ABBWW Chapter 63

Chapter 063 Sea King – “His smile is so beautiful.” (09/20)

Just as Siming Teji University had anticipated, how could the people from Kalandi College possibly agree to this deal?

Ye Mingxu’s reputation has been well-established for so long, who wouldn’t be wary of him?

The reason Lin Yiwen made such a “suggestion” was essentially to bypass Ye Mingxu. If they were to produce just two potions, and Siming Teji University let Ye Mingxu handle all of them, how could Kalandi College possibly win?

It would be hard enough to even tie.

The Kalandi students were well aware of this, so they held their ground and refused to budge.

Ye Mingxu had never been one for talking—if he spoke ten sentences in a day, that was considered a lot—and the people from Siming Teji University knew this well; they didn’t expect him to participate in the negotiations at all.

As for Shi Jingge, he was always gentle and didn’t like to argue with others. Being so young—most of the other students from Kalandi College were at least three years older than him—there was naturally no need for him to step in to negotiate.

So, just as the back-and-forth between the two sides reached its most intense point, Shi Jingge and Ye Mingxu were effectively forgotten.

Ye Mingxu quietly glanced at Shi Jingge, then quickly looked away. He glanced at him again, then stealthily took a step closer. After he took a few more steps, Shi Jingge became aware of his movements and looked up at him with a smile.

Ye Mingxu’s ears began to burn again. Feeling as though he’d received a sign of approval, he continued to sneak closer to Shi Jingge.

Then, Ye Mingxu suddenly realized that Shi Jingge was moving toward him as well!

Aaaah!! Ye Mingxu screamed inside his head; he didn’t know what he was screaming about, but he felt incredibly excited.

He was so excited that his hands were slightly shaking.

Ye Mingxu stared blankly at Shi Jingge. Shi Jingge noticed and looked back at him. Then, he smiled softly, his eyes crinkling at the corners. It was incredibly charming.

Ye Mingxu instinctively reached out and covered his eyes with his hands. How is he this adorable, ugh!

Ye Mingxu spread his fingers and peeked at Shi Jingge through the gaps, only to be caught red-handed. Shi Jingge winked at him then took a step toward Ye Mingxu.

Ye Mingxu: !!!

At that moment, Ye Mingxu felt a wave of heat rush straight to the top of his head, causing him to involuntarily bring his fingers together to block his view, then slowly shift toward Shi Jingge.

Ahead of them, the four students from Kalandi and the four from Siming Teji were deep in a heated exchange. On the other side, Lin Yiwen from Kalandi and Zhao Jiangcheng from Siming Teji were locking horns in a relentless deadlock.

Amidst the cauldron of the battle, the distance between Shi Jingge and Ye Mingxu grew ever smaller. Ye Mingxu hadn’t once lowered his hands, yet his steps were anything but hesitant. He was able to navigate precisely toward Shi Jingge.

Shi Jingge watched Ye Mingxu’s movements, his eyes brimming with amusement. Hmm, Ye Mingxu’s ears seemed to be getting even redder.

And so, the two gradually drew closer to each other.

Ye Mingxu lowered one hand and covered both eyes with the other, exposing his cheeks; they were so red they looked like they could cook an egg. Then, he fished the Winter Frost Grass out of his pocket and carefully held it out toward Shi Jingge.

His fingers were still trembling. But stubbornly, little by little, he extended the herb toward Shi Jingge.

His cheeks were burning, and so were his earlobes.

How could Shi Jingge bear to tease him any longer?

He took the Winter Frost Grass. But in that fleeting moment, his fingertips glided across Ye Mingxu’s palm; he even deliberately hooked them, tickling him.

Ye Mingxu: !!!

In the blink of an eye, Ye Mingxu felt as if his whole body had caught fire. He was burning up!

In his panic, he didn’t even have time to notice his own movements; he stumbled backward, and the friction of his shoes against the floor made a loud noise, instantly drawing the attention of everyone present!

Shi Jingge immediately tucked the Winter Frost Grass away in his pocket.

“Brother Xu!” The Siming Teji students rushed over. Seeing Ye Mingxu covering his face with both hands, they looked panicked. “Brother Xu, what’s wrong? Did that Kalandi student do something to you?”

“Nonsense!” The Kalandi students also hurried over, standing protectively around Shi Jingge. “Is it tradition to spout baseless lies and slander others at Siming Teji?”

“You people!”

“What’s wrong?”

“Let’s go,” Ye Mingxu said coldly. Leaving them behind, Ye Mingxu sprinted off as if the wind were under his feet, reaching the other side in the blink of an eye. The Siming Teji students hurried to follow while the Kalandi students turned back to check on Shi Jingge.

Shi Jingge smiled, his eyes crinkling. “He’s a really nice guy. He’s adorable.”

Kalandi students: ?

What caused such a stark difference in our assessments of Ye Mingxu?

Since the negotiations had failed, Kalandi’s side did not select Ye Mingxu, nor did Siming Teji’s side select Shi Jingge.

Mainly, Ye Mingxu realized that if he couldn’t take the stage and Shi Jingge did, the distance between him and Shi Jingge would only grow even wider.

In the end, the students chosen from both sides took the stage to prepare their potions, while the others gathered the ingredients for them.

The two students on stage, waiting to brew their potions with nothing else to do, could only glare at each other. In less than five minutes, they had exchanged dozens of fiery glares.

Occasionally, Ye Mingxu would glance up, and a flicker of envy would cross his mind.

If it were him and Shi Jingge up there, they would surely be staring at each other like that, too.

The two students on stage: ?

Please call this a battle, thank you.

Soon, the Kalandi students were captivated by Shi Jingge’s technique for preparing the potion ingredients. Previously, when making potions at school, everyone had used ingredients that had already been roughly processed by the school; they simply needed to cut them into appropriate strips, shreds, chunks, or powder. The task requirements were much simpler then, but this time was different.

What they now had in their hands were whole spiritual flowers, herbs, and fruits, completely unprocessed.

For example, they now needed the sap from the rhizome of the River Bamboo Flower. At school, they’d been provided with River Bamboo Flower rhizomes that had already had their protective membranes removed; all they had to do was cut open the rhizome to extract the sap. But now, what lay before them was an entire River Bamboo Flower plant.

Its rhizome was unique; it was hidden inside the flower, winding in a circular pattern. Both the flower’s sap and the protective membrane that covered the rhizome possessed subtle toxicity and corrosiveness, making them troublesome to handle and often requiring considerable time.

But when Shi Jingge handled the River Bamboo Flower, he did so with great efficiency and precision.

He didn’t even wear the specialized gloves; instead, using those special scissors, he effortlessly cut it open, carefully avoiding any areas where the sap might leak out, and swiftly pried out the rhizome.

The rhizome was covered by a protective membrane with a corrosiveness that was even stronger than the sap’s. In the past, many alchemists had failed at this very step, which later led to the invention of a special type of glove designed to resist these corrosive alchemical materials.

But Shi Jingge didn’t need them at all. He selected a small knife, thrust it straight through the protective membrane, and in the next second, pried the rhizome out intact. The entire process was done in one fluid motion; his movements were so crisp and precise that he didn’t give the protective membrane a moment to affect him!

The senior students standing nearby were completely stunned.

Shi Jingge tapped the rhizome with the back of the knife, as if searching for the right spot. Soon, he pinpointed the location, switched to a long needle, and pricked it there. The sap inside the rhizome was extracted smoothly.

Not far away, a hint of admiration flashed in Lin Yiwen’s eyes.

With Ye Mingxu on Siming Teji’s team, their progress was naturally swift. Zhao Jiangcheng glanced smugly toward Kalandi’s group, only to discover that their progress was in no way slower than Siming Teji’s!

Pursuing speed at the expense of damaging the energy contained within the potion ingredients would be a case of losing more than one gain, Zhao Jiangcheng thought with a touch of contempt.

Soon, all the ingredients for the antidote were prepared and distributed to the students on the platform, who would then use them to craft it. And to his surprise, the energy contained in the ingredients from both sides was virtually equal!

Zhao Jiangcheng’s breath caught in his throat as his gaze swept over Kalandi’s students. At that moment, he suddenly realized he had underestimated Lin Yiwen. But he had seen Lin Yiwen’s students before. While their talent was decent, how could they possibly compare to Ye Mingxu?

This was supposed to be a sure win for the Siming Teji team. But the situation had changed.

Zhao Jiangcheng’s gaze gradually settled on Shi Jingge.

…Was it him? He was a bit young. But if he weren’t exceptionally gifted, why would Lin Yiwen choose a student from the Intermediate Division to join the team?

He’d been too arrogant. Zhao Jiangcheng’s heart sank.

The two students on stage began preparing their potions. They’d both made low-level antidotes before, but after all, they were just students. One couldn’t expect them to produce a perfect basic antidote.

The two students made quite a few careless mistakes in their preparation, causing Zhao Jiangcheng and Lin Yiwen to occasionally frown.

In the end, both produced mid-grade low-level antidotes. It was a draw.

“Let’s draw lots,” Zhao Jiangcheng said flatly.

Lin Yiwen nodded.

Drawing lots was simple. They just had an optical computer do it. First, Kalandi’s side drew Shi Jingge.

Kalandi’s senior patted Shi Jingge on the shoulder. “Good luck!”

Lin Yiwen was also fairly satisfied with this result.

It was Siming Teji’s turn.

Ye Mingxu stared intently at Shi Jingge, hoping more desperately than ever before to be chosen.

Pick me. Choose me. I want to stand beside him. I want to look into his eyes.

Not to mention Ye Mingxu—who among the Siming Teji students didn’t hope that Ye Mingxu would be the one drawn?

With everyone’s hopes united like this, the draw results were announced.

It was Ye Mingxu!

The Siming Teji students nearly shouted in unison; even Zhao Jiangcheng couldn’t help but let the corners of his mouth curl upward.

Zhao Jiangcheng looked down at Lin Yiwen and nodded condescendingly. “My luck’s been pretty good today.”

“What a coincidence,” Lin Yiwen said flatly. “My luck’s been pretty good, too.”

Zhao Jiangcheng didn’t care that Lin Yiwen was putting on a brave face; the results would be out soon anyway, so what difference did it make if Lin Yiwen kept up his tough act for another two minutes?

At that moment, the students from Kalandi College and Siming Teji University were in completely different states of mind. Kalandi was restless while Siming Teji was confident in their victory.

Although no one spoke, the air was thick with tension as the two sides locked eyes.

Neither Ye Mingxu nor Shi Jingge noticed any of this.

Moving with incredible speed, Ye Mingxu was the first to go on stage and then looked expectantly at Shi Jingge.

Shi Jingge walked at a more leisurely pace, but smiled at Ye Mingxu when he arrived too.

Ye Mingxu pinched the palm of his hand.

His smile really was beautiful.

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Author’s Note: What do you call this?

It’s called: “You guys are fighting down there, while we’re falling in love up here” hehehe

Edit: Krone

Proofread: Choux_choux