CH 10

Tu Xiaoyuan sneezed in the corner of the last row next to the tightly closed window. Su Yuqi sat in the aisle, surrounded by desks, munching on a pizza. She moved away from Tu Xiaoyuan with disgust and handed her a tissue. Tu Xiaoyuan covered her nose with the tissue and turned to look at Xi Ning, who was biting on a straw and wearing another woman’s perfume. She put on a fake voice and said, “Ning Ning… you are dirty, you smell like another woman’s perfume.”

Xi Ning was startled and almost spewed out the cola in her mouth.

“Ahem, ahem…”

Su Yuqi quickly grabbed the small plate in front of her to save it from spilling and handed a tissue to Tu Xiaoyuan. “Tu Xiaoyuan, be careful with what you say while eating.”

“You don’t understand anything, you are always scolding me.” Tu Xiaoyuan sniffed and stared at Xi Ning, trying to detect some clues from her face.

Xi Ning took the tissue, wiped her mouth, and pressed it against her lips. With her beautiful eyes and her slightly downturned phoenix eyes, she looked cold and elegant, restrained and introverted. Now her face showed no emotions, and her movements were slow and measured, as if her previous outburst was just an illusion.

Such eyes were rare, they had a steady gaze, and they gave one the feeling that she was hiding something. Xi Ning’s personality was also similar. She rarely shared her feelings, and when her face became serious, no one could tell what she was thinking.

Tu Xiaoyuan sighed softly. If it weren’t for the pain in her pinched flesh, she would have thought she was dreaming. Ning Ning was flirting with Kong Nianxi right in front of the whole class, and even below the desk?

…What the hell!

Tu Xiaoyuan pulled on the hem of Xi Ning’s shirt with a faint sense of loss. She hadn’t even noticed this “underground romance” happening right in front of her eyes! How could she claim to be a gossip queen?

“When did you start dating each other?”

“…………”

Xi Ning paused in her motion of wiping her mouth and was momentarily speechless.

“Moreover, are you two coming back together under the same umbrella? Your clothes are wet…”

The two had walked in through the front door a moment ago. They were walking one after the other, and the difference was particularly noticeable. Tu Xiaoyuan saw clearly that compared to Xi Ning, Kong Nianxi’s uniform was dry and fresh, hardly touched by the rain.

Tu Xiaoyuan clicked her tongue. Xi Ning was worthy of being her Ning Ning. Since she was taller, when they shared an umbrella before, Xi Ning would always hold it and lean towards her side.

Actually, Xi Ning seemed cold and unapproachable, but once you got to know her, you would find that was not the case, especially with other girls.

“Creak…”

The legs of the chair made a noise as Xi Ning stood up, threw away her trash, and greeted Tu Xiaoyuan on the shoulder before returning to her seat.

The weather in October was not very cold here, and with the rain, the windows on the inside of the classroom were all closed, leaving only the other side open, so there was no wind coming in.

Xi Ning’s school uniform jacket was hanging behind her, and she only wore a shirt, so she didn’t feel cold.

But…

“It’s nothing.” Kong Nianxi smiled and withdrew her gaze.

She looked down at the other jacket in her desk pocket, and the faint scent tantalized her nose. At the time, she had acted on impulse, wanting to escape the crowd’s attention as quickly as possible. After leaving, she realized she was still holding the other person’s clothes.

Looking up, she glanced to her left, and no one was there. The noise from outside the classroom entered through the open front door, mixed with a familiar laughter. Xi Ning leaned against the classroom door with one hand on her arm, her posture lazy. From this angle, she could see the side of her face.

Her long hair was tied in a bun, and she seemed to have applied some lipstick. She was occasionally teased by a group of friends outside, her lips curved in a carefree and stunning smile.

Xi Ning’s eyes lingered on her for two seconds, and the dilemma over the school uniform jacket suddenly faded away. Just as she was about to retract her gaze, Kong Nianxi suddenly turned her head and their eyes met briefly. Xi Ning hurriedly lowered her head and stared at the books on her desk.

“Xi Ning, can I ask you a question?” The girl in the front row turned around, holding a “XX Treasure Secret Scroll” and pointing to a deep advanced question on it, asking her.

“Sure, let me take a look.” Xi Ning readily agreed and took a look, then picked up a piece of paper and patiently explained it to her.

“What’s wrong? What are you looking at?” In the corridor, the girl next to her noticed that Kong Nianxi’s smile suddenly became a bit stiff. She was curious and looked into the classroom, thinking something was wrong, but she didn’t see anything strange.

“Nothing.” Kong Nianxi smiled and withdrew her gaze.

The rain continued intermittently almost from noon until evening.

After evening self-study, when they walked to the dormitory building, Tu Xiaoyuan suddenly wanted to eat cookies and left Xi Ning behind to rush into the crowded convenience store downstairs.

Xi Ning stood under the convenience store’s steps with an umbrella, and sporadic raindrops floated under the streetlights. From time to time, female students returning to their dormitories passed by her with umbrellas.

“Xi, do you have any spare umbrellas?” The voice brought Xi Ning back to reality. The girl in front of her held a light-colored umbrella, and her features were hidden in the shadow of the umbrella. She could only see blurry outlines. Even if she only heard her voice, Xi Ning could recognize her.

Although she could not see her expression clearly, she subconsciously felt that the other’s gaze fell on her school uniform jacket that had been hanging outside for the afternoon and was finally half dry.

“You…” Kong Nianxi said “you” for a long time without any follow-up. Hearing someone calling her, she waved her hand and left.

Xi Ning suddenly remembered the clothes she had in her bag and was about to speak, but the other person had already disappeared into the crowd of umbrellas.

A few minutes later, Tu Xiaoyuan rushed out of the convenience store with her “victory prize” and happily pulled Xi Ning upstairs to their respective dormitories.

Upon opening the door to their dorm room, Xi Ning discovered that her two roommates had not yet returned. She took out Kong Nianxi’s clothes from her bag and decided to return them to her.

The girls’ dormitory rooms were connected, and Xi Ning walked through two adjacent rooms before stopping at the door of room 612. Although the room appeared to be lit, there was no one inside.

Just as she was turning around, a girl with twin ponytails suddenly rushed in.

“Ah, Big Mao! Something’s wrong! Quick… where is she?”

The girl was holding a pair of freshly washed socks and looked dumbfoundedly at the empty room. She ran to the balcony to see if anyone was there, but upon confirming that there was no one, she noticed Xi Ning standing at the door and looked surprised. “Xi Ning? What are you doing here? Is there something wrong?”

Xi Ning was about to answer, but the girl with twin ponytails grabbed her sleeve and pulled her along. “Hey, forget about it. Xixi is being surrounded by some second-rate psychos. Come with me and take a look!”

As they walked, the girl with twin ponytails kept muttering under her breath. Xi Ning was dragged along until they reached the end of the hallway on the other side. This place was a dead end, a little ways away from the last dormitory. Normally, no one would pass through here. However, the usually desolate corner was now “busy.”

On the wall at the end of the hallway was an open window. The cool breeze from the rainy night occasionally blew in, and the voice-activated lights overhead cast a dim yellow light.

Through the crowd, Xi Ning noticed a figure leaning against the wall, surrounded by some girls. It was Kong Nianxi.

She was pinned against the wall by a group of people, carrying a bag on her shoulder and holding an umbrella that dripped with water. Her delicate figure looked even more fragile under the watchful eyes of the crowd, as if she were the protagonist of a scene from a school violence movie where a weak and helpless beauty is harassed by delinquents.

Ignoring her lazy posture against the wall, her long legs crossed elegantly beneath her short skirt, and…

“Kong, you’ve gone too far. You’re beautiful, but there’s no need to keep trying to take Nini away from us, is there?” That was the girl with the dyed blue hair, who stood opposite Kong Nianxi with her arms crossed, speaking unkindly.

Kong Nianxi chuckled and casually ran her hand through her hair, her red nails particularly striking. She glanced over the crowd and said, “Who’s Nini?”

“…,” the group went silent for two seconds.

After a while, a petite girl with a round face, who was standing in the middle of the crowd, timidly looked over at Kong Nianxi before shifting her gaze towards the girl with the blue hair and saying, “I know you might not like him, but X-ge has been unable to eat, sleep, or even practice for the upcoming sprint because of you. He went drinking and came back crying like a dog. You… um!”

Kong Nianxi didn’t have the patience to let her finish. She suddenly lowered her head, took two steps forward, pinched the girl’s chin, and leaned in close, her smile enchanting. “You’re right. I not only have no interest in him, but I’m also not interested in what he looks like. However, my dear sister, you should have a little more confidence in yourself. Compared to your X-ge, I might be more interested in you.”

“…,” the once restless crowd suddenly fell silent.

After a long pause, a piercing scream shattered the silence. The round-faced girl jumped up like a thunderbolt, covering her face and running out of the crowd.

“…,” the group fell silent again.

“What the hell, Wang Li, you dare to block people in the dorm?”

At this moment, a group of tall girls walked over from the other end of the hallway, their momentum fierce.

The girl with the blue hair looked into the distance and then turned to look at Kong Nianxi. She cursed under her breath, pushed through the crowd, and ran away.

The group of people who had been blocking the way looked at each other and then dispersed.

As the crowd dissipated, Xi Ning found herself standing face to face with Kong Nianxi.

“Kong Nianxi, you…” The girl with twin ponytails hurried over to comfort her, but Kong Nianxi walked straight past her and threw herself into Xi Ning’s arms, looking pitiful. “Sniff, I think I was just bullied.”

Xi Ning was at a loss for words.