Chapter 41: What are your thoughts on me on the forty-first day...?
There were still more than ten minutes before evening self-study started, and the classroom was noisy, so neither of them moved.
What does he mean? Did he know exactly where I put my phone and deliberately say this to me?
Was he flirting with me?
I'm not moving. I'm playing dumb. Go ahead and put your hand in if you dare. Come on, huh?
Xiang Di was making her own calculations, certain that Bai Jiangxin would not do such a thing.
However, the next second, Bai Jiangxin, who was standing in front of her, bent down slightly. His expression was calm, and his slender, jade-like hand actually reached out to her.
Is he serious?!
Xiang Di quickly backed away, the chair scraping against the ground with a screeching sound, and at the same time, with a thud, the phone also fell to the ground.
Several classmates immediately looked in her direction. Xiang Di's heart pounded, and she hurriedly picked up her phone to check if the screen was broken. But as soon as she faced it, the lock screen automatically unlocked and played the suggestive video she had just watched.
She immediately locked the screen and stuffed her phone into her school uniform pocket.
She heard Bai Jiangxin chuckle softly.
Oh no, Bai Jiangxin caught her watching suggestive videos. The innocent little girl image she had painstakingly maintained in front of him has been completely destroyed.
"This was automatically pushed to me by the platform..." she said, blushing as she tried to defend herself.
Bai Jiangxin's tone was indifferent: "If you don't usually look at this kind of thing, will it push it to you?"
Xiang Di stubbornly replied, "Anyway, I haven't seen it. If you don't believe me, fine."
Too lazy to expose her, and with all this fuss, evening self-study was about to begin, so Bai Jiangxin said directly, "After evening self-study, come with me."
Xiang Di was somewhat resistant. She wanted to avoid being alone with Bai Jiangxin as much as possible, so she declined softly, saying, "But I made an appointment to go with Qianqian."
Bai Jiangxin: "Okay."
Xiang Di didn't understand: "Can you what?"
“We can go together,” Bai Jiangxin said calmly, “as long as you don’t mind letting her know what happened in the private room that day.”
Xiang Di's eyes widened, her tone incredulous: "Are you threatening me?"
"I'm discussing this with you."
The bell rang, and students began to enter the classroom. Bai Jiangxin said, "See you after school."
For the rest of the evening self-study session, Xiang Di stopped playing on her phone. She held her pen in her hand but did very few problems. When Zhou Linxiao tried to talk to her, she was equally distracted.
What exactly does he mean? I explained it to him on WeChat yesterday, so why is he still bringing it up?
[Could it be that he found out I have a crush on him? Impossible, I hid it so well, he couldn't possibly have found out... Could it be that he has a crush on me?! ...That's even more impossible, this isn't some idol drama, let's be realistic.]
Xiang Di leaned on her desk. The person she had a crush on had finally noticed her. It was impossible not to feel excited. However, along with the excitement came a vague sense of helplessness and unease.
She has always been a very practical person. She never buys scratch-off lottery tickets and rarely participates in live lottery draws because she knows she doesn't have the luck. She simply doesn't participate to avoid disappointment if she doesn't win.
She never believed in any unexpected surprises. In her opinion, the probability of Bai Jiangxin having feelings for her was even lower than the probability of her winning a big prize in a scratch-off lottery.
After much thought, Xiang Di finally came up with a reason that was both absurd and inexplicably reasonable.
Could this be a pig butchering scam?!
-
The water-based pen tip pressed against the paper, leaving a noticeable black dot. Bai Jiangxin threw down the pen and took a deep breath.
...He even thought of a pig-butchering scam; I'm truly impressed.
Bai Jiangxin still couldn't quite understand why there was such a big difference between what the girl was thinking and what her body was doing.
She couldn't wait to start dating him today, sleep with him tomorrow, get married and meet his parents the day after. To be even more aggressive, she had already decided whether their child would take the mother's or father's surname.
But when he actually got involved with her, he became the one who was the lustful one.
Ye Minjia was right; this is the consequence of being too hasty.
After hearing his words, Ye Minjia took a good five or six minutes to process them. Finally, with an expression as if she had swallowed a fly, she reluctantly asked him, "Can I know who this person is?"
Bai Jiangxin countered, "Who do you think it is?"
Ye Minjia guessed almost every girl in the class, even Liang Qianqian, but he didn't guess Xiang Di. In the end, he even asked, "Isn't she one of the girls in our class?"
Bai Jiangxin: "They're from our class."
The process of elimination had reached its limit. Ye Minjia opened her eyes wide in disbelief: "...Xiang...Xiang Di?"
Bai Jiangxin frowned: "Is it that she finds it hard to believe?"
"It wasn't you guys..." Ye Minjia stammered, "Didn't you already talk it over and then break up?"
A hint of doubt flashed across Bai Jiangxin's face: "When did I talk to her?"
Now that things had come to this point, Ye Minjia stopped hiding it from him and confessed all her observations and analyses of them over the past period to Bai Jiangxin, including her and the teacher's deduction that he didn't want to come to school because he was heartbroken.
After listening for a while, Bai Jiangxin finally gave Ye Minjia's reasoning a sarcastic comment: "Your imagination is quite rich."
However, based on Ye Minjia's words, Bai Jiangxin quickly deduced Ye Minjia's unusual behavior during this period, as well as why the homeroom teacher had inexplicably arranged for him to be Xiang Di's deskmate a month ago.
Ye Minjia now realized that she was indeed not cut out to be a detective, and asked in a puzzled tone, "Then why didn't you talk to Xiang Di during that time, acting like a mouse seeing a cat?"
Bai Jiangxin was speechless for a moment, unable to explain to Ye Minjia at all.
During that time, he was suffering terribly because he had heard Xiang Di's feelings. He couldn't concentrate in class and couldn't do well on tests. He couldn't stay at school any longer and could only go home to hide from her.
"Oh!" Before Bai Jiangxin could speak, Ye Minjia seemed to have already figured it out. "She was pursuing you during that time, right? That's why you were avoiding her. Haha, it's really hard to imagine that Xiang Di would actually take the initiative to pursue a boy. I didn't realize she was so bold. She even dared to pursue you."
Bai Jiangxin pursed her lips: "She never pursued me."
"Huh?" Ye Minjia asked again, "So she confessed her feelings to you?"
Bai Jiangxin: "No."
"...Um, so she did something rather ambiguous with you, or deliberately flirted with you while talking to you? And you noticed?"
"……No."
Ye Minjia was silent for three seconds, then looked at him speechlessly and said, "You mean, she didn't pursue you, didn't confess to you, didn't flirt with you, didn't do anything, and yet she got you?"
Bai Jiangxin remained silent: "..."
Ye Minjia clicked her tongue in amazement: "Should I marvel at how amazing Xiang Di is, or at how easy it is for our No. 14 Middle School's school heartthrob to be pursued?"
Bai Jiangxin smiled wryly, unable to bring himself to explain, and besides, the situation was special, and he couldn't explain it clearly anyway.
He could only click his tongue and say in a cold tone, "Shut up and mind your own business."
"Okay, okay, whatever." Ye Minjia suppressed the urge to laugh. "But I'm a little curious, how did you figure out she likes you when she hasn't even confessed yet? Don't you just have a crush on her and misunderstand that she's interested in you?"
It's normal for Ye Minjia to have this question. If Bai Jiangxin didn't have this special genetic disease that allows him to hear Xiang Di's inner thoughts, he would also think that person is crazy if someone came up to him and said that Xiang Di likes him. They can't even make up a reliable rumor.
For someone like Di to have such a secret, furtive crush, how narcissistic must one be to realize that she likes them?
"I didn't misunderstand." Unable to explain further, Bai Jiangxin simply said, "Just know this much."
"Alright, alright." Ye Minjia thought for a long time before finally making sense of it. "So now you know that Xiang Di likes you, but she doesn't show any interest in you on the surface and is even avoiding you, right?"
Bai Jiangxin nodded.
"So what do you want from her?" Ye Minjia asked him. "To talk things out and then date her?"
Bai Jiangxin: "Look at her."
"See what she means. If she wants to talk, then let's talk? But what if she doesn't want to talk to you?"
Bai Jiangxin replied without hesitation: "Impossible."
Ye Minjia chuckled: "Big brother, you're too confident. How is it impossible? Maybe she's just enjoying the process of liking someone and never really thought about being with you. After all, unrequited love is a one-sided affair. It starts when it begins and ends when it ends, without any responsibility. But dating is a two-way street, which is much more complicated. If you break up, it's easy to get confused about the details."
"Break up?" Bai Jiangxin curled her lips slightly, as if she had only heard the word "break up." "Could she really bear to break up with me?"
She likes him to such an extent.
But only Bai Jiangxin knew this, while Ye Minjia did not. Therefore, Ye Minjia felt that this person had been aloof and unattainable for too long and was quite confident in matters of the heart.
Ye Minjia wanted to offer advice, telling him not to be too hasty. After all, the girl had been in a one-sided love relationship all along, and now that the person she had been in a one-sided love relationship with had suddenly turned the tables on her. It would be strange if she wasn't scared.
That makes sense. No wonder she was avoiding me like the plague that day. Bai Jiangxin asked how he could make her accept it psychologically and without any doubt.
"It's up to you. If you're in a hurry, you can go and confront her right now. If she avoids you, then be a bit domineering and pin her against the wall for a passionate kiss. She'll behave then."
Bai Jiangxin refused outright: "No."
“Hey, don’t be so quick to refuse. It may sound a bit cheesy, but actually a lot of girls these days have really strong tastes and they love this kind of thing.” Ye Minjia then added, “...But Xiang Di is so quiet, it seems like she’s not really the type of guy that’s into domineering CEOs.”
“She is,” Bai Jiangxin said.
That's absolutely right.
Ye Minjia blinked: "Huh? Then you..."
Bai Jiangxin said calmly, "I'm afraid she'll have too much pleasure, so let's try a different method."
Ye Minjia: "..."
After a long silence, Ye Minjia said, "...Then just do it at your own pace. Anyway, the college entrance exam is coming soon, so a little more time won't make a difference."
After all, you can date anytime, but you only have one chance to take the college entrance exam, so naturally, the exam should be the priority.
Anyway, she's right there, she can't run away.
Bai Jiangxin slowly hummed in agreement.
-
Xiang Di used to look forward to the bell ringing to end evening self-study, but today, she has begun to fear the bell ringing.
But time doesn't stop, so the bell rang on time to signal the end of evening self-study.
She secretly hoped that Bai Jiangxin had forgotten their promise, but things didn't go as planned. As she was slowly packing her schoolbag, Bai Jiangxin knocked on her desk and asked if she was done.
"...Alright, alright."
Xiang Di could only put on her schoolbag, say goodbye to Qianqian with a reluctant expression, and follow Bai Jiangxin out of the classroom with her head down.
Liang Qianqian, confused, looked at Ye Minjia and asked, "What's going on with these two? Have they gotten together?"
Ye Minjia grunted: "I talked to Bai Jiangxin today, and he explained to me that the two of them were never together at all."
"What?!" Liang Qianqian shouted.
The roar startled Zhou Linxiao, who turned around and asked them what was wrong.
Liang Qianqian cursed and pointed at Ye Minjia's nose to complain to Zhou Linxiao: "You should condemn him quickly. He's a trash detective. He's making wild guesses here. Bai Jiangxin and Xiang Di were never together at all. He thinks he's Detective Conan, but he's just a Kogoro Mouri."
Zhou Linxiao wasn't surprised; he had always felt that the two people didn't seem like they had ever been in a relationship.
Liang Qianqian said irritably, "We've all been working for nothing, just randomly pairing them up."
“It wasn’t all for nothing,” Ye Minjia said. “It’s not entirely impossible for the two of them to be together.”
Liang Qianqian: "What do you mean?"
Ye Minjia: "...Because Bai Jiangxin has a good impression of Xiang Di, he told me this himself."
Liang Qianqian: "What?!"
Zhou Linxiao asked in surprise, "Isn't it Xiang Di who has a crush on him?"
“Uh, no,” Ye Minjia said. “It’s him who likes Xiang Di, but Xiang Di doesn’t like him.”
Looking at the shocked expressions on Zhou Linxiao and Liang Qianqian's faces, it turned out that of the four of them who had been discussing it all day, only Wang Sichen had guessed correctly by sheer luck.
Liang Qianqian's tone was incredibly incredulous: "...No, didn't you say back then that you knew Bai Jiangxin best, and that the possibility of him having a crush on someone was less than an asteroid hitting the Earth and destroying it? You even said that even if the sky fell, he would never lower his head and take the initiative to pursue someone?"
The key point is that at the time, they all agreed with Ye Minjia's words, believing that Xiang Di must have liked Bai Jiangxin first and pursued Bai Jiangxin first.
Having contradicted himself, Ye Minjia didn't know what to say and could only manage a dry laugh.
There was no way around it; you can't be swayed by someone's generosity. Actually, after learning the whole story, Ye Minjia originally offered to help Bai Jiangxin speak to Xiang Di, but Bai Jiangxin directly refused, telling Ye Minjia to keep it a secret, to pretend that their conversation today never happened, and not to tell Xiang Di or anyone else.
Ye Minjia: "You can't just say she likes you? Otherwise, you'll be stuck in unrequited love?"
Bai Jiangxin's unrequited love sounds more bizarre than a fairy tale.
“Then let it be unrequited love.” Bai Jiangxin said calmly. “If anyone else asks you, just say she doesn’t like me, it’s just me who likes her. Thanks.”
Ye Minjia seemed to understand Bai Jiangxin's intentions, but she wasn't quite sure.
Ye Minjia found it quite amazing.
The "high-and-mighty flower" persona was established at No. 14 Middle School for three whole years. Bai Jiangxin disliked socializing and didn't like to fit in. He never said a word to anyone. His eyes were always indifferent, and his dark eyes were always covered with a layer of frost. Even in a crowd, he seemed to be separated from others by a barrier, refusing everyone's approach.
He was like an isolated island, standing in the middle of the deep sea, isolating everyone. Others couldn't swim to him, and he never bothered to migrate to the land. Only Ye Minjia saw that there was still a trace of humanity behind his aloofness. She didn't despise him and went to great lengths to row her small boat to get closer to him.
Bai Jiangxin is very slow to warm up, so much so that many people are scared away by his indifference before he even opens up to them. Ye Minjia sometimes tries to explain to people that Bai Jiangxin is actually quite easy to get along with, but everyone else thinks he's joking.
Everyone knows that Bai Jiangxin is extremely difficult to pursue. It's impossible to win him over with just a confession or a few months of courtship. People's time is precious these days, and life is already stressful enough. Not everyone has the patience to wait for an iceberg to melt or an island to migrate to the mainland.
Who would have thought he would be so easy to win over? Xiang Di didn't do anything, and he fell for her.
If Xiang Di hasn't confessed to Bai Jiangxin yet, it means that Xiang Di is still secretly in love with him. He doesn't want others to know Xiang Di's secret, so he would rather say that he liked him first.
Even though he was the one who was liked, Ye Minjia didn't quite understand why he was being so careful to keep Xiang Di's secret, but since he had asked him to do so, he would do it.
After all, the college entrance examination was approaching, and he and Bai Jiangxin were destined to be separated. Ye Minjia also hoped that, besides himself, there would be a second person willing to row a small boat to approach this lonely island in the deep sea.
-
Xiang Di followed Bai Jiangxin onto the bus that went directly to her apartment building.
Just like last time, she didn't sit with Bai Jiangxin, but chose a corner to sit by herself.
Leaning against the car window, she was still thinking about the "pig butchering scam," fearing that Bai Jiangxin's sudden initiative was actually just a carefully planned conspiracy.
She couldn't understand it. She was a poor student from an ordinary family, and her weekly allowance wasn't even enough to fill his teeth, while his family owned Rolls-Royces. What was the point of him taking advantage of her?
Seeing that her thoughts were getting increasingly outrageous, Bai Jiangxin stood up, sat down next to her, and called out to her, "Xiang Di."
Xiang Di was startled and turned to look at him: "Huh?"
[Oh no, he's asking me to invest in his company now! He's going to fleece me!]
Bai Jiangxin: "..."
He sighed almost imperceptibly, ignoring her wildly imaginative thoughts, and said calmly, "What happened in the private room last time was my fault. I apologize."
After a moment of stunned silence, Xiang Di quickly recovered and waved her hand, saying, "It's alright, it's alright. We were all drunk at the time."
Bai Jiangxin looked at her and said, "I'm not drunk."
Xiang Di: "..."
[Classmate, how am I supposed to continue this conversation?]
“…That’s alright.” she said reluctantly, “…I won’t lose out anyway.”
She still didn't dare to ask, so he brought it up directly: "Aren't you curious why I kissed you if I wasn't drunk?"
If they weren't on a bus with nowhere to run, Xiang Di probably would have already taken off.
Even though she was filled with shame and indignation, she still tried her best to come up with a reason for him.
But she couldn't think of a good explanation, so she could only attribute him to being the kind of scumbag who would kiss people on a whim, otherwise she simply couldn't understand his motives.
"...Haha, that was probably just the atmosphere, a momentary impulse, I can understand."
Bai Jiangxin: "It was indeed an impulsive act."
Xiang Di's heart sank.
That's it, he really is a jerk.
Bai Jiangxin said slowly, "After all, in that kind of atmosphere, with a girl I like sitting on my lap so close to me, it was really hard for me to resist. I hope you can understand."
"Mmm, I understand..."
Xiang Di nodded at first, but after realizing what he had said, his eyes widened suddenly.
"What did you say?!"
She realized her tone was a bit agitated, but fearing she might have misheard, she whispered, "What did you just say? I didn't hear you clearly..."
Bai Jiangxin: "I said I hoped you could understand."
Xiang Di: "No, the sentence before that."
Bai Jiangxin: "I find it hard to control myself."
"Further ahead."
"So close to me."
Xiang Di cautiously continued to remind him: "The sentence before that."
[Almost there at the correct answer!! Go Bai Jiangxin!]
However, the next second, Bai Jiangxin perfectly skipped over the correct answer: "In that kind of atmosphere."
"No, the next sentence!" Xiang Di said anxiously. "Hey, why did you skip that sentence on purpose?!"
Bai Jiangxin looked at her and suddenly smiled very faintly: "You heard every word very clearly, didn't you?"
Xiang Di puffed out his cheeks, making a face like a pufferfish holding its breath: "..."
[Damn it, he tricked me!]
She turned her face away and said uncontrollably, "...Anyway, I didn't hear you clearly. If you don't want to say it, then forget it. I'll just pretend you didn't say it."
She turned her back to him, but inside she was screaming.
[Xiang Di! Are you an idiot? Is this the time for you to be arrogant?!]
Sure enough, Bai Jiangxin said, "Then just pretend I didn't say anything."
He regretted it so much he almost broke his teeth, but Xiang Di still said, "...Oh."
[See?! Serves you right for being so difficult!]
[Xiang Di! You deserve to have a crush on her! You might as well be a nun for life!]
Bai Jiangxin called her again: "Xiang Di".
Xiang Di said listlessly, "...Hmm."
Bai Jiangxin: "What are your thoughts about me?"
Xiang Di's heartbeat suddenly came back to life.
[Quickly!! Seize the opportunity!!! Quickly say yes!! You have a lot of feelings for him, so many that they're practically overflowing!]
However, what was on her mind turned out to be: "...What are you thinking?"
"That game we played last week, the one where you answered a completely unrelated question, the one Ye Minjia asked you," Bai Jiangxin asked calmly, "Do you have an answer in your heart?"
Because Xiang Di had a clear answer in her mind to the question Ye Minjia asked, she remembered it instantly.
Are there any boys in our class that you'd like to date?
-Yes, Bai Jiangxin.
Xiang Di lowered his head and said, "...I already answered that question back then."
"Then do you dare to answer again?" Bai Jiangxin said, "Answer truthfully."
【No way! I just asked you to repeat what you said, and you deliberately skipped over it. Why should I listen to you? Who knows what tricks you're trying to pull on me this time?】
"Why should I answer with the truth?" Her heart was pounding so hard it was almost jumping out of her throat, but Xiang Di held it in and tilted her head to look at him. "Then, do you dare to answer the question Qianqian asked you that day with the truth in front of me again?"
Bai Jiangxin: "No, you."
Xiang Di was taken aback: "What about me?"
Bai Jiangxin suddenly smiled, a faint smile spreading across his cool and aloof eyes, like snow melting on a high mountain.
He sighed, "...You idiot."
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