Chapter 528: “Sudden Affability (3)”
“Big Brother Zhuo, this is…..?” Ning Xin tried to calm herself, trying to look puzzled as she looked at Jun Xie.
Fan Zhuo said simply: “This is Jun Xie.”
And just that, seemingly having no intentions to introduce Jun Xie to Ning Xin.
Nevertheless, Ning Xin had amicably stepped forward herself and pasted her most perfect smile on her face to say: “So you are Jun Xie. I had heard that someone was staying here with Big Brother Zhuo and was feeling rather curious. I had thought that whoever Big Brother Zhuo chose to be friends with must undoubtedly be a nice person. And seeing you today has just confirmed my thoughts.”
Ning Xin’s voice was gentle and moving, her smile warm and sincere.
Jun Wu Xie was however unmoved and retorted bluntly: “Senior Ning must then be blind.”
She had a nice personality?
Yelp.
The smile on Ning Xin’s face froze. She had not expected Jun Xie to be so blunt with his first words to her.
Fan Zhuo did not seem to have noticed Ning Xin’s awkward predicament and said smilingly: “Little Xie’s personality is a little cold and does not like to mix with people. I hope Little Xin will not hold it against her.”
The way he put it might have sounded like he was helping Ning Xin to lift her out from embarrassment but he had in reality taken the cue from Jun Xie and slapped Ning Xin across the face.
She was able to tell that Jun Xie was nice just with one look? Jun Xie might be right when he had said Ning Xin must be blind.
The corners of Ning Xin’s mouth froze but fortunately for her, she was used to putting up a false front before others and she managed to hide her embarrassment rather well, as the smile on her face continued to shine.
“Nonsense, I still think Little Xie is a rather warm person.”
Jun Wu Xie raised an eyebrow slightly and said: “It seems that Senior Ning is not aware of my reputation among the people in the academy?”
The infamy of her name within the Zephyr Academy had spread to cover every corner and even Ah Jing who had previously resided within the detached little bamboo grove had heard about it, moreover for Ning Xin, who resides at the academy itself.
Clumsy acting, a fail!
Ning Xin had never spoken to Jun Xie before and she had thought that Jun Xie kept to himself because he was ostracised by all the others. And she had not expected that barely two sentences into their first conversation with each other, Ning Xin was suddenly feeling a stinging burn forming on her cheeks.
That little brat’s words were all filled with thorns, and it pricked at her to no end!
Ning Xin drew in a deep breath and quickly tried to recall if she had ever crossed paths with Jun Xie before, but after trying her hardest, she had no recollection of anything like that. She finally concluded that Jun Xie must have known of Yin Yan’s undeniable link to her and was hence so openly hostile to her now.
After she was able to ascertain the reason, Ning Xin was finally able to relax.
“Those unfounded rumours are not to be believed! Even now, hanging heavily over the Zephyr Academy are many vicious rumours about me. But the innocent knows they are innocent, and those rumours are spread only to vindicate the good. Big Brother Zhuo must have known what kind of person you really are before he agreed to let you stay here and he knows me, that I would never believe them. Why should we allow ourselves to get upset over nothing?” In an attempt to draw Jun Xie closer to her, Ning Xin had even exposed her own predicament to him, hoping to win some sympathy from being in the same boat, to diffuse the hostility that Jun Xie held against her.
At the same time, she was trying to exonerate herself, when in the future if Jun Xie or Fan Zhuo were to hear anything about the vicious things being said about her in the academy, they would just treat them as baseless ramblings.
Ning Xin had always prided herself on her ability to cover all bases when she carried out her schemes, but little did she realise that she was no match for the nimble minded Jun Wu Xie this time.
Jun Wu Xie watched on as Ning Xin played out her role in her act, her eyes chilly with frost. “But what if they said were true?”
Ning Xin froze once more.
“I have never been a nice person.” Jun Wu Xie was taking great delight in taking repeated digs at Ning Xin.
The game had only just started, she wanted to see how Ning Xin would squirm and writhe.
Ning Xin heaved a sigh of relief when she realised that Jun Xie was not talking about her but Jun Xie himself. But even before she could exhale that breath when she suddenly felt uncomfortably stifled and panicked. Who in the world debased themselves like that?
She had already said so many nice things to smoothen the whole situation yet Jun Xie was still unhesitatingly admitting that all that had been said about him was true. What did he expect her to say in reply to that?