Chapter 18
The video was hung up, and He Xi slowly got up from the bed.
When she saw Yang Jia again, she felt as if something was missing between them. She was not as happy as she had imagined.
Putting her thoughts aside, she straightened her messy hair in front of the mirror and walked downstairs.
"Xixi, where have you been for so long? Could it be... that you went to have a private conversation with classmate Jiang?"
Grandma Li went to bed early. When the people who were playing games under the pavilion in the yard saw her, they stopped talking and ignored her.
He Xi sighed softly, ignoring Xiang Yuzhi's boring words, leaned over to whisper a few words in her ear and was about to leave.
"You're such a good guy, He Xixi. You've forgotten your old friends when you've found new ones!"
"I'll remember you this time!"
Before he even took a step, upon hearing Xiang Yuzhi's accusation, He Xi couldn't help but wonder what was going on in her lovely head all day.
"The point is, I just want to take you to school, but you can't get in, right?"
"No matter what, it's you, a heartless person, who's going to leave me... no, leave us, to go on a secret date, humph!"
As Xiang Yuzhi spoke, he did not forget to glance at Zhao Lin who was leaning aside and holding his cell phone nonchalantly.
What and what is this?!
He Xi was helpless and reached out to touch Yu Zhi's forehead.
"What date? Don't talk nonsense."
"Oh, if you're not on a date, why are you sneaking back to school so late at night?" The more Xiang Yuzhi thought about it, the more it made sense. "Besides, before I met classmate Jiang, I've never seen you so eager to go out."
He Xi was almost amused by her bizarre train of thought.
"I already said this isn't a date. Just stay here and play your games. I'll be..."
“defeat——”
A rare game sound effect blocked He Xi's unfinished words in his throat.
They both turned to look at Zhao Lin at the same time. Xiang Yuzhi's face became increasingly distressed. "Come on, Master, when did you become so lame..."
Xiang Yuzhi was used to teasing He Xu, so when he met the boy's extremely cold black eyes, the teasing he blurted out was obviously inappropriate.
"I don't want to play anymore. It's boring."
Zhao Lin turned off the screen and walked out of the yard without even raising his eyes.
"No... I just give in. Are you guys just going to abandon me?!"
He Xi had no choice but to persuade Xiang Yuzhi to go to her cousin Shi Xin's noodle shop after seeing her pitiful appearance, and then she returned to school.
It was already dark, and in the huge campus, except for the main road with street lights on, there were dark shadows everywhere.
He Xi quickly walked to the playground on the east side of the teaching building.
Passing through rows of empty stands, she saw the girl who had asked her out in the equipment area in the northwest corner of the playground.
Yang Jia was seen sitting steadily on the parallel bars, with her feet dangling leisurely in the air, watching her approach.
"Hi--"
He Xi stopped about two meters away from her, smiled, and waved at her to say hello.
"You really haven't changed at all, Xixi."
With a thud, Yang Jia's dangling long legs landed steadily in front of He Xi. Before she could react, he had already pulled her into his arms.
With an awkward smile, He Xi reached out and gently pulled free the girl's arms that were tied around him.
"Haha... I haven't seen you for a few years. You've grown taller than me."
After a brief greeting, the two of them strolled casually along the playground.
Yang Jia said that she planned to return to her hometown to take the college entrance examination and returned a few days ago.
"I'm in Class 6, just upstairs from yours."
Yang Jia put her arm around He Xi's shoulders and said, "Okay, Xixi, we can still go to and from school together like before."
"Are you going to live on Yixing Street when you come back this time?"
As soon as she said this, He Xi realized that she had said the wrong thing, and she quickly looked up at Yang Jia.
The girl looked at her with a smile and nodded as if she didn't mind at all.
"My dad has been staying here all alone these past few years. All he does all day is collect rent and play cards and drink. If we don't come back, who knows if he'll get drunk one day and give up and help the old lady next door."
The girl's tone beside him was indifferent, and He Xi was slightly startled. Then he thought of Grandma Li, who lived just across the wall from Yang Jia's house, and suddenly felt a little uncomfortable.
*
The bell for the end of evening self-study get out of class rang hurriedly, and the sound of hustle and bustle began to be heard from the floors where the senior students were about to enter the final year of high school.
"How have you been feeling these past two days? This should be the first round of review, right?"
The two hadn't seen each other for several years, and He Xi didn't know how Yang Jia was doing academically, so he asked her cautiously.
"It's okay. The teaching materials in Lancheng are relatively basic, so it's not difficult to keep up with the progress here."
Hearing her say this, He Xi breathed a sigh of relief.
The playground is about 400 meters long, and they walked around it several times. Most of the time, Yang Jia was sharing her life in recent years.
From the skinny and timid little girl to the calm and talkative person now, He Xi seemed to see the hard work and changes that Yang Jia has put in over the years from her description.
She was genuinely happy for the person in front of her.
"Come on, I'll treat you to authentic Yixing barbecue as a welcome treat for you."
He Xi took Yang Jia's arm and dragged her out of the school.
The playground was pitch black. Occasionally, one or two fellow travelers would sneak out. When they looked at each other, they could see surprise and fear in each other's eyes.
So they tried to walk in places with bright lights.
Passing by the audience stand, He Xi raised her eyes and glanced around as usual. The surroundings were still empty, and she felt relieved.
"It's better now since school hasn't officially started yet. After school starts, there will be teachers patrolling the playground every night."
Along the way, she picked up some important school rules and told them to Yang Jia one by one.
After leaving the playground, the noise between the floors had long disappeared, leaving only the pale shadows cast on the ground by the pale lights in the classroom.
He Xi was telling her about the interesting things in his class with a smile, when he suddenly felt the people around him stop.
"What's wrong?"
"Is there...someone over there?"
She looked in the direction of Yang Jia's finger, and there seemed to be someone standing on the sidewalk a few meters away.
The dark shadows overlapped with the shadows of the pine trees lining the road.
He Xi took out his cell phone from his pocket and turned on the flashlight.
The red and white light shone over, and she saw the boy with his head lowered, wondering what he was thinking.
"Zhao Lin——"
He Xi bravely called out to him. He had never felt that this man was so strange.
It's the middle of the night, why do you have to hide here and scare people when there are so many places to go?
As the two approached, He Xi saw the boy looking at her in the bright light. His eyes were different from the usual cold and indifferent ones. There was a hint of inexplicable...fragility in them.
She didn't understand what was going on until Yang Jia tugged hard at her arm holding the phone. Then she woke up as if from a dream and quickly put down the phone and turned off the flashlight.
"What are you doing standing here?"
He Xi looked at the two people standing beside her, and she reluctantly spoke to break the silence.
As a result, the words were like spoken to a stone, and there was no response for a long time.
She pursed her lips and tried to pull Yang Jia away, but for some reason, this person seemed to be under a spell and could not move his feet.
"Let's go together, brother."
ha?
The moment Yang Jia finished speaking, He Xi almost doubted his ears.
She stood there in a daze, and after a while she finally realized the relationship between the two people. Only then did she understand where the vague uneasiness in her heart came from.
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