Chapter 31: Stubborn, or Enduring Humiliation?

Bringing up the sore spot…

With Chen Fengshi’s thick skin, of course he would not blush!

“Tonight is a special situation requiring a special response. Originally, the special situation is just the aftereffects left from my battle with the Fungal Demon Primordial Body.” When Chen Fengshi said this, a thought suddenly flashed through his mind, and then he felt hopeful, even a bit uncontrollably excited, so he stared at Little An with an especially gentle gaze, but before he could even open his mouth—

Little An interrupted with a cold face: “Don’t speak, suitors like you who have been rejected by me could fill a bus!”

Chen Fengshi was slightly stunned, and then he couldn’t help but laugh. He understood that his suddenly soft gaze just now had made Little An misunderstand. Admittedly, Little An was a beauty, but right now, he only had Shen Ai in his heart. Facing her arrogant attack, he had to fight back!

“Beautiful Little An, please rest assured. I will definitely not court you in this life. I just wanted to ask you—is there any way to recover the modified memories of the Fungal Demon Parasite?” This was what Chen Fengshi wanted to ask. With an anxious heart, he felt that his eyes must have revealed emotions that he could not completely hide at this moment.

Yes, how important this matter was!

The most important plan of his life, the big event of pursuing Shen Ai after graduation, was it just going to be destroyed by the Fungal Demon’s dying counterattack like this?

“Beg me—” Little An smiled quickly, but her smile had no warmth at all. It was plainly arrogant provocation.

“…Beautiful Little An, isn’t this inappropriate? We are companions now. Currently, you are the only one who can tell me the way, but, won’t I meet other companions one day? Can’t I just endure it and ask them then?” For Shen Ai’s sake, Chen Fengshi could only endure the present.

Little An sneered: “First, I am the President of the Demon Extermination Association. If I don’t let them speak, will others tell you?”

Chen Fengshi smiled and said: “Then did the President forget that there are also companions from the Mutual Aid Association?”

“Stop joking! Would they know about this?” Little An shattered Chen Fengshi’s fantasies without mercy, but an even more thorough blow was yet to come. “Moreover—the only person who can do this is me. To be more precise, only the power of the Primordial Power of Life! Either you beg me, or you can wait for a second companion who possesses the Primordial Power of Life to appear, and who is also willing to help you.”

Chen Fengshi really wanted to curse! But reality was just that ruthless.

For Shen Ai, did he have to compromise and endure humiliation today?

Chen Fengshi pretended to ponder for a moment, and then let out a long sigh. “Sigh! I was overthinking. In this world, there are only shared interests; where are there companions who sincerely help each other for a lifetime? What Demon Extermination Association, in the end, it’s just a reluctant gathering of a few unfortunate people who got involved with the Fungal Demon and chose to fight for survival…”

“Do you even know how to use words?” Little An interrupted him unpleasantly and sneered: “Using companion mutual aid to pressure me? Fine, I am of course responsible for cleaning up your mess.”

Chen Fengshi actually didn’t quite believe it. Did this Little An really have such leadership magnanimity? Was it that easy for him to get his way?

“The President’s magnanimity makes me fully realize my own mistake. I was too narrow-minded just now. Now I can feel the full love and friendship between companions!”

“Tell me, what’s the situation?” Little An’s calm demeanor made Chen Fengshi suspicious. He really felt that Little An wouldn’t be this easy to talk to. So, he concealed the problem with Shen Ai and only talked about the countless people at school who misunderstood him and the flying false accusations.

“Tsk…” Hearing this, Little An gave a rare smile, and it wasn’t even a mocking one. “The Protoplast landing near the university actually resulted in this. You are really lucky. If you had dealt with the Protoplast a few days later, I believe you would either be a dead man or a wanted criminal by now.”

Chen Fengshi agreed with this, but he didn’t think it was entirely luck. If he had believed in the Fungal Demon’s peace, if he had been slightly more naive, fantasizing that an agreement could bring a happy life with Shen Ai, then the current result would not exist.

“A perfectly innocent person suddenly became the number one pervert, scum, and scoundrel in the school! Almost as wronged as Dou E!” Chen Fengshi was too lazy to emphasize the non-luck parts. That wasn’t important; what was important was whether the problem could be solved.

“Innocent person?” Little An looked him up and down in disbelief, and said with obvious distrust: “Let’s not deny it for now.”

Chen Fengshi didn’t care about this topic, so he pulled it back on track and asked directly: “When will the beautiful President have time to help clear my name?”

“Although helping you is my responsibility as President, but—solving the problem requires the Fungal Demon Primordial Body that once controlled them. However, if you don’t beg me, I cannot take it.” A cold sneer appeared on the corner of Little An’s mouth.

Chen Fengshi leaned back in his seat, tugged at his collar, and smiled. Little An’s fox tail was finally showing; her Trump Card was originally here.

During their first meeting, Little An had said that she would only take the Fungal Demon Primordial Body in the future if Chen Fengshi begged her. Now that she brought it up, would Chen Fengshi hold onto his dignity and bear the false accusations? Or would he bow his head and beg for forgiveness to clear his name, and most importantly, for Shen Ai?

Chen Fengshi felt there were two thoughts arguing in his mind. One said that to maintain self-esteem, a person must not slap their own face on such an issue; the other said that a real man should be able to take responsibility, endure grievances, and slap his own face when it’s time to slap his face.

Little An suddenly parked the car by the side of the road. An old lady holding a child by the road seemed to recognize her license plate and immediately walked toward the driver’s door. Little An hurriedly got out of the car, shouting: “Didn’t I tell you? Just wait by the roadside, it’s not convenient for you to hold the child!”

Little An escorted the old lady who walked around the front of the car to the side of the road, helped take the little girl from her arms, and teased her.

Chen Fengshi was very surprised. He had just opened the door and was about to get out when he saw Little An suddenly turn her head and wave her hand to signal him to get back in the car. Although he didn’t understand why, he figured there must be a reason, so he closed the door tightly again.

The glass went down slightly, and a small gap was enough to hear the conversation outside.

“Has everything been okay this week?”

“Good, all good. No need to worry, Boss Xu. It’s just that I don’t know if there’s any news about the child’s mother?” A look of anxiety appeared in the old lady’s eyes.

“The child’s mother has been found. She is currently in Xianzhou, married and has a child, and her living conditions are passable. I talked to her about your situation, and she agreed to take over the child and be responsible for caring for you until you pass away. I will transfer a sum of money to you and her respectively every month, and then you hand over the money transferred to you to her in the middle of the month. Don’t be too afraid of her just because you are living under her roof. For the sake of this money, she will be willing. Even if one day her situation improves and she doesn’t care about the support, sending you to a nursing home will be absolutely no problem. So, if there is anything too unfair, you must tell me, and you don’t need to swallow your anger.”

The old lady thanked her a thousand times, her old tears falling from excitement. Little An gave her a few more instructions, then stuffed a not-very-thick stack of money into her hand, and urged them to go back and rest. “Pack your things. The day after tomorrow at ten in the morning, someone will come to pick you up. They will take you all the way to the child’s mother’s house. Go back—”

The old lady thanked her profusely again. Before getting in the car, Little An urged her once more, then got in the car and drove away.

Chen Fengshi deliberately looked at her frequently, and Little An finally spoke. “Three months ago, a companion died. He was originally a scavenger and joined purely for the combat bounty; the Demon Extermination Association hadn’t been established yet at that time. This man didn’t understand any big principles, but he was very responsible and serious. Unfortunately, the Fungal Demon Main Body he encountered was too mature. After accidentally being exposed, he was framed for serial murders and was shot dead by the police during their siege.”

Chen Fengshi fell silent, vaguely remembering hearing the news a few months ago about a triple-murder killer being shot dead. He felt sad for this companion he had never met, because he more deeply realized that this was his situation, and very likely his future.

“I originally planned to give them a small apartment to live in and a fixed living allowance every month. But the old lady thought more maturely. She said she was old and in poor health, and couldn’t say how many more years she could live. If she passed away, what would happen to the child who was still half-grown? So she begged me to find the child’s mother. As long as she was willing to take over her granddaughter, after all, they were biological mother and daughter, then she herself wouldn’t matter no matter what happened.”

Chen Fengshi then understood. Little An thus managed to handle it more thoroughly, resulting in the current outcome. The grandmother and granddaughter didn’t have to be separated; the young had someone to rely on, and the old had support. The money was given monthly instead of being paid all at once, just like a carrot dangling in front of a donkey, giving the person a continuous motivation to accept this old one and young one.

“President, if one day I am beyond saving, please give me a quick death. Try your best to make sure my parents never know the truth. If that really doesn’t work, then only let my dad know. My mom has never suffered much mental pain since she was little, and her psychological endurance is poor. If she treats me as missing, she can still have hope. My dad can keep the truth rotting in his stomach.” Chen Fengshi was moved by the scene and felt that to prevent any accidents, he had to make arrangements in advance.

“Are you saying that suffering mental pain is a good thing?” Little An’s focus was very strange. Chen Fengshi didn’t look into it and said casually: “Of course it’s not a good thing. My dad said that my mom’s poor psychological endurance shows that she has had a life of happiness and peace, and a harmonious family, which is something to be envied. Because this psychological endurance is exchanged at the cost of enduring harm. Strong psychological endurance is simply a life of misfortune…”

“That sounds a bit interesting. Then what about you? Hearing you say your mom is so great, what suffering could you still endure?”

“Originally there was none, but I have a dad who says such things! He said boys can’t be too fragile, and he often artificially created mental harm for me.” When Chen Fengshi said this, he didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “The key is that I still can’t blame him, because he said that it was always my own choice. The first time he asked me if I was willing to accept this kind of education, I had just turned one year old. Later, he kept brainwashing me, saying my choice was correct, and one choice would last for five years. I was scammed all the way until I was fifteen!”

Little An didn’t laugh. She fell silent for a while, and then suddenly said: “This so-called harm that is for your own good, when you look back on it, it’s all full of happiness. This kind of harm, I actually quite want it.”

“You actually want this, it seems you are much more unfortunate than me.” Chen Fengshi had guessed this long ago. After all, during his rebellious phase, he knew that many people with weird personalities were related to their family environments, so he was considered experienced.

“We are not that close.” Little An’s attitude in refusing to reveal anything was very straightforward. She parked the car again and said indifferently: “Have you thought it through? Beg me, or give up saving yourself and everything you’ll lose because of it? Still struggling? No rush, I’ll give you time to think slowly.”

Little An turned up the music volume, lowered her seat, and closed her eyes to rest.

Chen Fengshi originally thought that after chatting a bit from the heart, she wouldn’t bring it up again. He didn’t expect that Little An’s stubborn coldness was beyond his estimation.

This was difficult!

The most hateful thing was that, whether Little An did it intentionally or unintentionally, the music playing in the car was actually: The Cloud That Truly Loves You.

‘The sky is transparent, because the rain is slowly stopping. Because the wind is blowing gently, so I miss you…’ These emotionally moving lyrics, sung from the mouth of a male voice full of emotion, struck Chen Fengshi so hard that he almost surrendered and begged for forgiveness right then and there.