บท 20: The Price of Growing Up
บรรณาธิการ: EndlessFantasy Translation
"Coming, coming!"
Xu Mang carried the bread and milk, rushing back to the classroom. Taking out the items that were Yang Xiaoman's, Xu Mang smiled happily and said, "For your sake, I came back as fast as I could. See how much I'm willing to suffer for you."
Xu Mang's wording unintentionally made Yang Xiaoman think...
'He...what did he mean by that? What did he mean 'for my sake'? He...don't tell me he likes me?'
'For your sake', these three words might sound simple, but there were different meanings attached in different circumstances. For example, if your parents said 'for your sake', this was family love. If someone the same gender said 'for your sake', this was friendship or gay love, but if...if a guy said to a girl 'for your sake'...
'Don't overthink!'
This must be some nonsense in her mind.
As soon as she thought to this point, Yang Xiaoman suddenly recalled the dream that she previously had. The one of Xu Mang riding a giant frog, coming to marry her, who was a princess, and that was a chilling scene that floated in her mind.
"Hey! Do you like me?" Yang Xiaoman said seriously as she looked at Xu Mang. Then, she said determinedly, with a hint of steel in her voice, "Don't even think about it. I'm a dream that you will never reach in your entire lifetime, not even in your next life!"
Xu Mang: 囧
Haha!
This girl was too confident.
Xu Mang wasn't arrogant. Even though Yang Xiaoman had made many boys drool and forget about everything else at the thought of her, it didn't mean that she could attract him.
"I think it's necessary to explain a few things." Xu Mang cleared his throat, a serious note to his voice. "You are obviously very beautiful, in fact, one of the most beautiful girls I have ever seen in my life. Under normal circumstances, I should be intrigued by you."
"Hmph! Aren't you just talking nonsense?" Yang Xiaoman raised her head proudly, her face displaying a disdainful expression as she said that.
"Now, now, let me finish." Xu Mang said quietly. "However, I am a man who is better than those who have lower standards. There are many beautiful skins out there in the world, however, there are only a few interesting souls. Your beauty is only skin-deep, as your heart is trite."
"Don't get angry yet, I'm not done!" Xu Mang hurriedly said as he saw Yang Xiaoman's face flush in anger, and he continued, "Look at yourself, you want the height yet you don't have it. You want the breasts, but you don't have it. You want the butt, but you don't have it. Of course...all these can be overlooked, these are just physical attributes after all."
Yang Xiaoman was on the verge of an explosion.
"But your temper is just so bad!" Xu Mang sighed. "Beating up people just because, not one ounce of femininity at all."
And then, it exploded.
Xu Mang had detonated a nuclear bomb, one that was a thousand times more powerful than the one in Hiroshima.
Punching Bag Skill + 1
Punching Bag Skill + 1
Punching Bag Skill + 1
"Wrong, I was wrong!"
"Big Sis, I was wrong!" Xu Mang held both arms over his head, his face full of pain as he said, "You are the most beautiful woman in the world, you are basically the modern version of Audrey Hepburn!"
"Huff, huff..." Yang Xiaoman gasped and in a tone full of anger, she said, "Tell me, are you a scum or what? You already know you will get beaten up, and still, you insanely dare to ridicule me. Is it that you don't feel comfortable if you go one day without getting beaten up by me?"
"You think I want to…?" Xu Mang muttered. "It's not like I can beat you."
"Che! It's not that I'm bragging, but someone like you, I can take on ten of you!" Yang Xiaoman had her hands on her hips, her face smug.
Don't even joke about that. Xu Mang was clearly aware that Yang Xiaoman could do exactly as she had said and beat up ten of him. Her strength was completely contrary to her looks.
The exercise before their meal had made them both hungry, and as Yang Xiaoman was opening the package of her bread, she noted that it was already unsealed, and she asked, "Did you open this?"
"Oh! I recently found life boring, so I placed a laxative in one of the loaves." Xu Mang said nonchalantly. "Just eat it, yours should be fine."
Hearing Xu Mang's words, Yang Xiaoman was stunned.
Was he insane!
Was he intentionally trying to pick on her?
Yang Xiaoman was so pissed and she grabbed Xu Mang's collar and yanked, angrily hissing, "Believe it or not, that I will beat the crap out of you?!"
"..."
"I believe!" Xu Mang nodded his head frantically.
"I...you…" Yang Xiaoman was defeated by Xu Mang's 'innocence', and looking at the bread on the table, she didn't dare to take a bite. But then, she thought of another way to be able to tell if the bread was safe to eat.
"Take a bite first." Yang Xiaoman said, breaking off a piece of her bread and passing it to Xu Mang.
"Okay…" Xu Mang took a bite obediently.
Five minutes later, Xu Mang left the classroom and headed to the toilet.
Yang Xiaoman snorted coldly, exchanging the bread silently. Using the fastest speed she had ever had in her life, she finished the piece of bread and drank up her milk.
Not long after, Xu Mang returned to the classroom and saw the bread which was missing a corner, and he fell into deep thought.
"I need to tell you some unfortunate news...I just remembered that my bread was the one with the laxative." Xu Mang said, his face covered with an innocent expression.
Yang Xiaoman cried then, for the first time in her entire life.
***
After resolving the misunderstanding, Xu Mang didn't expect the price for making Yang Xiaoman cry would be so high. He dubbed today to be the 'Xu Yang Treaty'. From this day onward, Xu Mang would be Yang Xiaoman's follower... the very tragic kind.
Not only that, but he also didn't know who was the one who had started spreading the rumors. Xu Mang felt that he was in danger in the school, many people pointed at him as he walked on the roads, and some even glared at him with hateful eyes.
If looks could kill, Xu Mang would have died a thousand times.
The next day, the results were announced by the school.
To everyone's surprise, the position of being first in the entire school had some changes. Yang Xiaoman, who had been hailed by some boys who had nothing else better to do as 'the most beautiful transfer student', had successfully reached the peak, taking the number 1 spot in the entire third year.
This led to some discontent among the veteran intellectual students, and a war between these students broke out.
Of course, there was another fiery battle, and that was the average student category where casualties are more serious.
And finally, on the slackers' side of the field, there was peace. The usual slackers had played well and stuck to their expected levels. However, there was one who had abandoned his compatriots and sprinted upward into the average reaches, and his name was Xu Mang.
Chinese: 60
Mathematics: 12
English: 77
History: 31
Geography: 43
Politics: 43
Total marks: 261
[Step By Step 1.0—Complete]
[Obtained: Upgrade Card*5]
Knowing his results, Xu Mang felt moved. Perhaps the marks would be a bit unsightly to other ordinary people, but in his standards, he had made a huge leap from being scum.
"Hey! Xu Mang, you're too much!"
A rounded student rushed into the classroom of Year 3 Class 1. This fatty was called Wei Xing, which Xu Mang dubbed as 'double waste'.
"For the life of me, I never imagined...a guy like you with thick eyebrows and big eyes would actually betray the revolution." Wei Xing said regretfully with tears in his eyes. "I thought we agreed to go down together? To be slackers all the way to the end of days? And now you've changed?"
Xu Mang understood Wei Xing's feelings at the moment—the feeling of being abandoned was indeed not nice, but you couldn't always be a person without any ambitions!
"Wei Xing! Please get ahold of yourself!" Xu Mang looked at Wei Xing and solemnly said. "Are you satisfied to continue this way? Are you willing and satisfied to keep being laughed at by others?"
"You've changed! You've changed so much that I don't know you anymore…" Wei Xing grasped his heart, an anguished expression on his face. "I hate you!"
Wei Xing ran out of the classroom with his gigantic stature, leaving the sad and desolate place.
Xu Mang felt a pang of sadness. He had lost a good friend who had gone through struggles together with him. Perhaps this was the price of growing up—when you made some slow progress, you always had to make some sacrifices, and sometimes, even friendships had to be one of them.
'Goodbye, Wei Xing! I, Xu Mang, will always remember those happy days.'
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