Chapter 24: · Mint Part 1

When Han Fu had reached out to ask for a reward, he really had been… harboring a few little schemes and hidden depths.

There was one thing he hadn’t mentioned to Pei Zhen.

Around the middle of his afternoon match against the Fourth Phase Class, classes had let out for the day at three o’clock. Yu Wenzhe, along with that wall-of-a-man Fatty Gu Jingxing, had both run over to the Circular Tier to watch him compete.

Han Fu: …There’s really nothing much to see, actually.

Although before the match that morning, he’d been filled with restless unease, completely unsure of himself.

But when it rolled around to the afternoon, he was already refreshed and in his element, handling everything with practiced ease, his earlier nerves completely gone. It was like Super Mario eating a Super Mushroom and a Super Star, entering an invincible-buff state, radiating the domineering aura of, “Come on, little monsters, come at me if you dare. One comes, I’ll kill one; two come, I’ll slaughter a pair.”

The truth was… his opponents were much easier to deal with than he’d imagined.

At the start, a few people had been a little annoyed with him, muttering things like, “Didn’t he just win against Lister on a fluke with that Identify?” and, “He’s only been studying perfumery for how long? Let’s see if he actually has the skills to back up the hype.” But after two matches, a dead silence had fallen over the venue.

And then, some people had simply slipped away in silence.

The ones who stayed, however, transformed into his fanboys and fangirls.

They found seats nearby and watched the entire rest of the competition. From his morning matches against the Phase 2 Class, all the way to his afternoon battle against the Fourth Phase Class, like soccer fans who’d bought tickets to the game. At first, they’d held back somewhat, but by the afternoon, they’d leveled up into a professional cheerleading squad, looking like they were ready to smear on war paint, unfurl banners, and compose chants.

“Go, Han Fu! Destroy, destroy, destroy them!”

“Let those Fourth Phase Class guys keep looking down on us! Ha ha, a Phase 1 Class making it to the finals and taking the recommendation spot – it’s all on you now!”

Han Fu: “…”

Thankfully, at least within the scope of today, he could live up to their expectations. He was naturally gifted when it came to Identify and wouldn’t lose. And when it came to replicating perfumes, no one in the Fourth Phase Class seemed capable of even putting up a decent fight against him. Under the intense pressure of the surrounding newbies enthusiastically cheering for Han Fu, they’d panicked, gotten shaky hands, screwed up, and made a slew of basic errors—all sorts of sedimentation…

Ha ha, sedimentation. Han Fu, as someone who suffered from random sedimentary catastrophes on a daily basis, now had the chops to laugh at others for it.

All of this, thanks to Zhenzhen’s excellent teaching.

He wished he could just shout it out: I get special one-on-one guidance every day from a seasoned, industry-elite boyfriend. Jealous?

By the time the match was down to its last group and the halftime break arrived, Han Fu was already completely relaxed and cheerful. Yu Wenzhe just happened to come over with some crispy little biscuits, so he ate and ate to fill his grumbling stomach.

While munching, he even sincerely whispered a reminder to Yu Wenzhe and Fatty not to waste their precious pre-match time here: “Seriously, it doesn’t seem like there’s anyone particularly skilled in the Fourth Phase Class that you need to watch out for.”

That was the honest truth.

After all, he’d also seen the flashy skill showdown between Fatty and Yi Changkong during their Advancement Exam. Today’s group didn’t even have 10% of their ability.

He really didn’t know how Grasse Academy divided its classes. From Phase 1 to Phase 4, it sounded like a four-tier difference, but based on what Han Fu had personally tested today, the distinction wasn’t all that big.

But the gap from Phase 4 to Phase 6, on the other hand, was a heaven-and-earth difference between “haven’t even started” and “true mastery.”

No wonder he’d never heard of anyone who studied hard but couldn’t make it to Phase 4. Yet there were constant rumors of people stuck after Phase 4, unable to advance to Phase 5 no matter what, or, as Yu Wenzhe often complained, unable to climb from Phase 5 to Phase 6.

“We didn’t come to watch them in the first place,” Yu Wenzhe said. “Jingxing and I came to watch you.”

Han Fu: “…”

“‘Know thyself and know thy enemy, and you shall never be defeated.’ You aren’t the only one who thought to scout the competition beforehand. Anyone truly serious about winning wouldn’t ignore such a big threat.”

At this, Bun Face snatched back his little biscuits. “Alright, stop eating! Tomorrow, we’ll be crossing blades ourselves. Might as well start getting used to the enemy’s role from now on.”

Han Fu froze. It was only then that he remembered. Right! Tomorrow was the mixed match with the Fifth Phase Class. And Yu Wenzhe was in the Fifth Phase Class.

“I hope we both get that final qualifying spot.”

Bun Face extended his hand toward him. Normally he was so fond of laughing, but he wasn’t smiling now. His eyes were full of earnest determination. “I’ll give it my absolute all and won’t pull any punches. So, see you on the battlefield tomorrow.”

Battlefield. Enemy.

Han Fu felt a little dazed. Actually, just a few days ago, Pei Zhen had used those exact same words.

When talking about his upcoming competition, the vocabulary hadn’t been “arena” or “opponent,” but “battlefield” and “enemy.”

Back then he’d thought… that’s my Zhenzhen for you, a graduate of a top-tier university—his Chinese language exam scores must have been sky-high; his word choice is so vivid and expressive.

Now, he suddenly felt a bit lost.

It wasn’t just “vivid imagery”…

He licked the biscuit crumbs from his fingers and inconspicuously wiped them on his body. He straightened his posture against the chair.

Was he… getting a little carried away by the cheers and admiration of the entire day?

For others, this place was a genuine “battlefield,” not some casual game you could win or lose without consequence.

It was the dream Yu Wenzhe had quit his job for, disregarding his future, staking everything on this one desperate gamble. It was the obsession Zhenzhen clung to, having endured brutal setbacks and covered in wounds, yet absolutely refusing to give up on returning to the pinnacle.

And what, exactly, was he treating this arena as?

That day, when Pei Zhen had taken the wrong medication and cried until he was a muddled mess, he’d said over and over: You’d better quit. Without passion, without love, it’s impossible to succeed in the end.

Although Pei Zhen hadn’t brought it up again after that, Han Fu often thought back to those words, his feelings tangled and complicated.

Beside him, Yu Wenzhe let out an “Ah!”, interrupting his thoughts and pointing behind him.

“Look, look! Not just us, Yi Changkong came too!”

Who?

Well, f his uncle.

Are you fing kidding me?

He went to look at the reviews, and they were consistently “rich, mysterious, sexy.” The awarding institution, Library, was ultimately a foreign outfit, and Han Fu genuinely couldn’t figure it out: was the aesthetic difference between foreign countries and our country really that huge? Did foreign devils honestly think cilantro was mysterious and sexy?

Anyway, as far as he was concerned, every bottle of sweet little scent his Zhenzhen casually whipped up was infinitely better than Yi’s cilantro water!

It was with these thoughts of Yi Changqing and cilantro swirling in his head, and the assist from this secret simmering rage, that the entire match was settled in under an hour.

…

Gu Jingxing clapped his hands in a “papapa” rhythm. “Not bad, not bad at all. Those last few twirls of the test tubes were mad cool—carry a bit of my usual flair.”

Han Fu: “…”

I used a mattress and still broke dozens of little test tubes practicing that ultra-cool bottle-toss move of Zhenzhen’s… and you say it has your flair?!

Gu Jingxing: “But hey, was your mind wandering the whole time just now?”