Chapter 16
It turns out that He Xi always follows Bai Shu like a little tail during meal times.
Classmate Lu Xiaoyue secretly asked her: "Are you secretly in love with Bai Shu?"
He Xi blushed and shook his head.
But no matter how I explain it, it seems like the truth is being hidden. I can't just say it out loud, "I have anorexia, and he looks so appetizing when he eats."
She could almost imagine that all the feedback she would get would be something like "Wow, that's such a good match." She didn't want that, so she preferred to be vague.
Lu Xiaoyue didn't have the ability to read minds. Seeing this, she thought that her casual remark had touched upon He Xi's girlish heart, and she felt a little embarrassed.
"Oh, it's not surprising that she has a crush on Bai Shu. Look at his drawer, there are so many girls who secretly slip him love letters."
"You know, athletes with good figures are always popular."
"It's a pity, my aesthetic is not like this."
He Xi was very curious and continued her conversation, "So what's your aesthetic?"
It seemed as if Lu Xiaoyue was waiting for this sentence from her, and she mentioned a name that He Xi did not expect.
"Yes, I'll take Lin Shenyuan's model."
The boy who was drawing on the paper in front of him stiffened his shoulders, and the tip of the pen suddenly made a sharp sound as it scratched the paper.
Lu Xiaoyue burst out laughing, "Look, after teasing him a little, he actually believed it."
"Lu, Xiao, Yue." The three words were spoken word by word, tinged with displeasure.
Seeing this, Lu Xiaoyue begged for mercy in panic, "Brother, I was just joking, just joking." But the smile in her eyes did not diminish.
After a semester, He Xi was a dot, and Bai Shu was also a dot, but the two of them often walked together, and they became a pair of walking glasses, making it difficult for them not to be magnified.
Lu Xiaoyue felt that it would be unreasonable for her not to gossip a little. Once, Bai Shu came as usual to tell He Xi that his training location for the day had changed, and he should not miss it in the afternoon. After Bai Shu left, Lu Xiaoyue spoke quietly.
"You caught up with Bai Shu? When?"
He Xi laughed and shook her head, "How dare I fall in love too early?" She put her hands on her neck and made a clicking motion, her eyes rolling back, "If my mom finds out, I'll be like this, like this, haha."
Lu Xiaoyue smiled in agreement. She felt that He Xi was avoiding the main point.
_
In April of my second year of high school, Bai Shu was as busy as ever.
Once, he arranged to meet in the classroom after training, but was a little late. Bai Shu explained that he had gone to pick up an important document by express delivery.
After dinner, he accompanied her to the playground for a walk. They sat down on a low step, and Bai Shu opened the package with trembling fingers.
The red certificate was printed with several lines of golden characters:
People's Republic of China.
Second-level athlete certificate.
General Administration of Sport of China.
He Xi glanced at him and asked, "Is it the city basketball tournament you participated in last October?"
"Yes, last year's basketball tournament was an officially registered city-level competition, and Wei Mo and I were both key players."
"After confirming with the coach, I prepared the relevant materials, including the application form, transcript, and competition certificate. It took six months in total, but I finally got it."
He Xi raised a sincere smile at the corner of his lips: "Congratulations."
"Thanks."
"Aren't you going to congratulate Wei Mo?" Bai Shu said, "He also got his Level 2 certificate."
He Xi was puzzled. "Wei Mo doesn't need me to congratulate him specially." He is very popular, okay?
Of course, Bai Shu is also popular.
Bai Shu stared into He Xi's eyes, lowered his eyes and chuckled, "You don't remember?"
"He was so kind. He even sent you two boxed lunches that time."
"Oh, yes." He Xi nodded. "It seems I have to find an opportunity to congratulate him. Is this enough? Otherwise, I should give him a gift..."
He Xi was talking while stealing glances at Bai Shu's expression. Sure enough, he was getting more unhappy the more he listened.
He Xi's pent-up anger was inexplicably relieved. Served him right. Who asked him to mention Wei Mo when she was just saying congratulations? What did Wei Mo have to do with it?
Wei Mo helped her, he was very kind, and she would definitely repay him in the future. Unfortunately, this matter with Bai Shu was separate.
She didn't want to be led by the nose just because of Bai Shu's unreasonable reminder.
However, noticing Bai Shuzhen's somewhat depressed look, she didn't want to tease him anymore. "Alright, alright. I'd like to congratulate you once again, sir. Please... accept it, will you?"
After saying that, she raised her eyes in a pitiful manner, her two willow-shaped eyebrows gathered together, and her pair of watery autumn eyes seemed to be angry and resentful. Her plain little face really had some ancient charm.
Bai Shu was stunned to realize that she had changed so much in just two or three months.
There was more flesh on her face and body, the tension between her brows had loosened, her expression and speech had become more lively and bright like a girl, and she suddenly looked more lively.
Bai Shu smiled. He had never asked He Xi for anything in return, but he had never imagined that the reward had already flowed to him invisibly.
Helping He Xi added a little hope and fun to his boring training life, and the results of her hard work told him that everything he did was meaningful.
There is no more comforting reward than this.
"He Xi, thank you." And... I'm sorry.
He tried so hard to act mature to others, but in front of her, he couldn't help but act like a child.
I heard that girls mature earlier than boys, so would she... dislike her? Bai Shu felt a little sad.
"Why should you thank me?" He Xi was puzzled. "All of this is the result of your hard work. You should thank yourself, thank your coach, thank your teammates, thank your parents, thank your understanding teachers, and thank the school that nurtured you... No matter what, you can't thank me."
She still didn't understand. Bai Shu shook his head.
He Xi, thank you for not giving up on yourself, thank you for your tenacious vitality, thank you for your resilience... It makes me feel that even if I encounter any difficulties in the future, it should not be a big deal.
-
He Xi and Bai Shu agreed to eat together every day at mealtime, and appeared side by side in the classroom, cafeteria, corridor and playground.
The two parties involved didn't think there was anything wrong. He Xi simply wanted to have a good meal, and Bai Shu was busy training all day.
He had no idea that he had become a beautiful landscape in the class and even in the entire first year of high school.
One time, all the gossip came to Wei Mo, and the boy in Class 6 who loved gossip the most winked at Wei Mo and asked him about it.
"Hey, is Bai Shu from your class in love with a girl? She's super skinny, and her legs are like chopsticks..."
Wei Mo kicked the other person mercilessly, but a smile was on his face. "Who said that? It's not true. Don't believe it."
The girls were also very curious.
Chen Linlin always took advantage of He Xi's absence to pull Lu Xiaoyue over to her side and ask seriously, "What happened today?"
"Is there anything wrong with the two of them?"
Lu Xiaoyue couldn't help rolling her eyes, "Sister, why are you more curious than me?"
"Oh," Chen Linlin symbolically pinched Lu Xiaoyue. "You know how boring school life is. I rely on these little gossips to comfort me every day."
"We're sisters, yet you're so stingy?"
"Is our relationship not as good as yours with He Xi?"
Not really. Before He Xi's military training, she and Chen Linlin had already been close friends, sharing everything. They weren't particularly close, but she was definitely closer to Chen Linlin.
"Oh, that's enough. Look how impatient you are." Lu Xiaoyue was helpless. She was actually very curious in her heart, but He Xi and Bai Shu didn't hug each other or kiss. They were just talking nonsense. Where was the evidence?
She could only reply, "I'll keep an eye on it for you and tell you the first time there's any movement."
"It's almost the same this time." Lu Xiaoyue giggled and walked away contentedly.
She wanted to tell you how curious she was and how much she wanted to prove that He Xi and Bai Shu were in a premature relationship, but she didn't have the courage to do so. Secondly, they were classmates and saw each other every day, so it couldn't be that abominable.
She is a gossipmonger, her father is a gossipmonger, so she follows suit. Her mother says she doesn't learn good things and only bad ones, and suggests that she study journalism and communication in the future.
Hey, you know what, she actually is a little interested.
One afternoon, the teacher had just finished talking about prohibiting premature love in the class meeting, and when it was time for lunch, Bai Shu and He Xi walked into the classroom one after another.
The quiet classroom suddenly became noisy.
"Oh my."
"Here I come, here I come."
"...You're really brave..."
He Xi and Bai Shu: "..."
Were they both too ignorant of staying out of the spotlight? As soon as the teacher finished speaking, they should have kept a ten-meter distance, maintained their composure, and stayed as far away as possible.
But when will they hide? What have they done wrong?
After discussing it, the two of them both thought they were acting in a proper and upright manner, with nothing to hide from. Besides, what good would it do to avoid the spotlight? Who knows, tomorrow the rumors might be about "Look, look," and they'd really felt guilty.
Although Bai Shu didn't say it, he did have some admiration for He Xi. Generally speaking, in rumors like these, whether in the simple environment of school or the more complex society and workplace, it's the girls who suffer the most and are most affected.
Why is this so? Because girls are usually thin-skinned. They are only taught how to avoid it, but no one has ever told them——
They are not guilty to begin with. What's wrong with being thick-skinned? They are not shameless.
Lu Xiaoyue felt that the teacher had already sounded the alarm in advance, and the two of them showed no intention of avoiding each other. Either they were really open with each other, or they were a real couple.
Lu Xiaoyue never likes to spread rumors behind other people's backs. She usually asks people face to face if there is anything, and never keeps anything unsaid in her heart.
She thought that she and He Xi were deskmates after all, so their relationship was pretty good.
Besides, there is no need to be afraid even if He Xi is really angry, because she is a nice person and easy to coax.
So, as she sat down, he boldly ran up to her and asked, "He Xi, tell me the truth, are you in love with Bai Shu? Are you two together?"
As soon as these words were spoken, Chen Linlin not only expressed what she had been curious about for a long time.
The appetite of the whole class was also whetted.
Even the students from other classes who were standing in groups of three or four at the door pretended to look over here casually.
Maybe Lu Xiaoyue didn't know how powerful her words were, but He Xi already felt that he had been forced to speak out.
She lowered her head, seeing that he was silent, helpless, and guilty, but she was secretly encouraging herself in her heart.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Bai Shu open his mouth and she shook her head at him.
She could do it. This time, she would face it on her own.
"I like him?" He Xi stood up with his hands on the table, speaking slowly and steadily, staring at Lu Xiaoyue with curiosity without dodging her gaze. "I'm jealous of Bai Shu, okay?"
"Ah?" Lu Xiaoyue was caught off guard by this sentence. She had prepared many questions, but now she had forgotten to use that one to deal with He Xi.
He Xi continued, never stopping until he had said something shocking, "I've been jealous of him since the beginning of the school year. He has such great physique, enjoys eating, and has such a relaxed attitude towards food, but I can't do that."
She placed too much importance on being thin, too limited an aesthetic, and too absolute control over her weight. She had been terribly wrong, but she admitted it.
What's going on here? Lu Xiaoyue suddenly felt something was wrong.
He Xi, however, kept pursuing her, and his words rang out like thunder, "But I like you."
The apple in Wei Mo's mouth fell to the ground, and an exaggerated "O——M——G——" came out of his throat.
Another male student behind him acted out a scene where he was so shocked that he convulsed all over, "He's gay, there's no hope for us."
In stark contrast, a female classmate next to him held her face with her hands and said with stars in her eyes, "Great, it's Lily, we are saved."
Lu Xiaoyue felt like her brain was about to explode, "He, He Xi, what... do you mean?" Don't scare me, sister!
What do you mean? "You heard right," He Xi blinked, looking innocent. "You pay so much attention to me, of course I like you."
Girls are the cutest creatures in the world, there's no need for them to scheme against each other. If you don't define them, girls are just as naughty as boys.
Naughty children...are the hardest to tease.
Lu Xiaoyue felt like she was going crazy. She had never blushed so much and felt so hot-hearted because of a girl's words.
But when he looked up and saw the twinkling smile in the girl's eyes, what was there to not understand?
"He, Xi..." Her tone sounded a little exasperated, "You are worse than me..." Much worse than me.
It's so bad.
He Xi burst out laughing, and the tense atmosphere was relieved. Lu Xiaoyue felt a little aggrieved, but she couldn't get angry.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
