47 Chapter 47

◎I might have fallen for her◎

The activity class lasted neither too long nor too short, and half of it passed in the blink of an eye.

In the classroom, Shi Ziqian sat alone for half the period before getting up and leaving. He rarely strolled around campus, but he had been lost in thought all day and decided on a whim to go for a walk. As he passed Xiaochao, a figure hurriedly ran into it, almost bumping into him.

He stepped aside to avoid them, but the other person didn't even turn around, just said "sorry" perfunctorily, and tried to run back inside.

Shi Ziqian looked at the other person's hurried departure and suddenly called out to her, "Shi Qiyue."

"Huh?" Shi Qiyue stopped and turned around.

Her hair had grown a bit longer, and with a sudden flick of her head, it all fell onto her face. She reached up and tucked her hair behind her ear, then, seeing it was him, gave a nonchalant look: "How strange, to run into you at school. What do you want?"

Shi Ziqian asked, "Where are you going?"

Shi Qiyue said matter-of-factly, "What else can we do at Xiao Chao's place? Of course, we'll buy things."

What to buy?

Shi Qiyue patiently replied, "Cola."

"Oh." Shi Ziqian nodded.

"Anything else? If not, I'm leaving." As she spoke, she turned her head back with remarkable agility.

"Wait a moment."

I was called back again.

Shi Qiyue had no choice but to turn back again, swallowing her anger and saying, "Brother, can't you just say what's on your mind? Don't you think our conversation is weird? If you don't have anything to say, you don't have to force it."

"Nothing much, just checking in on you." Shi Ziqian's expression remained unchanged as he continued, "Have you eaten?"

"...I didn't eat."

"Would you like me to take you out to eat?"

Shi Qiyue gave him a look as if he were crazy: "Big brother, I have my own meal card, do you need to take me to eat?"

Shi Ziqian coughed lightly: "Have you ever eaten at the high school cafeteria?"

Shi Qiyue said weakly, "I've never eaten it."

"Why don't you give it a try?"

Shi Qiyue's expression was indescribable. She stared at him with her round eyes, looking him up and down. "Are you possessed by a ghost today? What do you want?" As soon as she finished speaking, a thought flashed through her mind, and she suddenly realized: "Do you want something from me?"

"Not really," Shi Ziqian said. "It's just that it's lunchtime, so we can have a meal together."

Shi Qiyue eventually followed Shi Ziqian to the cafeteria. The high school cafeteria wasn't very interesting; it wasn't much different from the junior high. Shi Qiyue looked around, then listlessly picked up a plate of chicken cutlet rice and found a seat.

Shi Ziqian sat down opposite her, and the two ate their meals facing each other for a while before he spoke again: "Shi Qiyue, what do you usually like to eat?"

Shi Qiyue buried her head in her rice, looking listless: "Why ask this? I don't like anything."

Shi Ziqian pretended not to hear and continued, "Um... it's something like a gift."

"Is it really necessary to go through all this trouble? Just say you want to give the girl something." Shi Qiyue said haphazardly while busy picking out the side dishes from the chicken cutlet rice. "Gifts? I don't know what girls your age like, maybe something like necklaces or bracelets."

Shi Ziqian thought for a moment: "What kind?"

"I don't know. Generally, when giving gifts, you just buy whatever is expensive, the more expensive the better."

Shi Ziqian's questions today were abnormally numerous. He then asked her, "So, what brands are more popular with girls?"

"I don't know, and I don't like these kinds of things." Shi Qiyue's eyes lit up. "Why don't you just go and see what kind of jewelry Zhu Qing has in her cabinet? She has that nouveau riche taste; she likes to buy things that make people know she's rich at a glance. Just buy what she has."

Shi Ziqian frowned: "That's not good, it's too insulting."

Shi Qiyue's face turned cold: "Is calling her a nouveau riche an insult to her? She is one."

Shi Ziqian corrected her expressionlessly: "That's too insulting."

Shi Qiyue realized what was happening and burst into laughter, "Where did you learn to curse so rudely without using any swear words? I need to learn from you."

Shi Ziqian didn't speak. Actually, he didn't intend to scold Zhu Qing. He felt it was a waste of time not even to look at Zhu Qing, let alone to waste his breath scolding her.

He simply felt that it was arrogant and insulting to assume that giving someone an expensive gift on one's own initiative would make them like it.

The two didn't continue the topic. After Shi Qiyue had finished laughing, she remembered something else: "By the way, I heard you picked up a stray puppy?"

Shi Ziqian didn't correct her about the "wild puppy" analogy, but asked, "How did you know?"

"I heard it from Aunt Chen. She said you asked her what to pay attention to when raising a dog. She also said, 'Didn't you used to dislike dogs? Why do you suddenly want to raise one?'"

Shi Ziqian said, "I suddenly like it."

Shi Qiyue seemed quite interested in this: "Where's the dog? Let me see it."

"I'm still in the hospital and won't be able to be discharged for another week or two."

"Okay." Shi Qiyue looked regretful. "So where do you plan to keep it then, in the dormitory?"

Shi Ziqian nodded.

"After you bring it back, can I come to your dorm to play with the dog?"

“It’s playing with the dog,” Shi Ziqian corrected her, before replying, “No.”

Shi Qiyue ignored the first half of his sentence and said angrily, "Why can't I? How can you be so stingy?"

"Because that's a boys' dormitory, and you're a girl."

"Why are single dorm rooms divided into male and female? Do you think I don't know that the building you live in is a faculty apartment building?"

Shi Ziqian's tone left no room for negotiation: "That won't do either, that's my room."

For the second time today, Shi Qiyue gave her the look of someone looking at a lunatic: "How can you be so feudal? Are you from ancient times?"

The next afternoon, as soon as get out of class ended, Yu Bai picked up the basketball from the back of the classroom and called out, "Let's go, Lao Xu, let's go play basketball. It's rare that you have free time these two days. Today we can arrange a friendly match with the class next door."

Upon hearing this, Xu Shen immediately stood up, but squeezed past him, saying, "I'm busy, I have something to do."

"What's wrong again? Aren't you supposed to be off to rehearsals these next few days?" Yu Bai complained.

"That's also something."

Yu Bai pressed him relentlessly, asking, "What's wrong? How many days has it been since you played basketball with me?"

"Don't worry about such things, kid." Xu Shen deftly pushed him aside and strode out of the classroom.

Yu Bai was furious with him and was about to scold him when he suddenly saw him turn back.

He thought Xu Shen had changed his mind and was about to speak when he saw Xu Shen walk quickly to the back of the classroom, grab his guitar bag from the bookshelf, and leave in a hurry.

"Tsk, I don't know what they're up to all day, so secretive." Yu Bai spun the basketball around in his hand a couple of times, then shouted angrily into the classroom, "Who wants to play basketball!"

Xu Shen carried his guitar all the way to the back playground. Before he even got close, he saw Zhan Xinyue's figure entering the flower corridor in the distance. He couldn't help but smile. Instead of disturbing her, he changed his hurried demeanor and found an open space on the grass of the playground not far away to sit down leisurely.

He placed the guitar beside him, supported himself with his hands behind his back, and stretched out his legs.

The sun wasn't as scorching as it was in summer lately, and its warmth gently shone on his face. He suddenly remembered a scene from yesterday, bathed in light and shadow, and his face flushed again. He quickly pinched the bridge of his nose, forcing himself not to recall it.

After calming down for a while, he took out his guitar and began to strum the strings idly. On such a beautiful day, he looked at the green leaves on the flower-covered pergola, and his eyes gradually curved into a smile.

After sitting for a while, some classmates got tired of playing and walked arm in arm toward the flower corridor. As they passed by him, Xu Shen plucked a vibrato on his zither and smiled as he reminded them:

"Old Fang is inside."

"Uh." The other person quickly turned around, not forgetting to thank him, "Thanks, brother."

Xu Shen accepted it without any shame, still smiling: "It's nothing."

Zhan Xinyue practiced alone for a long time. After finishing her dance practice, she sat in a daze for a while before walking out of the corridor. She wasn't in a good mood. The memories of the arts festival were too vivid. Every time she came to practice, all sorts of past events would surface in her mind, and the pain was no less than being slowly tortured with a dull knife.

"If you experience too much pain, your heart will become numb and insensitive," she thought, her gaze pausing slightly as it swept across a point not far away.

On the edge of the playground, Xu Shen sat on the ground with his guitar in his arms, bathed in the glow of the setting sun. Behind him was a bustling lawn where boys and girls ran and played, while he casually propped his legs up, head down, leisurely strumming the strings, relaxed and carefree.

Zhan Xinyue immediately looked away.

Xu Shen, however, seemed to have eyes in the top of his head; he spotted her almost immediately and called out to her, "Hey, Zhan Xinyue—"

Zhan Xinyue didn't hear him and walked quickly past him without looking to the side.

Xu Shen laughed nonchalantly, plucked the strings, and began to sing along to the lighthearted melody.

“Baby, you light up my world”

like nobody else

The way that you flip your hair

I get overwhelmed

But when you smile at the ground it ain't hard to tell

You don't know, oh oh.

You don't know you're beautiful"

Zhan Xinyue had heard this song before, but hearing him sing it while staring at her like that felt like hearing a foreign version of "The Girl Across the Way." His singing drew curious glances from many students strolling along the playground.

She had no choice but to stop and pretend to have just noticed him: "Xu Shen, you're here too."

“Yes.” Xu Shen finally stopped, not exposing her, but just smiled and said, “What a coincidence.”

"Okay," Zhan Xinyue said. "You keep playing, I'm going back to the classroom."

"I'm getting ready to go back to the classroom too." As he spoke, he quickly stuffed his guitar into his bag and followed.

Zhan Xinyue quickened her pace, intentionally or unintentionally, but Xu Shen stayed close behind her, keeping a distance that was neither too close nor too far.

As she turned a corner, Zhan Xinyue glanced to the side and saw Xu Shen staring at her from behind, his ears red and a faint smile on his face.

She quickly looked away, still puzzled, when she heard Xu Shen call out, "By the way, Xinyue, the art building will be open tomorrow, and everyone still needs to go there for rehearsals. I was going to tell you this yesterday, but I accidentally forgot."

Zhan Xinyue nodded to indicate that she understood, but Xu Shen suddenly quickened his pace to catch up with her and said in a low voice, "I also have to go to rehearse every day from now on, so let's go together from now on."

"Why?"

"Why would there be a reason?" Xu Shen ran a hand through his hair. "I just want to be with you, okay?"

In his past life, Xu Shen pursued her by going to the art building with her every day for rehearsals.

He didn't say it so bluntly back then. During that time, the two had already gotten to know each other because of the bread. Initially, Zhan Xinyue just met him on her way to the art building, they greeted each other, and walked together for a while.

After that, every time she came out of the classroom, she would often run into Xu Shen, who would walk by her classroom and say, "What a coincidence! Are you going to the art building? Let's go together."

After encountering him so many times, Xu Shen simply suggested, "Since we're going the same way anyway, let's both go together." From then on, whenever she went out, she would always see Xu Shen standing at the classroom door waiting for her.

The two gradually became acquainted. Zhan Xinyue never noticed anything amiss until one day when she was going down the stairs, a sudden thought struck her, and she asked in confusion, "Wait a minute, we're not even going the same way, are we? Shouldn't Class One take that staircase down which is closer? Why do you always end up coming this way when you're going that way?"

Xu Shen was stunned for a long time before laughing: "You really don't know? I thought I made it pretty obvious."

Zhan Xinyue stared at him, puzzled. Xu Shen laughed and said, "Didn't you realize at all that I'm pursuing you?"

Zhan Xinyue snapped out of her reverie. Xu Shen was still waiting for her reply. Seeing that she was lost in thought, he didn't urge her but just smiled with his eyes crinkled.

For a fleeting moment, she had the illusion that she had truly returned to her high school days before her rebirth. Back then, Xu Shen had pursued her with the same unwavering devotion, and no matter how much she received cold treatment from him, she could always find him there whenever she turned around. It was because of this that one day she was finally moved by him and told herself: Let's give it a try.

At that very moment, Zhan Xinyue suddenly made a decision.

She has always been a very gentle person, so even in the most painful moments, her first reaction was to run away, to avoid him, and to never have any connection with him again in this lifetime.

Unfortunately, fate played a cruel trick on her; the more she tried to avoid her, the more they kept running into each other by sheer coincidence.

After refusing Xie Wanzhi's request to dance for her that day, she thought she could finally breathe a sigh of relief, but there was an indescribable feeling in her heart that she couldn't express or swallow.

Later, after going through many twists and turns, she was forced to dance again. While she found it absurd, the lingering emotions in her heart actually subsided somewhat. Only at this moment did she suddenly understand that subtle feeling.

It's because I'm unwilling to accept it.

She was unwilling to accept it. He was the one who relentlessly pursued her at the beginning, but in the end, he was also the one who betrayed her.

She was unwilling to accept it. Why was it that he was the one who did wrong, yet she was the one who suffered? She was riddled with wounds and went through a near-death experience, while he remained standing in the same place, laughing obliviously as before.

Isn't that a bit too unfair?

The cycle of karma dictates that everyone must pay the price for their actions.

In this life, is it his turn to taste the bitterness of having his sincerity trampled on?

Zhan Xinyue gazed at him for a long time, so long that Xu Shen noticed her gaze, awkwardly touched his face, and then spoke:

"Okay, let's go together."

Yu Bai didn't manage to get enough people to play a friendly match with the class next door. He took the ball and played with some random teams by himself for a while, but it wasn't very interesting, so he prepared to leave.

Before he even left the basketball court, he saw the culprit who had abandoned him carrying a guitar bag, walking side by side with a girl with a high ponytail. The girl's long hair reached her waist, and she looked somewhat familiar.

"Oh, no wonder I couldn't get him to play basketball. Turns out he's prioritizing his girlfriend over his friends." Yu Bai immediately put his hand to his mouth and shouted, "Hey, Xu Shen, wait for me!"

Zhan Xinyue and Xu Shen heard his voice at the same time. Before Xu Shen could turn around, Zhan Xinyue had already seen Yu Bai: "Your friend is here, so I'll go up first."

Xu Shen could only nod and stand there waiting for Yu Bai. When he approached, Xu Shen glanced at him and said, "What are you shouting for? Can't you see I'm busy?"

"You have the nerve to say that? No wonder I can't find you during activity periods, you've been busy with these things. What's wrong with you? Why is your face so red? I feel like you're not acting normally today."

"Really?" Xu Shen patted his face. "You're mistaken, it's from the sun."

"I don't really think so," Yu Bai said with a doubtful look. After thinking for a moment, she suddenly bumped his shoulder. "Tell me the truth, do you like that girl?"

Xu Shen looked past him toward the place where Zhan Xinyue had disappeared at the entrance of the corridor, lost in thought: "I can't really explain it, it's just... at first I just found it quite amusing how she always acted fiercely towards me, and the more she acted like that, the more I wanted to tease her."

Because it really is quite cute.

Yu Bai shuddered: "You're really sick, go to the hospital and get your brain checked."

Xu Shen didn't reply. He tilted his head back and thought for a while. Suddenly, he reached out and put his arm around Yu Bai, smiling as he said, "You're right. I suddenly realized that I might really have fallen for her."

As night fell, there weren't many people in Shi Ziqian's building. Many teachers applied to use it only as a nap room during lunch break and would go home in the evening, so it was generally quiet at night.

After his evening class, Shi Ziqian returned to his dormitory and sat down on his bed. In the quiet of the night, he turned on his desk lamp and began to fiddle with a pile of wooden blocks under the light.

After talking with Shi Qiyue yesterday, he thought about it for a long time and finally asked someone to buy a piece of high-quality sandalwood. He asked someone to cut the log into many small cubes, which he just picked up tonight.

He carefully examined the wood blocks under the light, then took out a blade and began to carve them little by little along the grain, preparing to shape them into spheres of the same size. After carving, he would use coarse sandpaper of 2000 grit, 1000 grit, and 600 grit to polish them until they were smooth and round. Finally, he would polish them, drill holes, and string them together to make a sandalwood bracelet.

He learned all of this online, and it's quite a project, so he has to hurry.

Sandalwood has a calming effect, and Zhan Xinyue has been looking listless lately, as if she hasn't been sleeping well. He thought that wearing it might help.

This little item looks insignificant, so perhaps she could accept it without feeling guilty.

The only problem now is that he has no experience making them for the first time and is afraid they won't look good. So he finally decided to make himself a string of the same ones first to try, and then make the crescent moon string after he's more skilled.