Chapter 38: Stolen Leisure Amid Fleeting Life

Just after returning to the classroom, Qi Ze called out to her and handed her a bag of snacks.

“Hm?” Jiang Mingyue took it, staring with curious eyes. “Why did you suddenly buy me snacks? Didn’t you tell me to cut down on them?”

Qi Ze said: “…I wanted to eat them myself, just bought too much.”

“Really? But… why do I feel like your eyes look a little guilty?”

Jiang Mingyue sat next to him, propping her head on her hand and staring at him.

He did feel a bit guilty.

At the time, seeing her searching for something and getting a little hot, he had gone out to buy her some ice cream.

When he entered the supermarket and saw the chips and spicy strips she liked, he picked them up without thinking. He had truly forgotten what he had once said.

But his expression remained calm. He reached out to take back the snack bag. “Thanks for the reminder, snacks really shouldn’t be eaten too much. Give it back.”

“No way.” Jiang Mingyue immediately guarded the bag. “You already gave it to me, how can you take it back? Besides, you bought too much, you wouldn’t be able to finish it yourself. Let me help you out.”

“Well, alright then.” Qi Ze pretended to compromise.

“Hehe.”

In the end, though, Jiang Mingyue didn’t eat the snacks by herself. Instead, she shared them with the people around her.

Snacks, after all, were more fun to eat together.

It was the last afternoon before the exam.

After the homeroom teacher handed out the exam admission tickets in advance, he didn’t assign any more classes. Instead, he let everyone review freely in the classroom.

At first, the homeroom teacher stayed at the podium to supervise, but before long, he left and asked the Class Monitor to maintain order.

The moment the teacher left, the classroom immediately erupted into noise.

The Class Monitor made several attempts to signal for quiet, but each time, the effect lasted no more than a minute.

After a few failed attempts, the Class Monitor gave up.

In the days leading up to the exam, Jiang Mingyue had been studying especially hard.

Every day after school, she would stay in the classroom for nearly an hour before going home, and most of the time, Qi Ze would also stay to study with her.

But now, no matter what, she just couldn’t focus on her revision.

The sound of the air conditioner, the rustling of pages, and the chatter of her classmates created a buzzing noise in the room.

Outside the window, the summer heat blazed, and the sound of cicadas filled the air.

Jiang Mingyue turned to look at Qi Ze and found that he was dozing off, propping his head on his hand.

So, Jiang Mingyue quietly slipped over and sat beside him.

She couldn’t resist observing his sleeping face.

His eyelashes were long, slightly curled, covering his deep eyes, making him look like a well-behaved student.

However, Qi Ze’s skin was fair, his facial features sharp and clear, and even in his sleep, there was still a sense of distance.

Jiang Mingyue’s attention was then drawn to his hand, resting on the edge of the table.

His hand was truly beautiful. Jiang Mingyue had caught herself staring at his hand many times, unable to help it.

Qi Ze’s hand hung loosely, his fingers naturally spread out, and the faint veins on the back of his hand stood out slightly, giving it a strong, muscular appearance.

Jiang Mingyue quietly extended her hand next to his to compare.

On its own, Jiang Mingyue’s hand looked fine.

But when placed next to his, her fingers appeared short and thick, and her entire hand looked chubby.

Suddenly, Jiang Mingyue’s hand was caught.

Qi Ze’s voice came faintly, perhaps because he was speaking in a low tone or had just woken up, his voice carrying a hint of hoarseness.

“What are you doing?”

Jiang Mingyue was startled, and she whispered: “Nothing, nothing at all.”

She tugged at her hand, trying to pull it out of Qi Ze’s grip, but he only tightened his hold.

“Really nothing? I was just comparing our hands. After comparing, I realized your hand is really beautiful.”

Upon hearing this, Qi Ze released her hand and instead grabbed her arm, then seriously began examining her hand.

He looked serious, as if studying something important.

After a while, he said: “Your hand is also beautiful.”

“But not as beautiful as yours.” Jiang Mingyue said, shaking her wrist.

Qi Ze raised an eyebrow and let go of her wrist.

Jiang Mingyue quickly pulled her hand back and propped her head up.

The window next to Qi Ze was cleaned once a week, always bright and clear. Behind it, the sky was a deep blue, with white clouds floating by.

Suddenly, Jiang Mingyue said: “Qi Ze, look outside.”

“Hm?”

Qi Ze turned to look outside.

“Look, blue sky, white clouds, and… shadows.”

“Hm.”

“It’s that kind of summer blue sky, with white clouds and shadows.”

Qi Ze focused intently on the view outside for a moment, then said: “Mm, the clouds roll and stretch, just like in summer.”

At that moment, it felt like the classroom had become suddenly quiet. Jiang Mingyue quietly stared outside, then said again: “At times like this, there should be watermelon. Watermelon and summer go perfectly together.”

“Mm.” Qi Ze seemed to agree with her opinion.

Another quiet pause.

“Qi Ze.” Jiang Mingyue spoke again, her gaze still fixed on the window: “let’s go buy some watermelon.”

“Mm, okay.” Qi Ze didn’t seem to find anything strange about her suggestion, responding in the same tone as before.

“Really?” Jiang Mingyue set her hand down and asked him excitedly.

Realizing her voice had gotten louder, she quickly lowered it again: “Then… should we skip class to go buy it?”

Jiang Mingyue had said it casually, not expecting Qi Ze to actually reply “okay.” Her mind immediately started racing with possibilities.

Before Qi Ze could respond, Jiang Mingyue had already started imagining it herself.

“We can buy a chilled watermelon and ask the vendor to cut it into two halves, one for each of us. Then we’ll buy two spoons, find some shade under a tree, sit down, and slowly eat it with the spoons. How does that sound?”

By the end, Jiang Mingyue’s eyes were shining with excitement.

Seeing her like this, Qi Ze couldn’t help but laugh. “Alright.”

Jiang Mingyue, worried that someone might hear them, lowered her voice again. “Then… should we sneak out after class?”

“Sneak out.” Qi Ze responded in a lowered voice.

“Hehe.”

Qi Ze first climbed up the wall, then pulled Jiang Mingyue up with him. Together, they jumped down from the wall.

Immediately, Jiang Mingyue grabbed Qi Ze’s hand and led him away from the school.

They didn’t stop until they were a fair distance from the school.

They stood under a tree at a crossroads.

There were already few cars near the school, and now, it was even quieter. Without the bustling traffic of people going to school or work in the morning, the world suddenly felt calm.

Jiang Mingyue said: “It feels so unreal. Every time it’s like this, I always get the feeling that I’ve stolen half a day of leisure from life. Do you ever feel that way?”

Qi Ze turned to look at her. “Mm, now that you mention it, I do.”

Jiang Mingyue looked around. “Where should we buy the watermelon? It seems there’s no fruit shop around here.”

Qi Ze thought for a moment and then said to Jiang Mingyue: “I know a place. You wait here. I’ll go get my bike and take you there.”

“Mm, okay.”

⋆⁺₊⋆ ━━━━⊱༒︎ • ༒︎⊰━━━━ ⋆⁺₊⋆

Qi Ze rode his bike with Jiang Mingyue and took her to an old neighborhood. He stopped in front of a small supermarket on a street corner.

At the entrance of the supermarket, there was a tall, leafy Paulownia tree.

Under the tree’s shade, there was a small truck selling watermelon, its bed neatly stacked with half a truckload of watermelons.

Behind the truck, there was a cardboard sign, which seemed to be cut from a box.

Written on the sign in calligraphy was: “Very sweet, very sweet watermelon, 2 yuan per jin.”

Next to the tree trunk, there was a table. Beside the table, an old man sat in a rocking chair, selling watermelons.

It was so leisurely.