The terminal fell silent.
She couldn’t see Xie Heng’s expression, but Jiang You guessed it had to be awful.
She had just deliberately provoked him. Then again, it was his fault for having such a nasty tone.
’Was she intentionally provoking him because she was still holding a grudge about him spanking her last time? It was hard to say.’
’Probably a little.’
On second thought, Jiang You felt it had been completely unnecessary.
"Hmph. I’m hanging up." Jiang You didn’t want to say any more to Xie Heng.
"Jiang... You..." Xie Heng’s voice, cold and hard, enunciated each syllable of her name with chilling iciness.
’Can’t you just behave?’
But he didn’t get the chance to say it.
A second later, Jiang You had already hung up.
On the other end of the line, Xie Heng’s expression was indeed grim. He stared at Jiang You’s name on his terminal for a long while before slowly lowering it.
He pressed a hand to his forehead and smoothed his brow, trying to calm his heaving chest. Whenever Jiang You was involved, he lost control of his temper, his emotions pulled along by her.
Xie Heng couldn’t help but recall the sight of Jiang You having lunch with another man. Then he thought about all the previous days she had spent fooling around with other men.
She clearly had no regard for him, her fiancé.
His lips pressed into a thin, icy line.
’It’s just a marriage of convenience. Why am I getting so angry...?’
Xie Heng furrowed his brow.
Jiang You was oblivious. After her afternoon classes, she headed to the research building for a meeting at 19:00 sharp.
The meeting was held in a room that looked just like a tiered lecture hall; there was nothing special about it.
Everyone arrived on time.
Jiang You found a random seat and sat down.
Zhou Yan walked in. When she saw Jiang You, she instinctively started toward her, but after seeing Jiang You’s cold gaze, she hesitated and sat down one seat away.
’I really have no idea how I managed to get into this,’ Jiang You thought.
She counted twelve people in the room, a mix of men and women. Including the group’s head, Xi Cheng, who hadn’t arrived yet, that made for a total of thirteen members in the research group.
Xi Cheng was the last to arrive.
He was wearing a Rose Liss uniform. Although still a student, he carried an air of scholarly detachment.
He had silver hair and silver eyes. His features were gentle and elegant, but a small red mole at the corner of his eye shattered that gentleness, adding a touch of bewitching allure.
The chatter in the room died down as soon as he arrived.
He took a seat in the front row, and a young man went over, bending down to speak with him.
Jiang You was sitting there, bored out of her mind, when a mechanical voice suddenly sounded in her head.
[OOC Warning.]
Jiang You: ?
’I’m just sitting here doing nothing. How did I get an OOC warning?’
’Did the auxiliary system get a virus?’
Xi Cheng, on the other side of the room, had clearly heard it too. His silver eyes faltered for a fraction of a second. He quickly took the documents from an assistant beside him and gestured with his hand. "You go up."
The young man nodded. "Okay."
The young man walked up to the podium.
"Hey everyone, my name is Li Yu, and I’m part of our research group," the young man began with a smile. "Let’s cut to the chase. Why don’t we all introduce ourselves? We’re going to be working together for the long haul."
Jiang You paid no attention to what the young man was saying. Just as the system was about to electrocute her for the OOC warning, something clicked in her mind. In a flash, she shot up from her seat, crossed the room in a few strides, and sat down in the empty spot right next to Xi Cheng.
As she sat down, Xi Cheng caught the faint, sweet scent that wafted from her.
His silver eyes showed no change, but his fingertips tightened on the terminal strapped to his wrist.
He knew why she had done it.
’Her persona dictated that she was in love with him.’
Sure enough, after Jiang You sat down next to Xi Cheng, the system’s OOC warning stopped.
Jiang You: ...
Everyone nearby froze when they saw this, and it felt as if they were all holding their breath.
Li Yu was also surprised.
Any student who spent time online knew that Jiang had publicly confessed her feelings to God Xi during the opening ceremony.
The school forums had blown up over it.
Afterward, God Xi was always at the Imperial Science Institute and rarely came to campus, so the two never crossed paths again. The buzz eventually died down.
Still, everyone remembered the incident.
No one had expected Jiang to join.
Li Yu didn’t keep up with the forums, so he was out of the loop. He just thought it was incredibly bold of a girl to sit right next to God Xi. Her courage was truly commendable.
After all, God Xi was considered completely unapproachable.
Li Yu only paused for a moment before moving on, asking everyone to come up and introduce themselves one by one.
After Jiang You sat down, Xi Cheng didn’t seem to react at all. He just kept his eyes on the documents in his hands.
Once everyone had introduced themselves, Li Yu took the lead again, outlining the group’s research goals, direction, and other details.
He concluded by saying, "Considering you’re all students with classes to attend, your lab schedule is flexible. You can decide when or if you come in. However, regardless of your attendance, any tasks assigned to you must be completed on time."
When the meeting ended, Xi Cheng still hadn’t gone up to the podium or said a single word.
Jiang You understood. Xi Cheng was conducting the core research himself; everyone else was just an assistant.
’Oh, right. The female lead is the first person with a Healing Soul Beast to have fused with an Alien Beast Soul, giving her offensive capabilities. But nobody knows that yet.’
’Xi Cheng is researching mutant beasts and soul beasts. The female lead is in this group. Because of her experience fusing with an Alien Beast Soul, she proposes her own theory about a catalyst, and the two of them begin to conduct the core research together.’
’And it’s during this research that they develop feelings for each other.’
’And I, the villainous supporting female character, am just here to stir up trouble and, in doing so, push them closer together.’
When the meeting ended, everyone began to file out.
Xi Cheng gathered his documents, stood, and headed for the door. Jiang You immediately chased after him. "Hey, Xi Cheng! Do you remember me?"
He ignored her and kept walking.
Jiang You quickened her pace and stepped in front of him, blocking his path. "I’m talking to you. Didn’t you hear me?"
Xi Cheng’s elegant face was impassive. He lowered his gaze to stare at her for a moment. ’Alluring. Still alluring,’ he thought. ’And very beautiful.’
"Do you need something?" Xi Cheng’s pale lips parted.
Jiang You’s pink eyes twinkled. ’Oh, of course not. I’m just maintaining my persona.’
"Do you remember me?" Jiang You asked, lifting her chin with an air of cold arrogance.
"I remember. You’re Shen Lan’s girlfriend." Xi Cheng’s gaze dropped slightly.
"Oh, so are you jealous?" Jiang You smiled confidently. "That time at the opening ceremony, I confessed to you and you rejected me. I’ll just assume you were playing hard to get. Now I’m giving you another chance to be my boyfriend."
Xi Cheng’s mind drifted back to the opening ceremony.
He had rejected her.
Afterward, when he had taken the pearl hair clip from his pocket, he had felt a pang of regret.
He had actually seen her before the opening ceremony, walking with a small entourage of two or three other girls.
’His first impression was that she was both bewitching and vibrant. He had a feeling she would look beautiful even when she cried.’
Even afterward, preoccupied with his work at the Imperial Science Institute, he hadn’t been able to forget her.