Chapter 333 - I'm Here to Apologize

So senior sister will be in Yuanen Yehui’s class...

The thought of Yuanen Yehui reminded Tang Wulin of the twenty thousand contribution points he had been fined, and his heart soon began to ache. If not for the exceptional circumstances, he probably would have given Xie Xie a good beating. After all, this fine came about because Xie Xie peeped on a girl! However, Tang Wulin could tell that there was something amiss with Xie Xie lately. Even though they were basically sworn brothers, there wasn’t much he could do beyond offering a few words of comfort.

In the past, Tang Wulin had a fairly good relationship with Yuanen. However, now that Yuanen became Yuanen Yehui, and after the recent incident, he was afraid it wouldn’t be easy to repair their relationship. The entire incident had been Xie Xie’s fault, and Tang Wulin had taken action without completely understanding the situation. He resolved to find her and apologize when he got back.

Mu Xi escorted Tang Wulin to the entrance of the building. “I’m going to campus to report tomorrow. I’ll give you a call once I get there.”

“Okay,” Tang Wulin replied. Senior sister, there’s a lot of freedom at Shrek. Since you’re a fourth-rank blacksmith, you’ll definitely be very popular!”

Mu Xi snorted. “What’s so great about being a fourth-rank blacksmith? You’re already at the fifth rank. Who knows when I’ll finally catch up to you.”

Tang Wulin gave her a wry smile. “What’s your soul power rank at now, senior sister?”

“Rank 38,” she answered.

“Wow! You’re almost at rank 40! I’ll probably get to rank 30 around the time you reach rank 40. When that happens, let’s try spirit refining together. Senior sister, have you decided to become a battle armor master?”

Mu Xi paused for a moment, staring at him blankly. “I haven’t thought about that before. I’ve only ever wanted to be a great blacksmith.”

“I think you should work toward becoming a battle armor master like me!” Tang Wulin exclaimed. “Shrek is a place where geniuses grow and prosper—not taking advantage of it would be a waste. Becoming a battle armor master is the requirement for graduating from the outer court anyway. Making battle armor will definitely help us a lot. It’ll make us more powerful, aid in our cultivation, and will also improve our blacksmithing skills. With it boosting our cultivation, we will be capable of higher-level blacksmithing even sooner. We’ll be doing half the work for double the results!”

Mu Xi mulled it over. Although her soul power rank was higher than Tang Wulin’s, she was seventeen years old this year. She couldn't be considered anything great in Shrek Academy. In fact, she was a bit below average.

“What you’re saying does make some sense, but can I really do it?”

“If you’re determined, nothing’s impossible. Let’s do our best, senior sister!”

“Mn. Alright.”

As Mu Xi watched Tang Wulin’s departing figure, she subconsciously clenched her fists.

“I’ll definitely do my best,” she muttered. “I won’t fall too far behind you! I’m going to catch up one day!”

☀

At the working student dormitory, Xie Xie paced back and forth in front of a door, occasionally rubbing his hands nervously.

The dormitory had been cleaned up and all the broken windows replaced. Xie Xie had done it all himself. Even after replacing the window panes, he wiped all of them until they were sparkling.

He was the only person in the dormitory at the moment. Xu Xiaoyan had gone to report to the Designer's Association, Gu Yue had disappeared as she usually did, Tang Wulin had gone out as well, and neither Yuanen nor Yue Zhengyu had returned yet.

Xie Xie continuously replayed the forbidden scene he had witnessed that day. Although he only remembered her hazy silhouette, the room had been misty with only a dim light, the image was burned into his mind. To a youth of no more than thirteen years old, the impact of that scene had been too much for his innocent heart.

All of a sudden, the sound of footsteps rang out. Xie Xie’s heart leaped to his throat and he quickly hid. After a moment, he realized that it was just Yue Zhengyu.

Yue Zhengyu wore a dour expression. He thought he had finally caught an evil soul master, but instead he had misidentified her and was punished. It was as if fate were playing a cruel joke on him. The sight of Xie Xie made his face darken even further.

“What are you doing here? Oh, all of the windows are fixed!”

“Mn.” Xie Xie nodded.

Yue Zhengyu walked over to Xie Xie, a slight smirk on his lips. “Are you waiting here to admit you were wrong?”

Xie Xie knitted his brow. “Why does it matter if I admit it? It’s only natural for me to acknowledge my mistakes.”

“Then you can just wait here patiently.” Yue Zhengyu chuckled and casually placed his hands behind his head as he turned toward his room. “Be careful though! Tang Wulin and the others aren’t here this time, so don’t make her mad again. You’ll be toast if you do.”

Xie Xie grumpily shooed Yue Zhengyu away then turned to to the dormitory entrance and waited.

Just as he turned around, he was astonished to see Yuanen Yehui returning. She walked in complete silence, completely ignoring Xie Xie as she returned to her room.

Yuanen Yehui currently wore her usual men’s uniform and had her Yuanen disguise on. If Xie Xie hadn’t confirmed her femininity with his own eyes, he wouldn’t have been able to claim that she was wearing a disguise.

Summoning his courage, Xie Xie ran over before she could enter her room.

“Yuanen!” he exclaimed.

Yuanen Yehui stopped and turned to him, both of her eyes icy to their very cores. Before her aura of fury, Xie Xie couldn’t help but falter.

“Screw off!” she yelled, going into her room and slamming the door in Xie Xie’s face.

“I… I came to apologize,” Xie Xie mumbled to the door.

A loud bang resounded from within the room, startling Xie Xie. Fearing for his life, he immediately took off running.

He was still traumatized by Yuanen Yehui’s killing intent from that night.

Inside of her room, Yuanen Yehui threw herself onto her bed. The ice in her eyes instantly thawed, and in its place was emptiness. She lay there unmoving, and soon enough, tears began streaming down her face.

Yet she did not sob a single time.

☀

By the time Tang Wulin returned to the dormitory, Gu Yue had come back as well.

Tang Wulin frowned when he saw Xie Xie sitting on his bed, staring off into nothingness. “What’s going on? Why do you look so dazed?’

Xie Xie slowly turned to Tang Wulin, his blank expression transitioning into one of defeat.

“I went to go apologize to Yuanen Yehui, but she completely disregarded me.”

Tang Wulin made dumbfounded face.

“You can't be so impatient!” he said. “You have to wait for her to calm down before you try apologizing. Just forget about it for now and focus on earning enough contribution points to pay off your fine. You can just work on slowly making amends. As she is now, however, things between you two won’t be easy to fix. Anyway... just be careful and try to not make her angry.”

“Mn.” Xie Xie smiled bitterly. “I know. I don’t want to die just yet.”

“Your thinking has been wrong these past few days,” Tang Wulin said. “Xiaoyan is practicing her designing, so why aren’t you over at the Maker’s Association? The competition here is so fierce yet you’re not making good use of your time. Are you trying to be one of the ten people that’ll be expelled? Stop overthinking things. The past is the past. Just focus on improving yourself first. If you don’t, you won’t survive even a minute against Yuanen.”

Tang Wulin’s words lit a fire in Xie Xie’s eyes.

“You’re right!” he cried. “I’m still too weak compared to her. First, I need to become strong!”

As soon as he finished speaking, he leaped from his bed and made for the door.

“Where are you going?” Tang Wulin asked.

“I’m going to the Maker’s Association to practice!” Xie Xie shouted as he dashed out the door.

Tang Wulin couldn’t help but smile. That guy’s mood changes so often. Well... at least he recovers quickly too.

Tang Wulin climbed onto his bed, closed his eyes, and began meditating. As of now, nothing was more important for him than reaching rank 30.

“Tang Wulin! Kiddo, are you here?”

Just as Tang Wulin began clearing his mind of distracting thoughts, a familiar voice called to him from outside and his eyes shot open.

Why’d he come all the way here to find me?

Having no other choice, he got up and went outside. The moment he set foot out of his room, Tang Wulin saw the energetic Feng Wuyu.

“I’m here, Elder Feng,” he said. “What are you here for?”

“What? Am I not welcome here?” Feng Wuyu scowled at him.

Tang Wulin smiled apologetically. “You’re welcome here! Of course you are. There’s no way you wouldn’t be welcome. Did you need something from me?”

Feng Wuyu snorted. “It’s your win, kid. I admit defeat. Now come with me.”

With no further explanation, he grabbed Tang Wulin, threw him over his shoulder, and rushed off like a gale.

Seconds later, they were in Feng Wuyu’s workshop.

Tang Wulin sighed in resignation. “Elder Feng, can you stop doing this all the time? I’ll give you my number, so you can just call me when you need me. You don’t have to abduct me every single time, you know?”

Feng Wuyu threw Tang Wulin to the ground. “We can talk about that later. First, I’m going to help you get to rank 30.”

“Elder Feng, I don’t have any money or contribution points!” Tang Wulin shouted. “I still have a twenty thousand point fine to pay off! You can’t force me to do this!”

Tang Wulin still owed Yuanen Yehui twenty thousand contribution points. Even if he paid her by way of thousand refining, he would have to buy the raw metal himself. If he needed to pay Feng Wuyu ten spirit refinings as well, it would take even longer to for him to pay off his debt. The success rate for spirit refining was low, and countless pieces of metal would be reduced to scraps in the process of successfully spirit refining ten times.