Hua Shu thought that if she truly intended to carry out her plan of taking revenge on Liu Fengying, the best time to do it was right then, when the latter felt guilty toward her, since the chances of her striking back would be smaller. Moreover, there was the risk that she might lose the courage she had at that moment once she calmed down.
'Come on, Hua Shu! You have to keep showing her that if she intends to provoke you, she must be prepared to bear the consequences…', she urged herself to take action.
Of course, Hua Shu had not planned to put her hands on Liu Fengying's chest in full view of everyone. First, she wanted to ask her to accompany her to the restroom, where she suspected no one else would be, intending to attack her there when she wasn't paying attention—for example, while she was washing her hands.
However, as happens to anyone before doing something for the first time, Hua Shu was beginning to feel nervous; on top of that, she had never imagined herself behaving in such a hooligan-like manner.
'Wait a minute, why would this be a hooligan-like act?', Hua Shu suddenly realized she was looking at things from the wrong perspective. 'After all, I'm a girl too, so this shouldn't be that offensive, right? In anime, girls grab each other's breasts all the time…' she tried to convince herself that what she was about to do wasn't really that out of the ordinary.
But forming a logical argument is one thing, and truly believing it is quite another; otherwise, Hua Shu wouldn't have been growing redder and redder in the face as she imagined touching Liu Fengying's chest.
Moreover, Hua Shu discovered yet another problem, beyond the fact that she wasn't used to such close physical contact with other girls: because of Liu Fengying's constant teasing, she couldn't separate the gesture she intended to make from its erotic undertones.
But even if Hua Shu's mind seemed stuck for the moment, that didn't mean the situation around her would remain the same. Before she could regain control of her emotions, she was pulled out of her thoughts by a familiar voice.
"What a surprise to find you here, Shushu!"
Unlike Liu Fengying's suitors, the young man who stopped in front of their table didn't have the temperament of a second-generation heir from a wealthy family. Wearing a suit made of high-quality but not brand-new materials, along with a pair of thin, silver-framed glasses, he looked like a young scholar.
Having been thinking about improper things just moments earlier, Hua Shu felt a little embarrassed when she met the gaze of someone she knew.
"Uh, hi, He Rui. I came at my classmate's invitation…" she addressed the young man, trying to keep her tone as normal as possible. He was a former student of her father's—one of the best he had ever had, in fact, and the reason why she was familiar with him was that even three years after graduating, he had stayed in touch with her father, visiting him every year on his birthday or on more important holidays.
Seeing Hua Shu so shy, He Rui smiled with satisfaction.
"Well, Shushu has grown into a real young lady…" he said, the way he looked at her resembling that of an elder evaluating the younger generation.
But as if he had suddenly remembered something, he gazed at Hua Shu with melancholy for a few moments, then added in a much warmer, yet somehow reproachful tone:
"Still, if I'm being honest, I regret a little that you no longer call me Brother Rui…"
Well, most girls would probably have been flattered to see such a gentleman paying them so much attention. Unfortunately for him, the person standing before him was Hua Shu—who not only had a natural talent for sensing when someone was being insincere, but was also well aware of the truth that behind pretty words there were almost always hidden intentions.
Moreover, in this case, the insincerity was obvious at a glance: where exactly was this supposed transformation she had undergone, impressive enough to make He Rui marvel? Just moments earlier, she had concluded that her appearance had barely changed at all over the past three years.
"Maybe you shouldn't have become my father's mouthpiece…" Hua Shu had no intention of playing along with He Rui or portraying their relationship as closer than it actually was.
Perhaps it was true that about five years ago she had thought fairly well of He Rui, since not only did he seem like a smart and hardworking student, but every time he visited her father to discuss a project, he would bring her a milkshake or a pastry from a bakery. But what made him think he was entitled to start lecturing her?
More exactly, he had begun giving her life advice from the very first visit he made after graduating and obtaining a teaching position at a middle school on the outskirts of the city, acting as if he had suddenly been blessed with all human wisdom. Because of that, over the past year, she hadn't even left her room whenever she knew he was about to visit her home.
As for what Hua Shu believed He Rui's secret agenda to be? Naturally, she was convinced he planned to use their so-called friendly relationship to get closer to Liu Fengying; after all, three other young men had already come to their table before him, all with the same intentions.
This conclusion could only make Hua Shu angry; who would like to be used by someone like a stepping stone? Thus, not only did she have no intention of helping He Rui get closer to Liu Fengying, but she was also determined to put obstacles in his way.
Of course, she believed she was doing this for Liu Fengying's own good as well. Setting aside the question of whether or not He Rui was worthy of Liu Fengying, he was in reality a person with a strong obsession for control, with the potential to even surpass her father in that regard; Hua Shu was certain that entering a relationship with him would be an experience similar to going to prison. On top of that, Liu Fengying was not only someone who wanted to be independent, but also someone highly desired, especially because of her looks; Hua Shu feared that if he became Liu Fengying's boyfriend, he would be capable of trying all kinds of brainwashing strategies to make sure she would never leave him.
At the same time, Hua Shu felt a faint sense of jealousy; after all, He Rui had set his sights on the very girl whose breasts she had planned to grab. Why should she give up, for He Rui's sake, a privilege that Liu Fengying had offered only to her—and one for which the entire city would probably envy her, or rather the whole world if Liu Fengying were to become internationally famous?
He Rui was taken aback by how suddenly hostile Hua Shu had become; he began to wonder whether he had said something wrong.
"Ahem, I'm sure your father only wants what's best for you, which is why I suggested you follow the future plan he made for you…" he finally said, intending to justify his past behavior. He thought that perhaps it wasn't what he had just said, but rather the memory of something he had said long ago that had ruined Hua Shu's mood.
Hua Shu wasn't pleased to see that He Rui had managed to maintain such a pleasant expression; she had hoped her rude attitude would bring his suffocating nature to the surface.
Of course, she had no intention of giving up so easily; after all, she had yet to meet a person she couldn't irritate.
"This is a matter between my father and me. I don't see why someone outside my family would have the right to voice an opinion on it. Or did you think, seeing that my father is single, that you might try to take my mother's place? Well, in that case, good luck—although it might be a problem that my father has only ever been in relationships with women. Still, it's not like all hope is lost: with your frail build, I'm sure that after two or three surgical procedures, you could become a fairly attractive woman…" Hua Shu no longer held back at all, her sarcasm level probably shooting well past 9000; she was convinced that as long as he hadn't attained Buddhahood, no man could remain unaffected by her words.
"….." He Rui was left speechless for a few moments; it wasn't that he had never seen Hua Shu angry before, but he had had no idea her tongue could be so venomous.
However, although Hua Shu had correctly deduced that He Rui was a very prideful person, she had underestimated his ability to bend and endure when his interests were at stake. Not to mention that he saw Hua Shu as the ticket to fulfilling his ambitions. Thus, aside from his eye twitching a few times, he managed to completely conceal the dissatisfaction caused by her words.
"...Ha, ha. You're very funny, Shushu. Well, it's true that I admire Professor Hua, but only from an academic perspective…" he said in a playful tone. In doing so, he made their interaction seem like nothing more than the bickering of an older brother and a younger sister.
'No way!', Hua Shu panicked when she saw that her full-power attack had had no effect. Worse still, the one who had resisted it was an opponent she had believed easy to defeat; she wondered what kind of unruly children He Rui had dealt with at the second-rate school where he had been sent, to have developed such patience.
'Or maybe I've underestimated Liu Fengying's charm; to win her favor, even someone who thinks himself a lion ends up behaving like a docile donkey…', Hua Shu considered another possibility. After all, literature was full of stories in which men completely forgot their pride in their attempts to win the heart of a woman they were attracted to—emperors crying at the gates of a concubine's palace, or CEOs abandoning the companies they had spent years building just to chase after a female student, waiting for a chance to play the role of the hero who saves a beauty.
In any case, it was now quite clear to her that He Rui was prepared for a guerrilla war, willing to do anything to win, even to trample his own pride. Hua Shu hesitated to confront such a desperate person; to defeat him, she would need to resort to extreme measures—specifically, a strategy in which she would take 900 points of damage in order to deal him 1,000.