Xu Qichen found that since he entered high school, time had flown by faster than usual. He recalled the military training as if it happened just yesterday, yet now, the ginkgo leaves on the campus had already turned golden. From his seat by the window, it looked like the extremely dazzling Glasir from Norse mythology.
“Xia Zhixu! You’re on duty today, clean the blackboard!”
Hearing the class’s Environment Representative’s urging, Xu Qichen, who was reading with his head down, looked up at the chalk writing all over the blackboard, then turned to look behind, and saw that Xia Zhixu was still sleeping on the table.
He was always like that, taking things easy. But when he decided to put in the effort, he was very energetic.
If he did not move soon, he would be scolded. Xu Qichen pushed at the arm that was pillowing Xia Zhixu’s head, “Hey, it’s time to clean the blackboard.”
Xia Zhixu raised his head all of a sudden. There was a red mark on his dazed face, making him look funny.
Seeing that Xia Zhixu was about to go, the girl at his table teased him ruthlessly while getting up to let him pass, “Yo, the rep called you three times and you didn’t wake up, I called you three times and you didn’t wake up. But Xu Qichen said just one word and you woke up?”
Xia Zhixu rubbed his eyes, stretched his waist, “It is necessary to call seven times to wake up the dragon.” After he finished talking, he walked to the podium casually, took two blackboard erasers and slowly wiped the blackboard. Chalk dust was everywhere, the students in the front row held their textbooks and covered their noses and kept fanning the dust away.
At this moment, Chen Fang happened to come back from the school’s shop and was choked as soon as he entered the classroom, “Oh, hell! Who is doing this?” He stretched out his hand and slapped away the dust in front of his eyes, saw Xia Zhixu’s stare and the sleep marks on his face, and started laughing, “So, it’s our Sect Master Xia. Look at the magic marks on your face.” He stretched out to pinch Xia Zhixu’s face, “Let me lift the seal for you!”
“Scram.” Xia Zhixu slapped his hand away with the blackboard eraser.
“What the,” Chen Fang started coughing again, “Xia Zhixu, you are devoid of conscience!” Chen Fang pinched his nose and walked off the podium, took out a bag of candy from his school uniform pocket, and called out to Xu Qichen when he passed by Xu Qichen’s seat. As soon as Xu Qichen looked up, he saw a bag of things flying in front of him. He subconsciously reached out and caught it.
It was a packet of sweets.
He looked up dubiously.
Chen Fang pointed at Xia Zhixu with his chin, “When he heard I was going to the shop, he told me to buy this for you.”
It was PE after the next class.
Just in case.
Xu Qichen looked at the candy in his hand in a daze.
When his deskmate returned to the classroom and saw the candy in his hand, she said, “Huh? This brand of candy is delicious, it has fruit juice filling.” She sat down and smiled at Xu Qichen, “Give me one, just one~”
“O, sure,” Xu Qichen opened the packet and offered her the whole packet. “Choose one yourself.”
She smiled and said thank you, then picked a strawberry flavored one for herself.
After wiping the blackboard, Xia Zhixu turned around and happened to see this scene; Xu Qichen distributing the candy he had given to his deskmate. He felt a little unhappy, so he took the snow-white blackboard eraser and walked out to the corridor, stretched out his hand, and started slapping the two blackboard erasers together as if to vent his anger.
Glutton, glutton, I hope you starve to death.
Thinking so, he hit the erasers harder.
Giving it away so easily, you’re too generous.
The snow-white chalk dust formed a layer on the floor where it fell.
“Who is dusting blackboard erasers in the corridor again!? How many times have I told you not to do it in the corridor! You didn’t listen, did you? Typical!”
Shit, it’s Director Wang!
Xia Zhixu quickly slipped back into the classroom, threw the blackboard eraser on the desk, clapped his hands indiscriminately, walked to his seat and sat down. He flipped through the five-year Gaokao questions collection with a bowed head, pretending to be hard at work.
As expected, a few seconds later, Director Wang got to the fourth floor and arrived outside Class 13, which happened to be the first class from the stairs. He touched the tiles of the corridor outside the class, then furiously stood at the door and asked, “Who’s on duty today?”
The students in front carefully looked behind, but none of them said anything.
Director Wang entered the classroom. “I advise you to step out yourself. Don’t force my hand.”
Xu Qichen sneaked a glance at Director Wang. There was still dust on his head. He was probably walking by when Xia Zhixu dusted the erasers.
Seeing everyone remain silent, Chen Fang raised his hand, giggling.
“You?” Director Wang stomped towards Chen Fang with his hands behind his back, then pulled him out from his seat. “Tell me, how many times have I said not to dust your blackboard erasers in the corridor!?”
“No, no, no, Director Wang, I want to report!”
“Report what!? I’m bringing you to the office to write a reflection!”
Chen Fang was dying from the injustice, and shook his arms and legs at Director Wang, “It’s really not me, it’s Xia Zhixu! It’s really him!”
Following Director Wang’s gaze, Xu Qichen also turned back to look at Xia Zhixu, only to see him look up from the book with an expression of a good student who was disturbed from an intense study session. “En?”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Xu Qichen nearly laughed out loud. That guy was way too good at acting.
“Yt, ys atf kjs, Glgfmabg Qjcu, P abiv ws vjv jybea atf Ugbnlcmlji Zjatfwjalmji Yiswqljv sbe wfcalbcfv ijra alwf, jcv tf jrxfv wf ab ags la. P klii ub ab sbeg boolmf ab ufa atf gfulragjalbc obgw ijafg.”
Glgfmabg Qjcu, ktb kjr bglulcjiis vlrqifjrfv, ijeutfv lwwfvljafis: “Rb, P’ii jrx rbwfbcf ab yglcu la ab sbe ijafg. Tbe wera qgfqjgf kfii, jcv klc uibgs obg er.”
“En,” Xia Zhixu smiled, still pretending to be a model student.
Then Director Wang dragged Chen Fang out of the classroom. “How dare you throw the blame on someone else!? Why can’t you learn from him? Go to the office right now!”
“It’s not me! You can ask them!”
Chen Fang, the pot-carrying hero, was taken away like that. His pained sound of excuses could be heard even as he went down the stairs. The whole class burst into wild laughter, especially Xia Zhixu, who had successfully thrown the blame away, he couldn’t even straighten himself from the table.
Chen Fang only came back during PE. His face was dark as he joined them on the field. The moment they saw him, the class started laughing again.
“What are you laughing at!? Running 800 metres was not enough for you?” the PE teacher shouted at them.
Only then did the students restrain themselves a little, trying to hold back their laughter.
Xu Qichen, who stayed out of the way, was staring at a puppy on the track in a daze, when he suddenly felt his school uniform jacket being pulled by someone behind him.
Dazed, he was a little slow to react, but not wanting the person behind him to think he was ignoring him, he took half a step towards him and leaned forward..
Because of this, Xu Qichen’s lips almost brushed Xia Zhixu’s chin.
Almost…
Both of them were shocked. One turned his head back and the other took a step back, quickly recovering their positions amidst the noise around them.
Xu Qichen’s heart was beating violently. His fingertips were numb, as if a weak electric current was flowing through them. For a moment, he even thought if he was experiencing the symptoms of low blood sugar again.
He did not understand why, he just felt very abnormal and uncomfortable.
The PE teacher standing in front of the class suddenly announced, “At the end of this month, the preliminaries of the interclass basketball competition will begin.”
“Basketball?”
“Is it school-wide or level-wide?”
“School-wide ba, level-wide is too boring.”
The person behind him seemed to have given up on using his body to gain his attention. Taking advantage of the commotion of the crowd he whispered, “Give me one of the sweets.”
What almost happened just now made Xu Qichen shrink back, not physically, but mentally, so he subconciously lied, “I didn’t bring it.”
“You’re a liar,” Xia Zhixu pointed it out bluntly with a smile in his voice, “The packet is sticking out of your pocket, cheapskate.”
Xu Qichen looked down and sure enough, a corner of that gaudy packet of candy was protruding from the edge of his jacket’s pocket.
Left with no other choice, Xu Qichen reached in, took one at random, and without even looking at it, he put his hand behind his back, and spread his palm towards the person behind him.
“Thanks.”
He felt that the fingertips that had taken the candy from his palm, had left behind an itchy shadow of their touch, which would probably not go away anytime soon. Xu Qichen withdrew his hand and rubbed his palm vigorously.
“If you can play basketball, raise your hand and I’ll write down your name. After the class, come to the basketball court for a quick audition.”
Xu Qichen knew how to play basketball a bit, but he did not raise his hand. He had always been in poor health. Even if he was selected, it would only drag everyone down. After the class was dismissed, he took a look at the boys who was picked by the physical education teacher. Chen Fang finally got to kick Xia Zhixu, and the two of them fought playfully.
He was a little envious.
If only he was like Chen Fang, able to mess around with his friends like that…
Such thoughts were quickly dismissed by Xu Qichen himself, he would never be able to develop Chen Fang’s cheerful personality.
What’s more, Xia Zhixu didn’t treat him as unscrupulously as he treated Chen Fang.
It was just that he still did not understand the reason for this difference.
The autumn basketball competition of Jingjian Middle School could be regarded as an important event. The seniors in the third year of high school were facing the college entrance examination and had heavy schoolwork. They were pretty much all eliminated after the preliminary round. The real fight came from the first and the second years, especially the first years, with several classes emerging as dark horses.
Their homeroom teacher, Zhang Zhengxin, was not a rigid teacher who only focused on learning. He had always advocated a combination of work and rest for an all-round development, so he also supported this autumn basketball game very much. He especially approved the participating players to be late for half an hour for the evening self-study a week before the match so that they could train for an extra half an hour.
In addition to the basketball game, there was another big event, that was the ‘Golden Ink Cup’ a composition writing competition held by the whole province. Xu Qichen, who was the Chinese class representative, was called to the office by Zhang Zhengxin because of this.
“This composition contest is very important. If you win an award, it can be used as an application material for future self-enrollment. I have already printed out the admission ticket for the students who signed up, you can give it to them.” Zhang Zhengxin handed the stack of admission tickets to Xu Qichen, “And this time, it’s decided that the top 100 students in the whole grade must participate, unless they scored less than 100 in Chinese in the last month’s exam.”
“So, those students who have not signed up but are within the top hundred, as long as they have passed the Chinese test, they also have an admission ticket?”
Zhang Zhengxin nodded and took out the ranking list from the drawer, “I saw that, in our class, only Xia Zhixu was ‘forcefully signed up’, and the rest of the top 100 have already volunteered for it.”
Xu Qichen lowered his head and flipped through the stack of tickets. Xia Zhixu’s was really there. The school was really clever to come up with such a trick.
“Okay then, you can go back and give out the admission ticket during self-study later in the evening. If the students participating in the competition have any needs or questions, let them come to the office to find me at any time.”
Xu Qichen nodded and left the office with the admission tickets in his hand.
After dinner, while passing by the stadium, Xu Qichen looked towards the basketball court. Among the crowd, he spotted Xia Zhixu at a glance. He was only wearing a dark blue T-shirt. His black and white school uniform jacket was tied around his waist. He dribbled the ball nimbly with both hands. His had an outstanding form; clean and beautiful.
And his smile, after scoring a basket, was brighter than the sun.
Since childhood, Xu Qichen did not like sunny people very much. They were full of confidence and enthusiasm about the future. He felt that their good mood came easily and was oftentimes taken for granted. Seeing such a person, he always felt uneasy, wondering where he himself got so many bad emotions, so many negative thoughts from.
He did not wish to be the kind of person who was always afraid of ‘something going wrong’ either, but couldn’t help himself.
However, Xia Zhixu was different.
In fact, he did not have so much enthusiasm that he embraced every part of his life. He sometimes would also be slow, tired of communicating, and feel faintly bored. It was only when he faced Xu Qichen, that his liveliness and warmth poured out all at once, and all directed at himself.
It made Xu Qichen feel overwhelmed, like being hit by caramel popcorn falling from the sky whenever he met him.
With a woosh, bringing with him a massive sweet smell.
He did not know how to react to that, but felt a little happy deep down.
After the evening self-study started, Xu Qichen took out the admission tickets for the composition competition from his drawer, and began handing it out to everyone in accordance to the names on it. Fortunately, there was a photo on the ticket. Otherwise, it would have been a little difficult for Xu Qichen to give them out with just the name on it.
Most of the students were doing their homework, only those from the basketball team had not come back as yet. He put the admission tickets on the upper right corner of their desks one by one. Several students raised their heads and thanked him with a smile, which made him feel flattered.
Was it because of Xia Zhixu? He who used to be unwilling to have contact with anyone, was now moved by such a small act from others?
How should he describe it?
It was like… He was like a child, hiding in a dark room, not wanting to be seen, with his body pressed against the door, holding it with all his strength, not letting anyone open it.
But then Xia Zhixu appeared. He saw the closed door, and without bothering about its purpose, forced his way in, whispering unbelievably fascinating fairy tales to the one hiding behind the door. And just like that, taking advantage of his fascination, he pushed the door wide open, allowing the long-lost light to spill inside, leaving Xu Qichen at a loss as to what to do.
And that was not the end of it. Xia Zhixu, who was standing at the threshold, turned around and waved in the other children standing behind him.
[Come in, there’s a scared child here.]
It was that kind of feeling!
Xu Qichen was about to go to the last row to put Xia Zhixu’s admission ticket on his desk, when he heard the sound of students playing around outside the door.
The basketball team was back.
Chen Fang entered the classroom first. He was sweating profusely. He put the basketball back under the seat, reported to the monitor, and went to the bathroom to wash his hands.
When Xia Zhixu came in, he saw Xu Qichen standing next to his seat. He raised his arm to wipe the sweat from his forehead, and asked softly, “Why are you standing here?”
Xu Qichen handed the admission ticket in his hand to him, “This is the admission ticket for the ‘Golden Inkstone Cup’ composition competition. Teacher Zhang asked me to give it to you.”
Xia Zhixu said, “I didn’t sign up ah.”
“Mr. Zhang said that our school is forcing the top 100 students in the school to participate in the competition. As long as the Chinese score is above 100, they can’t refuse.” Xu Qichen explained, “Well… the only one who was forcibly arrested in our class is you.” After speaking, he once again handed the admission ticket to him.
Xia Zhixu frowned, looked at his gray and sweaty hands, and sighed.
Then, lowering his head slightly, he turned his head sideways, very much like the kissing action in an idol drama, opened his mouth, bit the exam admission ticket in Xu Qichen’s hand with his teeth, and gently took it away.
Xu Qichen was stunned.
From the moment when his lips touched the edge of the admission ticket, to when he carried this little piece of paper away from his fingertips, Xu Qichen seemingly saw it in short, slow-moving shots, and felt it in his accelerated heartbeat.
Xia Zhixu, unable to speak, raised his chin towards the door and spread his hands towards him.
Meaning, he was going to wash his hands.
Xu Qichen nodded and went back to his seat.
Throughout the evening self-study, he felt a little dizzy, as if he had contracted some unknown disease.
After school, the two of them went home by bus as usual. Xia Zhixu first complained that he did not want to participate in the composition competition, and then told him about the interesting happenings during the basketball practice. Xu Qichen listened to it half-heartedly, his thoughts flying towards the clouds in the sky.
Until Xia Zhixu bumped into his shoulder, “Tell me, should I buy a sports headband? During training, sweat flows straight into my eyes, and it’s all glued to my eyelashes. It’s really uncomfortable.”
That’s because your eyelashes are too long and too dense. Xu Qichen complained secretly in his heart.
However, when he heard Xia Zhixu say these words, the scene of Xia Zhixu holding the admission ticket with his mouth immediately popped up in his mind.
Tiny drops of water had accumulated on the tips of his drenched hair, and his thick eyelashes were bewitched by sweat, which made his black and white pupils foggy, and the sweat on his chin slowly slid down the line of his neck, disappearing in his dark blue cotton collar.
“Why are you spacing out?” Xia Zhixu waved his hand in front of his eyes.
Xu Qichen shook his head, “Nothing.”
Xia Zhixu thought he was simply not interested in sports topics, so he stopped talking.
After school was over at noon the next day, after Xu Qichen and Xia Zhixu separated at the corner, Xu Qichen walked into a sports store alone. He walked around in silence until he found a small area which had several styles of headbands. Most of them were either black, white, or grey, and had different logos printed on them.
Xu Qichen stood there looking at them for a while before choosing a white one with the logo of a sports brand on it.
He had an inkling that Xia Zhixu would look good with a white one.
He brought the band to the counter.
“158 Yuan.”
Xu Qichen took out 200 Yuan from his schoolbag. This was the money he had saved to buy books. For a high school student, this was not a small amount.
He could buy at least 4 books with it.
“That’s a round 200, do you need anything else?”
“No, thanks.”
“Here’s your change, thank you.”
Finally, I can repay his favor, Xu Qichen said to himself after walking out of the shop.
He wanted to give it to him on the way back to school in the afternoon, but there were too many people in the bus, and he could not stand upright. He was afraid that the same thing would happen again, so he could only hold on to the pillars in the bus tightly, and did not take out the band that he had bought. The whole way, his heart pounded in anticipation.
He had to wait until they reached school to give it to him. Xia Zhixu, who had no psychological burden, was the same as usual, smiling and telling him about the interesting things that happened at home during noon that day, especially about the big golden retriever in his house. Xu Qichen listened cooperatively, and the two walked into the classroom side by side.
When he reached his seat, he found that his deskmate had not come yet. He hesitatingly took off his schoolbag, unzipped it, and put his hand inside.
At this moment, Chen Fang slipped from the end of the row to Xia Zhixu’s seat. Before he could speak, Xia Zhixu pulled out a hairband from the side of the bag and shook it in front of Chen Fang, “How is it? Does it look good?”
Chen Fang snatched the headband from his hand, “Okay, cool, I’ll borrow it from my buddy for two days.”
As he said that, he was about to put it on his head, but Xia Zhixu reached out and snatched it back, “Go away, I haven’t even worn it yet.”
Xu Qichen lowered his eyes and calmly took his hand out of his bag.
He stood up to leave.
“Where are you going?” Xia Zhixu asked while holding the gray hairband.
Xu Qichen replied mildly, “To wash my hands.” Then he left the classroom.
Xia Zhixu felt that Xu Qichen was in a bad mood, but he did not know why. The excited Chen Fang did not notice it at all. With his hands on Xia Zhixu’s desk, he asked enthusiastically, “Hey, did you watch the game last night? The one between the Lakers and the Spurs.”
Xia Zhixu took off his schoolbag and put it on the chair, “No, I was looking through my brother’s closet with my mother yesterday.”
“Looking through your brother’s closet? Why? Your brother hid your future sister-in-law in the closet? Shouldn’t your brother be at Tsinghua University now?”
“Hiding your uncle!” Xia Zhixu rolled his eyes at him, “I told my mother that I wanted to buy a headband. When I played ball, the sweat kept running into my eyes. My mother said that my brother had one, so we both rummaged through his closet. After looking all night, I finally found it in a corner, and it looks pretty good, so I’ll try to wear it.”
“Your brother is also good at basketball, maybe he can pass on some luck to you.”
“Shut up.”
For the whole afternoon afterwards, Xu Qichen did not speak to Xia Zhixu.
In the beginning, Xia Zhixu teased him as usual, but he got a cold reception. When he tried to borrow his schoolwork after evening study, Xu Qichen just replied to him in the negative.
He felt a little suffocated.
What happened? Xia Zhixu could not figure it out.
NOOO ( T^T ) shouldve still given it… ah
…ahhhh…..poor qichen bought it with the money that he saved to buy at least 4 books…….i wish he had given it…!!ahhhhhhhh