Xia Zhinian subconsciously stepped back, his apricot eyes widened, nervously clutching his fingers, his palms moist.
Chu Qingjian stood on one side and watched for a long time. Seeing this, he stepped forward and blocked Xia Zhinian's front. "Enough is enough."
Yan Ci looked at him for a while, then looked at Xia Zhinian behind him, who was pursing his lips. After a moment, he chuckled softly and turned back to the classroom.
They couldn't skip class anymore. They followed him in. The classroom door was only slightly ajar, not soundproof. The class was very quiet, and occasionally a few pairs of eyes looked back curiously at the last row.
It wasn't until he returned to Xia's house and completely got out of everyone's sight that Xia Zhinian slowly breathed a sigh of relief.
He was careless.
This world was different from the original text, not only in terms of the romnce plot, but also in terms of the main characters themselves.
In the original text, Chu Qingjian was warm and cheerful, frank and smiling. But in reality, Chu Qingjian was more like a weird and cool guy with a second-year syndrome.
Yan Ci was white-skinned and black-hearted, which was fine. But on one hand, he had a strange fear of the dark. On the other hand... he himself was more aggressive than the original protagonist shou.
He had vaguely noticed this when he was knocked out in the cellar, but he didn't think too much about it. In order to push the plot forward, he couldn't always maintain the original owner's personality, and he didn't deliberately correct it.
Now that he thought about it, Yan Ci was so smart that he wouldn't be without doubts. For example, when he mentioned drug allergies today, Yan Ci looked at him with that glance.
With speculation and scrutiny.
...He couldn't have more contact with Yan Ci later.
Xia Zhinian clenched his fist. His phone in his pocket suddenly rang twice with a message reminder.
He opened it and saw two non-friend messages-
[YC]: Skipping class failed. Tomorrow's class hygiene will be handled by Classmate Xia himself.
[YC]: Also, Classmate Xia, don't forget the school uniform jacket and gift you owe me. Cat peeking.jpg
At the bottom was a line of small words "YC found you through group chat contacts", followed by a friend request.
He didn't reply to any of them, ignored the request, turned off the phone screen and rubbed his head. He sighed dejectedly.
Early the next morning, Xia Zhinian came out of the school logistics office with a bag in his hand and frowned at his three-digit balance on his phone.
It was still early. He pushed open the door and saw that there was someone sitting in the quiet classroom in the morning.
He had a slender figure and sat casually on his seat, brushing papers unhurriedly.
Yan Ci looked up as he heard the sound. His expression was no different from usual. He lifted his lips. "Classmate Xia is early."
He deserved to be a black sesame dumpling. He was like nothing had happened overnight.
Xia Zhinian pursed his lips and hesitated for a moment. He didn't say anything. He walked past Yan Ci's seat from the aisle between him and Yan Ci's seat and put the bag on his desk corner.
"School uniform jacket, gift, they're all here."
The school uniform jacket was at the bottom, with a smaller exquisite gift box on top.
Yan Ci glanced at it and said slowly: "Classmate Xia didn't run to the mall last night and run to the logistics office this morning, did he?"
Xia Zhinian nodded. He bought a brand-name pen with exquisite packaging for giving as a gift. He also went to logistics to buy a new school uniform jacket. He planned to put them both on Yan Ci's desk so that he wouldn't bother him again.
He just didn't expect Yan Ci to come so early.
He walked forward without looking at Yan Ci.
Yan Ci watched him without looking sideways. He raised his long eyelashes and subconsciously reached out to catch his wrist.
"Classmate Xia."
Xia Zhinian's pupils shrank. His body instinctively reacted faster than his consciousness. He pulled back his arm and backed away twice. "What... are you doing?"
Yan Ci stared at him, retracted his hand, his expression gentle, his voice softened a bit.
"Did I scare you yesterday?"
He was a little angry yesterday.
Little Classmate Xia had eight out of ten sentences about Chu Qingjian. Chu Qingjian wanted himself to take the blame for skipping class, and he instead insisted on going out together.
It really made him unhappy.
Xia Zhinian's apricot eyes were wary, and a little puzzled. He didn't know what Yan Ci was suddenly saying this for. He pretended to be stupid and dumb and didn't want to say more. "No, what are you talking about?"
He walked past Yan Ci's seat, returned to his seat and put down his backpack, and then went to the podium from the other aisle. He picked up the eraser and erased the words on it on tiptoe.
Yan Ci watched his figure from behind. The young man raised his arm high, and his slender waist drew a delicate and beautiful curve.
He explained: "Yesterday Zou Ziqian was sent to the hospital. Our class will be the focus of the school's attention. We can't be absent, so I caught you... and Chu Qingjian."
Xia Zhinian didn't even turn his head back and replied, obviously not wanting to talk.
Yan Ci tapped his finger lazily on the table, his thin lips slightly pursed.
...Bad, he scared him away.
Xia Zhinian didn't want to have more contact with the protagonist shou, but Yan Ci seemed to have glued himself to him in the past few days. He was everywhere.
In the morning, Yan Ci tapped his desk with a pen. "Classmate Xia, homework."
Classmate Xia had a headache. "I didn't write it."
Yan Ci's voice was warm and considerate. "Don't you know how to do it?"
He took down his own exercise book from the top and put it on Xia Zhinian's desk. "Copy it once. Lao Qin said you can copy it at will."
Xia Zhinian: "..."
Xia Zhinian didn't hesitate to hand over this exercise book, which was almost like an answer template, to Chu Qingjian, who had just entered the classroom... And then shivered under Yan Ci's gaze.
He quietly shrank away and looked at Yan Ci's expression. After a long time, he got a gentle smile from him.
For the social practice class, the whole class of Class 2 went to the botanical garden to water the plants. Xia Zhinian wanted to deepen his impression of being gloomy in everyone's hearts, so he followed Chu Qingjian from three meters away in public.
Chu Qingjian looked back, and he hid behind a tree. Chu Qingjian didn't look back, and he peeked out a fluffy head from the back door of the experiment, staring at Chu Qingjian without blinking.
But he didn't know if he was seeing things or going crazy. He hid behind the tree for a while, and when he came out again, the protagonist gong's position had changed from the living person to the protagonist shou?
...Then he looked around for a while and couldn't find Chu Qingjian.
Xia Zhinian sighed and felt that the relationship between the protagonist gong and the protagonist shou was not moving at all. They were clearly childhood sweethearts, but they didn't seem to have any daily interactions.
Zou Ziqian's allergy was almost better. At lunchtime, he invited his classmates to his barbecue restaurant to eat.
Xia Zhinian didn't want to go, but the protagonist gong agreed, so he had to agree as well. As soon as he got here, Chu Qingjian received a call from his father and was picked up by the driver.
Zou Ziqian's mother gave him a large plate of barbecue. The thick powder wrapped around it, and the fine chili powder rubbed over his tongue, invading his taste buds in an instant.
He couldn't help it and ate it all slowly.
In Math class, Xia Zhinian's stomach was round, his lips pursed while on the table, Lao Qin stood above and talked about the homework he left last night. He glanced over and sighed slowly.
"Xiao Xia, you didn't write any homework last night. How come you're so sleepy during the day?"
"Young people should have vitality. Come on, come on, Xiao Xia sit up."
Xiao Xia: "..."
Xiao Xia sat up straight, his feet on the front bar of the stool, holding his knees, curled up into a white and tender ball, not even giving him a look.
Yan Ci looked back at him and glanced at his slightly pale lips. He looked back at Lao Qin.
"Teacher, Zou Ziqian won't be back until tomorrow. I'll sit there first. It's convenient to study with Classmate Xia."
Xia Zhinian: "??!"
"No--"
His weak voice hadn't come out yet when Lao Qin slapped the table and interrupted him. "Good, good. Teacher knows you're responsible. Go ahead."
Xia Zhinian: "..."
Xia Zhinian looked expressionlessly at Yan Ci who came over with his homework. He turned his head to one side and didn't want to communicate with the black-hearted protagonist shou.
He had been scolded by Lao Qin several times recently because of Yan Ci. He really didn't know what this protagonist shou wanted to do.
There were people around who looked at them sneakily. Yan Ci ignored them and sat down casually. He turned to Xia Zhinian. "Classmate Xia is uncomfortable? Stomachache?"
Classmate Xia stepped on the stool, hugged his knees, curled up into a small ball of white tenderness, not even giving him a look.
Yan Ci lifted his lips slightly and his voice warm, "Classmate Xia can't hear my voice?"
Xia Zhinian ignored him. Yan Ci smiled and said: "That's good too. I hope Classmate Xia can never hear me."
He tilted his body slightly and faced Xia Zhinian directly. He suddenly reached out and grabbed his arm. The distance was too close, and Xia Zhinian moved his hands to the other side quickly. He looked at Yan Ci unhappily. "What are you doing?"
Yan Ci smiled lightly with his eyebrows curved. "You were ignoring me, but now you can hear me?"
Xia Zhinian pouted. He didn't care if he ignored him or not. It was more useful for the protagonist shou to care about the protagonist gong.
He looked up at Chu Qingjian's direction and saw that Chu Qingjian was playing with his phone under the table, very engrossed, and didn't pay attention to Yan Ci's movements.
Xia Zhinian: "..." He was tired.
Yan Ci easily noticed that he was staring at Chu Qingjian. His smile faded a bit at the corner of his lips. His tongue rubbed over his teeth, and he suddenly grabbed Xia Zhinian's arm through his sleeve and pulled him closer.
Xia Zhinian's body tilted and his hand covered his stomach weakly. He suddenly frowned.
A sharp pain rushed into his brain. His stomach seemed to twist and roll in his body. The severe pain made his ears buzz and ring with piercing noises.
"Classmate Xia." Yan Ci supported his arm with his hand without touching him. He only held him through his clothes and called him again when he didn't get a response. "Classmate Xia?"
Xia Zhinian came back to his senses after a while. He frowned slightly, his lips pale, and glanced at him from the corner of his eye. His voice was very soft. "What's wrong?"
He didn't hear clearly.
"Do you feel uncomfortable? Stomachache?" Yan Ci's eyes stayed on his abdomen. He tightened his hand holding his arm and softened his voice a little. "I'll take you to the hospital."
"No."
Xia Zhinian's voice was soft and lifeless. He looked very pitiful. He tried to pull his arm out of Yan Ci's grip.
He had no strength, and his movements were slow and light. He looked like a kitten flapping around, but it made his face even paler.
Yan Ci frowned slightly, his eyes narrowed, and the scar at the corner of his eye flattened. He didn't let go and still held him. His voice was low and gentle. "Then go to the infirmary?"
He paused and said in a clear voice with a hint of lowness, "If you don't want me to go... Let Chu Qingjian take you?"
Xia Zhinian still shook his head, bit his lip, and a sharp pain in his stomach like a knife stirred into his nerves. A few drops of cold sweat oozed from his forehead. He struggled with his arm and said weakly, "No, let go of me."
"Classmate Xia."
Yan Ci looked at him for a while, his usual smile faded from his lips, his eyes slightly cold. After a moment, he smiled slightly again. "...All right then."
Since he didn't listen, there was no need to waste words.
Just do it.
