Su Qingtang walked into the classroom only to be ambushed by Song Meishi smashing her train of thought to smithereens. Damn! Can't someone keep this girl on a leash?
"Qing-Qing!" Song Meishi called, wrapping herself on her arm like an octopus. "It's your birthday soon, ah!"
Su Qingtang wore a bright smile. 'Damn, reeaally?' Arent you just fishing for an invitation? "Ya! I'm super exited, ne. I wonder what Ma is planning!"
Pushing the brunt of delivering the invite to someone else. A low tactic but enough to get this girl off of her back.
Someone clears their throat. Both Su Qingtang and Song Meishi's mouth go ajar for a split second.
Rong Li leans against the wall. Amusement is his eyes as he stares at Song Meishi. Su Qingtang's doubts are confirmed. This young man was not normal. She seemed to have attracted a real trouble maker.
His eyes make their way to Su Qingtang. "Su Qingtang was it? A word, if you don't mind?"
Su Qingtang's eyes grow a bit cold, but she masks it while she maintains a chirpy smile. "Lead the way."
She turns to Song Meishi who was busy looking between them unsurely. She was just like everyone in the hallway. Stunned that these two knew each other. Unlike Rong Li, Su Qingtang was always low profile and so was her family. "I'll be right back."
No one had cared too much about her to know her that well, and because she was friends with Song Meishi who only attended this school via scholarship they inferred that she had as well. Even with the minute change, regarding Su Qingtang's aura, no one really cared too much. She only gained a few more admirers, but who has the mind to date now? It was final year after all.
She follows Rong Li past varying gazes, though mostly inquisitive about where she was going with the new school hunk. Even though this was a novel world, people here still had the basic common sense. No one is possessive of a person they don't even know well. The cliches with someone getting bullied over a school Prince's attention aren't common reality. Sure, there might be instances of jealousy rearing its ugly head but nothing too exaggerated like when the male and female lead are added to the mixing bowl. That was a whole new disaster in itself.
They stop in the school garden. The original Su Qingtang had liked hanging around here when she had nothing to do and just watch as the cherry blossom trees gradually bloomed to their full glory. The new Su Qingtang didn't care too much about nature but with the understanding of the originals memory she finds herself feeling melancholic when she stands there. It was a strange experience.
"You know… That Mei-girl is bad news right." Rong Li starts. He stops walking and turns around to face Su Qingtang.
Su Qingtang inwardly rolled her eyes. Even Rong Li who hadn't even been at the school for a week could see this. Just how blind was the original? She couldn't even tell that Song Meishi hated every single bone in her body. Truly and utterly naïve.
Su Qingtang doesn't say anything and just smiles as she responds. "Forgive me for being impatient but I'd rather if you quickly got to the point." She had never liked speaking in circles with anyone. At least, being on the receiving side. She rathered directing the conversation. She was, after all a very strong leader at heart.
Rong Li's cat-like smile widens. He looked positively charming, but Su Qingtang could see a familiar darkness in the man in front of her. The very thing she wanted to avoid, but he just wouldn't let her. "Straight forward. I like it."
Still seeing him dilly-dallying Su Qingtang's eyes grows even colder. She hated that her weakest moment was seen by such a sly fox. Someone outside of her immediate control.
No one speaks for a while as they play the old-fashioned waiting game. Rong Li's smile growing wider every second he sees her eyes grow impossibly more hostile. He could tell she didn't like him, which made this moment a lot more interesting.
He was never the type to like things too simple as he always got bored of it quickly. People like Su Qingtang however were like math problems to a math genius. Every bone in his body itched to solve and master them.
"My patience is wearing thin."
Rong LI laughs. "Why so defensive? All we are having is a friendly chat. I just want to learn more about you. Maybe we can even become friends."
'Friends?' People like him aren't your friends. They are people you avoid. Being friends with him is like holding a snake to your bosom as you sleep unguarded.
"What do you want to know?" Su Qingtang asks, her smile thining. The system shivered. It seemed the host was getting serious.
Rong Li also noticed this and stopped playing around. It was obvious he was a smart man. "I want to know why a pampered rich girl like you knows how to disarm and force a group or bulky grown men to retreat. Don't try to kid me with a petty lie like karate training. We both know you aimed to kill. Something a simple physical training cannot temper your mind to do."
Su Qingtang stares at him. Her smile gone. It was just as she has suspected. Someone else saw.
A bone chilling coldness leaves her body. The aura of the cold woman she was inside the sunny body of the lively Su Qingtang. She looks at Rong Li without the slightest ripple. As if nothing that happened before her would affect her. Like she could kill him without blinking an eye.
Rong Li's smile widens. This. Or this version of Su Qingtang was the one he was looking for. The one he was so helplessly attracted to. An attraction devoid of physical taints but primitive enough to be likened to call of a moth to a flame.
He retreats for he knows he cannot handle Su Qingtang in her current state. Call it predators' instinct. "If you need something. You know where to find me. I'll be happy for a plus one to my team."