Chapter 19 Strategy: Day Nineteen - Will I Eat You?

When she came up to greet him, Bai Jiangxin was prepared to hear it all over again.

But no, they talked the whole way, and he could only hear the sentences she spoke. Once she stopped talking, he couldn't hear her anymore.

Bai Jiangxin quickly realized that the biological link between him and Xiang Di must have disappeared.

Bai Jiangxin seemed lost in thought, and after a long while receiving no reply, he boldly reached out and gently patted Di on the back of the shoulder.

"Bai Jiangxin?"

Bai Jiangxin lowered his eyes and looked at her hand gently resting on his body. The back of her hand was fair, her fingers were slender, and her nails were small and pale pink. Her hand was warm, and the warmth emanating from her palm made him feel her presence even through his clothes.

Xiang Di noticed him looking at her hand and assumed he was resisting her touching him without her permission, so she quickly withdrew her hand.

Bai Jiangxin withdrew his gaze, slowly hummed in agreement, and continued walking forward.

"What is he humming about?" Xiang Di caught up with him and asked again.

Bai Jiangxin asked, "Do you really want to change seats?"

Of course she didn't want to, but it all depended on him. He had already made the request, so there was no reason for her to shamelessly pester him and insist on being his deskmate.

“…Let’s switch.” Xiang Di suggested, “Actually, all we need to do is switch seats with the class monitor, or you and Qianqian can switch seats. That would make everyone happy, hehe.”

This way, she can be Qianqian's deskmate again, and Bai Jiangxin is also very close to her. Being deskmates with her best friend, and having her crush behind her—whose senior year is so lucky? Oh, it's her.

Thinking of this, her tone became expectant: "What do you think?"

Bai Jiangxin is in first place, and Teacher Chen likes him the most. If he also thinks that this change is okay, Teacher Chen will definitely listen to him.

Bai Jiangxin frowned slightly, trying to see a hint of feigned happiness on her face, but there was none. Xiang Di's eyes and mouth seemed to be longing to sit separately from him and then reunite with her best friend.

He suggested changing seats last week, but now she's the one most looking forward to it.

Last week when I took her home, she heard that we had to change seats, and she was so upset that she started singing loudly on the bus, as if he had committed some unforgivable crime. Now, after just one day off, her attitude has changed completely.

Bai Jiangxin sneered. That night, she had described her feelings as something as unwavering as the sea drying up and rocks crumbling, as if she couldn't live without him in this life. But in reality, it was nothing more than that.

The sense of disappointment was unavoidable, because she acted too easily, as if one second she was saying she loved him to the point of obsession, and the next second she suddenly asked who he was.

At this moment, Xiang Di looked up at him expectantly, her lips curving upwards in a hopeful smile, especially hoping that he would nod.

The happier she was, the more obvious this sense of loss became in Bai Jiangxin's eyes.

His voice turned cold: "Not very good."

Xiang Di's expectant gaze froze awkwardly; she hadn't expected him to be so disrespectful.

"Um, so... who do you want to sit next to?" she asked him patiently. "I just want to switch seats with him, right?"

Bai Jiangxin said, "I don't want anyone."

Indeed, nobody wants that, unless that person is mute from head to toe, and can't be bothered.

"Don't want a deskmate? So you want to sit alone?" Xiang Di thought for a moment, then asked in surprise, "Oh, do you want to sit in the VIP seat next to the podium?"

That seat is usually assigned by the teacher to the most unruly person in the class. This kind of person is talkative and restless, and anyone who sits next to him will be disturbed, so they simply sit next to the teacher.

The person sitting in that seat now is Wang Sichen. Aside from himself, everyone else, including his classmates and teachers, thinks he deserves it. If Wang Sichen knew that Bai Jiangxin actually wanted to sit in that seat, he'd probably be ecstatic.

Xiang Di hesitated, "But I don't think that seat is quite suitable for you..."

Throughout history, no top student has ever sat in that seat.

"What do you think?" Bai Jiangxin asked, his lips twitching slightly, his eyes lowered. "Is what you think right?"

His tone was cold, not the kind of distant politeness, but rather very impolite, even somewhat aggressive. Xiang Di was so angered by his words that she didn't dare to speak for a moment.

Xiang Di felt a little regretful, realizing that she might have gotten a bit carried away and thought that just because she had been his deskmate for a day and added him as a WeChat friend, she could interfere in his affairs.

Bai Jiangxin has always been a person with a strong sense of boundaries, and she should keep that in mind.

"That's not what I meant." Afraid of offending him further, she whispered to Di, "Then if you think it's suitable, then it's suitable..."

Xiang Di dared not speak to him again. Bai Jiangxin lowered his eyes and glanced at her downcast head and her slightly pursed lips, which were trembling with grievance.

He knew his tone hadn't been very good; she meant well, but he hadn't appreciated it.

Feeling a pang of guilt, Bai Jiangxin sighed silently. He had been hoping for the link to disappear every day, and now that it was finally gone, what was he even worried about?

People walking to school together were in twos and threes, making the road lively, but the two of them didn't say anything and walked silently to the classroom.

The two walked into the classroom one after the other. Ye Minjia, who had arrived a step earlier, immediately opened her eyes wide with alarm and quickly nudged Liang Qianqian, who was memorizing English words next to her.

The two sat down in their seats, and Ye Minjia leaned forward, feigning innocence, and asked, "Hey, why did you two come to the classroom together today?"

Bai Jiangxin ignored him and only explained to Di, "We just happened to run into each other on the road."

Liang Qianqian asked, "Did you just happen to run into him?"

Xiang Di winked: "Otherwise what?"

Liang Qianqian gave Ye Minjia a look, and Ye Minjia returned the look with a "watch me" look.

These two are really stubborn. There is indeed only one fixed route from the school gate to the teaching building, and they arrive at school at roughly the same time, so the chances of bumping into each other are quite high. Bai Jiangxin has run into other people before, but it's very suspicious that they're going into the classroom together.

This means the two people traveled together. If they were on the same road, they would have to chat, right? But with someone like Bai Jiangxin, if he doesn't speak, even a god would find it hard to get a word in edgewise. Anyone who isn't willing to put on a brave face and forcefully try to strike up a conversation with him can't get more than a few words out of him.

He exclaimed directly to Bai Jiangxin, "Brother, you've changed your ways! Before, you always complained about the flag-raising ceremony every Monday and would only come after it was over. Tell me, what caused this drastic change in your personality? You didn't skip the flag-raising ceremony today and arrived so early!"

As he spoke, he glanced at Xiang Di very casually.

However, Bai Jiangxin's face remained completely expressionless as he calmly retorted, "If you don't want to see me so much, then I'll leave now?"

Ye Minjia's face stiffened. What was wrong with this person now? When did he say he didn't want to see him anymore?

As the class monitor, he wasn't going to tolerate Bai Jiangxin. He raised an eyebrow and slapped Bai Jiangxin on the back.

"Did you eat explosives? Your breath smells so strong."

I don't think I've offended him recently, right? Could it be that he found out I secretly logged into his high-ranking account on Sunday and lost several stars?

Bai Jiangxin: "..."

That noob, he'll change the password sooner or later. But now's not the time to settle scores with Ye Minjia. Just as Ye Minjia pulled his hand back, Bai Jiangxin suddenly grabbed his wrist again.

Ye Minjia: "What are you doing?"

Bai Jiangxin didn't let go, he just kept holding onto his wrist. Ye Minjia tried to break free, but he couldn't.

"What are you doing? Are you trying to show me your strength as a man?" Ye Minjia said. "If you want to show off your skills, then arm wrestle with me. What's the point of holding me up?"

Bai Jiangxin frowned and warned in a deep voice, "Don't move."

With no other experimental subjects available, they could only confirm with Ye Minjia.

Ye Minjia was even more confused now, wondering what kind of trouble he was up to.

Bai Jiangxin held Ye Minjia's wrist without explaining his purpose.

Xiang Di and Liang Qianqian, who were standing nearby, had no idea what the two of them were doing. Xiang Di asked in a low voice, "What are they doing?"

Liang Qianqian wasn't sure either: "...Are you learning traditional Chinese medicine pulse diagnosis?"

But this doesn't seem to be the correct way to take a pulse.

Liang Qianqian couldn't understand how Ye Minjia, who had just been probing Xiang Di and Bai Jiangxin's situation, suddenly found himself entangled with Bai Jiangxin.

Today is Monday. It's not raining outside. As is customary, a flag-raising ceremony is to be held. Someone just came back from handing in homework in the office and stood at the classroom door to announce to everyone: "Our teacher has something to do, so we need to go down and assemble first."

The sound of chairs being moved instantly replaced the sound of morning reading, and everyone sluggishly stood up from their seats.

There was no time to speculate about Bai Jiangxin's baffling human behavior. Liang Qianqian urged Xiang Di, "Never mind them, let's go down and gather first."

Xiang Di nodded, and the two girls left the classroom hand in hand.

It was time to go down for assembly. As the class monitor, Ye Minjia would have to take attendance later. He said helplessly, "Brother, I'm telling you, that's enough already. How long are you going to keep holding me like this?"

As he spoke, he tried to pull his hand back, but Bai Jiangxin pressed it down again, her expression displeased: "Did I tell you to move?"

He tightened his grip on him to prevent him from escaping again.

Ye Minjia: "..."

He's quite the domineering CEO type.

Normally, he's extremely averse to physical contact, as if anyone touching him would defile his pure and noble body. But today, the sun has risen in the west, and we're here taking his pulse.

In the blink of an eye, everyone in the classroom had left. Ye Minjia couldn't help but roll his eyes. Mainly, he really didn't know what this person wanted to do, but he knew Bai Jiangxin and had a way to make Bai Jiangxin let go.

"Hey bro, if you keep doing this, I'm really starting to think we're having an affair..."

Bai Jiangxin's brow twitched, and she immediately released him, her face showing indescribable disgust.

Ye Minjia winced as she gripped her wrist, saying, "You fucking strong!"

He looks so gentle and refined, how come he has such a strong grip? If it were a girl who wasn't very fleshy, she would have been broken by his grip.

I can't imagine it. I hope his future girlfriend will be strong enough to withstand his gripping.

If they didn't go down soon, there wouldn't be time for roll call. As the class monitor, he had to maintain discipline. Ye Minjia was too lazy to care about Bai Jiangxin anymore and said directly, "I'm not going to bother with you anymore. Go down by yourself. I'm leaving first."

Bai Jiangxin did not respond or move. He remained seated, his expression complex and thoughtful.

He had been holding Ye Minjia's hand for at least three minutes, and Ye Minjia's incessant chatter never stopped.

From wondering, "Did he find out I was playing on his King of Glory account?" to thinking, "Oh no, he'll definitely change the password and I'll never be able to log in to his account to show off and flirt with girls again," to finally thinking, "Can't you just give me a straight answer? What are you trying to do by holding me like this?", Bai Jiangxin was startled when he heard him say that this was a bit ambiguous, and quickly let go of him.

As long as they maintain physical contact, he can keep hearing what Ye Minjia is thinking.

But he couldn't hear Xiang Di's thoughts anymore. Even though the bio-link had disappeared, he should still be able to hear her thoughts since he had just helped her up.

Xiang Di then patted him again, and he froze, not because he disliked her touch, but because he still didn't hear her.

The old man had told him before that because there were no pathological cases of this kind of genetic disease, the chance of a cure was extremely slim. If he didn't want to hear his inner voice, he could only avoid contact with people.

Just then, someone patted him on the back. Bai Jiangxin turned around and saw his homeroom teacher, Chen Jinghua.

Chen Jinghua entered through the back door and saw that only Bai Jiangxin was still sitting in the class, so she came over to remind him.

"Bai Jiangxin, why aren't you coming downstairs yet?"

What's wrong with this child? Why is he standing here like a Buddha?

Chen Jinghua asked, "Are you feeling unwell?"

Bai Jiangxin shook his head: "It's nothing, I was just thinking about a question."

"Oh, then hurry up and go down. We'll think about it when we get back after the flag-raising ceremony," Chen Jinghua said. "After you go down, please tell Ye Minjia to keep an eye on our class's discipline. I need to go to the principal's office. Tell Ye Minjia not to tell anyone else, otherwise some people will cause a huge commotion if they find out I'm not here."

Just as he finished giving the instructions, Chen Jinghua's phone rang. He quickly answered, "Principal, oh, the students have arrived? Okay, I'll be right there."

Before leaving the classroom, Chen Jinghua reminded Bai Jiangxin to close the classroom door behind him.

The homeroom teacher left in a hurry.

After closing the door, Bai Jiangxin went downstairs.

He found one thing strange the whole way: whenever there was physical contact, he could hear Ye Minjia's thoughts and the homeroom teacher's thoughts, but he just couldn't hear Xiang Di's.

Why does the physical contact link only fail with the whistle?

When they arrived at the playground, Ye Minjia had just finished counting the number of students and waved for him to come over quickly.

"Mr. Bai, you've finally arrived," Ye Minjia said. "Hurry up."

Ye Minjia pulled him into the boys' line. The boys stood a little close together, and Bai Jiangxin heard two boys complaining about how much trouble they had at school.

Bai Jiangxin frowned, moved to the side of the group, and distanced himself from them.

The flag-raising ceremony was about to begin, and the national anthem was about to play. All the homeroom teachers were standing at the front of their class's line. Ye Minjia exclaimed, "Why hasn't our homeroom teacher arrived yet?"

Bai Jiangxin said calmly, "He went to the principal's office."

Ye Minjia asked in shock, "Our teacher has finally been fired?"

"Bullshit." The boy standing behind Bai Jiangxin poked his head out and said, "I heard from Teacher Shan that a transfer student is coming to our class. It was arranged by the principal himself. Our homeroom teacher must be doing this."

"Switching over to a class at this time? Our college entrance exam is relatively easy, we can't just play around like this," Ye Minjia said. "Are you that confident about the college entrance exam?"

The boy shrugged: "I don't know."

Ye Minjia suddenly nudged Bai Jiangxin.

"Hey, a transfer student is coming to our class. What are your thoughts?"

Bai Jiangxin asked calmly, "What could I possibly think?"

"What if their grades are better than yours?" Ye Minjia asked. "Aren't you afraid?"

Bai Jiangxin glanced at him indifferently, too lazy to pay him any attention.

"Oh, so confident?" Ye Minjia said, "What if it's a guy? What if he's even more handsome than you? Then all the girls will fall for someone else, and you, the former school heartthrob, will be washed up."

Bai Jiangxin frowned, and just when Ye Minjia thought he had finally become aware of the crisis, he curled his lips, his dark eyes deepened, and he chuckled indifferently.

"That's perfect."

This will give him some peace and quiet.

Bai Jiangxin couldn't understand what was bothering him, or why he was trying to figure out why he couldn't hear Xiang Di's inner thoughts.

What's the point of delving into it? Of all the innermost thoughts, Xiang Di's were the noisiest and most influential. They were so lewd and obnoxious that he couldn't stay at school and even thought about them when he got home. It's good that he can't hear them now.

As she wished, they quickly sat apart, pretending nothing had happened during that time, so he could be completely free.

-

The boring flag-raising ceremony finally ended. Xiang Di stretched and yawned. She had just finished breakfast, but now she was hungry again. She planned to go to the convenience store with Liang Qianqian to buy something to eat.

Just as he linked arms with Liang Qianqian, someone called out to him.

Bai Jiangxin had a handsome but somewhat gloomy face, like that of a demon king.

Because he had just scolded her on her way to school, Xiang Di was a little afraid of him now, afraid that he would scold her again. She shrank her shoulders and asked in a gentle voice what was wrong.

Bai Jiangxin said, "Come with me to find the homeroom teacher."

Xiang Di remembered; it was about changing seats.

She was a little disappointed that he was in such a hurry to change seats, but she didn't show it. She nodded and said simply, "Oh, okay, let's go then."

Since going to the convenience store was out of the question, Xiang Di had no choice but to ask Liang Qianqian to bring her some bread back from the store.

Liang Qianqian glanced at Bai Jiangxin, then at Xiang Di.

My doubts grew stronger, and it seemed that Ye Minjia's guess was indeed reliable.

Not daring to ask what the two were doing going to see the homeroom teacher, she went straight to Xiang Di and asked, "What flavor do you like?"

Xiang Di answered without hesitation: "Pork floss."

Hearing her tone of choosing pork floss without hesitation, Bai Jiangxin's brows relaxed slightly.

The two didn't return to the classroom, but went straight to the teachers' office, without exchanging a word along the way.

Xiang Di was very quiet. It turned out she was so quiet after the link disappeared.

She obediently walked one step behind him, preferring to be so bored that she would tuck her hands into the wide sleeves of her school uniform, lower her head, and silently watch Bai Jiangxin's heels, twirling her school uniform sleeves like a child, without talking to him.

Even though she was so quiet, Bai Jiangxin couldn't ignore whether it was the sound of the morning breeze blowing her bangs, the light footsteps she was walking, or even her breathing.

It's noisy.

Bai Jiangxin had no choice but to close his eyes and stop walking.

I was suddenly bumped from behind.

He turned around, but before he could say anything, Xiang Di had already taken a big step back.

"I'm so sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going. I didn't mean to!"

Fearing that he might misunderstand her as deliberately creating physical contact, Xiang Di quickly took a big step back, creating a safe distance between them.

Xiang Di said very consciously, "Let's go, that way I definitely won't accidentally bump into you again."

Looking at Xiang Di, who was standing a long distance away from him, Bai Jiangxin knew that if he were nearsighted, he wouldn't be able to see her face clearly.

Why doesn't she just retreat to the ends of the earth? If she's so afraid of running into him, wouldn't it be better for her to leave Earth and immigrate to another planet?

Bai Jiangxin's face darkened, and he took a step closer to her, while Xiang Di took a step back.

Her retreating action, the inability to hear her inner thoughts, and the uncertainty of her motives finally provoked Bai Jiangxin.

His deep voice held a hint of incomprehension and bewilderment. He frowned at her, paused, and asked with a touch of helplessness, "Xiang Di, am I going to eat you? What are you avoiding me for?"

He almost blurted out, "Don't you like him? Don't you like calling him 'husband'? Don't you fantasize about him? Why don't you dare get close to him?"

She doesn't even dare to get close to him. Is this what she calls liking someone?