Chapter 19

Many people witnessed the scene where Qin Xiaoxiao was cornered by Ji Wenchen under the girls’ dormitory building.

One was a somewhat famous beauty at Second High School, and the other was the notorious school bully of the same school. When the two collided, it was undoubtedly a hot topic.

At first, someone posted a thread speculating that Qin Xiaoxiao must have offended the school bully somehow, leading to the school bully personally going to “teach her a lesson.”

A group of people questioned this theory: Ji Wenchen and Qin Xiaoxiao were in the same class—was it really necessary for the school bully to wait under the dormitory building to “teach her a lesson”?

Another group firmly believed: with the school bully’s dark expression and menacing aura at the time, he was definitely there to beat up Qin Xiaoxiao.

…

Yang Min, who frequently browsed the forum, naturally saw this trending post.

Instead of replying or bumping the thread, she casually submitted a request to the forum administrator to have the post deleted.

However, deep down, she was actually very curious about this gossip involving her deskmate.

“Xiao ah,” Yang Min lowered her voice to ask her deskmate, after confirming the school bully hadn’t come to the classroom, “Did the school bully really go to the dormitory to find you yesterday evening?”

She didn’t believe the speculation in the post about “the school bully hitting Qin Xiaoxiao.” Her deskmate was perfectly fine, with no marks or bruises on her exposed fair arms and legs.

Qin Xiaoxiao didn’t stop writing down vocabulary. “Mm.”

“Then… why? Can you tell me?”

“Nothing important.”

Yang Min propped her chin in her hand, blinking her large eyes as she stared at her deskmate’s profile.

Looking back on all the past events, she realized that the transfer student school bully seemed to have a bit of a special interest in her deskmate.

She had previously thought that Jiang Zhousi had something going on with her deskmate, but it was probably a misunderstanding. It seemed more likely that there was something unusual about the relationship between the school bully and her deskmate, which would explain why the school bully’s friend, Jiang Zhousi, had taken the initiative to talk to her deskmate.

“Xiao ah, did the school bully bully you last night?”

Qin Xiaoxiao’s hand paused for a moment. That question sounded a bit odd, didn’t it? “No.”

“What’s your relationship with the school bully? I promise I won’t tell anyone!”

Qin Xiaoxiao shook her head and didn’t answer.

She didn’t want to define her relationship with Ji Wenchen. It was the original owner who had suggested being with Ji Wenchen, and it was her who proposed the breakup. But Ji Wenchen’s response, “I don’t agree to the breakup”…

She hadn’t finished copying the vocabulary yet. Focus on copying, then.

…

“What the hell??”

Jiang Zhousi was so shocked that he almost dropped his phone. “Someone posted that you were going to beat up Junior Xiaoxiao? Ah Chen?”

“Have it deleted,” came the cold, indifferent reply.

“Got it.” Jiang Zhousi, being one of the forum administrators, immediately deleted several posts on the homepage containing the keywords “Qin Xiaoxiao” and “school bully.” “Heh, making me ‘abuse my power’ again.”

Jiang Zhousi placed his phone in front of Ji Wenchen. “What’s going on here? You, of all people, hitting Junior Xiaoxiao?”

Ji Wenchen glanced at it briefly.

Jiang Zhousi sensed his friend’s irritation. To be honest, Ah Chen hadn’t smiled since last night, barely saying more than a word.

He thought Ah Chen wouldn’t respond.

“She brought up breaking up.”

“What?” Jiang Zhousi jumped up. “Qin Xiaoxiao wants to break up with you?”

Ji Wenchen didn’t respond, which Jiang Zhousi took as confirmation. “That doesn’t seem possible!”

“Wasn’t it Junior Xiaoxiao who confessed to you first? Didn’t she really like you?”

“Like me?” Ji Wenchen’s eyes grew hazy as he stared into the distance. He couldn’t see any signs that Qin Xiaoxiao actually liked him.

“Did you do something wrong that made Junior Xiaoxiao angry?”

“That can’t be it. You didn’t cheat or anything. I haven’t even seen you say more than three sentences to other girls all year.”

“Are you kidding me!” Jiang Zhousi suddenly blurted out a guess. “Could it be that time you fought with that loser Hu Guangyu from First High? Back then, there was a rumor going around that you had a thing for Hu Guangyu’s goddess, that… Lin something.”

Jiang Zhousi quickly dismissed his own speculation. “Nah, that’s impossible. That was over half a month ago.”

He plopped down next to Ji Wenchen and grabbed the can of Xuejin beer he had brought for himself, only to find it empty.

This was the beer he, a stressed-out senior about to face the college entrance exams, had specifically brought to the rooftop of the teaching building to brew some melancholy emotions for a poetic drink in the wind!

He wanted to spit out a complaint, but seeing Ji Wenchen’s cold and gloomy silence, he gave up. Forget it—it was just a can of beer. Hadn’t Ah Chen treated him to enough drinks before?

Jiang Zhousi rubbed his nose, unsure of what to say to lift his friend’s spirits. When it came to relationships, he had always been the one doing the dumping. Even when his girlfriends occasionally brought up breakups during arguments, it was nothing more than empty threats… Wait a minute!

“Ah Chen, Junior Xiaoxiao might not actually want to break up with you. You know, a lot of girls do that. They bring up breakups on purpose, hoping their boyfriend will pamper them more, love them more, care for them, and be more considerate.”

Finally receiving a gaze from Ji Wenchen that lasted more than a second, Jiang Zhousi grew more enthusiastic as he spoke, convinced he was onto something. “Girls, you know, they all like to feel special, to feel like their boyfriend treats them differently from everyone else. They love that… that feeling of being cherished. You’re so cold and detached—I bet you don’t even spare Junior Xiaoxiao a second glance most of the time… Ahem, I think she’s just throwing a little tantrum, acting a bit spoiled.”

“Think about it—remember how sincere that text was when Junior Xiaoxiao confessed to you? Uh…” Jiang Zhousi hesitated for a moment. “She may not be talkative or warm, but she’s calm and composed with everyone. She must still like you deep down.”

“Is that so?”

…

Class 8 had PE on Wednesday, and the highest temperature of the day reached 31°C.

All the students had switched to summer clothes, including Gan Shuangxing, who had been wearing long sleeves and pants all this time.

Qin Xiaoxiao noticed that she had changed into a short-sleeved shirt today, revealing arms with faint old scars but no shocking fresh bruises or marks.

It was probably a positive change.

While Qin Xiaoxiao was watching Gan Shuangxing in the front of the line, she was completely unaware that nearly all the boys in the back were watching her.

Today, Qin Xiaoxiao was dressed in a light blue short-sleeved top paired with a white shorts-skirt. Her shoulders were slender, her arms delicate, and her legs fair and gracefully straight. Even her back stood out brightly in the line, making her undeniably eye-catching.

After taking attendance, the PE teacher, as usual, let the students engage in free activities.

Yang Min was invited by three other girls to play badminton, and she didn’t forget to call her deskmate along. “Xiao ah, come play with us?”

The other girls waited expectantly for Qin Xiaoxiao’s response.

“Alright.” Qin Xiaoxiao thought that getting some exercise wouldn’t be a bad idea and joined them.

They adopted a simple knockout rotation system: A would play against B, and if B lost three points, C would take over. The score would reset, and A would then play against C. If A lost three points, D would come up next.

Seven or eight minutes later, the girl facing Qin Xiaoxiao had already been replaced once.

Qin Xiaoxiao: Uh…

Reminding herself that she had joined in as an extra, she felt it might not be right to keep staying on the court, so she started intentionally going easy.

One to one, tied.

The girl in the black-and-white striped short-sleeve shirt on the other side grinned happily, her fighting spirit reignited as she served the ball.

Qin Xiaoxiao returned the serve with half her strength, sending the shuttlecock over at a gentle pace. The girl in the black-and-white stripes easily caught the lobbed shot and returned it with considerable force. Qin Xiaoxiao slowed her steps and didn’t go for the incoming shot.

Two to one.

Just like that, Qin Xiaoxiao lost three points.

“Wow! You actually beat Qin Xiaoxiao!”

The girl in the black-and-white stripes smiled modestly. “Not really, Qin Xiaoxiao was going easy on me.” She had noticed it toward the end.

The other girls looked at Qin Xiaoxiao, who had graciously stepped aside to give others a chance to play. Their impression of her improved even further.

“Xiao ah,” Yang Min teased her deskmate, “how do you manage to make even playing badminton look so pleasing to the eye? And those legs, tsk tsk, the culprit behind my distraction all afternoon. I’m going to get knocked out by how gorgeous your long legs are!”

Qin Xiaoxiao raised her eyebrow slightly. “Well, you haven’t fainted yet, have you?”

“Ah… I’ve fainted.” Yang Min dramatically leaned toward her deskmate’s ample chest.

Qin Xiaoxiao raised a hand to stop Yang Min by pressing against her shoulder. “Your acting skills have improved.”

“Aiya, I…” Yang Min’s tongue froze mid-sentence as she accidentally met a certain gaze. Her body instantly straightened up.

Qin Xiaoxiao, slightly puzzled, teased casually, “Did you sprain your back?”

This was worse than a sprain! Yang Min shuffled her feet in tiny steps, slowly turning about forty degrees, and whispered to her deskmate, “I just got hit with the school bully’s icy death glare!”

“…”

“Truly terrifying.”

Qin Xiaoxiao turned her head slightly and indeed met Ji Wenchen’s gaze.

He was sitting on the edge of the basketball court, his elbow casually resting on his knee, his handsome face turned in her direction.

“Come here.”

Qin Xiaoxiao read his lips.

Why did he want her to go over? With so many classmates around, Qin Xiaoxiao had no intention of going.

She pretended to look away naturally, acting as if she hadn’t seen him.

The girl in the black-and-white stripes won against two opponents but was eventually defeated by the third.

“Yang Min, it’s your turn!”

Yang Min enthusiastically stepped onto the court to battle.

One to zero, two to zero. Qin Xiaoxiao figured it would soon be her turn to go up again.

Suddenly, a bottle of mineral water appeared in her line of sight.

Following the distinctly jointed hand holding the bottle, she looked up—sure enough, it was the person who had earlier told her to “come here.”

Qin Xiaoxiao stepped slightly to the side.

“Take it,” Ji Wenchen said, his voice slightly deeper.

Qin Xiaoxiao knew that if she didn’t take the bottle, he wouldn’t put it down easily.

To avoid the awkward standoff, she reached out and took the water. “Thanks.”

Qin Xiaoxiao wasn’t sure if it was just her imagination, but she felt Ji Wenchen’s gaze sweep over her legs.

“Is there something else?” She almost blurted out, but at the last second, the words turned into, “How much?”

Hearing this, Ji Wenchen’s lips pressed into an almost straight line.

Sensing the sudden drop in Ji Wenchen’s mood, Qin Xiaoxiao was puzzled. What’s up with this male lead? He’s getting weirder and weirder…

Comrade Qin Xiaoxiao had lived to the age of 24 in her previous life without ever having a chance to experience romance before ending up in this book. As mentioned, she was quite dense when it came to matters of love between men and women.

Even now, she hadn’t noticed that Ji Wenchen might have feelings for her—or rather, Ji Wenchen himself had only just started to vaguely sense that something was off but hadn’t yet realized his own emotions.

Qin Xiaoxiao thought for a moment. “Two fifty?”

“I’ll transfer it to you on WeChat when I get back to the dorm tonight—”

“No need,” Ji Wenchen interrupted, frowning.

—”A lot of girls do that, you know? They bring up breakups on purpose, hoping their boyfriend will pamper them more, love them more, care for them, and be more considerate.”

—”Like my ex-girlfriend. She used to hand me water while I was playing basketball and once threw a little tantrum, saying she wished I’d show her the same kind of care.”

Ji Wenchen suspected his brain had short-circuited for actually believing Jiang Zhousi’s ridiculous nonsense.