Chapter 5 You can always...
After school in the afternoon, Tao Siyun deliberately lingered for a while until everyone had left before he started packing his schoolbag.
She sent a message to her aunt saying that she would be home late today. Qin Ru asked if she needed someone to drive over to pick her up. Tao Siyun said no, she could just take the bus.
The sunlight slowly approached, inch by inch, and soon occupied most of the blackboard.
After the monitor cleaned the classroom, tiny dust particles floated in the air. As time passed, the blackboard wiped by the wet rag dried quickly.
The air lingered with the smell of a mixture of disinfectant and dust.
Tao Siyun held her breath, supported herself on the table with her hands, and stood up carefully, but she still accidentally pulled the wound on her knee. She frowned in pain, and after a long while, she put on her schoolbag and limped towards the door.
In the corridor, the boy was wearing a blue and white school uniform. The sunlight gradually traced down along the contours of his face. His facial features were already handsome and impeccable, and now even the ups and downs of every line on his face were so perfect.
Xu Ji folded his arms and leaned against the railing in a leisurely manner.
When Tao Siyun saw him still waiting at the door, he was almost stunned.
"W-why haven't you left yet?"
Xu Ji stood up straight, raised his eyelids to look at her, and said in a lazy voice: "Waiting for you!"
"...I already told you not to send me off."
His eyes moved down and subconsciously glanced at her knees.
The blood on the pants had dried and was darker than the rest of the area.
Xu Ji withdrew his gaze, and after a long while he said faintly: "Teacher Li said that I have to be responsible until you get better. I can't just ignore you."
“…”
Tao Siyun was holding the door handle, but was choked by him and forgot to let go for a moment.
She just promised Xu Ji that if the teacher asked, she would say that it was him who hit her with the ball, so as to "exonerate" the boy in Class 1.
It was just a small favor to help a classmate, nothing special, but who knew that the head teacher would make such an arrangement after finding out.
When adolescent boys and girls are seen walking home together after school, no one knows what will happen behind the scenes.
She doesn't want to become the topic of gossip among others.
"Let's go."
"..." Tao Siyun was thinking about how to tell Xu Ji that she could go home alone and didn't need him to send her off. If he insisted, how should he refuse?
I couldn't just tell him my inner worries: "What if someone sees us walking together alone and thinks we're in a premature relationship?"
Although there is nothing wrong with this idea from a normal logical point of view.
But...if she told Xu Ji like this, how would he look at her?
Would Xu Ji think that her worries were unnecessary?
I was just following the teacher's orders to send her home...
It seems that she thinks too much.
Xu Ji, with his schoolbag slung over one shoulder and his hands in his school uniform trouser pockets, walked a few steps and suddenly turned back. Seeing that she was still standing at the classroom door, not moving at all, he couldn't help but call her -
"Tao Siyun?"
"Huh?" Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted. She raised her head and was stunned for a moment.
The girl had her hair tied in a high ponytail, with the loose strands tucked behind her ears. She stared at him blankly, her delicate oval face full of confusion and reluctance.
Xu Ji frowned and urged, "Come on, why are you so slow?"
On the corridor of the teaching building, the shadows of the two people were lengthened by the setting sun.
Xu Ji deliberately slowed down his pace, waiting for the afterglow to drag them into the same picture.
"Were you doing homework in the classroom?"
"Um."
"Are you done?"
"No, there are still two functional equations to be solved."
"Oh, I finished those questions this morning."
“…”
Tao Siyun's hands unconsciously grasped the backpack straps. After a few seconds of silence, he suddenly said, "I also scored 90% on last week's math test."
Xu Ji heard that she was trying to tell him: My problem-solving speed is already very fast, and my math scores are in the upper middle range among key classes.
It means you don't have to show off in front of me.
Xu Ji curled his lips into a smile and said, "I just want to ask if you want to check the answer."
"Then I'll send you a QQ message when I'm done."
It was past six o'clock and there were no other students on campus except them. After greeting the patrolling security guard, Xu Ji went to the parking shed to pick up his car.
"Where do you live?"
"..." Tao Siyun pursed his lips, became embarrassed again, and refused calmly: "I can go back by myself."
"I send you."
"No, I'll take the bus, which stops at the school gate. I really don't need you to send me..." Tao Siyun glanced at the mountain bike in front of him and hesitated for a moment: "Besides, your bike can't carry anyone! How are you going to send me?"
Xu Ji, wearing a Casio Black Samurai watch, held the bicycle handlebar with his right hand, supported himself on the ground with one leg, and raised his eyebrows slightly: "How about I take the bus with you?"
Tao Siyun stammered, "What about your car? The school is closed now, and you can't just lock it on the side of the road..."
Seeing her face full of rejection, as if she wanted to stay away from him, Xu Ji couldn't help but sigh and compromised again: "Tao Siyun, then I can ride my bike and follow behind the bus, right?"
“…”
It's up to you.
There was a bus stop across the street, and it only took half an hour to get to her aunt's apartment building. Tao Siyun really didn't know what the point of Xu Ji insisting on sending her home was...
Huxi No. 1 Middle School is the terminus of Line 91. Except for students living nearby, everyone else has to either ride a bike or take the bus.
Tao Siyun belongs to the second type.
The main reason she can't ride a bicycle is that Tao Qian once left an indelible shadow on her.
When he was a child, during the summer vacation, his parents would take turns giving Tao Qian some advice before going to work every day. In a nutshell, they told him: No matter where you go, you must take your sister with you and never leave her alone at home.
From childhood to adulthood, the two words Tao Qian heard the most were "human trafficker" "sister" "sister" "human trafficker"...
At that time, Tao Qian was already in junior high school and was at the age of loving to play. He would ride his bicycle and take her around every day, regardless of whether she was willing or not.
Once, Tao Siyun complained that it was too hot outside and refused to go out with him. Tao Qian had made an appointment to play football with someone, and he couldn't leave her alone at home, so he dragged the sleepy girl out of bed.
Tao Siyun sat on the back seat of the bicycle, licking her popsicle with a unhappy look on her face. Her little face was red from the sun, and in her arms was a big bag of snacks that her brother had just bought for her to comfort her.
Tao Qian was in a hurry and rode his bike very fast. However, he failed to brake when going downhill, and Tao Siyun fell off the bike along with the snacks...
The snacks were naturally unharmed, but the people were in a worse situation. The little girl had delicate skin and tender flesh, and her arms and legs were scratched to varying degrees.
Tao Siyun cried breathlessly and couldn't stop crying, which scared Tao Qian. He tried to comfort her for a long time but it was no use. He had already predicted his own fate from his sister's heart-wrenching cry.
Just two words: "It's over."
Tao Daiming and Qin Shu hurried back after receiving the call. Tao Qian had put several Band-Aids on Tao Siyun's arm in a crooked manner.
The little girl looked miserable, funny and pitiful.
She hugged Tao Daiming's neck and kept acting like a spoiled child, sobbing and complaining to the adults: "I, I said I didn't want to go out and wanted to sleep, but my brother wouldn't let me. He, he wanted to go out to play football, and he didn't wear a hat for me. It was so hot..."
Tao Qian: "..."
Tao Qian, then only twelve years old, was beaten by his parents and was punished by not being allowed to go out again until school started...
Since then, Tao Siyun has never ridden a bicycle again.
Later, when she was in junior high school, Bian Chengzi and the others started riding bicycles to school, but she still chose to take the bus.
We avoided the peak school dismissal period and there was no one in the car except the driver.
After getting on the bus, Tao Siyun swiped his bus card, walked to the back of the car, and chose a seat by the window.
The bus stopped and started along the way, and the mountain bike behind it followed slowly.
Separated by a window, their eyes only met briefly when they stopped at a bus stop.
As the sun sets, the boy rides his bike around the city's streets and alleys, escorting the girl in the bike all the way.
Tao Siyun leaned against the windowsill, watching the corner of the boy's clothes gently lifted by the wind, and his chaotic thoughts were blown away.
She hugged her schoolbag tightly in her arms and gently closed the car window.
***
"I say, can't I just not go?" Tao Siyun sat cross-legged on the sofa, chatting with Li Huan on the phone while reading the group chat messages.
"Why don't you go? You have to go! Jiang Zhen's girlfriend is coming that day too. If you don't go, it will just be her and me! You're leaving us staring blankly!!!"
Tao Siyun: "..."
Jiang Zhen just created a group and sent three messages in a row.
Jiang Zhen: [Excuse me, can I bring my family members?]
Several people were probably busy with other things and didn't reply in time, so he changed his words and @ed everyone again -
Jiang Zhen: [Can you bring my girlfriend? @许霁]
Xu Ji: [When did you catch up? ]
Jiang Zhen: [? She was clearly the one pursuing me]
Xu Ji: [Oh, I don’t believe it]
Jiang Zhen: [Believe it or not]
Jiang Zhen: [Can you bring my girlfriend? @Cao Wenzheng]
Cao Wenzheng: [Alright, alright, everyone knows you have a girlfriend, can you please stop asking each one of us one by one? Do you think we're blind and can't see the chat history?]
Jiang Zhen: [No]
Cao Wenzheng: [Fuck…]
Jiang Zhen: [Can I bring my girlfriend? @李焕]
Li Huan: [Will it be useful if I say no?]
Jiang Zhen: [Useless]
Li Huan: [Then you take it.]
Jiang Zhen: [Can I bring my girlfriend? @Taosiyun]
“…”
Li Huan's tired voice came from the receiver: "So why don't you go?"
"..." Tao Siyun wrapped his right index finger around the end of her hair and twisted it in one direction. After twisting it for a long time, he finally managed to say, "I'm shy."
"Hey, Tao Siyun!"
"what?"
"I said, you didn't go on purpose just to avoid Xu Ji, did you?"
Tao Siyun: “…I didn’t.”
"Is it really that serious? I tell you, it's no longer puppy love once you're past the age of puppy love. You can be close to each other anytime now!"
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