It was in the evening when the bus reached their destination. The students left the bus in awe as they glimpsed the surroundings. They weren’t in the wilderness as all of them were hoping. In fact, it was an open land covered with nothing but grass and tall trees.

They could hear a slight voice of something. It was the sound of flowing water.

The sun had yet to set but the sky was covered in hues of red and violet.

If there was heaven on earth, at this moment, it was this place.

“Students, hurry up! We have to set up tents or the sun will set and we will have difficulty in making arrangements for spending the night, ” The teacher yelled as he started taking out stuff from the bus.

The students who were immersed in watching the beautiful nature came out of their daze and began moving to help the teacher.

An Xiulan and Song Xueyun ran first to help the teacher in carrying the stuff while the other students moved after a while.

“Xiulan, two students will share the tent. Why don’t you share it with me?” Song Xueyun asked. She was not comfortable sharing a tent with other girls.

An Xiulan nodded her head. She would have said yes to anyone who would have asked first. Since it was Song Xueyun who asked her first, she just said yes to her. This was how simple her way of thinking was.

After taking out the things from the bus, the teachers began giving a lesson to students on how to set up a tent.

“Cheat prince, help me, “An Xiulan said as she and Song Xueyun failed to set up their tent.

Han Zixin nodded his head and went to help An Xiulan while Song Xueyun was staring at Lu Xuan who was trying to set up his tent alone._.

“Let me help you, ” Song Xueyun whispered as she saw Lu Xuan struggling.

“I don’t need your help, ” Lu Xuan said, begrudgingly.

Song Xueyun didn’t listen to him and began helping him in the way she could. Thankfully, he didn’t try to push her away. While he was setting up the tent, she was stealing glances at him. As he looked up to glance at her, she quickly lowered her gaze as if she wanted to do something embarrassing.

“Cheat Prince, ” An Xiulan whispered.

“Hmm?” Han Zixin looked at her.

“Do you think something is wrong with Song Xueyun?” An Xiulan asked. “Why is she stealing glances at my brother? Don’t tell me..”

“Oh no!” An Xiulan muttered as she hit her head lightly.

“Puppy love?” Both of them said at the same time.

“We must stop them!” They said at the same time again.

They looked into each other’s eyes and then nodded with determination.

On the other hand, all the tents were set up and all the students had decided who they were going to share the room with except for Han Zixin and Lu Xuan.

No one wanted to share the tent with the two notorious tyrants of Jingyuan high.

They didn’t want to die!

“Han Zixin and Lu Xuan, you will share the tents,” The teacher said.

“No!” Both the boys said at the same time.

“Then, I can share the tent with Zixin,” An Xiulan nonchalantly suggested and Song Xueyun flushed as she realised where it left them with the option.

“You dare,” Lu Xuan screamed as he pulled An Xiulan behind his back.

“What’s wrong with my suggestion?” An Xiulan asked him with a frown etched on her forehead. “You don’t want to accommodate Zixin. You don’t want me to make sacrifices for you. Aren’t you being an ass now?”

“I would rather be an ass than have you sleep with this bastard!” Lu Xuan growled.

“You are a jerk,” An Xiulan said on his face. “And if you call my best friend a bastard again, I will break your face.”

“How dare you take the side of an outsider rather than your own brother?” Lu Xuan asked angrily.

The crowd gasped.

Boss Lu and Campus Belle are siblings?

They started murmuring about them as Han Zixin gave them a cold glance, they gulped and went back to look for other work to do than stand there.

“I like him way better than you,” An Xiulan scoffed.

The tips of Han Zixin’s ear reddened as he glanced at her arrogant posture and his heart thumped in his chest.

Someone like him?

“Ridiculous, ” Lu Xuan muttered as he looked at his sister. “I wish you weren’t my sister!”

His words hurt An Xiulan for some reasons but she didn’t show anything on her face.

The teachers decided to intervene and announced that Han Zixin and Lu Xuan would be sharing the tent and no one said anything in disagreement.historical

And just like this, the subject of sleeping was finished.

An Xiulan was helping the teachers with cooking while the rest of the students were doing other tasks as many didn’t know anything about cooking.

She was slowly cutting onions and tears were trickling down her cheeks.

Why was she crying?

Oh, it was the onion.

Not because someone’s words hurt her.

Han Zixin, who was watching the scene from a distance, clenched his fist. He had an urge to beat up this Lu boy but he unilaterally signed a truce agreement with Lu Xuan when he found out that An Xiulan and the latter were related. She was his friend. No, best friend. It was her who announced him as her best friend. So, he wouldn’t lose her because of one entitled boy.

“Let me do this, “Han Zixin said as he took the knife from her hand and began chopping the onions and other vegetables quickly.

“Wow, Zixin, you are so good at it,” An Xiulan said in awe.

Han Zixin smiled as he paused and wiped tears from her face with his sleeve. “En. My mom was so good at cooking. She taught me so many skills. Cooking was one of them. I still cook for myself.”

By his mom, he meant his adoptive mother.

“Can you teach me cooking?” An Xiulan asked. It would be so nice if she got to know cooking. It was only now after she came there did she understood how important it was to learn the basic skills of living like cooking, setting up a place to sleep and all. She was living an entitled life and now that she stepped out of her protective house did she get to know how important it was for her to learn all those skills.

“Why do you need to learn? I will always be with you. You can wash the vegetables and I will always cook for you,” Han Zixin smiled and An Xiulan looked at him in a daze. “I’m afraid that you will hurt yourself in the kitchen. You cut less onions and wasted those precious pearls more. So, you focus on the eating department and I will focus more on cooking those delicacies for you.”

“Why are you so nice to me?” An Xiulan ended up asking.

“Because..”Han Zixin paused for a moment to ponder about the answer. But he found out that he didn’t need to find the answer as he was always aware of that. “Because you are the best thing that has ever happened to me.”

There are two kinds of people– people who get what they desire after working hard for it and others who just can’t stop suffering. Han Zixin was from the second category – even if he worked too hard for something he wanted, he would never get anything except for suffering.

However, An Xiulan was the best surprise that life has given to him.

When life gave him nothing but troubles after troubles, she came into his life with innocence, naivety, sweetness and glitters.

Her innocence made someone like him who matured at such a young age want to be innocent and naive once again. Her glittering clothes and eyeliners brought glitters and sunshine to his life. Her candies brought sweetness to his life and heart.

Someone who would only taste the bitterness in chocolate could now appreciate its sweetness too.

Thus, he could proudly say that she was the best thing that had ever happened to him.

“I better be the best. I don’t like to be good or better,” An Xiulan told him. She was telling him that she wished to be people’s first priority, not second or third.

She would rather be someone’s first priority or not at all.

“You are the best one. I can promise you that, ” Han Zixin chuckled as he patted her head. She had grown tall and he could no longer pat her like he used to. “You have grown taller.”

“Of course, I’m tall now,” An Xiulan grinned. “I have to become Misa China after all.”

“You are Miss universe in my heart,” Han Zixin commented.

“For a moment, I thought you said that I’m your entire universe,” An Xiulan laughed but she didn’t see a complicated look on his face that disappeared after a while.