Chapter 30
Only on that day at the ancient tower had Qi Wang truly opened his heart.
After that, for quite a long time, he kept pretending that nothing had happened and never brought up the matters at home again. Seeing how obviously he was avoiding it, Lin Huaixi also stopped pressing him.
But such matters did not end so easily. Every few days, Lin Huaixi would hear some commotion from the little courtyard next door. He desperately wanted to rush over, protect Qi Wang, and face everything with him, but he also knew very clearly that Qi Wang did not want him to know about those things.
Lin Huaixi hesitated again and again. In the end, he still chose not to go against Qi Wang’s wishes. He simply lay by the little window opposite his bed, looking worriedly toward the neighboring courtyard, keeping his promise in this way: to stay by Qi Wang’s side always.
Because he cared too much, Lin Huaixi had nearly developed insomnia over it. Fortunately, somehow or other, Qi Wang managed to deal with that scumbag father. For two whole months now, no strangers had come to disturb their normal lives again.
Gradually, Lin Huaixi also got used to this rhythm. On top of that, the countdown to the high school entrance exam was approaching, so he threw his whole body and mind into studying.
Sometimes during the long morning break, they did not have to go out and do the broadcast exercises. The students would cheer and use the free time however they pleased, while Lin Huaixi simply lay lazily on his desk, closing his eyes to rest.
After some unknown amount of time, his desk was suddenly shaken. Sleepy-eyed, Lin Huaixi lifted his head and saw Sun Baiyi’s enlarged face.
Sun Baiyi’s expression was extremely grave, as though the sky itself had fallen. “Xixi, I discovered Qi Wang’s secret!”
At those last few words, all the drowsiness in Lin Huaixi vanished at once. He jerked his head up and stared at Sun Baiyi with wide eyes.
Qi Wang did not want anyone getting involved in his family affairs, and Lin Huaixi had done his best to help keep it hidden. On top of that, Sun Baiyi was broad-hearted to the point of being brainless. Even after all this time, he still had no idea that something had gone wrong in Qi Wang’s home.
So how had he found out now? Had that scumbag father come bothering Qi Wang again, and even gone so far as to come to school and disrupt his life here?!
Lin Huaixi immediately started rolling up his sleeves. “That’s too much! Is this never going to end?!”
Sun Baiyi nodded again and again. “Exactly! Before, someone already confessed to Qi Wang, and now somebody even asked me to pass him a love letter. He’s supposed to be a good student. How can he be setting the example by dating? What kind of atmosphere is that!”
Lin Huaixi froze, his face completely blank. “Love letter… is that what you meant?”
Sun Baiyi looked just as foolishly stunned and asked back, “Weren’t you talking about this too?”
“…”
Only then did Lin Huaixi realize he had overthought everything and had nearly let something slip. He hurriedly adjusted his expression. “Yes, yes, yes, exactly this.”
“Did somebody ask you to pass Qi Wang a love letter too?” Sun Baiyi asked curiously.
Lin Huaixi shook his head. “I’m in the same class as Qi Wang. If I want something, I can just go to him directly. Why go through all that extra trouble?”
Sun Baiyi had not expected Lin Huaixi to be even more clueless than he was, completely unable to understand girls’ little thoughts. “It’s different. Qi Wang acts way too cool. He’s always cold-faced and arrogant as hell. Girls don’t dare face him directly, so they can only put in more effort behind the scenes. Get it now?”
Lin Huaixi understood immediately and nodded again and again.
Sun Baiyi always wanted to compare himself with Qi Wang in everything, and he puffed up unhappily. “Then why does nobody send me love letters? The number I get should definitely be more than Qi Wang’s!”
Lin Huaixi looked at him seriously. “That’s a girl’s sincere feelings. It’s not something for comparison. Don’t say things like that again.”
Seeing Lin Huaixi’s solemn expression, Sun Baiyi also realized he had spoken wrongly and immediately promised over and over, “I absolutely won’t think like that again in the future!”
Only then did Lin Huaixi smile again. He reached into his schoolbag, took out a bag of chips, and began crunching away.
Taking advantage of the moment, Sun Baiyi sat down beside him. “Xixi, you’re actually really popular with girls. Has anyone ever confessed to you or given you a love letter?”
Lin Huaixi shook his head while chewing.
Sun Baiyi felt very puzzled. “How could that be? The two of us aren’t that much worse than him, are we?”
Lin Huaixi made a thoughtful face while continuing to chew.
He held the chips out. Sun Baiyi’s hand moved unconsciously toward them, grabbed a handful, and stuffed them straight into his mouth.
(crunch crunch crunch crunch crunch)
These two little foodies had absolutely no understanding of the tender thoughts of adolescent boys and girls. Faced with such a topic, both of them wore blank expressions, their eyes full of confusion, their entire beings practically radiating foolishness—and even infecting each other with it.
One bag of chips was not enough for two people. With no regard for image whatsoever, Sun Baiyi opened his mouth wide like some bloodthirsty beast and aimed it at the bag, refusing to leave behind even a single crumb. “Xixi, do you have any more chips?”
Lin Huaixi shook his head. “The last bag is for Qi Wang.”
Sun Baiyi looked up at Qi Wang’s empty seat, and crooked thoughts immediately began turning in his mind. “If you gave chips to him, that’s just a waste. We may as well eat them first.”
Before Lin Huaixi had time to stop him, Sun Baiyi’s eyes were already shining as he sneakily reached into Qi Wang’s desk cubby. He had only just touched the chips and had not yet even had time to look happy when a shadow fell across him from the front.
Sun Baiyi’s heart gave a thump. A terrible premonition crept over him. Slowly lifting his head, he saw Qi Wang’s dead-fish face.
“…”
Not the slightest bit guilty, he let out a dismissive tch, then provocatively pulled the bag of chips from Qi Wang’s desk and swaggered back toward the rear.
Qi Wang’s gaze landed on Lin Huaixi, like an evil dragon guarding its treasure. Step by step, he followed.
Most of the classmates had either gone out to play or gone to see teachers, so in the last row, only the three of them remained.
Lin Huaixi and Sun Baiyi continued crunching on the chips, while Qi Wang sat beside Lin Huaixi, lowering his head to help him organize his desk.
Seeing Qi Wang looking like some gentle little wife, Sun Baiyi felt very uncomfortable inside. He lost even the desire to keep eating chips. Pulling out a tissue, he wiped his hands carelessly, then took a love letter from his pocket and slapped it down in front of Qi Wang.
Qi Wang lifted his head and looked at Sun Baiyi expressionlessly. Lin Huaixi also felt that this was trampling on someone else’s feelings, so he glared up at him angrily too.
Sun Baiyi instantly wilted. Carefully lifting the love letter back up, he even blew on the nonexistent dust before solemnly setting it back down in front of Qi Wang.
Learning from his mistake, he lowered his voice and said in a bluffing, weakly fierce tone, “Qi Wang, why do you always fool ignorant little girls? Does that make you feel especially accomplished?”
Qi Wang ignored Sun Baiyi and instinctively turned to look at Lin Huaixi, afraid on some deep level of what his reaction might be.
But Lin Huaixi was only blinking those beautiful eyes of his. His pupils were moist and clear, and the only thing in them was curiosity.
Qi Wang lowered his head, trying hard to hide the strange disappointment welling up inside him.
Sun Baiyi noticed none of the undercurrents between them. Having finally found something he could use against Qi Wang, he only wanted to make a big fuss out of it. “Qi Wang, if you agree, then you’ll be a model student taking the lead in dating, and the grade dean explicitly forbids that. But if you reject her, then you’ll hurt her feelings. Heh, have you thought about what you’re going to do?”
Once again, Qi Wang ignored him. Turning to Lin Huaixi instead, he asked with an especially meaningful look and expression, “Xixi, what do you think I should do?”
Lin Huaixi thought very seriously for a moment and found that this question was even harder than an extra math problem. His expression became troubled. “I don’t know.”
Sun Baiyi, who would always defend Lin Huaixi without condition, immediately snapped at Qi Wang, “This is your problem. Why are you making Xixi think about it!”
Seeing Sun Baiyi stiffen his neck like a fighting rooster, ready to once again start a one-sided quarrel with Qi Wang, Lin Huaixi stepped in with practiced ease as peacemaker. “Sun Baiyi, you misunderstood. Qi Wang isn’t making things difficult for me. And I know you mean well too, so thank you.”
Lin Huaixi leveled the water in the bowl perfectly, pleasing both sides equally. Only then did Sun Baiyi back down, though he still glared at Qi Wang in a huff.
Qi Wang naturally put away the love letter without saying what he planned to do with it. “Class is about to start. Sun Baiyi, hurry back to your classroom.”
The other students were also beginning to return, but Sun Baiyi was exactly the type who had to enter the classroom only on the dot of the bell, so he still clung shamelessly to the chair.
Lin Huaixi sighed inwardly and spent some time coaxing him before Sun Baiyi finally left a little early.
Lin Huaixi’s deskmate had not come back yet. Qi Wang looked deeply at him. In the end, reason lost to instinct, and he blurted out awkwardly, “About that love letter, Xixi, you…”
Seeing Qi Wang hesitate and stop midway, Lin Huaixi immediately understood and loyally declared, “Don’t worry. I won’t tell Grandma and the others.”
The two of them stood very close. Qi Wang could see himself reflected in Lin Huaixi’s eyes, like some self-indulgent clown.
Lin Huaixi did not care in the slightest.
And yet why, at this moment, did he so badly wish Lin Huaixi would care?
It felt as though his chest had filled with a sour liquid—not enough to truly hurt, yet with his heart soaking in it, he could hardly breathe. That seed which had long since sprouted only needed to shake its leaves lightly, and it had already muddied an entire spring pool, throwing all of Qi Wang’s emotions into chaos.
He pressed his lips together, trying hard to suppress the thoughts in his heart. Deliberately ignoring Lin Huaixi’s puzzled expression, he turned and left without another word.
That love letter had utterly thrown his feelings into disorder, piercing through the thin paper window that had once covered them. Through every class that followed, Qi Wang looked outwardly focused, yet his heart held something else entirely. Even the love letter in his pocket felt heavy.
He did not know what was wrong with him, but reason told him that things absolutely could not continue like this. So he resolved to cut through the mess quickly. After school, he went to find the owner of the letter.
From Sun Baiyi’s description, he had assumed it was a girl. He had not expected the letter to have passed through several hands, and even more unexpectedly, the shallow words of admiration inside had actually come from a boy!
Looking at the bespectacled boy standing before him with a rather shy smile, Qi Wang appeared calm on the surface, but inside him stormy waves were already crashing wildly. At last, he realized something he had always taken for granted and overlooked entirely.
So love could exist between people of the same sex. Boys could like boys too!
The shock was too great. It took him a full three minutes before he came back to himself, and by then the boy had already finished confessing.
Qi Wang had no idea what he had said. Still, without trampling on the other boy’s feelings, he rejected him carefully and sincerely.
The moment he finished speaking, Qi Wang turned and hurried away. He was moving so fast that he even broke into a run.
His mind was utterly blank. He had no idea what he was doing. He only knew by instinct that he wanted to see Lin Huaixi—very much, very, very much.
He returned to the classroom, only to find Lin Huaixi’s seat empty. After asking Lin Huaixi’s deskmate, he learned that someone had called him out.
Qi Wang was normally meticulous, yet he failed to notice the deskmate’s expression of wanting to speak and stopping. He turned and began searching the corridor, but nowhere in his field of vision did that familiar figure appear.
Even Qi Wang himself did not know why he was in such a hurry. Panic was written all over his back as he searched floor after floor, even going all the way to the open space behind the building.
The wind blew his hair into disorder. A thin layer of sweat appeared on his back, hot and damp, steaming away his reason. His heartbeat was as fast as pounding drums, striking heavily against his breastbone with a dull ache.
Then, at last, he heard Lin Huaixi’s name. Qi Wang let out a breath of relief and was just about to rush over—
When the words that followed nailed him where he stood.
“Lin Huaixi, I like you.”
“……”
“……”
“……”
A roaring filled his ears. The heartbeat that had been racing plummeted suddenly from the cliff. The emotions surging in his heart were extinguished one by one, until all that remained was dead silence.
Update Posting Schedule: Starting next chapter, posting schedule change from posting every day to 3 chapters every Friday~
