Volume 4 Chapter 6

Volume 4 + Chapter 6: Qianxue’s Principle

“Bai Yuxuan? Why are you here?” Ouyang Qianxue asked, looking back at the young man behind him in surprise.

“To feed my dear Qianxue, of course,” Bai Yuxuan said as she reached out and ruffled his hair.

“Who’s your dear Qianxue? And don’t touch my head!” Qianxue immediately slapped her hand away. But as soon as he did, the unruly hand was right back on his head. After a few rounds of this, Qianxue gave up, letting her pat him as he focused on devouring his baked sweet potato with a puffed-out cheek, he was just too hungry.

“Speaking of which, you’ve been following me ever since I left the school gate, haven’t you?” Qianxue said between bites.

“I didn’t expect to be exposed!” Bai Yuxuan looked genuinely surprised at his words.

“No, I’ve had this feeling of being watched ever since I stepped out of the school gate.”

“So this is a woman’s sixth sense?” Bai Yuxuan smiled.

Hearing this, Qianxue shot her a fierce glare, while Bai Yuxuan put on an innocent face.

Qianxue knew full well that Bai Yuxuan wasn’t aware of his true gender, so he sighed helplessly. Then he broke off the half of his sweet potato that he hadn’t bitten into and handed it to her.

“This is…?” Bai Yuxuan looked at the sweet potato he offered, confused.

“You’ve been tailing me since the school gate, which means you’ve been standing outside for quite a while. Honestly, in this freezing cold, you just stood there like an idiot. Have a bite.”

“I didn’t know you cared so much about me,” Bai Yuxuan said with a smile as she took the sweet potato.

“Who cares about you! I just think sweet potatoes taste better when shared!” Qianxue replied, his cheeks stuffed full as he ate. Seeing how adorable he looked, Bai Yuxuan couldn’t resist reaching out to gently pinch his cheek. But Qianxue immediately bristled, balling his fist and swinging at her. Bai Yuxuan leaned back to dodge and ran toward the nearby park, and the two began chasing and roughhousing around the park.

After a while, Qianxue grew tired. They found a bench and sat back-to-back. Their strikingly good looks made for a perfect match, drawing quite a few stares from passersby in the park. Some even speculated whether the two were undercover celebrities scouting locations for a film shoot.

“Hey,” Bai Yuxuan said.

“What?” Qianxue asked, still not completely over his irritation, munching on his sweet potato.

“Qianxue… would you consider leaving Wang Shiman?”

Her words made Qianxue stop chewing.

“I can give you everything you want, your mother’s medical bills, your sister’s tuition fees, all of it. As for Wang Shiman, I’ll offer her terms that will surely satisfy her and buy you back!”

But after hearing her out, Qianxue just shook his head.

“Why? Why are you willing to accept help from Wang Shiman but not from me?” Bai Yuxuan asked, her voice full of disappointment.

“Because I work for Wang Shiman. I don’t simply accept handouts!” Qianxue’s words struck her like a thunderbolt.

“You know? Years ago, my family fell on hard times, and my mother fell seriously ill. The internet wasn’t advanced back then, so no charity organizations paid attention to our situation. I once thought about begging, but just as I was about to do it, my mother stopped me. Guess what she told me?”

“She said, ‘Even if we live in poverty like beggars, we still have our principles and dignity, so we are not beggars. But if we abandon our dignity and principles, no matter how finely you dress or how extravagantly you eat, you’ll never change the fact that inside, you’re still a beggar.’ So ever since then, that has been my principle. I will never accept someone’s kindness for no reason!”

Right. How could she have forgotten? Qianxue’s heart was never as fragile as his appearance suggested. He had his own convictions and principles. Otherwise, there was no way he could have single-handedly supported his sick mother and young sister for so many years.

And the reason she was drawn to Qianxue was precisely his inner charm, his strength of character. Now, hearing these words from him only deepened her fascination with this “girl.”

Meanwhile, Qianxue breathed a small sigh of relief, seeing that Bai Yuxuan wasn’t pressing the issue. But in truth, there was another, even bigger reason he refused her charity.

In his view, the reason Bai Yuxuan was willing to do so much for him was that she didn’t know his real gender, she thought of him as the opposite sex, as someone she liked. He believed that although Bai Yuxuan appeared cold and aloof on the outside, her heart was utterly pure. She was simply someone who longed for love, who yearned to love another person.

He just happened to be the one on whom she had projected that desire. To deceive and exploit someone as pure as Bai Yuxuan, using her genuine feelings for him, that was something he could never bring himself to do, nor did he ever want to.

“How about grabbing something else to eat? One sweet potato for dinner can’t possibly fill you up. Don’t worry, tonight’s on me. Just tell me what you want.”

By now, Bai Yuxuan understood that any further persuasion would only hurt Qianxue’s pride. But she also didn’t want him to carry such a heavy burden alone. So she resolved to help him in small ways, in a manner befitting a friend, as much as possible.

“Isn’t eating too much late at night a bad idea?” Qianxue hesitated. He really hadn’t had enough, but he didn’t want her to spend too much. He knew that Bai Yuxuan was used to a life of luxury, she habitually tipped generously, even at hotels, and had just handed a hundred-yuan bill to the sweet potato vendor without asking for change.

“You’re so thin, what’s wrong with eating more? Look at you, there’s not a bit of meat where there should be!” Seeing that Qianxue wasn’t taking the hint, Bai Yuxuan resorted to a little provocation. After speaking, she shot a mischievous glance at his flat chest. Catching her mocking look, Qianxue got angry. Here he was, a perfectly fine young man, and she was complaining about him not having breasts.

“Fine! Just watch out, I might eat you out of house and home!” So the two went to a small restaurant nearby that served braised chicken. Although Bai Yuxuan insisted she could afford much more, Qianxue stubbornly chose this modestly priced eatery.

And Qianxue didn’t live up to his bold words, he couldn’t even finish half a bowl.

Then, the warmth of a full belly, combined with a day’s exhaustion, brought a wave of drowsiness washing over him. Though Bai Yuxuan wanted to spend more time with him, seeing him yawn repeatedly, she couldn’t bring herself to keep him any longer. So she hailed a taxi at the door and sent Qianxue back to school.

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