You Finally Looked at Me

Warm blood splattered across her bare arm, searing hot.

Fu Liangxia stood frozen, her eyes slightly wide as she watched the boy whose shoulder was now soaked in red. He furrowed his brow, swayed twice, and then crumpled toward the ground.

Instinctively, she reached out to catch him, but she couldn't support his weight and fell to her knees with him.

Blood streamed from his shoulder, quickly staining her dress.

Those usually indifferent eyes flickered as they lifted, trying to read her expression.

Fu Liangxia opened her mouth, wanting to say something, but her throat felt blocked, as if something were stuck there.

Was he insane? She had the System; he didn't. What was the point of playing hero at a time like this?

"Cheng Xingzhou, you..." Fu Liangxia didn't know what to say.

The person in her arms seemed to understand her unfinished words. His gaze still held a trace of clarity as he looked up at her, a thin layer of cold sweat on his forehead, but his face remained that icy, aloof expression.

He didn't look like someone who'd just been shot—more like the student council president doing a routine inspection.

"Fu Liangxia."

Because of the bullet wound, his voice was low.

She looked down at him, waiting for him to continue.

"You finally looked at me," he said.

Fu Liangxia froze. He took a bullet for her just so she would look at him?

"Do you realize what's going on right now? That was a gun. If it had hit your heart, you'd be dead already. Cheng Xingzhou, are you insane?"

Cheng Xingzhou had never seen her like this. He stared at her silently for a long moment before suddenly saying, "Then what was I supposed to do? Watch you take a bullet and lose you a second time?"

Fu Liangxia's complicated emotions stalled. She gazed at his calm eyes, seeming to glimpse the madness hidden beneath the surface.

Lose her a second time?

She couldn't quite process it.

His gaze slid from her face down to her body. After a moment, he abruptly said, "Your clothes are dirty."

Fu Liangxia followed his gaze downward and saw that her skirt was now covered in blood.

Large patches of bright red stained the light-colored fabric, looking rather unsightly.

But was that really important right now?

Once again, Fu Liangxia gained a clear understanding of Cheng Xingzhou's abnormality. Who, while bleeding profusely, would comment on the state of the clothes they'd stained?

A breeze blew by, and before Fu Liangxia could react, the doctor arrived.

Seeing the professionals come, she tried to step aside, but a hand precisely grabbed her wrist. "Is this how you treat your savior?"

Fu Liangxia had no choice but to get into the car with him. Fu Haoyao, Su Xingshu, and Bai Yan, who had run over a moment too late, all climbed in as well.

Bai Xin stayed behind to deal with Wang Xixi. Perhaps the two of them needed a conversation, but Fu Liangxia didn't know the details.

However, when they saw the joined hands of Cheng Xingzhou and Fu Liangxia, the three who boarded all wore complex expressions to varying degrees.

The car sent to pick up Cheng Xingzhou was a stretched Lincoln. The back seat had been arranged for comfortable reclining, with soft wool carpet underfoot and medical supplies neatly stored on both sides.

Yet the space, which should have been spacious, felt strangely cramped with several people inside.

An odd atmosphere hung in the air, and no one spoke first.

Su Xingshu had reacted the moment the gunshot rang out, but he wasn't as fast as the ever-trained Cheng Xingzhou and Fu Haoyao. By the time Cheng Xingzhou had collapsed into the girl's arms, Su Xingshu was only just rushing over.

But their conversation stopped him in his tracks. His heart plummeted, his body stiffened for a moment, and eventually, he took a step back.

He hated that he hadn't been the one to take the bullet for her. Then he would have been the one to make her look at him, to be gazed at with that concerned expression.

And he would have been the one to hold her hand openly without her pulling away.

Su Xingshu couldn't help but feel a deep jealousy toward Cheng Xingzhou.

But it wasn't pure jealousy, because Cheng Xingzhou was also his friend, and seeing his friend shot naturally worried him.

However, it was just a shoulder wound. What was with that parting look of his? Forcibly holding onto Fu Liangxia's hand—was that just to play the pitiful victim?

Selling his misery, huh?

Looking at his friend lying there with a pale face, eyes pretending to be calm, yet gripping the girl's hand without any intention of letting go, Su Xingshu felt a pang of irritation.

Wasn't Cheng Xingzhou's shoulder injured? How did he still have the strength to hold her hand?

He worried that Fu Liangxia might actually be fooled by these little tricks of Cheng Xingzhou's.

"Maybe you should rest a bit," Su Xingshu said, his gaze falling on their intertwined hands before he looked at Cheng Xingzhou, offering a seemingly well-meaning suggestion.

Cheng Xingzhou frowned slightly, squinted at him, and replied coolly, "No need."

He wasn't that frail.

The doctor had already performed simple hemostasis on Cheng Xingzhou's wound. Since Fu Liangxia was held by him, she was forced to witness the whole process.

The wound was deep, ringed with crusted black-red blood, looking vicious and truly horrifying.

Only then did Fu Liangxia feel a sense of reality.

She stared at the wound, then lowered her lashes, thinking absently, Good thing it wasn't me who got shot—what if it left a scar, that'd be ugly.

Yet perhaps it was her naturally affectionate eyes, or the fact that she stared for too long, that made the others misunderstand something.

Fu Haoyao pressed his lips together, stealing glances at Fu Liangxia's expression, while a surge of worry, lingering fear, and subtle jealousy threatened to drown him.

He didn't dare recall how he'd felt the moment the gunshot rang out.

His heart clenched, cold blood rushed through his veins, and he barely dared to breathe.

Without thinking, he'd lunged forward at the fastest speed of his life.

Fu Haoyao wished he'd been the one hit.

She was so strong and so captivating—why should she have to lose her life over some ridiculous jealousy?

With that thought, he clenched his fists, restraining himself from reaching out to take her other hand.

Fu Haoyao knew that the person lying there now was his best friend, and had it not been for Cheng Xingzhou, Fu Liangxia might already be dead.

But he still couldn't help the jealousy rising in him.

Was he holding on a bit too long? Did being injured grant him privileges to do whatever he wanted?

And she was looking at him with that expression—she couldn't be moved by this, could she?

Sly dog Cheng!

Fu Haoyao truly wished he'd been the one to run faster.

He stared at the spot where their hands joined, frowning in deep thought for so long that Fu Liangxia noticed his odd behavior. She turned and raised an eyebrow at him, silently asking what was wrong.

She assumed he was worried about his friend, since his expression really did look pained, as if he wished he were the one lying there in Cheng Xingzhou's place.

Such touching friendship.

Fu Liangxia was amazed and couldn't help but feel a bit envious.

Just then, Fu Haoyao spoke words she hadn't expected at all. "Are you tired?" he asked.

Fu Liangxia: "What?"

He quickly glanced at her and said, "Xingzhou probably looks insecure without some reassurance. He's been holding your hand for so long—are you tired? Want me to take over for a while?"

Take over? Hold Cheng Xingzhou's hand for her?

For a split second, Fu Liangxia's expression twisted.

Was it what she thought it was?

If, as Fu Haoyao said, Cheng Xingzhou was just using her hand as a comfort object, then it didn't matter who held it. But two boys holding hands...

Fu Liangxia didn't dare imagine that image.

But she decided Fu Haoyao must really love his friend, to the point of wanting to take her place and hold him.

Was he trying to give Cheng Xingzhou strength through this?

Fu Liangxia hesitated, then replied ambiguously, "Sure, I guess?"

As she said this, she tried to pull her hand away, but Cheng Xingzhou, who seemed barely conscious, gripped it even tighter.

His grip was strong, like someone who practiced boxing; even injured, it felt like he might crush her hand bones.

Fu Liangxia could even sense a trace of anger in his action.

She didn't dare move, afraid her hand might break.

Bai Yan seemed to notice the undercurrents in the air, vaguely understanding what Fu Haoyao was thinking, but hadn't expected Cheng Xingzhou's obsession to run so deep—even injured, he wouldn't let go.

In the past, he would have found this scene amusing. But the truth was, Fu Liangxia had nearly lost her life because of the mess his brother's romance caused, and now Cheng Xingzhou had hurt himself because of Fu Liangxia.

He couldn't laugh. For the first time, he felt that Fu Liangxia's influence on them was too great.

This couldn't go on.

Bai Yan frowned and said to Fu Haoyao, "Alright, stop clowning around. We're almost there, no need to worry."

He opened his mouth to say more, but suddenly his phone lit up. After reading the message, his entire expression changed.

Seeing this, Su Xingshu also tensed. "What's wrong?"

Bai Yan looked up from his phone, glanced briefly at Fu Liangxia, then with a grave expression at the lying Cheng Xingzhou, and said seriously, "Councilman Cheng heard about this. He's already taking a private jet here."

The moment the words fell, the air fell into dead silence.

Fu Liangxia didn't understand why they looked so solemn, but she could feel Cheng Xingzhou's hand tighten around hers for a split second.

It seemed he had heard the news too.

Or maybe it was just an instinctive reaction.

She lifted her eyelids to look at him; he still lay there quietly with his eyes closed.

But then she remembered overhearing a conversation between Cheng Xingzhou and Bai Xin earlier. In their talk, Cheng Xingzhou had mentioned that his relationship with his father wasn't good, and that his father was someone who valued power and profit above all else.

So now, why was he coming here?