The Attack of the Wastrel

“Lingzhi, I knew you would be walking past this road, let’s have breakfast together, shall we?”

The moment Gu Lingzhi stepped out of her hostel, she saw Su Nian who limped towards her, his face full of delight.

She saw his legs that could not move properly from being beaten by Qin Xinran and pursed her lips. It was too hard for her to reject him, so she just nodded.

“Ye Fei, let’s go together.”

“Sigh, he asked you to have breakfast with him, if you brought me along… er, if you brought me along you would enjoy your breakfast even more, I’m sure!” Ye Fei who had originally wanted Gu Lingzhi to go alone changed her mind after seeing Gu Lingzhi staring coldly at her.

How did Ye Fei not realize earlier that being stared down so calmly by Gu Lingzhi could be so stressful?

“Sure, please come along too, Senior Ye Fei. What do you both want to have for breakfast?” Su Nian asked, without a hint of unhappiness that Gu Lingzhi had dragged Ye Fei along. He only looked happy that Gu Lingzhi had agreed to have a meal with him.

“I must say that I like Su Nian a lot more than the Third Prince,” Ye Fei whispered to Gu Lingzhi as she ate the food that Su Nian had carefully prepared for them. It seemed that Su Nian’s actions have won Ye Fei over.

Gu Lingzhi looked at Ye Fei for a while without saying anything, before blurting out, “Just because the Third Prince has never treated you to a meal before?”

Ye Fei almost choked on her food and silently looked away. She would definitely not admit that that was part of the reason why she did not particularly fancy the Third Prince. If he really liked Gu Lingzhi, he would try to involve Ye Fei, Tianfeng Jin and Qin Xinran, but he did not even know what they liked. That aside, he did not even bother to treat them to a meal! If he was this selfish even before they got together, what more when they get together? She would definitely be mistreated. That’s right, just treating a meal makes all the difference in Ye Fei’s judgment.

When Gu Lingzhi saw that she had accurately guessed what was bothering Ye Fei, she sighed internally for the Third Prince. If he knew that Ye Fei had such a poor impression of him merely due to the fact that he did not treat her to a meal, would he go crazy?

After breakfast, Gu Lingzhi initially thought that she would part ways with Su Nian. However, Su Nian insisted on sending her all the way to her classroom before going back to rest at his hostel. Seeing how determined and steadfast he was, Gu Lingzhi’s heart softened. She waited until she got to the door of her classroom before telling him, “I don’t know what kind of feelings you have towards me, but I do not intend on getting into a relationship when I’m in the Royal School these few years. I hope you can divert all these pointless emotions into training instead. You never know, when we leave the Royal School, we may still be friends.”

“How are these emotions pointless?” Su Nian was agitated after hearing what Gu Lingzhi said, “When you like someone, it’s beyond logic and out of your control. You can choose not to reciprocate my feelings, but you can’t just deny that they exist. Even if you cannot accept them, just let me look at you from afar. That’s all I want. I…”

“Ahem, your confession is very passionate and touching, but please contain yourself. Lessons are about to begin, if there is nothing else, please go to your own classroom,” Rong Yuan, who had suddenly appeared, remarked. He did not look happy or upset, but Gu Lingzhi could see the anger beneath his calm façade.

“Your… Your Highness…” Su Nian froze in his steps before acknowledging the Third Prince. He looked around the corridor and the students strolling around and said, “It’s not lesson time yet.”

“As long as I am here, lessons have begun,” Rong Yuan said in a domineering tone before shoving past them and walking towards the classroom. Halfway through, he stopped to turn back and glared fiercely at Gu Lingzhi.

“Aren’t you going to attend your lesson? Are you waiting for a punishment?”

Gu Lingzhi thought of how creative the Third Prince could be with his punishments, and hurriedly bid farewell to Su Nian before making her way to the classroom.

Rong Yuan had never set a fixed time to arrive for his lessons, so the students were used to arriving to the classroom almost an hour early.

Every student sat upright and still, their attention all focused in front on Rong Yuan. Even though Rong Yuan did not look any different than before, these talented students could tell that something was up. They knew that they could not provoke the Third Prince today.

Su Nian lingered around for a while, knowing that there was no chance Gu Lingzhi could go out of the classroom to talk to him again. Dejectedly, he turned around and walked away and completely missed the glare that Rong Yuan was giving him from the corner of his eyes.

How dare he try to steal his woman? He’d have to ask for permission first!

During the whole duration of the lesson, every student was in constant fear and trepidation. Some female students who wanted to interact more with the Third Prince immediately regretted doing so.

“You! You can’t even hit a single demon beast after creating a fireball that big, is there something wrong with your brain? Do ten thousand frog jumps and you are not allowed to leave the class until you’ve finished them! And you, what are you laughing about? Are you seriously laughing while your friend is injured? Who would want to fight with you after this? Do a hundred frog jumps!”

The female student who had lost control of her fireball tried to act pitifully and coyly to reduce her punishment, “Your Highness, ten thousand frog jumps is too many, can you lessen my punishment?”

“You think it’s too many?” Rong Yuan raised his eyebrows and kept his expression calm.

That female student thought that her charms had worked, so she added, “You know girls tend to be weaker in physique, ten thousand is too…”

“Then do twenty thousand.”

“What?” The girl had initially wanted to continue acting coy, but his words struck her like lightning and she froze.

“What? You still think it’s too little? Then do thirty…”

“Okay, okay! Twenty thousand, I’ll do it!” The girl immediately started jumping before Rong Yuan could finish his sentence.

Another female student who had begun her frog jumps at one corner taunted her, “I told you His Highness is not easily moved by appearances, even if you’re pretty, it’s useless. Yet there you are acting coy; you really have a death wish.”

“I could say the same about you,” the girl sneered with hatred. “If it’s really like what you said, then why are you taking the Third Prince’s lesson? If I remember correctly, you’re already a Level Nine Martial Student, yet here you are with the newbies. How shameless.”

“What do you know?” the other female student retorted angrily. “Everyone here that is able to take his lessons are fortunate, do you think everyone is as lucky as you? You should know that the top ten students in the Golden List are dying to have the Third Prince as their teacher, they even went to the principal’s office to complain. Only idiots like you that don’t know anything will complain that his expectations are too high!”