Chapter 26

In a storage room at Huaguang Hall.

“Qin Xiaoxiao, I’m sorry. I was the one who tore your dance pants.” Wang Xin lowered her gaze.

Yang Min immediately flared up upon hearing this. “So it was you, this woman, playing tricks!” She had known about the issue with Xiaoxiao’s dance pants and had even witnessed Xiaoxiao hastily mending them herself right before going on stage.

“Is this how you apologize?” Feng Maoxing had been called away by the teacher for a “chat” and arrived late, unaware of what had happened to his cousin earlier.

This woman had said she wanted to speak to his cousin and suggested going somewhere less crowded. When he saw his cousin’s classmates following, he decided to tag along as well.

However, despite her words of apology, the woman didn’t even look at his cousin, her attitude showing little sincerity.

“I…” Wang Xin looked at Qin Xiaoxiao’s face and struggled to speak. “I’m sorry.”

“Please forgive me.”

“Do you think such a flimsy ‘sorry’ is enough for forgiveness? You really have some nerve, don’t you?” Yang Min rolled her eyes.

Wang Xin’s nails dug into her palms, unable to argue back.

“I’m a bit curious,” Qin Xiaoxiao tilted her head slightly. “Earlier, you were covering it up, saying it wasn’t you. Why are you admitting it now?”

So Qin Xiaoxiao didn’t actually know it was her… Wang Xin was shocked.

Wang Xin didn’t want to, nor did she dare, tell Qin Xiaoxiao that it was because of Ji Wenchen’s threats. Her voice trembled as she said, “Because… because I realized what I did was wrong.”

“What was wrong?”

Wang Xin’s eyes darted around nervously. “I… I shouldn’t have ruined your dance pants…”

“Did you ever think about the consequences?” Qin Xiaoxiao said expressionlessly. “What you did wouldn’t just embarrass me, but also bring shame to the dance club.”

“I… I’m sorry. Can you accept my apology?”

“No!” Yang Min, unable to listen any longer, glared at Wang Xin. “Apologizing is your business, but whether Xiaoxiao accepts it is hers. Besides, there’s no sign of genuine remorse from you at all.”

“Let’s go,” Qin Xiaoxiao said, not wanting to waste any more time here. She turned to Feng Maoxing and Yang Min. “I need to go change.”

“Wait…”

Wang Xin’s mind flashed with the image of Ji Wenchen’s handsome but indifferent face and his chilling words.

If Qin Xiaoxiao didn’t forgive her, her fate would undoubtedly be miserable. In a panic, Wang Xin raised her hand and slapped herself across the face.

A loud smack echoed through the room.

The three who had already reached the door turned back to look.

The slap was quite forceful, and half of Wang Xin’s face immediately turned red.

“I-I’m sorry, Qin Xiaoxiao,” Wang Xin gritted her teeth and slapped her stinging face again, her words slurring from the pain. “I-I’m sorry, please forgive me…”

“Stop it.” Qin Xiaoxiao frowned-not out of pity, but simply because she didn’t want to witness such a scene.

“Th-then… have you f-forgiven me?”

Qin Xiaoxiao turned and walked away without a word.

Wang Xin touched her swollen cheek. Did this mean she had earned Qin Xiaoxiao’s forgiveness?

…

“Your former vice president,” Yang Min pointed to her own head, “isn’t something wrong up here?”

Qin Xiaoxiao didn’t respond and headed toward the small room to change clothes.

Feng Maoxing, who had never encountered such a situation with girls before, said, “I was almost dumbfounded. Do girls actually slap themselves when apologizing?”

“No, no, it’s just that woman who’s a bit crazy.”

After saying that, Yang Min suddenly realized, Oh no! Tonight, she had been so angry at that woman that she completely forgot to maintain a good image in front of her junior schoolmate…

It was all that woman’s fault! She had made her reveal such a fierce side in front of her junior!

“Oh, oh,” Feng Maoxing, following behind his cousin, nodded. “She really is a bit crazy.”

Qin Xiaoxiao turned back. “I’m going in to change clothes. Are you planning to follow me in?”

“No, no,” Feng Maoxing, his face slightly red, took two steps back. “I’ll wait for you outside.”

Yang Min whispered, “Xiaoxiao, I’ll wait for you outside too.”

A few minutes later, Qin Xiaoxiao, now changed back into her regular clothes, walked through the audience aisle with Feng Maoxing and Yang Min.

She wasn’t sure if it was just her imagination, but in a fleeting glance, she thought she saw someone she hadn’t seen for over a week sitting in the audience.

“Want to go to the cafeteria for a late-night snack?”

“That sounds good. Xiaoxiao, are you coming?”

“…I’m not hungry, but I’ll go with you.”

“Great!”

…

In an era where everyone had a smartphone, it was rare to watch the school anniversary gala without teachers confiscating phones. Many students at Second High School were scrolling through forums while watching the performances, snapping pictures or recording videos of the highlights to casually post online.

After the gala, posts featuring keywords like “Qin Xiaoxiao,” “lead dancer of 《Flowers in the Rain》,” and “Second High School beauty” remained on the homepage of the school forum for several days.

After finishing her dance performance, Qin Xiaoxiao refocused her energy and resumed her usual diligent studies.

Day by day, time passed. The cicadas grew louder, and the lotus flowers in the pond at Second High School bloomed more abundantly with each passing day.

Even the slowest subject, chemistry, had progressed to the final textbook in the curriculum.

It was Qin Xiaoxiao’s group’s turn for duty that day.

Last time, Chen Xiaopei had deliberately left Qin Xiaoxiao to take out the trash alone, which resulted in her being thoroughly scolded by Yang Min. Since then, Chen Xiaopei had unilaterally started a “cold war” with Qin Xiaoxiao and Yang Min—when they crossed paths, she would deliberately turn her head away with a cold expression, as if afraid they wouldn’t notice her disdain, and she refused to speak to them.

Chen Xiaopei, always seeking special treatment, had already finished sweeping her assigned area before the second class break.

After school in the afternoon, only Qin Xiaoxiao and Yang Min stayed behind for duty.

“Let’s wait a few minutes until there are fewer people, then we can start cleaning,” Qin Xiaoxiao suggested.

Yang Min had no objections and leaned over to grab a magazine from Tao Lei’s desk in front of her to read.

After finishing a Chinese reading exercise, Qin Xiaoxiao closed her notebook and signaled to Yang Min that they could get started.

“Ah, wait, let me finish this little bit,” Yang Min said.

Qin Xiaoxiao got up and went to grab the cleaning tools first.

The place where the brooms and dustpans were stored was close to where the trash bin was kept, both located in the back corner of the classroom.

As Qin Xiaoxiao walked over, she naturally noticed the person sitting in the last row of the last group.

He was lying on the desk, sleeping in a relaxed and casual posture.

It had been almost a month since she’d last seen this scene.

The thought flashed through Qin Xiaoxiao’s mind for only a moment before she picked up the broom and dustpan and walked away.

“Here,” Qin Xiaoxiao handed a broom to Yang Min.

Yang Min held the broom without moving, glanced at a certain seat, and quietly suggested, “Xiao ah, can we switch? You sweep the third and fourth groups, and I’ll sweep the first and second groups.”

The front and back of the classroom had already been swept by Chen Xiaopei.

Qin Xiaoxiao: “…”

“I don’t dare sweep the fourth group…” Yang Min said with a distressed expression. How could she possibly dare to wake up the school bully? No, forget waking him up—she didn’t even have the courage to clean near where he sat.

Usually, the school bully wasn’t even in the classroom at this time. Today… well, she’d have to rely on her deskmate to handle it.

“Xiao ah, please, I’m begging you,” she pleaded.

Qin Xiaoxiao: “…Alright.”

There were only a few scattered classmates studying in the classroom.

Starting from the first desk and working her way back, it didn’t take long for Qin Xiaoxiao to sweep her way to the second-to-last desk.

She swept two groups at a time, row by row, planning to finish the last row of the third group first before moving on to Ji Wenchen’s desk.

There wasn’t much trash on the floor, but small bits of paper and fruit peels were tricky to clean up. Qin Xiaoxiao swept them together with the debris from earlier into a pile and reached out to grab the dustpan.

What her fingertips touched wasn’t the metal handle of the dustpan, but something warm.

Qin Xiaoxiao quickly withdrew her hand and turned her head.

The handle of the dustpan was covered by a slender, well-defined hand.

Its owner was still lying on the desk, but at some point, he had woken up. His half-open phoenix eyes gazed at her, exuding a lazy and nonchalant air.

Qin Xiaoxiao straightened up and turned to face him, quietly holding his gaze for two seconds.

He seemed completely unaware that he was interrupting her work, as his hand remained unmoving on the dustpan handle.

“Please let go,” Qin Xiaoxiao said softly, “and move aside. I need to sweep your spot.”

The girl’s face was delicate and beautiful, her eyes seeming to be shrouded in a faint mist, making it difficult to discern her emotions.

It almost felt as if she had no emotions at all, an inexplicable chill exuding an air of indifference.

“And what if I neither let go nor move?” Ji Wenchen asked, his deep, amber-like eyes flickering with a mix of light and shadow.

Qin Xiaoxiao paused for a moment and said, “Then you can sweep it yourself.”

She picked up her broom and was about to walk away.

“Qin Xiaoxiao.”

Ji Wenchen’s voice wasn’t particularly loud, but it was enough for the few classmates in the classroom, including Yang Min, who was sweeping in the second group, to hear.

No one dared to turn their heads toward the back of the classroom, even though their curiosity was piqued.

Yang Min pretended to sweep slowly, her ears practically straining to catch what was happening over there.

“What is it?” Qin Xiaoxiao asked, hearing her name called.

Ji Wenchen stared at her, a faint sharpness in his gaze.

“…You sweep.” The words he had intended to say swirled in his chest but ultimately came out as just those two.

Knowing the situation wasn’t appropriate, Ji Wenchen withdrew his hand, suppressing the emotions in his gaze. The corners of his lips tugged slightly as he straightened up and stood.

With one long stride, he stepped aside to make way for her. It was an unintentional movement, yet it left them standing almost face-to-face in the narrow aisle.

The rise and fall of his chest was barely a fist’s distance away from her.

At his collarbone, he could faintly feel the warmth of her barely perceptible breath.

Ji Wenchen’s eyes darkened.

Almost immediately realizing the closeness of their distance, Qin Xiaoxiao stepped sideways and retreated a step. She bent slightly, lowered her head, picked up the dustpan to collect the trash, and then moved to sweep the now-vacant seat.

Her fair, slender neck tilted slightly, forming an elegant and soft curve, with two delicate collarbones faintly visible…

Ji Wenchen averted his gaze, gripping the lighter in his pocket as he walked out of the classroom.

The evening was utterly still, without a hint of breeze—stifling, oppressive, the kind of summer that stirred irritation.

After dumping the last pile of trash into the bin, Qin Xiaoxiao put away the cleaning tools.

“Wait for me, Xiaoxiao,” Yang Min called out, afraid her deskmate would leave first. “I’ll finish sweeping really soon.”

Qin Xiaoxiao responded with a soft acknowledgment and stepped out of the classroom to get some fresh air.

The newly assigned classroom was on the fifth floor. From the corridor, one could see a stretch of lush greenery interspersed with clusters of unknown flowers. On the partially visible basketball court, students were playing, and farther out was the faint gray of the school pathways…

Qin Xiaoxiao’s eyes flickered slightly as she caught sight of a tall, striking figure standing out among the rest.

“Xiaoxiao, what are you looking at?”

Qin Xiaoxiao turned around. “Nothing. Let’s go.”

“Are we going back to the dorm or getting something to eat?”

“Let’s eat.”

“Sure.”

As they went down one flight of stairs, Yang Min cautiously asked, “Back when you were sweeping, why did the school bully call your name? Did he do anything to you…”

Qin Xiaoxiao glanced at her sideways.

Yang Min shrank her neck. “To thank you for kindly agreeing to switch groups with me, I’ll treat you to dinner!”