Chapter 41: The System Has a Bug

Page 1

Chen Yu’s eyes were glowing with affection, his heart pounding as he hurried after Li Jixiang, trying several times to reach out and hold her hand, but always missing the rhythm. Li Jixiang strode ahead, swinging her arms as she called out loudly, “Little Bao, where are you? Your sister’s come to find you!”

Her crisp voice carried far, but there was no reply.

Searching aimlessly for a small child like this seemed utterly futile.

She should have thought of using the tracking technique sooner. The moment she met Little Bao, he had added one point to her popularity score. As long as she could discern the direction from which that single point fluctuated, she would surely find him.

Without warning, Li Jixiang sat down on the spot, closed her eyes, and concentrated on sensing the direction of Little Bao’s faint pink popularity value. The +1 danced before her eyes, sometimes near, sometimes far, but one remained steadily upright right in front of her. In this dense forest, it seemed as if it was less than a meter to her right. Li Jixiang opened her eyes in excitement and quickly looked in that direction.

Chen Yu was staring at her, eyes wide with nervousness.

Their gazes collided, and Chen Yu broke into a smile. Li Jixiang didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

She seriously suspected there was a bug in the system. How could the popularity value be coming from Chen Yu! This young master, the mayor’s son, was known for nothing but bullying others—how could he genuinely like someone?

In these past two days, Ma Hongmei had gossiped to her about all of Chen Yu’s history in Starhill Town: lighting a girl’s braid on fire with matches in primary school, sneaking peeks inside the girls’ bathhouse at night, stealing tender cucumber vines from the neighbor’s garden…

Being liked by someone like this was a disaster; she’d rather take a negative point from An Chen than gain a popularity point from him!

She sat down again, closed her eyes, and forced herself to concentrate. At last, she sensed a calmly still popularity value ahead and to the side.

Li Jixiang opened her eyes and was startled to find a large, round face right in front of her, forcing her to tilt her head away in alarm. Chen Yu’s face was less than two centimeters from her own, and he must have been watching her for several seconds. She’d been so focused, she hadn’t even noticed his warm breath brushing her cheek.

“Are you alright?”

Chen Yu waved his hand in front of her eyes, looking genuinely anxious.

“Mind your own business!”

Li Jixiang rolled her eyes at him. There was no time to waste; she hurriedly searched in the direction ahead.

“Little Bao, can you hear me? It’s Sister Jixiang.”

Page 2

The popularity value stopped moving here; Little Bao’s location was definitely correct. Yet there was no one in sight. The trees on the slope were a little shorter, but even denser.

“There’s an underground stream here—there must be a cave.”

Chen Yu walked over, following the direction of Li Jixiang’s gaze, and landed his eyes on the junction of the low shrubs and the woods. He made an experienced judgment.

Only then did Li Jixiang remember that Chen Yu had studied agriculture and forestry. He must have been to many farms and forests during his internship. His experience was actually quite useful.

“Don’t move from here. I’ll go find a stick.”

The low shrubs and person-high wild grass were intermingled. It was impossible to search by hand alone. Chen Yu walked a dozen meters away, when suddenly he heard a thud and a startled cry behind him. He quickly snapped off a branch and ran back, exhaling in relief when he saw Li Jixiang and Little Bao.

Little Bao had already fallen into the low shrubs on the slope for a while. He’d heard Li Jixiang’s call through his confusion and had managed a faint reply. Li Jixiang, overcome with emotion, reached through the grass to pull him out, but her foot slipped and she tumbled into the grassy pit as well.

Chen Yu pulled both of them out of the pit. Little Bao was soaked, but now fully conscious, and instantly began to wail for his mother. Chen Yu took off his sports jacket and draped it over Little Bao’s shoulders, picked him up, and called for Li Jixiang to follow.

When Li Jixiang tried to stand, she cried out in pain and crouched down again—she’d twisted her ankle, and every step felt like walking on knife blades.

Chen Yu set Little Bao down, confirmed that Li Jixiang couldn’t walk, and turned to persuade Little Bao to be a brave little hero and walk on his own. Little Bao nodded vigorously, determined to be a hero, clutching the hem of Chen Yu’s shirt and taking tiny, difficult steps.

Chen Yu carried Li Jixiang on his back and led Little Bao out of the woods. Zhang Chunfen ran over in tears and scooped Little Bao up in her arms. The entire class watched as Chen Yu carried Li Jixiang on his back, falling silent and paying close attention, each constructing their own versions of the story in their minds.

The sight of the mayor’s son carrying a girl was simply too striking. No one dared whistle or jeer; the boys looked on with admiration and envy, the girls with jealousy and longing.

In front of everyone, Li Jixiang did not want to take further advantage of Chen Yu. She insisted on being set down, saying she could limp along with her classmates’ help. Several girls quickly came over to assist.

When Chen Yu set her down, his hands supporting her legs were slick with sweat.

As Li Jixiang slid off his back, her legs tingled as if an electric current had shot through them—both numb and prickling.

What was supposed to be a spring outing had turned into an ordeal of war and a rescue mission, leaving her honorably injured. Riding a bicycle home was now out of the question.

After the class disbanded at school, Li Jixiang had no way to get home. Ma Hongmei wanted to accompany her, but couldn’t ride a bicycle, so she first took Li Jixiang back to the classroom to figure something out.

Page 3

In the classroom, only the two of them remained. Ma Hongmei was as anxious as an ant on a hot griddle.

“How about you stay at my place tonight? Your grandmother isn’t home anyway, so it would be convenient.”

Ma Hongmei’s suggestion was reasonable, but Li Jixiang was unwilling—she hadn’t gained any popularity points from An Chen today. With her grandmother away these past few days, she’d already fallen behind, and her popularity score had only just passed two thousand. Last time, she’d spent ten thousand points to exchange for three limited-edition Liguo fruits, instantly reducing her score to zero. Now, the goal of ten thousand points seemed so far away—she couldn’t afford to miss a single day from now on, let alone the big contributors.

“Go check if the ninth graders are back. Ask An Ning to help me get home.”

“An Ning, that dark-skinned Thunder Tiger?”

Ha, even girls their age were comparing people to celebrities—keeping up with the trends indeed. Li Jixiang smiled and nodded, though she thought An Ning resembled a young Louis Koo more than Thunder Tiger, who’d seemed too stern in his youth.

Ma Hongmei had barely left for two minutes when footsteps sounded in the hallway. Thinking Ma Hongmei had found the ninth graders, Li Jixiang didn’t bother to look up, still examining her bare foot.

Her fair and slender ankle was swollen red as a peach, and even the lightest touch made her grimace in pain.

“How did it get so swollen?”

At Chen Yu’s question, Li Jixiang barely had time to mask her pained expression, let alone hide her little white foot resting on the desk.

“This won’t do—you need to have it treated at the clinic.”

Chen Yu reached out and took her ankle, trying to get a closer look.

“Let her go!”

Voice and figure arrived together—An Ning burst in like a whirlwind, reaching out to pry Chen Yu’s hand away from Li Jixiang.