Chapter 17 (1/2)
The first thing Mingxi did once she got back to her dorm room was to happily count the money, no, the buds in her flower pot.
Three buds seemed to have grown from the act of picking out coriander leaves; another five buds from buying him medicine and applying it on him. With the addition of the previous 15 buds, she should have a total of 23 buds… So why are there 38 buds right now?!
Wait a minute. Then is her face—
Mingxi happily took off her mask and looked at her reflection in the mirror.
It’s really gone!
She couldn’t even see any marks or scars despite the close distance. Whoa, this is amazing.
It was the first time since she came to this life that she almost cried out of joy.
System: “That’s because you held his hand.”
Mingxi calculated for a moment before replying in shock, “I can get 15 buds from just holding his hand?”
Then what was the point of her planning her actions so meticulously? She might as well have held a sign saying ‘520’* while running toward Fu Yangxi the moment she saw him and stuck their hands together with a loud clap.
ray’s note: 520 is an internet slang word used by the Chinese as a shortcut to say I love you.
System: “Didn’t you notice the time? Your fingers touched his fingers for a total of three minutes. That was the first time you’ve had such a long duration of physical contact with him, and the impact is usually stronger during the first time.”
To be honest, Mingxi wasn’t paying attention to the time. As Fu Yangxi kept on trying to pull his hands back while she was applying the medicine on him, she had no choice but to hold on to his fingers.
When the system said this, it made the whole situation sound so erotic.
The system wondered out loud: “I’m surprised that he wasn’t upset about it.”
Mingxi was shocked too. She wondered if it was because she kept on crossing the line with Fu Yangxi that he had gotten used to it already.
It was true that Fu Yangxi didn’t seem to hate her as much any more. There were even signs that he was gradually accepting her as a friend.
This was certainly a good thing for Mingxi.
Mingxi washed her face with tremendous vigor. Then, she squatted down and began to clean up the things lying around her feet.
As the items in the luggage were all stuffed together carelessly, when she first saw it in the library, she couldn’t exactly see what Fu Yangxi had given her.
Only when she finally sorted through them did she realize that they were all branded items. There were designer autumn and winter sweatshirts and coats. Mingxi was rather tall for a girl. She was also pale and thin, so any size would be wearable on her. She tried it on, and was surprised by how well it suited her.
Aside from clothes and shoes, there were also miscellaneous items like scarves, toothpaste and even a pillow stuffed in a corner.
Mingxi would never return these, because if she did, according to Fu Yangxi’s personality, he would definitely get mad. Then things would become even more troublesome for her.
Therefore, Mingxi quickly worked out the cost of these items.
She calculated based on the tags. A rough estimation came up to about 70,000 yuan*.
ray’s note: as of 23/1/21 it is 10,799.30 USD.
Looks like I can only work hard to buy and repay the same worth of items to Fu Yangxi.
I’ll just take these as an advance payment.
*
The next morning, Mingxi woke up early and went to the hospital. She wanted to consult a dermatologist.
It was the same dermatologist who was in charge of her previously. The other could still remember her. When he saw that she had come for a check up, he said, “I’m gonna need you to take off your mask so that I can examine your scar. Did you consistently apply sunscreen and the medicine I gave you? We wouldn’t want the scar to expand—”
But before they could finish, Mingxi had already taken off her mask.
“…” The doctor was stunned.
He distinctly recalled that when Zhao Mingxi came to him two weeks ago, the scar on the left side on her face was still substantially big.
He quickly walked over and held Mingxi’s face, turning her head from left to right. “How did it heal so quickly? Did you get it operated?”
But it was impossible for a surgery to produce such flawless results. It was as if there was no wound at all in the first place!
“I don’t know. Maybe it was because I consistently applied the medicine, hence the speedy recovery.” Mingxi was in an extremely good mood today, so much so that even the strongest winds would not deter her. A world where she didn’t need to wear masks anymore. She could finally breathe without any difficulty.
The doctor felt that this was a medical miracle. He had never seen a recovery so perfect.
“Well, congratulations.”
While the two of them were talking, the nurse who came in to take something couldn’t help but to steal a few glances at Mingxi. When this girl came in with her mask on, others only felt that her eyes were really pretty. Who would’ve thought that the moment she took off her mask she would be so beautiful—
She was so fair that she seemed to be glowing. It was the kind of appearance that would immediately stand out in a crowd. If it wasn’t because she was wearing her school uniform, others would have thought that she was a young celebrity.
And not just any celebrity. She would be the kind that would be famous even with just her visuals.
Mingxi asked, “Do you think I can stop wearing my mask from now on?”
“I think so.” The doctor gave it some thought before continuing, “But I would recommend you to observe it for another two days. Wait till tomorrow. If there are no signs of itchiness or unusual heat, then you can take it off permanently. Nonetheless, you still have to apply sunscreen everyday.”
Two days. Mingxi felt that she could wait. She didn’t want any accidents happening in this life.
When Mingxi left the hospital, she was planning to continue revising at the library. However, it was at this moment when her phone vibrated.
The user whom she privately messaged the other day with regards to their post had actually replied to her.
That person only gave her an address and requested for her to meet them this afternoon for a chat.
Mingxi, who was standing by the bus stop, was so excited that she almost jumped. She said to the system, “This is the exact definition of double blessings.”
Could this be the good luck drawn in after her change in luck?
System: “I think this Professor Gao is on the list of people who you can freeload on as well. He’s even the kind with a weird personality. Although he is ranked at the middle, it would be good to come in contact with him. The only downside is that he might be a little harder to deal with, so you should be extra cautious. Don’t get scolded and kicked out by him.”
Mingxi said, “Understood.”
Professor Gao’s house was located in a rather secluded area. It was in an alley filled with hanging clothes.
When Mingxi found the house number, she politely knocked on the door twice.
A while later, there were sounds of footsteps shuffling. The moment the door opened, an old man with half grey hair wearing a white singlet put on his spectacles before proceeding to look her up and down.
Mingxi had only seen this Professor Gao once in her past life and it was before her college entrance examinations. He looked even more haggard back then. Although he didn’t teach the majority of students in her school, they have all seen him before. So if she were to pretend not to recognize him, then it would be too fake.
Thus, Mingxi feigned a look of shock. “Professor Gao?”
The old man took a glimpse at the uniform she was wearing. “You are a student from our school?”
“Yes.” Mingxi figured it would be impolite to keep her mask on so she quickly took it off. “I didn’t think that it would be you, sir. I’m working part-time while studying.”
“Senior Year 3?”
“Yes.”
It was easy for a clean girl without any makeup on to leave a good impression on him.
Although the old man had an odd personality, he couldn’t allow Mingxi to continue standing outside. Thus, he said stiffly, “Come in first. I want to ask you a few questions.”
Mingxi followed him in. Only then did she realize why he retired so early in her past life.
The courtyard which was only about the size of a palm was overflowing with greenery, but it seemed quite barren. There was a pole where no grass grew, and on it was hung the dirty clothes of a child around 10 years old. The sun hasn’t been coming out recently, so if his grandson were to dirty his clothes, he wouldn’t be able to dry them on time.
It was undeniably challenging for an old man to take care of such a child.
If she didn’t take a closer look, she wouldn’t have noticed that at the corner of the patch of overgrown grass, there was a little boy who looked around the age of 12 to 13. His back was facing them as he stared quietly at the ants.
Seeing as how Mingxi had stopped walking and was looking in that direction, the eccentric old man with pulled a long face.
“This job isn’t as easy as you think. If you want to earn some allowance you might as well go take some tutoring jobs or work at the local arcade. You should leave now if you feel like you are uncomfortable with it.”
“I’m not uncomfortable. Go ahead.” Mingxi quickly picked up her pace and followed the old man to the living room.
*
What the old man wanted was for someone to do math questions with his autistic grandson. Only by doing this will his grandson enter into a quiet world of his own.
Obviously, it was impossible for him to hire a care worker from the hospital. Female care workers who are about 40 to 50 years old wouldn’t understand these. Moreover, it would be financially burdensome for the old man to hire someone who specializes in education. Thus, after some careful contemplation, he had no choice but to hire a student working part-time to come over every weekend.
Nonetheless, it was difficult for him to find a student suited for the job. No one in school knew that he had a grandson with such an illness. The old man was also prideful, so he wouldn’t ask for help from any of the students he taught.
When he casually posted about this in the school’s forum, not many replied. So the old man could only leave this matter aside and take some of his own time out to take care of his grandson.
To his surprise, half a year after he made that post, Mingxi showed up at his door.
The old man gave Mingxi a Sudoku puzzle and asked her about her schedule as he sat aside with a stern expression. Mingxi felt extremely nervous during the whole session, but she had no choice but to do her best while answering his questions.
After she was done, the old man examined it.
“Not bad. Your mind works fast, but you have a bad habit. You jump through the steps, making it seem as if your logic is unclear.” the old man casually remarked.
Professor Gao did not mention the shock that he was currently feeling. This child answered the puzzle in an unconventional manner— It was impossible for him to know her standards just by this one test.
But he was certain that she was above the level of the Normal Class.