You may apologize now.
The twelve-year-old girl couldn't fully grasp all that Fang Chang'an was trying to convey, but “protecting the princess” was simple enough for her to understand right away. Her cheeks flushed slightly; she wanted to look at Fang Chang'an but didn’t dare, so she kept her head down and asked in a small voice, “What… what sword?”
The question was a bit tricky. Fang Chang'an paused for a second, then continued to explain at his own pace:
“First of all, let's agree on something: yesterday, from start to finish, all I said was ‘It's inappropriate to whistle at girls.’ I didn’t insult anyone, I didn’t hit anyone, right?”
Wang Ke thought for a moment, then nodded.
“I didn’t tell Zhao Xu or Liu Cheng to do anything, nor did I even ask that guy to apologize, right?”
Wang Ke nodded again after considering.
“So why do you think I’m a bad person?”
Wang Ke glanced at him, a hint of grievance in her eyes, then looked down and softly argued, “I don’t think you’re a bad person.”
“Then why are you ignoring me?”
“I…”
She instinctively wanted to explain, opened her mouth, then fell silent.
Fang Chang'an smiled. “Let me guess. You must be upset, right? Maybe you feel I let you down? Because, although I didn’t hit anyone, when others did, I didn’t stop them?”
He didn’t give her a chance to reply, continuing, “And you’re probably also wondering why I know them, and why they call me ‘Brother Chang'an,’ isn’t that it?”
Wang Ke looked up at him but stayed silent.
“Don’t worry, I’ll explain everything to you,” Fang Chang'an said with a smile. “First, out of all those people, I only know Liu Cheng and Zhao Xu. Liu Cheng shares a dormitory with me—he’s from Class Six—so it’s normal that we know each other, right?”
The girl thought a moment, then nodded.
“The homeroom teacher of Class Six is my aunt. Liu Cheng is a bit afraid of me—it’s only natural, right?”
She considered for a while, then nodded, albeit a bit reluctantly.
“As for Zhao Xu, I’m not close with him; in fact, we’re not on good terms. Same goes for that guy Wei. You know I go running every night, right?”
Wang Ke nodded.
“You still owe me a night, you know.”
Her bright eyes widened. Fang Chang'an spread his hands, “You promised to run with me in the evening. Where were you last night?”
Wang Ke pouted, “You don’t need me to come along. They’re all afraid of you.”
“That’s just an act.” Fang Chang'an wore a “you’re too naïve” expression. “It’s not like I know everyone. Imagine if I’m out running and they bring along a few guys I don’t know and ambush me on the track, in the dark. I wouldn’t recognize them. Once they finish beating me up and run off, who could I even look for?”
The girl tilted her head, thinking, then asked, “Why would they want to beat you up?”
“I’m not finished yet. You interrupted me and now I’ve lost my place… Oh, right, how I know Zhao Xu.” Fang Chang'an said half-teasingly, “Didn’t you say you saw Zhao Xu in the cafeteria a few days ago? They were plotting to ambush someone on the sports field, remember?”
Wang Ke nodded again.
“Can you guess who they were planning to ambush?”
She shook her head, watching his face, eyes wide, raising a tentative finger as if about to point at him, but not quite daring to believe it, forgetting even to keep walking.
Fang Chang'an stopped as well, nodding. “That’s right, it was me!”
“Then you…” Wang Ke sounded worried. Fang Chang'an smiled, “It’s fine, they didn’t dare do anything.”
“Why not?”
“Because I have good grades, and my uncle teaches physics—he teaches both eighth and ninth grade. Their boss, that Wei guy, is my uncle’s student. I threatened to call my uncle, and that scared him off.”
She might have looked a little silly, but she wasn’t stupid. After thinking it over, she asked, “So you know them?”
“No, I don’t.”
“Then how did you know he was your uncle’s student?”
“I asked. Think about it: Wei is the leader of the eighth-graders. If I ask who he is, can he not answer? He said he’s from Class Three—the honors class. So of course, I knew my uncle taught him.”
“Why?”
“My uncle’s famous. Even the city’s top high school wants him to teach, but he doesn’t want to go. There’s only one position, and if he leaves, what happens to my aunt? Isn’t that right?”
That was something from his past life; it probably hadn’t happened yet.
“He’s the boss—on the surface, he was scared off, but deep down he must be unconvinced. He has so many guys; I can’t possibly know all of them. If he secretly found two people to ambush me… I’m not in top shape yet. If I can’t fight back or outrun them, how desperate would I be?”
The girl bit her lip, looking conflicted, and didn’t follow up. Instead, she asked, “But you still haven’t said why you didn’t stop them.”
Fang Chang'an asked, “Why should I have stopped them?”
Wang Ke hadn’t expected that answer and was stunned.
Fang Chang'an continued, “He dared to whistle at you. I wanted to beat him myself. Seeing him get a beating made me happy—why would I stop them?”
The girl was at a loss for words, cheeks burning, head bowed in silence.
“Don’t just stand here—let’s walk and talk,” Fang Chang'an said, worried she’d feel embarrassed or think ill of him, so he changed the subject. “Besides, that guy used to hang out with Liu Cheng and the others. Getting beaten up, he’ll probably resent them, maybe even stop hanging out with them.”
“If he doesn’t hang out with Liu Cheng and them anymore, he’ll have no choice but to focus on his studies.”
“Of course, not doing well in school doesn’t make you a bad person, but since we’re students, studying is still the most important thing, right?”
“So, from that perspective, if he has any conscience, he should thank me…”
“Don’t give me that look—I’m not making this up. I ran into that guy this morning. He was alone, not with Liu Cheng and the others. When he saw me struggling to carry so many buns, he came over and helped me carry them upstairs.”
“Even more importantly, after I finished handing out the buns to Class Seven, he came after me to say thank you and even asked if I really meant it when I said he could come to me for help with his studies…”
Wang Ke instinctively found it hard to believe, but then remembered that Zheng Lili had just said she saw that boy at the classroom door, helping Fang Chang'an carry buns.
Fang Chang'an caught her expression and smiled, “If you don’t believe me, when we get upstairs I’ll call him over so you can ask him yourself.”
He almost wanted to swear an oath, but thought better of it.
Wang Ke hesitated, then shook her head, “No need.”
After a pause, she whispered, “I believe you.”
Fang Chang'an bent down to peer at her face. “Really?”
She felt her cheeks cool a little, raised her head, nodded firmly, biting her lip as she softly murmured, “Mm.”
Fang Chang'an nodded too. “Good. Now you can apologize to me, and I’ll consider forgiving you.”
She widened her eyes in surprise. Fang Chang'an widened his, too. “You misunderstood, wronged, and hurt me. Isn’t an apology in order?”
Wang Ke puffed out her cheeks, “When did I hurt you?”
“You started ignoring me all of a sudden. Do you know how sad that made me?”
“All right.” Wang Ke hesitated, realizing she was indeed in the wrong, and said, “I’m sorry, then.”
Fang Chang'an nodded, “Depending on your attitude, I’ll forgive you once you make up for the night you owe me.”
Wang Ke hesitated, but Fang Chang'an continued, “Girls have to run in the high school entrance exam, too. You might as well start training early—it’s no loss, right?”
At last, Wang Ke nodded and whispered, “Okay, I’ll go with you tonight.”
“You won’t sneak off again, will you?”
She puffed her cheeks and rolled her eyes, “I won’t.”
Then she added, “I mean, I won’t run off on my own.”