After finishing her meal, Yun Xiang walked quietly back to the classroom.
Shen Zhe placed a bottle of soy milk on her desk and adjusted his glasses. “Sorry about earlier. They were just joking—don’t take it to heart.”
Yun Xiang stared at the soy milk on the desk, her thoughts drifting back to that rainy day.
She had been trapped in the classroom, and Shen Zhe had left her his only umbrella.
That was why she could never bring herself to say anything harsh to Shen Zhe. There were very few people who had been kind to her, and she truly treasured him as a friend.
But that was all he was—a friend.
She pushed the soy milk back toward him, her voice soft but earnest. “Something is only a joke if everyone finds it funny.”
And something that offended others was definitely not.
Shen Zhe seemed caught off guard by her words. His brows furrowed slightly, and a flicker of malice passed through his eyes.
Yun Xiang was, in effect, rejecting him.
At the dinner table, Jiang Yangze and the others had called her his girlfriend, and she hadn’t liked it. She wanted to distance herself from him.
It seemed he had been too lenient with her.
He gave her good food and drink, looked out for her in every way, and invested so much—yet she wouldn’t even let a casual joke tie her to him.
Jiang Yangze was right. To win over a soft, spineless girl like her, all he had to do was make things irreversible. She wouldn’t dare resist.
“It won’t happen again.”
Shen Zhe curved his lips into a smile at Yun Xiang, but she inexplicably felt that his smile was unsettling.
It was as if a corner of his gentle, honest mask had been peeled away, revealing the rot beneath.
“Really not drinking it?” Shen Zhe reached out and shook the bottle of soy milk, coaxing her. “It’s really good.”
Yun Xiang shook her head again.
[Heh, she doesn’t like that stuff anyway.]
Just then, Pei Xingche walked in through the front door of the classroom.
He swept a casual glance over the two of them, wearing an expression that said “stay away,” but the little dog on his head was whining and grumbling.
[That Shen-what’s-his-name is so annoying. Bro wants to kick him flying, straight into outer space, then bro takes his place and becomes my baby’s desk mate, cuddling with her every day.]
[Oh right, I also need to bring my baby walnut yogurt every day. Little does she know, it’s her favorite—this is bro and her little secret. (Doggy smug face) (Puts on tiny sunglasses)]
Yun Xiang was stunned.
She had grown somewhat numb to Pei Xingche’s nonsensical inner ramblings, but the information hidden within them puzzled her.
How did Pei Xingche know she liked walnut yogurt?
That had been her secret alone.
It started around last semester—cartons of yogurt would occasionally appear in her desk cubby.
At first, she thought someone had put it there by mistake.
She brought it to class and asked around, but no one claimed it.
Being cautious, she didn’t drink it. But the next morning, she found a fresh carton in her cubby.
Along with a note—
“Drink it, on me. Don’t be scared.”
The handwriting was crooked and messy, like chicken scratch.
Yun Xiang held out for a few days.
Finally, the day before the yogurt was about to expire, she gave in and downed both cartons in one go, licking the lids clean.
If it was poisoned, so be it.
And in the end, she proved through experience that it was just ordinary yogurt—a flavor she loved.
Later, when Shen Zhe left his umbrella on her desk, she had even guessed that he was the one secretly giving her yogurt.
It wasn’t until she heard Pei Xingche’s inner voice just now that she wondered…
Could it be that all along, it was Pei Xingche who had been slipping yogurt into her desk cubby?
Yun Xiang tilted her head, her gaze involuntarily following Pei Xingche’s retreating figure.
How strange.
“Are you looking at Pei Xingche?”
Shen Zhe’s lowered voice suddenly sounded by her ear.
Yun Xiang snapped back to reality, looking at Shen Zhe’s gloomy face, unsure whether she should admit it.
Shen Zhe gritted his teeth, his voice tinged with suppressed anger. “He’s handsome, isn’t he? Do you like him?”
Yun Xiang wanted to say, “That’s none of your business.”
But seeing Shen Zhe’s face darker than the bottom of a pot, she decisively chose silence.
She silently opened the exercise book on her desk and began working on problems.
The soy milk bottle was squeezed tightly in his grip. Shen Zhe’s face was cold as he suppressed the fury within.
He thought Yun Xiang was a fickle, ungrateful wolf.
He had been so good to her, and Pei Xingche had only transferred here a few days ago—and already her soul had been stolen away?
It seemed she really needed to be taught a lesson.
The dismissal bell rang.
Shen Zhe really did seem angry that day. He hadn’t spoken to Yun Xiang all afternoon, and when school let out, he left without even a goodbye, walking off with Jiang Yangze and the others.
Her mood wasn’t as heavy as she’d expected. Yun Xiang packed her bag slowly.
The gratitude she’d initially felt toward Shen Zhe seemed to have been worn away long ago by his excessive behavior.
This was fine, too.
She’d never had any friends anyway.
Walking out of the school gates, the dark blue sky was streaked with burning clouds, and fish-scale wisps of cloud drifted slowly across.
Students in uniforms, radiating youthful energy, walked side by side, arms linked in twos and threes, laughing and chatting. Even their bitter complaints about homework and teachers were full of vitality.
Even luckier were those whose parents stood behind them holding car keys, with faint, indulgent smiles on their faces.
Yun Xiang quietly lowered her eyes and reached into her bag for her earphones.
Suddenly, that familiar, clean voice cut through her gray world.
[A snail crawls slowly, oh.]
[I watch it quietly, yeah.]
Her movements paused, and her nose inexplicably tingled.
A wisp of breeze blew into her heart, and she couldn’t help but turn back to look.
Pei Xingche was four steps behind her, riding his mountain bike with a lazy sway, his back arched, his straight spine pressing against his school uniform—youthful and uniquely his own.
He had clearly been watching her the whole time, so their gazes collided unexpectedly.
Both were at a loss, with nowhere to escape.
Beneath the faded, washed-out school uniform cuffs, pale fingertips curled nervously into a fist. Yun Xiang blinked and slowly turned her head back.
As if nothing had happened, she walked forward.
Only—the earbud cord was never actually hooked over her ear.
Only—her translucent, fair cheeks were tinged red by the gentle dusk light.
Pei Xingche paused in place for a moment.
He gripped the handlebars, long legs bracing against the ground, his deep, handsome features gilded with a faint gold by the sinking sunlight. His pitch-black eyes seemed to hold the golden glow too, glimmering with scattered light.
A handsome curve tugged at the corner of his lips. He pushed off the ground, stepped onto the pedals, and chased after that petite, adorable figure.
At the same time, his mind went wild:
[Mom, ahhhh, she turned back to look at me—does she secretly like me too?]
[Heh heh, this damn charm of mine! It’s simply impossible to contain. I’m the arsonist of hearts!]
[Alright, today is another day of the flower guardian, the devoted knight, the handsome prince escorting the princess home (rose in mouth) (devastatingly handsome)]