“Who’s looking at you!”
The second part – “shameless” – she only dared to say in her heart.
Both embarrassed and angry, Xu You wore an ugly expression but didn’t dare yell too loudly at Xie Ci. After speaking, she ran forward.
The person behind deliberately called out: “Hey, it’s fine if you want to look, I don’t mind.”
She didn’t respond, holding her breath in her chest until she nearly reached the classroom before letting it out.
Slowing her steps, Xu You pushed open the back door of the classroom and raised her hand, softly calling out “Report.”
The English teacher was explaining exercises from the workbook. She looked at Xu You for a while before asking slowly: “Where did you go?”
This teacher’s surname was Zhang, a middle-aged woman going through menopause. She was particularly harsh with students, but poor Xu You was new and didn’t know this.
She bit her lip, not wanting to waste class time, and stammered an explanation: “I’m sorry teacher, I went to the bathroom.”
Teacher Zhang asked: “And you, Xie Ci, also went to the bathroom?”
What?
Xu You froze.
Hearing laughter behind her, she turned around suddenly and was startled. Her shoulders trembled.
Xie Ci had somehow appeared right behind her, standing extremely close. His tall frame leaned casually against the doorframe, his jacket slightly open, revealing a skull on his T-shirt that seemed to be gloating at Xu You just like its owner.
Seeing her bewildered face, Xie Ci laughed even harder and said in a voice only the two of them could hear: “You look and then try to run away? You’ll have to pay for that.”
People in the back rows started teasing.
“— I’m talking to you, Xie Ci. You just can’t feel right unless you’re late to my class, is that it?” Teacher Zhang slammed the workbook onto the podium, her sharp voice cutting through the classroom.
Xu You listened fearfully, not daring to speak to Xie Ci anymore, keeping her head down in silence.
After a few seconds.
The person behind her looked up and asked carelessly: “How would you like me to feel right?”
……
After a moment of dead silence, the class erupted into earth-shattering chaos.
The boys in the back got rowdy, some whistling, others laughing so hard they couldn’t straighten up from their desks.
Wu Peng Fei shouted at him: “Brother Ci, just speak normally, why suddenly get so vulgar?”
Their frivolous behavior and unrestrained speech made the teacher even angrier. Her face turned red with rage, but with so many people present, she held back.
As a result, Xu You was allowed to return to her seat, while Xie Ci was punished to stand outside the classroom for one period.
But he wasn’t that obedient – after just a few minutes, there was no trace of him outside the classroom.
Teacher Zhang picked up her book again, shaking it slightly, and said sarcastically: “There’s an exam the day after tomorrow. Let’s see if you can still laugh this happily when the results come out.”
At these words, the class immediately erupted in groans.
Someone asked: “Teacher, school just started not long ago…”
“It’s exactly because school just started that you need this wake-up call.”
Xu You took out all her books, pressed her palm against her lower abdomen, rested her chin on the desk, and worked on the third English reading passage.
She wasn’t feeling well and could only try to distract herself with homework.
As soon as the bell rang and the teacher left, the classroom immediately became chaotic. Xu You lay listlessly at her desk, her face pale.
Zheng Xiao Lin, who sat in front, turned around with paper and pen to ask a question, but was startled by Xu You’s weak appearance.
She put her things aside and leaned close to ask: “Classmate, what’s wrong?”
“She’s on her period, stomach pain,” Fu Xueli answered while eating sunflower seeds.
As a fellow girl, Zheng Xiao Lin immediately understood, making a sound of acknowledgment.
Xu You lifted her head from her arms and asked weakly: “What is it, do you need something?”
“No, no, I just wanted to ask you about a question, but if you’re not feeling well, forget it.”
“Which question?”
Zheng Xiao Lin pointed to an English question in her exercise book with her pen and asked: “Why is ‘feel’ placed here in the sentence? The teacher explained too quickly, I didn’t understand.”
“Let me see.” Xu You took the book and read the question carefully.
Her abdomen was cramping, waves of pain coming and going.
Cold sweat appeared on her forehead as she pressed her dry lips together and organized her thoughts to explain to Zheng Xiao Lin: “Feel is a linking verb, followed by a predicate complement describing the subject’s condition, so…”
Xu You felt weak but forced herself to stay focused while explaining to Zheng Xiao Lin.
After a while.
“Oh! I get it!”
Zheng Xiao Lin’s face lit up with understanding, and she gratefully thanked Xu You, pressing her hands together: “You’re amazing, thank you, thank you! I’ll copy this into my correction notebook right away.”
With that, she turned back around.
Xu You couldn’t hold up anymore and collapsed back onto her desk.
After resting for a moment, waiting for the cramping to pass, she felt around in her drawer for her water bottle and supported herself on the desk to get up, planning to get some hot water from the water dispenser at the back of the classroom.
Xie Ci sat in the third row by the corridor, his long legs crossed casually and stretched into the aisle, chatting idly with Song Yi Fan.
He noticed Xu You stopping beside him from the corner of his eye, though his attention was elsewhere.
“Classmate, I want to get water, could you let me pass?”
She kept her head slightly down, her small face pale, her voice very soft, almost lost in the noisy classroom.
Xie Ci either didn’t hear or deliberately ignored her, not even glancing up.
Xu You waited there for a while, seeing that he had no intention of moving his feet. She was too tired to continue talking to him and didn’t have the energy, so she simply prepared to step over his legs.
Xie Ci suddenly smiled, pushing his tongue against his cheek, continuing his conversation while unexpectedly raising his right foot to block her.
Xu You’s ankle was caught off guard as it hit his, and she lost her balance, falling forward. She frantically waved her arms trying to grab the edge of a desk for support, but her center of gravity was already off.
In the chaos, she felt someone forcefully pull her arm to the side.
Song Yi Fan beside them opened his mouth in an ‘O’ shape, watching as Xu You fell right onto Xie Ci in that split second.
A thought suddenly flashed through his mind: Was Xie Ci doing this on purpose?
Xie Ci was hit in the face by the water bottle, hissing in pain as he opened his arms to catch Xu You.
His back hit the desk behind him, making him grunt.
The commotion they caused in the classroom was huge. With a bang, the world seemed to go quiet, all eyes focusing on this ambiguous scene.
His breathing was hot against her ear.
It seemed to happen in an instant, yet also felt like forever.
Xu You hadn’t recovered from the shock, and after a few seconds of processing, she trembled violently and quickly tried to push away from Xie Ci to stand up.
All around were whistles and teasing sounds with ill intent.
Xie Ci had one hand on her shoulder and one on her waist. Through the thin school uniform, his fingertips could feel the girl’s soft form. There was a faint jasmine scent about her.
“You… let go of me quickly.”
Feeling her struggle, his throat bobbed as he moved his face closer, his voice low, “Sure, but I served as your human cushion and you won’t even say thank you? Isn’t that a bit much?”
Xu You was shocked by this person’s thick skin, experiencing for the first time in her life such a strong desire to not speak to someone. She bit her lip, her face burning red, struggling hard against his restraint: “Classmate, please let go of me first.”
“Why call me classmate? Don’t you know my name?” He clicked his tongue, laughing even harder, his chest vibrating.
Seeing the two of them caught up for so long, the others’ teasing grew louder.
“Oh my, you two should be mindful of your influence in class,” someone whistled at them.
Others chimed in: “Yeah, Brother Ci, keep it PG in public.”
“Xie… Ci, let go.” Xu You enunciated each word, extremely embarrassed. Even with her good nature, her patience was wearing thin.
Xie Ci laughed and said leisurely: “Aren’t you the one clinging to me and not leaving?”
Fu Xueli had heard the loud noise and quickly turned around. After processing for a few seconds, she walked over quickly and pulled Xu You up, frowning: “Ah Ci, don’t go too far.”
Xie Ci made an “oh” sound, casually patting his clothes, the lazy smile not leaving his lips.
After steadying herself, Xu You quietly thanked Fu Xueli. Then, under everyone’s gaze, she silently crouched down to pick up the books that had scattered on the floor, placing them back on the desk. Throughout it all, she kept her eyes down and didn’t make a sound as she slowly walked back to her seat.
The oversized school uniform jacket made her figure appear even more delicate.
“Bro, what are you doing, being a pervert?” Song Yi Fan finally reacted, muttering a useless question.
Xie Ci didn’t respond, his dark eyes following Xu You’s retreating figure.
Fu Xueli frowned as she scolded, “Xu You already wasn’t feeling well, and you deliberately mess with her.”
“Huh?” Song Yi Fan was shocked, “What’s wrong with her, is she sick?”
“You idiot, you’re the one who’s sick.” Fu Xueli was exasperated, hitting him, “Why else would a girl not feel well!”
Xie Ci stayed quiet on the side. Unhurriedly, he bent down to pick up the blue water bottle that had rolled aside.
Xu You propped her head up with one hand, biting her lip hard as she repeatedly wrote math formulas on scratch paper.
From trigonometric functions to spatial geometry, points, lines, planes, square roots, brackets, decimal points…
After writing for a while, she still felt extremely irritated and couldn’t calm down.
She lowered her head, about to pull out her math exercise book from the drawer to work on problems, when suddenly her face felt warm.
Xu You startled, reflexively looking up.
Xie Ci was leaning lazily against her desk. His lips curved slightly upward as he held the water bottle, now filled with warm water, against her face.
He lowered his eyelids, leaning down slightly, smiled and said: “Don’t be angry anymore, okay?”
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