Chapter 35: Bully

Chapter 35

Xu JiaNing couldn't stop thinking about what Xiao Qian had said.

During the days she had spent with Xiao Yan recently, she did feel like there was something odd about him.

At the same time, she never felt that the guy who all the girls in school looked up to but couldn't get close to would really see her, a nobody, as a goddess.

If what Xiao Qian said was true, then dad...

Lin ChuSui couldn't sit still. She wanted to get to the bottom of this.

At 9pm, she changed into a comfy tracksuit for easy movement, tied her hair in a ponytail, and sneaked out of her room, ready to head out.

Xiao Qian was reciting ancient poems on the balcony. Seeing her sneak downstairs, he called out to her, "Where are you going? Your stepfather told me to supervise your studying."

"The homework today is too difficult. I'm going to find Xiao Yan to explain the problems to me."

Xiao Qian grabbed her schoolbag and dragged her into the study room, "I'll explain them to you."

"No, no, no, don't bother. I'm going to the shop to buy some late-night snacks anyway, I'm hungry."

Xiao Qian thought for a moment and asked, "Didn't you say earlier that he and his sister live together and run a hot pot shop?"

"Yeah, they seem to take turns running it... Business is pretty good, there's always a long line whenever I go."

"Let's go then." Xiao Qian said as he changed into shoes at the door and squatted down, "I'll go with you."

"Hey, why do you want to come with me?"

"I'm hungry and want a late-night snack."

Xiao Qian drove Lin ChuSui to the night market street. Xiao Yan didn't seem to be at the shop today, only Xiao Qian's busy figure could be seen.

With Xiao Yan not around, business didn't seem as good either.

"Sis, where's Xiao Yan?"

Seeing Lin ChuSui, Xiao Qian smiled, "He was here until midnight yesterday, so I let him go back and rest today."

"Oh, I came to ask him about homework. I'll go find him at home then?"

"Go ahead, he's probably studying at this time too."

Xiao Qian's gaze fell on Xiao Qian, as if glued there and unable to move away.

Lin ChuSui tugged at him, "Let's go, cheap brother, go find the study god to ask about homework."

Xiao Qian said, "I don't need to consult him. I came out for late-night snacks, go yourself."

"But didn't you accept father's order to supervise my studying?"

"Isn't the study god supervision enough?"

It was good that he wasn't coming. Lin ChuSui rode away on his bike.

Xiao Qian walked to the shop entrance, scratched his head, and said to Xiao Qian, "I want to buy hot pot."

"Sure, what do you want to eat? I'll make it for you."

"Anything you make is fine. I'll eat it all."

"Okay." Xiao Qian happily selected food for him and turned to parboil it in the hot pot soup.

Watching her, Xiao Qian looked completely different from when he first saw her at the entrance of the bar. That night, Xiao Qian was dressed in mature nightclub style, exuding sex appeal.

But today, with her hair tied neatly in a ponytail, wearing a knitted sweater that clung to her shapely figure for the autumn weather, she looked casual yet elegant, full of feminine charm.

He took out his phone and sneakily snapped a picture of her. But he forgot to mute it, and the phone made a crisp "click" sound.

Xiao Qian: ......

Annual idiot moment.

Xiao Qian's busy hands also paused for a moment. She turned around, looking at him with glistening eyes.

Xiao Qian was instantly so embarrassed his whole face turned red. He wished he could find a crack in the ground to crawl into right then.

"You took a picture of me?"

"I... I heard that after buying 50, you can take pictures."

Even when giving speeches in front of thousands of students in London, Xiao Qian was always calm and composed, never blushing. But now he was stuttering.

"The one who can take pictures after buying 50 is my brother Xiao Yan."

Xiao Qian explained, "I don't have that service here."

"Oh, sor...sorry."

Seeing him in the milky white home clothes, dressed obediently, clearly a child with good family upbringing, not the sort to casually harass girls. His blushing look was rather cute.

She laughed and said, "And you haven't bought enough anyway. Or I could add it up to fifty for you, so you can take a proper nice picture."

Xiao Qian nodded forcefully, "Then add it to fifty."

"Can you finish eating all that?"

"I can... finish it."

Xiao Qian added more dishes for him, "Don't just stand around outside, come in and sit."

Xiao Qian went inside and sat on the small wooden stool for a while. Seeing Xiao Qian busy, he wanted to go over to help her.

Xiao Qian didn't stand on ceremony at all, treating him completely like a younger brother to order around: "Help me wash the bowls on the table."

Xiao Qian nodded and brought the bowls to the sink to rinse.

"Have you washed dishes before?" Seeing his posture, Xiao Qian could tell he wasn't used to such work. "You need detergent to wash dishes, or else the oil won't come off."

"Oh, okay."

Xiao Qian squeezed some detergent and smeared it haphazardly before rinsing under running water.

"Don't you help your parents with housework at home?"

"At our home, my dad said I should just focus on studying, and not waste time on such things. He said as long as I make something of myself in the future, there will be people to do these chores for me. Or I could even hire people if needed."

Xiao Qian gave a faint laugh, "Being a boy really is blessed huh." She could sense the deeper meaning behind his smile, and Xiao Qian felt a little uncomfortable inside.

He had never doubted the correctness of old Xu's words before. Of course his time was precious, and should be spent on more meaningful things, studying, gaining knowledge... Not wasting time on trivial daily matters.

He had always been a proud and arrogant person, but at this moment, he felt truly foolish.

Utterly foolish.

As if to prove a point to himself, Xiao Qian picked up another bowl, applied detergent, and rinsed forcefully under the tap, scrubbing until his skin turned white.

Seeing this, Xiao Qian quickly snatched the bowl from his hands, "Child, didn't I tell you to put it down? What restaurant makes their customers work."

"I want to do it." Xiao Qian gritted his teeth and said earnestly, "I can't do it well now, but I can learn. If I don't do well the first time, I will definitely get better after the second and third time."

Xiao Qian looked at the youth before her, behind his seemingly gentle gaze, hid an obstinate spirit.

It was like he was trying to prove a point to himself.

Quite interesting.

She didn't try to stop him anymore and passed him the ready hot pot.

"Thank you, little Qian." Xiao Qian placed the bowl down and sat on the small stool, "Can I call you little Qian?"

"No! How impolite, you should call me sister like Xiao Yan and little ChuSui."

"Then I'll call you QianQian."

Xiao Qian threw the rag on the chopping board, "Little ChuSui said you're from overseas. Don't they teach how to address older sister there?"

"I don't want to call you sister."

"Afraid I'd take advantage of you?" She chuckled, "Do you even know how old I am?"

"I know, you said you're thirty."

"Silly boy." Xiao Qian laughed, "I'm turning 25 soon. Still a good few years older than you."

"Only six years. Rounded off, we're peers."

"How much younger is little ChuSui than you?"

"One year and three months."

Inappropriate time, not the right time.

Xiao Yan suppressed his desires with great effort. His head leaned over to take the kernel from her fingertips: "Done?"

Lin ChuSui felt her fingertips turn cool where his lips had touched, and she froze.

She was just... handing it to him, did he think she was feeding him?

The key was he actually obediently ate it!

For a moment Lin ChuSui's mind raced and was in turmoil. She absentmindedly cracked another pistachio and held it out to his mouth.

Xiao Yan was too lazy to say more to her. He ate it.

He just wanted her to leave as soon as possible. Every extra minute was endless "torture" for his body.

Seeing that he was really willing to obediently eat her hand-fed snacks, like a proud cat accepting food from its owner's hand.

She felt flattered and honored.

...Were they this close now?

Lin ChuSui silently cracked open a third pistachio.

"Lin ChuSui, is there an end to this?"

"Eat it."

Xiao Yan silently peeled and ate all the pistachios on the table: "Can you leave now?"

Lin ChuSui felt somewhat doubtful in her heart. She believed in Xu Jia Ning's nonsense that after the spirit writing that night, Xiao Yan might have been possessed by old Lin's ghost, so she specially came to test it out.

Old Lin hated eating pine nuts the most, and it was a physiological dislike. He especially hated cashews. When they were young, Lin ChuSui played a trick on him by throwing cashews into his mouth. Old Lin ran straight to the bathroom and vomited violently.

If Xiao Yan was really Old Lin, after eating so many cashews, it would be impossible for him to behave as if nothing had happened.

Could it be that she was overthinking this?

Xiao Yan had no relationship whatsoever with Old Lin.

That's right, Xiao Yan was nothing like Old Lin. Xiao Yan was a penny pinching iron rooster who loved money more than his life. But Old Lin was very generous, probably because he came from a well-off family and money was unimportant to him.

In the past, Grandpa and Grandma wanted Old Lin to study business management well so that he could inherit the family business in the future, but Old Lin insisted on becoming a firefighter because that was what he really wanted to do.

Old Lin and Xiao Yan were worlds apart and absolutely not the same person.

However, Lin ChuSui was still a little reluctant to let this go. Xu Jia Ning did not seem like the kind of person who would joke around lightly, so she probably wouldn't use something Lin ChuSui cared deeply about to joke around.

Since this matter arose from the spirit writing game, Lin ChuSui wanted to try it again to see if a miracle would happen.

"Scholar God, are you free this weekend?"

"Got something going on?"

"Yeah, it's my birthday. I want you to come celebrate with me."

Xiao Yan blinked, his long eyelashes fluttering slowly: "Your birthday is December 14th. Still early."

Lin ChuSui exclaimed, "How do you know! You're not my dad!"

He explained calmly: "I've seen your ID."

When Lin ChuSui thought of the gloomy and ugly photo on her ID, she was instantly drained of energy.

"I remembered wrong. It's Lu Chi's birthday. We're planning a good celebration for her."

"We just celebrated Lu TianBai's birthday at the Xiting Club last time. I still remember. You forgot?"

Lin ChuSui righteously said, "That's right. But next week is Lu Chi's birthday."

"As far as I know, they're twins."

"Yeah."

The corner of Xiao Yan's mouth twitched: "In your family, twins are born two months apart?"

"......"

After being exposed, Lin ChuSui was mortified and angrily said, "If you don't want to come just say so, why make excuses."

Xiao Yan smiled faintly: "It's because you're so bad at lying your excuses are full of holes."

"I just can't lie well, so what!"

"You want to lie yourself but get angry when exposed. Could your temper be any worse?"

Lin ChuSui looked at him angrily, like an angry little frog, her cheeks flushed red.

Unexpectedly, Xiao Yan couldn't help but reach out and poke her puffy little cheeks.

She took the opportunity to grab his collar: "Xiao Yan, is it fun to bully people?"

Xiao Yan grasped her snowy white and smooth wrist, pulling her close to himself. His low voice was filled with suppressed desire and restraint―

"You call this bullying? You haven't seen real bullying yet."

Looking at his handsome features up close, those fathomless black eyes were filled with dangerous allure.

The little girl had acted tough for over ten years. Suddenly she felt a little cowardly, like a little bunny, blinking her long lashes at him.

She suddenly felt wronged, her eyes turning a little red.

Only in front of this boy would she truly feel embarrassed, flustered, and sad...

Lin ChuSui broke free of his hand, took her schoolbag, and walked away, muttering angrily: "Then forget it if you don't want to go."

Seeing her dejected back, Xiao Yan called out lightly: "Didn't say I wasn't going. Just one condition."

Lin ChuSui stopped and looked back at him: "What?"

"You have to participate in the school-wide essay contest next month."

"Essay contest?" Lin ChuSui was puzzled. "Why do I have to participate? Is there prize money?"

"No prize money, but if you win, there's honor."

"Didn't you say honor without prize money is worthless?"

Xiao Yan stood up. The light illuminated his handsome features even more dazzlingly―black hair, black eyes, fair skin, red lips―peerless.

"For me, honor is unimportant because it's easily obtained. But for you it's very important, because you're a failing student."

"......"

Seeing the faint smile at the corner of his mouth, Lin ChuSui's fists tightened again.

He looked at her and said, "Failing deskmate, don't you want the homeroom teacher to stop looking down on you?"

Lin ChuSui lowered her head to think. It was indeed so.

Whenever Mr. Qin mentioned her, it was with contempt, as if she would be mired in failure her whole life.

Lin ChuSui didn't use to care, but now she wanted to care a little.

"Fine, I promise I'll participate, and you have to come this weekend too."

"Deal."

...

On her way home, Lin ChuSui asked Lu TianBai for a notice about participating in the essay contest.

The theme was to write about someone very important to you. After writing, submit it to the Chinese class representative before next month.

It would be simple to casually write something perfunctory, but it probably wouldn't be easy to win a prize.

She sent Xiao Yan a message―

"Scholar God, what should I write about for the essay contest?"

Xiao Yan picked up a tissue box and went into his room to continue what he had interrupted earlier. He casually replied:

"You have to write something meaningful in order to win a prize."

"Do you have any good ideas for a topic?"

When it came to the Scholar God's opinions, Lin ChuSui was all ears.

Xiao Yan: "For example, 'My Helpful Deskmate', 'Beacon in Life―My Deskmate', or 'Foolish Me, Fortunate to Have Met My Scholar God Deskmate'."