Chapter 41 P - Can't Wait

Chu Beiling wanted to do something, and he wanted to say something. He looked into Xing Yu's eyes, his mind went blank, and his heart felt terribly desolate. He couldn't do anything.

He could only watch helplessly as Xing Yu got closer and closer to him.

Three inches.

Two inches.

One inch.

...

The two drew infinitely closer, their breaths rising and falling, each consciously or unconsciously restraining themselves. Their moist breaths mingled and intertwined through the thin air, their heartbeats trembling slightly together.

Xing Yu's throat tightened slightly, his heart raced, and as he approached Chu Beiling—

He could feel Chu Beiling's body temperature and chaotic aura, as if they were spreading across his skin and igniting an inappropriate desire rising within him.

He looked down at Chu Beiling, his lips almost touching Chu Beiling's.

Chu Beiling's heart trembled, as if an electric current had passed through his chest, and he subconsciously held his breath.

They were simultaneously placed in a slow-motion film, each frame stretched infinitely, a sight known only to them—

How tense I was at that moment.

With each shift in Xing Yu's gaze, the madness and impulsiveness in his heart intensified, becoming increasingly erratic.

He took a deep breath and restrained himself.

In the end, he only leaned in close, his nose touching Chu Beiling's, before quickly retreating.

Chu Beiling gradually returned from his frozen state. In the latter half of the final scene, his thoughts completely wandered, and he spent the rest of the time in a daze, everything becoming blurry.

It wasn't until their class's stage performance ended and a group of people walked backstage laughing and joking that Chu Beiling realized the performance was over.

He didn't know when a galaxy-like boundary had been drawn between him and Xing Yu.

Chu Beiling glanced at Xing Yu quickly and then looked away.

Unlike the audience who were just on stage, where the mosaic blocked the intimate scene between the two, and who almost threw a water bottle at the mosaic because they couldn't see anything and were cursing and angry.

The group of young men and women who participated in the stage performance could see it clearly.

Xu Tunan, stirring up trouble and seemingly unafraid of getting beaten up, used a mineral water bottle as a microphone and handed it to Chu Beiling for an interview: "Your Highness, how does it feel to be awakened by a prince's kiss?"

Chu Beiling blushed instantly, his ears burning red. He kicked Xu Tunan's shin lightly, his face full of guilt and panic: "I didn't kiss your grandpa."

Xing Yu, who was standing to the side, quickly glanced at him and then looked away.

Xu Tunan asked in confusion, "No way~ I clearly saw you two kissing."

Thinking of what had just happened on stage, Chu Beiling's heart pounded wildly, as if it were about to burst out of his chest. All he wanted to do was find a hole to crawl into and escape the stares from everyone.

Young Master Chu said in a panic, "Borrow, borrow a spot, do you understand?"

Li Dong, who was also good at making things happen, raised an eyebrow and said playfully, "Chu Fanfan, I think you're quite a disappointment."

Chu Beiling grew increasingly flustered and incoherent, stammering, "We didn't kiss, so what? I'm overjoyed! What's there to regret?!"

Li Dong's smile deepened: "Is this what I meant?"

Chu Beiling gritted her teeth and said, "Li Dong, you're dead."

Even the adorable summer girl has gone astray: "A mosaic can prove that the prince kissed the princess."

A group of teenagers deliberately dragged out their words, teasingly saying, "Oh—so that's how it is, Little Prince Fanfan, don't be shy~"

Chu Beiling pointed at Sheng Xia, looking helpless and disappointed: "Sheng Xia, you can't stay with Li Dong. She's corrupted you and made you spread rumors. Someone, take her out and bury her."

Li Dong reached out and pulled Sheng Xia along, the two of them holding hands: "Chu Fanfan, our Xia Xia is the best girl, don't bully her."

Sheng Xia nodded in approval.

Sixteen or seventeen-year-old high school students are full of romantic fantasies about love, hazy and expectant, completely unaware of what's really going on. They like to make random jokes, let alone jokes about the same sex, and they have no sense of propriety when they make jokes.

Especially between boys, they do whatever they want, however chaotically.

Xu Tunan led the jeering: "Xing Yu and Chu Beiling should be together."

Renyi: "Ah, this is the taste of love."

Midsummer: "Together, together."

Li Dong: "Chu Fanfan, do you think our 50 million watt light bulbs are excessive?"

Ke Jincheng: "Please get married on the spot."

Liu Jiaxiang: "I'll go and move the Civil Affairs Bureau over here for you."

“Xing Yu, Chu Beiling,” Xu Tunan began.

"Together," the others echoed.

"Xing Yu, Chu Beiling."

"Together."

"Xing Yu, Chu Beiling."

"Get married on the spot."

After the group finished fooling around, they found it very funny and burst into laughter again.

Chu Beiling felt so hot that he was burning up. He was used to these idiots teasing him. Although he felt uncomfortable and wished he could find a crack in the ground to hide in, he was more concerned about Xing Yu's feelings because he had been dragged into this and was being teased indiscriminately.

This person doesn't like being joked about or being the center of attention.

Chu Beiling glanced at him indifferently. Xing Yu watched quietly, his face showing no displeasure whatsoever, and even a hint of subtle and complex joy?

No, that must be his imagination.

In short, it's good that you're not angry.

Young Master Chu breathed a sigh of relief after confirming that Xing Yu was alright.

Perhaps sensing his gaze, Xing Yu looked over.

The two people in the center of the conversation exchanged a glance, then quickly looked away as if they had been electrocuted.

Chu Beiling calmed his chaotic thoughts and began to unleash his power, warning these clueless fools: "You're all on my assassination list. Remember, you'd better not sleep too soundly at night."

Li Dong raised a very real issue: "You can't get into the girls' dormitory."

Chu Beiling: "..."

After a moment of silence, Chu Beiling said, "Then you'd better lock your bedroom door at home, or don't blame me for suddenly appearing at your bedside."

Everyone in the class knew that Chu Beiling and Li Dong were childhood sweethearts, so they weren't surprised that he could go directly to Li Dong's house. After Chu Beiling said that the two were just friends and nothing more, no one would think of many other things, except for Xue Ziang.

In junior high school, Xue Ziang was their classmate. He often saw the two of them together, inseparable. He himself was just a passerby in their lives, not even a passerby. They had no idea that he had once been their classmate.

He was like a maggot in the shadows, spying on their happiness. He didn't even like painting, and Chu Beiling hated painting, but he still came to the art class for Li Dong.

His pride wouldn't allow him to do that.

While Xue Ziang despised his own behavior, he also constantly tried to make his presence felt in front of them.

His family background was excellent, which was really insignificant compared to the rest of the group of people who were also studying art. Fine, as long as he did well in his studies, there was no need to compare him with others. As long as he was better than Chu Beiling, that was enough.

However, his academic performance, which gave him an advantage over Chu Beiling, was severely humiliated by Chu Beiling's far superior ranking in the recent exams.

Chu Beiling was confident and flamboyant, and he also had a face that attracted girls. Many people in his class, no, in the whole school liked him. He was the focus of everyone's attention and was the object of everyone's affection.

And what about him? His father never came home, his mistresses were crawling all over the place, and his mother was hysterical all day long, like a shrew.

Not only that, she also shifted all the pressure onto him. If he did well in his studies, she would agree to anything. But if he did poorly in a test, she would say the most vicious things. She only used him as a tool to prove that her life and marriage were not failures.

Xue Ziang also knew that most people in the class didn't really like him.

But he was the class monitor, with power second only to the homeroom teacher. He asked himself if he had done a good job, doing many things that were not his duty as class monitor, and buying many things for the class at his own expense.

But they never remember his contributions, and even take them for granted.

Xue Ziang really wanted to ask, why? Why is it that he did so much, yet he's not as popular as Chu Beiling, who did nothing?

Why does he deserve so much love and the best things in the world?

Even the girl he likes likes him and speaks up for him.

Why are they so close?

And why should Chu Beiling, who has no intention of being with Li Dong, still want to possess her and enjoy her kindness towards him?

Xue Ziang absolutely detests someone with such dazzling brilliance.

With Chu Beiling around, his goodness will always be covered by a layer of dust and will never be discovered.

The school's arts festival performances continued until 1 p.m.

After making a ruckus for half a day, they were finally freed. Unfortunately, the auditorium was the public space that their Class 13 had to clean.

Normally, this venue is not open to the public, and they don't need to come and clean it. But once there is an event and the auditorium is used, they need to do the cleanup work.

Most people were cleaning the auditorium, with only a few backstage. Chu Beiling squeezed into the small changing room to begin cleaning.

Turning around again, Xing Yu had also slipped into the changing room without anyone noticing.

The midday sun of early winter streamed in through the window, layer upon layer, bright yet not glaring.

Xing Yu lowered his eyes and looked at him quietly. Perhaps because of the light, his gaze was unusually gentle.

Chu Beiling was taken aback.

Because of that damned Sleeping Beauty scene in the morning where the prince kisses the princess awake, and being teased by a bunch of idiots, Chu Beiling couldn't look Xing Yu in the eye until the end of the performance.

Upon suddenly encountering Xing Yu, Chu Beiling felt a surge of unease again. It was just acting, and it was perfectly normal for boys to joke around with each other. They had even made more outrageous jokes before.

Young Master Chu didn't know why, but he just found it difficult to look Xing Yu in the eye.

Seeing Xing Yu looking at her so openly, Chu Beiling suddenly felt ashamed.

It's really wrong of me to deliberately avoid him over such a trivial matter.

"Lost your soul?" Xing Yu asked.

Chu Beiling snapped out of his daze and met Xing Yu's gaze again. He awkwardly rubbed the tip of his nose and said, "I didn't lose it." He cleared his throat and said somewhat embarrassedly, "Actually... Xing Yu, I actually really like being with you."

Xing Yu's tense expression slowly relaxed, and he chuckled, "Me too."

Those three simple words instantly dispelled all of Chu Beiling's unease from the day. The heavy weight that had been pressing on his chest was lifted and gently placed to the ground by Xing Yu.

He laughed along with him.

Chu Beiling raised her chin: "Hurry up and finish cleaning, then we'll go home."

The auditorium was easy to clean; they just needed to remove the trash and debris from the performance. With so many people, they finished in less than half an hour.

Two days ago, Chu Beiling saw on Weibo that the ginkgo trees on Qingyin Street had turned yellow, and the fallen leaves covered the entire street. He couldn't wait to go there to sketch. After tidying up the auditorium, he pulled Xing Yu back to the dormitory to pack his luggage and prepare to go.

Chu Beiling was an impatient person, and he packed his things early and waited.

Xing Yu was afraid that he would get impatient, so he quickened his pace. For some reason, Xue Ziang was also in a hurry. He moved quickly, picked up his schoolbag without even looking, and slapped Xing Yu's schoolbag on the ground.

The contents of Xing Yu's schoolbag were scattered all over the floor.

Xue Ziang asked, feigning nonchalance, "Are you alright?"

Chu Beiling clicked her tongue in dissatisfaction, "Class monitor, you're too careless."

Xue Zi'ang said sarcastically, "I didn't do it on purpose. He just didn't put it away properly, so why should I be blamed?"

Chu Beiling stood up and walked to the class monitor. Xue Ziang frowned in dissatisfaction: "What do you want to do?"

Young Master Chu rudely stepped on Xue Ziang's shoes, leaving a footprint on his white sneakers. "Sorry, I didn't mean to."

Xue Ziang glared at him fiercely: "Chu Beiling, are you sick in the head?"

Chu Beiling glanced down, then stepped on Xue Ziang's other white sneaker. She looked up again, meeting Xue Ziang's gaze that seemed to want to tear him apart, and smiled slightly: "I'm really sorry, I like aesthetic symmetry. If you mind, I can compensate you."

"No need." Xue Ziang glared at him, then turned and left.

Chu Beiling squatted down and, together with Xing Yu, picked up the scattered pencils and charcoal pencils and put them back into their bag.

He said with heartache, "I hope these pens aren't ruined and can still be used."

Xing Yu suddenly burst out laughing. Chu Beiling was puzzled: "The pencil is about to be ruined, what are you laughing at?"

He shook his head: "What you just did was adorable."

Chu Beiling rolled her eyes at him, reached out to pick up his ID card, and was about to hand it to him when she saw the birthday on it and couldn't help but pause: "Yesterday was your birthday?"

"Okay." Xing Yu reached out and took the ID card from his hand.

Chu Beiling asked, "Why...didn't you say?"

Xing Yu: "There's nothing to say."

Chu Beiling lowered her eyes: "You should have said so that I wouldn't have missed your birthday."

"It's really okay. I don't really like celebrating birthdays anyway. If I miss it, it's a good thing," Xing Yu said.

At least yesterday, he didn't recall any unpleasant memories.

Chu Beiling looked up at him, puzzled. "Why?"

Xing Yu smirked and said with a self-deprecating laugh, "On my 11th birthday, my home was gone."

Chu Beiling's breath hitched, a sour feeling welled up in her throat, and her eyes also became moist.

He reached out and took Xing Yu's hand, solemnly telling him, "I'm giving you this home, trust me."

Xing Yu's heart pounded wildly and intensely: "Yes, I believe it."

Season 2: Grapefruit and Thorns