Chapter 18 P - Transgender

Chu Beiling raised her chin provocatively, wanting to see who could outwit whom.

Xing Yu smiled slightly, tilted his head to look at him, and remained silent.

Their eyes met, and a subtle electric current filled the air. The two boys were locked in a silent contest, the former unwilling to back down, the latter nonchalant and carefree.

The classroom clock ticked away, and when the minute hand moved from '5' to '6'—

Chu Beiling leaned back, staring at him with interest, and defiantly provoked him again: "You know, you love me!"

"I know about this?!" Xing Yu frowned, his dark eyes darting around as if he were thinking.

Chu Beiling raised her chin: "Yes, baby, you know."

"Okay, I'll take it as I understand."

suddenly--

Xing Yu moved closer to reduce the distance between them, startling Chu Beiling, who immediately leaned back to create distance, only to be pulled back by Xing Yu.

"What are you doing?" Chu Beiling's mind went blank, her tone revealing a hint of panic and helplessness.

"Is that all the guts you have?" Xing Yu scoffed, his eyes gleaming with arrogance, his tone casual, openly mocking someone's paper tiger behavior.

Chu Beiling was extremely dissatisfied with his defeat in this contest, especially when faced with Xing Yu's mockery. If he didn't retaliate, it would be as if he were inferior to Xing Yu.

That's absolutely unacceptable.

Where would he put Young Master Chu's face?

Just as he was about to speak, Li Dong kicked his chair: "You two, that's enough. I've been watching you for ages."

Chu Beiling slowly raised her eyes, but when she met Lin Tingdao's meaningful smile, she immediately looked away.

Having learned his lesson from the first class, Young Master Chu was wiser. He didn't want Ruan Dao to tease him and Xing Yu in front of the whole class, thus binding the two together.

Chu Beiling stopped criticizing Xing Yu for attracting attention and picked up his charcoal pencil to continue shading. Noticing Xing Yu's gaze, he glanced at him.

The next second after eye contact—

Xing Yu raised a sharp eyebrow and quickly looked away, his expression arrogant and nonchalant, his eyes clearly saying 'coward'.

It was highly provocative.

"..." Chu Beiling's teeth chattered.

This person is absolutely awful, a real nuisance.

If they weren't in class, he would definitely pounce on Xing Yu and bite him ten or eight times.

This time, Chu Beiling was defeated again by "we'll see how it goes."

In the following days, Chu Beiling didn't reach out his claws to bite or scratch, and Xing Yu shut his venomous mouth. With fewer conflicts and contests, the two got along more harmoniously than ever before.

To make up for her guilt, Chu Beiling would still do some chores for him whenever she felt like it.

For example: helping him clean the bucket and palette that even he himself is too lazy to wash, tidying up a certain obsessive-compulsive's paint box, getting him breakfast, lunch and dinner, standing guard at the bathroom door while he washes up and handing him whatever he needs, and acting as a crutch to help him climb to the top bunk at night.

They are dedicated and responsible, working hard without complaint.

No, there was still resentment, but Young Master Chu only regretted that he felt guilty and couldn't express it.

Xing Yu had always been skeptical and observant about Chu Beiling's sudden change of personality.

He discovered that as long as he didn't shut people out, Chu Beiling would always grant their requests, regardless of whether they were reasonable or not. The more Chu Beiling acted this way, the more certain Xing Yu became that Chu Beiling must have discovered something.

Many classmates noticed the subtle changes between the two school heartthrobs, but everyone attributed these changes to Chu Beiling's kind heart and his care for the injured Xing Yu.

On Friday at noon, after getting lunch for Xing Yu, Chu Beiling sat down in front of Li Dong and asked, "Why are you looking at me like that?"

Li Dong pointed at Xing Yu, who was sitting in the corner, separated from the surrounding noise by a barrier, and then held up his hand in front of Chu Beiling to make a "1" sign: "It's been a week, Chu Beiling. I've been observing you for a week. When did you become so easy to talk to, more obedient than a grandson, especially since the person opposite you is Xing Yu?"

Chu Beiling said quietly, "Because I am now Mencius."

"Is this what I'm talking about?!"

Under the table, Li Dong kicked Chu Beiling in the calf, making Chu Beiling frown in pain: "Can't you act a little more like a girl?"

Li Dong found it strange: "So you've been possessed?"

"If someone is injured, what's wrong with me taking care of him?" Chu Beiling didn't mention the prayer slip at all.

Li Dong, who had watched the two bicker since childhood, knew their personalities best. "Do you think I trust you?"

Chu Beiling retorted, "Why don't you believe me!"

Xu Tunan, who was eating, looked up and asked in confusion, "Xing Yu is injured, isn't it normal for Chu Fanfan to take care of him? The rest of us are also taking care of him, aren't we?"

Although Chu Beiling did most of the work, there wasn't much they could do to help.

Li Dong said, word by word, "It's normal for everyone else, but it's not normal for Chu Beiling to take care of Xing Yu."

She had only ever seen two people who could make Chu Beiling furious: Xing Yu and Li Shuying. And as long as Li Shuying didn't mention Xing Yu, Chu Beiling generally wouldn't explode on the spot and turn into a fire-breathing dragon.

In addition, because the latter is his mother, he would restrain himself due to her authority and unconscious desire to please her.

Chu Beiling is the kind of person you have to stroke the right way. Xing Yu not only doesn't know how to do that, but he'll also make him explode on the spot in a heartbeat. In short, the factors that make him explode on the spot are all related to Xing Yu.

How could they be so compliant unless they felt guilty?

Li Dong snapped out of his daze: "Did you do something to wrong Xing Yu?"

Chu Beiling paused in her grip on her chopsticks, then said, "I want to make Xing Yu happy and fulfill my wish to paint him, but no way!"

Li Dong reluctantly accepted this answer. After all, Chu Beiling's love for painting had reached the point where he considered painting as a girlfriend to be loved and cherished for a lifetime. If his wish was not fulfilled, he would indeed feel uncomfortable.

During the lunch rush, the cafeteria at Xigao No. 2 was bustling with people, with all the students walking in twos and threes, making Xing Yu, who was all alone in the corner, particularly noticeable.

Perhaps sensing his gaze, Xing Yu, who was eating with his head down in the corner, suddenly looked up.

Their eyes met briefly, then Xing Yu lowered his head and continued eating.

It was the hottest time of day, and the tables near the windows were completely exposed to the sun. No student wanted to sit there in the sun.

Xing Yu was like a freak. He would rather sit in the sun than squeeze into the middle of the cafeteria with other people. Many people passing by couldn't help but glance at him.

At the age of sixteen or seventeen, they love being around people and want to do everything in groups with others. Being alone feels like being betrayed by the whole world. Lonely and unconventional people are like aliens in this world and are labeled as unsociable and difficult to get along with.

Nobody wants this.

Chu Beiling still can't figure out why this person is always unwilling to integrate into the crowd, always coldly rejects other people's invitations, and prefers to stay alone, detached from the world.

The window was wide open, and a gust of wind blew in, causing large swaths of rose petals to fall. The breeze carried them into the room, landing on Xing Yu's head and shoulders. Sunlight circled the area around him in geometric patterns, and Xing Yu was enveloped in a dreamlike softness.

I always feel like something is missing.

Chu Beiling thought so.

He pulled out his sketchbook and started painting right away, too lazy to even eat.

Xu Tunan, whose mind was only focused on rice, was dumbfounded: "You're... this is too exaggerated. Rice is the most important thing in the world, and you don't even put rice first. Now I really believe that your true love is painting."

"Of course, my girlfriend is more important than food," Chu Beiling replied absentmindedly.

The class monitor, who had finished getting his meal, spotted Li Dong and his group at a glance and walked towards them without saying a word. Ni Wenxuan, who was beside him, followed along.

Xue Zi'ang: "So diligent! You even paint while eating!"

Chu Beiling was so focused on the painting that she didn't hear her class monitor talking at all.

Xue Ziang felt awkward for a moment, then broke open a bar of Yakult he had brought and distributed it to the others present, saying, "I just bought one for each of you."

"Thank you, squad leader." Xu Tunan accepted it with a smile.

Xue Ziang placed the Yakult in front of Li Dong. Seeing that she ignored him, he was about to speak when Li Dong, who had been staring at Chu Beiling, reached out and, taking advantage of his inattention, put the large chicken leg from his plate into her own bowl.

Xue Ziang looked embarrassed and awkward for a moment, then turned his gaze to Chu Beiling: "Little Prince Fanfan, don't just focus on drawing. Although we are art students, our academic performance is also very important."

Li Dong chuckled: "Class monitor, I think you're overthinking it."

"What?" Xue Zi'ang asked, puzzled.

Li Dong: "It's nothing."

Just as Chu Beiling finished drawing and was about to close the sketchbook, Xu Tunan came over.

In the picture:

"Under the bright sunshine, the chibi version of Xing Yu was surrounded by adorable little people and pulled into a garden full of white lilies of the valley. A band played nearby, and the little people held hands and danced around the chibi version of Xing Yu, keeping him company."

Wow haha, September 22, 2012, left in the cafeteria of the second grade of West High School"

Xu Tunan blurted out, "Our motherland is a garden..."

He paused, then asked curiously, "May I interview you? How did you manage to come up with this image while eating?"

"Just do some random drawing." Chu Beiling looked down and realized his big chicken leg was gone: "Where's my chicken leg?"

Looking up, I saw the large chicken leg next to Li Dong's plate, now just bones.

"Li Dong, are you trying to kill me? You stole my chicken leg!" He snatched the last big chicken leg in the second canteen, but before he could even take a bite, it was already in Li Dong's stomach.

Chu Beiling's heart was bleeding.

Li Dong said, "It's your own fault for not eating properly."

Chu Beiling rolled her eyes, and Li Dong chuckled.

Xue Ziang, who was almost ignored, twitched his lips slightly, and his eyes gradually darkened.

On Friday after school, Chu Beiling was still the last to leave. Most of the students in the class had already handed in their practice exercises, and even the few students who had extra lessons and practiced their basic skills gradually handed in their in-class exercises.

Only Xing Yu remained, not even having finished a single color exercise.

If Chu Beiling, with her impatient nature, had seen Xing Yu moving so slowly under normal circumstances, she would have thought he was deliberately dragging things out and would have gone crazy and started working immediately.

But Xing Yu said, "I'm not used to my left hand." Chu Beiling retorted, and then added, "If you move too much, it will hurt your right hand."

It can shut him down instantly.

"Chu Fanfan, I'm leaving first." Before leaving, Xu Tunan reminded them to come to his birthday party on Sunday and invited Xing Yu again: "Come on, come on, we're just waiting for you."

Xing Yu shook his head slightly: "I'm not going."

Seeing his insistence, Xu Tunan didn't force him: "Alright~ If you want to come, just come over."

Even Xu Tunan, who was the slowest and most dawdling, handed in his two practice sets and left, leaving only the two of them in the huge art classroom.

Xing Yu had just finished painting his blue ceramic jar.

He was drawing, and Chu Beiling was bored waiting, so he went back to the classroom to get his sketchbook and started coloring the "Wahaha" picture.

As the sun slowly sank below the city horizon, Xing Yu leisurely finished his painting, and Chu Beiling also finished his.

Xing Yu had difficulty using one hand, so Chu Beiling carried his painting toolbox for him. The two of them walked together under the moonlight and took the subway back to Zhalongkou.

After returning home, Chu Beiling first helped him carry the toolbox to the top floor, and then helped him find the key in his schoolbag to open the door.

There was little furniture in the house. The pale moonlight stretched from the kitchen all the way to the entrance hall, casting long shadows. Xing Yu had placed his painting supplies where the sofa used to be in the living room.

At first glance, all you see is cold black, white and gray, even more spacious and cold than the showroom.

The only splash of color was the reddish-brown cello placed in another corner of the living room.

Chu Beiling was only then surprised to realize that Xing Yu was just like him.

They returned home to find nothing but an empty house where they were all alone.