Chapter 100 Fragile Goods!

Chapter 100 Fragile Goods!

Li Yundong opened the door to find Zhou Qin standing there with one knuckle raised.

"Uh… Zhou Qin? What are you doing here?"

Zhou Qin lowered her hand and smiled at him.

"Why? Is it strange that I'm here?"

Li Yundong chuckled and shook himself out of his stupor. "No. Not at all. You're the only one who knows where I live after all." A smirk formed on his lips. "You're not here with a subpoena, are you? What am I charged with? And when is the hearing?"

Zhou Qin smiled. "No, you goof. I was just…" She cleared her throat. "I was worried about you two. You never came back after you took off. And…" Zhou Qin reached behind and pulled out his black backpack. "Here. I brought your things. You left them in class."

"Thank you." Li Yundong took the backpack and stepped aside. "Um… Do you want to come in?"

Zhou Qin shook her head. "Oh, no, no."

Okay. That deny came rather quickly. Not that he could blame her. She must be terrified of him after seeing what he did earlier.

Zhou Qin seemed to have realized as well how her words might sound like. She cleared her throat. "What I mean is… I'd love to, but I can't. I've got urgent matters to take care of."

Li Yundong rubbed the back of his neck. "Oh. Okay then. Thanks again for bringing my stuff."

Zhou Qin smiled. "No problem."

Zhou Qin turned around and walked away from his door.

Seconds later, Li Yundong caved. "Zhou Qin!"

Zhou Qin stopped walking and turned around. "Yes?"

"Aren't you going to ask? I mean about today."

"I'm not blind, Li Yundong. And I'm not stupid."

Li Yundong tensed up. What was that supposed to mean?

"I know you'll tell me when you're ready." Zhou Qin regarded him for a moment, then gave him a wave. "I'll be going now, then."

Li Yundong stood at the door and watched her leave.

Zhou Qin turned around again after she had pressed the elevator call button.

"Don't worry," Zhou Qin said, looking at him pointedly. "Nobody will bother you about what happened today."

Li Yundong would be lying if he said that he wasn't concerned about the consequences of today's incident. What happened today basically put him in a lot of people's shit list: members of the university council; Liu Chuan; Liu Chuan's father; He Shao; and maybe even the parents of the students who got injured.

The last thing he wanted was to face charges for violent conduct. He had neither the time nor money to deal with the possible legal consequences of his actions. Also, he was already on the verge of expulsion. Today's incident would just provide ammunition to Director Qian and Professor Liu in their crusade to get him expelled.

"Thank you." Li Yundong rubbed the back of his neck. "And I'm so sorry you have to clean up my mess again."

Zhou Qin waved him off. "That's what friends are for."

Li Yundong snorted. "Then I must be a shitty friend for troubling you all the time."

"Sure. You're a bad friend who nearly broke his arms saving my life," Zhou Qin deadpanned. "You're a terrible human being. You should be ashamed of yourself."

Li Yundong burst into laughter. "Fair enough. I does sound kinda silly when you put it that way."

"One more thing," Zhou Qin said. "Why is your phone always turned off?"

"A result of my own stupidity." Li Yundong gave her a wry smile. "Well, you know what happens when you post your number on the forum."

Zhou Qin giggled into her hand.

"No, I'm serious," Li Yundong said. "It's been ringing non-stop ever since I made that stupid post."

"Looks like you need to change your number soon."

A loud ding signaled the elevator's arrival.

"Well. See you around, then." Zhou Qin gave him a wave before stepping into the elevator.

Li Yundong shut the door with a heavy sigh.

When he turned around, Su Chan was standing there, staring at him.

Li Yundong sighed again. "Looks like I owe her another favor."

"Yundong…"

Su Chan's eyes were wide, and her face looked strangely pale.

"You okay, princess?"

"Are you… are you interested in her?"

Li Yundong frowned. "Who? Zhou Qin?"

Su Chan nodded. "Will you choose her and then… toss me aside?"

Li Yundong closed the distance between them and then pulled her into his arms. "Tsk. Don't be silly. She's just a friend, that's all. I'm not interested in her that way. And I'll never toss you aside."

"You already did," Su Chan mumbled. "Literally."

Li Yundong pulled back slightly. "Yeah… I'm sorry about that, princess. I couldn't think of another way to get you away from the fight." Li Yundong chuckled, then pinched her nose. "I'm glad you came back for me though."

Su Chan leaned backwards and swatted his hand away.

"Did you manage to land properly?" Li Yundong said. "After I threw you, I mean."

"Of course! I can…" Su Chan flapped her arms like a pair of wings. "Remember?"

"Right." Li Yundong smiled and ruffled her hair. "My princess is the best."

"You really won't leave me for Zhou Qin?"

"No. Of course not. You're stuck with me, princess."

Su Chan threw her arms around his neck. "You're mine! I don't care! I won't let anyone else have you!"

A surge of affection coursed through him.

Li Yundong patted Su Chan's head a few times. "Yes, yes. I'm yours and yours alone."

I've been yours since you came into my life.

They stayed in the hug for a while until Li Yundong remembered something.

"Hey, wanna check out what's on Feng Na's secret DVD?"

Su Chan looked adorably confused.

"I mean that thing Feng Na passed to me this morning."

"Oh." Su Chan looked even more confused now. "But it's just a round, flat object. What's so interesting about it? It doesn't even move."

Li Yundong chuckled. "No. We have to put it into a device and watch it on the TV. Come on, I'll show you."

***

"Seriously?"

Li Yundong stared at the TV screen, where an episode of "Cohabitation with A Flight Attendant" was playing.

"Hmm? Yundong? What's wrong?"

Li Yundong shook his head. "Nothing. I just didn't expect Feng Na and Cheng Cheng to get so worked up over a soap opera. I thought it would be a scandalous video clip or something."

All of a sudden, Su Chan got up from the couch and walked over to the TV.

"Hey, hey, hey. What are you doing? Don't punch the TV again, okay? We can't afford a new one. We're broke, remember?"

Su Chan leaned forward until her nose was almost touching the TV screen.

Li Yundong struggled between wanting to laugh and to drag her back to the couch. Laughter won out in the end. "What are you doing, princess?"

Su Chan turned away from the TV.

"Oh. I was just looking for soaps."

"What?" Li Yundong chuckled. "Why?"

"You said it's a soap opera, right?" Su Chan scratched her head. "I just thought that maybe it is about soaps…"

Li Yundong guffawed, then patted the seat on the couch beside his. "Come here."

Su Chan shuffled over obediently and sat down.

"These shows aren't about soaps, my dear princess."

"So why are they called soap operas then?"

Li Yundong stroked her hair a few times. "In the past, these shows were produced by people who manufacture soaps. That's how the name came about."

"Oh."

"You like soap operas, don't you."

Su Chan bobbed her head with zest. "Mmm!"

Li Yundong smiled. "Good. Which means you can keep yourself occupied for a while…"­ I should go check out the forums. And then get dinner started. He stood up from the couch.

Su Chan threw her arms around his waist and made a whiny noise. "Where are you going? Don't leave… Let's watch the soap show together."

Li Yundong groaned. "Seriously? You want me to spend a few hours watching a soap opera? You might as well kill me now."

Su Chan's cheeks puffed out adorably. Her arms tightened around his waist.

Moments later, Li Yundong sighed. "You're not going to let me go, aren't you?"

Su Chan shook her head.

Alright. Time to bring out the big guns.

Li Yundong cleared his throat. "Actually… I was about to go cook our dinner. You're hungry, right?"

Su Chan nodded and released him.

Food. It worked on Su Chan every damn time.

***

After dinner, Li Yundong returned to his room and logged on to the university's forum site. As expected, the forum was going nuts over this afternoon's incident.

Li Yundong clicked on the hottest thread: Hero of Tiannan University vs Cloaked Old Man (full play by play).

The page took nearly ten seconds to load due to the sheer number of comments posted. When Li Yundong read the description, he found that the OP wasn't kidding about the "play by play" part; the whole incident was described from start to end in vivid detail. Someone even counted the number of times Liu Chuan had cried for the demise of his father's car—apparently, it was enough to put a baby to shame.

Li Yundong scrolled down the page, skimming through the comments as he did. Moments later, he saw something that made him stop scrolling. Someone had uploaded a video clip of the fight in one of the comments.

"Great. More proof. Just what I needed," he grumbled, clicking on the video's play button.

A few seconds into the video, Li Yundong realized that he really had nothing to worry about. The video's quality was so shitty that you wouldn't be able to tell a cat from a dog if it were in it. He paused the video and scrolled down further. The video had gotten quite a lot of replies, and a few of them actually made him chuckle.

Critical_Mass: What's this? An earthquake?

Trololololol: Why is it shaking so much? It's like the phone was attached to a vibrator or something.

Li Yundong spent another minute browsing through the forum. Based on what he'd read, most people were skeptical about those supernatural claims, choosing instead to attribute those claims to sensationalism. Li Yundong saw that as a good thing, since he really didn't feel like explaining anything to anyone. What the public believed was none of his concern. He just wanted everyone to leave him in peace.

Li Yundong powered down his laptop and went into the living room.

He paused a few feet away from the couch.

"You're still watching the show, princess? But it's been hours."

Su Chan turned away from the TV. "This show is fun…"

Li Yundong chuckled. "Looks like someone has found a new addiction."

Su Chan made her face at him and turned back to the screen.

Li Yundong walked over and flicked her forehead.

"Do you mind if I use the living room? I haven't done any Qi-control training today."

Su Chan rubbed her forehead. "But I'm still watching the soap show…"

Li Yundong grabbed the remote and pressed the stop button. He walked over to the DVD player and removed the disc from the tray.

"Why don't you watch the rest in my room?" He handed the DVD to Su Chan. "There's a TV and a DVD player."

Su Chan took the DVD. "Oh."

"Do you know how to set it up?" Li Yundong raised a brow.

Su Chan pouted. "Hmph! Of course I know! You've shown it to me earlier!"

Su Chan stormed off and went inside his room.

"Don't break the DVD, okay?" Li Yundong yelled. "Feng Na would have my head if you do!"

Seconds later, Su Chan poked her head out from his room and made a face at him.

Li Yundong chuckled and lowered himself to the floor.

Despite his ordeal and near-death experience, he wouldn't trade this day for the world. Not when he'd finally heard three precious words from Su Chan.

He closed his eyes and allowed himself to drift into a meditative state.

***

The first light of dawn alerted Su Chan to the fact that she had spent the whole night watching the soap show. The show was fun to watch as it reminded her of her own cohabitation with Yundong. But if she was honest, that wasn't the only reason she was so engrossed in it. The show was a distraction from her worries.

Would Lin Youfa bother Yundong again? Would Ruan Hongling be keeping a close eye on their place from now on? Should they move to a new place? But Su Chan didn't want to move! She liked this place; it was the perfect place for Cultivation. Besides, she had gotten rather attached to this place already…

Su Chan sighed and got up from Yundong's bed. She picked up a black, rectangular device and pressed a button on the top left corner. A flat platform—it looked like a tray—poked out like a tongue from the box which sat beside the TV. Su Chan walked over and removed the round disc from the tray. She studied the disc for a moment. Hmm… Its two faces look different, like a coin… But why is the bottom face so sparkly?

Speaking of two faces…

Su Chan was being two-faced as well.

A fox spirit masquerading as a normal human.

Yundong will hate me when he finds out…

Su Chan padded over to the bed and slumped face first onto the mattress. The round disc rolled out of her hand onto the bed.

Maybe Yundong was different others? Maybe he would find having a fox spirit as a partner acceptable… ish?

But everyone hates fox spirits!

A whine escaped Su Chan's throat as she rolled around on the bed.

She froze when she heard a sharp crack. She rolled to her back and sat up.

Oh no…

The round disc had snapped in half.

Panicking, Su Chan picked up the two broken pieces and stared at them. "B- But how? How could this thing be so fragile?"

Stupid, stupid, stupid! Not even soap breaks that easily!

She glanced at the door, which was shut—thank goodness.

"Oh no, oh no… What should I do?"

She had just given Yundong another reason to hate her!

Su Chan picked up the broken pieces and held them under the light. Aha! Maybe I can… Su Chan aligned the two pieces together along the crack.

The two pieces fit together perfectly. Even the crack had vanished.

Yessss! Yessss! I've fixed it! I've fixed it! Hehehe—

One of the pieces fell off the moment she let go of her hand.

Su Chan wanted to cry.

Su Chan dumped the other piece onto the bed. Maybe she could use a spell? Su Chan stared hard at the two pieces for a moment or two. When she couldn't come up with any spells, she went into panic mode again.

Su Chan picked up the two pieces and kept bumping them together, hoping that the pieces would magically join together. "Join, join, join… Please, please, please?" she whispered.

Would it work if she summoned fire with a spell and then weld the pieces together? No! What if she ended up melting the whole thing? If this thing was so brittle that it would break—

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

"Wake up, princess! Time for breakfast!"

The broken pieces flew out of Su Chan's hands when she jumped. She scrambled for the pieces before either one of them could roll off the bed.

"I'm in trouble, I'm in trouble…"

Su Chan shoved the broken pieces under the blanket when the door suddenly opened.

Yundong's poked his head in through the gap.

"Morning, princess—" His eyes narrowed. "What's up with your hair? Wait… Don't tell me you didn't get any sleep last night…"

"O- Of course I slept. Hehehehehehe… M-My hair is messy because I just woke up."

Not because I've been rolling around trying to fix your stupid soap show thingy. Which I accidentally broke.

Thankfully, Yundong didn't press on. His head disappeared through the gap.

"Hurry up and get ready! We're almost late for class!"

Su Chan climbed out of bed dejectedly. Then, she took the broken pieces from under the covers and glanced around the room. Hide it! Hide it! I have to hide it!

That shelf!

Su Chan ran, but her feet got tangled up in the blanket. She reached out and grabbed the shelf to steady herself, but ended up knocking the shelf slightly. A few books tumbled off the shelf.

A round object rolled out from between the pages of one book.

Hey… Isn't that the same…?

Su Chan crouched down and picked up a round disc which looked similar to the one she had broken earlier.

She aligned the broken disc and then placed it side by side with the other disc. Relief coursed through her. The two discs were identical.

"Did you go back to sleep again, princess!"

Su Chan's gaze snapped to the door.

"Alright! I'm coming out now!"

Su Chan shoved the broken pieces under Yundong's bed and then picked up the other disc.

Nobody would know.

Nobody.