From the Heavens Descended an Immortal Sister

Chapter 54: Chapter 53: Heaven Never Favors

"Fang Ren, since you entered the school, your conduct has been improper! You show no ambition!"

Teacher Huang's pent-up frustration from over the years erupted, as he continued while tapping on the podium, "I remember when Liu Qianqian was a freshman, how hardworking and diligent she was in her studies.

She was able to grasp the essence of a Qi and Blood Pill within just three days, and was unanimously recognized by all our tutors as a promising student capable of competing at the provincial level this year. But look at her now?

It's been five days since she has been studying the Gathering Qi Pill, and she's still haphazardly throwing herbs into the furnace!"

As Teacher Huang's voice fell, Liu Qianqian realized that she had thrown all the herbs available on the desk into the furnace in one go, and the water inside was about to overflow.

"Qian Qian, what's going on with you? Why did you suddenly throw in the herbs so randomly?" Li Xinyue nudged Liu Qianqian's shoulder and asked with concern in a soft voice.

"I... it's nothing."

Liu Qianqian hung her head, not wanting to say anything more.

"Ms. Liu Qianqian!" Teacher Huang looked at Liu Qianqian with helplessness and said, "Even though no one can interfere with your private emotions, as your tutor, I sincerely advise you to stop fooling around with Fang Ren every day. Look at yourself when you first enrolled, and then look at you now.

You are the best student in our entire medical department. You should prioritize your honor."

"I understand..."

Liu Qianqian nodded, her face no longer filled with the smiles of the past.

The final result of the class was that only three groups' pills didn't meet the standards. The first was Fang Ren's group; Jian Qi'er was left alone, fumbling about while nearly blowing up the entire furnace.

Another was Liu Qianqian's group; the herbs were thrown in altogether, resulting in a clump of black charcoal. The last group was Jing Haichuan and Li Xingwang's; they had never succeeded in forming anything through alchemy...

With the end of the last class in the afternoon, Fang Ren could finally return to the classroom to pack his things and head home with Mu Huanqing. The classmates coming and going would tease them upon seeing them.

Fang Ren wanted to explain, but the group of guys all threw him an 'we understand' look before leaving.

After packing his things, Fang Ren suddenly felt the urge to urinate, so he asked Mu Huanqing to wait for him in the classroom while he went to the bathroom.

A few minutes later, Fang Ren came out of the toilet, washed his hands, and ran back to the classroom. But because he was running too fast, he had just turned the corner from the toilet when he bumped straight into someone.

...

After class, Liu Qianqian left the classroom alone. Her mood today was extremely troubled and miserable, and she was also very angry.

In just one week… Just one week and he was already flirting with another woman during class. Liu Qianqian couldn't believe it until now.

In fact, if it weren't for Mu Huanqing telling her personally that day about their plans to marry, she would never have believed that Fang Ren could fall for someone else so quickly.

She had always thought that Mu Huanqing and Fang Ren had just confirmed their relationship and that many things wouldn't happen so soon. Even when Mu Huanqing came to find Fang Ren that day in the cafeteria, she still didn't believe the two of them...

Because in her eyes, she and Fang Ren had been together for three years, and apart from holding hands, nothing else had happened. Mu Huanqing was just a girl he had known for a few days. What could have happened between them?

But today, she realized she was completely wrong. Some things happen just that fast.

She suddenly felt so foolish. They were about to get married; whatever was meant to happen, must have already happened. And yet, she still naively believed that Fang Ren would not progress too quickly with Mu Huanqing for fear of letting go of his feelings for her.

She suddenly recognized that her rejections had hit him too hard, and he chose to like someone else instead.

Right, no one would keep hurting themselves for someone with no future.

As she thought about it, her eyes began to redden. She hurried to leave the bustling teaching building, and as she passed by the small path near the toilet,

preoccupied with her troubled mood and not paying attention to her surroundings, she was suddenly knocked over by someone dashing out of the toilet, falling to the ground with a thud.

"Sorry, student!"

Fang Ren realized he had bumped into someone and immediately apologized.

But after he finished apologizing, he discovered that the person he had bumped into was none other than Liu Qianqian. She was sitting on the ground, looking pained, with her eyes slightly reddened.

Liu Qianqian came back to her senses from her self-absorbed distress and, seeing Fang Ren before her, immediately turned her head away, not wanting to look at him. She knew her reddened eyes made it seem like she had been crying.

"Did you hurt yourself anywhere?"

Thinking she might have been hurt from the fall, Fang Ren immediately squatted down and stretched out his hand to help her up.

Smack—

Just as his hand reached mid-air, Liu Qianqian slapped it away.

Fang Ren was stunned for a moment, feeling somewhat helpless. He hadn't expected that she would dislike him to this extent, to the point where she wouldn't even let him help her up.

Indeed, even the best of friendships can sour once tainted with the complications of love.

Liu Qianqian still wouldn't look at him. She stood up on her own and quickly walked away. She didn't want anyone to see her in this state.

"Hey, Liu Qianqian, are you sure you're okay?"

Seeing that she didn't want to interact with him, Fang Ren didn't pursue her but chose to stand there and call out to her.

"…"

Liu Qianqian stopped in her tracks when she heard his words. Without turning back, she bit her lip and said irritably, "Liu Qianqian, Liu Qianqian! You've been calling me by my full name these past few days! How much do you want to distance yourself from me?"

"Huh?"

Fang Ren was taken aback; utterly confused as to why she had suddenly become so irritable.

And this matter of setting boundaries, wasn't it she who made the first move? After his confession, Liu Qianqian had been deliberately keeping her distance from him. How has it now become his responsibility to set the boundaries?

"It's nothing, I just meant to say your girlfriend is really beautiful, and you two seem so in love." Liu Qianqian remarked.

Fang Ren responded with a helpless smile, "Can't you speak plainly? You never used to beat around the bush like this."

"Isn't what I said the truth? Mu Huanqing is so beautiful. Anyway, I'm sick of my own face after three years, how can I compare to the novelty she brings?"

Liu Qianqian's mind was a mess. She didn't know why she was saying such bitter words that wouldn't change any of the present facts.

"I really don't understand what you mean." Fang Ren remained standing there, his expression puzzled.

"There's nothing to misunderstand, I just spoke some plain words, very easy to understand." Liu Qianqian continued, "Look at you two, such a great relationship.

I heard that you're getting married just over a week after meeting, much better than someone like me who, after three years, could only end up being friends."

"I find your words even more incomprehensible…" Fang Ren sighed helplessly.

If anyone else had overheard their conversation, they would definitely assume that the girl's acidic tone was due to her feelings for the boy.

But nobody else was there. All the words Liu Qianqian spoke were heard by Fang Ren alone. Fang Ren didn't believe that she liked him. Even though she spoke those words, he didn't think she held any affection for him.

Fang Ren believed that even if she was shackled by her family's expectations, if she truly liked him, she should have at least been sad when rejecting him. How could she have been so decisive? How could her words sting so deeply?

Therefore, the idea of Liu Qianqian liking him was simply inconceivable to him.

So he didn't understand the meaning behind Liu Qianqian's words.

If he had to guess, Fang Ren thought that she was putting on a show to draw a line between them.

All he did was call her "Liu Qianqian," yet she took that small matter and blew it up into a reason to set boundaries.

"The confession is in the past, we agreed to be good friends, why do you seem to dislike me now? I really don't have those kinds of feelings for you anymore, I just genuinely want to be friends," Fang Ren said.

After hearing him misunderstand her words, Liu Qianqian's heart reached a boiling point with complex emotions. What did he mean by, "I really have no further feelings for you"? What about, "I simply want to be friends"?

The person who had liked her for three years... to say he doesn't like her just like that...

"Fang Ren! You don't understand anything! You just don't get it! You're just a blockhead!

So stupid!" Liu Qianqian suddenly shouted, turning her back to him.

After speaking, Liu Qianqian didn't linger and ran off towards the distance, with tears she had been holding back now streaming down uncontrollably.

Fang Ren just stood there, watching her suddenly run away, without pursuing her to ask what happened. He truly couldn't comprehend why Liu Qianqian was treating him with such an attitude—calling him a scoundrel that morning, and now berating him for being a blockhead.

Liu Qianqian likes him?

What a joke.

"Sigh, forget it, if she doesn't want to be friends, then so be it. After all, I've helped as much as I could."

With a deep sigh, Fang Ren began walking back to class.

The scene was just like that day by the riverbank when he confessed; he never turned back, so he never saw the tears on her face. Now he didn't chase after her, so he wouldn't understand the pain in her heart.

------

In a small house on a street, Liu Qianqian lay curled up on the sofa with a blank expression, her gaze fixed on the wallpaper on her phone's screen featuring her and Fang Ren, shoulder to shoulder, head against head, both faces beaming with joy.

"So is it really... over?"

Her eyes filled with sorrow, she muttered to herself, "Unable to be together when we lacked the power to resist... and still unable to be together when we have the power... Indeed, Heaven has never favored me."

As she wallowed in her sadness alone, a dark shadow appeared silently in the room, bending over her and saying, "Miss, will you still participate in the Alchemist competition this time?"

Liu Qianqian slowly sat up from the sofa, put down her phone, and stared at "Master Qing'an's Alchemy Experience" lying on the coffee table, feeling utterly lost.

She flipped through the notebook, gazing closely at the words, and her heart was struck by a profound disappointment; the handwriting didn't resemble Fang Ren's at all.

She had actually fantasized that the boy who delivered her the notes that day was him, but after the delivery, he must have thrown away the clothes.

It had all been wishful thinking.

Suddenly grabbing the notebook, Liu Qianqian tossed it directly into the trash can nearby and said, "After the sports meet, I will return to the Liu family with you."

"Miss, having gone through this affair, it seems you've come to a realization," said the woman in black, smiling upon hearing her words.

"You can go now, I want to be alone for a while."

With that, the shadow left the room, and Liu Qianqian curled up on the sofa again, closing her eyes.

In the past, she had fled her family in pursuit of the freedom to marry whomever she liked, but she had never imagined that one day she would be wounded by the one she cherished, and thus, choose to accept the fate arranged by her family.

"How sad it is, me…"