by A Sick Frog
Qin Shuhua found Qin Xuan’s bed and put her backpack onto it. As he was about to call her over to organise her space, he saw her turning around, and leaving. He quickly chased after her, “Qin Qin, are you heading to class? Why didn’t you bring your textbooks?”
“I’m not going to school anymore.” School originally did not hold much meaning to her. Even though she was no princess in her previous life, being an assassin already required her to learn how to read, and there was no point wasting her time at school now.
Qin Shuhua became anxious when he heard her say this. He pulled on her arms as he pleaded, “Now that you have entered high school, why would you quit? How about this, if you don’t like studying, daddy will not force you study well, but you must at least graduate. You have not yet matured, if you don’t go to school then what will you do?”
Qin Xuan wanted to answer with marriage as a solution, but she was worried that he would actually marry her off. But no matter what, she could not live here. Assassins cannot live in groups.
“If I don’t have to live here, then I will go to school.”
Qin Shuhua sighed in relief, “If you didn’t want to live in a dorm you should have just told me. From now on don’t just casually say you will quit school, okay?”
Qin Xuan did not say anything else.
Qin Shuhua reluctantly spoke, “Daddy will go and talk to your teacher about cancelling your dormitory contract. You should go ahead to class, daddy will bring all your stuff home.”
Qin Xuan took the backpack Qin Shuhua gave her and walked right out of the dorm building. She looked left and right, and started walking to the building with the large “School Building” sign.
As soon as she got close, she saw two women (Author: Please forgive Qin Xuan calling highschool girls women, in her eyes females of marrying age can no longer be considered young girls.) running towards her. The person running in front wore a bright smile, but the girl following behind had a forced expression.
“Xuan!” Just as the person running in front planned to jump at Qin Xuan to give her a hug, Qin Xuan had already quickly avoided her.
The person behind smiled mockingly, “Oh? Just a few days of not seeing each other and yet you already developed such an attitude? Zhoujing, your good little sis refused your good will just now.”
Zhoujing bit her lips and scolded, “Ding Jieyun, shut your mouth!” Following that, she blinked her large teary eyes and pitifully glanced at Qin Xuan, “Xuan~”
Qin Xuan was completely unaffected and calmly replied, “Let’s go to class.”
Ding Jieyun grunted and turned around to leave. Qin Xuan followed her, causing the dissatisfied Zhoujing to also follow behind. She wanted to pull on her arm, but she was afraid that she would be avoided again. Her face was flustered, it seemed like Qin Xuan really did became mad at her for not visiting her!
Qin Xuan followed Ding Jieyun to a room full of students. The teacher saw Qin Xuan and smiled, “Qin Xuan, are you doing well now?”
Qin Xuan nodded.
The teacher turned around and said to the whole class, “Everybody, let us welcome Qin Xuan back.” She began a clapping ovation, but the students at the back did not seem particularly enthusiastic and only put their hands together in a half-hearted way to get it over with.
The teacher seemed to be a little embarrassed. She smiled awkwardly at Qin Xuan. Unfortunately, this person was unfazed and directly walked past her towards the only empty desk in the class.
The teacher became more and more flustered. What happened, is she no longer the one in charge of keeping the class peaceful?
Only Zhoujing felt relieved. It seemed like Qin Xuan was not acting cold just towards her.
The teacher hastily began her lesson. This was the only way for her to temporarily forget about her fragile heart being broken by a cruel student.
First class, Math. Don’t understand.
Second class, Politics. Don’t understand.
Third class, Biology. Don’t understand.
Fourth class, Geography. Don’t understand.
Now it was Qin Xuan’s turn to be affected. In the organisation, no matter if it was inner Qi cultivation, martial arts or secret weapons, she was the top expert without peers. But now that she had ended up here, she couldn’t seem to figure out arithmetic, politics or anatomy science, even geography…. There were even many words she did not understand!
When the class was over, Zhoujing ran towards Qin Xuan. Even though Qin Xuan would only occasionally grunt in reply, Zhoujing still continued to talk in high spirits.
“Xuan, why are you still wearing the long sleeved uniform in this weather? Isn’t it hot?”
“Un.” Qin Xuan nodded as she looked at the girl sitting in front of her. Zhoujing was wearing a thin shirt with two short sleeves and a short skirt that went up to her knee that showed off her pale, white legs.
Suddenly Zhoujing thought of a possibility. She blurted, “Could it be that you have gained some scars from the accident?” Her voice was not too loud, but it was enough to attract the attention of the surrounding gossipers, who all perked up their ears to listen.
“Yes.” Qin Xuan replied in a carefree tone.
Zhoujing looked Qin Xuan, startled. She whispered, “So… Sorry! I didn’t know…”
All the surrounding students broke into groups of two and three’s as they quietly began their discussion.
“So that’s it. I thought she was still sick or something, who would wear such clothing in this weather?”
“This is karma, just because she had a pretty face she thought she was worthy of Cao Linwei. There are countless girls more beautiful than her, and yet Cao Linwei never spared them a glance, did she think he would care about her?”
“Just because she was rejected, she went and got herself in a car accident. Does she want to make Cao Linwei feel guilty? Why didn’t she just die?”
“Even now that she survived, who would look at her?”
“Right, right, I also hate her. I think the weak frailness before this was definitely her faking. Her personality right now is her real face!”
“Did you know, I used to live in the same dorm as her. All she did all day was cry, pretending to be some sort pitiful flower, how annoying!”
“…”
Zhoujing’s face turned unsightly as she looked at Qin Xuan, “Xuan, don’t listen to them, they are only speaking rubbish. What’s wrong with pursuing the one you love? The only thing is, your methods was a little extreme. The scars can be fixed later, no need to worry about their words…”
“It’s fine.” The amount of people the organisation has ordered her to kill was countless, and among them were plenty of famous righteous heroes. She was despised by everybody in the martial arts world as well as by commoners. Everyone had cursed her in a million different ways. No matter how tough or rude the curses, her eyebrows never moved.
Qin Xuan took out a piece of steel from her bag that Qin Shuhua gave to her. She gave it to Zhoujing, “I want to talk to my father.”
Zhoujing received her phone and immediately exclaimed, “Wow, Xuan, you got a new phone? It’s gorgeous! You want to talk to your dad? Wait a minute.” Zhoujing was so excited she forgot to the notice the strange way Qin Xuan was speaking as well as why she needed her to help with the phone.
Qin Xuan observed carefully as Zhoujing pressed down on certain symbols, transforming images on the relic device. After connecting the line, she handed the phone back to Qin Xuan. Qin Xuan copied their ways of using the relic and put the device up to her ears.
“Qin Qin?”
“Yeah.”
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” She only wanted to see how the device worked. She then followed what Qin Shuhua once did and pressed on a certain symbol, cutting the sound.
The person on the receiving end of the cryptic phone call got abruptly cut off, and he could only knit his brows in confusion.
Qin Xuan gathered her textbooks and put them
inside her backpack. Putting the bag on her shoulder, she headed outside the classroom.
Zhoujing chased after her after feeling dumbfounded, “Where are you going? There are still afternoon classes. Are you ditching?”
“Why do I have to explain myself to you?” Qin Xuan stopped and spoke to the Zhoujing who was adamantly following her.
When Zhoujing heard this, her face turned green and then white. She forced a smile and said, “I, I just care about you.”
“Not necessary.” Qin Xuan left in the blink of an eye.
Ding Jieyun poked her head outside the window and spoke mockingly, “Zhoujing, keep shoving that enthusiastic face against other people’s cold butts!”
Tears filled Zhoujing’s eyes once more as she covered her face and ran to the toilet.
Qin Xuan felt that she would rather go out to gather intelligence on this new place than to sit inside a classroom where they taught her things she didn’t understand.
Qin Xuan constantly stopped while walking on her journey. Everytime she saw something new and strange she would stop and observe it carefully, and every time she heard people say something she didn’t understand she would also stop to eavesdrop.
Without realising it, Qin Xuan had already walked for a long way. Her stomach began to grow hungry. Seeing a noodle shop in front of her, she decided to go in for a meal before continuing.
But before she could enter the shop, a shadow leapt out from a nearby alley. It almost ran into her, almost. Yet before he and the girl would collided, she had already to step out of the way. The person shot past her and quickly blended into the crowd.
Afterwards, a bunch of people loudly ran out from inside the small alley. Looking around, they noticed nobody except for Qin Xuan. They immediately loudly asked, “Hey, did you see someone run out from here?”
Qin Xuan continued to walk towards the noodle shop, ignoring them completely.
The male figure noticed that he was being ignored, rage built up in his brain as he snatched Qin Xuan’s arm, “Stinky brat!”
Qin Xuan leaned over slightly to avoid him. The male was stunned, and he once again reached out trying to grab her. Once again, he missed. Huh? He almost couldn’t believe it. This little girl had such capabilities?
He tried once more, and this time he succeeded in grabbing her arm. He laughed gleefully, “Hmm, you stupid bitch, let’s see if you dare to lie now!”
Qin Xuan began to grow annoyed. She planned to spare them, but they came searching for death by their own accord?
She threw her backpack down to the ground and slowly turned around. She grabbed the male’s wrist and twisted it, causing “crack crack” noises to resound. Following that, a demonic crying scream sounded out from the male, “AAH!”
The boy slumped down onto the ground cradling his hand while wailing out in pain. Qin Xuan ignored him and casually straightened her sleeves that were wrinkled by him. She picked up her bag, planning to leave, but the other people in the gang had already heard the pitiful scream from Old P. Even though they didn’t understand what was going on, they still surrounded Qin Xuan.
What a bunch of blind idiots! Qin Xuan’s eyes lowered as a strange cold glint came from inside them.
…
By the time Yin Xudong had made his way back, there were a bunch of bodies lying on the ground, all of whom were currently screaming or crying non-stop.
His eyes widened as he saw Qin Xuan leaving them as she headed to the nearby noodle shop. He chased after her and asked, “Who beat those guys up?”
Qin Xuan found a small table and called for a bowl of noodles. Yin Xudong sat down across from her and called for another bowl.
“You are not going to school?” Qin Xuan asked.
Yin Xudong awkwardly scratched his head and laughed, “Occasionally I skip school, only occasionally, ~” Then he immediately lowered his voice, “Wait, something’s not right. You also have to go to school, with what qualification are you questioning me?”
“…”
“You still haven’t answered me. Who beat up those people?”
“…”
“Heavens, could it be you? It was you wasn’t it?”
“Why did you run back?”
“I was running, but I suddenly had a feeling that I saw you still standing behind. I was worried that those guys would do something to you so I ran back. Hey, tell me, you beat those guys didn’t you?”
“Aren’t you scared of being caught by them?”
“Pfft, at worst I’ll have to let them beat me up a little. Hey, it was you who took care of them right?”
“Aren’t you scared they will beat you to death?”
“Where would they get the guts to do that!? It was you who beat them up wasn’t it?”
“… Your noodles are here.”
“…”
Chapter 5 - Conditions
“I see that you have beaten them today but they’ll surely find you afterwards to settle the score. But don’t worry about it, I’ve got you covered!” Yin Xudong broke open a pair of disposable chopsticks and stirred his noodles, boasting to Qin Kexuan as though he had nothing to do with the guy who was just being chased.
Qin Kexuan gave him a look after listening, which he thought was filled with disdain, “Hey, why are you looking at me like that? If it wasn’t for the fact that my old mum threatened me with switching schools if she saw a new wound on me, I wouldn’t have ran!”
Qin Kexuan lifted a noodle gently into her mouth.
Yin Xudong patted his chest, swearing: “I’ve got your back, so you will definitely be able to walk around safely!” He paused for a moment, eyeing Qin Kexuan covertly: “But there’s a condition.”
Qin Kexuan continued eating her noodles.
“The condition is that you have to teach me how to throw a knife. Of course it doesn’t have to be a knife la, using a rock will work as well.”
Qin Kexuan lifted her bowl to drink a mouthful of soup, placed it back down before turning her head to shout at the boss: “Check, please.”
“What? Already done so soon? It’s my treat, my treat. Wait for me, I’m almost done with my food!”
Qin Kexuan paid, ignoring the yelling Yin Xudong and left.
Yin Xudong hurriedly placed 10 dollars underneath the bowl, shouting “Payment!” before rushing out but he had already lost sight of Qin Kexuan’s figure.
Disappointed, a backpack shot behind him, Yin Xudong shrewdly caught it without being pummeled by it. He was pleasantly surprised to see Qin Kexuan behind him, “You were waiting for me?”
Qin Kexuan: “Help me by bringing my backpack home. It’s too troublesome to carry around, need to put it down when beating someone up.”
Yin Xudong was stunned stupid, “What? Now?”
“Yes.”
“What about you then?”
“It’s none of your concern.”
“So you mean you will go shopping, but I have to send your bag home?” Yin Xudong said in disbelief.
“If you do not want to learn knife throwing, you can say no.”
“This…… Of course can la! You play around slowly, I will head home first!” once Yin Xudong heard that Qin Kexuan was willing to teach him, he became so ecstatic that he didn’t put to heart the degrading fact that he was reduced to being an errand boy for an unimpressive neighbor girl.
Having spoken finished, Yin Xudong held onto her bag and ran, as though afraid that Qin Kexuan will snatch it back, vanishing into thin air.
Qin Kexuan continued on her journey to collect information.
Unknowingly an entire afternoon was over, Qin Kexuan gazed at the darkening sky. She would stop for today. She looked up at the setting sun, determining the direction before taking in a deep breath and ran towards the direction of home.
Realizing that running in public under watchful eyes was attracting attention, Qin Kexuan started to pick the dark and deserted alleys.
After making continuous turns in the alleys, she heard sounds
of childish laughter and dog’s whimpers from the corner in front. Qin Kexuan reduced her speed, slowly leaning over to see that several kids were using wooden sticks to beat a dusty-grey puppy which was cowering in a corner.
Every single escape attempt made by the puppy was blocked by the children as they surrounded it. It had nowhere to run, howling repeatedly as it was beaten.
Qin Kexuan stood, watching for a short moment before proceeding to move forward. The alley was rather narrow, allowing just a few kids to completely block it.
The kids noticed someone passing by, thinking that it was an adult who came to put a stop to their behavior. After looking behind them, they continued to laugh, and beat the puppy.
Qin Kexuan reached out her hand to pick up a kid by his collar and threw him backwards, picking and throwing them one by one just like pulling sweet potato from the ground. The children were instantly frightened by her aggression, and ran away crying for their mummies.
She continued walking forward for a few steps before stopping to squat next to the shivering puppy and reached out her hand. Warning growls burst from the throat of the panic-stricken puppy, before realizing that she had no intention to hurt it, lying low to whine and lick at its wounds.
Qin Kexuan reached around its neck to rip off a wooden tag, “Zhuo Hongyi’s Beloved Dog – Coco.” She readily threw it aside, “You are free now.”
The doggy stopped its licking, raising its head to peep at her.
Qin Kexuan stood up to continue her interrupted training, vanishing quickly into the crisscrossed alley. The distance from the city center was quite far, once a qinggong[1]-less Qin Kexuan reached home, the sky had turned completely dark.
Entering the house, she saw Jiang Huilin rush towards her. “Xuan Xuan, you finally reached home, quickly come in before scaring us to death! I should call your dad first to tell him that you have returned.” She rushed back in to enter the house.
As Qin Kexuan was standing at the entrance to change her shoes, Qin Pengcheng walked out to say grotesquely: “Bothersome pest!”
