ATLAS TRANSLATES

Xu You looked at him calmly. “Only the perverted see perversion everywhere.”

Xie Ci was stunned into silence.

“You’re getting quite bold, talking back to me now?” He tilted his chin up with deliberate roughness, poking Xu You’s shoulder with his index finger. “Little classmate, aren’t you afraid of getting beaten up by the school bully?”

Sitting there on the ground without restraint, his whole demeanor exuded a forceful rebelliousness, yet with a hint of childlike innocence.

Xu You almost laughed.

In the distance, two or three people gathered, joking among themselves.

One person with a short towel around his neck, resting his hand on Song Yifan’s shoulder, asked quietly, “Hey, that girl in the school uniform — is she Ci’s girlfriend?”

Everyone knew that Xie Ci was quite the player, changing girlfriends like changing clothes. Maybe this time you’d see him hanging out with one girl, and the next time you saw him playing basketball, he’d be with another. So when they saw a new face this time, no one was surprised, assuming Xie Ci had found someone new again.

Though this time, compared to the previous ones, she looked… somewhat more modest.

Song Yifan laughed, “Whether he can catch her or not, that’s still up in the air.”

“With Ci’s conditions, he needs to chase after anyone?” someone asked incredulously.

Another person agreed, “Yeah, usually girls throw themselves at him. I’ve never really seen Ci chase after a girl before.”

The problem was that they were all too young to understand.

Song Yifan smiled without speaking, remembering a conversation he had with Xie Ci near the end of last semester about chasing girls.

Xie Ci was dating a senior girl at the time, and what did he say again? Oh right:

“Dating? It’s just dating, who takes it seriously?”

Song Yifan had asked, “You like being pursued?”

The person in question just scoffed.

Song Yifan continued, “I noticed all your ex-girlfriends pursued you first. I thought you had that preference.”

Actually, all the girls who had dated Xie Ci shared one common feeling:

It was exhausting.

He wasn’t exactly a playboy, he just never wanted to put in any effort, like a child with an innate sense of detachment.

But after that transfer student arrived, Song Yifan noticed Xie Ci treated her differently from other girls.

From his observation, Xie Ci rarely actively teased girls. Even with his girlfriends, he only occasionally interacted with them in public. But with Xu You, Xie Ci was relentlessly pursuing her, never stopping until he had thoroughly teased her. Unfortunately, Xu You was slow to catch on and couldn’t understand the special meaning behind it.

More people stood around gossiping.

After a while, Song Yifan slowly said, “If Xie Ci really likes someone, would he wait for them to chase him?”

Just as he finished speaking, a girl suddenly screamed on the basketball court.

A basketball that had slipped from someone’s hands was flying through the air with a whooshing sound, heading straight for the basketball hoop.

There were two people there.

Before Xu You could react, she saw Xie Ci move quickly, tackling her to the ground.

She was knocked over by that tremendous force, instinctively closing her eyes as her head hit the ground with a thud.

A loud crash sounded beside her ear.

Her heart raced in fear, skipping beats.

She felt the person on top of her grunt in pain, his arm that was propping himself up beside her ear weakening.

The basketball hit him, bounced back, and kept bouncing on the ground.

After two or three seconds, the crowd, frozen by the sudden accident, finally reacted, rushing over with shouts and cries.

Xu You remained in a daze, still not fully recovered from the shock.

Amidst the chaotic voices and hurried footsteps.

Sweat dripped from his chin.

Xie Ci pressed on her shoulder, turning his head to whisper in her ear: “Don’t be afraid.”

—

That night, lying in her dormitory bed, Xu You stared at the ceiling, tossing and turning, unable to sleep.

Her mind was filled with the image of Xie Ci being helped away by a group of people. She wondered if he was okay.

The lights in the dormitory were still on, with her roommates in bed discussing various interesting events from today’s sports meet and all sorts of gossip about their grade.

“Hey, do you know Zeng Qilin?” a thin female voice spoke up — it was Chen Xiao.

“Zeng Qilin?” Liao Yuemin thought for a moment. “I think I know him, he’s a senior, right?”

“Yes, he’s on the school team,” Chen Xiao replied, adding with a mysterious tone, “I heard our school got into some trouble with Second High recently. In a few days, Zeng Qilin might gather some people to confront them at their school.”

“Oh my god, what happened? How come I don’t know anything about this?” Liao Yuemin’s surprised voice rang out.

Li Lingfang, like Xu You, showed little interest in such topics, finding them rather dull. So for a while, only two people continued their question-and-answer session in the dormitory.

Chen Xiao shared what she knew: “I’m not too clear about the specifics, but my friend told me that the people from Second High provoked Zeng Qilin and his group.”

“Is Zeng Qilin really that powerful?”

Chen Xiao rolled her eyes, “What do you think?”

“I haven’t really heard much about him before.”

“That’s because he keeps a low profile. His family has power and influence, and they even have some connections to the underworld.”

Xu You wasn’t following their conversation, letting it go in one ear and out the other, lost in her own thoughts.

The gossip continued.

Meanwhile, Xu You’s phone, tucked under her pillow, vibrated softly.

It was a text message notification.

She didn’t usually use her phone much, keeping it locked in her locker and only taking it out occasionally to call her parents and aunt. But today was the sports meet, and she had promised to go out with Fu Xueli tomorrow, so she kept it handy for communication.

She turned over, feeling for her phone and bringing it to her face.

The cool metal case pressed against her palm.

Xu You lit up the screen, squinting to adjust to the sudden bright light.

The text was from an unknown number. The message contained only a period.

Xu You was puzzled for a while. She had only gotten this phone number after coming to Lin City. Only her family and Fu Xueli knew it, as she hadn’t had time to tell her old classmates. Who could this stranger be?

Just as she thought it might be a wrong number and was about to turn off her phone, another message came through, equally brief:

“Hey.”

Suddenly, Xu You had a feeling, vaguely guessing who it might be.

As if reading her mind, Chen Xiao said nearby:

“Oh right, you must know Xie Ci at least — Zeng Qilin is his brother.”

Xie Ci…

Xu You wanted to ask who it was, typing and deleting in the message box. But she held back. She put the phone away, returning it to her pillow.

Soon after, more message notifications came through.

By the fourth time it rang, Xu You sighed, grabbing her phone to switch it to silent mode. But after opening it, her finger paused, and she couldn’t help but open the inbox.

The person was quite persistent, sending several more messages:

“Sleeping?”

“…”

“?”

He sent even punctuation marks separately, as if phone credit was free.

Xu You shook her head helplessly, carefully choosing her words to reply:

“Not yet.”

The other side replied almost instantly:

“Why aren’t you asking who I am?”

Xu You again couldn’t think of how to respond.

But the phone kept vibrating:

“Are you always this cold to your savior?”

Seeing this inexplicable accusation, Xu You was confused. After a pause, she replied:

“I’m very grateful for your help this afternoon.”

When Xie Ci received this message, he couldn’t help but laugh after reading these few words. He could even imagine Xu You’s expression when sending this message — how serious, how proper, and a bit cautious.

He couldn’t help grinning, typing with one hand, his thumb flying across the keyboard:

“Then how about showing your gratitude?”

Xu You quietly held her phone, opening his message to read it, pondering for a while.

She couldn’t figure out what to make of it, just feeling their conversation was too pointless. She put away her phone, preparing to sleep.

But the other side wouldn’t give up, calling her instead.

When the phone rang, everyone in the dormitory stopped talking and looked toward Xu You’s bed.

“Who’s calling you so late, Xu You?” Chen Xiao asked.

Xu You became nervous at the question, and without looking at the caller ID, wanted to hang up directly.

But she accidentally pressed the wrong button, and immediately heard a “Hello?” from the other end.

After hesitating for two or three seconds, Xu You sat up in bed, put the phone in her pajama pocket, and carefully climbed down.

“It’s my brother,” Xu You explained stiffly, adding awkwardly, “He probably just finished evening self-study.”

Chen Xiao, engrossed in gossip, didn’t notice her unnatural expression and nodded, believing her.

Xu You opened the glass door to the balcony, slipping through sideways.

“Hello?” Her voice was tiny, scattered by the night wind.

The voice on the phone was somewhat playful: “Having a secret affair with me? Even specially coming out to take the call.”

“That’s because I don’t want to disturb my roommates,” Xu You couldn’t help but retort.

In the deep night campus, yellow streetlights glowed beside the trees. Insects chirped, and stars filled the sky.

From somewhere far away, an unidentifiable mix of flower fragrances drifted over.

Xu You stared blankly at a point in space. She was already naturally quiet, and with Xie Ci not speaking, she found it even harder to say anything.

“Heh.”

He chuckled lowly in his throat, “Call me ‘brother’ again, let me hear it.”

Xu You knew he must have heard her earlier and was deliberately teasing. Her face reddened with embarrassment, “Can you stop joking with me?”

“I’m not,” he said. “I’m serious.”

“You—” she frowned, ignoring this topic, and instead hesitated before asking, “Are you okay? You were hit by the basketball this afternoon.”

Xie Ci answered, “How could I be okay? It hurts like hell, and you’re so heartless, disappearing right after.”

Sensing Xu You’s guilt, he pushed further, “You tell me, how are you going to make it up to me?”

Finally getting to the point.

“I can buy you medicine,” Xu You said sincerely. She had been holding this back for a while, without a chance to say it.

After all, Xie Ci got hurt trying to protect her from the ball.

“You think I need your money?”

Xu You remained silent.

After a moment, he seemed completely unconcerned. Casually saying:

“How about you give yourself to me instead? I don’t lack anything, just need a girlfriend.”

???