Chapter 31
Lin Huaixi, the person being confessed to, was utterly flustered.
He had never thought in that direction before and had absolutely no mental preparation. The words “I like you” hit him so hard that he became dizzy and muddled. His mind went blank for a moment, and he ended up doing a few things that were both funny and absurd.
For example, while the other person was confessing, he actually looked behind himself, thinking he might have been blocking someone else.
Once he confirmed the confession was really directed at him, Lin Huaixi’s eyes went round and his mouth hung slightly open, looking so shocked that he had gone stupid.
“Um, I’m sorry. You’re really nice, but I don’t not-like you, and it’s not that I like you either, I…”
Lin Huaixi was so flustered he could not even get out a full sentence. In his panic, he even bit his own tongue. While hissing in pain, he still struggled to reject the girl, so busy he was practically about to spin in circles.
He was afraid she would feel hurt, but her reaction was completely beyond his expectations. She looked so charmed by his cuteness that she seemed unable to say anything.
The one who had confessed had been rejected, yet she was even more free and easy than he was. Tossing out a casual “All right then, but you’re really cute,” she turned and left.
Lin Huaixi stared at her retreating back, a question mark popping up over his head. It took him a long time to come back to himself.
Did that girl really like him?
Lin Huaixi did not understand what “liking” meant, let alone the feelings of “loving someone hopelessly” or “being rejected after liking someone.” But he had watched many TV dramas with Grandma and Mommy.
In dramas, whenever scenes like that came up, it would always be raining. The heroine would get drenched, crying so heartbreakingly that it seemed as though she had been shattered inside. Grandma and Mommy would also wipe away tears while watching. Lin Huaixi did not fully understand, but he could empathize and felt that they must be very, very sad.
But this girl who had confessed to him… Lin Huaixi felt that the two of them were rather alike. Neither of them seemed to have truly figured out what “liking” really was. Or perhaps they had simply confused fondness with love.
Lin Huaixi treated love as a serious philosophical issue. His thoughts spiraled outward, and he gained a new insight today. He was so immersed in it that he failed to notice Qi Wang standing in the corner.
Qi Wang’s expression looked calm, no different from usual. Yet he felt as though he were a volcano covered in snow—inside, rolling lava was burning fiercely, and the scorching feeling spread from his chest to all four limbs, making even his fingers tremble slightly.
Without showing it, Qi Wang clenched his fist once, trying his best to suppress the emotions in his heart, but his eyes could not lie. Without blinking, he kept staring at Lin Huaixi.
He mistook Lin Huaixi’s reaction for the distracted, fluttering feelings of someone who had just been confessed to. Qi Wang’s eyes turned pitch-black, and even the last trace of light inside them vanished.
He did not know what was wrong with him.
He had matured earlier than others and already knew what liking and love were. He was not rigid or old-fashioned enough to think students absolutely could not date. Besides, he sincerely believed that Lin Huaixi deserved the very best in the world. Whether Lin Huaixi got a girlfriend or a boyfriend made no difference, as long as that person could care for him, look after him, and always put Lin Huaixi first—just like he himself did.
But could anyone really do that better than him?
Could anyone really care more about Lin Huaixi than he did?
This person had only just appeared by Lin Huaixi’s side. They were still a stranger, someone who did not know Lin Huaixi’s preferences or habits, and could never be familiar enough to understand Lin Huaixi’s intentions from a single glance alone!
Qi Wang shut his eyes. Before him, he pictured Lin Huaixi hugging someone’s arm, leaning against that person’s shoulder in a dependent way. The smile on his face looked so familiar, yet also painfully dazzling.
His breathing suddenly grew harsher. A violent, vicious temper surged inside him, and his hostility could almost become a sharp blade with all its edge exposed, piercing straight into that person’s chest—
That faceless, shapeless person he had only imagined.
The person who, in the future, would stay by Lin Huaixi’s side, become his partner, and walk through life with him forever.
The mere thought of it turned the blood in his veins into rolling lava. His skin felt as though it had been burned into dry paper, so fragile that any slight movement might make it split apart with a cracking sound. Only because of that sharp pain was Qi Wang dragged out of his emotions. Frowning, he looked down at his own hand, a trace of confusion on his face.
He hurriedly rolled up his sleeve. The skin of his arm was completely intact, without the wound he had imagined, yet the pain clung to him like a shadow, growing stronger and stronger.
And just when the pain reached its peak, someone grabbed his wrist.
That familiar warmth. That familiar touch. It was like an antidote being injected into him.
Qi Wang slowly raised his eyes, and his gaze landed on Lin Huaixi’s face.
“Oh right, just now you went…” Lin Huaixi had been dying to share his newest revelation about life with him, but the moment he met Qi Wang’s gaze, he abruptly stopped.
There was something very unfamiliar in Qi Wang’s expression and eyes. Lin Huaixi could only make out a hint of confusion. The rest of the emotions there were too complicated for him to read.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” Lin Huaixi said blankly.
Qi Wang waited until his eyes had begun to ache before he finally blinked once, confirming that the Lin Huaixi in front of him was not going to disappear. “What was it you wanted to say to me just now?”
Lin Huaixi had already lost his earlier excitement and dragged the topic back around. “I wanted to ask—how did you deal with that love letter?”
“I rejected it.” Qi Wang asked very quickly, “What about you?”
“Me?” Lin Huaixi reacted at once and said in surprise, “How did you know!”
“I saw it when I went to find you… Did you accept?” Qi Wang unconsciously held his breath, his heartbeat nearly stopping.
There was not the slightest trace of the shyness that came after falling in love on Lin Huaixi’s face. “I rejected it too. I feel like there’s a difference between having a good impression of someone and actually liking them. I can’t explain it exactly either. It’s just… there was no need for us to be together.”
Looking at the confusion on Lin Huaixi’s face, something stirred in Qi Wang’s heart. “Then do you want to date?”
Lin Huaixi slowly shook his head. “I don’t know what liking someone feels like, and I don’t know what dating even really is. Besides, there are more important things to do in high school.”
High school was right around the corner, and the second scumbag was about to appear. He had to make full preparations and absolutely could not let that person hurt Qi Wang!
This was Lin Huaixi’s greatest secret. Even someone as close to him as Qi Wang had never known about it. Qi Wang mistook his meaning, thinking Lin Huaixi had been well taught and believed that students should not date early, so he only nodded slightly.
He still could not understand his own delicate, subtle emotions, but Lin Huaixi’s words had struck exactly where it mattered. His dark eyes fixed on Lin Huaixi as he tried to quietly brainwash him. “I think so too. Then let’s make an agreement—during all three years of high school, neither of us can date, and absolutely neither of us can fall for anyone.”
Qi Wang’s emotions had swung too violently, and he failed to control his tone. Hearing the emphasis on the words “absolutely,” Lin Huaixi looked at him strangely.
Why did it feel like Qi Wang was especially resistant to the whole thing?
In the original book, Qi Wang had been left battered all over by so-called “love.” Though Lin Huaixi was working hard to change the plot now, he still could not be with Qi Wang twenty-four hours a day. If Qi Wang felt some resistance toward romance, that was actually not a bad thing. Besides, high school dating really was not great anyway.
Lin Huaixi smiled and proactively held out his pinky finger. “Then let’s pinky swear. Whoever dates in high school is a little puppy!”
This way of making an agreement was extremely childish, but Qi Wang treated it like a solemn vow. He gently hooked his pinky around Lin Huaixi’s.
They had each arrived there from different thoughts, yet ended up making the same promise.
After entering high school, neither of them would like anyone, and neither of them would be with anyone. The most intimate relationship would still belong only to the two of them.
Qi Wang had gotten the promise he wanted and reached his goal, yet as he looked at Lin Huaixi, there was still a strange emptiness rising inside him. The tree growing deep in his heart rustled its branches, lightly brushing against the softest part inside him. It was the kind of ticklish numbness that stirred the strings of the heart, yet could not be scratched away no matter what.
He was still too young and did not yet understand that some surging, overwhelming love could become instinct, something no one could control. All he knew was that Lin Huaixi could stay by his side, and for now, that was enough to make him feel satisfied.
And yet not satisfied enough. He still wanted to go one step further.
—
Lin Huaixi was completely unawakened in this regard. He did not know what it felt like to have his heart stirred, and he had never even developed a crush on anyone. In his mind, all of this was not even as good as dessert. At least dessert could be seen, touched, and tasted sweet. Romance and heart-fluttering brought him no practical benefit whatsoever.
He did not take it to heart, and he never noticed just how great a ripple it had caused in Qi Wang’s mind.
He threw his whole body and soul into studying, preparing for the high school entrance exam with intense urgency. On exam day, he adjusted himself into the best physical and mental state possible, and not only did he earn the highest score of his life, his ranking was so astonishing it made people speechless.
Sun Baiyi’s reaction was even bigger than his. “Xixi, is your next goal provincial first place or something? Otherwise there won’t be any room left for you to improve!”
Once the results came out, Lin Huaixi turned into some kind of rare animal. All sorts of people crowded around him to admire and praise him. He was being flattered until he floated, scratching the back of his head with a silly grin. “No, no, it’s just that I performed super well this time. There are still lots of amazing people. Qi Wang, he…”
Sun Baiyi cut him off. “Don’t talk to me about Qi Wang. You think too highly of him, don’t you? He’s way behind you. By the way, why hasn’t Qi Wang come back yet?”
Qi Wang had left without saying a word as soon as the exam ended, and half the summer vacation had already passed without him showing up again. At last Sun Baiyi got his chance and clung to Lin Huaixi every day, trying to make up for all the time he had missed before.
Lin Huaixi slowly shook his head. “I don’t know either. I called him, but he wouldn’t tell me the specific reason. He just said he’d be back after some time.”
Sun Baiyi shook his head, his mind already full of scheming. “With your results, both of you could go to a really good high school in the provincial capital. Maybe Qi Wang just isn’t coming back.”
Lin Huaixi looked very serious. “No, he wouldn’t. He tells me everything he does.”
Sun Baiyi shrugged but still refused to give up. “If he doesn’t come back, then it’ll just be you and me in the same high school. Promise me—whether we’re in the same class or not, you have to come play with me!”
Lin Huaixi smiled and soothed him. “In junior high, I went to play with you every day too.”
Lin Huaixi’s smile was innocent and harmless, but that same innocence was strangely aggravating. Sun Baiyi glanced at him and said awkwardly, “That’s not what I mean. I just don’t want a Qi Wang between us. I just think he’s annoying. It doesn’t even have to be him. It’s just… it’s just…”
Sun Baiyi could not bring himself to say the words “I want to be your number one best friend in the whole world,” so he could only cast Lin Huaixi an unwilling look.
But when his gaze met Lin Huaixi’s eyes—clear as a lake, reflecting his figure within them—the impulse in his heart was suddenly extinguished, and his whole person fell quiet.
The two of them were clearly not on the same rhythm at all. Lin Huaixi was not thinking the same things he was.
That only made Sun Baiyi feel more depressed. Sitting cross-legged on the bed, he turned his back to Lin Huaixi and sulked by himself.
Lin Huaixi found it all strangely familiar. Qi Wang would react a little differently, but he too sometimes faced him with exactly this kind of emotion.
“What is wrong with the two of you, anyway?” The three of them had basically grown up together and were extremely familiar with one another. Still half clueless, Lin Huaixi had the feeling that in some area, he had somehow been left far behind by both of them.
A certain answer came to mind, but the only thing Sun Baiyi noticed was the phrase the two of you. “Who are you talking about? Qi Wang again? Why are you always thinking about him?”
Lin Huaixi: “…”
He blinked and replied in an innocent tone, “We’re all good friends. I’m not thinking about him on purpose.”
Sun Baiyi’s mindset was still that of a child.
If he liked a toy, then he wanted to hug it and sleep with it every day, and no other child was allowed to touch it. If he liked a person, then that person had to be his best friend, and there could not be anyone else.
But he was no longer the little brat he once had been. He could not do everything purely according to his own desires anymore.
That would only scare Lin Huaixi away.
Sun Baiyi felt a powerful sense of helplessness. He did not know how to express his feelings to Lin Huaixi, nor how to make himself feel better. After glancing at Lin Huaixi, he suddenly lowered his head and slammed it right into him.
Lin Huaixi lost his balance and toppled backward onto the bed, staring up at Sun Baiyi in bewilderment and confusion, the silly little tuft of hair on top of his head wobbling once.
Suddenly Sun Baiyi felt an itch in his heart. He bumped his head into him again, and even his hands started itching to move.
He wanted to touch Lin Huaixi’s cheek, wanted to pinch his lips too, as if doing so might fill the hollow longing in his heart.
Lin Huaixi noticed nothing unusual. He only thought Sun Baiyi was having another one of his bull-headed moments, so he stiffened his own neck and pressed forehead to forehead with him too, the two of them pushing against each other like they were playing tug-of-war.
Both of them were still childlike at heart and full of competitiveness, so they threw themselves into the “game” right away. In the end, Sun Baiyi emerged victorious.
Standing by the bed, he looked down at Lin Huaixi, who was breathing hard and looking a little unconvinced. Suddenly he reached out and ruffled Lin Huaixi’s hair into a mess. “We’ll compete again another day. You still won’t beat me!”
Lin Huaixi swatted at Sun Baiyi’s hand. By the time he looked up with his hair all disheveled, Sun Baiyi had already run far away and was even waving at him provocatively.
Lin Huaixi snorted through his nose. “Next time I’m definitely going to beat you!”
Sun Baiyi himself was still only half aware of what he was doing. He acted purely by instinct, unable to keep anything in his heart and still believing every problem could be easily solved.
After running out of the yard, he clasped his hands together and prayed earnestly to the sky.
God, Guanyin Bodhisattva, please let Qi Wang go to high school in the provincial capital, so that I can be Lin Huaixi’s only good friend!
…
After Sun Baiyi left, Lin Huaixi sat on the bed with his chin propped in his hand, falling into thought.
Sun Baiyi had already changed for the better, but the second scumbag was about to appear.
Sun Baiyi had belonged to the type that was spoiled rotten as a child and would still be a brat when he grew up. If he wanted something, he would stop at nothing to get it. He did not know how to respect others, could only vent his emotions when frustrated, and even had violent tendencies.
But Scumbag Number Two was completely different.
He had a face that looked deeply devoted and seemed very capable of love, and he was gentle and considerate enough on the surface. But that was all only a facade. In truth, he was a playboy who took pleasure in toying with other people’s feelings.
In the book, his feelings toward Qi Wang were extremely twisted. Rather than wanting Qi Wang himself, what he truly wanted was Qi Wang’s dependence and submissiveness. For that, he was willing to crush Qi Wang’s proud bones and snap his wings.
At heart, he was only waiting until Qi Wang fell for him, so that he could enjoy a huge sense of accomplishment and conquest. After that, he would probably find it boring, turn to a new target, and cast Qi Wang aside without the slightest hesitation.
And yet no amount of love he received would ever help, because he simply did not know how to love anyone. There was no way he could ever fill the hunger in his own heart.
…Every one of them was vile in a different way. Lin Huaixi genuinely could not decide for a while which one was more scummy.
So angry that his cheeks puffed out, Lin Huaixi nearly started punching the air.
Fortunately, Scumbag Number Two was still only a high school student, just like them. He had neither the power nor the means to force Qi Wang into submission.
And as for Lin—prophecy-of-the-plot—changer-of-fate—Huaixi, he could start preparing in advance and easily keep him in hand!
The moment high school began, he would immediately become the disciplinary committee monitor. Whenever he had time, he would patrol the little woods and the secluded corners of campus. He would definitely catch that guy in the act.
Every time Scumbag Number Two and Qi Wang got to a point of deepening feelings, he would pop out to interrupt them, ruin the mood, and then publicly report him.
To a playboy, the disciplinary monitor was a natural enemy. Once he had encountered Lin Huaixi a few times, he would definitely tuck in his tail and behave. Maybe he would even become so disillusioned that he lost interest in romance entirely.
That way, not only would he be able to protect Qi Wang, he would also save countless boys and girls who were about to be tricked!
Lin Huaixi thought this plan was absolutely brilliant. Proudly rocking his head back and forth, his eyes and expression both turned intensely focused and determined. Without wasting even a second, he began preparing right away.
Step one: Become the disciplinary monitor.
His grades and behavior were already more than enough to satisfy any teacher. Now all he lacked was the image of a disciplinary monitor—something that would win everyone’s approval and also intimidate Scumbag Number Two.
Lin Huaixi tried to picture the image of a disciplinary monitor, but without even trying, Qi Wang’s appearance rose straight into his mind: white shirt, not a single wrinkle, a quiet temperament, orderly in all he did, not smiling much, cold and serious to look at.
Right, he could just imitate Qi Wang directly!
The moment he made up his mind, Lin Huaixi immediately ran next door.
Although Qi Wang had not been home lately, the two of them still talked on the phone every evening, and Qi Wang had deliberately left him a key.
Lin Huaixi quickly sent Qi Wang a message, and only after getting permission did he open Qi Wang’s wardrobe and take out a shirt from inside.
Full of confidence, he put it on and stood in front of the mirror.
But the moment he saw himself in the mirror, he went dumb.
Over the three years of junior high, he had grown in fits and bursts, to the point that his seat had moved from the first row all the way to the last row. There was not much difference between his height and Qi Wang’s anymore.
But it was exactly that small difference that made his shoulders not broad or straight enough to hold up the shirt properly. Inside the shirt it hung loose and empty, and such a large section of the hem had to be stuffed into the waistband that it left fold after fold of wrinkles.
Like this… he looked exactly like a child wearing an adult’s clothes.
He and Qi Wang were clearly the same age, so how could the difference in their aura and build be this huge!
That also announced that his plan of “becoming the disciplinary monitor and suppressing Scumbag Number Two” was on the verge of collapse. Lin Huaixi felt down for a few seconds, then immediately started cheering himself back up again.
It’s okay. Where there’s a will, there’s a way. As long as he worked hard, he could definitely do it!
He would imitate Qi Wang carefully and study from related books too. He would absolutely grasp the essence of being a disciplinary monitor!!
Thinking about nothing else, Lin Huaixi completely forgot to change out of the shirt. Wearing it as it was, he ran straight to the bookstore and grabbed a pile of books with titles like The Qualities Every Successful Person Must Have, How to Win People Over More Easily, The Future You Want Can Be Yours Easily, and Once You Have a Goal, It’s Never Too Late to Start.
He had just received a huge amount of pocket money. Hugging a stack of more than ten books, he carried them all to the counter in one go, the pile so high it almost hid his whole face.
Afraid he might fall, the shop owner helped take them from him. While ringing them up, the owner kept glancing at this young boy, dressed in an ill-fitting white shirt, eyes full of determination, his whole face practically shouting, If studying won’t kill me, then I’ll study myself half to death.
Tsk, tsk, things are way too competitive these days. A kid this young had already started learning the black arts of success.
