For several days thereafter, Xu Qichen would deliberately hide from Xia Zhixu. Although he had never been very enthusiastic, he still used to respond favourably. But now, as soon as he was approached, Xu Qichen would automatically widen the distance.
It was like magnets with same poles.
One morning, Xia Zhixu looked across the street and happened to see Xu Qichen standing at the bus stop drinking a carton of milk. When Xu Qichen looked up, Xia Zhixu happily waved to him, but as soon as he shouted the word ‘Xu’, the other party hurriedly got on a bus and disappeared from right under his nose.
It’s even more difficult to guess a person’s thoughts than to solve the last big problem on the math Olympiad.
Several classmates who came back from the office brought back the math papers from last month’s exam.
When Xu Qichen got his, he glanced at it and saw his score of 112 points. Apparently, he did not do the last two parts of the last question well.
“Xia Zhixu, you got 150 ah, amazing!” A classmate placed the test paper on Xia Zhixu’s desk, and before Xia Zhixu could speak, his desk mate pulled the test paper over first. “Let me admire our Xueba’s exam paper.”
Xia Zhixu grabbed the test paper with the word ‘unhappy’ clearly written across his face.
His eyes were fixed on the person in front of him as he held his paper in his hand and carefully studied the questions marked wrong in red.
He wanted to explain them to him.
If only he would ask…
No, he did not even have to ask.
If only he would turn around…
As if arguing with himself, Xia Zhixu continued sitting in a daze. In the end, the only result he achieved was Xu Qichen poking his deskmate’s arm with a pen and asking softly, “Did you get this question right?”
The deskmate, who was secretly reading a comic, lifted her head and glanced at the place pointed by Xu Qichen, “Hmm, you got that wrong? The teacher explained a similar question in class.”
Xia Zhixu’s heart felt like a wet towel that had been forcefully twisted by someone. The boy behind him tapped him on the shoulder and asked, “Hey, when do the basketball preliminary matches start?”
Still looking at Xu Qichen’s back, he sighed silently before turning behind to talk about basketball.
When Xu Qichen heard his deskmate say that the question had been explained in class, he felt a bit embarrassed. He had been constantly distracted these past few days, and his thoughts often drifted away while listening. “I guess I didn’t hear this part. Can you explain it to me?”
Xu Qichen’s voice was very soft, and his rare request made it impossible for his deskmate to refuse. “I can if you want, but…” She was also a bit embarrassed, “I’m afraid I’m not very good at explaining. Xia Zhixu has a perfect score, why don’t you ask him to explain it?”
Xu Qichen did not look back. His ears were filled with the voices of Xia Zhixu and the boy behind him chatting about basketball. He shook his head and said softly, “I’d prefer if you do it.”
She nodded and said, “Don’t blame me if I can’t explain it well.” She picked up a pen and took the test paper. Xu Qichen’s leaned his head over and listened carefully.
Xia Zhixu, whose last bit of expectation was shattered, finally turned his stiff spine back and ended the absent-minded coversation about basketball. His math test paper lay lifeless on the table, with a bright red 150 pulsing anxiously in his sight, like an alarm.
The more he looked, the more annoyed he became. Xia Zhixu kneaded the test paper into a ball and threw it into his drawer. His deskmate was startled and could not figure out what Xia Zhixu was doing. Was he still unsatisfied with a 150 score?
Xia Zhixu buried his head in his arms. His mind was filled with Xu Qichen’s voice.
[Can you explain this to me?]
It’s such an ordinary request, but why does it sound like there’s a hint of a coquettish tone?
Why doesn’t he talk to me like that?
It wasn’t like this before.
This feeling was like doing a particularly complex step by step problem. He tried to solve it accordingly/one step at a time and finally came to the end, only to find that the answer was completely incorrect. However, when he turned around and checked his solution step by step, he couldn’t figure out which step had a problem.
At the end of the last class of the morning, the math teacher passing by in the hallway stopped Xia Zhixu, who was originally planning to go home with Xu Qichen, and explained to him that they were going to do math practice papers for self-study in the evening. Xia Zhixu stood beside the teacher, watching as Xu Qichen left his sight once again.
The language organization ability of the math teacher was surprisingly poor. After repeating the same set of words in a different order four or five times, he still wasn’t done. Xia Zhixu nodded absently in response, silently counting the time in his heart.
2 minutes, Xu Qichen should have arrived at the first floor.
5 minutes, he might have already left the school.
10 minutes, he must already be on the bus.
The more he counted, the more he despaired.
“Alright, that’s all, if you finish it early, you can bring it to the office, I’ll mark it for you.”
Xia Zhixu hurriedly said goodbye and trudged down the stairs.
“Ai, Xia Zhixu?”
Hearing Chen Fang’s voice, Xia Zhixu turned around and saw him approaching while pushing his bicycle. “Why are you still here?”
Chen Fang sighed and said, “My bicycle chain has fallen off. I’ve been trying to fix it for a while now.” He walked up to Xia Zhixu and said, “What’s wrong with you? You look like your tendons have been pulled out by Nezha, you’re wilting.”
“Where are all your similes coming from?” Xia Zhixu complained.
“My mother taught me,” Chen Fang chuckled twice, and the more he looked at Xia Zhixu’s condition, the more he asked tentatively, “Hey? Why haven’t you been walking with Xu Qichen these past few days? Aren’t you living near each other?”
Of all the questions to ask… Xia Zhixu had a gloomy face and did not answer.
“Did you offend him?”
“No,” this time, Xia Zhixu replied very quickly. “I don’t even know what happened, he just started ignoring me.”
Chen Fang had known Xia Zhixu for nine years, and this was the first time he saw him drooping his eyebrows and eyes because of someone. He was extremely happy. “He must have suddenly realized that you’re not as glamorous as you appear on the surface. He saw through your charming appearance and can’t accept the real you, so he quietly and automatically left.”
He was ready to be beaten by Xia Zhixu, but after waiting for a long time, Xia Zhixu didn’t get angry and instead lowered his head.
“Hey… what’s wrong?”
“Do you really think so?” Xia Zhixu asked weakly.
Chen Fang realized the seriousness of the matter and said, “No, no, I was just joking. Our little sun is so endearing. Tell me, from childhood to adulthood, from teachers and parents to classmates and friends, who doesn’t like you? If it weren’t for my strong inner strength to be treated as a green leaf, I would have been ashamed and cut you off long ago.”
Xia Zhixu knew he was trying to comfort him.
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.
Who doesn’t like him?
Xu Qichen ah.
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Xia Zhixu furrowed his brows and began to think, but Chen Fang patted him on the shoulder, “Your bus is here.”
“Oh.” Xia Zhixu said goodbye to Chen Fang and got on the bus.
Chen Fang began riding his bicycle and suddenly felt that something was wrong.
How come that guy’s state was so familiar?
After cycling for dozens of meters, he suddenly thought, isn’t this the same as the state after Xiao Hei angered his girlfriend a few days ago?
Xia Zhixu’s friendship is so magical.
Sitting alone on the bus, Xia Zhixu still frowned with his thoughts in a mess. Suddenly, he remembered that night when he was in the car talking to Xu Qichen about hairbands.
And he was fine the next day as well ah.
But from the afternoon onwards…
His mother prepared a large table of dishes and as soon as she heard the sound of the key opening the door, she called out, “Zhixu is back? Hurry up and wash your hands. Mom cooked a lot of your favorite dishes today.” She walked out of the kitchen and touched Xia Zhixu’s face. “Oh, my dear son, playing basketball and doing Olympiad math, you’re so tired you loss some weight.”
Unexpectedly, Xia Zhixu sat down on the sofa, pulled out the headband from his backpack, and threw it on the coffee table.
“What’s the matter?” His mother picked up the hairband and said, “The other day you were making a fuss and asked me to find it for you, but now you don’t want it anymore?”
Xia Zhixu looked up, “Mom, is gege’s current girlfriend the one he started chasing in junior high?”
At the sudden question, she hesitated for a moment. “I think so… He chased her for…” She counted off her fingers, “Oh, it’s been eight years.”
Xia Zhixu collapsed on the sofa in despair, “This hairband is cursed, I won’t wear it again.”
“What are you talking about?”
Xia Zhixu remained silent. In his heart, he was already very certain that this hairband was definitely tainted by his brother’s misfortune, so as soon as he put it on, there was a major crisis in his interpersonal relationships.
His brother was also a famous figure back then. If it weren’t for some curse, how could he have taken eight years to chase an ordinary girl? This is too unscientific.
After thinking for so long, he thought this was the only valid explanation. Xia Zhixu, who was already in an abnormal state, confidently affirmed this seemingly unscientific answer in his heart.
What was even more terrifying is that he did not even realise that he was directly equating ‘chasing girls’ with ‘befriending Xu Qichen’.
Anyway, this hairband must not be worn in the future, even if his eyes were blinded by sweat.
At one o’clock in the afternoon, Xia Zhixu hurried out and sat alone on the platform waiting for almost half an hour before finally seeing Xu Qichen walking over from the corner. As soon as Xu Qichen saw him, he was about to hide. Xia Zhixu went out and grabbed Xu Qichen’s arm, refusing to let him go.
What Xia Zhixu did not know was that Xu Qichen did not hide from him entirely because of the hairband that had not been given out.
In fact, the hairband was just the trigger. What he was really running from was his own strange mood.
From some unknown time, his emotions began to be manipulated by the actions of the person in front of him, a feeling that was both unfamiliar and terrifying to him.
Just because of some casual words from him, he would go and buy a hair band on his own and want to give it to him…
Even though he clearly said ‘should I buy’’, and not ‘can you buy it for me?”
Why did he take the initiative?
Xia Zhixu was a terrifying person, and all who met him would like him.
Xu Qichen was beginning to feel afraid.
“You can’t go!” Xia Zhixu tightly grabbed his arm. The weather in November was very cold. How long had he waited? His nose had already turned red.
Xu Qichen stared at him with wide eyes, like a frightened rabbit.
It was too obviously a coquettish look.
Xu Qichen blinked slowly, not saying anything.
Bus 729 arrived. Xia Zhixu was afraid that Xu Qichen would run away, so he grabbed his arm and pulled him into the car together, directly swiping his bus card twice. Through his school uniform jacket and thick woolen sweater, the touch of his forearms was soft.
Xia Zhixu, who had been waiting for half an hour, suddenly stopped feeling cold.
The road has been under repair for two months. The bus packed again, not giving Xu Qichen any chance to distance himself.
As long as they boarded the bus together, they would be stuck together tightly. That’s why Xu Qichen was unwilling to take the bus with him these days.
His arm was still tightly grasped by Xia Zhixu, and the temperature in his palm seemed to transmit from the thick fabric to his skin, making him feel a scorching heat.
With so many people standing together, Xia Zhixu couldn’t say what he wanted to say, so he could only quietly grasp him and not let him escape. It wasn’t until the two of them got out of the bus that Xu Qichen thought it was inappropriate and spoke up, “Let go of me.”
“Then don’t run away.”
“I won’t run.”
Xia Zhixu just let go a little bit. Although Xu Qichen didn’t run, he also stood a little further away from him, making him feel aggrieved. Was he a highly lethal infectious disease virus? Why was Xu Qichen avoiding him?
The first class in the afternoon was mathematics, and the math teacher was teaching them a new topic. Xia Zhixu stared at Xu Qichen’s back, still feeling very upset.
Even when he kicked his chair he did not turn back.
Glancing at his desk mate and seeing her sticky notes, Xia Zhixu suddenly had an idea.
“Lend this to me.”
He turned the notepad over and pulled out the pen cap to start writing. His desk mate reminded him, “It’s upside down, this is the sticky side.”
“I know.” Xia Zhixu lowered his head and wrote without hesitation, then flipped it over and stuck it on Xu Qichen’s neck.
Feeling something stuck to his neck, Xu Qichen wanted to ignore it. But it was very obvious, and it would be troublesome if the teacher saw it. He had no choice but to reach back and tear off the sticky note.
[Stop ignoring me ah.]
Xu Qichen quickly pasted the sticky note on the desk, with the blank part facing outward, pretending that he did not see anything.
Another piece was stuck on his neck.
[I was wrong, everything is my fault.]
What did you do wrong? Xu Qichen helplessly thought that he had done nothing wrong, sighed silently, and pasted this piece of paper onto the one he had just taken down.
A third piece.
[Even though I still don’t know what I did wrong, but it’s fine! As long as you’re happy, everything is my fault.]
Seeing this one, Xu Qichen nearly laughed out loud.
What’s all this about? What a weirdo.
Before he could stick this one on the desk, there was another one on his neck.
Strangely, it was a little heavy.
Xu Qichen quietly tore off the sticky note and held it in front of him.
There was no writing on it, only a smiling face and an arrow pointing down.
The arrow pointed towards a very small candy he glued on with transparent adhesive, and the wrapper shone brightly in the autumn sun
Pursing his lips, he tried to contain his smile.
Xia Zhixu could even control his emotions, Xu Qichen was now 100% convinced.
“5 Yuan per piece,” his desk mate reached out to Xia Zhixu and said, “Hand over the money.”
“You’re too greedy,” Xia Zhixu threw what was left of the notepad into her hand, “I’m done.”
She shook her head and clicked a tongue, “What a pity, the two best-looking boys in our class.”
Xia Zhixu frowned, “What’s a pity?”
She glanced at him and mouthed silently, ‘Gay.’
Having finished the topic for today, the math teacher pushed his glasses and said, “Take out your monthly exam papers. Tell me, how many of these questions have I mentioned before? But when it comes to the exam, there are still a lot of mistakes.”
Xia Zhixu has just completed a major task and was happily turning his pen.
“Only one person in class scored a full score. Let me show you someone else’s paper and answer process. Xia Zhixu,” the math teacher called out to him. “Bring your paper here.”
The pen he was spinning dropped on the table.
But… he had already crushed it…
Xia Zhixu flipped through the drawer and awkwardly unfolded the paper ball, trying to smooth it out, but it was still wrinkled to death.
The math teacher got off the podium and walked towards him, “Hurry up ah.”
Xia Zhixu resentfully handed the wrinkled paper to the teacher, afraid to look at him.
“You! What’s the meaning of this!?”
“I accidentally treated it as wastepaper…”
The whole class laughed along, and even Xu Qichen couldn’t help but lower his head and chuckle.
The last class in the afternoon was the class meeting, where they will also discuss about the upcoming basketball match between Class 13 and Class 7. The members of the basketball team in the class were told to go down early, while the rest of the class were to do their homework. They listened to the class monitor talk about some major activities in the school recently and the announcements that the class teacher wanted him to deliver.
“Additionally, it will soon be our school’s 60th anniversary celebration. Each class must present a program. So, talented students in our class can come up and give their names to me. That’s all.” The class leader closed his small notebook and looked at the lifeless students, adding, “Everyone tidy up and go watch the match.”
“Yeah!!” Everyone came to life in an instant after hearing this, and the class leader immediately made a silencing gesture. “Keep your voice down and don’t disturb the other classes.”
When the cheerleading team stormed into the stadium, the basketball game had not yet started, the girls were all standing in front of them eagerly, each shouting louder than the previous one.
Xu Qichen stood at the back.
Strange, why wasn’t Xia Zhixu wearing that hairband? Wouldn’t that affect his performance?
“Go Class 13! Go Class 13!”
Even more strangely, Xu Qichen noticed a group of girls surging up behind him, all looking very unfamiliar, as if they were from another class.
They’re probably here to see Xia Zhixu.
There were more and more people around him, and a girl accidentally stepped on Xu Qichen’s foot. He retreated to the side, and the girl repeatedly apologized.
“It’s fine.” Xu Qichen accidentally saw her nametag.
Class 2-3.
There are seniors here?
Wasn’t he a little too popular?
But on the court, Xia Zhixu was truly dazzling, and the entire game seemed to be under his control. Their team’s defense and offense were stable and almost impeccable.
But why were they all standing near him? Xu Qichen could not understand and turned his head. There were girls around him, almost separating him from the people in his class. Xu Qichen felt uncomfortable. After taking a break, everyone became less excited. He lowered his head and, saying ‘Excuse me,’ he squeezed out of the group of girls.
Playing basketball was really exhausting. Xia Zhixu’s eyelashes were covered in sweat, especially his right eye. At the whistle of the halftime break, the substitute immediately threw a towel onto him. He took it and wiped his face, rubbed his eyes vigorously, and looked around, searching for Xu Qichen’s figure in the dense audience.
He was extremely worried. When he was playing basketball just now, he didn’t have time to look carefully. Whenever he took a few moments to glance at Xu Qichen, but didn’t manage to find him.
Could it be that he did not even come to the game because he had not forgiven him?
Xia Zhixu’s stretched his neck out and jumped up for a better view. He finally saw Xu Qichen walking out of the crowd, as if he was about to leave.
He really didn’t want to watch!
Anxiously, Xia Zhixu shouted, “Xu Qichen, don’t leave ah!”
Suddenly hearing his name, Xu Qichen was startled and turned around to see Xia Zhixu stretching his arm at the edge of the court waving at him, “I haven’t finished playing yet.”
The entire audience looked at Xu Qichen.
I wasn’t about to leave ah…
It was so awkward.
Xia Zhixu saw him standing still as if no longer leaving. His expression immediately brightened. He took off his uniform jacket and threw it towards Xu Qichen.
“Hold it for me!”
Xu Qichen slowly caught his school uniform jacket and looked up at him.
Xia Zhixu, wearing a black sweater, rolled up his sleeves and smiled brightly across the crowd.
“Be sure to watch us win!”
His pair of sharp teeth peeked out, arrogant and cute.
Who gave you your confidence? Xu Qichen smiled helplessly and arranged his jacket, placing it on his arm.
Seeing Xu Qichen’s smile, Xia Zhixu felt that all the bad luck in his body had suddenly cleared up, as if someone had suddenly attached a lucky talisman, full of vitality.
After the whistle sounded, everyone plunged back into the tense competition, and Chen Fang, who was also on the field, was startled.
Xia Zhixu’s drive was more than three times higher than in the first half.
So the result was also very obvious, there was no doubt that Class 13 will win.
Seeing his class win, Xu Qichen also felt very happy, but he couldn’t squeeze ahead and could only stand on the outermost edge of the onlookers silently watching everyone celebrate.
Sweating all over, Chen Fang walked up to the class flower Lin Xinya and shyly pointed at the water in her hand, “This…”
“It’s not for you,” Lin Xinya quickly dodged and walked towards Xia Zhixu. Xia Zhixu lowered his head and rubbed his eyes for a while, but when he looked up, he did not notice the girls around him who wanted to deliver water but were embarrassed to come forward.
“Excuse me for a moment.” Xia Zhixu pushed aside the shoulders of the two girls in front of him, squeezed through the crowd, and trotted towards Xu Qichen.
“I’m so thirsty ah,” Xia Zhixu ran up to Xu Qichen and bent over, resting his hands on his knees and panting.
Xu Qichen looked around and saw that many girls had bottles of water in their hands, so he said in a daze, “They have…”
Xia Zhixu knew he hadn’t brought any water. “Please buy me a drink,” he said, dragging Xu Qichen’s arm towards the vending machine behind the stadium.
Xu Qichen also did not notice anything wrong. Instead, he remembered that he was holding his jacket. “Put this on ba.”
“It’s hot,” he whined like a disobedient child.
“When the wind blows, you’ll catch a cold,” Xu Qichen draped his jacket over his shoulder and walked over to the vending machine. “Do you want lemon tea?”
“En.”
Hearing the sound of a beverage bottle dropping in the vending machine, Xu Qichen bent down and took out the lemon tea. He turned around to give it to Xia Zhixu, only to find that he had lowered his head and was rubbing his eyes again.
“What’s wrong?”
“I don’t know,” Xia Zhixu lifted his head and couldn’t open his right eye. “It feels like something was in my right eye, please help me take a look.” As he spoke, he used his fingers to open his eye.
Xu Qichen approached, holding lemon tea in his left hand, and propping Xia Zhixu’s eyelids open with his index finger and thumb in his right hand, he tilted his head and looked closer.
His concern overshadowed all his previous unease and fear. Xu Qichen carefully gazed into his eye and found that there was indeed something on it.
“It’s your eyelash.”
In the dramas, the solution to this would be to blow it out.
Xia Zhixu looked at him, and his lips, which were always slightly pursed, gathered slightly closer, facing up towards his eyes. The warm airflow brushed against his thin eyelids.
His Adam’s apple twitched nervously, out of his control.
“I can’t blow it out,” Xu Qichen retreated some distance and muttered to himself.
At this moment, his slow nerves sounded the alarm that was already too late.
[You were too close earlier.]
But it was too late.
He awkwardly stuffed the drink into Xia Zhixu’s hand and turned towards the direction of the cafeteria alone.
Xia Zhixu followed, about a metre behind him.
Looking down at the lemon tea in his hand, as soon as he unscrewed the lid, he suddenly realized a serious problem.
He suddenly wanted Xu Qichen to blow his eyes again, even more than he wanted the drink.
It seems that after the last cold cicada in late autumn quieted, it penetrated into Xia Zhixu’s heart.
Only to start buzzing whenever Xu Qichen came closer.
give him the headband!!
…..i think its not too late to give the headband ..too..ahhh…my heart..