CH 36

Chapter 36: Do you hate me?

When Grandma Qin heard the sound of the door, she looked towards the entrance and saw her granddaughter standing there with her face as red as a tomato.

Seeing this, Grandma Qin was shocked. She quickly put down the things in her hands and walked over.

“Tian Tian, what’s wrong with you?”

“……”

Qin Qing was finally able to recover from the embarrassment she had just suffered after being called by Grandma Qin.

“I’m fine.” She slowly shook her head.

Even though she had said that the girl’s face flushed red.

When she sat down at the dining table and was drinking the chicken soup porridge, she was pressed by Grandma Qin and had to speak up.

“Grandma, I was just scared.”

Grandma Qin was shocked. “What scared you?”

Qin Qing scooped the porridge with a spoon and looked up hesitantly after two seconds.

“Do you think someone would climb a 12-story building with their bare hands? Isn’t that too scary?”

“……”

Hearing this, Grandma Qin paused. After a while, she seemed relaxed again.

“Of course!” Grandma Qin smiled at Qin Qing and pointed at the home theatre in the living room. “I have nothing to do these past two years, so I just watch TV and movies. The elite special forces who have been specially trained in it, let alone 12 floors, are able to double it!”

“Ah…” Qin Qing slightly widened her almond eyes and nodded. “So his uncle is a Special Forces soldier.”

“‘His Uncle?” Grandma Qin, on the other hand, captured the word in her granddaughter’s low voice.

Grandma Qin asked curiously, “Whose Uncle?”

Qin Qing pointed to the other side of the door. “Just his little uncle. I saw him when I went to deliver the porridge. He said that he had something to do and then went into the kitchen…” Then I didn’t see him anymore. I only saw the windows open.”

Grandma Qin was stunned.

“……I’ve never seen it in real life.”

Qin Qing nodded vigorously.

“Think about it, the reason why that person didn’t make a sound was probably because of his profession. I thought I met a ghost.”

Grandma Qin did not react at first, but when she heard Qin Qing muttering her last sentence, she could not help but laugh.

“With your little guts, no wonder you were so scared that your face turned red.”

“Me…I am not too brave .”

Qin Qing’s mouth was stiff.

“Aren’t you still young? Back when ‘Young Baoqingtian’ was on TV, there was an old monk whose head had been cut off by someone sticking out from the skylight. Do you know who was so scared that they didn’t dare to go to the bathroom by herself? She was crying and asking Grandma to paste the back window of the bathroom for her?”

“…………”

Hearing Grandma Qin mention the past, Qin Qing’s heart skipped a beat.

In reality, even when she mentioned the TV series, she still felt a little scared…Absolute childhood trauma.

Seeing that Qin Qing had finished her chicken soup porridge, Grandma Qin put away her utensils.

“It’s getting late. Why don’t you take a shower and get some rest?”

Qin Qing stood up and froze on Grandma Qin’s mention of “shower”. After two seconds, she saw that Grandma Qin didn’t notice anything unusual, so she lowered her head and walked to her bedroom.

The more she didn’t want to recall that scene, the more she couldn’t get rid of the scene in her mind.

Qin Qing’s eyes flashed over and over again as she listened to the boy’s explanation and then she turned around to leave: the starry eyes of the sword-browed boy, the sharp nose and thin lips, the black scattered hair dripping with water, and the smooth and beautiful muscle lines of his back. Everything seemed to be engraved in her mind.

……But tonight, she seemed to have really angered Wen Yufeng.

She could clearly see that when she left, his left hand was clenched tightly by his side. The veins on the back of his hand were bulging, and his back was even more stiff…

However, Qin Qing could not understand why she had angered Wen Yufeng.

…………

When Qin Qing went to school the next day, she found that Wen Yufeng still didn’t show himself. It wasn’t until noon that the supervisor, Shen Liang, informed them that he had taken two weeks off.

Qin Qing, who had not received any notice from that person last night, was a little annoyed.

——

Yesterday, she had risked being criticized by her second brother, having it exposed to her parents, and even added fuel to her second brother’s anger by protecting him. After all that she did, he couldn’t clearly explain it to her?

Qin Qing was in a bad mood when she thought of the baptism of words that her second brother was about to give her at noon.

After Shen Liang informed them, he walked out of the classroom helplessly.

—— For Wen Yufeng, it seems that it was possible for him to ask for leave.

He was at a loss. Was it right or wrong to transfer these two children to the same table?

At noon when it was time to get off school, Qin Qing walked out wilfully and prepared herself for the baptism of a storm.

However, to her surprise, she encountered something unpleasant before she reached the school gate.

——

“You are Qin Qing?”

Qin Qing had just walked out of the classroom when an unpleasant voice sounded diagonally in front of her.

“……”

Qin Qing was startled and looked over.

Three girls dressed in school uniforms and dresses that had been ‘freely remanufactured’, gathered in the corner and walked towards her.

Qin Qing instinctively became vigilant when she felt the unfriendly gazes from the three of them.

She took a step back. “Why are you looking for me?”

“It’s nothing. I’m just passing a message on.” The leader of the girls replied and glanced at her with contempt.

After sizing her up, the girl sneered at someone beside her.

“Really don’t know what Brother Yu is interested in? Other than a palm-sized face, she looks like a bean sprout. Could it be that he really likes her for being studious?”

The two girls beside her laughed a few times and looked at Qin Qing mockingly.

Qin Qing did not show any anger towards this kind of scrutiny and ridicule. Instead, she was so indifferent that she could not find any reaction.

The three girls laughed. They got bored after a while and stopped talking nonsense.

The leader took another step forward——

“I’m sending a message to you. I’m warning you to stay away from Wen Yufeng.”

“……”

Qin Qing’s eyes lit up. “Did you leave that note on my table for me to leave him alone?”

“You’re pretty smart.” Another girl answered.

Qin Qing’s eyes drooped slightly.

“Whether I’m smart or not I’m afraid you don’t have the right to judge me.”

The three girls were stunned.

If it wasn’t for the soft and gentle voice that made it so there was no doubt that it came from the girl in front of them, they really wondered if they had been fooled by it——

This girl who looked weak and obedient like a white rabbit actually dared to speak to them like this?

The leading girl reacted and was about to lose her temper when she came forward.

Qin Qing raised her hand and revealed the phone that she had been holding in her palm.

“If you have checked on me, you should know that my second brother comes to pick me up from school every day——I told him to come straight to the classroom before I came out.”

The expressionless face had a unique beauty. Qin Qing raised her sharp chin and looked at the three girls coldly. “I really can’t beat you. However, my second brother has always had a bad temper. When he comes, I promise that you will regret coming here today.”

The face of the leading girl changed, and the slap she was about to give fell back.

She hesitated and asked the person beside her: “……Is there really someone here to pick her up?”

The girl next to her had an ugly look on her face as she said in a low voice.

“It’s true, I indeed see him every night, but I don’t know about him coming at noon…Otherwise, I wouldn’t have told you that we can’t solve the problem outside school.”

“……”

The leading girl’s expression changed several times before she gritted her teeth and sneered.

“Fine, it seems like Wen Yufeng didn’t show up yesterday anyway, right? Perhaps being at the same table with you was just a whim…Since nothing’s happened, I’m too lazy to bother with you right now!”

After saying that, the three of them hurriedly walked away.

Qin Qing stared at the backs of the three people as they left the corridor.

She let out a sigh of relief and leaned against the wall.

Her slender palm repeatedly and gently patted her chest, as if this was the only way to prevent her heart from jumping out.

“So…It’s fake.”

Just as Qin Qing’s breathing slowly calmed down, a laugh suddenly rang out in the quiet corridor.

“……”

Qin Qing was shocked. It took a lot of effort to suppress her scream.

Her gaze was alert as she looked in the direction of the voice.

——

It was a noise from the back door of Class Seven next door.

Not long after, a boy came out with a broom.

The boy who came out was very tall, wearing the uniform of the high school, and his face was delicate and white, with short hair.

From the time he came out, he had a smile on his face, and his eyes were slightly bent, the kind of smile that one could not hate.

Qin Qing’s heart slightly relaxed its alertness and her tight small face also softened.

“……You know me?” She asked tentatively.

“How many of us don’t know you?”

The boy’s smile was kind but his words had a deeper meaning, “But from today, I can be considered to really know you – Classmate Qin Qing.”

“……”

Qin Qing could not help blushing at the thought of what she had said and done with such bravado.

It took a while for her to come back to her senses and clear her throat. “Well then…classmate, go on with your cleaning, I’ll go first.”

Qin Qing was about to turn and leave, but when she reached the staircase, she was stopped by the boy.

“I’m ready to go too. Do you mind if we go together?”

“……Ah?”

Qin Qing was startled for a moment and turned away. After making sure the boy was serious, not joking, she was embarrassed. “I have something urgent, so I ……”

The boy didn’t seem surprised by her answer but smiled as he propped himself on the broom.

“They’re probably waiting for you downstairs or somewhere else right now.”

Qin Qing: “…………”

The boy’s smile deepened as he saw the girl’s slightly stiffened appearance.

He turned back to the back door of Class Seven, put the broom back in place, and came out.

“I’m good.” He came to Qin Qing, who had not recovered. “Shall we go together?”

“……Thank you.”

Qin Qing hesitated for two seconds but decided to have the courage to temporarily listen to the boy’s advice, at least to walk with him to the school road.

When the time comes…There’s got to be some hope in running, right?

So thinking like this, she turned and walked down the stairs.

The boy in the next class followed.

Although it was “walking together “, Qin Qing still instinctively maintained at least a meter distance apart from the boy. 

The other party probably saw her discomfort and did not have the intention to pull closer, so he was not far and not close to her side.

Both of them walked quietly to the school gate. Qin Qing was embarrassed all the way.

When she finally saw the school gate, Qin Qing heaved a sigh of relief. She smiled a little and wanted to say goodbye to the boy. 

But before she opened her mouth, the boy spoke first—

“My name is Lin Wentao.”

As he spoke, he looked quickly at the girl’s face and smiled regretfully when he saw that Qin Qing did not show any familiarity.

“After the liberal arts and science classes are divided, I believe we will be in the same class. See you then.”

“……”

Qin Qing opened her eyes wide.

Without waiting for her to speak, Lin Wentao waved at her and turned to leave.

The art and science classes…

Standing in place, Qin Qing dropped her eyes.

Like many other schools in the province, it had become the norm to attach more importance to science than literary arts. The science department especially set up a preparatory class and used it to accept the science students with the best academic achievements. Every year, in the prep class, the vast majority were recommended, even if not recommended, they all gave up their recommended places to choose better colleges that they yearn for.

According to Qin Qing’s results, if she chose rationally, she would naturally go to the preparatory class.

Around her, students began to struggle with whether to choose the literary arts or sciences, but no one had ever asked her this question.

That’s right, with full marks in the three subjects of mathematics, physics and chemistry, the choice of science is taken for a fact.

……But why should it be taken for a fact?

Qin Qing unconsciously clenched her fingers until a voice suddenly rang in her ear—

“Xiao Qing, what are you doing here?”

Qin Qing came back to her senses and when she saw that it was Qin Hao, she heaved a sigh of relief.

“Second brother.”

Qin Hao answered.

“Let’s go. Get in the car. I’ll take you home.”

Thinking of last night, Qin Qing could only wrinkle her nose and nod, and followed him to meet her “storm “.

After the car drove out, the car was quiet for a long time.

Qin Qing was on edge for a while, then finally heard Qin Hao at the driver’s seat speak.

“I thought about it for a long time last night.”

“……”

Qin Qing was dumbfounded and turned to look at Qin Hao.

“There are some things that are out of my place to take care of and I can’t take care of them either.”

Qin Hao sighed.

“But Xiao Qing, I just want you to remember – no matter what the circumstances, no matter how much you care about someone, you must at least remember to protect yourself. Don’t try any foolish things when you know it’s dangerous.”

The car was quiet again for a long time.

After a while, Qin Qing nodded slowly.

“En, I know.”

…………

Coincidentally, when Wen YuFeng this time took a leave of absence, it was the same time for the first monthly exam for second-year high school students.

The monthly exam was held on Wednesday, and each class in senior year 2 spent a day on it.

At the end of the day, all the students felt as if they had been stripped a layer of skin, and the whole senior year 2 would be howling.

Senior 2 class 6 had a lot of students who admire the “young talent”. Before and after the evening self-study, they had to take their papers to Qin Qing to find the answers.

In addition, Qin Qing was not good at refusing. If she met a student with a different opinion, she would not refuse to answer the questions one by one, so she was directly used as a living reference answer.

The second day after the monthly exam, students from class 6 simply sorted out the “little talent girl version” of the monthly exam answers for English, math, physics, chemistry, and biology, and spread it widely to all the classes.

When a well-founded reference answer came out, some people were happy and others were sad.

But “sorrow” still accounts for the majority.

Many students only hoped that the monthly exam paper marking can be postponed till after  Friday so that at least they can have a safe weekend at home.

But the hard-working teachers of high school always worked extra hard at this time.

Halfway through Friday, the monthly grade list was posted.

Qin Qing ranked first, on top of the list for English, math, physics and chemistry.

As soon as the grades came out, the senior grade two teaching building was full of ‘wind and rain’.

Of course, Class 6 was the best.

“Qin Qing, you’re really good.”

“Yes, the first in four subjects, I can’t imagine such an achievement ……”

“I don’t know how you did it. Do you have two more brains than us?”

The crowd around the last table in the classroom was bustling with praise. On the contrary, the girl in the center hung her eyes somewhat helplessly.

In fact, she had never been good at such scenes and she really didn’t know what to say.

“Didn’t someone say that Qin Qing and Lin Wentao from Class Seven are rivals? I don’t think Lin Wentao can compare with Qin Qing in any of the subjects except math and the difference there are just three points.”

“But Lin Wentao is also very good. From his first year of high school to now, no one has taken away the first position from him except Qin Qing.”

Hearing this familiar name, Qin Qing was startled and raised her head.

“……Lin Wentao?”

The first girl who mentioned Lin Wentao saw Qin Qing’s rare conversation and hurriedly answered.

“Yes, Lin Wentao from Class 7, his grades are great. Before you came, Qin Qing, he was the shadow of our whole grade, but now, haha, you have replaced him!”

Qin Qing nodded slightly.

Was the original number one?

It’s no wonder that boy said I’ll see you after this class.

…………

On the first weekend after the monthly exam, Qin Qing went out with Lin Manxue who had especially rushed over after lunch.

Fortunately, they had just passed the monthly exam and did not have much homework on the weekend. Lin Manxue and Qin Qing went crazy in the amusement park until it was dark before they went home.

“Continue tomorrow!”

The taxi door closed. Lin Manxue pressed down the window and waved at Qin Qing.

Qin Qing helplessly looked askance at her: “Manxue, you’re simply a lunatic with excessive energy.”

“Is it the first day you met me?” Lin Manxue wasn’t ashamed of this statement, but rather proud of it. “Besides, we’re so different from each other. We only meet once in such a long time. What’s wrong with being crazy for two days? Or…To be honest, do you have someone else outside?”

“……”

Qin Qing could not take Lin Manxue’s unmindful madness in front of outsiders. She could only helplessly smile and repeatedly beg for mercy, “Okay, okay, okay. I’m afraid of you. Can’t you continue tomorrow?”

“That’s more like it.”

Lin Manxue got the promise and greeted the taxi driver with satisfaction and left.

Seeing the tail of the taxi disappear from her sight, Qin Qing heaved a sigh of relief and walked back with a helpless smile.

Qin Qing entered the building and took the elevator, heading straight for the 12th floor.

After arriving, the elevator door opened and Qin Qing walked out. However, the moment she turned the corner, she was stunned.

In the center of the T-shaped corridor that was directly opposite the elevator, the tall and slender boy leaned against the wall and hung his eyes. He did not know how long he had been waiting there.

Considering the three living people on this floor, it was obvious that this person was either waiting for Grandma Qin or waiting for her. Although Qin Qing still hesitated because of the anger she had felt earlier, she still walked over.

Then, she stopped and raised her head to ask.

“Wen Yufeng, are you waiting for me?”

“……”

When he heard that the girl had left home, the boy who had been standing outside for nearly four hours opened his eyes. His black eyes were ice-cold.

After looking at the girl’s innocent eyes for two seconds, Wen Yufeng turned his gaze away and lifted something with his left hand.

“I am returning the thermos.”

Translated, probably meant I wasn’t waiting for you, I just happened to meet you. 

Qin Qing: “……”

Initially, she wanted to ask him what she had done to offend him that night that made him so angry he didn’t even mention to her that he was taking a leave from school.

However, seeing the boy’s attitude at this time, Qin Qing couldn’t ask. She could only hold back her words.

Thinking about how she had been threatened by the three girls because of this boy, Qin Qing felt so wronged that she almost crumpled into a ball.

After two seconds, seeing that the boy still had no intention of opening his mouth, Qin Qing lowered her eyes and said, “Oh.” Then she turned around and walked towards the door.

She had just taken two steps when the voice behind her pulled her back——

“Where did you go this afternoon?”

Qin Qing stopped.

She stood where she was without looking back. “An amusement park.”

Wen Yufeng raised his eyebrows and frowned.

“Who did you go with?”

“……I don’t need you to mind my business.”

Qin Qing whispered.

Qin Qing was also taken aback after she spoke. Her beautiful almond eyes widened slightly.

——

Ever since she was young, she never remembered who she had said this to.

When she came back to her senses, Qin Qing turned around in embarrassment, wanting to explain but not knowing what to say.

However, when she looked up, she realized that the boy leaning against the wall was in a good mood. Although his eyes were down, his thin lips were slightly lifted.

“……”

Qin Qing frowned.

—— This person’s moodiness had reached another level.

As she thought of this, she lowered her eyes and saw the thermos container in Wen Yufeng’s hand.

Qin Qing took two steps and extended her hand.

“Just give me the thermos ——”

Before she could finish her sentence, Wen Yufeng, who was originally standing where he was, suddenly took a step back as if he was hiding some plague.

——

That night not long ago, it was the same distance…

He seemed to have thought of something and the expression in his eyes turned dark.

Qin Qing’s eyes widened in confusion.

After two seconds, she looked up as if she had realized something.

Her hand, which was frozen in midair, hung down.

Aggrieved, upset, angry…Various emotions flashed across her eyes.

The girl bit her lower lip and only looked up at the boy after a long time.

His eyes were like two of the clearest pieces of black amber.

“Do you hate me?”

Wen Yufeng: “…………”

The author has something to say.

Brother Yu: Why is it so difficult to stick to your conscience and bottom line?