My Years as the Pure Love Interest at the Noble Academy

Might as well die.

These words kept circling in Hang Feng\'s mind.

For Hang Feng, he had always been trying to maintain his pitiful yet laughable self-esteem in front of his "brother" Xu Che.

But at this moment, all his persistence seemed to have vanished into thin air.

Hang Feng\'s face was pressed against the ground, and if possible, he didn\'t want to lift his head up anymore.

End it, stop it, let everything freeze at this second, so he wouldn\'t have to face what was about to happen next.

Of course, Hang Feng\'s wish was a bit unrealistic and impossible to fulfill.

Because Shen Yujing had already released his hand from pressing Hang Feng\'s neck, got up from the ground on his own, and even shouted, "Brotherhood ceremony complete!"

Song Yi\'s mind was also fuzzy, but instinct made her get up after seeing Shen Yujing rise, and she didn\'t forget to dust off the dirt on her knees.

Then, Song Yi dizzily looked at Hang Feng and asked, "Hang Feng? Why are you kneeling here?"

"Kneeling?" Shen Yujing spun around in place, stumbling as he walked toward Hang Feng, and despite his confusion, he still showed a smile, "Why is he kneeling here? That\'s so silly!"

Hang Feng: "..."

He began to wonder if these two were actually drunk or deliberately messing with him.

But Hang Feng also realized that he was now the only one still kneeling on the ground.

So Hang Feng immediately stood up, both his aching knees and the scene before him giving him a headache.

Xu Che reached out to stop Song Yi, who was spinning in circles, and frowned at Hang Feng, asking, "What\'s going on here?"

"How should I know?" Hang Feng felt irritated but still grabbed Shen Yujing, who was about to crash into the wall, and continued, "They brought me here, talking about playing drinking games."

Xu Che asked, "And then?"

Hang Feng said, "Then they just kept losing and drank all the alcohol."

Their eyes met, and at that moment, they both saw a complex emotion called speechlessness in each other\'s eyes.

The usually antagonistic brothers experienced a strange resonance in this troubled world for the first time.

Xu Che changed the subject, saying, "He revealed your identity today. Your classmates and friends should all know by now, if nothing unexpected happened."

Hang Feng replied flatly, "I don\'t have friends."

"Is that so?" Xu Che raised the corner of his lips, pointing at the two beside them, asking, "Aren\'t they your friends after becoming sworn siblings?"

Hang Feng: "..."

Strange emotions welled up in his heart, making Hang Feng feel even more irritated.

Since Xu Che was here and could handle everything, there was nothing left for him to do.

Just as Hang Feng was about to leave, Xu Che blocked his path.

Xu Che\'s smile faded as he placed his hand against the wall by the door, saying, "They came here to keep you company. Should you really abandon them? That\'s not how you treat people."

The brothers\' eyes met, both trying to detect different emotions in each other\'s gaze.

It was like a silent confrontation.

Finally, Hang Feng yielded and asked, "What should we do?"

Xu Che said, "I have an apartment near your school. Let\'s take them there first."

After speaking, Xu Che waved his hand in front of Song Yi, "Hey, how many fingers am I holding up?"

Song Yi sat in the chair feeling both headache and dizziness, her eyelids unusually heavy. She wanted to try hard to open them but found it very difficult.

But even in this state, there was something strange waving back and forth in front of her, which was extremely annoying and disturbing her sleep.

So Song Yi simply reached out and grabbed that thing directly.

There, that\'s better, it won\'t bother her anymore.

Thinking this, Song Yi tried to grip tightly what was in her hand to prevent it from escaping, then tilted her head and fell back into sleep.

Xu Che said, "Go help Shen Yujing up, let\'s get them to the car first."

Hang Feng disagreed, asking, "Why should I help Shen Yujing?"

Xu Che raised his hand and waved it in the air, his large hand tightly gripped by Song Yi\'s small one, the movement not enough to separate them.

No answer was needed, as the gesture spoke louder than words.

Hang Feng frowned but still pulled one of Shen Yujing\'s arms over his shoulder and helped him out the door.

Watching the two leave, Xu Che looked down at the girl sitting in the chair and suddenly found himself in a dilemma.

While Shen Yujing was drunk and acting silly, he hadn\'t lost his ability to move, but Song Yi was clearly different - she was sitting quietly here, sound asleep.

At this moment, Song Yi\'s grip on his hand loosened, and she raised her hand to rub her eyes, seemingly uncomfortable with someone staring at her even with her eyes closed, so she turned her face in another direction to continue resting.

Xu Che hesitated for a few seconds before bending down to lift her up in his arms and walking out.

The sudden loss of gravity made Song Yi feel insecure, so she instinctively wrapped her arms around Xu Che\'s shoulders.

The sky had already begun to darken, with the last rays of sunset falling on the girl\'s seaweed-like long hair and her seemingly soft lips.

Xu Che took one quick glance down before rapidly averting his gaze, the coldness in his expression diminishing slightly, and the skin from his earlobe to the nape of his neck, beneath his silver earring, seemed to turn slightly red.

Of course, it only seemed that way.

He tightened his grip, holding the girl closer, then quickened his pace to catch up with Hang Feng.

Fortunately, the car was parked nearby.

Xu Che placed Song Yi in the back seat and put several sobering candies in her jacket pocket.

He then sat in the driver\'s seat and looked at Hang Feng, "You sit between them, help keep them steady."

"I wouldn\'t sit with you anyway." Hang Feng silently withdrew his hand that was about to open the passenger door and expressionlessly opened the back door, squeezing into the middle position from beside Shen Yujing.

The back seat was fairly spacious, and these two were asleep, so it shouldn\'t be a problem, or so Hang Feng thought.

But the moment the car started moving, two heads fell onto Hang Feng\'s shoulders, one on each side.

Hang Feng mercilessly reached out and pushed both of them away simultaneously, leaving no room for negotiation.

But the peace didn\'t last long, as with the car\'s movement, both of them leaned back towards him again.

Hang Feng in the middle: "?"

He pushed them away again and tightened their seatbelts to the maximum, ensuring that no matter what happened, they would be firmly secured in their positions.

Xu Che, watching the whole scene through the rearview mirror: "..."

This was something only Hang Feng would do.

To prevent Shen Yujing and Song Yi from being strangled by their seatbelts in their sleep, Xu Che increased his driving speed.

Song Yi felt like she had taken a nap, and when her head stopped hurting so much, she opened her eyes.

The room\'s light was harsh, and before Song Yi could clearly see the scene before her, she first heard arguing voices—

"Do I need him to acknowledge my identity? Should I cry tears of gratitude for his grace, is that what you want to see?"

"Hang Feng, you know that\'s not what I meant."

"So what? Going there today was the biggest mistake. Just looking at him makes me sick."

Song Yi raised her hand to rub her eyes and supported herself to sit up on the bed.

Within her field of vision, Shen Yujing was lying on the sofa not far away.

He was sprawled out carelessly, arms wide open, and if the sofa hadn\'t been large enough, he might have fallen to the floor the next second.

The room\'s door wasn\'t completely closed, leaving a gap through which the voices from outside could clearly be heard.

Song Yi sat on the bed listening for a while, using this time to recall what had happened earlier.

She and Shen Yujing had wanted to get Hang Feng drunk, but everyone except Hang Feng ended up drunk instead.

Thinking about this, Song Yi felt quite frustrated.

She looked at Shen Yujing with disdain and muttered, "Totally useless."

Song Yi got up and walked to Shen Yujing\'s side, bent down and patted his face, "Hey, wake up, wake up!"

Shen Yujing frowned in his sleep, then waved his hand in the air before turning over to face the inside of the sofa, turning his back to Song Yi.

Song Yi: "..."

She decided she shouldn\'t count on Shen Yujing.

While Shen Yujing was still passed out drunk, Xu Che and Hang Feng were arguing in the living room.

Realizing this situation, Song Yi chose to lie back down in bed, thinking it would be better to pretend to be asleep.

Suddenly, there was a sound of something falling to the floor - what appeared to be several yellow candies had dropped.

Song Yi picked one up and saw it was labeled "hangover candy."

Though she didn\'t know where they came from, they seemed potentially useful.

So Song Yi unwrapped one and put it in her mouth, then lay back down on the bed.

The door was open, and the sounds of arguing from outside remained clear.

Xu Che and Hang Feng argued for a long time, until Song Yi started feeling drowsy as she listened.

Whatever, let them be.

She didn\'t care anymore; she wanted to sleep.

As drowsiness overtook her again, Song Yi pulled the blanket over her head and fell asleep once more to the sound of Xu Che and Hang Feng\'s arguing.

Meanwhile, in the living room.

As brothers, Xu Che and Hang Feng had spoken more words to each other today than in their entire lives combined.

But it was all arguments, all disagreements, all conflicts.

Even though they shared a mutual hatred for the man they called father, it couldn\'t change the fact that they had many fundamental differences in their views.

Like two exhausted wolves, they sat at opposite ends of the living room, both choosing silence for the moment.

Hang Feng laughed coldly, "You were there today. He wanted to disturb my mother\'s grave! All for his real estate development - he\'s nothing but a beast!"

"Hang Feng," Xu Che called his name disapprovingly, "Don\'t tell me you can\'t see it - he doesn\'t really want to develop that land. It\'s just his way of trying to make you compromise."

To make Hang Feng compromise, to make him obediently return to this family, to change his surname from Hang to Xu, to become Xu Yuanguo\'s son again.

Hang Feng spat out just two words: "Dream on."

Xu Che continued trying to persuade him: "It\'s just a temporary setback. His health won\'t last much longer anyway."

Hang Feng replied word by word: "Not. Possible."

"Being flexible doesn\'t equal shame. Sometimes excessive pride is just foolishness. After he dies, you can even build a landfill on his grave - I won\'t stop you." Xu Che said this while checking the time on his phone, then got up to leave, dropping one final comment.

"Think it through - do you really want to disturb your mother\'s peace?"

After Xu Che\'s words, the sound of the door closing followed.

The whole house fell back into silence.

Hang Feng sat alone in the corner of the sofa, head buried between his knees, eyes red.

He understood the logic in what Xu Che had said, but he just couldn\'t get past his own feelings about it.

If only he could ask his mother what she would want him to do.

Hang Feng felt his mind was in complete chaos, with no answers to be found.

And suddenly—

There was a creaking sound as the bedroom door opened.

Song Yi poked her head out to look at Hang Feng and asked, "Did he leave?"

"Mm." Hang Feng nodded, quickly wiping away the tears from the corners of his eyes to hide any signs of distress from Song Yi.

Song Yi gave Hang Feng a smile and said, "I\'m hungry."

Hang Feng paused for a moment, then asked, "What do you want to eat? I\'ll go buy it."

Song Yi thought for a few seconds and answered, "River snail rice noodles."

Shen Yujing woke up to a strange, awful smell.

He had never smelled anything so bizarre in his life - it was as if... as if a toilet had exploded.

Seeing the unfamiliar environment around him, Shen Yujing quickly got up from the sofa, sniffed hard, and began searching for the source of the smell.

Shen Yujing walked forward step by step, and when he opened the door, the intense odor rushed into his nose.

At that moment, Song Yi and Hang Feng were sitting at the table, both heads down eating something.

Shen Yujing opened his mouth to speak—

"Ugh!"

Shen Yujing\'s exclamation successfully drew Song Yi and Hang Feng\'s attention to his presence.

Song Yi looked up at Shen Yujing, her eyes and even the tip of her nose bright red, with tears in her eyes.

Shen Yujing took a big step forward, staring at Hang Feng accusingly, "What did you do to her?"

Song Yi: "?"

Hang Feng: "?"

Shen Yujing grabbed a tissue and pressed it against Song Yi\'s face, "Why are you crying? You look awful. Did he bully you? Tell me what happened."

Song Yi helplessly removed the tissue from her face, pointed at the bowl in front of her, and said, "Don\'t jump to conclusions. I\'m just eating - it\'s spicy."

Shen Yujing followed Song Yi\'s gaze and, seeing the "noodles" floating in a sea of chili oil, finally believed her explanation.

"You two have quite the appetite, eating when it smells like a toilet exploded in here." Shen Yujing said while covering his nose, "Why are you just sitting there? Hurry up and call someone to fix it!"

Hang Feng: "..."

Song Yi: "..."

Song Yi waved at Shen Yujing, "Come here, sit down."

Song Yi pushed an unopened package of river snail rice noodles in front of Shen Yujing and handed him a pair of disposable chopsticks, "Try it."

Shen Yujing suspiciously accepted the chopsticks and asked, "What is this?"

Song Yi didn\'t answer, just helped him open the lid.

The overwhelming smell that hit him made Shen Yujing jump up immediately, backing away several steps in shock, "What is this thing?"

He held his nose tightly, looking like he might faint at any moment.

"The river snail rice noodles I mentioned to you guys last time," Song Yi rolled her eyes at Shen Yujing, "If you don\'t want to eat it, fine. I\'ll go find Murong Huan and Jiang Yiheng tomorrow."

Wait, these were the river snail rice noodles they had talked about eating together.

If he ate them now, he\'d beat Murong Huan and Jiang Yiheng to it.

Next time when everyone ate together, he could proudly say he\'d already tried them.

This sense of "dignity" made Shen Yujing grip his chopsticks tighter as he trembled, sitting back down beside Song Yi with shaking hands.

Even though the smell was... but... it should taste good, right?

As it turned out, Shen Yujing was right.

When the first bite of river snail rice noodles entered his mouth, his eyes widened.

Then without another word, he hunched over and started eating continuously.

Delicious! Really delicious!

One mouthful after another, Shen Yujing gradually got used to the nauseating smell.

After finishing the bowl, Shen Yujing took out his phone to snap a picture of the empty bowl and posted it on his social media.

[Lonely Wolf]: River snail rice noodles [thumbs up] [picture]

Murong Huan was the first to comment.

[Welcome]: ?

[Welcome]: You ate river snail rice noodles without me?

[Welcome]: Unbelievable!!!

[Jiang Yiheng]: .

A single period was enough to express his feelings.

Seeing Murong Huan and Jiang Yiheng\'s reactions made Shen Yujing feel even better, his vanity thoroughly satisfied.

By now it was getting late, and all three of them left the apartment.

The Shen family\'s driver had been waiting downstairs.

Shen Yujing was startled to see him, as if he\'d seen a ghost, and asked, "Why are you here?"

The driver respectfully replied, "Young Master Xu contacted the family."

"Talks too much." Shen Yujing expressed his attitude toward Xu Che in three words, then asked Song Yi and Hang Feng, "Get in the car, I\'ll drive you home."

"No need." Song Yi pointed to the bus stop not far away, then started walking in that direction.

Hang Feng followed behind her.

Looking at the scene before him, Shen Yujing frowned, inexplicably reminded of the day Song Yi and Quan Le rode a shared electric bike racing with him, ending with everyone getting caught by the traffic police.

Well, considering how rough Hang Feng\'s day had been, he\'d reluctantly let Song Yi comfort Hang Feng in his place.

So Shen Yujing closed the car window, shut his eyes, and said, "Let\'s go home."

Meanwhile, at the bus stop.

Song Yi and Hang Feng quickly caught their bus, but it was somewhat crowded, so Song Yi stood by the back door holding the handrail.

Hang Feng stood beside her.

Song Yi sniffed and waved at Hang Feng.

Hang Feng looked at her and lowered his head, bringing his ear closer.

Song Yi put one hand near his ear and said, "I think we smell like the noodles. Remember to shower and change clothes when you get home."

Hang Feng: "..."

Did she need to remind him of that? It\'s not like he didn\'t know!

The bus continued moving forward until it reached a stop where there was an empty seat.

A young couple next to it was being courteous to each other.

"Darling, you should sit down."

"It\'s okay baby, I\'m not tired, you sit."

"No, dear, I think you\'ve had a tougher day today."

"But baby..."

"Stop." Song Yi held out her hand, "Neither of you is tired, right? Well, I am, so I\'ll sit."

So Song Yi squeezed between the couple and sat down by the window, leaning her head against it and closing her eyes once again.

She was still a bit sleepy and wanted to rest a while longer.

The young couple beside her were now glaring at her with fury in their eyes.

"Hey, what do you..."

The man was about to lose his temper and reached out to touch Song Yi, but suddenly felt a searing pain in his hand.

Hang Feng, expressionless, had grabbed the man\'s hand and twisted it backward, using his eyes to signal him to move aside.

The man\'s face turned pale from the pain, but not wanting to lose face in front of his girlfriend, he endured it and stepped back.

Hang Feng stood beside Song Yi, creating a small world that separated her position from the rest of the carriage with his presence.

It wasn\'t that he cared too much about Song Yi; he mainly just didn\'t want her to get hurt.

Meanwhile, at the Shen residence.

When Shen Yujing returned home, his mother was displeased that he stepped in with his left foot first.

Shen\'s Mother asked, "Where were you? Why are you only coming back now, and reeking of alcohol?"

Shen Yujing answered honestly enough, "Was drinking with Hang Feng."

Shen\'s Mother\'s gaze was vigilant, looking at Shen Yujing with suspicion, "Just Hang Feng? I heard there was a girl there too."

"You mean Song Yi?" Shen Yujing replied with feigned calmness, "The one you met today."

Shen Yujing sat down on the sofa and took a sip from the water in front of him.

Shen\'s Mother suddenly asked, "That pretty young lady? Do you like her?"

"Pfft—cough cough!"

Shen Yujing nearly choked to death on his mineral water. "What nonsense are you talking about? I\'m still a student, my job is to study. Stop thinking about all this random stuff!"

"But your grades are terrible," Shen\'s Mother pointed out bluntly. "You can\'t look back on your youth with poor grades, few friends, and not even a hint of puppy love, can you? That would be embarrassing—don\'t tell people you\'re my son if that\'s the case."

Shen Yujing: "..."

Well, she had a point.

"Nothing else matters, what\'s important is whether you like her or not."

Shen\'s Mother leaned in closer, her entire face screaming five words—

I want to hear the gossip.

Shen Yujing put down his water and turned his face in the other direction, avoiding his mother\'s gaze, saying, "We\'re just... friends."

"Just friends?" Shen\'s Mother rolled her eyes, "Did you notice your expression when you saw her today? At least try to be more subtle in public. If you can\'t win her over, don\'t embarrass me!"

"Stop it, you\'re so annoying!" Shen Yujing interrupted his mother irritably, running his hand through his golden hair before standing up and heading upstairs, "This is ridiculous! There\'s no talking to you!"

Shen\'s Mother watched her son\'s retreating back and shook her head with a sigh, commenting, "Such terrible acting."

Who hasn\'t been young before?

From what she saw at the Xu residence today, she could tell all three boys had feelings for that young lady.

When they all stood together, it was like a scene straight out of a teen drama.

Well, it made sense—after all, that young lady was exceptionally striking in both looks and temperament, so gentle, well-behaved, and adorable. Who wouldn\'t like her?

At this moment, Shen\'s Mother, who had the wrong first impression of Song Yi, thought this to herself while secretly casting a supporting vote for her son.

Meanwhile, Shen Yujing had returned to his room.

He sat at his desk, his mother\'s words repeating in his mind—

"Nothing else matters, what\'s important is whether you like her or not."

Shen Yujing opened the drawer in front of him and laid everything inside on the desk.

On the left was a huge iron hammer, Song Yi\'s birthday gift to him.

On the right was a small gift box containing a pink crystal necklace shaped like a hammer, adorned with gems—the gift he never managed to give to Song Yi.

Did he like Song Yi?

Shen Yujing\'s brows furrowed; he couldn\'t find the answer.

As the saying goes, books contain houses of gold, books contain beauties like jade—when you encounter problems, read more books.

So Shen Yujing went to his father\'s study to look for books.

An entire wall of bookshelves packed with various finance textbooks, world classics, and one copy of "Hans Christian Andersen\'s Fairy Tales."

This book looked quite old, probably something his mother used to read to him at bedtime and had left here.

But in this study, Shen Yujing felt this might be the only book he could actually understand.

Aliali: 674846b2c4f3f33ac476861b

So he took this book back to his room and randomly opened to a story—

"The Flying Trunk"

The story-loving protagonist Sven quickly squandered his inherited fortune and was left with nothing but an old trunk, but this magical old trunk could fly and took Sven to the princess of his dreams. Sven tried everything to marry the princess, but in the end discovered that what he loved wasn\'t money or the princess—he loved telling stories. [Note 1]

Shen Yujing: "...?"

He didn\'t understand, but he was deeply shocked.

But his father had said that reading brings wisdom, and any question can find its answer in books.

Could it be... could it be...

Shen Yujing\'s gaze turned to the hammer in front of him, and suddenly he had a bold idea.

Could it be that he didn\'t like Song Yi, but rather... the hammer?

Huh? What the hammer was he thinking?