Chapter 6, Numb.06: He grasped her ankle.
When Xu Wu pushed open the door to the club, there were only three people sitting there. She wasn't very familiar with two of the boys, but she vaguely remembered that they were seniors in the same year as Chu Lian.
Another girl, sitting on the edge of the stage, swinging her legs slightly, had waist-length hair with slightly curled bangs on both sides of her face. Her hair was brownish and she was looking down at the A4 script in her hand, occasionally marking or revising it with a pen.
Xu Wu walked over and handed her the bottle of mineral water he had bought: "Here you go."
"Thanks." Fu Xi accepted the bottle of mineral water without looking up and casually put it aside. "Chu Lian said he'd come over after he finishes that bite of food."
Xu Wu nodded in understanding, after all, this was one of the few ways Chu Lian could release pressure.
She was about to turn around and drag a chair out from the corner where the club had set up against the wall when she heard Fu Xi call out to her again: "You're here so early, haven't you gone to eat?"
Recalling the little incident that had just happened in the classroom, Xu Wu's gaze fell on the white wall not far away, where there were still a few words left by students from previous years in black pen. Her expression did not change, and she said calmly with her back to Fu Xi, "It's okay, I'm not too hungry."
Fu Xi looked at her without saying anything, twirling a black pen between her fingers a few times before asking, "Want some bread?"
Xu Wu shook her head. She didn't really like eating these packaged bread rolls. Besides being dry, another reason was that she ate too many when she was little, which made her unable to eat them now, and in severe cases, she would vomit and feel stressed.
"Alright, bring a chair over and sit down. I'll tell you the general plot first." Fu Xi unscrewed the bottle cap, took a sip of water, and then put it down again. He then stood up briskly and walked to the center of the stage.
Xu Wu casually picked up a red chair and sat down in front of the stage, watching intently as Fu Xi stood on the stage and narrated the outline of the script.
She and Fu Xi attended the same middle school, but they were in different classes and didn't interact much. At most, they would nod at each other occasionally if they recognized each other. It wasn't until high school, when they were in the same club, that they gradually became familiar with each other.
Fu Xi has a delicate appearance, especially his beautiful eyebrows and eyes. Chu Lian once joked that his eyes looked like they had been washed in water, and Fu Xi scolded him, saying that if he continued to make such a ridiculous description, the next time his head would be the one to enter the goal of the football field.
Fu Xi has an i-shaped personality, and she's a natural at getting to know people, so she's always been quite popular, which is evident within the club.
The script we're rehearsing for this New Year's Day is quite simple; it's a classic princess and prince story, a Western fairy tale.
The king held a ball for the princess, hoping to find her a husband. The princess, however, was attracted to the prince who appeared wearing a mask. After the prince left, she found his ring.
The story ends here as a classic fairy tale, but the difference is that the princess is not infatuated with the prince. From the moment the prince infiltrated her country as an undercover agent and led his troops to besiege the city, everything was under the princess's control. Even the ball was just a pretext.
In the end, the princess and the knight joined forces to kill the prince.
......
It's less a Western fairy tale and more a fusion of East and West.
Xu Wu thought, it's still a story of the second male lead rising to power, and the knight becoming the male lead.
Fu Xi finished speaking and stopped to ask, "Well, did you understand?"
"It's alright." Xu Wu nodded.
Finally, he asked, "Who plays the Knight?"
"It's not decided yet. I can fill in for you and act with you until we find someone." Fu Xi simply sat down on the ground, leaned over, hooked the mineral water he had just taken a couple of sips of, tilted his head back and took another sip to moisten his throat.
Upon hearing this, Xu Wu first glanced back at the two senior students sitting next to her, who were whispering and playing games on their phones, and then looked at Fu Xi, who was fanning himself with a script, with a puzzled expression.
Does that mean—isn't there a knight readily available?
Fu Xi coughed twice: "One is a prince, and the other is a logistics person responsible for carrying the prince's bag."
Xu Wu: "......"
Okay.
Xu Wu had nothing to say. She took the script from Fu Xi and glanced at the first two pages.
His gaze lingered on the words "dance together" for two seconds, and his brow furrowed almost imperceptibly—a micro-expression that went unnoticed by anyone.
Xu Wu was conflicted. On the one hand, she was reluctant to have this contact, but on the other hand, she knew it was inevitable. The two sides were still trying to decide who would win.
Seeing that Xu Wu was lost in thought and hadn't spoken for a while, Fu Xi waved his hand in front of her, somewhat puzzled: "What's wrong? Is there a problem with the script?"
Xu Wu snapped out of her daze and shook her head with a forced smile: "No, I'm fine."
She silently closed the script, unsure if two months would be enough for her to complete the desensitization process.
She had tried before, but each time she failed. She wanted to take the art college entrance exam and study acting, so this was something she had to do, just like everyone else.
If you reject it once, try it twice or three times until you are completely numb and have no feeling.
Xu Wu took a deep breath, gripped the script tightly, and before she could catch her breath, she heard Fu Xi say again, "Originally, I was planning to see which class would be willing to play the role. Anyway, the knight doesn't have any lines, so it's quite easy."
Compared to the princess who is the protagonist, the knight has no lines in this script. He is like the princess's shadow, silent and taciturn, coming when called and going when dismissed.
"Is there anyone to choose from?" Xu Wu lowered her head, her fingers twirling the page of the script as she turned the page, and asked, following Fu Xi's words.
“There is one,” Fu Xi sighed, “but I’m not very familiar with him.”
"Really?" Xu Wu asked casually, "Who is it?"
"That one in your class," Fu Xi said casually.
"......."
Xu Wu coldly lifted her face from the script, closed it, and placed it on the chair as she stood up, silently staring at Fu Xi.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" Fu Xi raised an eyebrow. "Are you familiar with him?"
"Not familiar with it," Xu Wu retorted immediately.
Fu Xi blinked: "But I haven't said who it is yet."
"......."
This was a vicious cycle. Xu Wu held his breath and swallowed back the words that were about to slip out of his mouth. He grabbed a chair and planned to find a corner to finish reading the script, so that he wouldn't have to pay attention to Fu Xi anymore.
"Hey—" Before she could find a good spot, the senior student who was playing a game glanced at the envelope that had fallen to the ground as she stood up and reminded her, "Xu Wu, you dropped something."
"What is that?" Fu Xi asked, peeking out.
Before she could even catch a glimpse of it, Xu Wu bent down with lightning speed, clutching something tightly in her hand, even crumpling it into a ball to prevent others from seeing the whole thing.
Xu Wuyun said casually, "It's nothing, just a few sheets of draft paper."
"The draft paper reacted so strongly?" Fu Xi didn't believe it, she raised an eyebrow.
"It's just draft paper," Xu Wu insisted.
"Alright, whatever you say goes." Fu Xi shrugged, took the script back from Xu Wu and rolled it into a tube. He noticed something out of the corner of his eye and smiled: "Wu, I think all the actors for tonight's roles are probably here."
"What?" Xu Wu asked, puzzled.
Didn't we just say we were missing casting for the Knights? How come everyone's here now?
Meeting Xu Wu's puzzled gaze, Fu Xi gestured with his chin toward the back door of the club, indicating for her to look.
Xu Wu entered through the club's back door, so it wasn't closed. From this vantage point, the view was limited, especially since several lights on this floor had been broken and hadn't been repaired yet, so it wasn't very bright outside; a large portion of it was shrouded in darkness.
Under such circumstances, naturally no one noticed when the tentacles that had grown from the shadows quietly appeared and rested on the edge. He did nothing, but silently watched every move.
The face was blurred, and the features were indistinguishable. Only the pupils seemed to be flashing with an eerie light. An overwhelming sense of suffocation permeated the air, penetrating every nook and cranny.
......
An eerie silence fell over the guild, the only sounds echoing with the noise of being killed and the voice announcements.
Fu Xi subtly nudged Xu Wu's shoulder with the script and whispered, "He came to see you?"
Xu Wu clenched the crumpled piece of paper in her hand. She could feel the gaze slowly moving up from her knees, finally stopping at her hand hanging by her side, and seemed to pause for two seconds.
Seeing that her complexion was not good, Fu Xi and the other two exchanged glances and then chose to keep quiet.
A cool breeze blew in boldly from the open windows of the corridor, carrying Xu Wu's long hair and sticking it to her chin or cheeks.
She squinted, raised her hand to smooth her hair. The campus, where evening self-study had not yet ended, was so quiet that only the rustling sound of leaves rustling could be heard.
"What are you doing following me?" Xu Wu asked expressionlessly, looking at the person standing in front of him.
They were standing right downstairs, and thanks to the two rows of trees planted on either side, even if someone passed by, they wouldn't be noticed unless they looked closely.
In addition, there are no streetlights in the passageway, so you can only barely see by the light from the white streetlights behind you.
In the dim white light, his face seemed even paler.
Immediately afterwards, Jie Ying lifted the white plastic bag up a bit and stammered, "If you apply it, the swelling will go down... faster."
Xu Wu paused, realizing he was referring to the fall that morning.
But the question is, how did he know that?
"You saw it?"
Jie Ying nodded, his dark pupils reflecting Xu Wu's beautiful face intently.
Xu Wu raised her eyes, glanced at the mole below the corner of his mouth, pursed her lips, and took the bag, deliberately avoiding Jie Ying's hand and the places he had touched.
"Is this alright?" Her expression remained unchanged. "Are you able to leave now?"
Jie Ying shook her head.
"What, do I have to apply it for you to see?" Xu Wuqi laughed.
The curve of her lips was clearly sarcastic, but combined with her upturned eyes, even when she was angry, she looked surprisingly beautiful.
Just like how felines will extend their furry paws and slap their owner's hand when they get angry.
Jie Ying was so engrossed that all she could see were Xu Wu's thin lips moving.
It has a very moist and pinkish color, similar to the jelly I tasted when I was a child.
Realizing the heat was on her lips, Xu Wu composed herself, glared at him, and snorted as she walked toward the bench, not forgetting to call him disgusting.
Jie Ying snapped out of her daze and quickly followed closely behind Xu Wu.
The bench was under a streetlamp. When Xu Wu sat down, she casually placed her bag aside to reserve the spot, preventing any other person from sitting there.
She bent down slightly and rolled up her school trousers from the bottom up. She frowned when she saw the large bruises on her knees, and gasped in pain when she touched them.
She has fair skin, and she gets bruised easily from even the slightest bump. Unfortunately, she's the type of person whose bruises take two or three weeks to heal.
Although it looks scary, the pain has subsided by the end of the day, and it only hurts when pressed.
Just as Xu Wu was about to take out the cotton swabs and safflower oil from the bag, Jie Ying snatched them away first. Before Xu Wu could react, Jie Ying had already unscrewed the cap of the safflower oil and soaked the cotton swabs inside.
Then, in front of Xu Wu, he knelt down on one knee, not caring at all whether he touched the ground and got it dirty.
Xu Wu placed her hands on the chair, gripping them tightly, trying her best to suppress something.
He was so close, the damp cotton swab almost touching the skin of his knee, when suddenly the knee in front of him lifted up and pressed against his shoulder, then with a slight force—
"Don't touch me." Xu Wu could no longer bear it and gritted her teeth.
A whole bottle of safflower oil fell to the ground. Just as Jie Ying was about to fall because of the kick she received, a hand unexpectedly grabbed her ankle.
Xu Wu's eyes widened as a warm hand pressed against the skin of her ankle, the heat emanating from the other's palm warming the skin there.
Surprised, she met Jie Yingxu's gaze, which was fixed on her with an inexplicable fervor and dependence.
And his ears, which were flushed.
A note from the author:
I'll change the time; I'll update every day at 4 PM.
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