"Mine."
Xie Jin drawled lazily, a smirk playing at the corner of his mouth, exuding an unapologetically roguish air.
He spread his palm open toward Gu Qishen, clearly demanding the return of his belongings.
Xie Jin knew how to provoke.
"Is that so? Good friend."
He smiled at Zhu Zhixi, looking utterly harmless.
Gu Qishen's jaw muscles tensed.
Zhu Zhixi felt as though her wrist might snap; Gu Qishen's expression was icy and devoid of warmth.
She could understand Gu Qishen's feelings.
Loss of control, betrayal.
She twisted her wrist slightly and used her other hand to take the fruit tea from Gu Qishen, passing it to Xie Jin. "Remember to eat those things; they're good for your health."
No sooner had the words left her mouth than Gu Qishen was already dragging her away.
Xie Jin felt as if a balloon had inflated in his chest, leaving him uncomfortable.
Why care about Gu Qishen's health when you like him? Suddenly barging into his life, tearing open a wound, and stuffing it with a sweet piece of candy.
Only to turn around and leave with someone else.
Leaving him empty, the sweetness now turned to poison.
Gu Qishen had long legs and took large strides, descending the steps slowly, one at a time.
Dragged along by him, Zhu Zhixi could only follow with quick, hurried steps, her calves working double-time.
Passing through the cool shade of the first-floor corridor and stepping into the sunlight, warmth returned to her skin. Gu Qishen suddenly stopped, his palm clammy with cold sweat.
These past two days, Zhu Zhixi had already been at odds with him. He didn’t want his own emotions to further strain their relationship.
He made no mention of Xie Jin.
Turning around, he shook the packaging bag and forced a smile. "Aunt Qing made chilled lotus root starch. Want to eat it in the cafeteria or back in the classroom?"
Zhu Zhixi pulled her wrist free, revealing a red mark on her fair skin. "I’m quite full from lunch; I don’t want to eat anything else."
"Is it that you don’t want to eat anything, or that you don’t want to eat what I give you?"
Zhu Zhixi remained silent.
Gu Qishen’s jaw tightened, his tone sharp. Realizing this belatedly, he frowned, and when he spoke again, his voice carried a coaxing tone. "Is the sun too much?"
Zhu Zhixi, with her fair skin and love for beauty, feared the sun.
She shook her head.
A fire seemed to burn in Gu Qishen’s chest, unquenchable, growing fiercer by the moment.
In the past, when Zhu Zhixi was angry, she would draw little figures to curse him, hit him, kick him, and repeatedly declare, "Gu Qishen, I’ll never speak to you again. If I do, I’m a dog."
Then she’d toss a test paper his way, with little dogs drawn next to the questions she couldn’t solve.
In the end, Gu Qishen would beg to explain them to her.
Afterward, the paper with the little dogs would belong to Gu Qishen, while his clean one naturally went to Zhu Zhixi.
The two of them were like a game of kickball, taking turns coaxing and indulging each other, a habit they’d grown accustomed to.
This time, however, Zhu Zhixi was uncharacteristically silent and distant, as if she had erected an invisible barrier.
One that kept only him out.
Unable to reach or touch her—this feeling was deeply unsettling.
Gu Qishen let out a sigh from his chest and continued to coax her. "Don’t stand here in the sun. Let’s go to the cafeteria. I carried this all the way here for you, young miss. Do me the honor."
Zhu Zhixi’s heart ached.
She didn’t move.
"Gu Qishen," she pursed her lips, picking at her slender, pale index finger, leaving a row of crescent-shaped marks. "Don’t be so good to me anymore."
Gu Qishen let out a soft scoff, half-amused, half-exasperated. "If not to you, then to whom, you little ingrate?"
Wen Yuqing, of course.
Zhu Zhixi thought silently.
Even thinking of that name still sent a physical chill through her body.
Just like the first time she saw Gu Qishen not refuse Wen Yuqing’s kiss—the coldness seeped from her heart and through the cracks in her bones.
That day was truly coincidental; she had only gone to the hospital to visit a friend.
The hospital parking lot was vast, filled with cars.
Her sense of direction was poor, and after circling the underground parking lot once, a sharp honk instinctively made her turn around.
She saw a girl in a light blue dress waving, likely greeting the car's owner.
She looked quite pure and pretty.
Seeing a beautiful girl, she briefly admired her for a second.
But the next moment, she saw the car's owner roll down the window. A hand with distinct, bony fingers held a cigarette, casually extended from the driver's seat, the wrist hanging loosely, the five fingers long and slender. The slowly dissipating smoke faintly obscured the ring.
Her heart skipped a beat, a feeling of weightlessness washing over her.
Gu Qishen leaned lazily against the seat, one hand resting on the window, exuding an air of casual arrogance. The girl quickly pecked his lips, her eyes shy and tender.
Yet Zhu Zhixi felt as if she had been plunged into an icy cellar. She didn't even know how she walked over.
"Gu Qishen."
Her voice trembled, light and airy, almost inaudible even to herself.
She saw Gu Qishen look up, a flicker of panic and astonishment flashing across his face. Smoothly, he pushed the door open, stepped out of the car, and strode toward her.
"Xibao."
Zhu Zhixi raised her hand and slapped him.
Gu Qishen tilted his chin slightly, a few red marks surfacing on his pale skin.
Zhu Zhixi's tears fell uncontrollably, cascading down her cheeks. She never blinked, staring fixedly at Gu Qishen—angry, sad, but most of all, heartbroken and betrayed.
And Gu Qishen at that time?
He allowed Zhu Zhixi to push him away again and again, stubbornly and forcefully pulling her into his embrace, afraid she would walk away without looking back.
Zhu Zhixi threw the ring: "Don't touch me. We're breaking up, canceling the engagement."
"Zhu Zhixi, some words become reality if said too often. If you dare throw that ring again, even if it kills you with pain, I'll tattoo a ring on your hand."
Gu Qishen panicked.
He pried open her hand and slipped the ring onto her finger.
Zhu Zhixi cried in anger: "Gu Qishen, you're just a scoundrel."
The twenty-seven-year-old Gu Qishen truly was a scoundrel, betraying Zhu Zhixi's sincerity.
Later, she learned that the girl's name was Wen Yuqing.
She and Gu Qishen began endless arguments, cold wars, more arguments, until at some point, they suddenly stopped fighting, numbly accustomed to each other's presence.
The cold, detached look from their arguments was still vivid in her mind, while the youthful, sunny Gu Qishen seemed somewhat innocent.
Zhu Zhixi couldn't hate the seventeen-year-old Gu Qishen, after all, he had been too good to her back then.
But inevitably, someone had to get hurt, to be betrayed.
It could only be the seventeen-year-old Gu Qishen.
Zhu Zhixi curved her lips as she answered his question: "Zhu Huaiqian, Zhao Moran, Li Yaozi, Meng Tingyin, Cai Xu… there are plenty of people in the class, anyone could do."
Gu Qishen scoffed lightly: "Zhu Zhixi, don't say one thing and mean another. If I really treated them well, wouldn't you beat me to death later?"
"Sooner or later, we'll have to part ways. I plan to make some new friends too."
Zhu Zhixi lowered her gaze, her voice soft yet firm.
Gu Qishen's throat tightened, the fire in his chest growing stronger.
New friends?
Xie Jin.
Because he had a new deskmate, she also wanted to make new friends.
Childish.
But it suited Zhu Zhixi's way of doing things.
"I'm going upstairs to work on the test papers."
Zhu Zhixi left without hesitation.
Behind her, Gu Qishen stood alone in the sunlight, enveloped in solitude.
At the second-floor landing, a heavy object was slammed to the ground with a loud "bang," venting its owner's inner fury.
Zhu Zhixi paused for two seconds, suppressing the surging bitterness in her heart, and continued upward.
This time, she would not knowingly fall into the same trap and repeat the same mistakes.
Zhu Zhixi was indeed studying earnestly.
Zhu Huaiqian suspected she had been possessed by a study demon—when had Zhu Zhixi ever taken the initiative to study?
A cup of milk tea with ice beads swayed back and forth before her eyes.
Zhu Zhixi was irritated, unable to solve the problem: "Don't bother me, get lost."
Zhu Huaiqian shifted from the table to the stool, propping his elbow on the desk and resting his chin on his fist as he pushed the milk tea toward her: "A young lady shouldn't be so irritable. Did Xie Jin give you a hard time at noon?"
"No."
Zhu Zhixi suddenly realized: "How did you know I ran into Xie Jin at noon?"
Zhu Huaiqian pulled out his phone and opened a picture.
It was from a small group chat among a few of their male classmates. Zhu Zhixi casually scrolled through a few messages and naturally saw a series of @ mentions.
Zhu Huaiqian, that bastard, hadn't replied to a single one.