Chapter 35
◎You'll leave a scar if you do this.◎
Seeing him close his eyes again, a whole host of words like frivolous, indecent, and sexual harassment popped into Zhan Xinyue's head. The more she thought about it, the more she felt that her behavior just now had gone so far as to be bizarre. So she forced herself to explain in a low voice, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to... I just thought I might have pressed your hand and made it red..."
Shi Ziqian gave an ambiguous "hmm," his voice low and deep from just waking up, carrying a magnetic quality that made one's heart itch.
"Believe me, I absolutely didn't mean anything by it," she vehemently clarified.
Shi Ziqian hummed in agreement again, "It's alright."
She didn't know if Shi Ziqian really believed her, but the more she explained, the more she felt like she was trying to cover something up. She was so embarrassed that her mind seemed to stop thinking, so she simply shut her mouth, leaned back, and closed her eyes to play dead.
In the cramped space, an odd silence hung between the two. She sensed Shi Ziqian subtly adjust his posture, and their school uniforms rustled together, making a soft sound.
The heat on her face persisted, spreading from her ears to her cheeks, burning hot. So she simply opened her eyes again, looked at Shi Ziqian, and said, "You..."
He happened to be looking over at the same time and said, "You..."
"Do you want a rice ball?" Zhan Xinyue asked first.
Perhaps because she changed the subject too deliberately, Shi Ziqian was clearly taken aback. Seeing this, she quickly added, "I brought some rice balls, and I brought you one too."
Shi Ziqian pursed his lips and said, "Thank you."
"No need to thank me. My mom specifically asked me to bring you some. She and my dad still remember your name. I brought three in total, one for myself and one for Xie Wanzhi. I'll give it to you during our free time later. My mom is really good at making rice balls, you should like them..."
It's said that people tend to talk more when they're feeling awkward, and she rattled off this long string of words in an attempt to mask the lingering, strange atmosphere between them.
"Okay. Thank you. Please thank your uncle and aunt for me too." Shi Ziqian's expression was inscrutable, making it impossible to tell whether he was happy or unhappy.
Silence fell between the two of them again. Zhan Xinyue reached out and fanned her face with her hand: "Why haven't we arrived yet?"
She felt like she had slept for a long time, but the school bus still showed no sign of stopping.
Shi Ziqian glanced at his watch: "Soon."
She nodded, paused, and then asked, "What happened to your hand?"
Shi Ziqian responded with a "Hmm?".
"I see you have a band-aid on."
Zhan Xinyue had noticed a long time ago that he had been wearing bandages on his fingers lately. When he looked up at his watch, he saw it again and asked another question as if trying to start a conversation.
Shi Ziqian said, "It's just been burned, it'll be done soon."
Their destination was a botanical garden on the outskirts of the city. As they talked, they neared their destination, and the trees along the roadside no longer obstructed their view, revealing a bright and open vista. Zhan Xinyue was captivated by the scenery that suddenly appeared outside the window. Looking to the side, she saw an endless expanse of fields, a golden wheat color symbolizing a bountiful harvest, interspersed with touches of emerald green. Although she hadn't opened the window, she felt she could already smell the sweet fragrance on the breeze.
"So many wheat seedlings, so green," she remarked casually.
Shi Ziqian said, "Those are not wheat seedlings, they are rice."
Zhan Xinyue let out a soft "Ah". Actually, she recognized rice, but only the kind with heavy ears of rice. The only green seedlings she could think of were wheat seedlings.
"The rice has already been harvested, but the fields haven't been turned over yet. After two rains, new seedlings will sprout from the rice stubble."
"Oh, I see. I was so ignorant." Zhan Xinyue said, somewhat embarrassed.
Shi Ziqian shook his head: "No, you just haven't seen it before. Besides, it does look a lot like wheat, so it's normal not to be able to tell the difference."
Zhan Xinyue had indeed never seen them before. Having grown up in the city, her close contact with these crops was limited to the rare times she visited the farmers' market, but…
She looked at Shi Zhiqian and couldn't help but ask, "How do you know so much about him?"
Shi Ziqian said, "I grew up in the countryside with my maternal grandmother when I was a child, so I know a little about it."
Zhan Xinyue glanced at his cold, jade-like hand with some surprise, but didn't ask any more questions. After thinking for a moment, she said, "It's good. Everyone says that grandparents love their grandchildren more. Children raised by their maternal grandparents must be very happy. My maternal grandmother passed away very early, and I never even met her."
“Yes, but my grandmother passed away many years ago.” Shi Ziqian slowly turned the watch on his wrist, his eyes somewhat dim. “This watch was bought for me by her before she died.”
So that's how it is. Zhan Xinyue recalled Xie Wanzhi and Xin Wenhua's discussion about his watch a while ago, and her mood became a little heavy. She wanted to say something to comfort him, but the car finally stopped at that moment; they had arrived at the botanical garden.
"Everyone get ready to get off!" the driver shouted from the front, and the students who were still asleep woke up one by one, and the bus became lively again.
As soon as the doors opened, everyone rushed to get off. Zhan Xinyue and Shi Ziqian didn't say anything more; they waited until the very end and followed the last person in the line to get off the bus.
The botanical garden is very large, with all kinds of rare and exotic plants planted along the paths. Stepping into it is like entering another world.
The school generously provided each class with a guide. As everyone listened to the explanations, they looked around with curiosity, stopping and starting along the way. It took them most of the day to complete the tour.
After touring the park, the group was led to a plaza overlooking the lake. The lake was a small artificial one, and tiered steps led down the plaza. Each class lined up and descended the steps, then sat down on the ground in order.
Zhan Xinyue had always been at the back of the class line, so she naturally ended up sitting in the last row again. Shi Ziqian sat to her side and in front of her, one step below her.
After walking for so long, I only felt tired when I sat down. Everyone was still wondering why they had been brought here, but once they sat down, they all relaxed and sat hunched over.
Before anyone could remain puzzled for long, two "hello" sounds came from the square below, indicating that the microphone was being tested.
Director Fang, holding a microphone in one hand and a speaker in the other, was walking towards the center of the square.
"How was today's autumn outing? Did everyone have fun?" Director Fang asked loudly.
Since it was a rare opportunity to leave school, everyone was in high spirits and enthusiastically responded with "Happy!"
"As long as you're happy, do you want to be even happier?"
"think!"
"Alright, then I'll sing a song about the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau for everyone!"
"Humph..." Having grown accustomed to Director Fang's usual stern and harsh manner, everyone was quite surprised by his sudden outburst, and they couldn't help but cheer, instantly making the atmosphere lively.
Amidst the cheers and jeers of the crowd, Director Fang began to sing. Surprisingly, he sang quite well, displaying a remarkable stage presence reminiscent of veteran artists of the previous generation, which drew rounds of applause from the audience.
He sang even more energetically amidst the applause, and even unexpectedly shoved the microphone near the mouth of a student in the front row, signaling him to sing. The student immediately covered his mouth and dodged, causing another burst of laughter. Director Fang glared at him with exasperation, then put the microphone away and continued singing.
When he reached the high notes, everyone cheered as he strained his voice to the accompaniment of the vibrato.
Behind the square, the lake was covered with lush green lotus leaves, and the air was filled with the sweet scent of plants. Everyone looked relaxed and content. Zhan Xinyue's face relaxed amidst the laughter, and she noticed Shi Ziqian in front of her, looking down and peeling off the band-aid wrapped around his index finger.
After the principal finished singing a song in the square, he said into the microphone, "Let's relax and have a good time today. Consider that song as a starting point; now, let's all have our classes come up and perform!"
Everyone was in high spirits while listening to the song, but they immediately fell silent as soon as we mentioned that we were going to have a performance.
"Everyone, be more proactive! Doesn't anyone want to show off their talents?" Lao Fang encouraged everyone.
Shi Ziqian crumpled the torn-off bandage into a ball and took out a new one from his coat pocket. As he did so, Zhan Xinyue inadvertently noticed a small, light-colored, water-like stain on the bandage he had just removed.
She was still embarrassed about what happened in the car and wasn't really willing to move closer to Shi Ziqian. But after staring down for a while, Zhan Xinyue still used her hands to support herself on the ground and sat down a step down next to Shi Ziqian.
"You can't leave the band-aid on forever. You have to take it off once the bleeding stops, otherwise the wound won't be able to breathe," Zhan Xinyue whispered to him.
Shi Ziqian looked up at her, his fingers curling to block her gaze.
When Zhan Xinyue met his gaze, the feeling of her face burning up again. She quickly looked away and continued, "When I was little, I cut my hand once and put a band-aid on it. I thought it was so novel and refused to take it off for several days. By the time my dad finally coaxed me to take it off, the little wound had already scabbed over. But because I kept wearing the band-aid, the scab had softened and turned white."
Shi Ziqian said "okay" and held the band-aid that hadn't been applied yet in his palm.
"How about I take a look at the wound? If it's not serious, it can heal on its own," Zhan Xinyue said.
"The small wound is almost healed," Shi Ziqian said.
Zhan Xinyue nodded tactfully: "Alright then."
Old Fang was still trying his best to encourage everyone to step forward and perform, but no one signed up. Instead, several classes were egging each other on, shouting that they should ask the other class to perform first.
"How about this, let's all give a round of applause and see if any brave students are willing to step forward!" Old Fang urged, unwilling to give up.
Scattered applause broke out from the crowd, and Shi Ziqian clapped briefly as well. Zhan Xinyue glanced at him casually, then suddenly whispered, "Oh dear, your hand looks infected..."
As he raised his hand, she inadvertently glanced at it. On his well-proportioned fingers, a small, conspicuous wound was shocking. The infection didn't seem to be caused by the bandage; it was more like the wound had come into contact with something unclean and become infected, which was why he had been keeping it covered with a bandage.
"It seems so, but it's alright." Shi Ziqian turned his palm over to cover the wound. "It's almost healed."
"How can it be nothing?" Zhan Xinyue became anxious because of his nonchalant attitude. She reached out and pressed his wrist through his school uniform, turned his hand over, and took a closer look. She immediately gasped, "It's really infected. You'll have a scar like this..."
Before she could say anything more, a sudden, enthusiastic commotion erupted below. She glanced at the square, but her gaze froze.
The boys in Class 1 were the loudest in the front row, and they were pushing and shoving each other, eventually pushing one of the boys onto the square.
The boy's school uniform was all crumpled from being torn by them. He stood next to Director Fang, straightening his clothes with a helpless expression.
It was Xu Shen, whom I hadn't seen for several days.
Zhan Xinyue was stunned for a moment, then slowly let go of her hand, turned her body to the side, and sat up straight.
"Director Wang! Xu Shen has volunteered to perform!" someone in the front row shouted.
"Great! Everyone should be this proactive. Come on, what do you want to perform?" Old Fang immediately handed over the microphone.
Xu Shen had no choice but to take the microphone. Although he had been thoroughly tricked by his classmate, he didn't seem flustered at all; in fact, he could be described as calm.
He mouthed "None of you can escape" to the boys in his class, then cleared his throat and became serious: "Director Wang just sang 'Qinghai-Tibet Plateau' for us. I think everyone hasn't had enough yet, so I'd like to invite Director Wang to sing a duet with me."
He was wearing his school uniform neatly today, but a strand of hair on his head was sticking up slightly; I wonder if it was from when he was sleeping in the car.
"Sure!" Old Fang was clearly in a very good mood today. "Take whatever you like. As long as it's something I can do, I'll play along."
“Then I’ll request a song—” Xu Shen held the microphone, smiling lazily, then raised an eyebrow slightly.
"My dearest love!"
The audience burst into laughter.
Old Fang's eyes widened. "What are two grown men singing love songs for..."
"Director Wang, you just said you'd be happy to oblige. So many people are listening. It wouldn't be right to back out," Xu Shen said with a smile.
Old Fang stared at him for a long time, then suddenly changed the subject: "Let's make this clear first, I'm going to sing in a male voice!"
Everyone was laughing so hard they were doubled over, while Zhan Xinyue looked at them with her lips pursed, her face expressionless.
Shi Ziqian glanced at her, then looked at Xu Shen, and lowered his head again to slowly wrap a band-aid around his finger.
Xu Shen has always handled these kinds of occasions with ease. He sings very well; in his previous life, he gained many female fans at an arts festival with just one Cantonese song. This time, however, he clearly wasn't trying to perform much; his antics were more about fooling around.
There was only one microphone on stage, held up by Director Fang. He lowered his head and, using Director Fang's hand, began to sing along with the accompaniment. His voice was soft, even carrying a hint of emotion.
Let my love accompany you
Until forever
Have you felt it?
I'm worried about you.
At this point in his song, he looked up at Director Fang, and the two gazed at each other for a long time in front of the crowd before he continued singing:
"Only when viewed from a relative perspective did I realize"
What is fate?
The entire audience burst into laughter. When Director Fang's powerful voice sang "I will remember your love forever," the laughter from below instantly resounded through the sky, accompanied by waves of boos and applause that grew louder and louder.
"Brother Shen is so entertaining," a girl in the front row laughed so hard she almost cried, clapping her hands as she turned her head. "Right, Xinyue?"
Zhan Xinyue looked at her blankly.
The other person winked at her and teased, "But wasn't he your protector? How did he become Lao Fang's sweetheart?"
Upon hearing this, several people around laughed.
Zhan Xinyue didn't laugh: "I have nothing to do with him, so don't say such things anymore."
Xu Shen and Director Fang were still singing their duet in the square. Zhan Xinyue sat for a few more seconds, not wanting to listen to his antics any longer, picked up her bag, got up, and left from the back.
Even after walking a short distance, she could still hear Lao Fang's satisfied voice coming from the speakers behind her: "You sang well. Remember to sign up for the arts festival."
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