Falling Dreams, Rising Hopes: Saving Mr. Boyfriend

"Master," Su Weixi choked up again. She had nothing but gratitude in her heart for her master.

Mei Qingyang was not feeling like a third wheel. She also realized her brother's feelings for his assistant were deeper than she had thought.

*Sorry Wei Qiqi, you will need to find someone else. I cannot bear to part these lovebirds.*

"Ahem," Mei Qingyang coughed lightly. Su Weixi separated from her master right away as she realized she was overstepping her boundaries. Su Lang's longing gaze lingered over his assistant but he let her go.

"Assistant Su, I appreciate the fact that you are thinking of the kids' future there. And I will admit it was a hasty decision on account of myself. But I don't think I cannot not save them. We will see how to condition them later. Right now, their lives are of utmost importance," Mei Qingyang calmly stated.

Although Su Weixi was quite against it, she knew ultimately those children need their childhood back. They had a right to better treatment, poor or not.

"Do know Ms. Mei then, if you fail, all those kids would die," Su Weixi nodded and gave her silent blessing to Mei Qingyang. A warm feeling enveloped her heart. Perhaps, even during her time, someone was thinking of her and the other kids. Her master did take her out of that misery. Although a lot of her friends died, they were probably in better places than the ones who survived.

"Please be assured assistant Yu, I would not do anything at such a large scale without a plan. Okay brother, this idea gets pushed for another month then. We will take action after New Year. I guess I will go and study for the exams," Mei Qingyang abruptly ended her visit. She thought these two people needed time to talk it out perhaps. The tender look in her brother's eyes was something she had not seen for herself even. It meant that his assistant meant a lot to him.

"Qing Qing," Su Lang called her as she was stepping out of the door of his dorm room. She turned around with curiosity, what did he have to say now?

"Thank you!" He was just so grateful to this lass that she made Weixi open up to them. Sure, the method was not the best one, but he had tried to breach the topic so many times, only for her to retreat into her shell more than before. If love did not work, agitation did. And he really appreciated her intervention in this.

It was a coincidence that Weixi came from that place. A lot of servants in most of the households, especially for a lot of students here who could afford it, back from their homes. Yu Tian's almost whole fleet came from his aunt and dad.

Mei Qingyang just smiled and left.

For the rest of the day, there was in itch in her heart to go and visit that place. But the gruesome details that Weixi had provided her made her want to put it off after her exams at least. Her information seemed to farfetched to Mei Qingyang.

No one would be able to do that to small children, would they? She wanted to visit and see it for herself. This was too large scale an operation for it to go unnoticed by everyone, unless they were just feigning ignorance or were really unaware like Su Lang.

For now, she needed to focus on surviving the semester.

Next day, the exams finally started. Interestingly, it seemed like people had forgotten her existence. No one snarled any bitchy remarks to her, not there was any bullying. Even Gu Layue seemed to ignore her. Did her reputation become good after her tournament? Or was it that they realized that she knew some combat arts and had just not been taking any action against them?

She saw Ma Shuxin sitting at the back of the class, their usual place.

"What is going on, there was no reaction on my entry in the classroom?" Mei Qingyang whispered to the other person.

"Oh! It is probably because they are just too stressed out to notice your presence. Not everyone is a prodigy like you. They need to study to pass the exams," Ma Shuxin replied. She was a scholar student too, so she seemed quite prepared.

Mei Qingyang nodded and then went quiet. It was good that it was peaceful and she did not have to deal with some more snobbish brats.

The exams went on over the course of four days and only Yu Tian was handling the exams for first year students. Su Lang and Feng Yue were still recuperating. They did not even need to appear for the exams, so both of them were enjoying rest from everything.

Nothing extraordinary happened during this time, which Mei Qingyang was really thankful for. Yu Tian kept quietly looking out for her, without much conversation between them for a whole week. This change was noticed by everyone, including the staff at Yu Tian's room. He was always annoyed with one thing or another and would find faults for no reason.

He had reverted back to his cold ruthless self, much to chagrin of everyone. Only Yu Bufan knew what kind of turmoil his master was going through.

"Master, please do not vent out your anger on poor souls. You made that maid cry earlier," Yu Bufan would tell him in between, to ask him to keep his behavior in check.

"They should be scolded for what they did wrong. I should just fire them, they all are incompetent fools," replied Yu Tian, carelessly, as he was going through some financial statements.

"Bufan, why have we made this much loss for last quarter? Is the business not going well?" Yu Tian asked his assistant as he was still sifting through the papers on his table.

"That was Yu Rong blocking our resources. It was taken care of later. We must start posting profits next month," Yu Bufan explained. Yu Rong had been meddling in their business quite frequently now. And this had been a headache for Yu Bufan. He had been withholding the news from his master, taking care of everything on his own.

"Hmm? Why did you not tell me earlier?" Yu Tian finally looked at his assistant who was standing at the side, guilt in his eyes.

"I just did not think you needed to know," he averted his gaze.

"If you have been able to take care of it, it's fine. Has there been any summons from her yet?" Yu Tian asked.

"Not yet. Master, why don't you tell her straight away that you are now a grown up? She does not need to do that to you."

A pained expression painted over Yu Tian's face. If only it were so easy. Who, in their right mind, wanted to be bullied, especially by their own family member?

"If I had a choice Bufan, I would have done that already! Why do you think I jumped at the first opportunity to go away from here that year? If it were not for that incident, I would have never come back," Yu Tian sighed.

"Abroad was so nice. I did not have anyone to hinder on my path. And I found you there. I don't think I needed anything else," he put down the papers in his hands and went to rest up. Yu Bufan regretted bringing that up, he knew it was one thing that pushed his master's buttons. If only, he could solve this problem for him.

-------------------

On the following Monday, everyone was excited. The semester was over, they would post the exam results today. The people who failed would need to stay behind and attend extra lessons. But rest of the school would get to go to New Year Trip.

This was a tradition in the school. Each level of school and college got to go to different place, it was the most anticipated event of the year for everyone. The decision of places was made by popular vote online. This time, the high school and middle school were going to south, a warm place on beach while the college had chosen a winter resort with popular sports like skiing and snowboarding.

In actuality, no one wanted to remain in the snow, everyone would have chosen the beach. But for some reason, the result came out to be so. The college students unanimously g.r.o.a.n.e.d. How would they be able to show off their accessories and perfect bodies now? But the final results were final results, they had to accept.

Everyone started getting ready for the trip. Snow shoes, snow jacket, so much preparation was required. The whole campus market buzzed with activity for two days. Mei Qingyang remained holed up in her room for the winters were unbearable to her. Added to the fact that people in the bas.e.m.e.nt did not have adequate heating, she had no choice but to be in her blanket the whole day.

The day just before the trip, a soft knock on her door finally made her get out of the bed. She opened the door and found Yu Tian standing on the door, chattering in the cold.