CH 18.1

The frigid wind was silently blowing against the young boy’s tall and lean figure. But his aura was colder than the temperature.

Because he walked further away, he naturally didn’t hear Zhou Ran and Luo Qian Qian’s dying wails.

“F*ck, Cheng Chu, did you poison this cake? My throat hurts so badly.”

“Chu Chu, I hate you.”

Cheng Chu looked at their scrunched-up faces and couldn’t help laughing.

Their laughter resounded merrily throughout the classroom.

But no one noticed Song Xinyu, who was sitting in the front row, angrily gritting her teeth. There was no smile on her normally gentle face and a vicious cold flame replaced her warm eyes.

Ever since childhood, whatever Song Xinyu wants, she’ll get.

All but Lin Qifeng.

She still remembered the first time she met Lin Qifeng. The young man was leaning against the wall, carrying a backpack on one shoulder, his narrow eyes slightly squinted, giving off an image of a carefree boy.

The corridor was full of bright sunshine. Song Xinyu secretly glanced at the laid-back boy and felt as if there was a layer of warm light surrounding him.

At that moment, she felt her heartbeat speeding up. The blood flowing in her body instantly heated up, rushing rampantly in every corner of her body.

She knew better than anyone how to earn people’s goodwill and attention. Most boys like delicate, kind girls who act like a damsel in distress and constantly needing a knight in shining armor.

But Lin Qifeng was different, he was much closer with his introverted deskmate.

That girl was plain-looking, she was the background character in a game, someone that could easily be ignored. So Song Xinyu was not concerned.

She simply found a few people in the class and pretended to carefully tell them the girl’s “dark past”.

Within a couple of days, the rumors spread throughout the class.

No one wanted to talk to that girl anymore, she would cower away in the dark corner of the classroom. Even if Lin Qifeng talked to her again, she wouldn’t say a word.

A few weeks later, she transferred to another school.

Song Xinyu was very satisfied with this result, believing that one day she would get Lin Qifeng.

She looks delicate and weak, and boys love to talk to her.

Although her academic performance was not top-notch, it was not too bad, and her English was outstanding.

But one day, a person appeared in her life out of thin air.

That person looked better than her, so beautiful that she was shining like a jewel within the crowd.

The boys in the school would secretly call her “goddess”.

Whereas for her, she was sometimes called “little beauty” or “the cute girl”.

That person’s grades were much better than hers, even if she dropped from the Special Class, she still easily crushed her.

She spent days and nights preparing a perfect English speech. But that person easily won first place in the school, and she only got third place. Almost as if the judges gave her a consolation prize.

Song Xinyu had never been so frustrated before. Everything that she had to work for, that person could easily obtain.

And the one thing she wanted the most, Lin Qifeng, Cheng Chu already had him dancing in the palm of her hand.

He was cold and indifferent towards her, unwilling to speak a word to her, but he would initiate conversations with Cheng Chu every time.

Jealousy was like a flame, burning Song Xinyu’s heart to ashes. The resentment raging in her body burned away her sanity.

So she found her close friend Lin Ruo, ranting and crying out her resentment.

But Lin Ruo just patted her on the shoulder and whispered: “Forget it, let’s not bother Cheng Chu. She is indeed very good; her ability rightfully deserves the first place.”

Even if Lin Ruo disliked Cheng Chu, thinking that she was too domineering, in the end, she had to recognize her strengths.

Song Xinyu almost had a heart attack. Lin Ruo’s response not only failed to comfort her but emphasized it again—

Yes, she was inferior to her. Yes, she can’t be compared to her.

The classmates’ warm attitudes towards Cheng Chu also proved this point.

Song Xinyu stared at the classmates who had been cold toward Cheng Chu for the past few days. Each and everyone now warmly smiled and praised Cheng Chu. She couldn’t stop gritting her teeth in hatred.

***

Friday was always the most relaxing day for everyone.

The homeroom teacher took a sick leave today and didn’t show up to school all day.

The students were like birds out of the cage, filling the classroom with teenage youth and joy.

The last period that afternoon was gym class.

The physical education in Haishi Number One High School combines two classes into one, separated by girls and boys, and led by different teachers.

The gym teacher on the boys’ side was close to everyone, and glanced at the overly hyper group of boys, and raised his hand: “Everyone, go run 800 meters first, and then play however you want for the rest of the period.”

There was a commotion below, and many boys holding basketballs cheered loudly.

Gu Miao stood far away from other boys, staring at the girls’ team in the distance with hooded eyes.

A cold breeze blew through the playground, and the sycamore trees not far away had long lost all their leaves, leaving only a few lifeless branches.

From what Gu Miao saw, Cheng Chu’s back appeared to be the most beautiful scenery on the playground.

He watched the girl standing with her hands clasped behind her back, standing on her toes from time to time, and her high ponytail swaying vigorously from side to side.

His heart itched, her ponytail’s hair end tickling his heart again and again, and the itch quietly climbed up his throat, making him cough in embarrassment.

Zhou Ran stretched out his hand and tugged at him: “Let’s go.”

Gu Miao looked back and saw that the boys had finished running more than half of the track. He hurriedly ran to keep up with the large group.

In the harsh Haishi winter, Gu Miao didn’t wear any warm items of clothing and his weak limbs were showing symptoms of frostbite.

After running 800 meters, his body was drenched in sweat but his stiff hands and feet regained their strength.

The other boys had all gone to play basketball. On the other hand, Gu Miao stood on the sidewalk and briefly took a rest. He was about to walk toward the net fence and sit down.

But as soon as he walked a few steps, he was stopped by Zhou Ran.

Zhou Ran had just finished running. His face was bright red and he was out of breath as he spoke: “Hey! Y-You, why didn’t you wait for me, you ran too fast.”

Gu Miao was used to being alone; he always runs by himself in gym class. He knew that girls like to run in groups, but he didn’t think that boys also like to run together.

He looked down, and said in a deep voice, “I forgot.”

“It’s alright, just remember to run slower next time.” Zhou Ran leaned on his knees and desperately gasped for breath: “You look so skinny and weak but who would’ve thought you can run so fast.”

Gu Miao has a long and lean stature; he is not overly skinny or too muscular.

Zhou Ran was not athletic. He was half-dead after running 800 meters. After a long time, he still hadn’t recovered and was still bent over and panting.

Suddenly, someone touched his arm, and a water bottle was stuffed into his hand.

He raised his eyes and looked at Gu Miao in surprise.

There was no expression on the young man’s face; his eyes remained indifferent.

Zhou Ran pursed his lips, tightened his hold on the bottle, and opened his mouth to drink.

His dry and painful throat was soothed by the warm water, and Zhou Ran felt his fast-beating heart calmed down a little.

“Thank you.” He returned the bottle to Gu Miao and whispered: “Let’s go sit over there.”

There were layers of stairs next to the playground. They could easily see the entire playground by sitting up there.

The cold wind blew against their faces, as Gu Miao sat quietly, looking at his girl who was practicing volleyball on the field.

“Do you like Cheng Chu?” Zhou Ran’s low voice sounded in the quiet atmosphere.

Gu Miao abruptly withdrew his gaze. His dark eyes flashing cold light, his fingers tightly clenched into a fist, and his lips were drawn into a thin line.

Zhou Ran looked at him and said: “Don’t be nervous, I won’t tell her.”

He understands what it’s like to have a crush on someone. Sour yet sweet, like he is alone, hiding the world’s biggest secret.

When Gu Miao looked at her, there were stars in his eyes.

As if a dead forest was given life again, at that moment, the gloomy Gu Miao brightened up.

Bustling noises came from a far distance.

Gu Miao looked down, his Adam’s apple bobbed up and down. He said embarrassingly: “Thank you.”

The two of them sat on the very edge of the staircase, behind them was an old, small restroom. Usually, no one dares step a foot in there.

Zhou Ran glanced down at his watch: “Let’s go, the period is almost over.”

Gu Miao nodded and stood up after Zhou Ran. After walking a few steps, he heard a boy and girl’s voices coming from the dark corner.

He was not interested in other people’s business and was about to walk away when he heard the words, “Cheng Chu”.

Gu Miao instantly stopped in his tracks. He raised his eyes to see Zhou Ran also stopped and was winking at him.

The boys shared a mutual understanding.

It had been forever since the last time people stepped on the dark corner of the field; the place looked like an overgrown forest.

Gu Miao and Zhou Ran secretly approached the sound source and heard an eerie female voice.

“I asked you to harass her! But what have you done?”

Another man angrily cursed: “F*ck, I did! Yesterday in your psychology class, I splashed red ink on her chair. How was it, was she scared?”

The girl paused and said, “Red ink, that’s it? F*ck scared, she didn’t react at all yesterday.”

“Then she is quite strong.”

“Tsk, you can’t even do such a simple task. Don’t forget that I gave you money.”

The boy cursed “sh*t” in a low voice, and continued: “Then what do you want?”

“How about this,” The girl paused to think for a moment, and continued: “Wait after school. Bring your brothers and friends and snag her on her way back home.”

“But, what if someone finds out?”

“Dumb*ss, don’t you know how to find a secretive place?”

The boy whispered: “What did she do to provoke you? Is this really necessary?”

“Don’t talk nonsense! Do you still want the money or not? Just do as I told you to. Then beat her up and as for the rest, she’s somewhat pretty, I’ll let your friends decide what to do with her.”

As if he didn’t understand Song Xinyu’s hidden meanings, the boy hesitated for a moment and replied: “Okay, then I’ll go call them. Remember to transfer the rest of the money to my card.”

Having said that, he got up to leave, but soon after he was grabbed by the collar.

“F*ck you!” Before he could say anything else, he was violently slammed to the ground. The back of his head hit the hard stone slab, causing him to lose consciousness for a moment.

Immediately after, a fist, hard as a stone, repeatedly greeted his face.

“Ahhhhh!” Song Xinyu screamed with fright. She stared at the young man’s indifferent face and two scorching fires reflected in his dark eyes. His pale face looked eerie, like a faceless ghost crawling out of hell.

Wang Yan, who was lying on the ground, struggled to get up, and the two scuffled each other.

Song Xinyu went to pull Gu Miao’s sleeves, trying to stop them, but was thrown off by their force and hit the railings of the staircase.

“Ah!” Her lower back was so painful, she knew it would leave a bruise.

On the sideline, Zhou Ran didn’t move to stop them. He even wanted to give Song Xinyu a beating.

For saying such a disgusting thing, Song Xinyu deserved the worst punishment.