ATLAS TRANSLATES

“I might as well be your mother,” Tao Zhi thought.

She wanted to throw all the books on the desk at his smug face.

She never thought her sharp tongue would meet its match one day, especially when she had backed herself into this corner.

She felt so embarrassed that she wanted to crawl under the desk. At this moment, anything she said felt wrong — saying too much seemed like making excuses, while saying too little seemed guilty.

She chose to stay silent instead, pressing her lips together while glaring at this annoying person who wouldn’t let things go. She planned to kill him with her stare.

The young girl’s black eyes were naturally narrow and slightly upturned. When she put on a stern face, she did look somewhat intimidating, except for her red ear tips which undermined her authority.

She glared at him fiercely, her expression showing she was so embarrassed and angry that she wanted to tear him to pieces. Jiang Qi Huai remained unfazed, lazily leaning back with a somewhat cold demeanor, asking, “Still planning to commit treason?”

Tao Zhi: “…”

“Why won’t you just let this go?” Tao Zhi’s entire demeanor deflated along with her aura. She said irritably, “It was just a slip of the tongue. Don’t keep dwelling on it. We both know that’s not what I meant.”

Jiang Qi Huai nodded: “How would I know? After all, you were so curious about my letter.”

Tao Zhi choked: “Am I blind too?”

“Don’t curse yourself like that,” Jiang Qi Huai said.

“…”

Tao Zhi almost couldn’t catch her breath from choking.

The pre-lunch break bell rang, and voices of Li Shuang Jiang and Ji Fan could be heard in the corridor. Several boys noisily returned to the classroom carrying balls.

As soon as Ji Fan entered, he saw Tao Zhi leaning against Jiang Qi Huai’s desk, stretching her head forward to talk to him.

Tao Zhi looked up at him once, then stepped away from the chair and spun around sharply: “I’m not curious at all. Keep it to yourself and admire it all you want.”

Her movement was a bit too forceful. When she sat down, she bumped the chair, which caused Jiang Qi Huai’s desk to tilt backward slightly. The high stack of test papers and books on his desk slid a little.

Tao Zhi lay down on her own desk, held her breath, then let it out while puffing her cheeks.

Although Jiang Qi Huai’s personality was truly awful — petty, stingy, and irritating, always showing off shamelessly because of his good grades…

He was actually somewhat good-looking.

Tao Zhi reluctantly admitted this in her heart.

Combined with his good grades and that perpetually cold, rational, superior attitude, he did have that deceptive appearance of a scholarly male god. It was actually quite natural for girls to like him. Tao Zhi had seen him being approached by girls from other classes several times on the playground.

But that was only because they didn’t really know him — they were just deceived by his deceptively attractive appearance.

Besides, how could high school students date?

Students should focus on studying!

Tao Zhi puffed her cheeks and randomly grabbed a book from her desk, pretending to read. Then someone gently poked her left cheek.

With a “puff” sound, all the air Tao Zhi had been holding in her mouth came out.

She turned her head.

Fu Xi Ling had woken up at some point, looking at her with sleepy eyes, one finger hovering near her cheek: “Why aren’t you happy?”

Tao Zhi was startled for a moment, then sat up straight: “I’m not unhappy.”

“Oh,” Fu Xi Ling withdrew her hand, secretly yawning, “You just looked a bit down.”

Tao Zhi: “I lost a fight.”

“…When did you get into another fight?”

“Just now,” Tao Zhi lay back down on her desk, saying somewhat gloomily, “I was outmatched, reacted too slowly, and gave my opponent a chance to mock me.”

Fu Xi Ling hadn’t slept for very long — counting the time, these ten or so minutes definitely weren’t enough for Tao Zhi to get into a fight. She looked her up and down and still asked: “Are you hurt anywhere?”

“Yes,” Tao Zhi said, “My chest hurts.”

Fu Xi Ling was greatly alarmed: “Did your heart get injured?”

“Yes,” Tao Zhi clutched her chest, looking serious, “It was severely wounded by words.”

Fu Xi Ling: “…”

Fu Xi Ling’s expression also turned serious, and she tried to comfort her: “Do you want to ask for leave from the teacher and go to the infirmary?”

Tao Zhi hadn’t thought of this option.

Lying in the infirmary would be better than sitting idly in the classroom until class ended.

“I think you make a good point, of course I should go,” she readily agreed, “Wait a bit and help me tell the teacher.”

As she spoke, she pulled out her phone from her desk drawer, grabbed a few milk candies, then bounced out of the classroom.

Ji Fan had just taken off his school uniform jacket and was wiping sweat from his forehead with a tissue when he looked up and saw Tao Zhi was gone.

“Hey.” He raised his hand and patted Fu Xi Ling.

Fu Xi Ling turned around.

“Where did Zhi Zhi go?” Ji Fan asked.

“She went to the infirmary,” Fu Xi Ling said, “She said her heart was just severely wounded by words and her chest hurts.”

The person who had just wounded someone’s heart with words, Jiang Qi Huai: “…”

This little groundhog really could use any excuse to skip class.

The supposedly heart-wounded Tao Zhi slept comfortably in the infirmary for an entire class period before waking up.

She had been a regular at the infirmary since her first year, and was extremely familiar with the school nurse. The young girl could be sweet-talking and likable when needed.

The school nurse also turned a blind eye and indulged her, symbolically listening to her heart and lungs before letting her pick a bed in the back to “rest for a while.”

Tao Zhi originally wanted to choose the innermost bed, but when she went in, her gaze fell on the outer bed and then looked at the medical cart leaning against the wall beside it.

She paused for a moment, then hopped onto the outer bed and sat down after pulling the curtain closed.

The white curtain instantly created an enclosed secret space, with a mixture of disinfectant, alcohol, and medicine smells wafting around her nose, cutting off a small, isolated private world.

Tao Zhi lowered her head, sitting on the bed swinging her legs, one hand reaching into the sleeve of her other school uniform, fingers touching the scratches on her arm from before.

The thinner parts of the several wounds there had scabbed over and fallen off these past few days, probably new flesh growing in, feeling a bit itchy.

She scratched lightly, staring at the white curtain lost in thought.

Suddenly she didn’t seem as angry as before.

Tao Zhi didn’t know when she had fallen asleep.

She had slept well last night and hadn’t felt tired all morning, but perhaps the infirmary environment was too quiet. Her original plan to lie down and play on her phone for one class period was disrupted, and she fell asleep directly holding her phone.

It wasn’t until the class-ending bell rang that someone swooshed open her tightly drawn white curtain.

Tao Zhi struggled to open her eyes, not seeing very clearly right after waking up. She vaguely saw a figure standing at the foot of the bed, holding the curtain.

She thought it was the school nurse or Ji Fan and didn’t pay much attention, yawning as she started rubbing her eyes, raising her head preparing to get up.

“Has the wound healed?” Jiang Qi Huai’s voice came from the foot of the bed.

Tao Zhi’s eye-rubbing motion paused, her fingertips brushing the corner of her eye as her head fell back onto the pillow. She closed her eyes and said: “Internal injury, very weak, in critical condition.”

Jiang Qi Huai pulled open the other half of the curtain, letting slanted sunlight fall on the bed: “Then what should we do?”

“A heart’s illness needs a heart’s medicine. Since you’re here, don’t let it be a waste,” Tao Zhi lay straight on the bed with her eyes closed, hands crossed over her stomach, saying with a peaceful expression, “Just let me scold you once.”

Jiang Qi Huai gave a meaningful laugh.

Tao Zhi opened her eyes: “What are you laughing at?”

“I’m thinking that you lying there like this seems to be missing something,” Jiang Qi Huai looked down at her from above, saying sarcastically, “There should be white flowers arranged around your head.”

“…”

Tao Zhi angrily jumped up from the bed: “Look how cruel you are! This face of mine is at least Snow White level.”

“Fine,” Jiang Qi Huai glanced at her, agreeing very reluctantly, “Spit out the apple then, princess. Teacher Wang is looking for you.”

Tao Zhi originally wanted to continue arguing with him, but she was pleased by that one word “princess.”

She reluctantly got up and put on her shoes, getting off the bed.

She slowly tidied up the somewhat messy bed from sleeping, straightened the pillow, and went out of the inner room.

The school nurse was sitting at the desk outside reading a book. Hearing the sound, she looked up and smiled: “Awake from your nap?”

Tao Zhi blinked her eyes, putting on an innocent face and playing dumb: “I wasn’t feeling well, you know.”

However, the school nurse didn’t give her any face, nodding and continuing to laugh: “Indeed, you were sleeping so soundly. I went in several times and couldn’t wake you up. A bit longer and you would have started snoring.”

“…”

Having been directly exposed, Tao Zhi glanced at Jiang Qi Huai, scratched her nose with her fingertip, and ran out the door in small steps: “Goodbye, Nurse!”

Jiang Qi Huai followed behind, closing the infirmary door.

Tao Zhi walked quickly, and though Jiang Qi Huai showed no intention of chasing her, his steps were much bigger than hers. The two maintained a not-far-not-close distance, walking one in front and one behind toward the teaching building.

Just as they passed the outdoor basketball court and reached the school store, someone suddenly called out to Jiang Qi Huai from behind.

Tao Zhi instinctively paused her steps and turned her head.

Li Si Jia ran out from the school store, her face flushed red.

She held two bottles of water in her hands, running up to Jiang Qi Huai, cleared her throat, and held out one bottle: “Jiang classmate, would you like some water?”

Jiang Qi Huai lowered his head, his expression indifferent: “No need, thank you.”

Li Si Jia bit her lip, withdrawing her hand dejectedly.

She hugged the two bottles of water, hesitated for a moment, then stammered in a small voice: “That letter… did you read it?”

In this situation, Tao Zhi felt she should step aside.

But for some reason, her feet seemed to have grown roots, staying firmly planted in place.

She simply squatted down right there, turning her head to the side pretending to casually look at the scenery while secretly listening to the conversation on the other side.

“No,” she heard Jiang Qi Huai say.

Tao Zhi propped her head on one hand against her knee, tapping her cheek with her fingertip.

A whole class period had passed, and he still hadn’t read it.

Li Si Jia was silent for a moment, but still gathered her courage to continue: “It’s okay if you haven’t read it, I just… actually I noticed you from the first day you transferred here, and I… really like you,” the young girl’s face turned bright red as she asked quietly, “Jiang classmate, do you have a girlfriend?”

Jiang Qi Huai was silent.

He doesn’t!

Tao Zhi thought to herself while pretending to watch the boys playing basketball across the way.

After a few seconds of silence, Jiang Qi Huai suddenly asked: “What did you score on your last mock exam?”

This question was so strange that Tao Zhi was taken aback.

Li Si Jia was also stunned.

“Six hundred and eighty,” Li Si Jia said.

Although her grades weren’t outstanding enough to be top-ranked, they weren’t bad either. Her name always appeared near the front of the grade rankings for every exam.

The questions in the last three-school mock exam were very difficult in every subject, and her score was already very good.

And for kids this age, academic performance was undoubtedly their biggest source of confidence.

Thinking of this, Li Si Jia gained more confidence and added: “I got first place in English for our grade.”

Tao Zhi counted on her fingers — she got three hundred on the mock exam, and this score was half again as high as hers, plus eighty points more.

And she was first in English for the whole grade!

Tao Zhi secretly glanced over there with her peripheral vision.

Good at studying.

Quiet and shy.

Pretty cute too.

Final conclusion — perfect girlfriend material.

While she was lost in thought about this, she heard Jiang Qi Huai speak.

“Still not seven hundred,” Jiang Qi Huai said coldly, speaking ridiculously harsh words without a trace of perfunctory politeness in his tone, “I suggest you focus on your studies.”

Tao Zhi: “…”