The sun had set, and the sky was covered with a blanket of darkness, twinkling stars smiling brightly at the Earthlings while the moon was sulking somewhere in the corner as it was too pale for a bright starry night.
The students had dinner that they helped their teachers cook and currently they were sitting outside their tents forming a round group.
The weather had cooled down a lot. It was no longer as scorching as the summer of their city, rather cool enough to have a need for a thin blanket or a shawl.
The students had set up a bonfire and were sitting around it, holding a packet of snacks each.
While everyone was talking to each other, discussing what game they should play to pass their time as the teachers were resting for a while after the long and tiring journey, An Xiulan was sitting in between Song Xueyun and Han Zixin yawning. She was wearing two jackets, thick pants, socks and a beanie hat. She was in her own personal winter world.
Although it was weird for other classmates of hers to see her dressed for dire winter, they had to admit that their campus belle was a ridiculously cute creature. They just couldn’t get enough of her antics.
In the end, the students decided that they would be playing truth or dare. Although it was an old and boring game for everyone else, it was quite interesting for anyone.
“Whoever fails to answer the question or finish the dare will have to go to that tree in the dark and talk to it for five minutes,” A mischievous boy of class Ten C who had joined the summer camp with them said. He seemed to love haunted movies and the place that he talked about looked no less haunting in this dark time.
The other student shuddered as they looked at the other that he was pointing with his finger.
“Tang Shao, go easy on us, will you, ” A girl in the group said with a scared smile. “There are some delicate girls in the group. Just look at our campus belle, do you think she can complete this punishment?”
Like other students, even Tang Shao had a crush on campus belle. Seeing the troubled look on An Xiulan’s face, he hesitated. Little did he know that their campus belle was troubled because of lack of sleep and an empty stomach. Due to the long journey, she couldn’t eat much as she had thrown up a few times on the bus. Now that the food they had prepared was finished, she was hungry again.
“How about this? Whoever fails the task will have to write the holiday homework of the person who gave the task or asked the question?” Tang Shao suggested and seeing that this was much easier and less scary than then the last punishment, they all agreed
A student brought the empty soy sauce bottle and the chopping board to spin the bottle. Whoever gets the top position of the bottle in their direction had to either answer a question or perform a dare.
The bottle spinned and the first person to get the bottle pointed was no one but Song Xueyun. She was caught off-guard as she was sneaking glances at Lu Xuan one moment and getting called by her classmates another time.
“Truth or dare?” Another girl asked her. She was from Lu Xuan’s class and had seen him talking with Lu Xuan several times. She was curious about the dynamics between a top student and a delinquent.
“Truth, ” Song Xueyun said and the girl smiled in her heart.
She had Song Xueyun where she wanted.
Song Xueyun didn’t want to do anything daring at this moment as she didn’t want to leave the place where she was sleeping.
“Okay,” The girl smiled mischievously and Song Xueyun had a premonition. “Describe your relationship with Student Lu in five words.”
The other students looked at them with a weird gaze. They couldn’t understand what was happening here. Lu Xuan was An Xiulan’s brother and Han Zixin was best friends with Lu Xuan’s sister and Song Xueyun was close to the three of them. What a strange relationship!
Song Xueyun looked at the girl who asked the question and then at Lu Xuan who was pretending to be uninterested.
An Xiulan, who was pretending to be asleep with her head placed on Han Zixin’s shoulder, which was the most comfortable place to fall asleep, opened her hawk-like eyes and looked at Song Xueyun in utter interest.
“Family. Childhood friends. Mysterious. Relying. And complicated,” This was Song Xueyun’s reply.
“Oh, you are in a complicated relationship with my brother,” commented An Xiulan and both Song Xueyun and Lu Xuan who understood the real meaning behind her innocent words flashed her a look of impatience.
The atmosphere grew awkward with her words.
An Xiulan looked at Han Zixin as if she was being wronged and he flashed a cold look at the source of the problem– the girl who asked the question.
The girl gulped on receiving a cold look and to ease the awkwardness, she said, “Alright. We will continue to play.”
They spun the bottle, completely forgetting about the earlier complicated atmosphere.
This time the bottle head was pointed at An Xiulan who was blinking her big eyes in bewilderment. She was so hungry that she could eat a lion. How on earth was she supposed to survive through the entire night without food? She missed her mom. She missed Meimei. Most of all, she missed Chef Uncle at their home.
“Umm, why are you staring at my face?” An Xiulan couldn’t help but ask. She looked at Han Zixin and asked, “Do I look pretty?”
Han Zixin obediently nodded his head.
“Hihihi, as expected my best friend’s eyes still work the best, “An Xiulan cutely grinned, much a distraction of a certain blood relative of hers.
“Stupid,” Lu Xuan muttered under his breath. “I’m too ashamed to call her my sister.”
As Song Xueyun heard his words, she gave him a dirty and hostile look. He would never learn. She was so stupid to think that he would change his narrow-minded approach to life but no!