The sports meet lasted two and a half days. There was a cultural performance on the first evening, and on the second evening, students were given free time after school.
By the second day, there weren’t many competitions left, just high jump and shot put, which weren’t considered very important.
The homeroom teachers turned a blind eye, so naturally, the students were even more carefree. The sports meet felt like a holiday.
Fu Xueli, wanting to take Xu You out to play, specifically obtained a leave note. She knew that a well-behaved student like Xu You would never agree to skip classes to go have fun with her. She had no choice but to beg Xu Xingchun, the student council president who had access to plenty of school leave notes. After much effort, Fu Xueli finally got him to agree.
The weather was perfect today. The school gates were wide open, with students and vehicles passing through.
Fu Xueli came to school to pick up Xu You, playing with her phone while sitting in the pavilion by the school gate, waiting.
After much persuasion and coaxing over the phone, Xu You finally agreed to go out after lunch.
After waiting for nearly ten minutes, Xu You finally arrived, carrying her bag.
She ran up breathlessly, patting Fu Xueli’s shoulder, her hand resting there as she caught her breath: “Sorry, Xueli, I stopped to buy something on the way.”
Fu Xueli looked up at her, her eyes brightening.
“You finally listened and didn’t wear your school uniform to go out with me.” She put away her phone, stepped back two paces, and looked her friend up and down with satisfaction.
Today, Xu You’s outfit wasn’t particularly special – just a plain white knee-length dress with a round neck and white sneakers.
However, except for the first day of school, she had always worn her school uniform, so now wearing different clothes made her look like a different person.
Fu Xueli nodded, then shook her head, exclaiming for who knows how many times: “My goodness, Xu You, you’re incredibly fair!”
The skin showing on her calves and arms was as white as frost and snow. Who knows what she ate growing up to have such good skin.
Xu You felt embarrassed under Fu Xueli’s direct gaze, her cheeks turning slightly red. She lowered her head, walking with Fu Xueli while putting her recent purchases into her bag.
At this moment, a teasing voice suddenly sounded from beside them: “Big Pear, where are you going to play?”
They both turned around.
A group of students from Class 4 was standing by the road, waiting for the traffic light like them.
Seeing familiar faces, Fu Xueli casually greeted them.
“Going to play with my friend. Are there so many people from your class having a class gathering?”
Class 4 was similar to Class 9, with most students being somewhat rebellious. They were like kindred spirits and usually got along well.
The person leading the group smiled and said: “Why don’t you and your friend come play with us?”
Fu Xueli declined, crossing the street with Xu You and heading in a different direction.
“Where are we going?” Xu You, being new here, found everything fascinating. She looked around as they walked.
“First let’s eat, then wash our hair, and I’ll take you to the arcade.”
Fu Xueli answered while checking directions on her phone, casually hailing a taxi on the street.
Once in the car, she gave a name. The driver acknowledged and, being familiar with the route, drove them to the location in just over ten minutes.
Lunch was at a hotpot restaurant. Xu You couldn’t handle spicy food, so she could only eat the mild options.
During the meal, Fu Xueli forcefully fed her a piece of meat from the spicy pot.
Xu You chewed it for two bites before she couldn’t take it anymore, coughing from the spiciness and grabbing her cup to drink water.
Fu Xueli, sitting across from her, was very surprised and quickly stood up to pat her back, “Cutie, are you okay? You can’t even handle this level of spiciness?”
Xu You coughed a couple more times, waving her hand: “It’s fine, it’s fine, I just rarely eat spicy food, and it went down wrong.”
After finishing their meal and leaving the restaurant, they were covered in the smell of hotpot.
After walking a few steps, Fu Xueli put her arm around Xu You’s shoulders, lowered her head to smell her hair, then looked up seriously and said: “Youyou, your hair smells like hotpot too, let’s go wash our hair together?”
Xu You wanted to decline, but the smell was really strong, so after some hesitation, she agreed.
They went to a nearby hair salon.
Fu Xueli finished washing first and sat outside drying her hair.
When Xu You came out after washing, she saw Fu Xueli on the phone with someone.
A hairdresser behind Xu You held her shoulders, removed the towel from her head, and met her eyes in the mirror: “Young lady, what style would you like?”
Fu Xueli glanced over and made the decision for Xu You: “Give her big waves.”
Then she continued her phone conversation, crossing her legs and staring at her shoes, “Mm, how many people?”
“”
“That many? Where to?”
“”
“Yeah, we’re outside.”
“”
“She’s getting her hair dried next to me.”
“”
“Really, what time?”
“”
“Oh, is it the same place as last time? Let me ask her, I’ll text you later.”
With the hairdryer roaring in her ears, Xu You didn’t want any special styling, simply saying: “Just dry it normally, please.”
The hairdresser picked up Xu You’s black hair, running his fingers through it while chatting: “Young lady, you’ve never had a perm or dyed your hair?”
Xu You made a sound of agreement.
The hairdresser nodded: “Your hair quality is really good, just a bit soft.”
Fu Xueli put her phone in her bag and turned to call out to Xu You: “Youyou, our plans have changed!”
The hairdryer was too loud, her voice was broken up, and Xu You couldn’t hear clearly, “I can’t hear you, tell me later.”
The hairdresser provided thorough service, not going against Xu You’s wishes to make big waves, but used a curling iron to create small curls in her smooth black hair.
Xu You had a slightly round oval face with baby fat, and red pouty lips.
Fu Xueli came over and asked her an odd question: “Cutie, are you wearing safety shorts under your dress?”
“”
“Are you wearing them? If not, I’ll go buy you a pair right now.” She added.
“No need, no need, I’m wearing them,” Xu You interrupted her, asking quietly: “Why are you asking about this?”
The two stared at each other silently for a while.
Fu Xueli struggled with her words, thinking how to get her to agree.
Hesitating a bit, she tentatively said to Xu You: “Want to go ice skating?”
The skating rink was on the second floor of Zhengda Plaza.
Fu Xueli explained to Xu You all the way: “It’s a very proper skating rink, not the kind of flashy place you might be imagining.”
Xu You didn’t say anything.
“Plus, look, almost everyone from our class is going, what are you afraid of?”
Fu Xueli reassured her, linking arms with her saying: “Many students from our school often go to this skating rink, don’t worry!”
This time, someone had organized an activity where Class 9 and Class 4 were having a joint gathering. Being young and loving to have fun, both sides quickly agreed. They turned the sports meet into a party gathering.
Two service staff wearing black and gold vests stood at the entrance of the skating rink.
Seeing Fu Xueli and Xu You approach, the two staff members opened the glass doors and said in unison: “Welcome!”
Xu You had never been to such a place and stayed close to Fu Xueli, tugging at her sleeve to ask: “Don’t we need to buy tickets or something?”
“No need!” Fu Xueli had clearly been here many times and expertly made two turns.
The further they went in, the louder the music and crowd noise became.
She took out two cards from a blue box and said to Xu You behind her: “This place is owned by Brother Xie Ci, he’s letting us play for free today.”
Just hearing this name made Xu You uncomfortable all over.
But at this point, she couldn’t just leave.
By the time they reached the skating rink, many people had already started playing. Having not been there long, Xu You couldn’t tell who was from which class. Looking over the crowd, she could only recognize one or two somewhat familiar faces.
Fu Xueli pushed open a waist-high door, and they went in one after another.
The place to change into skates was nearby, with staff having already placed various sizes of shoes at each position.
“What’s your shoe size?” Fu Xueli crouched down to carefully select, asking the person behind her.
Xu You looked down at her feet, thinking, “36, I think.”
“So small?!”
Fu Xueli was a bit surprised, then looked Xu You up and down, nodding as she realized, “It matches your height.”
The music playing in the rink was unfamiliar to Xu You, but it had a strong rhythm. The light balls in the center were flashing, hurting people’s eyes.
Xu You sat on the long bench changing shoes, carefully pushing her feet in and meticulously tying the laces. She was afraid the shoes might come off while skating.
“Ready?” Fu Xueli had already changed into skates and skillfully glided over, stopping beside her.
Xu You nodded, supporting herself on the seat to slowly stand up.
This cautious appearance clearly showed she had never skated before.
Fu Xueli found her cute and couldn’t help laughing. She patiently supported Xu You for a few steps, saying: “Come on, let me teach you first, step out with your feet.”
“No, no, no, don’t, don’t, don’t, don’t worry about me, go play by yourself.”
After Xu You’s repeated refusals, Fu Xueli finally left her alone, being pulled away by someone else to play tag.
Xu You, by herself, held onto the railing, slowly moving her body.
Actually, she had poor balance and often fell when playing such things, so she was habitually fearful.
Around her, everyone was playing enthusiastically, people in groups, with occasional shouts from boys and screams from girls.
Xu You slowly skated along the edge, not daring to get close to them at all. She was afraid someone might suddenly lose control and crash into her.
Her freshly washed hair hadn’t been tied up yet, now falling somewhat messily over her shoulders and chest.
Xu You tightly gripped the railing with both hands, constantly taking deep breaths, her calves trembling with nervousness.
After fumbling around in the corner for a while, Xu You finally found a small trick.
She slightly loosened her grip, sliding forward two steps, for just one or two seconds, before quickly grabbing the railing again.
After amusing herself like this for a while, Xu You heard someone softly laugh.
From behind her.
She suddenly turned around.
Xie Ci was leaning against the railing, arms lazily crossed over his chest, who knows how long he had been following her.
He raised his brow bone slightly, but in the dim environment, his expression wasn’t clear.
Being face to face with Xie Ci so unexpectedly, Xu You didn’t know how to react for a moment, her mind in chaos.
After he said that yesterday, she had immediately hung up the phone.
Now, this was too awkward…
Just as Xie Ci made a motion to get up, Xu You shouted, “Wait, don’t come over!”
After shouting, she realized her reaction was too extreme and stammered an explanation: “It’s, it’s just that, I want to skate by myself first, I’m not very good, don’t crash into me…”
Xie Ci raised the corner of his lips slightly, deliberately doing the opposite.
In two or three steps he glided over.
Gripping the railing tightly, Xu You unconsciously widened her eyes, feeling an urge to take off her shoes and run away.
“Don’t panic, I’ll teach you to skate for free,” he tilted his head as if thinking, examining her.
Wearing a white knee-length dress, her hair falling softly, eyes bright with moisture from anxiety.
They were very close, and Xu You’s heart suddenly raced chaotically as she stepped back.
Feeling her retreat, Xie Ci without further ado wrapped an arm around her slim waist, using his strength to half-carry, half-drag her away from the rest area.
“Ah ah ah ah ah, let me go, let me go, you’re crazy!”
Xu You struggled with her back bent, but afraid of falling, didn’t dare use too much force. She threw a tantrum like a child, “No no no I’m scared! I’m scared! Xie Ci, I’m scared!”
She was forcibly being dragged along, sweat breaking out on her back from anxiety.
Away from the railing, Xie Ci became Xu You’s only support.
She had no choice but to lightly hold onto him, head lowered, her ears about to burn up.
Xie Ci bent down, came close to her ear, and blew a breath, “Hold me with less force, my arm still hurts from yesterday.”
This ambiguous whisper was deliberately meant to tease.
Xu You believed it was true. She looked up anxiously, making an “ah” sound, “Does it really still hurt?”
Not far away, someone whistled at them, clearly noticing this isolated pair.
Xie Ci’s fingers quietly twirled a strand of her soft, fragrant hair. His black bangs fell in front of his eyes as his dark pupils searched her eyes, “It hurts a lot, what should we do?”
Under the constantly flashing lights, he heard Xu You’s calm and firm voice:
“Anything except being your girlfriend.”
A moment of silence.
He lowered his eyes and asked in a casual yet restrained tone: “Is kissing you okay?”
Kissing you is okay?
What about going further?
Xu You’s body trembled slightly. She raised her arm, and with unexpected force, pushed Xie Ci away, skating forward unsteadily.
After just a few steps, suddenly all the lights in the venue went dark, and the music stopped. The crowd erupted in excited screams.
She felt someone’s arms wrap around her from behind.
That person tightened his arms, encircling Xu You’s waist, his chest pressed against her back.
Warm lips touched the skin behind her ear.
Xu You was momentarily distracted, about to struggle, when she heard a hoarse whisper:
“Hey, you smell like milk.”
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