062 | (Sixty-one) Escape

The wind rustles through the trees, autumn deepens, and the leaves turn yellow day by day.

The afternoon sun shone warmly on Xie Qingyan, who was in a daze. He figured the medicine wouldn't work immediately, so when did Su Xingmao start sleeping with him? Was it premeditated?

Before his mind went blank, Xie Qingyan opened his mouth and told people to leave.

"You can get out now."

She turned on him without hesitation, kicking Su Xingmao off the bed. Despite her aches and pains, she went to the bathroom without a second thought, splashing water all over herself and washing herself thoroughly.

Xie Qingyan gazed at the naked figure in the mirror—the kiss marks and fingerprints were like wax marks, spreading from the neck to the chest, irregular red marks covering the fair skin. Water could not wash away the weight of the kisses; only time could slowly blur them.

She stared at the deepest red mark on her collarbone, sucking until it turned a deep red and then bluish-purple.

My heart suddenly started racing.

Is the constellation Mao (卯) really that heavy?

Xie Qingyan was stunned. She reached out and touched the mirror as if bewitched. The moment her fingertips touched the steamy mirror, the cold touch brought her back to her senses. In an instant, her fingers curled back as if stung by an insect, her nails digging into her flesh.

Xie Qingyan's face darkened, his heart filled with apprehension.

How could she not resist and sleep with Su Xingmao?

What should we do now?

It's all Su Xingmao's fault, seducing her in the middle of the night! Xie Qingyan gritted her teeth, so annoying!

He won't make her take responsibility, will he?

Absolutely not!

Before leaving the bathroom, Xie Qingyan pressed the doorknob and peeked out. The bedroom was empty; the annoying person was no longer in the room. She breathed a sigh of relief and quickly ran to the door to lock it.

I went back to the bedside, and the dirty sheets from last night were now fresh.

Xie Qingyan hummed in satisfaction. Luckily, he still had some self-awareness and didn't make her clean up this mess.

She sprawled out on the bed, staring at the ceiling.

Last night's scenes flashed through my mind like a series of skipped frames, and I couldn't shake them off no matter how hard I tried.

Xie Qingyan's mind was in turmoil.

Her stomach growled twice, and Xie Qingyan was starving. Her appetite couldn't overcome her troubled mind, and she didn't want to move at all. She imagined herself as a blanket on top of a blanket, lying flat.

There was a knocking sound at the door. Someone was knocking. Hunger made Xie Qingyan irritable, so he shouted at the door, "Don't bother me!"

It was quiet outside, but instead, her phone started ringing; someone was sending her a WeChat message.

Xie Qingyan was extremely annoyed and reached for her phone from the bedside table.

【XX】：Remember to eat, wait at the door.

【Long Live the Cat Cult】: I'll eat if you get lost.

There was no reply from the other side; only the sound of footsteps gradually faded into the distance.

Xie Qingyan was annoyed by the cinnamon stick with the image of Su Xingmao, so he immediately deleted and blocked both of them.

After waiting for quite a while, until she was starving, she finally reached the door and brought in the food. A steaming bowl of vegetable and meat porridge, with ham and green leaves, was a perfect combination of green and red, and Xie Qingyan took a bite, feeling a warm sensation melt into her taste buds.

The taste... is better than I expected.

Until midweek.

Xie Qingyan did not remove Su Xingmao from the blacklist.

However, being in the same class and neighbors, even though WeChat couldn't see him, his figure kept appearing before my eyes.

On Mondays, he would give a speech under the national flag, award gold medalists in the International Mathematical Olympiad, and the school would invite him to give a long and inspiring speech. The junior high school students below would regard him as a representative of academic geniuses and cheer him on.

Even back in the classroom, the shadowy figures of the officers on duty still linger.

He was frequently called upon and praised by the teacher during class, making his presence felt.

How could one possibly avoid it?

Xie Qingyan wished he could gouge out his own eyes.

During recess, she listlessly slumped over her desk, flipping through a novel over and over again, still stuck on the same page. She stared intently at the dense black text, her thoughts wandering far away, lost in thought.

Seeing that she always looked so downcast, Zhou Hanyu came over and asked, "Have you been alright lately?"

Xie Qingyan immediately straightened her back, as if facing a formidable enemy, and subconsciously reached for her collarbone, confirming that the high-standing school uniform collar had completely concealed the unspeakable mark.

"Oh? It's nothing, I'm just feeling sleepy in the fall."

She tried to remain calm.

However, Xie Qingyan really lacked acting talent. Her rapidly blinking eyes, dry expression, and tense nerves obviously betrayed her. Zhou Hanyu chuckled and said, "Come on, sis, you look no different from someone who has been playing games all night."

"A losing streak?"

"If only that were true." Xie Qingyan sighed, thinking that she was in a much worse mood than when she had been kneeling for so long.

"What's wrong?" Zhou Hanyu put his arm around her shoulder. "Tell me about it."

Xie Qingyan moved his lips, but the words remained unspoken, as if he wanted to say something but then stopped.