Chapter 21 I Like My Hot Right Hand
The daily activities at Zhu Yingning's house are regular and boring. After dinner, she would push her grandmother outside to enjoy the cool air, and then return to do homework. Liu Guifang was responsible for cleaning up the dishes and tidying up the clothes, while Xu Sirui sat on the kang and read the extracurricular books lent to him by Chen Bin.
To prevent borrowed books from never being returned, Chen Bin created a library card, imitating the library's borrowing system. Each book had two copies of the card, clearly marked with the borrower, borrowing date, and return date.
Xu Sirui discovered that almost every book had a record of Zhu Yingning borrowing it on the library card.
At first, this discovery was purely accidental and he didn't take it seriously. But after borrowing more than a dozen books, all of which had records of Zhu Yingning borrowing them, Xu Sirui's competitive spirit was aroused. He deliberately found a copy of "The Brothers Karamazov" that Zhu Yingning had not borrowed from the pile of books on Chen Bin's bookshelf, and he would read it whenever he had time.
Out of curiosity, Zhu Yingning asked him several times what the book was about, but he always said mysteriously, "Why don't you wait until I finish reading it before borrowing it and then you'll know?"
This childish rivalry made her laugh and cry.
However, today is a little special.
After dinner, Zhu Yingning didn't see Xu Sirui. The Brothers Karamazov, the tome he usually pored over, was tossed carelessly in a corner. Having just gone through the turmoil of the seat change, Xu Sirui's sensitivity surprised her. Worried that he might be upset because of it, she went out for a walk after finishing her homework, hoping to find him.
Yang Ji and his companions were playing cards under a shed. As the weather got hotter, they hung a mosquito net over the shed to keep out mosquitoes. Zhu Yingning lifted the mosquito net and walked in, asking them if they had seen Xu Sirui.
Yang Ji, holding a cigarette in his mouth, shook his head and looked at the staff around him: "Has anyone seen Xu Sirui?"
One of them casually replied, "I saw him a few minutes ago. He asked me for some treasures and left."
Zhu Yingning didn't understand what he was talking about, and repeated blankly: "Baby?"
Everyone laughed knowingly, and her confusion only grew. Yang Ji waved his hand at her and said, "Good girl, you don't need to know. This kid is afraid of the dark, so he probably can't run far. If you really want to find him, you can go to the village entrance and look for him."
There was a tree at the entrance of the village, and people often came under it to enjoy the cool air. Zhu Yingning thought it made sense, so he thanked him and turned to walk towards the entrance of the village.
A few old men were sitting under a tree at the entrance of the village, fanning themselves and chatting. Zhu Yingning looked around but didn't see Xu Sirui.
Just as she was wondering, she saw a figure squatting on the stone pillar to the right of the big tree, with sparks flickering between the figure's fingers.
Curious, I walked over and was greeted by Xu Sirui's handsome features. His eyes were narrowed, their black pupils stained with a hazy mist by the smoke, like a painting that has run out of ink at the end.
"Xu Sirui, you..."
She was so shocked that her voice broke in her throat.
He is actually smoking!
Zhu Yingning's life can be described as upright. As long as it is something her teacher asks her to do, she will do her best to do it perfectly. As long as it is something her teacher forbids her to do, she always holds the spirit of "my head may be cut off, my blood may be shed, but my will will not be bent", and resolutely says no to bad temptations.
Growing up, she had never even been late for school, let alone smoked. In her eyes, underage smoking was the beginning of self-degradation. She pointed at the lit cigarette in his hand in astonishment, speechless for a long time.
Xu Sirui also noticed her, but he acted calm and composed. He didn't look like someone who was caught smoking, but rather like he was eating Pocky. His bony fingers loosely held the cigarette, and his whole body exuded a laziness, like a big cat resting on its belly.
Zhu Yingning was speechless for a long time before squatting next to him and admonishing him earnestly: "Smoking is harmful to your health."
As usual, he gave her an idiot look and didn't respond.
This silence was meant to be just silence, but Zhu Yingning felt that Xu Sirui must have some unspeakable secrets. Perhaps he was so sad that he needed nicotine to relieve his sorrow. She swallowed her saliva and spoke carefully, using the most gentle tone in her life to comfort him:
"...Is it because of school? Don't overthink it. I was the one who suggested Zhou Tianrui and I switch seats because I thought you had good grades and sitting with you would help me improve my studies. It wasn't because Zhou Tianrui didn't want to sit with you. He was willing to sit with you, but I forced him to switch with me. And about the basketball game... Lin Kaisheng is just a bit impulsive. He didn't mean to pick on you, he was just a little jealous of you..."
Before she could finish her words, Xu Sirui turned his head, stared at her and smiled faintly.
"fool."
He touched her lips and deliberately blew a smoke ring into her face.
The smoke rings turned into thick white smoke when they hit her face. She waved her hands, coughed, and thought about words of advice. Before she could organize her words, she saw Xu Sirui easily jumped down from the stone pier and walked towards her home without looking back.
She hurried after him and followed him. Just as she was about to speak, he turned around quickly, put his index finger on her lips and said, "Just this once, and don't bother me."
His index finger smelled of tobacco and soap. Even though they used the same soap, Zhu Yingning always felt that Xu Sirui smelled better than anyone else in the family. Perhaps it was because he was a mysophobe and washed his hands more often than anyone else in the family. His finger was a millimeter away from her lips, not quite touching. But even that millimeter gave her a more subtle feeling than actual contact, like being gently tickled by the fine whiskers of a kitten or puppy, a tingling sensation above her lips, like an electric shock.
She was not used to this ambiguous situation and said "oh" dryly.
Xu Sirui then withdrew his hand, put the remaining cigarette to his lips, took two more puffs, and then crushed the cigarette butt on another stone pillar. After making sure there was no fire or smoke on it, he threw it into the metal trash can beside him.
To be exact, this trash can wasn't a public one, but rather a private one placed at the doorstep of a village household. But throwing it in the trash can was better than throwing it on the ground. Zhu Yingning blinked and decided to play blind.
**
The scene of Xu Sirui smoking left a deep impression on Zhu Yingning. She privately judged his behavior as suffering from bullying and felt more and more anxious. She felt that she had to put easing the relationship between him and the whole class on the agenda and treat it as a top priority.
However, before she could come up with a specific plan, new trouble arose when she went to school the next day.
The story begins before morning reading.
When she and Xu Sirui were about to enter the campus, Zhou Yueshan suddenly rushed out from behind them. He changed his gloomy expression when he saw Xu Sirui two days ago. He grinned with his big white teeth and greeted him warmly, "Good morning!"
Not to mention Xu Sirui himself was puzzled, even Zhu Yingning was confused by his abnormal attitude.
Before they could react, Zhou Yueshan squeezed in between them, pushing Zhu Yingning aside, and put his strong arm on Xu Sirui's shoulder. With a brotherly attitude, he said for fun, "You came to school quite early, huh?"
He moved quickly, and Xu Sirui tried to dodge but failed, and he successfully put his hand on his shoulder.
The slippery, sweaty arm pressed against the dry, clean skin of his neck, feeling like a loach, and carrying an indescribable stench. Xu Sirui almost vomited, shaking his shoulders to throw Zhou Yueshan's arm away, and asked with anger, "Are you sick?"
Zhou Yueshan stopped smiling instantly and looked at him expressionlessly, his expression like a ghost.
Zhu Yingning's heart skipped a beat as he watched this, but Xu Sirui showed no reaction at all. He just turned away from him coldly and walked forward without even looking back.
Zhu Yingning quickly walked around Zhou Yueshan and jogged a few steps to catch up with him. Just when she was about to tell Xu Sirui that Zhou Yueshan was acting weird and that they should be careful of him recently, she saw a black and dirty thing on the back of Xu Sirui's white T-shirt, near his shoulder.
Having lived in the village for many years, she quickly recognized that it was a pile of still moist cow dung.
She was stunned and turned to look for Zhou Yueshan, but saw that he had already run away quickly, his sturdy body as agile as a loach.
……Depend on.
She rarely felt the urge to curse, and seeing Xu Sirui was unaware and about to go to the teaching building with a frown, she quickly called him and dragged him to the front of the staff dormitory.
Xu Sirui was about to push her away impatiently, so Zhu Yingning had to explain the situation truthfully.
"……What did you say?"
Xu Sirui, who had always remained indifferent to such matters, showed a twisted expression for the first time. Veins popped out of his forehead, his face flushed crimson, and even his eyes glowed red. Zhu Yingning had no doubt that if Zhou Yueshan stood before them right now, Xu Sirui would be able to twist his head off.
Fearing something might happen, she had to gently remind him, "Um... why don't you go borrow some clean clothes from your homeroom teacher first?"
In the end, mysophobia got the better of him. Xu Sirui sneered, glanced coldly in the direction where Zhou Yueshan escaped, and followed her to Chen Bin's dormitory without saying a word.
After hearing Zhu Yingning's explanation, Chen Bin suddenly felt a headache: "This Zhou Yueshan..."
He found a clean piece of clothing and handed it to Xu Sirui, then told him worriedly, "I'll report this to their homeroom teacher and give him a good lecture. You mustn't start any trouble, especially not fighting! Got it?"
Xu Sirui sullenly said neither yes nor no, and quickly took off his dirty clothes. He stretched out his hand to Chen Bin and asked for "alcohol."
"What do you need alcohol for? You're bleeding? Did Zhou Yueshan beat you?" Chen Bin immediately became nervous.
"No, I need to disinfect."
“…There’s no such thing.”
"Wine is fine too."
After Xu Sirui finished speaking, he searched around Chen Bin's dorm room and saw a can of Erguotou on the shelf. Without a word, he grabbed it. Chen Bin groaned and hurried forward to stop him, "No, no! I've kept this bottle of Erguotou for ages. I can't even drink it myself, so how can you use it for disinfection? That's too hasty."
Xu Sirui snorted in disdain: "Are you still a people's teacher? What's wrong with sacrificing a bottle of Erguotou for your students?" After saying that, he ignored Chen Bin crying and opened the bottle cap by himself, and poured half of the bottle behind him like a shower.
Chen Bin almost fainted on the spot.
After a lot of chaos, Xu Sirui finally came out wearing Chen Bin's clothes.
He disliked the polo shirt that Chen Bin had picked out at first because it was ugly, so he chose a black T-shirt without any prints for himself, and paired it with the black pants he was wearing, looking like a spoiled brat.
Zhu Yingning was waiting outside. When she saw him come out, she wanted to tell him to leave, but the moment she opened her mouth, the pungent smell of alcohol on him made her close it again. However, to prevent him from getting angry and picking a fight with Zhou Yueshan, she spoke despite the pungent smell of alcohol: "Xu Sirui... Let's go to class first. We can talk after school if there's anything."
He twitched his lips and laughed sarcastically, "That's right, we can only arrange a fight after school."
“…”
She laughed dryly and followed him bitterly.
To be honest, she didn't want Xu Sirui to fight Zhou Yueshan. It wasn't because she was worried about what he would do to Zhou Yueshan, but because she was worried he wouldn't be able to beat him. After all, Xu Sirui's physique was there. Although he was a few centimeters shorter than Zhou Yueshan, he was twice as wide as him and had a muscular body. Zhu Yingning suspected that one punch from Zhou Yueshan would be enough to put Xu Sirui to death.
As they walked into the classroom, all the classmates looked up at them.
Zhu Yingning assumed everyone was just overwhelmed by the smell of alcohol on Xu Sirui and didn't think much of it. She went to her seat first, pulled out her chair, and stuffed her schoolbag into the desk drawer. Xu Sirui also went to his seat—three weeks into the school term, and he still hadn't gotten into the habit of carrying a schoolbag. He always came and went empty-handed, always bringing someone with him. As for the dry food, she put it in Zhu Yingning's bag and let her carry it. He was born to be a young master.
In short, Xu Sirui pulled out the chair and sat down.
**
Everything that happened next was like a slow-motion movie.
Zhu Yingning saw Xu Sirui sit down, and the moment he sat down, the chair suddenly emitted a tooth-grinding creaking sound. Then, one of the legs transformed into the Leaning Tower of Pisa, tilting and collapsing at a visible speed.
With a loud bang.
The chair fell to the ground and broke into pieces. Xu Sirui, who was sitting on the chair, was also not spared. He used his hands to support the ground before landing, so as not to fall too badly, but he still landed hard on his butt.
After a brief second, the whole class burst into laughter.
The laughter that came one after another was like magma, pouring into Zhu Yingning's mind. She stood there in a daze, feeling that her brain and body were heating up and burning, turning the helplessness and anxiety of the past few days into a raging wildfire.
I lowered my eyes to look at Xu Sirui. He was obviously also dazed from the fall. He was sitting on the ground with a confused expression.
What is this doing?
She was confused, disappointed, and sad, but her biggest feeling was anger.
It is normal to have conflicts among classmates, but it is not normal at all for them to develop to this extent.
Burning with anger, it washed over her forehead. She raised her hand, not knowing what she wanted to do. She only heard two loud noises like earthquakes, and then a sharp pain in her right palm. She looked down and realized that she had slammed the table twice.
The two loud noises successfully silenced the class's laughter. Her heart was pounding, and her whole body was trembling slightly, but she still pretended to be calm. She curled her fingers, stood up, walked to the podium, and looked around at the audience with an expressionless face. She asked, "Who did this?"
The sound was not loud, but you could hear a pin drop in the class and everyone could hear it clearly.
Some people looked at each other with the classmates around them, some lowered their heads, some glanced around, some stayed out of it, and some looked like they were watching the fun, but no one said a word.
She raised her voice and asked again, "Who did it? You dare to do it but not admit it, right?" This time her tone was filled with a hint of harsh accusation.
There was a slight commotion in the class. The students looked around, but still no one spoke.
I don't know how long the silence lasted before a voice came from below. It was nonchalant and sounded particularly arrogant: "Why, squad leader, do you want to vent your anger on his behalf?"
Zhu Yingning locked onto Lin Kaisheng's voice. He sat slouched in his seat, his arms stretched out on the backseat table, his face full of defiance and dissatisfaction.
"Did you do this?" she asked in a low voice.
"So what if I did it?" Lin Kaisheng said with a playful smile, "Are you heartbroken?"
The words were ambiguous, and since she was already at an age where she was sensitive to love and affection, the boys in the class immediately let out a few hidden chuckles. As if this wasn't enough, Lin Kaisheng raised his right hand, cupped it to his lips, and loudly questioned her, "Class monitor, why are you so nice to this new kid? Do you like him?"
Like a drop of water falling into a boiling pot of oil, the class erupted in a sizzling roar. The snickers grew into loud laughter, with some shouting and jeer- ing , some clapping, some pounding their desks, and whistles mingling with the laughter, sharp as knives.
In the chaos, only Zhu Yingning stood there calmly, her expression unchanged. Only when the laughter gradually faded did she say calmly, "You're right. Of course I like him."
This answer surprised everyone, especially Lin Kaisheng. He had imagined Zhu Yingning would be so embarrassed by his question that she would run off the stage, blushing, covering her eyes, and crying, never again able to hold her head high. Unexpectedly, she not only admitted it, but did so frankly and readily, as if she were admitting her love for apples. It was a matter of course, with none of the shyness or resentment that a normal girl would have in such a situation.
The other students in the class were obviously also confused by her unusual tone. Their cheers were stuck in their throats, and everyone seemed to be under a spell, stunned.
Then, a scene that was even more unexpected to everyone appeared.
Zhu Yingning raised her still burning right hand and pointed it straight at Lin Kaisheng. She spoke clearly and emphasized each word: "I like you, too."
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