"Ah Qingyang! How are you? Haven''t seen you in a while!" Ma Shuxin got up and hugged Mei Qingyang. Mrs. Zhao was keeping an eye to report it to the master later. She would make sure to praise this new lass in front of him.

    "Ah? Ah!" Mei Qingyang was confused. When had they become so close that she was hugging her like this? If someone saw her, they would think that her and this girl were best friends.

    "I was so worried about you. I wanted to meet you after your… your incident. And then I came to watch your match too. You were so cool there, I had no idea you could fight like that," Ma Shuxin kept blabbering on, confusing Mei Qingyang more and more.

    "Umm… did you need anything from me? You came all the way here; I am assuming you went through the whole process of application?" Mei Qingyang urged her to sit down on the sofa with a signal and sat down on the opposite side of hers while they waited for Mrs. Zhao to brew the tea.

    "I don''t need to have a reason to meet a friend, do I?" Ma Shuxin picked up the glass of water on the table and took a sip. She winked at Mei Qingyang.

    Now, Mei Qingyang was bewildered. What was this over familiar attitude of this girl? She did remember when she was being bullied by those girls in her class, Ma Shuxin would sometimes help her out in cleaning stuff. Was it because she was a foreign bred wealthy kid?

    She did not seem to have any malice in her. Should she accept her as an acquaintance for now? If assistant Yu let her in, then he must have done his due diligence already. But then again, no one but only time could tell what went in someone''s heart. So for now, she would maintain appropriate distance.

    She glanced at the girl in front of her once again and found a very friendly smile blooming on Ma Shuxin''s face. Well, there was no way one could not be charmed by that innocence.

    "Oh well. Yeah… so…," despite everything, Mei Qingyang was at a loss for words. What would she talk about with this girl? With her friends back at her parents'' home, she could talk to them about martial arts or coding the whole time and time would fly. Here, she had to discuss her plans and the information going around, so she was comfortable talking to Yu Tian and Su Lang.

    What to say to this girl though? Her eyes darted around in indecision. A peal of laughter escaped Ma Shuxin''s mouth.

    "Ahem, so, are you enjoying your stay here?" The sharp-witted girl understood Mei Qingyang''s dilemma and thus started the conversation.

    Mrs. Zhao was just serving the tea on the table when she harrumphed in a low voice.

    Mei Qingyang did not like Mrs. Zhao''s attitude. In this era, where any kind of information could work against her own master, she was openly showing her disdain towards the person her master was trying to protect. She was sabotaging her own master''s efforts.

    No matter how close Ma Shuxin was to Mei Qingyang, Mrs. Zhao needed to hold back her emotions. Later, Mei Qingyang needed to talk to assistant Yu to teach her a few things.

    "Yes, Young Master Yu has helped me out a lot," Mei Qingyang replied politely. She did not show much excitement nor any negative emotion. If this girl had approached her for gossip, she had already got enough with Mrs. Zhao''s demeanor. Mei Qingyang did not need to add fuel to the fire.

    "Oh? Is this a maiden in love speaking? Kyaa~ Are you truly the chosen one?" Ma Shuxin was too excited. She stood up from her seat and walked to the seat just beside Mei Qingyang. She held her hands in excitement.

    "M… maiden in love? What are you talking about? Are you believing all those rumors?" Sweat appeared on Mei Qingyang''s forehead. It was quite tiring to be talking to this too nice of a person. With others, she at least knew their intention, so she could keep her conversations short and sweet.

    What was this feeling? It was like she was entertaining someone of importance as a wife of a duke or something.

    "I mean, think about it rationally. If he were not interested in you, why would he keep you here with him and hide you from the world? Did you know, there was a time when the pictures of your scars were circulating around. And then, within a day, it all went poof! Who do you think did that? Young Master Yu must care for you so much!" This girl didn''t know when to stop, did she?

    On the other side, Mrs. Zhao''s face was getting darker and darker. Young master did all that for this lowly commoner?

    "He is probably helping me out because he was kind of involved, it must just be guilt. He is such a mighty person, he can''t really be interested in me," Mei Qingyang dodged the topic with ambiguous attitude, dropping a hint to both Ma Shuxin and Mrs. Zhao that the Young Master Yu was an incredible celebrity out of her reach. She was still not sure how her words were going to spread around after this conversation.

    The boys arrived in the meantime.

    "Gosh! That was tiring. What do you think she is planning?" Su Lang asked Yu Tian as they entered his house. Then they saw an unfamiliar face and they shut up immediately.

    "Oh, young master Yu, young master Su, my name is Ma Shuxin. Nice to meet you both," she bowed courteously to both of them. She could not believe her eyes, she was seeing the two most beloved celebrities in the school right here, in front of her eyes, standing a few feet away.

    Yu Bufan whispered in both of their ears about the history of how she came about to be. They both nodded their heads, as aloof as ever. They both left for Yu Tian''s bedroom since Yu Tian had given away his guest room to Mei Qingyang. He did not want to invade her privacy.

    "Wow, they look so much handsome in casual clothes. In the classes, they only wear formal clothes. You are living in a heaven Qingyang!" she commented.

    "Haha, I don''t know what to say," Mei Qingyang ignored the comment. From the conversation of the two guys earlier, she had gotten the permission but there were conditions. She had expected this much.

    She kept looking towards their direction throughout her conversation with Ma Shuxin. Ma Shuxin was the only one speaking, giving her updates of what was happening in their classes. The three TAs had stopped coming, so quite a few girls had stopped going to classes too. There was no policy regarding compulsory attendance in this college anyway.

    "Hmm… It seems like you are not interested in talking to me anymore. Fine, I will take my leave for today. I had got you a few notes for past two weeks, since all our courses are common and final exams are right after the tournament. I hope you get permission to attend that tournament though. Wish you good luck," Ma Shuxin then left the house.

    Mei Qingyang hurried into the room where the two guys were in a very serious mood.

    "What happened?" she asked curiously.

    "She agreed but will be coming with us", Su Lang told her with his hand on his forehead. What should they be looking out for? How could that witch harm Mei Qingyang again?

    "That could definitely be a problem but we need to focus on the tournament now. I was looking at the videos from previous matches. It should not be hard but I can''t guarantee anything to be honest," Mei Qingyang tried to shift the topic. She would need to watch out for her, otherwise she would not be able to contact her family.

    "Ah, cousin, did you tell dad about what is happening here already?"

    "We…," Su Lang hesitated a bit but he knew he could not hide anything from this clever little lass, so he explained honestly, "He has been calling me almost every day. He is very worried about you."

    "Ah damn! I had wanted to hide Yu Rong''s incident from him but I don''t think anything escapes him. Unfortunately, his network here is too strong too, he must have gotten the information anyway," she sighed. Having a powerful dad was also a problem. Her every move would be monitored by her dad. He would definitely blame these two guys for the shame that was brought to her honor.

    "Young Masters, everything is ready," Yu Bufan appeared to inform the guys that they were ready to leave any moment for the tournament now.

    "The matches start on Monday. We will be travelling today and resting for tomorrow. Tomorrow is a snow forecast at that place, so we are leaving early," Yu Tian explained Mei Qingyang, who obviously, looked perplexed. They had not told her to pack or anything. Neither had she gotten her official uniform yet!

    "Oh, and here is a gift for you," Su Lang took the box from Yu Bufan and gave it to her.

    "Is… is it what I think it is?" Mei Qingyang''s eyes shone with excitement. She looked at the exquisite box with moist eyes. She had always wanted to go on field trips and club outings with friends. Unfortunately, her dad had decided to homeschool her. It did pay off, she learnt way more than what she could have in a traditional school.

    She opened the box and a fresh scent of new clothes hit her nose. A navy-blue colored uniform with the school''s logo was beautifully wrapped. She wiped her tears of happiness.

    "Jiu Jitsu gi? Are you putting me in Jiu Jitsu team?" To be honest, they had not discussed any details about what martial arts she would be competing in or what would be her level. Now that she looked at the uniform, she realized these guys really knew how to play to the strengths of their teammates.

    Su Lang and Yu Tian both nodded at each other.

    "Yeah, we determined that would be the best. We do not have anyone else competing in Jiu Jitsu in men''s team either. Feng Yue was the one best in this, we have decided to keep his spot empty this year," Su Lang informed. They both sighed together since they missed their friend.

    Ah! I brought down the mood again!

    "A… and, black belt? I just learned it for fun, I never appeared for any exams," Mei Qingyang wasn''t sure if she could get the black belt directly.

    "Don''t worry about it. We are official teachers as well. We can award you that based on your skill. You were great that day. We have already taken care of registration and all, you are officially a black belt," Su Lang cheered her up.

    "Don''t think about much and just try this on. We still have time, we will get it fit if it is not already. We leave in two hours," Yu Tian declared.

    Oh, then it was finally time for the tournament then…