Please, I'm Trying to Study, Your Highness! - chapter 35

“What do you mean, are you saying my hands are dirty?”

Zhou Ziang froze for a few seconds before roaring in anger.

Spittle nearly sprayed onto the boy’s face.

“Who the hell do you think you are? Daring to meddle in my business! Do you know who I am?!”

He’d intended to teach this clueless four-eyes a lesson, but suddenly realized his thick wrist was locked in place by the other’s grip.

Unlike a simple brute-force hold, it was more of a skillful restraining technique.

Long fingers, like five red-hot steel nails,

Pressed tightly against the most vulnerable junctions of bone and tendon.

Zhou Ziang’s furious expression froze.

He looked down in disbelief-this skinny boy he’d dismissed as a “withered string bean” actually possessed such terrifying strength.

Muscles bulged and strained as he tried to break free, but no matter how hard he struggled, it was futile.

That hand felt welded to his bones, completely immovable.

“Getting someone’s clothes dirty isn’t right, is it?”

Lin Hui asked calmly.

“I… fuck! Let go of me!”

Zhou Ziang hurriedly tried to pry Lin Hui’s hand off with his other hand.

Lin Hui ignored his struggles, only tightening his grip.

“Ah-!”

A sharp, burning pain shot from Zhou Ziang’s wrist straight to his brain.

A scream burst from his throat,

His face twisted in agony.

The show had officially begun.

Xia Shiyu lowered her gaze, hiding the amusement in her eyes.

Since the stage was set, it was time for her, the leading lady, to perform.

She stepped forward, gently tugging at the boy’s sleeve.

“Lin Hui, let it go… This isn’t your concern.” Her tone was fragile, like porcelain that would shatter at a touch.

She looked at Zhou Ziang, her watery peach blossom eyes brimming with grievance and helplessness.

Her tearful expression was played to perfection.

“Zhou Ziang, what happened between us is over… Don’t take it out on others… After all… after all, we once…”

Her words broke off in a sob.

This ambiguous, misleading attitude was tantamount to “tacitly admitting” all the accusations.

She wanted to see how this interesting prey would react.

Would his moral purism be triggered?

Would he show contempt and disgust because “the goddess is no longer pure”?

Or would he shrink back out of fear of trouble?

Xia Shiyu waited with great interest for the verdict.

Before the boy could react, Zhou Ziang was already set off by her demeanor.

Realizing he couldn’t break free from Lin Hui’s grip, he turned all his fury on her,

A torrent of vile words burst forth like a flood.

“Once? Once my ass!”

“Xia Shiyu, you bitch, I must’ve been blind to ever like you!”

“You just use your looks to hook up with anyone, right?

“You’re like a dead fish in bed, and the moment you’re out, you’re off looking for someone new…”

“First question.”

Just as Zhou Ziang’s insults peaked, Lin Hui spoke slowly.

He didn’t do what those hot-headed fools would-throw a punch in this situation.

His tone was almost coldly composed. “You claim to have had an intimate relationship with her. Where’s your evidence?”

Zhou Ziang was stunned, then burst out laughing, “Evidence? I’m the evidence! For something like this, what more do you need…”

“No physical evidence, no witnesses, only your one-sided statement.”

Lin Hui interrupted blandly, “In logic, this is called ‘single testimony.’ It has no probative value. Your argument is invalid from the start.”

“You!!”

“Second question.”

Ignoring Zhou Ziang’s now livid face, Lin Hui continued, “You accuse her of ‘hooking up with others.’ Then please list, aside from me-a regular classmate-any other men she clearly dated during or after your relationship.

“Time, place, names. You need at least three independent sources to form a preliminary chain of evidence.”

“I…” Zhou Ziang’s laughter faded.

“Third question.”

“If what you say is true, these details should be private between you two.

“But to loudly boast about a woman’s private matters in public doesn’t prove your charm-it only proves a structural deficiency in your upbringing.

“Legally, your behavior already constitutes a violation.”

“So, will you apologize and leave now, or wait for me to call security? Your choice.”

Every word was calm and clear.

Not a single curse, yet each sentence cut deeper than any street thug’s angry rant.

Zhou Ziang’s face shifted from rage to ashen.

Damn! This bastard talks too fast!

He wanted to retort but couldn’t find a way in.

Utterly stifled.

“In summary.”

The boy concluded.

“What you’re doing now is nothing but a self-indulgent, logically flawed clown act.”

Still twisting the knife.

“Pfft.”

After watching the show for so long, Xia Shiyu couldn’t hold back a soft laugh.

Though she quickly covered her mouth and gave Zhou Ziang an apologetic glance with her misty eyes,

That laugh was clearly the last note before the string snapped.

“You… you two…”

Zhou Ziang looked at Lin Hui, then at her, his lips trembling.

“Fine, fine!”

He seemed to squeeze the words out through gritted teeth.

“Xia Shiyu, just you wait!”

“And you, you four-eyed pretty boy, don’t get cocky! You think you’ve found a treasure? Let me tell you, a woman like her is out of your league!”
“Today she can treat me like this, tomorrow she can treat you the same way! Sooner or later, you’ll be ruthlessly thrown away by her like garbage too!”

With that, he suddenly flung off the young man’s already loosened hand.

Without looking back, he squeezed into the crowd in a panic and vanished from sight.

The farce came to an end with a whimper, rather than a bang.

The prelude was over; it was time to get to the main act.

Xia Shiyu slowly walked up to the young man, putting on a look both of one who had narrowly escaped disaster and of pitiful fragility.

“Xiao Huihui, thank you…”

Her tone quivered appropriately with sobs. “Those things he said just now… do you… do you believe them?”

She stared at him unblinkingly, the moisture in her eyes condensing into teardrops that slipped down her cheeks like pearls falling from a broken thread.

“Do you… also think I’m a frivolous… or unclean woman?”

As she asked this, the “observer” in Xia Shiyu’s mind was already keenly analyzing the boy’s next move.

She waited, hoping to catch even a flicker of wavering or contempt in his eyes.

That would be the perfect opening for her to start taming him.

Yet, those languid, indifferent eyes just looked at her quietly.

“Does it matter what happened in the past?”

Xia Shiyu’s teary peach blossom eyes contracted sharply.

The boy’s voice was soft.

“The value of a relationship shouldn’t be judged by outsiders’ moral standards. The pain or joy it brings can only be defined by those involved.”

His reply fundamentally exceeded every scenario she had prepared for.

“Even if intimate things happen between lovers, it’s based on the emotional consensus they shared at that moment.”

“It shouldn’t be judged with social labels like ‘frivolous.’ I think that’s a misappropriation of concepts.”

A few short sentences, yet they landed silently and heavily like hammers on the ever-calm lake of her heart, smashing without warning.

No, this isn’t right…

He should be showing the “prey is shaken” state, awkwardly professing his loyalty.

He should say something like all those other men-“Of course I don’t believe it,” or “In my eyes, you will always be pure.”-the usual empty words.

Then she would continue her performance, and after receiving the expected comfort, she would fall into his arms, bringing the scene to its climax.

But, but…

“Xia Shiyu.”

The voice that had grown clean and clear after puberty pulled her out of her swirling thoughts.

“No matter what form your past took, when you choose to truly let it go, then it’s already gone.

“So.”

“You don’t need to prove your ‘purity’ to me, or to anyone else.”

Her mind, still unsettled, went blank for a moment because of his words.

What… what is this?

As a top-tier hunter, she was used to being in control, used to using words and posture to manipulate others’ emotions.

But now, her rhythm was thrown off.

This had never happened before.

No, this isn’t right!

Calm down, Xia Shiyu!

Calm down!

This must be Lin Hui’s even more sophisticated new disguise-it has to be!

The pride of the Xia Group’s heiress would never allow herself to be led by her prey.

No one was allowed to do that!

She forcefully suppressed that unfamiliar tremor.

She was just about to follow the original script, force out a tearful, grateful smile, and use a few flirtatious words to tease Lin Hui’s already identified sensitive nerve-

“It may sound unnecessary, but…”

The eyes behind his glasses looked at her, earnest and without a trace of impurity.

“Xia Shiyu.”

“In my heart…”

“You have always been… a very, very good person.”

Crack-

It was as if something hard and frozen in the world split open at that moment.

Xia Shiyu saw Lin Hui take something from his school uniform pocket.

What he handed over was a piece of fruit hard candy, wrapped in transparent cellophane and adorned with a beautiful spiral pattern.

“If you’re feeling down, have a candy,” he said.

In a daze, she reached out and took the candy.

The wrapper felt a little rough and cheap, and there was a faint warmth lingering from his fingertips.

He didn’t wait for any response from her.

Carrying his slightly worn black backpack, Lin Hui stepped into the sunset-drenched golden-red glow.

His back looked like a lone, resilient poplar tree.

Xia Shiyu stood where she was, unable to recover for a long time.

The cool evening breeze ruffled her hair.

She didn’t tidy it as she usually would, but lowered her head to look at the piece of fruit candy sparkling in her palm under the sunset.

A feeling she couldn’t name and had never experienced before surged wildly from the depths of her chest.

It wasn’t the vanity of being admired.

It wasn’t the thrill of a successful prank.

Nor was it the pleasure of being in control.

It was… a kind of sour, scalding, yet faintly sweet… unfamiliar fluttering.

In her mind,

the supercomputer that had been analyzing and manipulating people for more than ten years crashed for a moment, receiving a signal never before catalogued in its database.

Why… didn’t he despise me?

Why… didn’t he comfort me as the script dictated?

Why… did he say such things?

It seemed… it seemed that, in this world, no one had ever looked at her from that perspective before.

A smooth and meticulous life, for the first time, was lost in confusion.

The noise of the crowd and the honking of cars slowly faded from her ears.

The breeze picked up a few fallen leaves.

How strange…

What is this feeling?