Translator: Vivi from dummytranslations
Editor - Chubby Dragon
Proofreader: SleepyMango123
 Scheming white lotus(4.13) - Indeed, he came to warn him

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Xiang Han took a seat somewhat cautiously and picked at the leafy vegetables on his plate for a while before feigning nonchalance as he asked, “Elder brother, you’re both in the same class?”

Before registration, Shen Ze had gotten Shen Zheng Duo to find the administrative office and instruct them to place him and Xiang Han in different classes. Therefore, one was in Class 2 while the other was in Class 7, their rooms were even on different floors.

Shen Ze had thought that with increased distance, over time, Xiang Han’s interest would probably wane. After all, Xiang Han’s feelings had started when they first became deskmates.

With this arrangement, their interactions certainly lessened considerably. Moreover, they lived in school dorms and no longer sat in the same car to go home. After military training, the times they met were scarce and few inbetween.

Everything had developed according to his expectations, and even the shield that he had just pulled was extremely useful. Shen Ze should have breathed a sigh of relief, and treated Xiang Han’s advances as if he hadn’t seen them. However, for some inexplicable reason, he found that when Xiang Han not only didn’t retreat, and even cautiously inquired about his relationship with Chang Yu Chi, he didn’t feel annoyed as he had expected. Instead, his heart felt a sort of...strange and confusing spark.

Shen Ze’s brows wrinkled. Towards this sort of emotion, he was extremely unfamiliar, and was unable to give Xiang Han a timely response.

Seeing this, Chang Yu Chi didn’t wait for him to come back to his senses before smiling, “I’m Chang Yu Chi, your brother’s deskmate. What about you?”

Shen Ze instantly felt a wave of displeasure, while Xiang Han’s eyes widened.

Deskmate? Didn’t that equate him as the pavillion closest to the water was the first to enjoy the moonlight[1]? The gears in his mind turned as he muttered lowly, “I’m Shen Han…”

Before he could complete his words, Shen Ze suddenly sent over a large serving of pickled vegetables and pork into his bowl. Who knew if it was intentional or not, but it hovered in front of him for a couple of seconds before falling into his plate. He frowned, “Even food can’t shut your mouth.”

Xiang Han’s plate was overflowing with green vegetables, bean sprouts and the like. After seeing meat, his gaze unconsciously followed the pair of chopsticks as it swivelled around before landing on his plate.

Chang Yu Chi saw this scene and a touch of interest flashed through his eyes. He once again shifted his attention away from Shen Ze, and looked at Xiang Han with intrigue.

Shen Ze was even more unhappy, turning to see that Xiang Han was still staring at his food, and couldn’t help frowning, “You don’t like?” This isn’t right. Usually when they called for take-out, didn’t he always order this particular dish?

In reality, Xiang Han was baffled by his actions. After he recovered, he asked, “Elder brother, are you okay?”

Chang Yu Chi was also stunned and silently thought, Shen Ze was really a tsundere[2].

Shen Ze must have also realised how inconsistent his actions were and didn’t speak any longer. He lowered his head, finishing his food quickly and stood up to leave.

“Wait.” In order to catch up with him, Xiang Han hurriedly picked up his chopsticks and wolfed down his food, not even sparing the leafy greens.

Chang Yu Chi’s jaw had dropped from watching this scene, and he unconsciously pushed over a bowl of soup. “Slow down, be careful not to choke.”

Afterwards, he couldn’t help but ask, “Did you not eat lunch?”

Xiang Han licked a grain of rice off the corner of his lips and replied to him with utter seriousness, “We can’t waste food.” In the federation, how many people could only dream of eating?

Chang Yu Chi was stunned by his words, and replied after a moment, “You’re really...quite cute.”

Xiang Han abruptly stood up, shooting him a cold look, “Is this how you should describe a guy?”

Chang Yu Chi shook his head. In his heart, he secretly thought, if their environment was right, he would have thought Shen Han was deliberately trying to seduce him by licking his lips with a completely oblivious appearance.

However, looking at his frugality and Shen Ze’s rough manner of eating, their family’s condition must be relatively normal, and perhaps even quite bad? Thinking of this possibility, there were some calculations in his heart. He felt as if he had found a way to move Shen Ze.

He instantly felt extremely confident, but when he looked at Xiang Han, there was still a trace of pity. If he hadn’t taken an interest in Shen Ze, he would truly consider going after Xiang Han.

Xiang Han was baffled by his gaze and hurriedly picked up his plate to leave. Seeing Shen Ze disappear without a trace, he felt extremely vexed.

Chang Yu Chi wanted to follow him and was coincidentally passing by a student holding a tray of food. Seeing this, Xiang Han hurriedly called out, “Schoolmate, be careful not to spill your soup…”

Before he could finish speaking, the student’s hands trembled and the whole tray of food landed on Chang Yu Chi. In an instant, he jumped up and his expression rapidly twisted in anger, “Don’t you know how to walk? Didn’t you bring your eyes out?”

Xiang Han didn’t waste any time returning his tray to the tray-return station, and left the canteen. He had thought, after being held up for so long, Shen Ze must have definitely already returned to his class. However, he didn’t expect to be stopped the moment he left the canteen by Shen Ze.

Shen Ze also couldn’t figure out why but when he saw Xiang Han, he instinctively asked, “You’re finally willing to come out?”

Xiang Han was flabbergasted. When he finally detected the sour implication behind those words, he understood what was going on. Shen Ze indeed had feelings for Chang Yu Chi. He had merely stayed a while longer with the other person and Shen Ze was already unhappy. No wonder he was standing guard outside the canteen, the greatest probability was that he was here to warn him away from Chang Yu Chi.

“I didn’t. I came out without even finishing my rice.” He decided to feign ignorance.

Shen Ze only felt that he looked even more suspicious, as if he was trying to cover things up, and lightly coughed, “In the future, stay away from Chang Yu Chi.”

He had indeed waited to warn him! Xiang Han’s face froze before he quickly said, “I’m not familiar with him and we aren’t even in the same class. I’ve already forgotten his name.”

Saying so, he paused before adding another line, “Moreover, he’s a little cocky. Even the way he speaks is so annoying.”

While stating his stand, he did not forget to disparage Chang Yu Chi a few times.

Seeing Xiang Han’s dislike, Shen Ze inexplicably felt happy. When he left, the corner of his lips lifted slightly.

Xiang Han didn’t notice. When he returned to class, he instructed his system to obtain information on the form teacher of Class 7. On understanding that they liked to arrange student’s seating positions according to their grades by allowing top students to pick their seats first, he instantly hit upon an idea.

Currently, they hadn’t officially started lessons yet, so their seats were all free-seating. Rumour had it that after military training, the school would hold a one-time mock examination. Shen Ze’s class would definitely follow this arrangement to determine their seats.

Xiang Han used his spiritual force to hint at it. During lunch the next day, unsurprisingly, Chang Yu Chi came too.

Xiang Han deliberately asked, “I heard there is going to be an exam next week. Elder brother, have you studied?”

Shen Ze’s actions paused before he carelessly said, “No need.”

Chang Yu Chi also chimed in, “Me too, I also didn’t study.”

Turning his head to look at him, Xiang Han said, “Don’t score too badly.”

Chang Yu Chi burst into laughter and shook his head, “Don’t worry. With that little bit of knowledge, I’ll be done before these two years are up. Even if I don’t study, it won’t be that bad.”

Xiang Han smiled serenely. Hearing his words, Shen Ze looked at him in contemplation.

A week later, the results of the mock examination came out. Chang Yu Chi was ranked at the very bottom of Class 7. When he received his results, he simply couldn’t believe his eyes.

That afternoon, Xiang Han took a stroll outside Class 7. After seeing that Shen Ze and Chang Yu Chi were indeed sitting apart, he instantly breathed a sigh of relief and left in satisfaction.

Shen Ze saw him strolling outside his class and thought that Xiang Han was here to find him. Just as he prepared to get up, he unexpectedly saw the other person stare at Chang Yu Chi for a while before leaving with a slight smile.

Shen Ze had already stood up, yet he was forced to sit back down. His heart felt extremely stuffed, feeling annoyed to no end.

During dinner, Xiang Han was the first to reach the canteen. This was the first time Shen Ze had taken the initiative to sit beside him, and only asked after a moment of hesitation, “This afternoon…”

However, before he could finish speaking, Chang Yu Chi took the seat across and used a pair of chopsticks to tap against Xiang Han’s plate. Feigning sadness, he said, “You were really spot on. My result this time was exceptionally bad, I’ll definitely be scolded when I get back. Speak, how do you intend to compensate me?”

Forced to swallow back his words, Shen Ze felt incredibly annoyed. His gaze towards the other person became as cold as ice.

“What does it have to do with me?” On the surface, Xiang Han appeared innocent but in his heart, he was silently cursing, ‘serves you right’.

Lowering his head, he accidentally caught a glimpse of Shen Ze’s expression and instantly felt relieved. Chang Yu Chi was actually suffering the same fate as him.

However, Chang Yu Chi was too ignorant and failed to detect Shen Ze’s murderous gaze. On the other side, he was still speaking, “How does it not have anything to do with you? If it wasn’t for your unlucky crow’s beak, why would I do so badly? How about this, I won’t make things difficult for you. The fifth of next month is my birthday and I will be holding a feast at Juxian Restaurant. Come with your brother…”

“Alright, alright.” Seeing Shen Ze’s gaze growing increasingly terrifying, Xiang Han hurriedly interrupted him. He was afraid that if he allowed Chang Yu Chi to continue speaking, Shen Ze would directly chop him into pieces.

Seeing him so anxious to agree, Shen Ze’s face grew another shade darker.

Receiving Xiang Han’s confirmation, Chang Yu Chi turned to look towards Shen Ze with anticipation, “What about Ah Ze? You’ll be there too, right?”

Shen Ze lowered his head just in time to conceal his expression before eating his food slowly. During this entire time, it was as if he hadn’t seen or heard anything at all.

Chang Yu Chi instantly found himself in an awkward predicament, a touch of anger flashed through his eyes, feeling that Shen Ze was too pretentious.

Shen Ze wasn’t a materialistic person and wasn’t picky when it came to most things. The clothes he usually wore and the products he used were commonplace and he even ate in the canteen. This was why through the past few days of interactions, Chang Yu Chi was certain his family was of average standing. He was afraid they wouldn’t even be able to enter Juxian Restaurant. He had only flattered the other person for a couple of days, did he actually think of himself so highly?

He deliberately said, “Since we’re all students, there’s no need to bring a present. Your presence is enough.”

Shen Ze expressionlessly finished food. After Chang Yu Chi left, he turned towards Xiang Han and asked, “I seem to remember...your birthday is on the sixth?”

“Oh, I think so?” Xiang Han also didn’t quite remember and quickly went through the information on this world to confirm, “That’s right.”

“It’s your first birthday after entering the Shen family. Give Aunt Zhu a call when you’re free and tell her to prepare a little. Just reserve Juxian Restaurant from the afternoon of the fifth, all the way to the night of the sixth,” Shen Ze dully said.

Xiang Han, “...”

“That’s right, no need to be anxious. The old geezer is a shareholder of that restaurant, just telling them a day or two in advance is fine too.”

Xiang Han, “...” Was this him deliberately trying to make it difficult for Chang Yu Chi to host a birthday celebration?

“I-Is this not too good?” After all, Shen Ze never hosted grand parties in the past and Xiang Han’s identity was only that of a step-son.

Shen Ze could easily see through his thoughts and simply said, “If you think it’s not convenient to do so, wait a few days. I’ll call my old man.”

Xiang Han was instantly struck speechless. He was unable to understand how Shen Ze suddenly seemed to have something against Chang Yu Chi. Weren’t they just fine a few days ago?

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T/n: It's a pretty bad time so here's a bonus chapter for all of you guys who are affected by the quarantine/lock-down/stay-home. Sorry this is the most I can do without digging too deep into my stockpile for constant updates. But feel free to read the other novels which has recently been uploaded as well as a new novel: fake demon lord by ThisBro! You can expect another new novel on our site soon!

On a separate note, I'm sure many of you might have noticed but I've renovated the site for a cleaner layout and and prettier menubar. We're still in the midst of discussion for a discord server so we'll update again to see how it goes. Let me know if you guys feel strongly for it, and also let me know if you think you wouldn't use it because I know the data would probably be skewed by people who wants it since they're more likely to respond to this ^_^.

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[1] to receive benefits from being close (or closest) to an influential person. Distance determining the benefits

[2]Lit translation(外冷内热): Cold on the outside, but warm on the inside.