On the night street, people walked in small groups. Moths kept fluttering their wings, crashing into the crooked street lamps. An occasional cool breeze blew past, making the weather seem more comfortable than when Qing Ye had first arrived here, with even the stuffy dust particles in the air somewhat dispersed.
She turned back to stare at Xing Wu behind her, who still had his hands in his pockets, looking casual.
“Where’s your balance vehicle?”
Xing Wu looked at her: “In the security room.”
Seeing that Qing Ye showed no intention of leaving, he raised an eyebrow: “Want to learn now?”
Qing Ye quietly looked at him, and Xing Wu asked playfully: “Not going back to study?”
“I’ll ride back to study.”
While Xing Wu went to get the balance vehicle, Qing Ye stood by the roadside wearing headphones, listening to oral practice exercises while waiting for him.
About five minutes later, two LED lights suddenly shone from the end of the street. Qing Ye turned her head to see Xing Wu riding the Ninebot, his tall figure darting through the night like a shadow. His S-shaped movements perfectly demonstrated that he was the coolest guy on the entire street. He then smoothly stopped in front of Qing Ye, got off, and said to her: “Get on.”
Qing Ye wanted to spray him in the face – get on your sister! Don’t you know this is my first time?
Xing Wu glanced at her and asked: “Do you know how to control it?”
Qing Ye put one foot on: “Haven’t eaten pork but haven’t I seen pigs run?”
“…” Are you sure you’re not insulting someone?
Qing Ye suddenly said amusingly: “Where did you get this from? Must be high-tech for your county, right?”
Hearing her teasing words, Xing Wu gave her a sidelong glance: “Don’t you know about Father Ma?”
Qing Ye expressed sincere praise for the fact that Xing Wu online shopped for a balanced vehicle: “You’re the most trendy country bumpkin in the entire county.”
“…”
Then she said to him: “Help me up.”
Xing Wu looked at her coldly with disdain: “No, holding hands on the street, what would that look like?”
Qing Ye completely ignored him and had already reached out her hand. Xing Wu lowered his eyes to look at the small hand extended in front of him, hesitated for a moment but still raised his hand. However, just as he was about to grasp it, Qing Ye directly held onto his arm and stepped onto the balance vehicle. Xing Wu grabbed empty air, his eyes slightly turning as he narrowed them.
When Qing Ye first got on, she was a bit wobbly, looking nervous as she tightly gripped both of Xing Wu’s arms. Xing Wu raised an eyebrow and asked her with a smile: “Can you handle it?”
Qing Ye responded quite proudly: “Give me a few minutes. There’s nothing I can’t learn.”
Xing Wu had originally planned to quietly watch her boast, but a few minutes later he was proved wrong. Qing Ye truly let go and started trying to control the balance vehicle herself. At first, her speed was quite slow, but probably because there were few cars there, she began to grow bolder, gradually increasing her speed and running ahead of Xing Wu, who leisurely followed behind her.
Once Qing Ye mastered how to control the balancing vehicle, she found the feeling of riding it like wind and lightning increasingly enjoyable. Since she was little, her father had liked to let her experience all kinds of new things, so Qing Ye had always been brave when playing with these things.
The street lights stretched her proportions long and slender, her high-waisted slightly flared jeans making her legs look long and straight. Wearing a backpack and headphones, she looked cool as she proudly glided past the low withered trees, past the electrical boxes covered in ads, past the storefronts piled with cardboard boxes. It was as if even the crisscrossing power lines in the distance had all disappeared. This run-down street that Xing Wu had walked countless times suddenly lit up entirely. He gazed at that figure so close before his eyes yet seeming ready to fly into the distance at any moment, the light in his eyes gradually gathering until finally all the roadside scenery disappeared. In his eyes there was only that beam of light, slowly condensing into a tiny point, getting further and further away, becoming more and more blurred… But just then, the sound of a three-wheeled motorcycle suddenly appeared at the intersection. Xing Wu’s pupils contracted sharply as he shouted at Qing Ye: “Come back!”
For several seconds, Xing Wu felt his heart stop. He didn’t know what kind of feeling that was, only that when the three-wheeler rushed out, he had already sprinted towards Qing Ye, pulling her into his arms. A warm breeze blew past, the street quiet, the moon bright but stars sparse, the sound of the three-wheeler growing more distant.
Xing Wu’s arms held Qing Ye tightly, her face buried in his chest, so clearly feeling his strong heartbeat, at the place closest to his heart.
Qing Ye didn’t move, her voice carrying a hint of uncertain surprise: “Why are you hugging me?”
Xing Wu was suddenly stunned, quickly releasing her and stepping back, his dark bright eyes seeming to still retain flickering afterglow: “Wasn’t I afraid you’d get hit by the vehicle?”
Qing Ye’s gaze carried faint scrutiny as she stared at him for several seconds, then suddenly smiled and moved aside: “At such a distance, did you think that person was blind? Or did you think I was blind?”
Only then did Xing Wu realize that Qing Ye had already changed direction when the three-wheeler was turning. His expression suddenly changed as he turned around and coldly dropped the words: “Let’s go.”
Qing Ye looked at his suddenly cold figure, lightly tugged at the corner of her mouth, and soon glided up beside him on the balance vehicle, turning her head to look at him: “Hey, why are you blocking me?”
Xing Wu still kept a cold face, looking straight ahead with an untouchable air of distance. Qing Ye deliberately slapped his back hard then quickly rode to the front, turned a corner, and raised her voice to ask again: “Why are you blocking me?”
Xing Wu stopped walking, with some distance between them. He took out a cigarette and lowered his head to light it, smoke spreading from his fingertips. He kept his eyes half-lowered as his voice carried over, neither light nor heavy: “You were quick enough to take his money. Being so clear-cut with me, is his money more fragrant than mine?”
Qing Ye stood on the balance vehicle staring at him in bewilderment, her big eyes blinking inexplicably a couple of times. After about ten seconds, she suddenly realized something and turned her head laughing. The balance vehicle drew a circle in place as her laughter grew clearer, like crisp rain hitting spring bamboo shoots, rippling with waves.
Then the balance vehicle slowly stopped, and her smile also faded somewhat. She just looked at Xing Wu and said to him: “That was my father’s money. Money my father lent to someone before he went in. Of course, I had to get it back. What did you think?”
Xing Wu took a drag of his cigarette without answering her.
Xuan Island was not far behind them, the tri-colored light poles still glowing and rotating continuously. The smile completely disappeared from Qing Ye’s face as she put on that look of contempt for all under heaven again, saying faintly: “Hey, although I look pretty good and excel in all aspects, making it hard for people not to be moved, you absolutely must not fall for me, because… I’m the daddy you can never have!”
After speaking, she spun around in place and turned back to make a face at Xing Wu. Xing Wu was slightly stunned, feeling for the first time an urge to knead and squish her.
When Qing Ye returned to the shop, she went straight upstairs to study. Xing Wu didn’t go upstairs to disturb her, staying downstairs playing games. By the time Qing Ye came down to shower after finishing her studies, it was already late. He was still sitting in the barbershop with one leg crossed. Not long after she finished showering and returned to her room, she heard Little Angel’s voice outside – he had left.
Qing Ye turned off the lights and lay in bed taking out her phone, seeing a friend request lying in WeChat. She snorted and locked her phone without responding to him.
After tossing and turning for ten minutes, she unlocked her phone again and accepted that request. Soon after, Xing Wu sent an emoji wearing sunglasses and smoking. Qing Ye sent back a bomb emoji, then turned off her phone to sleep.
Just as everyone had predicted, early the next morning, the vice principal personally brought the director of teaching affairs and Teacher Yang to Class 2’s door looking for Qing Ye. So Qing Ye was thus invited to the teaching affairs office under everyone’s watchful eyes.
In less than ten minutes, this matter had spread throughout all of Anzhong. Yesterday afternoon when a big group from Anzhi came to block Qing Ye, almost everyone from the second and third years had seen it. Later, Qing Ye claimed that Xing Wu, who made both teachers and students at Anzhong get headaches just looking at him, was her little brother. Even more bizarre was that after she made such a bold statement, Xing Wu actually didn’t do anything to her, and truly stepped in to drive away the Anzhi people. This caused last night’s evening self-study sessions in various classes to explode with all kinds of speculations.
Qing Ye’s grades had spread among the school leaders as soon as school started. Anzhong hadn’t produced the county’s top gaokao scholar for several years, with the top few spots being taken by Jinlong High School in recent years. Jinlong High School was the county’s only private high school, while Anzhong was the only public high school. The two schools had been competing for years in everything from teaching resources to college admission rates. The school leaders naturally wanted to have their moment of glory. They had discussed privately that if Qing Ye could maintain this level without slipping and pushing a bit harder, forget about being county champion – she had a great chance at being city champion. Therefore, although Qing Ye herself wasn’t aware, in just a week she had already been designated as a key-protected student.
So yesterday afternoon’s incident immediately received high attention from the school. Early in the morning, they had already invited Qing Ye over to understand the situation.
Cao Fan brought a group of people to stand in the corridor watching the show. Not even mentioning the incident with the students from another school, just Qing Ye openly hanging out with Xing Wu’s group yesterday would earn her a warning at minimum.
However, soon everyone saw the director of teaching affairs and Teacher Yang personally escorting Qing Ye back to class, chatting and smiling pleasantly along the way, showing no signs of having been disciplined at all.
After sending her to Class 2, the director of teaching affairs and Teacher Yang both walked into the classroom. At this time, Xing Wu finally strolled in leisurely through the back door swinging his shoulders. Morning self-study was something that had never had anything to do with him – being able to make it to class by the second period already counted as hardworking and diligent. When Xing Wu was downstairs, he had already heard that Qing Ye had been called for a talk by school leaders early in the morning, but he hadn’t expected that by the time he came upstairs, her talk was already finished. At this moment, even Director Gu with his buck teeth was at the podium.
Xing Wu’s eyes glanced at Qing Ye standing to the side as he walked towards the back row. Director Gu finally found him after looking around and immediately addressed him: “Xing Wu, you’re quite early today.”
Xing Wu hadn’t expected to be called out, and casually replied with his hands in his pockets as he walked to his seat: “No pain no gain, senior year is tasteless.”
A wave of quiet laughter spread through the class. With the director of teaching affairs present, everyone lowered their heads covering their mouths, not daring to make too much noise.
Director Gu pushed up the glasses on his nose bridge and gave him a white-eyed look: “You’re tired enough alright – when you don’t even have enough time for sleeping and playing games, how could you have time for school?”
Xing Wu found this quite reasonable and nodded sincerely, while those around him buried their heads under their desks laughing.
Director Gu cleared his throat and said: “Starting today, the school is giving you a task – protect Qing Ye’s personal safety and ensure her learning environment is not disturbed. Especially if people from other schools come to cause trouble for her again, try your best to ask them to leave without conflict. If you can’t get them to leave, immediately notify school leaders to resolve it.”
Immediately, everyone sat up straight, turning back to stare at Xing Wu in surprise.
Xing Wu himself replied in confusion: “I’m not a security guard, why do I have to protect her?”
Director Gu had dealt with these troublemakers for years and naturally knew very well Xing Wu’s weight at Anzhong. He said meaningfully: “Who told you to be capable of doing more work? The school plans to appoint you as a safety pacesetter. If you do well, the major demerit recorded last semester can be offset based on merit.”
“…” What the hell is a safety pacesetter?
In all his years of schooling, Xing Wu had never heard of any safety pacesetter position.
His eyes swept over to look at Qing Ye standing on the side with a composed expression and found her staring at him with a half-smiling curve to her lips. He fucking wanted to rush over and ask her what she had said to these school leaders this morning.
Xing Wu withdrew his gaze and somewhat unhappily rubbed his buzz cut as he said: “Then is this… safety pacesetter on the same level as those student council presidents and department heads?”
The whole class could no longer hold back their laughter, and even Teacher Pig Manure standing on the side ready to start class laughed. Director Gu pointed at Xing Wu and said sarcastically: “You’re on the same level as the principal too!”
Then he looked at Panghu: “Fan Tong, Huang Zhiming, Sun Dongcheng, you guys also cooperate with Xing Wu. Your class has only one student with outstanding grades. If you don’t help your classmate and let students from other schools bully her, do you want everyone to fail?”
These few people Director Gu pointed out were also usually unruly boys in Class 2. None of them had any objections. After giving his instructions, Director Gu left with Teacher Yang.
At this time, Qing Ye casually returned to her seat. As soon as she sat down, Xing Wu sent her a WeChat message: What did you say to those old guys?
Qing Ye replied with a few words: You’re my cousin.
“…”