Chapter 29
◎It seems I've done something wrong again◎
Shi Ziqian said, "Well, I have a question for you girls."
"A girl?" Shi Qiyue immediately rolled her eyes, her interest waning considerably. "I know, you don't have some relationship problems you want to consult, do you?"
Shi Ziqian thought for a moment and said, "I guess so."
His candid admission only made Shi Qiyue feel more bored: "I knew it. Is it that people automatically start to become this strange once they reach a certain age... Never mind, just tell me."
Shi Ziqian looked ahead, pondering as he slowly said, "If there were someone who was very good to you..."
Shi Qiyue scoffed lightly, a mocking smile appearing on her face: "You really don't learn your lesson."
Shi Ziqian remained silent for a long time before saying in a low voice, "She's not that kind of person."
"Whatever, it's none of my business anyway. If you say it's not, then it's not." Shi Qiyue shrugged indifferently. "And then?"
"Sometimes she's incredibly kind to you, but other times she suddenly becomes very cold..."
"You mean she's hot and cold towards you?"
Shi Ziqian: "I guess so."
“Oh—you want to ask me if she likes you? No need to ask, she doesn’t.” Shi Qiyue said decisively.
She answered so quickly that Shi Ziqian was clearly taken aback. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but didn't.
Shi Qiyue said in a mature tone: "If you yourself have doubts and need to confirm with others, then there's no need to ask at all; you just don't like it."
Shi Ziqian's fingers twitched slightly, and he stubbornly said, "But sometimes she's still very good to you..."
"That means she's a nice person," Shi Qiyue said. "How is she to other people?"
Shi Ziqian remained silent.
Shi Qiyue understood. She leaned closer and a wicked smile appeared on her face: "Maybe they're only nice to you because they feel sorry for you. Don't take it too seriously."
Shi Ziqian remained silent for a long time before finally standing up.
"What? Did you get hurt?" Shi Qiyue was still smiling. "Sigh, the truth can be cruel sometimes. You have to learn to accept it."
Shi Ziqian ignored her and walked into the house, saying, "Go to sleep."
"Tch, so stingy." Shi Qiyue leaned back in her chair, stretched out her legs, and looked quite content.
"Oh, right," Shi Ziqian paused as he walked, "Don't smoke anymore."
Shi Qiyue didn't take it to heart, glanced at his back, and said, "Mind your own business."
Shi Ziqian's voice was far away, but it still reached my ears clearly: "If I run into him again, I will tell Dad."
"Are you crazy?! Are you a primary school student? Running to your parents to complain?" Shi Qiyue said angrily, "I'm not calling you brother anymore!"
Zhan Xinyue's hand wasn't seriously injured to begin with, and it had almost completely healed after a week. On Saturday, her parents took her to the hospital to remove the splint and had a follow-up check-up, confirming that there was nothing seriously wrong with her.
She always carried a folded sticky note in her school uniform jacket, which she had planned to give to Shi Ziqian last week, but looking at his indifferent expression, she never mustered the courage to hand it over.
It was art class again. After the class ended, Zhan Xinyue waited until most people had left before getting up and following Xie Wanzhi toward the front door. As they passed Wang Zhiyi, she unexpectedly heard her voice: "Class monitor and Xinyue, could you please stay for a moment?"
Xie Wanzhi looked at her questioningly, "Then I'll go back to the classroom first."
Zhan Xinyue was also puzzled, but she still went over. Wang Zhiyi smiled at her: "Your name is Xinyue, right? I don't think I called you wrong."
Zhan Xinyue nodded. "Teacher Wang, is there something you need?" It was normal for Wang Zhiyi to keep the class monitor behind, but she really couldn't think of anything he could want with her. She wasn't the art class representative, and she wasn't very familiar with Wang Zhiyi either.
On the other side, squad leader Dai Yun also looked completely bewildered.
Wang Zhiyi looked at the two of them, smiled, and revealed deep dimples on her face: "It's nothing, I just have a little trinket I want to give you two." She opened her hand, and in her palm were two Q-version small heads made of felt, with two red blushes on their faces, fluffy, lively and cute.
Dai Yun was the first to recognize them: "These two little figures look like me and Xinyue!"
Zhan Xinyue looked closely and saw that it was indeed a Q version of the two people's avatars. With just simple lines, the expressions of the two people were roughly captured.
"It really looks just like it!" she exclaimed sincerely.
"It looks pretty similar, doesn't it!" Wang Zhiyi said with a hint of pride. "I'm quite satisfied with it too. I made several versions, and this one is the most accurate." She waved her hand generously: "It's yours!"
"Thank you, Teacher Wang, this is so cute!" Dai Yi took it and praised it repeatedly.
"I'm glad you like it." She then handed another one to Zhan Xinyue, her bright eyes looking at her. "Xinyue, this is for you."
Zhan Xinyue hesitated before accepting it, then couldn't help asking, "Thank you. But Teacher Wang, why did you suddenly give us this?"
“Because…” Wang Zhiyi smiled slyly, “because I like both of you.”
"Huh?" Dai Yun's mouth gaped open like an egg.
"Haha, just kidding. I suddenly became obsessed with felting wool a while ago, and I would poke at it every night when I had nothing to do in the apartment." Wang Zhiyi made a needle-poking motion. "Then I suddenly had the idea to use you two as materials, and I felt that the finished product was quite cute, so I thought I would give it to you to play with."
"But... why were only the two of us targeted?" Zhan Xinyue was still puzzled.
"Actually, there's one more." Wang Zhiyi spread his hands and conjured up another small figure, a boy's head. "The other one is for Shi Ziqian, but he left too quickly and disappeared as soon as the bell rang. Could you please give it to him for me?"
Zhan Xinyue suddenly understood and reached out to take it.
Dai Yun was still completely confused and asked again, "Why were only a few of us taken down?"
"Why so many questions? Okay, let's go back now." Wang Zhiyi pushed them both out of the classroom. "Otherwise, you'll be late for the next class."
Before leaving the classroom, Zhan Xinyue glanced back and saw Wang Zhiyi still standing there watching her. Seeing her look over, Wang Zhiyi smiled and mouthed "thank you."
Zhan Xinyue understood immediately and gently shook her head.
After walking quite a distance, Dai Yun finally realized, "Ah, I know. Teacher Wang didn't give us this because of what happened in the last class, did she?"
"Probably." Actually, she hadn't done anything, but she didn't expect Wang Zhiyi to still remember it.
Zhan Xinyue looked down at the two dolls, both chubby and innocent. They were cute, but... would Shi Ziqian ever show such a cute expression? She couldn't imagine it.
Dai Yun was still rambling on, feeling embarrassed: "We were just helping her maintain order, but I'm the class monitor, so it's what I should do."
“Yes,” Zhan Xinyue said, “she’s so kind.”
When I returned to the classroom, class had already started. The preparatory bell had rung, and the Chinese teacher was already standing on the podium.
Zhan Xinyue hurriedly returned to her seat and took out the two felt dolls from her pocket without noticing that she also took the note out with her.
She glanced at Shi Ziqian beside her, thought for a moment, and decided to take this opportunity to hand over the note.
With that thought in mind, she opened the note she had already written and added a few words at the end. Then, while the teacher on the podium turned to write on the blackboard, she placed the doll that belonged to him on the note and quietly pushed it over together.
Shi Ziqian was looking down at his book when he was startled by the thing that suddenly appeared on the corner of the table. He immediately looked up at her.
Zhan Xinyue pursed her lips and gestured with her chin for him to look at the note. Shi Ziqian stared at the doll and the note for a while, his eyes flickered, and he nodded.
He took them, stared at the felt for a while, then unfolded the paper and began to read it, pressing it down with his finger.
Zhan Xinyue had been secretly observing his expression. When she saw his gaze fall on her scrawled handwriting, the corner of his mouth seemed to curl up slightly. She wondered if he was laughing at her.
Zhan Xinyue turned her head away somewhat awkwardly. Her hand wasn't fully recovered when she wrote the note, so she used her left hand. She should have copied it over again earlier.
She thought about it for a long time that day and realized that running away like this wasn't a solution. She wanted to resolve the matter as soon as possible to avoid constantly being distracted and feeling uncomfortable sitting next to him. But directly asking Shi Ziqian what she had done wrong was definitely not an option; it would be too easy to give herself away. After much deliberation, she decided that no matter what, apologizing directly to Shi Ziqian would be the best course of action.
Often, the issue itself isn't important; what matters is the attitude. Besides, both of them are still high school students, so it probably isn't a complicated problem, and they'll be able to move on quickly.
She pondered the note for a long time, and finally wrote this:
Shi Ziqian, I want to apologize for what happened recently. Some things I did unintentionally may have bothered or hurt you, but please believe me, it was all unintentional and not my intention. I hope you won't misunderstand. Two years is a short time, and being deskmates is quite precious. I hope we can get along well and make progress together in the future.
She had read the note many times over the past few days and felt there shouldn't be any problems. It seemed to express genuine feelings and a good attitude, and it didn't point to any specific incident; no one could find fault with it.
She just added a sentence at the last minute: This doll was a gift from your art teacher, and she asked me to bring it to you.
The note wasn't long, but Shi Ziqian read it for a long time, long enough that even though her handwriting was difficult to decipher, he should have finished reading it by now.
Seeing that he hadn't made a sound for a long time, Zhan Xinyue couldn't help but go to check on him again.
He was still staring at the note, as if trying to bore a hole through it. His lips were clenched, and his knuckles were white from pressing so hard on the note.
Zhan Xinyue was startled and asked, "What's wrong?"
Shi Ziqian closed his eyes, concealing his expression. His hand slowly moved to his abdomen, and after a long while, he lowered his head and squeezed out two words: "Stomach ache."
"Why did your stomach suddenly hurt?" Zhan Xinyue asked quickly. "Is it a stomach spasm?"
She had a roommate in college who ate irregularly and suffered from stomach cramps several times. The cramps would come on suddenly and be so painful that she couldn't even stand up. She still feels lingering fear when she thinks about it now.
Seeing that Shi Ziqian was just pressing his abdomen without making a sound, and looked like he was in a lot of pain, she leaned closer and whispered, "Should I talk to the teacher and ask a few classmates to take you to the school hospital?"
Shi Ziqian looked up and met her concerned gaze. As if he had remembered something, his expression turned even more unpleasant in an instant.
Zhan Xinyue glanced at his pale face and the hand tightly pressed against his abdomen, wondering if he was in so much pain that he couldn't even speak. With that thought, she steeled herself, picked up the water glass from his desk, bent down, and crouched down to move towards the water dispenser at the back of the classroom.
The two were already in the last row, so her actions didn't attract the teacher's attention. She moved to the water dispenser, got a cup of hot water, crawled back to her seat, placed the cup in front of him, and said, "Have some."
Shi Ziqian didn't move, and Zhan Xinyue explained, "It's hot water; drinking it might make you feel better."
Shi Ziqian then took it, sipped some water, but his complexion still didn't improve.
Zhan Xinyue asked quietly, "Do you want to go to the school clinic? I'll talk to the teacher for you."
Shi Ziqian shook his head, his eyes filled with mixed emotions as he looked at her: "No need, I have medicine, it's in the bottom cabinet."
"Okay, I'll get it for you." The things in his cabinet were arranged extremely neatly. Zhan Xinyue glanced down and saw a box of capsules—it was omeprazole. She took it out and asked him, "Is this it?"
Shi Ziqian hummed in agreement. Zhan Xinyue glanced at the instructions, took out a pill, and handed it to him. He took the pill, slowly drank the water in his cup, and said, "It'll be fine in a little while." Then he stopped looking at her and slumped down on the table.
Seeing his resolute attitude, Zhan Xinyue had no choice but to put the remaining medicine back into the medicine box. More than half of the small white pills were gone, leaving only a few.
She glanced at him. Shi Ziqian was resting his right hand on the table, his left hand clasped behind his head. Beneath the black watch strap, his wrists were thin and bony, the blue veins faintly visible against his pale skin. He really looked very thin.
She sighed inwardly and quietly placed the medicine box back into his drawer. Shi Ziqian's family background, if not exactly privileged, was certainly luxurious; how could he have gotten himself into this state? He's only seventeen or eighteen and already has a bad stomach; she wondered how heartbroken his family would be if they knew.
He lay there for the entire class. Zhan Xinyue would glance at him worriedly every now and then, but he remained motionless. If it weren't for his tense back, she would have thought he had fallen asleep.
When the bell rang, he finally sat up slowly. Zhan Xinyue hurriedly asked, "Are you feeling better?"
Shi Ziqian didn't look at her. He stood up, holding onto the table, and said, "I'm going back to my dorm to rest for a while."
Do you need someone to give you a ride?
Shi Ziqian waved his hand and left.
Zhan Xinyue watched his retreating figure, lost in thought for a while.
Although she didn't know why, she felt like she had done something wrong again.
Shi Ziqian looked very unhappy.
She really didn't understand why, and she didn't know what she should do.
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