia, don’t blame yourself. You all sit for a bit first. The teachers will be here soon. I’m going to the restroom—there’s a dryer there.”
As he left, he did not forget to smile and glance back. “I’m really not blaming you, Classmate Xia.”
“When I shower, the water’s usually this hot too. It’s not hot. Not hot at all.”
Li Ziji pressed his lips together tightly. The water in Xia Fengsheng’s cup had been so hot that even after most of it splashed out, steam was still rising from the bottom. If this classmate usually showered with water like that, was he scalding pig hair?
The classmate walked into the restroom smiling. The moment the door shut, a whole bouquet of curses burst out. Another classmate followed him inside.
“You okay?”
With his chest burning warmly in the worst way, he quickly stripped off his shirt. Even the white undershirt underneath had been soaked through. He pulled that off too and checked his skin.
It was red all over.
It burned fiercely. He did not dare touch it at all.
The “Warm Heart” classmate clenched both fists, so angry he wanted to grit his teeth and roar.
“He’s sick in the head! Who opens the door holding a cup of hot water for no reason?!”
The more he thought about it, the more scared he became afterward. Luckily, Xia Fengsheng had not opened the door while he was talking, and by the time the door did open, he had already finished what he was saying, so Xia Fengsheng did not hear it.
The other classmate clicked his tongue at his chest. “You’re not going to blister, are you?”
“Fuck!” It hurt more and more. The Warm Heart classmate hurried to turn on the faucet and splash cold water onto his chest.
“Go ask the front desk for some ice for me.”
“What ice? Just tough it out. If you add anything extra now, who knows what extra things might show up that shouldn’t.”
The Warm Heart classmate gave a snort, his face full of contempt. “Easy for you to say. You’re not the one who got scalded!”
“Who says I didn’t get scalded?” The classmate raised his hand. His hand had gotten splashed too. “You endure it a bit.”
“It feels like my skin’s about to come off! How am I supposed to endure it?!”
He pointed at his chest, which was getting redder and redder. “Look! It’s practically been scalded into a birthmark!”
The more the Warm Heart classmate spoke, the more worked up he got. Everyone else was just standing there talking without pain in their backs. Of course they did not know what it felt like since they had not been splashed.
“Didn’t you see how huge that cup of hot water was when we went in?”
There had been nearly half a bottle of mineral water’s worth of hot water in it.
“The moment he opened the door—whoosh!—it all splashed right onto me!”
Seeing how aggrieved he was, the other classmate had just been about to agree with him and curse Xia Fengsheng a few times too.
The very next second, the restroom door opened.
Fresh and lively, Xia Fengsheng walked right in.
The classmate looked at the Warm Heart one and said righteously, “Did you say thank you yet?”
“……”
Pretending he had not heard their conversation, Xia Fengsheng said apologetically, “I came to take a look. That cup of water just now was really hot, so the burns should be pretty serious.”
When he saw the patch of red on the Warm Heart classmate’s chest, he said in alarm, “Did I do all that?”
“No!” The classmate strode forward and stood right in front of Xia Fengsheng, blocking his view. “Of course not. That patch was already like that to begin with.”
Then he turned around and threw the Warm Heart classmate a look.
The Warm Heart classmate’s eyes were dead. “Yeah. Born with it. A mother-given birthmark.”
After drying their clothes, the two returned to the private room with Xia Fengsheng. While they had been gone, quite a few more people had arrived.
Xia Fengsheng looked around and saw nothing but pig spirits reborn.
Sometimes he really wanted to insure his eyes.
The moment President Bao saw Xia Fengsheng appear, he stood up in delight. “Little Xia’s here. Long time no see.”
The very first time he saw Xia Fengsheng, he had gotten ideas, but because President Fang had always been there, he had not dared make a move and could only quench his thirst by gazing at plums.
President Bao was one of the executives in a subsidiary under the female big boss. He was present every time the project was discussed, and had harassed Xia Fengsheng more than enough.
His gaze swept shamelessly over Xia Fengsheng from top to bottom. At one meter seventy-three, standing next to others, he looked like a fat wooden barrel.
Li Ziji brought Xia Fengsheng over to sit beside President Bao.
President Bao grinned so hard his eyes vanished. “Once this gathering’s over tonight, let’s sneak out behind President Fang’s back and have a couple drinks.”
Xia Fengsheng was someone President Fang had taken a liking to, so he did not dare make an obvious move.
Looking at the lewd reflection of President Bao in his own eyes, Xia Fengsheng felt his vision had been polluted.
The project had already been under discussion for two months. Everyone said President Fang favored him greatly, and behind the scenes people even claimed she had already eaten him clean and swallowed him whole.
That was how men were—when they were like that themselves, they assumed women would be the same.
Their filthy minds could think of nothing but stench, because anything else lay beyond the limits of their understanding.
President Fang was different from powerful men in high places. She had never actually done anything. At most, she just liked watching handsome men dance a little—a pastime of someone in power. If it were a man doing the same thing, it would feel ten thousand times more disgusting.
And even if she really had done something, so what? At the very least, it would still be much better than ending up in President Bao’s hands.
Xia Fengsheng even felt grateful that a woman like President Fang stood at the top, someone with a voice and with power.
If it had been a man instead, he estimated his ass would already have been beaten bloody. It would not have mattered how smart he was—there would have been no way out.
President Bao lowered his voice and hinted, “I brought my ID card.”
Xia Fengsheng replied softly, “To cancel your household registration?”
President Bao: ……
Xia Fengsheng paid him no more attention. Instead, he turned his head and, thinking he was speaking very quietly when in fact he was speaking very loudly, said, “Li Ziji, who is this greasy, fat-eared man?”
Li Ziji: !
Everyone else: !
Li Ziji practically launched himself into the air and wedged his body between the two of them, separating Xia Fengsheng from President Bao. Looking at President Bao’s visibly darkened face, he said, “Boss, Xia Fengsheng lost his memory. Please don’t hold it against him.”
Xia Fengsheng’s words had come without the slightest warning, like getting slapped out of nowhere while walking down the street.
Li Ziji desperately explained, “He only said that because you look so robust.”
“No,” Xia Fengsheng said with the corners of his mouth lifting. “I said it because he looks oily.”
“……”
Li Ziji turned back around, sweating all over, practically glistening.
Xia Fengsheng, are you trying to destroy me?!
Li Ziji and the other classmates all verbally soothed President Bao, terrified that he would explode with rage. Very soon, the opposing side entered the private room.
Their boss led the group, with subordinates following behind, and Lin Xingcan was among them.
Li Ziji’s group instantly became alert.
The real business war had begun.
People who had already been seated started shifting positions. Li Ziji said to Xia Fengsheng in a low voice, “Don’t talk nonsense. Sweet-talk President Bao a little and apologize to him properly.”
Then, switching back to his usual smiling expression, he said, “Classmate Xia, why don’t you sit next to President Bao?”
Now that a way down had been offered, President Bao’s expression eased considerably.
The next second, Xia Fengsheng said, “Then why don’t you sit next to him? You’re pushing the unwanted seat onto me.”
Li Ziji and the other classmates froze on the spot.
Even the rival group, who had come prepared with filthy little tricks, stared in shock.
Who knew? They had come up and stabbed themselves first.
Their dirty tricks suddenly seemed completely unnecessary.
Lin Xingcan’s light brown eyes landed on Xia Fengsheng, his gaze unreadable.
Taking advantage of Xia Fengsheng offending President Bao, the rival team quickly stepped in to make their presence felt.
Li Ziji turned and hissed at Xia Fengsheng, “What is wrong with you?”
“What did I do?” Xia Fengsheng looked full of confusion. “Then should I leave?”
“Don’t.” Li Ziji forced himself to hold his emotions in. Under no circumstances could Xia Fengsheng leave. If he left, tonight would be over. All their efforts would be ruined, everything poured down the drain.
They were right at the critical moment now. Endure it a little longer.
At that moment, his phone received a message from their advisor.
Yang Liwan: “I’ll be there soon. When President Fang comes in later, tell everyone to make their mouths sweeter.”
Yang Liwan: “Did Xia Fengsheng come?”
Li Ziji replied, “He came. He’s sitting right next to me.”
Seeing the message, Yang Liwan finally let out a breath of relief. At least he would not have to dance girl-group choreography after all.
Last time, in order to apologize to President Fang, he had forced himself to get up there and dance, losing every scrap of old face he had left.
Though to be fair, girl-group dances were really exhausting. It had taken him a whole week to learn one.
Now that Xia Fengsheng was back, he felt immediately much more relaxed.
It was not that he had never thought about finding another student to bring along, but with Xia Fengsheng there as the standard of comparison, not a single one of the others was able to take over.
Xia Fengsheng had the learning ability, the emotional intelligence, and the looks. He was outstanding in every way. The later students Yang Liwan found were all made to look like they could not understand human speech.
Ever since Xia Fengsheng lost his memory, Yang Liwan had obviously become much busier than before. All the little things he usually handed over to him now had to be done by himself.
More than once, he had found himself missing the Xia Fengsheng from before the amnesia.
There had never been a puppet more useful than Xia Fengsheng.
Sitting calmly in the car, Yang Liwan sent messages to Li Ziji. With Xia Fengsheng coming tonight, they had this in the bag. Even if the other side had Lin Xingcan, who stood out in ability, it still could not beat how secure their victory already was.
The rival side was one big stupid pig leading a bunch of little stupid pigs, with only Lin Xingcan worth looking at.
Yang Liwan even deliberately used some trendy young people slang. “How’s the rival side looking? Who’s the MVP over there?”
Li Ziji was silent for a few seconds before typing three words.
“Xia Fengsheng.”
Yang Liwan: ???
Li Ziji wanted nothing more than to tell Yang Liwan face-to-face exactly what Xia Fengsheng had just said to President Bao.
Xia Fengsheng had critically wounded his own team.
Yang Liwan and President Fang’s group arrived almost one after the other. Yet when he entered the private room, he did not see Xia Fengsheng anywhere.
Yang Liwan’s heart gave a jump. Where was Xia Fengsheng?
He first said a few respectful words to President Fang, then called all of his students outside.
In the hallway, he lowered his voice and demanded, “Where is Xia Fengsheng?!”
Not only was Xia Fengsheng missing—Li Ziji was gone too.
Yang Liwan quickly called Li Ziji. “Where are you? Get over here right now!”
Li Ziji was in the restroom, his heart willing but his body unable. He was practically on the verge of shitting his soul out.
“Teacher, I’m in the bathroom. They’re too vicious. They put laxatives in the water.”
After drinking the water Lin Xingcan had handed him, he had immediately fallen apart and moved into the restroom permanently.
“Then where’s Xia Fengsheng?”
“I don’t know. He was still there when I left.”
A whole living person had managed to disappear right under the noses of so many people. Yang Liwan exploded with rage. “Every one of you is an idiot.”
After hanging up on Li Ziji, he called Xia Fengsheng.
The phone connected very quickly, and what came from the other end was a voice just as weak as Li Ziji’s.
“Teacher, I’m done for. They’re so dirty—they put laxatives in the water.”
Yang Liwan roared, “Wasn’t that cup of water drunk by Li Ziji?”
Xia Fengsheng said, “I thought the water looked pretty good, so after Li Ziji drank it, I took a sip too.”
Yang Liwan’s vision went black.
Xia Fengsheng, you greedy little glutton.
“Teacher, my phone’s about to die, I’m hanging up first.” Xia Fengsheng ended the call, then turned to the uncle making jianbing and said, “Uncle, add two eggs.”
“Sure thing.”
Yang Liwan’s face had turned the color of pig liver with rage. After reminding and reminding and reminding that whole group, they still had not managed to keep hold of a single Xia Fengsheng.
And now what? Without Xia Fengsheng there, what was going to happen about the girl-group dance?
Who was going to dance it?!
Yang Liwan immediately started thinking of a countermeasure. He could not let Xia Fengsheng ruin the deal. “Which of you can dance girl-group choreography?”
The few of them looked at one another. Not a single one of them could.
Yang Liwan was furious. “None of you can? Then who’s going to dance the girl-group dance?!”
The few of them exchanged looks, then all turned to look at Yang Liwan.
Yang Liwan pointed at himself, neck stretching out. “Me again?”
