CHAPTER 9: Four People with Their Own Thoughts, and Jiang Yan with a Buddha’s Light Over His Head

They were nearly at the school gate when Su Jiasui shook off Ji Jing’s hand. “Where are we going?”

“I’m treating you to a meal,” Ji Jing said, looking at her expression. “What do you want to eat?”

“Not hungry.”

Su Jiasui turned to leave, but Ji Jing grabbed her again. “What’s wrong with you today? Who upset you? You won’t say anything and just take it out on me—”

“Who’s taking it out on you?”

“Then why are you ignoring me?”

Ji Jing ran a frustrated hand through his hair. He was always at a loss when it came to Su Jiasui.

Su Jiasui was annoyed too. She’d meant well, wanted to make friends with Ji Mutian, and somehow still ended up looking like the troublemaker. And when Ji Mutian’s tears started falling, she couldn’t help the disgust that surged in her heart.

It was the kind of fated incompatibility that made her feel inexplicably gloomy.

Because if fate really existed, Ji Jing wouldn’t be able to escape it either. He would fall for Ji Mutian, fall in love with her, plant an entire garden of roses just for her—and most importantly, end up turning against Su Jiasui completely.

Just thinking about it made her want to slap Ji Jing twice. But the worst part was that he was still looking at her with those pitiful puppy eyes.

“What do you think of Ji Mutian?”

“Who’s Ji Mutian?”

“Don’t play dumb with me!”

Ji Jing grabbed the hand she was jabbing at his nose and slowly lowered it. “I’m not playing dumb. You mean the one with glasses, or the white dress?”

Su Jiasui snorted. “Oh, so you’re giving her nicknames now? Of course I mean the white dress!”

“Sister Sui, if you keep falsely accusing me, it’s seriously going to snow in July. That nickname came from Chen Xu, not me. Ask him if you don’t believe me.” Ji Jing actually liked it when his silly girlfriend got jealous—it made him kind of happy. But this time, her jealousy felt totally unreasonable.

It was borderline ridiculous.

“Trying to dodge the point, huh? Why won’t you just answer me directly?”

“I didn’t really look at her, seriously. Just saw a white dress, a braid, and her crying non-stop.”

He didn’t dare say she was being unreasonable, so he spoke as respectfully as a filial son.

Which only fueled Su Jiasui’s righteous rage. “You did look then, didn’t you? Do you think she’s pitiful? Feel like protecting her?”

“…Are you hungry?”

“I said I’m not!”

The moment she shouted, dizziness hit her hard. She had stress-induced hypoglycemia, and if she missed a meal, it always flared up.

Ji Jing hurriedly brought her to a small pavilion in the nearby park to sit. “What do you want to eat? I’ll get Chen Xu to bring it.”

True to the bond of real brothers, just as Ji Jing pulled out his phone, Chen Xu called first.

“Where are you guys? That Orange is evil—she’s trying to lead a group to ostracize me!”

“We’re at the little pavilion. Sister Sui’s blood sugar’s low. Go buy something to eat and bring it over.”

Chen Xu stopped joking around. “On it,” he said, and hung up right away.

Ji Jing quietly took off his shirt, folded it left, folded it right, into a perfect square, then handed it to her like a little eunuch attending to the Empress Dowager. “The bench is cold. Use this as a cushion.”

And in that moment, Su Jiasui finally figured out why she was angry.

She was content with how things were—and she didn’t want anything to change.

“Hey.”

“Yeah?”

“This tank top you’re wearing… I think it’s my dad’s.”

“Is it?” Ji Jing didn’t care anymore why she was mad. Seeing an opening, he jumped right in: “No wonder it’s a bit loose.”

Old Su wasn’t fat, just had a body full of unfinished muscle. He couldn’t compare to Ji Jing, a lean and tense teenager all over.

Su Jiasui looked at Ji Jing and made another decision. “I hate White Dress. From now on, you have to hate her with me too. At the very least, don’t talk to her.”

Though Ji Jing was curious what kind of grudge his girlfriend had with White Dress, now was clearly not the time to ask. “Alright, no problem.”

What Su Jiasui liked most about Ji Jing was that he listened, and didn’t talk back.

“Sister Sui!” Cheng Xiangxue charged into the little pavilion, full of righteous energy and ready to complain. “Do you know what Chen Xu—mmph!”

Chen Xu clamped a hand over her mouth from behind and handed the bag of food to Ji Jing. “Don’t spout nonsense! That’s slander! You’re insulting my dignity!”

Cheng Xiangxue was no pushover. She rammed into him with her hip. “Dignity? What dignity? You damn perv!”

“Oh, come on, Ji Jing, you be the judge. In that situation, anyone would’ve thought you two bullied the transfer student to tears. I just wanted her to clarify things, or else what would people think of you? One petty, the other an enabler. Hmph. Kindness repaid with ingratitude.”

“Cut it out with the excuses. You think I’m dumb? Your tone was clearly trying to flirt.”

Su Jiasui opened a pack of bread, glanced at Chen Xu, then turned to Cheng Xiangxue. “Honestly, what he said kind of makes sense. At this point, it’s like we’ve jumped into the Yellow River and still can’t wash ourselves clean.”

“Arghhhhh! I’ve never been this humiliated in my life!” Cheng Xiangxue was fuming. She started kicking and punching the pillar behind her.

“Erkang,” Ji Jing said flatly. “Calm down.”

His dry humor always caught people off guard. Su Jiasui burst out laughing, and Chen Xu and Jiang Yan couldn’t help but laugh too. Cheng Xiangxue, catching a glimpse of Jiang Yan from the corner of her eye, suddenly ducked behind the pillar—actually blushing.

Su Jiasui found it fascinating. She’d always thought Cheng Xiangxue’s crushes were just playful and casual. Before she and Ji Jing got together, Cheng Xiangxue had flirted with him plenty, but she had never blushed like this before.

Uh-oh.

Ji Jing had been trying to match Cheng Xiangxue with Chen Xu, thinking their constant bickering made them the perfect pair of comedic frenemies. More importantly, whenever he and Su Jiasui went out, they always had to drag these two third wheels along. Ji Jing never said it aloud, but he was definitely not happy about it.

But if Cheng Xiangxue really had feelings for Jiang Yan… then the world was probably going to have one more heartbroken girl.

No matter how you looked at it, Jiang Yan had this air of Buddhist detachment, like all worldly matters had nothing to do with him.

The four of them, each with their own thoughts, sat beside Jiang Yan—who radiated an aura of serene enlightenment—munching on bread under a small pavilion to get through lunch. Cheng Xiangxue ate like she was chewing nails, ferocious and frustrated. Just thinking about the four untouched lunches in the cafeteria made her angry—damn it, Su Jiasui had used her meal card!

After barely filling their stomachs, Chen Xu started itching to play ball again. He dragged Ji Jing with him and insisted Jiang Yan join too.

“I don’t know how,” Jiang Yan said. “Besides, there’s a Q&A session with a teacher in the conference room at noon.”

“Which subject?” Cheng Xiangxue suddenly lit up with enthusiasm. “I want to go too.”

Jiang Yan paused, then said, “Science.”

Cheng Xiangxue blinked. “How do you know I’m in liberal arts?”

Though they hadn’t known each other long, Jiang Yan had already picked up on their sense of humor. He replied succinctly, “Your vibe.”

Still, compared to Cheng Xiangxue, he was a step behind. “Actually, I’m an art student. I’m going for broadcasting and hosting.”

Jiang Yan seemed to seriously be calculating the odds of her making it into broadcasting with that thick northeastern accent.

“She’s messing with you,” Su Jiasui said. “She actually studies ballet. She’s applying to the Beijing Dance Academy.”

“You’re lying,” Jiang Yan said.

“What, you don’t believe me? Think I’m not good enough? I’ll show you a move!”

Cheng Xiangxue stood up straight, arms gracefully extended, one leg raised, chin slightly tilted—like a graceful, noble little swan.

Su Jiasui added, “Behold, our Sister, also known as the Great Goose of the Songhua River.”

Cheng Xiangxue wobbled and broke character. “You’re the Songhua Goose! I’m the Swan of the Eastern Paris!”

Chen Xu was holding onto Ji Jing, laughing so hard he couldn’t breathe. “Hahahaha! Songhua Goose!”

Ji Jing didn’t understand what was so funny, but hearing Chen Xu laugh like that made him feel like there was still hope for love—he’d gotten a good hit of secondhand joy.

In the end, Jiang Yan couldn’t escape being dragged off to play basketball. He said it was his first time ever touching a basketball. Chen Xu and the others didn’t believe him. They thought he was pretending to be weak—who hits a three-pointer their first try?

Jiang Yan said it wasn’t hard. He often did farm work at home. As long as he calculated the angle, arc, and wind direction, he had enough strength to throw the ball into the hoop.

Sitting on the sidelines, Su Jiasui listened in awe. She never would’ve guessed that Jiang Yan, who looked so honest and down-to-earth, was actually this good at flexing.

“Ah! I just remembered!” Cheng Xiangxue slapped Su Jiasui’s thigh excitedly. “That girl with the glasses—her name is Tang Shu!”

“I didn’t even know she was called Tang Shu…”

“No, listen! She was in the same class as Ji Jing in ninth grade!”

“How do you know that?”

“No shit, Sherlock.”

“Oh right, you and Ji Jing were classmates in ninth grade too.” Su Jiasui sneered. “And you’re just now remembering?”

Cheng Xiangxue pouted. “You think everyone’s got a photographic memory like you? Besides, she looks different now—her hair used to be short.”

“So what?”

“I think… I think she used to like Ji Jing. I’m not totally sure, but I remember we were on the same cleaning duty team. Every time she swept or mopped, she’d go out of her way to move Ji Jing’s desk and chair, clean that spot extra thoroughly. Another girl in our group liked Ji Jing too, and once called her a toad trying to eat swan meat.”

Su Jiasui leaned back on the bench and sighed. “How many people were in your cleaning group?”

“Six. Three guys, three girls.”

“Incredible. Didn’t you once tell me you had a crush on Ji Jing in ninth grade? You even transferred to Xinghai just to see him every day.”

Ah, the cringe of past love—made worse when someone else brings it up. Cheng Xiangxue laughed awkwardly. “Hahaha, well, back then Ji Jing really was handsome. He transferred to our school in ninth grade, right? Just appeared out of nowhere and took down the school bully the day he arrived. Man, he was so cool and fierce—way cooler than now. You’ve totally domesticated him.”

“The revolution hasn’t succeeded yet, comrade. We must keep working.”

“You call this not succeeding?”

“Well, I still have to get him into a university in Beijing. And it has to be a top-tier school. Otherwise, most of the inheritance his mom and grandfather left him will end up in Ji Hanhua’s hands,” Su Jiasui said through gritted teeth. “I won’t accept that. I won’t die in peace.”

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Author’s Note:

There are too many restrictions in high school; I can’t unleash my evil soul, so the early chapters will be a bit light and fresh. Please don’t let it sit and fatten up QAQ