C10 Chapter 10

Li Yifeng’s face changed the second he heard that. I couldn’t help wondering—was there really someone even tougher than the top dog? And a woman, too?

Everyone turned toward the voice and saw a woman in red sitting off to the side, staring at Li Yifeng with cold, steady eyes.

Li Yifeng’s mouth twitched. “Mo Ningning, this has nothing to do with you.”

“You insulted the wife of one of my dad’s oldest friends,” the girl called Mo Ningning said icily. “If I tell my father, do you have any idea how you’ll die?”

“I…” A flash of fear crossed Li Yifeng’s face. I snorted to myself. So all that tough-guy act earlier was just for show?

“I don’t care if you want to fight,” Mo Ningning said flatly. “But you’re interrupting my reading, trash. Thirty seconds. Gone.”

The contempt in her voice was obvious—she didn’t think much of Li Yifeng at all. But Li Yifeng actually clenched his jaw, turned to me, and snarled, “You got lucky. Next time, just wait.”

Then he actually rounded up his guys and walked out.

Hold on… why does that sound familiar? I swear last time he told me to “just wait,” and then he ran off, too.

Yeah. Sure.

After Li Yifeng left, I glanced at Mo Ningning out of curiosity. She stood up as well, gave me a casual look like I was nothing special, and walked away without a word.

Liang Jing sat back down and whispered, “Wu Xiaogang, I think you’ve got real potential.”

The second I saw that backstabber return, I reached out like I was about to choke her. “You shameless traitor—after ditching me, you’ve still got the nerve to come back?”

Liang Jing slapped my hand away and said seriously, “Focus. I’m talking about something important. Didn’t you notice Mo Ningning treated you differently?”

“Uh…” I thought back carefully and realized the look she gave me was full of…

Total indifference.

So I shook my head at Liang Jing. “Nope.”

Liang Jing blinked. “Seriously? Word is, she’s never helped anyone before!”

“Oh? Ice-cold, huh?”

“Not just cold—she’s straight-up badass!” Liang Jing lit up like she’d just downed an energy drink. “I’m telling you, Mo Ningning’s dad is one of the top five big-shot CEOs in the city. The guy’s got more money than you can count, and he’s got connections on both sides of the law. Basically nobody dares mess with him!”

“That serious?” I went wide-eyed, then shrugged. “What’s that got to do with me?”

Liang Jing smacked the back of my head. “If you get close to Mo Ningning, we can get closer to that drug ring!”

I said flatly, “I never said I wanted to get close to any drug ring... and do I look like the kind of guy who just hits on random girls? Seriously! What do you take me for? Seriously! Seriously! ...”

Before I could get one more “seriously” out, Liang Jing smacked my head again. “Doesn’t matter. Starting now, you are.”

Me: “........”

Liang Jing kept going, even more fired up. “Once you get close to Mo Ningning, we’ll use her dad’s influence, take down the drug ring in one shot, and boom—peak life...”

Me: “........”

“And after we hit peak life, I’ll finally settle one big thing on my mind, then go chase my own dream and hit another peak...”

Me: “.........”

“What do you mean, ‘me, me, me’? Why are you being so wishy-washy? You don’t act like a guy at all!” Liang Jing snapped.

“You... you’re standing on my foot...”

“Aah—sorry, sorry... my bad...”

Me: “........”

Somebody help me find that drug ring and borrow a gun—I’m gonna take her out.

..........

Anyway, ever since I ran into Mo Ningning at the library, Liang Jing basically forced a mission on me: go flirt with an innocent girl. It was ridiculous, so I didn’t take it seriously, but what was weird was how often I kept running into Mo Ningning. And every single time, it was painfully awkward.

Then one day in the cafeteria, my three idiot buddies finally couldn’t hold it in anymore.

Glasses: “Be straight with us. What did you do to Mo Ningning?”

I rolled my eyes, kept gnawing on a chicken wing, and didn’t say a word.

Chubby: “Man, if you really see us as brothers, don’t hide it from us.”

Me: “I see you as my sons.”

Mantou: “In my humble opinion, Mo Ningning’s got a one-sided crush on our guy here.”

I gave him a thumbs-up.

Mantou lit up. “What, you think I’m making sense?”

I didn’t hold back. “Out of the three of you talking nonsense, you’re the one reaching the hardest!”

Mantou looked like he was about to cry, grabbed a drumstick and stuffed it into his mouth, glaring at me with pure resentment.

Me: “.......”

I honestly had no idea what was going through their heads. Why did they all think there was something between me and Mo Ningning? We never even talk, okay?

“Are you Wu Xiaogang?”

“Who’s asking?” I turned around, curious. “Mo Ningning?!”

Oh, crap! What did I just say? I didn’t say anything, right?

Glasses: “Uh… the laundry on the balcony—kinda looks like it hasn’t been brought in.”

Chubby: “And the toilet—kinda looks like it hasn’t been cleaned.”

Mantou: “And I kinda didn’t get enough sleep.”

All three together: “We’ll be going!”

With that, the three of them vanished from my sight at about 500 yards per second.

I stared blankly at their retreating backs. “So fast…”

Mo Ningning suddenly smiled. “Mind if I sit here?”