Chapter 10: Her in Dreams

Ji Shuyi hesitated, pursing her lips. She originally didn’t want to make a special case of herself at school because of her family background, which might invite unwanted speculation or resentment. But after just two or three days of military training, she felt like she was about to peel a layer of skin off from sunburn. She realized that playing the role of someone who conforms to the crowd and doesn’t attract hatred was too difficult. She decided to give up struggling and call her older brother to ask for a leave of absence. With that thought, she turned her head to Lu Zhixia and said, “Then I’ll also ask for…”

However, as she turned her head, she happened to see Jiang Cheng walking out, only a step away from them. At the moment she looked over unconsciously, Jiang Cheng happened to lift his eyelids and meet her gaze, his eyes holding a hint of playfulness.

This damn guy must have overheard their conversation! Instantly, she glared at him resentfully. On an impulse, she stared at the person and said, “So what if it’s military training? What can’t be overcome? I won’t let some hypocritical bastard laugh at me.”

Bastard?

She called him a bastard again!

The usually casual and unrestrained Jiang Cheng immediately wore a cold and angry expression as he lifted his long legs and approached Ji Shuyi, his aura chilling.

Ji Shuyi had to admit that when this guy had a cold face, he exuded an aura of absolute aggression and wickedness, which made people feel inexplicably afraid.

A wise person doesn’t invite immediate trouble. Ji Shuyi turned to run.

“Hey?!”

Suddenly, the back of her collar was grabbed, and then she was pulled backward violently. Ji Shuyi stumbled and fell backward, her back hitting Jiang Cheng’s warm but hard chest directly. Before she could struggle at all, an arm crossed below her neck. Jiang Cheng directly lifted his arm and trapped Ji Shuyi’s head in the crook of his arm. When he spoke, his voice was dangerously gloomy:

“Who were you calling names just now? Didn’t you learn your lesson last time?”

Ji Shuyi was the type to respond to gentle persuasion but not to coercion, especially in front of Jiang Cheng. Under his arrogant intimidation, she raised her chin and retorted, “Of course, I was scolding you! No one but you deserves that title… Ah!”

While Ji Shuyi was still angrily protesting, Jiang Cheng suddenly scooped her up with one hand around her waist, and carried her like a chicken, striding toward a horizontal bar on the lawn.

“Damn Jiang Cheng! You bastard!” Ji Shuyi, held sideways in the teenager’s arms, thrashed her hands and feet randomly, scolding him, “Why are you so annoying! I’m definitely going to tell Uncle Jiang this time!!… Ah, wuwuwu…”

Amidst a series of shouts and curses, the acrophobic Ji Shuyi suddenly soared into the air. Jiang Cheng had grabbed her waist and lifted her up to sit on the high horizontal bar. Scared out of her wits, she immediately stopped speaking, and tightly grabbed the horizontal bar with both hands to prevent herself from falling.

It was impossible to sit stably on the horizontal bar. Jiang Cheng, wearing a black basketball uniform, put one hand in his pocket and used the other to lightly support the girl’s ankle to prevent her from falling. He only slightly raised his chin, his lips filled with a playful smile, and he stared at Ji Shuyi with a hint of coercion in his eyes, opening his mouth with a gloomy and cold voice:

“Say it again, who were you scolding just now?”

As he spoke, he deliberately loosened his hand, which was already only lightly supporting Ji Shuyi.

Startled and annoyed by his smug and teasing expression, Ji Shuyi scolded him, “Why are you so annoying!”

She raised her foot to kick him, but as soon as she lifted her foot, Jiang Cheng, who was supporting her, reflexively let go and dodged backward. As a result, without any support, Ji Shuyi suddenly fell backward off the horizontal bar.

“Ah!”

In a flash, Jiang Cheng, who had taken a step back, quickly rushed forward again with a look of tension, catching her steadily. He frowned tightly and blurted out, “Are you stupid?”

She managed to fall off even from that.

Just placed safely on the ground and still in Jiang Cheng’s arms, Ji Shuyi was beyond furious. Completely out of control, she punched and kicked Jiang Cheng like a madwoman, gritting her teeth and cursing, “You’re the stupid one!! Why are you so annoying! Why are you so annoying? You’re so irritating! Calling you a bastard is too good; you’re worse than a dog!”

She kicked Jiang Cheng hard in the shin, satisfyingly hearing him hiss softly in pain. She continued to vent her anger, “Idiot! Bastard!”

Still not appeased by the cursing, she suddenly squatted down, picked up a small stone, and, in a fit of pique, threw it fiercely at Jiang Cheng, regardless of the consequences.

Unable to dodge in time, Jiang Cheng only quickly turned his head, but the stone still grazed his cheek, and a thin streak of blood instantly appeared on his left cheek. Ji Shuyi didn’t care at all and even righteously added one last curse:

“Serves you right!”

Only Lu Zhixia, who was still filming a video on the side, was startled. Originally, when she saw Jiang Cheng take Ji Shuyi away, she wanted to call someone to help, but she felt that the dynamic between the two was completely that of bickering lovers. Based on what Ji Shuyi had told her, Ji Shuyi never really suffered much. If Jiang Cheng’s bullying was to make her angry and see her blow a fuse, then Ji Shuyi’s retaliation was to leave him with some kind of injury each time, like now, when his handsome face had taken a hit.

So Lu Zhixia had no choice but to take out her phone and film them for a while. After all, with her years of experience watching idol dramas, if these two could end up together after all the bickering, then these videos would be the obvious evidence for him to endure the “ninety-nine eighty-one tribulations” during his proposal in the future.

At this moment, Chen Xingyi also came over, just in time to see the scene of Ji Shuyi throwing a stone at Jiang Cheng. However, he didn’t show any concern for his brother. Instead, he looked at the two girls who had already run away and then at Jiang Cheng, who was stunned in place, roughly raising his hand to wipe the blood from his cheek. He chuckled gleefully, “Yo~ Let me see, what happened to our young master Jiang’s face?”

Chen Xingyi stood in front of Jiang Cheng and laughed even more happily, “Yo, you’re disfigured.”

“Shut up!” Jiang Cheng said in a depressed and stern voice. Then, he turned his head leisurely to look at Ji Shuyi, who had already run far away, his eyes slightly narrowed, not knowing what he was thinking.

Chen Xingyi closed his mouth for a minute but couldn’t help but open his mouth again and said, “Why do you always bully Ji Shuyi? I just walked over and saw that her eyes were red with anger. Didn’t you make her cry? And you kicked her off the cheerleading squad in front of so many people; that’s so hurtful.”

Jiang Cheng said impatiently, “Who is making who angry, exactly?”

Chen Xingyi: “…”

That night, Jiang Cheng, who rarely dreamed, actually had one. In the dream, Ji Shuyi was in his arms, teary-eyed and looking wronged, punching and kicking him playfully as she threw a tantrum, whimpering as she asked him, “Why do you always bully me? You even humiliated me in front of so many people. You’re so annoying… you’re so annoying…”

He woke up abruptly from the dream, his deep eyes shining unusually brightly in the darkness. For a moment, his entire brain was occupied by the image of Ji Shuyi whimpering. It took a good while for the dream to completely dissipate from his mind.

“Cao!” Jiang Cheng cursed in a depressed and annoyed voice, finding the dream completely inexplicable. Cao is a versatile curse word, but in this context conveys frustration.

Then, he suffered from insomnia.

In the early morning, while brushing his teeth, Jiang Cheng inadvertently looked up and saw himself in the mirror. The scratch on his cheek was still clearly visible. He was wearing loose black pajama shirt, unbuttoned and draped loosely over his body, revealing half of his rebellious tattoo on his neck. In this early morning light, he exuded a captivating aura of cold arrogance…

Jiang Cheng looked at the wound on his face, his gaze dimming slightly. His eyes slowly moved downward, landing on his chest, where the two rows of small teeth marks left by Ji Shuyi last time were still faintly visible.

For a moment, his expression was so complex that even he couldn’t decipher it.

At this time, Jiang Cheng had not yet realized that he, who was usually alert and difficult to approach, had unknowingly allowed Ji Shuyi to get close to him again and again, leaving marks on his body time after time…