CH 4

On Sunday evening, there was no teacher present for self-study. Kong Nianxi arrived late, just as the first class was about to end. She looked down and saw an unknown drink on her desk, furrowing her brows slightly.

“Maybe you’ll be interested in who sent it this time,” said the short curly-haired boy across the aisle, winking.

“Oh? Do tell,” Kong Nianxi said, pausing in her motion to throw away the bag she was holding, intrigued by what he had to say.

“It was the charming and aloof Xi Meiren~ I was almost scared to death,” the boy exaggerated, gesturing as if he were talking about something unbelievable.

Kong Nianxi’s expression relaxed slightly, and she immediately took back the milk tea she was about to throw away, turning to look behind her.

Xi Ning was sitting two rows to the right of her, with no high obstacles on her desk. She could easily see the other’s movements with just a turn of her head.

She sat upright, with a slender and graceful figure, like a lush green plant shoot that was pleasing to the eye.

Perhaps for the sake of convenience in doing the problems, her long hair was tied back, revealing a smooth and full forehead. Her delicate and pale skin was almost reflective under the classroom lights. She had a slightly lowered profile, with long fingers holding a black pen, quickly calculating something on a draft paper. The lively movement of the pen tip represented a smooth train of thought, while the calmness between her eyebrows and eyes made it seem as if she wasn’t using her brain to solve the problems at all.

Kong Nianxi couldn’t help but think of Xi Ning, whom her friends occasionally mentioned as a “ruthless problem-solving machine with top-notch equipment.”

Was it a pity? Xi Ning was indeed cold and aloof to the outside world, low-key and uninteresting, which didn’t match her appearance at all. She always studied with her head down, spoke little, and seemed dull and old-fashioned. Looking at it this way, it seemed like a pity.

She still remembered her first impression of Xi Ning when school started.

It was the first day of the second year of high school, and no one was wearing their school uniform. The school was unusually colorful. At the classroom’s back door, she ran into Xi Ning: wearing an oversized black T-shirt, tall and thin, with straight and slender legs under a short skirt. She wore a fisherman’s hat on her head, and under the shadow, a pair of narrow and beautiful eyes were revealed, with a slightly sharp and cold feeling, and an aggressive appearance. At first glance, she was a tall and cool girl.

Although aesthetics are subjective, Kong Nianxi had never lacked good-looking people around her. However, for the first time in her life, she couldn’t take her eyes off a girl’s face.

It wasn’t until Xi Ning’s beautiful eyebrows showed a hint of impatience that she realized and took a step back. She raised her hand to greet her warmly, but the other party passed by her expressionlessly.

… It’s okay, the new semester had just begun, and they should get along well and become good friends. That’s what Kong Nianxi thought.

But after school started, she found out that Xi Ning was a standard academic overachiever. Not only did she never come late or leave early, but she also strictly followed the school rules. She was simply a textbook model student, and they were not on the same path at all.

Moreover… she seemed cold to her? So much so that they had never spoken a word to each other before today.

“What? Xi Ning? When did you become so close to her, Nianxi? Didn’t you think she was boring?” The girl in front of her turned around and took off one of her earphones.

“Well, who knows about these things?” Holding a cup of milk tea, Kong Nianxi looked down at the label sticker on top of it and raised her eyebrows.

“Xi Ning.”

The bell had been ringing for a while, and Xi Ning was holding a stack of physics test papers when she was suddenly stopped by someone while collecting homework.

She was surprised and stopped her steps, turning to the girl who was looking up at her from her seat.

Kong Nianxi lightly bit the straw, and the girl’s lip gloss in a youthful color was particularly eye-catching under the light, which complemented her snow-white skin.

“I seem to have forgotten my physics test paper, what should I do?” Kong Nianxi stared at her and spoke slowly, but there was no embarrassment that should have come with forgetting homework.

However…

Xi Ning looked at her with slight doubt.

Since she became the physics class representative, she didn’t remember the other party ever handing in homework. Did she need to explain this time?

“Oh.”

After a brief thought, she felt that this was the only response.

Kong Nianxi had always excelled in physics, and whether she completed her homework had little impact. The physics teacher turned a blind eye, so she naturally had no reason to say anything.

The atmosphere fell into an awkward silence. Xi Ning bit her lower lip, feeling a little uneasy under the gaze of those beautiful cat-like eyes. Her gaze flickered and fell on the cup of milk tea in the other party’s hand – it was the one she had just put on the table.

“How did you know I liked this flavor lately?” Kong Nianxi shook the cup in her hand, which was already empty, and said with a smile.

“Huh?” Xi Ning was taken aback, and in a flash, she realized that she might have misunderstood something, so she quickly explained, “Actually, that was-“

She remembered that Xi Mu, that coward, had specifically instructed her to arrange for him to be an “anonymous milk tea shop owner” before he left. Her words were cut off abruptly.

“What is it?” Kong Nianxi tilted her head curiously and looked at her, then smiled and said, “But I rarely drink milk tea at night. I only broke my rule because it was given by Xi. If there’s a next time, remember to tell me in advance. The taste isn’t good if it’s left for too long.”

It was probably just her imagination, but Xi Ning could hear a hint of coquetry in the other’s tone.

After all, their only contact so far had been when she helped her pick up the little fox wool felt in the afternoon. This suddenly familiar tone made her react for a moment and that cup of milk tea…

Xi Ning came back to her senses and was about to speak again, but was interrupted by a sudden shout.

“Nianxi, hurry!”

A tall girl rushed into the classroom, pulled Kong Nianxi’s hand, and squeezed her to the side.

“Wait for me.” Kong Nianxi stood up and smiled, then left the classroom.

“…”

Xi Ning watched her back and saved her prepared words for another time. It was just a cup of milk tea, after all.

One by one, classmates came to hand in their homework, and she was busy collecting them. After she finished, she went to the teacher’s office.

Two self-study classes passed in the blink of an eye. Almost as soon as the school bell rang, Tu Xiaoyu, who had been looking forward to the end of school, ran over and pulled Xi Ning’s hand, then ran back to the dormitory.

When they climbed the stairs, the entire dormitory building was empty. Most people hadn’t come back yet, and the corridor was dim, with only the green light of the “emergency exit” sign in the corner.

Tu Xiaoyu opened the door to their dormitory with a key, “click,” turned on the light, and said urgently, “Quick! Ningning, bring your stuff, we’re getting ready at the usual place!”

Finally, they had made it through the end of school and could start their long-awaited hot pot feast. She hurriedly picked up her backpack, which was stuffed with “ingredients,” and grabbed a small stool, then walked out of the dormitory first.

Xi Ning helplessly rubbed her forehead and scanned the empty dormitory. She had to bend down and retrieve two spare stools from under the bed before following Tu Xiaoyu out of the room.

At the end of the corridor on the left was a glass door that led to a long outdoor balcony with a wide view of the endless green fields. It was the perfect spot for stargazing and enjoying the night breeze, and it was always crowded before the lights were out. That was why Tu Xiaoyu had rushed there.

The weather was nice that night, with a bright moon hanging high in the sky above the open fields. The plastic lid of the self-heating pot was bubbling and steaming, and the aroma of the food filled the air. Eating hotpot on the sixth-floor balcony under such moonlight was quite romantic.

Tu Xiaoyu handed her a pair of chopsticks and said proudly, “See? I told you to follow me for some meat.”

Seeing her expectant expression, Xi Ning didn’t want to say anything about how eating meat would make her gain weight. She put her hands together and said, “Thank you, Xiaoyu, for the food.”

Soon, the corridor outside filled with the noise of students returning from the teaching building. After a while, there was a “click” as the glass door to the balcony was pushed open, and two unfamiliar girls walked in.

Of course, this place was not just for stargazing and enjoying the moon. In the girls’ dormitory, it had other uses, such as a place to vent after a breakup, to mediate a fight, or even to smoke and drink.

The two girls in front of them had nothing in their hands, and one of them had tears in her eyes under the moonlight. They were there for the first reason.

They were surprised to see people there so early, so they hesitated for a moment before walking to the other end of the balcony.

“It’s ready, let’s eat!”

Tu Xiaoyu happily opened the lid, and the aroma of the food filled the air.

While they enjoyed their meal, they could hear a girl crying from the other end of the balcony. The night breeze brought intermittent sobs.

“She rejected me because she likes Kong Nianxi…”

“Kong Nianxi…how is that possible? She looks as straight as a steel bar…”

These two sentences contained much information, and Xi Ning’s hand holding the chopsticks suddenly froze. The chopsticks’ wide noodles slipped and fell to the ground with a “crack.”

Because of Xí Mù’s influence, her sensitivity to Kong Nianxi’s name had skyrocketed recently.

Although she knew many people were pursuing Kong Nianxi, it was the first time she had heard a girl say she liked her.

“Oh, another girl indirectly hurt by Kong Nianxi.” Tu Xiaoyu clicked her tongue twice and gossiped, “But even in this situation, you still speak so gently about her. You are a girl with a lot of charm, and you’re even more tolerant of beautiful rivals.”

Xi Ning looked at her with chopsticks in hand and said, “Your logic…”

Tu Xiaoyu’s watery eyes flickered, and she leaned over with a smile, asking, “What do you think of Kong Nianxi?”

Xi Ning was confused. “What do you mean?”

“Her appearance, do you think she’s pretty?”

Her question was sudden, and Xi Ning hesitated for a moment before casually replying, “She’s okay.”

She felt guilty about her casual response. Anyone with eyesight would think that Kong Nianxi was beautiful, or else she wouldn’t have so many admirers. However, Xi Ning cared little about other people’s appearances, and she wasn’t used to making judgments. Moreover… she subconsciously wanted to avoid this question.

“See, most straight girls answer so coldly.” Tu Xiaoyu had an expected expression and put her paw on Xi Ning’s leg, squinting meaningfully. “But among the people I know, except for straight guys, she’s very popular in the circle of bent girls.”

“…”

“Oh.”

Xi Ning was speechless for a moment.

Wasn’t the conversation going in the wrong direction? Why was she gossiping about Kong Nianxi with Tu Xiaoyu? And why were they discussing how popular she was among girls who liked girls?

They were completely different people, and Xi Ning didn’t know Kong Nianxi, nor did she care about these things. After all, they would not have any deep interaction in the future.

However, among those girls who secretly admired Kong Nianxi, there wouldn’t be anyone who had sent her milk tea, right?