America: I came here to study, not to show mercy.

Chapter 175 The Knight with a Bad Mind and the Witch Who Wants to Be a Chef

In the quiet afternoon, soft murmurs and the gentle tapping of a keyboard could be heard from a large table inside the two-story white house.

With the end of the semester approaching, the group had lunch here and then began reviewing for their final exams.

"How can you not have to take the exam?"

While holding an iPad and quietly reciting her book, Serafina couldn't help but be drawn to Shawn Lee, who was sitting to the side, rapidly typing on a keyboard.

"If you can complete the self-study in advance and pass the teacher's assessment, you can too."

With his fingers still, Li Xiaoen turned his head and said something, his multitasking appearance surprising the girls who widened their eyes in astonishment.

It's strange, or perhaps it's just how it is. These girls, who come from such well-off families and have access to the best resources in America, still have to work hard to memorize and prepare for their final exams. The only good thing is that they don't have to worry about failing.

Li Xiaoen thought to himself, "He must be sick. He actually thinks that money, power, and status can get him anywhere without any obstacles, even in an academic setting like at school."

"I really don't know how your brain works?"

Speechless for a moment, Serafina couldn't help but mutter a resentful complaint.

"Of course, it's about perseverance and hard work."

Li Xiaoen smiled. Although he had several years of learning experience directly loaded by the system, given his original self-study progress, he didn't need to worry about the final exam at all.

"Sean, have you memorized all the key points for your psychology foundation course?"

Victoria then looked up and asked a question.

"No, I'll memorize that before the exam. There's no rush."

Li Xiaoen shrugged. He didn't even need to take exams for his major courses in calculus and computer science, but he definitely needed to take general education courses like psychology—especially since he hadn't been paying much attention in class and had been busy chatting with a few girls.

"Let's memorize it together now."

Victoria smiled and nodded, glancing at Sophie who was holding a large book. "If we memorize together now, the atmosphere will be better, and the learning efficiency should be higher."

"Okay."

With a nod of approval, Li Xiaoen uploaded the model from the previous stage and asked Haskel, who was still in the lab, to help set up the training environment. Only then did he pick up his iPad under the girl's smiling gaze.

Oh, right, let's activate the halo.

Then he remembered that Li Xiaoen had activated the [Elementary Learning Domain Aura] and was also giving its blessing effect to a few girls.

He silently recited the key points from the textbook, and out of the corner of his eye, he could clearly see several girls staring wide-eyed. He couldn't help but smile and shake his head.

Outside, the sun was shining brightly, and inside, the quiet and comfortable room quickly captivated the group.

……

"Sean, I told you, the atmosphere would be much better if you studied with us."

During a short afternoon tea break, Victoria poured Sean Lee a glass of chilled fruit tea and said with a chuckle.

"I think it was him typing on the computer, moving around and making noise, which affected our concentration."

Before Li Xiaoen could speak, Serafina interrupted, staring at him with ill intent as she looked down at his laptop.

"It's because you're stupid, don't blame others."

Li Xiaoen casually closed the notebook, rolled her eyes, and felt a sudden toothache, wondering if she should remove the woman's aura of favor.

"We finally get a break, and you guys still have to keep arguing?"

Victoria picked up her notebook and tapped it on the table before reluctantly interjecting.

“Victoria, let me test you.”

Li Xiaoen turned and smiled at Victoria. After the girl paused for a moment, he asked, "What psychological concepts did Pavlov's dog and Skinner's pigeon verify, and what did they prove?"

Having already taken a psychology course for most of the semester, Victoria also applied to take it as an elective. Upon hearing this, she frowned and thought back.

"Countdown."

Before Victoria could have enough time to think, Sean Lee raised his finger again and said, "Five, four..."

As the young man spoke again, Victoria became visibly anxious. Recalling what had happened, she widened her eyes and quickly spoke.
"This verifies classical conditioning; Pavlov's dog experiments involved salivation..."

"Three, two, one."

Unfortunately, just as she was organizing her thoughts and trying to speak, the young man quickly and forcefully cut her off, causing her joyful expression to freeze abruptly.

“You lost, Victoria.”

Taking a sip of fruit tea, Li Xiaoen chuckled, "Pavlov's dog experiments were based on a saliva-stimulating reflex, achieved by feeding the dogs before... hiss..."

He had to stop halfway through his sentence, his words interrupted by a long hiss, and he quickly reached back to cover the girl's small hand that was resting on her lower back.

"You've lost too, Sean..."

Gritting her teeth, Victoria couldn't help but laugh and cry, and then spat out a harsh sound.

……

Time passed quietly and slowly amidst the busy final exam review, and then came Thanksgiving at the end of November.

After declining the invitations from Daniel and the other two, Sean Lee dressed up early in the morning, used hair wax to imitate the hairdresser's previous actions, styled her hair, and then went out to knock on Victoria's door.

“As a Princeton freshman who can triple my investment in two weeks, Victoria thinks I need to increase my daily rental fee.”

Upon opening the door and seeing that fair and bright face, Li Xiaoen shook his head and sighed.

Thanksgiving is arguably the most important holiday for American families to reunite, equivalent to the Chinese New Year. While the other young ladies of the Sophie family had already returned home to their families, he was "bought" this day by Victoria.

"come in."

Looking up at the tall, handsome young man, who was wearing the clothes she had helped him choose and had his hair styled by her, Victoria was delighted. She smiled and asked, "How much more do you want?"

"It depends on how much you can pay."

Li Xiaoen nodded solemnly, his gaze fixed on those large, emerald-green eyes.

“That’s quite a greedy statement, Mr. Sean. Perhaps even Shylock, the Venetian merchant, should learn from you.”

With a soft snort, Victoria rolled her eyes and turned to walk into the room.

Shylock, the Merchant of Venice, is a character from Shakespeare's play. He is a wealthy Jewish merchant and moneylender in Venice, known for his greed and ambition.

"I have never thought that greed is wrong; what is wrong is the means to satisfy greed."

Li Xiaoen reluctantly followed the girl's pace and said with a leisurely smile, "Extravagance is closer to the virtue of generosity than stinginess, recklessness is closer to true courage than cowardice, and greed is closer to a surging life than numbness."

"Please do not add your own fallacies to these statements."

Upon arriving in the kitchen, Victoria glanced over helplessly, pondered for a moment, and recalled how the young man always managed to find a way to affirm himself, no matter what. She glanced over again.

"Look at you, you really do resemble Don Quixote somewhat."

“If you’re referring to romanticism, then I’ll accept that.” Li Xiaoen shrugged and nodded with a smile.

"What you have more than Don Quixote is a face thicker than tank armor."

Victoria gave him a smirk, but a slight smile still crept onto her lips. She opened the insulated box, forked a piece of toast from inside, and handed it to the young man.

"Come on, it's time for our Knight Sean to test the poison."

Looking down at the iron fork reflecting the light, with the golden-brown caramel texture of the toast on it, Li Xiaoen swallowed.

"This looks so good, it really resembles poison. Could it be that I'm going to die at the hands of the witch before I even defeat the giant?"

“That’s a windmill, you dim-witted knight.”

With a tinkling laugh, Victoria seized the moment just as the young man was about to speak again and fed him a piece of toast.

"Um……"

The moment his tongue touched the crispy, caramelized aroma of the toast, Li Xiaoen's mouth watered instantly, and he unconsciously began to chew. Only then did he experience the lingering sweetness of the black tea that gradually spread through his mouth, and his eyes widened in surprise.

"How about it?"

With a smile, Victoria looked up expectantly.

"delicious."

Li Xiaoen nodded. "This is an excellent, seductive poison."

"Thank you for the compliment."

Without refuting the young man's last statement, Victoria pursed her lips and proudly raised her head, "A witch who doesn't want to be a chef isn't a good witch."

"If Napoleon knew that you had paraphrased his words in this way, he would definitely regret saying it."

Looking at Victoria, who was unusually lively today, Li Xiaoen shook his head and sighed. The next moment, his hand, which was already prepared to be placed on his lower back, grasped a soft hand and looked over with amusement.

"Same here, you're pretty much the same."

Unable to succeed, Victoria reluctantly withdrew her hand, then pulled his arm and sat him down at the table. "Hurry up and eat breakfast, it won't taste good if it gets cold."

"I started working on this last night."

"Did you stay up late?"

Li Xiaoen paused in his movement of picking up the toast with his fork, and looked over in shock.

"what are you thinking?"

Rolling her eyes, Victoria sat down beside her and explained, "Sir Knight, let me introduce you to this English tea overnight French toast maker. It was made with black tea, eggs, milk, honey, and the like that that had been steeping in the refrigerator overnight before being put into the oven."

"So that's it."

Li Xiaoen nodded repeatedly with an air of importance, no wonder the toast had such a rich and intense flavor. "Have you tried it?"

Victoria paused for a moment upon hearing this, then shook her head.

"You're really using me as a test subject?"

Li Xiaoen's eyes became blank. He looked down and handed the toast with the fork directly to the girl.

"I've done this before..."

After offering an explanation, Victoria saw the young man's gesture and froze, her heart pounding. She then lowered her head and took a bite of the toast.

After forking another piece and putting it in his mouth, Li Xiaoen couldn't help but joke, "I didn't expect that I had heard that England was a food wasteland when I was in China, but I didn't expect that there would be delicious food here."

Upon hearing this, Victoria, who was chewing toast, suddenly froze, staring at him with wide eyes.

"After all this time we've known each other, do you think I wouldn't have noticed that you're also an international student from England?"

Li Xiaoen rolled her eyes. "Today is Thanksgiving. Sophie and the others have all gone home. You share similar cultural origins with them, but you don't celebrate Thanksgiving. Isn't that obvious enough?"

"Oh……"

Upon hearing this, Victoria finally realized what was happening and nodded in agreement. Her heart, which had been pounding, finally settled down. On the contrary, her appearance made Sean Lee even more anxious.

He could never forget the moment he saw Victoria's full name, that long middle name and surname, which confirmed the heavy doubts that had been weighing on his mind.

Thinking of this, Li Xiaoen unconsciously took a deep breath.

"England is not a food wasteland!"

Realizing what had happened, Victoria turned around and glared at her. Only now, at least, could she reveal that she came from England, and she actually felt much more relaxed.

"It's not just me saying this, but many Chinese social media accounts and students studying in England have said the same thing."

Looking at the girl in front of him with a serious expression, as if she were trying to defend her hometown, Li Xiaoen smiled helplessly and shrugged. "Although, I also maintain a skeptical attitude towards what I read online."

"They're just trying to grab attention, they're using stereotypes!"

Victoria snorted, "We have plenty of delicious food in England."

"Well, I believe you."

Li Xiaoen nodded, and suddenly remembered that many high-end hotels in China had brunch and English breakfast, which many people considered high-end. At least, after spending so much time with Victoria, he had eaten some authentic English food.

After finishing breakfast, Li Xiaoen helped Victoria clean up the dishes and put them in the dishwasher in the kitchen before waiting in the living room for Victoria to come upstairs to change her clothes.

He never imagined that it would take so long for a girl to change clothes. He couldn't use his Eye of Insight to spy on her until he started to space out for the third time, when he heard footsteps on the stairs.

Looking up, Li Xiaoen froze on the spot.

Upon closer inspection, Victoria had shed her casual pajamas and donned a black skirt suit paired with a white shirt, topped with a black coat. Despite being a simple, solid-color outfit, she looked exceptionally poised and elegant, exuding classic British style.

Her fair face was lightly powdered, highlighting her full red lips. Her long golden hair was swept back, looking somewhat messy yet surprisingly languid and elegant.

"Does it look good?"

With a smile playing on her red lips, Victoria slipped one hand into her coat pocket and twisted her waist slightly.

Li Xiaoen, mouth agape, stared at the bright girl. Upon hearing this, he couldn't help but laugh and moved to the stairs.

"So, what do we do next?"

Exhaling, Li Xiao looked up and smiled, asking a question instead of answering, and bent down slightly to extend his hand, "Beautiful witch, a knight with a bad head will accompany and protect you."

"Ha ha……"

With her head down, Li Xiaoen could only hear laughter like wind chimes coming from the stairs. Then, she raised her hand and grasped a soft little hand, and only then did she straighten up.

The girl's smile was so bright it almost took his breath away.

"Let's go on a picnic. We can simply sit on the grass, enjoy the breeze, admire the scenery, eat, and chat..."

(End of this chapter)