“You’re just too easy to bully.”
Wednesday afternoon after school, Xu You and Fu Xueli stayed behind for cleaning duty.
The classroom gradually emptied as students left one by one, with the setting sun’s dim yellow light enveloping the entire campus.
“Xu You,” Fu Xueli called out while covering her nose and mouth to clean the blackboard.
She was putting chairs one by one onto desks, holding a broom. Hearing her name, she made an “ah” sound.
“What is it?”
“Let me tell you, you need to be tougher with Xie Ci and his group.”
Fu Xueli threw the eraser onto the podium and dusted her hands. “Next time he teases you, just slap him. Let him know what strength is.”
Xu You continued sweeping, carefully gathering various bits of trash from the corners while listening to Fu Xueli ramble on.
“Though from what I know, in our whole grade, and even quite a few junior girls…”
She opened a bottle of yogurt and sipped it, “Seems like quite a lot of people have secret crushes on Xie Ci. Girls are always coming to our class asking for his contact info.”
“Mm…” Xu You noticed someone outside the window.
Fu Xueli continued talking non-stop: “So he changes girlfriends pretty often and quickly, but they’re all just for fun.”
Xu You finished sweeping and dumped the trash into the bin. She wiped sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand and looked back confused: “Xueli… why… are you telling me all this?”
“Huh?”
After hesitating for a long while, Fu Xueli walked over, hands on her knees, looking sideways at Xu You, “I think Xie Ci might like you a bit.”
“………..”
“It’s true. I’ve hung out with him for so long, this is the first time I’ve seen him so patient in teasing a girl. And now that I think about it more, something’s not right. Plus Song Yifan told me when you were harassed in the exam room, Xie Ci got angry right there.”
Xu You hurriedly interrupted her, face turning bright red, “Stop, you’ve misunderstood, really…”
She stepped back, picked up the trash bin, and fled.
“I’m going downstairs to dump the trash.”
Fu Xueli sat idly on the desk, swinging her slender white legs while drinking yogurt and playing with her phone, waiting for Xu You to return.
After a few minutes, she grew impatient and jumped down from the desk to run to the classroom door to check.
Before she could rush out, just as she reached the doorway, Fu Xueli held onto the door frame and froze.
Xu Xingchun was carrying his backpack, leaning against the wall outside, looking at her with a bland expression.
“You… why are you here?”
He remained silent.
Fu Xueli bit her lip, muttering softly.
Xu Xingchun silently watched her small movements before finally speaking: “You want to break up with me?”
“Y-yes.” Fu Xueli always lost confidence when he was like this. After stuttering a bit, she still gathered her courage to say: “Is there a problem?!”
She was already tired of these constrained days, from middle school until now.
Xu Xingchun was her deskmate in seventh grade. At first, she always liked making him help fetch water, and during class she liked having him watch for teachers when she misbehaved. Later, knowing he had good grades, she would directly ask for test answers and have him do her homework.
In eighth grade, they were still in the same class. She continued bullying him as always, and Xu Xingchun silently endured it.
But for some unknown reason, in ninth grade he suddenly confessed, and they somehow ended up together.
After dating, Fu Xueli discovered Xu Xingchun was far from being as easy to bully as he appeared. To others he was the model class president, but actually his personality was reserved yet intense, with an especially strong possessive streak.
He controlled her like a daughter.
After entering high school, the workload was incomparable to middle school. Though Xu Xingchun had less energy, what didn’t change was his need to control her, even interfering with what friends she made.
For someone like Fu Xueli who was naturally carefree and loved freedom, though she liked handsome boys, she really didn’t want to be tied down to one tree…
While she was reminiscing about the past, Xu Xingchun had already walked up to her.
“Fu Xueli.” He always liked calling her full name.
The person being called felt her heart skip.
There were heavy shadows under his eyes, looking like he hadn’t slept well for many days.
Xu Xingchun paused, suppressing his voice, saying lowly: “No breaking up. I don’t agree.”
His usually calm eyes flowed with complex, suppressed emotions.
The wording was too forceful, easily triggering the rebellious girl’s defiant heart.
“Why not? How can you be so selfish?” Fu Xueli shot back without mercy.
After shouting, she realized they were too close. She tried to step back but was grabbed by him.
“Yes, I am this selfish.”
“…….”
Xu Xingchun was impatient with continuing this pointless talk. He lowered his head, closed his eyes, and directly sealed those endlessly chattering red lips.
He kept claiming her, wetly biting her, their breaths intertwining.
Yes, he was selfish.
He just couldn’t bear her seeking happiness with others. He usually didn’t have such emotions toward others, but she invested too much energy in them, making him too jealous. From childhood until now, he could never tolerate her smiling at others.
Watching her carefree appearance.
Xu Xingchun really wanted to tear out his heart to show her.1
In the evening, the ground that had been scorched by the sun all day began releasing heat.
Golden twilight scattered everywhere across No. 1 High’s campus. In the distance, some boys who had finished playing basketball were walking out the school gates in small groups.
Xu You sat on the stairs, chin resting on her knees, hair falling to her leg curves, staring blankly ahead.
Her mind kept replaying what she had accidentally seen earlier…
She only looked for a moment before fleeing in panic, as if she had accidentally discovered an enormous secret.
The class president actually…
Actually kissing Xueli.
In the dusk’s warm wind carrying the scent of gardenias, tree leaves rustled.
Xu You was still sitting dazed on the steps when a dark shadow blocked the sunset before her.
From above her head came a familiar voice:
“Admiring the scenery here?”
Xie Ci wore a sleeveless white basketball jersey, holding a basketball under his right arm as he looked down at her.
He had just finished playing, his black hair was damp, his dark pupils startlingly bright.
Xu You ignored him, lowering her head again to focus on the ground.
Xie Ci smiled.
He tossed the basketball to people waiting in the distance, tilting his head to signal them to go ahead.
The guys over there saw Xie Ci seemed to have something going on and knowingly made a gesture.
The basketball bounced on the ground, thump thump thump.
The footsteps in the distance and the crowd’s laughing voices gradually faded away.
Xie Ci slightly stretched his neck, squatted down, resting his bent elbows on his knees, looking up at her.
Xu You sat on the steps, slightly higher than him.
“Tsk, still angry with me? Just because I made you call me big brother?”
He couldn’t help laughing even as he said it.
Xu You lifted her eyelids, glaring at him thinking it would be intimidating.
Not feeling satisfied after glaring, she rolled her eyes at him angrily, turned her head aside, and didn’t say a word.
A smile played at Xie Ci’s lips. He reached out a finger, brushed under her chin, and asked: “Are you a little mute?”
His fingertip slid across a patch of soft white skin, creating a slightly tingling sensation.
Xu You instinctively avoided his hand, pushing him in her panic.
Though she didn’t use much force, he fell backward with the push, still gripping her arm.
Everything spun.
The two fell together, with Xu You being pulled into his arms, ending up lying on top of him.
Having just exercised, Xie Ci had a slight sweat smell, his skin still radiating heat. Xu You’s nose bumped into his shoulder.
He lay sprawled on the ground, looking up at her close face, curving his lips.
Xu You struggled to get up, but Xie Ci held her waist with one hand, making her keep flailing.
“What are you doing! Pervert.” Xu You bit her lip, cheeks flushed, eyes glistening with angry tears.
The feeling in his arms was warm and soft. There was a clean, faint jasmine fragrance.
He blew at the loose strands of hair by Xu You’s cheeks, leaning slightly closer to her ear, chuckling lowly: “You.”
- Their story is also fully translated on here! The title is Waiting For The Wind Warming Up To Kiss You, by the same author. ↩︎
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