Chapter 15: The Challenge Letter

A knock sounded at Yi Feng’s door.

Meng Xiaoyun answered it to find Gu Muxi standing there with two porridge pots in hand.

“Good morning, auntie. My mom also made breakfast for Yi Feng, mushroom and minced meat porridge.”

“And she said she’d like you to have some porridge before heading out to set up her stall.”

Gu Muxi greeted politely.

“Alright, I’ll be over in a bit,” Meng Xiaoyun responded, then turned to call out, “Son, Muxi is waiting for you to go to school. Hurry up!”

“Coming!” Yi Feng replied.

Soon after, he rushed out with his backpack.

“Morning, Gu Muxi!” Yi Feng greeted.

“Hmph~” Gu Muxi snorted proudly and headed downstairs.

Yi Feng chuckled to himself, wondering if he had teased her into anger.

“Mom, I’m off to school.”

“Take it slow on the way.”

“Sure!”

…

At the ground floor, the sky was just brightening, with a few clouds glowing red in the east, strikingly beautiful against the dim sky.

“Gu Muxi, look, those clouds are so pretty!” Yi Feng pointed out the clouds, excitedly.

Gu Muxi, pushing her bike out, looked up and was also amazed by the clouds’ beauty.

Indeed very beautiful.

“If only we had a phone to take a picture!” Yi Feng remarked.

“What are you thinking? Cameras take pictures, not phones. Are you confused?” Gu Muxi unceremoniously shot him down.

Yi Feng paused, realizing that indeed, phones couldn’t take photos at the time.

The hottest phone in China then was the Nokia 3310, costing over a thousand yuan, capable only of making calls and playing Snake.

“Maybe in the future, we’ll have such phones,” Yi Feng laughed.

“Who knows? Oh, and this is your breakfast. Don’t forget, it’s the one on the left,” Gu Muxi instructed solemnly.

She pointed to the left side of the basket on the bike’s front because the two stainless steel porridge pots looked identical, distinguishable only by their placement.

“What’s the difference? Aren’t they the same? Unless… you added a few extra pieces of meat?” Yi Feng joked.

“That’s because… I tried the one on the right. It has my saliva, so you can only have the one on the left,” Gu Muxi quickly fabricated an excuse.

“Heh, what’s the matter? I’ve been eating your leftovers since we were kids, like… the lollipops you’ve licked,” Yi Feng sat on the bike’s rear seat.

“Hmph~ You still have the nerve to say that? Get down, do you expect me to carry you?” Gu Muxi let go of the handlebars.

“Aw, can’t you show some compassion for a sick person? Have some humanitarian spirit?” Yi Feng held his forehead, pretending to be weak.

“Stop acting. Want to experience my deadly cross lock?” Gu Muxi clenched her fists, making a scary crunching sound.

“Err… I’m better now. Let me carry you instead!”

Yi Feng hurriedly took the front seat before it was too late, probably heading for decapitation.

“That’s more like it. You know what’s good for you.” Gu Muxi smoothed her skirt and sat down on the rear seat.

“Let’s go, little Feng, take this empress to school.”

“Alright, Empress Dowager, please hold on tight!”

Gu Muxi: “…”

“Ow, Gu Muxi, why pinch me!”

“Who’s the Empress Dowager? Call me your highness!”

…

They bickered all the way to school.

After parking the bike, Yi Feng handed her a porridge pot, “Here, Gu Muxi, this one’s yours.”

Gu Muxi weighed it, asking, “Are you sure it’s not mixed up?”

“What?” Yi Feng turned to ask.

“Uh, nothing, let’s go.” Gu Muxi composed herself.

Yi Feng glanced at his bike, lamenting, “Gu Muxi, look at my bike, still lying there because of you!”

“It’s been my trusty companion for four or five years!”

Gu Muxi snorted, blushing, and retorted, “Who, who told you to kiss me!”

“That’s what you get, hmph!”

With that, Gu Muxi turned and left.

Yi Feng smiled proudly, noticing Gu Muxi seemed to blush every time… that incident was mentioned.

Heh, really cute!

Carrying his porridge pot, Yi Feng shook his head and whistled as he followed her.

Just as Yi Feng entered the classroom, Wang Tie rushed over.

“Yi Feng, trouble! Big trouble!”

“What, monsters attacking, world war breaking out?” Yi Feng joked, sitting down.

“No, no, you actually guessed right!” Wang Tie pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to him.

“It’s a challenge letter, someone actually sent you a challenge letter!”

“They’re calling you out for a duel at the school’s back gate!”

Yi Feng was taken aback and snatched the letter.

“From whom?”

“I found it on your desk when I got here!” Wang Tie said.

Yi Feng quickly read through.

A guy from Class 2 named Hou Zixing wrote the challenge, warning him to stay away from Gu Muxi and proposing a showdown after school at the back gate.

Hou Zixing?

Yi Feng remembered him, the sports committee member of Class 2, big and bulky, one of Gu Muxi’s many suitors, notably persistent despite numerous rejections.

Thinking of the other’s monstrous physique and then looking at his own frail body…

(￣ェ￣;)em…

A duel? Child’s play, not for me.

It’s not about being scared, cough cough, okay, maybe it’s okay to be a little scared in life.

“What do we do, Yi Feng? Do we accept the challenge?” Wang Tie rolled up his sleeves, ready to fight.

“Are you crazy? We’re about to take the college entrance exams. What if we get a major demerit for fighting?”

“Go tear it up and throw it in the trash. Let’s pretend we never saw it, didn’t know about it.” Yi Feng instructed.

It’s just youthful folly; maybe the guy was just hot-headed. He might cool down and forget about it after a while.

“Uh… okay, if you say so!” Wang Tie, somewhat disappointed, took the challenge letter, tore it into pieces, and threw it in the trash.

Yi Feng’s stomach growled, signaling it was time for breakfast. He took out the porridge pot, ready to enjoy his meal.

Just then, Gu Muxi, who had been chatting with classmates in the hallway, returned and sat in front of him.

“Having breakfast?” Gu Muxi eyed his porridge with a peculiar smile.

Yi Feng glanced at her, “Not having breakfast, just admiring it?”

He took a spoonful, blew on it lightly, and tasted it.

Gu Muxi watched eagerly, almost sadistically, waiting for him to eat.

Yi Feng took a big gulp of porridge, but to her surprise, he seemed pleased.

“Hmm? Gu Muxi, your mom’s porridge is really good! Delicious!”

Gu Muxi was stunned.

What’s going on? Didn’t he find it too salty?

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