Chapter 51
The seemingly lighthearted words weighed heavily on my heart.
There are damp marks on the edges of the paper.
I felt both sorry for her and amused. Even the usually carefree Meng Xiaoqiong was so nervous that her palms were sweating.
I carefully put the note away. When I return to the celestial realm, I will frame it and hang it on my bedside table. Every morning, I will have a little fairy read it to me with tender affection.
Meng Xiaoqiong observed me out of the corner of her eye.
She still wore a braid. Over time, I once counted the knots in her braid when I was daydreaming in class; there were four.
Looking at it again today, there are already six knots.
Above the knot, there was a burning yet anxious gaze.
She was waiting for my reaction.
Perhaps I should have been moved to tears, or trembling with excitement, and responded to her with overwhelming enthusiasm. But she forgot that I'm not a very expressive person.
I could only force a smile through my twitching lips.
This smile was profound, containing three parts calmness, four parts composure, and a touch of nonchalance, enough to express its meaning.
I was quite confident that Meng Xiaoqiong, whom I've known for so long, could definitely do this facial reading comprehension.
We caught each other's eye out of the corner of our eye, but Meng Xiaoqiong suddenly looked away, seemingly... shivering.
"..."
That's going a bit too far.
While this moon god might not be considered a beauty that could make fish sink, geese fall from the sky, or the moon hide its face, his smile is not so scareful as to send chills down your spine.
I instinctively reached out to pinch her thigh, just like we'd done every time we'd playfully wrestled in class over the past year. But before my hand was even halfway out, it froze.
My reason slapped my habit in the face.
A question suddenly popped into my mind.
Can I...?
Can we still do that?
Just as I was hesitating, my hand in an awkward, in-between position, the bell rang to signal the end of get out of class.
I hadn't heard this tune in so long that I was startled and then awkwardly withdrew my hand, letting out a sigh of relief.
The classroom instantly became noisy.
Many people turned their gazes toward me, seemingly sizing me up. Some approached me, but maintained a certain distance, their eyes darting around, abruptly looking away when I made eye contact with them, as if they all had something on their minds but didn't know how to say it.
The circle centered around me and Wu Qi suddenly found itself in a delicate and awkward situation.
Wu Qi couldn't stand this kind of atmosphere, so he pinched the back of his neck.
"If you watch me for another minute, each person will have to pay 5 yuan."
Several soft snickers soon followed from the surrounding area.
And, a few words of reassurance.
They looked at Wu Qi, their eyes crinkling at the corners, as if they were exchanging glances.
Look, Qi Ge is still the same as before.
Then, their gazes turned to me.
Each and every one of them seemed to be hoping for something.
The air remained quiet for a long while.
It was only then that I truly understood the meaning of "Among three people walking together, there must be one who can teach me." With a mentor like Wu Qi by my side, I really should learn a few awesome phrases that will surely come in handy at this moment.
Otherwise, all you can do is awkwardly laugh like this under the gaze of a bunch of people.
Let's find something to talk about, shall we?
Please explain what exactly happened that day.
This is easy, this is simple.
I've already thought of a reason, but I'm overthinking it and can't decide whether to use "cosplaying a bunny girl" or "having a strange illness." Or maybe I should start spreading rumors, like saying the cafeteria lady mistook a red umbrella for a mushroom that day, and the whole school got poisoned.
None of the reasons seem quite perfect...
I was so engrossed in my own ideas that I didn't realize the surrounding environment had been muted.
Even speaking became a low murmur.
"Oh no, Sister Yue isn't saying anything."
Are you still angry?
"Of course he's angry, after what we said to each other was so offensive..."
"How about we apologize?"
"Actually, I brought some radishes. How about I give them to Sister Yue to cater to her tastes?"
"Wow, that's a great idea."
Wow.
Please don't.
It's hard to imagine that in this scenario, someone throws two carrots at you, and you have to resist the temptation from your biological instincts while pretending to be reserved.
The stalemate was broken by a sliding tackle in the corridor.
The sneakers screeched on the floor with a long, sharp screech. Yu Yuan's face was pressed against the edge of the card holder, his gaze quickly locking onto me.
"Depend on."
It's rare to hear such a vulgar word from this bookworm.
Yu Yuan walked over with an incredulous look on his face, beads of sweat almost dripping from his forehead. He probably rushed here as soon as he heard that we were back.
The first thing she said was incredibly low in emotional intelligence: "They said you're not human!"
I:"……"
He stopped in front of me and looked me up and down.
Suddenly, he grabbed half of my face and murmured, "It hasn't changed. The eyes are still eyes, the nose is still a nose, the mouth..."
His gaze slowly moved downwards, landing on my lips.
I was pulled so hard that I showed a few teeth.
She wasn't embarrassed by being surrounded and stared at by so many people earlier, but now that he was scrutinizing her like this, she felt a little uncomfortable.
Suddenly I realized I hadn't had much water since getting off the plane, and my lips were incredibly dry, so I couldn't resist licking them.
When I looked up again, Yu Yuan's face and ears were flushed red, and he quickly let go of my hand.
"Anyway, it's... pretty normal, isn't it? Same as before." He said somewhat resignedly, "Who understands? When I heard people say you're not human, I was relieved. I thought to myself, you've only been here a few months and your grades have already surpassed mine, who has studied hard for over ten years. How can you be human???"
"..."
I couldn't help but roll my eyes at him. "Then I suggest you go and give your opinion to the Education Commission."
Yu Yuan stared wide-eyed: "What kind of opinion?"
“Let them rank non-humans separately from now on,” I said. “That way we’ll all be number one.”
I imagined the scenario: the entire grade would advance to the top two, Wu Qi and I. I would only need to make a slight move to surpass Wu Qi. At that time, I would not only be the top student in the whole school, but we would also be the legendary couple.
He thought it was just a joke, but to his surprise, Yu Yuan actually took it to heart. After a few seconds of stunned silence, he uttered three words: "That makes sense."
I:"……"
I:"?"
Yu Yuan: "I'll go right away."
Before I could call him back, he disappeared like a wisp of smoke.
What's the rush? Why don't you catch up properly?
However, Yu Yuan's outburst eased the tension, and many people started talking to me, intentionally or unintentionally avoiding the events of that day and discussing what had happened since I left the school.
Someone sitting at the table said familiarly, "Sister Yue, did you know that the school has opened a mini zoo?"
I know.
My deskmate just wrote in a letter... no, it will be written on the plaque of the Temple of the Matchmaker from now on.
But I still gave a positive response: "Really?"
“Really,” the other person said. “There’s a fawn. It’s very obedient; it will eat any leaves it picks from the nearby tree.”
“It’s so obedient,” someone interjected. “The trees around it have been stripped bare.”
"I seriously doubt that the school communicated with the campus gardener about building a zoo. Someone saw the gardener staring at that bare tree all day, his face turned green, hahaha."
"Although, at least the zoo can provide him with fertilizer."
"Are you stupid? Fertilizer needs to be fermented. You're using raw materials as fertilizer???"
"Is that really true, Sister Yue?"
I nodded.
"Did you see that?" the person who received the praise said proudly. "Sister Yue said that if we really want to use it as fertilizer, then it won't be a zoo, it will be a public toilet, hahaha."
Wu Qi couldn't stand it anymore, "Go up there and get disgusted."
Hahahaha.
The atmosphere became more lively, and Wu Qi attracted most of the attention. The boys continued to chat in the back, talking about everything from the zoo to the newly blooming peach trees on campus, and then about the new players on the basketball court these past few days.
Wu Qi rested his chin on his hand, listening intently, occasionally interjecting a word or two.
To outsiders, he might seem like someone who doesn't seem interested in anything, but I could tell that his eyelashes were lowered and he hadn't missed a single word.
Just then, a commotion arose behind them, but a sudden voice came from the side: "Actually, they also built a wishing well..."
"What?" I pretended not to hear.
"I also heard it secondhand!" Meng Xiaoqiong frowned, clearly a little embarrassed and angry. "They said they built a wishing well!"
I laughed at her reaction, saying, "Why are you shouting so loudly?"
"I...!" Meng Xiaoqiong blushed deeply, glaring at me angrily.
“My hearing is perfectly fine, I can hear you clearly,” I teased her, whispering in her ear. Reflecting on that letter, it was getting more and more interesting the more I looked at it. I said, “My ears feel great too, you can touch my bunny ears too.”
Meng Xiaoqiong has become incredibly famous.
She shoved me away and went straight for my armpits. Before I could react and dodge, she used her hands to cushion the back of my head.
"Don't think I won't bully you just because you're a little rabbit. As long as you don't ask Brother Qi for help, we'll fight for three days and three nights!" Meng Xiaoqiong groped me all over, and I laughed until I couldn't breathe.
At this moment, Tian Qingqing, who had somehow returned, joined the fray.
"What are you touching, Xiao Qiong?!" she exclaimed. "Sister Yue just got back and you're already doing this!"
I quickly chimed in, "That's right, that's right."
Tian Qingqing: "You didn't even include me! I want to touch things too!"
I:"?"
Before I could even utter a curse, the two of them pushed me back down into my seat.
Wu Qi got up to help, but was blocked by the boys, who pushed and shoved him while making a fuss.
The break between classes, filled with gossip and laughter, has become synonymous with reconciliation.
All self-denial and self-doubt were thrown to the back of my mind, and when I suddenly thought of them, those feelings were as vague as a dream during a half-asleep state.
Time in the celestial realm feels more like a past life.
I always have this illusion.
It feels like I belong here, and I will stay in this state with them forever.
Unfortunately, high school only lasts three years, and my time on earth is only three days.
-
There were other objective reasons why the atmosphere was so tense during the break; Li Guangheng and Xu Feng had disappeared.
When the two of them stand together, it's like they're performing a comedy routine; not a single word can be out of place. But if either of them had been there just now, the awkwardness wouldn't last five seconds.
I was also puzzled, so I asked Meng Xiaoqiong during self-study period, "Where are the two of them?"
Meng Xiaoqiong understood immediately: "It was still there at noon, but you came back in the afternoon, so I didn't pay much attention."
After saying that, she kicked the table in front of her, "Qingqing, where are Bald Qiang and the others?"
Tian Qingqing turned around. "They're writing self-criticisms for the Political Education Department."
His tone was very calm.
If I hadn't pondered that sentence repeatedly, I would have thought it was about something as trivial as going to the toilet.
I took a breath and was about to ask when I heard Meng Xiaoqiong calmly say "Oh".
Then the two of them went about their own business and continued working on their problems.
I almost choked on my breath: "They've recognized that shoehorn-faced guy as their godfather?"
Meng Xiaoqiong calmly replied, "No."
Me: "Then you two should give me some feedback! Political, Educational, Departmental, Writing, Self-criticism, and Apology—do you mean all of these as I understand them?"
After finishing writing the conclusion of the math problem in her hand, Meng Xiaoqiong habitually put a dot after a sentence and said, "It's just writing a self-criticism, we've all written them before."
Tian Qingqing turned her head and said, "Yes, I just finished writing this afternoon and came back."
I asked her, "What did you do wrong?"
“It’s not that I did something wrong,” Tian Qingqing said, holding her pen to the door. After thinking for a moment, she waved her hand. “No, it is that I did something wrong, but it’s not entirely because of me.”
I:"……"
He said something pointless.
Meng Xiaoqiong saw a huge question mark on my face and chuckled, "Well, actually, after you were taken away by Brother Qi that day, everyone in the class fell into a long silence. During that time, no one spoke in class, and the breaks became exceptionally quiet."
Tian Qingqing continued, "Until that day—which I would call the Xu Feng Incident."
……who?
What event occurred?
"That day, on a mysterious afternoon, our class was playing a friendly match against the class next door on the basketball court," Tian Qingqing said. "It was just a friendly match, so winning or losing didn't matter."
It was so important. Even though our class was trailing by a large margin, nobody cared. But then, some damn person said something like that…
"—It seems you're nothing without Wu Qi." Meng Xiaoqiong mimicked him perfectly.
The two of them worked together and put on a stage play right in front of me.
I was the only audience member.
“That statement was actually fine; it was mostly just that he was a little uncomfortable mentioning Qi-ge,” Tian Qingqing continued, her voice rising slightly, “but I didn’t expect them to say that later…”
"—Oh, right," Meng Xiaoqiong said, her expression tightening, "that guy named Wu Qi is nothing either."
At that moment, the atmosphere on the basketball court instantly froze to zero.
The ball in Xu Feng's hand fell straight to the ground, bounced a few times, and then rolled away alone to the side.
With his back to the next class, after a few seconds of silence, a fist flew into the face of the person who had just spoken.
What happened next is self-evident: a massive free-for-all.
Tian Qingqing described how they first engaged in hand-to-hand combat, then grabbed whatever they had on hand—basketballs, clothes, anything would do—and fought until they were covered in dirt and grime. It's said that a tall guy from the next class even took off his shoes, intending to use chemical weapons.
"And then?" I asked hastily when she didn't answer.
"Hey, don't disrupt my rhythm. I'm pausing appropriately to give you room for imagination," Tian Qingqing glanced at me.
"..."
"Later, our two classes became enemies, and we attacked each other indiscriminately. They cursed at us, and we cursed back, resulting in a massive brawl." Tian Qingqing found the right rhythm for her narrative and sighed, "Xiao Qiong and I unfortunately got involved."
Meng Xiaoqiong: "Unfortunate my foot! When you're cursing, nobody can stop you."
Tian Qingqing ignored her and said, "Later, even the shoehorn-faced guy couldn't manage it anymore. When someone got into a fight, the person involved didn't need to be there. We just sent someone from our class who had done something wrong before to write a self-criticism. That's how we took turns going."
I was stunned: "You can do that?"
"Why not?" Meng Xiaoqiong said matter-of-factly, "If you can turn into a little rabbit, what can't we explain?"
"..."
I scratched my face, feeling embarrassed.
That being said, it all started with the two of us.
Seeing their nonchalant attitude towards writing self-criticisms makes me feel even worse.
I gripped my cuffs tightly, wondering what to do next, when the chair behind me suddenly slammed back with a piercing sound.
While we were chatting just now, Wu Qi was lying on the table, seemingly fast asleep, but he was actually just pretending to sleep.
He was completely awake and eavesdropping.
His face was expressionless, his back ramrod straight, and he calmly walked out of the classroom. I glanced at him from afar.
Just one glance.
I then knew what he was going to do.
You can never wake someone who is pretending to be asleep.
I could never stop Wu Qi when he was in a fit of rage.
Meng Xiaoqiong turned to look at him and asked me, "Where is he going?"
I turned around in a Zen-like manner and muttered, "Kids shouldn't ask about adult matters."
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