Seeing more and more classmates gathering around, Hu Lingfei's tears were already welling up in her eyes. She hadn't expected Ma Minghan to use this method to make her consent from yesterday public.
Chen Xiangbei felt the hem of his clothes being tugged tighter and tighter. Turning around, he saw Hu Lingfei's aggrieved, pitiful, and fearful expression.
Then he glanced at Ma Minghan's smug look. With a firm resolve, Chen Xiangbei boldly stepped into the situation and said, "Ma Minghan, Hu Lingfei only agreed to your confession to reject my pursuit and make me give up."
"Just teasing you, right? You wouldn't take it seriously, would you?"
As soon as Chen Xiangbei said this, the onlooking students were in an uproar. They hadn't expected such a melodramatic turn of events.
Ma Minghan's face showed disbelief. He couldn't believe Hu Lingfei could use such a tactic. Such a simple girl was easy to see through, and it was likely that Chen Xiangbei was just putting on a self-directed act!
With a cold snort, he confidently retorted to Chen Xiangbei, "Are you delusional from being dumped too much? Hu Lingfei is wholeheartedly in love with me. Don't take yourself too seriously!"
After saying this, Ma Minghan directly turned to Hu Lingfei and said, "Feifei, tell the truth to wake this loser up."
Faced with Ma Minghan's questioning, Hu Lingfei began trembling slightly, her chest heaving violently with emotion, unable to speak.
Seeing this, Chen Xiangbei patted the back of Hu Lingfei's hand, which was gripping his clothes, then leaned in and whispered in her ear, "Don't be afraid, just think of this as acting and go along with my lines."
Perhaps it was Chen Xiangbei's action or his words that gave Hu Lingfei enormous courage, as she lifted her head, looked at Ma Minghan, and replied firmly, "Chen Xiangbei is right, I never liked you, stop being delusional."
"And Ma Minghan, your character is really bad!"
As soon as Hu Lingfei said this, the crowd of onlookers erupted with various jeers.
Wonderful, what a brilliant twist in the story!
Ma Minghan was completely dumbfounded, unable to discern if Hu Lingfei was speaking the truth or lying.
All he knew was that he was the one who usually toyed with others, never having been humiliated like this!
"Hu Lingfei, let's go."
Chen Xiangbei was too lazy to scrutinize Ma Minghan's mental state. Since he managed to protect Hu Lingfei's reputation while disgusting that bastard Ma Minghan, he achieved the effect he wanted.
The two of them walked through the crowd and went upstairs. When they reached the floor of Chen Xiangbei's class, he finally said, "Though the pursuer is said to be a 'dog-licker', there's still a difference from a guide dog, there's no need to keep holding the hem of my clothes now."
Hearing Chen Xiangbei's words, Hu Lingfei suddenly realized that she had been holding onto his hem the entire time.
She quickly let go and apologized, "Sorry, I was so nervous I forgot."
"It's fine, class is about to start. You should head back to your classroom."
"Okay."
Hu Lingfei nodded and then turned to walk upstairs.
However, just as she stepped onto the stairs, she stopped and turned back to shout to Chen Xiangbei, "Xiangbei, thank you."
"No need to be so polite, just go up."
After saying this, Chen Xiangbei stopped caring and went back to his classroom.
Yet, Hu Lingfei watched his departing back for a long, long time...
As soon as he stepped into the classroom, he was met with the synchronized gazes of the entire class. None of his classmates had expected the usually inconspicuous Chen Xiangbei to make two big headlines in succession.
Faced with everyone's gaze, Chen Xiangbei remained calm, returning to his seat as if nothing had changed.
As soon as he sat down, Fatty Wang clapped and said, "Awesome, so damn awesome! That brat Ma Minghan loves to flaunt his father's status, and your move was even more satisfying than giving him a beating!"
Not only did Wang Yidong praise him, even Zhou Yanjing, who sat in the front row, turned around and gave a thumbs up.
"True to the strongest strategist, stepping into the fray, winning against the odds!"
For these two guys' heckling, Chen Xiangbei completely ignored them, busying himself with finding his textbook for the upcoming morning study session.
However, Wang Yidong was clearly still not satisfied and leaned over again to ask, "Xiangbei, how did you manage to connect with Hu Lingfei so quickly?"
"Did you forget what I told you? I sent messages to dozens of girls, including Hu Lingfei."
Since Fatty Wang was persistent, Chen Xiangbei casually made up a story.
"Oh really?"
"I cooked it up."
"Damn!"
Realizing Chen Xiangbei was teasing him, Fatty Wang immediately flipped him the bird.
As the bell for class rang, the discussions in the classroom subsided. It was at this moment that Chen Xiangbei noticed Dong Yuanxi unusually turned around, looking at him with a playful gaze.
In the past, Chen Xiangbei surely wouldn't have dared to meet her eyes; feeling inferior before the goddess was natural.
But now it was different. If you dare to look at me, I will stare right back at you, beautiful girls are easy on the eyes.
The two of them locked eyes for a good ten seconds until the teacher walked into the classroom. This scene was witnessed by Xue Meiting, who was sitting next to him, nearly causing her jealousy to boil over.
Could it be that Dong Yuanxi could tolerate Chen Xiangbei having a foot in two boats?
At the other side of the back row, Ma Minghan's face was still dark. He hadn't yet recovered from the earlier humiliation.
He suddenly remembered something and asked Shai Minghui, "Did you find anyone to race against Chen Xiangbei as you said before?"
"Our racing team's leader is planning to race against Chen Xiangbei himself. It's hard to find someone better than him."
Shai Minghui's initial idea was to get Qin Lianjie to crush Chen Xiangbei and vent some anger.
But after returning to the team, he found out that Qin Lianjie had already challenged Chen Xiangbei, which meant he had to find someone else.
The problem was, among the racers in the area familiar with Nanyun Mountain, none were likely faster than Qin Lianjie. After all, in such mountain roads, familiarity with every bend is crucial in short time trials.
If they really wanted to find a driver to guarantee a win against Chen Xiangbei, it would have to be a professional racer.
However, Shai Minghui was just a high school student, having just recently integrated into the street racing scene. Where could he find a professional racer to substitute?
"Useless!"
Ma Minghan rudely scolded him.
Shai Minghui knew Ma Minghan was in a bad mood, like an ignited firecracker, so he held his tongue.
"If you can't find a driver, I'll find a professional racer to race him!"
Ma Minghan couldn't swallow this humiliation, and he would do everything possible to take revenge on Chen Xiangbei.
"You can find a professional racer, but Chen Xiangbei might not agree to race."
Shai Minghui replied, knowing Chen Xiangbei wasn't stupid. Who would engage in a race they'd surely lose against a professional?
"Don't worry about it; I'll make sure he accepts!"
Ma Minghan said this with a fierce look directed at Chen Xiangbei.
...
After school in the evening, Chen Xiangbei didn't go straight home this time but planned to visit Liang Chi's repair shop to check on things.
After all, the last time they talked about professional racing, he didn't know if Liang Chi had found any Formula channels. If there were, Chen Xiangbei intended to start training soon and determine his professional development direction quickly.
Saying goodbye to Fatty Wang and Zhou Yanjing, Chen Xiangbei walked into the repair shop alone, just in time to see Liang Chi working on the Corolla with the damaged front end from that day.
"Uncle Liang, your repair work seems a bit slow."
Hearing Chen Xiangbei's voice, Liang Chi didn't even lift his head and replied, "I'm still owed payment for fixing your car. I can't just leave other work to starve, can I?"
"Could it be that the carbon fiber parts have made you poor from modifications?"
Chen Xiangbei thought about it and recalled that after discussing the Subaru Impreza modification, Old Deng constantly complained about being broke.
"Part of the reason, but mostly because I used my savings to buy stocks worth a hundred thousand, and I've already lost fifty thousand."
"With the financial crisis happening now, you still dared to play the stock market. Isn't that just giving money away?"
At this, Chen Xiangbei consoled, "At least you still have fifty thousand left, better withdraw it quickly and stop playing."
"I already withdrew it."
"Then why are you still crying about being broke?"
"The club across the street is having a promotion. Deposit fifty thousand and get another fifty thousand free, so I have a hundred thousand on paper and haven't really lost anything, just lacking some cash."
Liang Chi's words left Chen Xiangbei dumbfounded. Is that really how you calculate finances?
PS: Dear brothers, please keep reading. I don't want to be eliminated in the first round. Many thanks in advance. --!