Chapter 36
Zong Nanze stood beneath the sunlight, his brows and eyes gentle, the scratches on his arm making him look fragile and pitiable.
The frown between Lin Huaixi’s brows loosened.
“You…” His gaze moved over Zong Nanze once, and his expression changed slightly. “Why didn’t you go to the flag-raising ceremony? That’s also a violation of school rules.”
Zong Nanze: “…”
He knew Lin Huaixi liked little animals, so he had deliberately chosen this chance and even disguised himself like this, yet Lin Huaixi still refused to fall for it.
Zong Nanze began to laugh softly. The trembling of his shoulders grew more and more obvious, his Adam’s apple bobbing as that lazy laughter spread out. He tipped his head back slightly and ran a hand through his hair, casually tying it into a loose ponytail behind his head.
Actually, this was better. If Lin Huaixi had let his guard down so easily and changed his opinion of him, that would have been boring instead.
Zong Nanze was not only strikingly good-looking, he was wicked in just the right way. He never made people genuinely afraid of him—only feel that he was charming. So even knowing that he played with people’s feelings and was never serious, there were still naïve boys and girls who threw themselves forward one after another like moths to a flame.
The adult Zong Nanze was dark and cruel, the kind of person who made others want to call the police. But back in his student days, although he was bad enough, he still had not crossed certain lines.
Lin Huaixi also did not want targeting Zong Nanze to turn him into something worse. But only deducting points from Zong Nanze did not seem enough to truly intimidate him.
Lin Huaixi realized there was a problem with his strategy. Looking at Zong Nanze, who was laughing for no clear reason, his expression turned a little grave.
Zong Nanze lifted his chin slightly, the corners of his eyes curving upward, his peach-blossom eyes especially affectionate. “Why are you looking at me like that? It’s like you think I’m beyond saving.”
Lin Huaixi did not deny it. In the tone of some nagging elder, he said earnestly, “What are you laughing at? So many points have already been deducted from you—how can you take it so lightly?”
Seeing Lin Huaixi bring up the topic of his own accord, Zong Nanze raised a brow and directly pierced through the thin paper window between them. “Why do I get the feeling you only became a disciplinary committee member because of me? Like you deliberately target me and keep deducting my points?”
Lin Huaixi shook his head, then nodded.
Zong Nanze looked both amused and baffled. “And what exactly is that supposed to mean?”
Lin Huaixi held up two fingers. “Didn’t you just mention two questions?”
It was true that he was targeting Zong Nanze. But all the time and effort he had spent was, in the end, all for Qi Wang.
Zong Nanze thought about it for a moment and still failed to catch the hidden meaning. “Don’t tell me your grand ambition is to punish evil and promote good.”
Lin Huaixi nodded hard. “So you’d better rein yourself in. Be careful, or I’ll deduct every last point you have!”
Zong Nanze wasn’t afraid in the least. He spread his hands. “Do you need me to cooperate with you?”
Lin Huaixi: “…”
He had many things he wanted to argue with Zong Nanze about, but in order to keep up the cold disciplinary-committee persona, he could only force his voice to remain flat and emotionless.
Yet Zong Nanze just wanted to see his true self, so he deliberately provoked him. “By the way, do the school rules say that teasing cats costs points? If you save a classmate from getting scratched by a cat, do you get bonus points?”
“No,” Lin Huaixi replied. Looking at Zong Nanze’s arm, which was still bleeding, he frowned deeply, showing not the slightest bit of concern. “If you get scratched by a stray cat, you need a vaccine.”
“It’s fine. I had one just a month ago.” Zong Nanze slowly rolled up the sleeve on his other arm. In almost the exact same spot, there was a healed scratch mark.
Lin Huaixi fell silent for a few seconds before barely finding his voice. “This same cat scratched you too?”
Zong Nanze laughed. “This cat’s a famous tyrant around the school. All the other cats will obediently eat the food, maybe even rub against you. Only this one hisses after eating and scratches people too.”
Lin Huaixi couldn’t stop himself from mocking him. “Sounds a lot like you.”
Zong Nanze pointed at his own nose, his expression a little blank, as if he couldn’t believe it. “Me?!”
It was rare to see Zong Nanze make a face like that. The corners of Lin Huaixi’s mouth twitched, and he nearly laughed out loud.
“All right, I’ll grit my teeth and accept it.” Zong Nanze’s tone was easygoing, as though the two of them were old friends who could joke around freely.
This version of Zong Nanze did look a little more agreeable.
But Lin Huaixi had read the original plot and knew exactly how vile Zong Nanze really was. He believed this was all just an act, and his heart hardened again.
“According to the rules, I still have to deduct points. I can’t make an exception just because you saved me.” Unable to keep watching any longer, Lin Huaixi’s tone exposed what he was really thinking. “Hurry up and go to the infirmary. If they patch you up quickly enough, you might still make it to class.”
It was as if the injured arm didn’t belong to him at all. Zong Nanze remained calm and carefree, still in the mood to joke. “If I’m late, wouldn’t that also violate school rules? Then I’ll have to lose another two points because of you.”
Lin Huaixi honestly shook his head. “Being late and skipping class don’t violate school rules.”
Zong Nanze paused, then let out a long, meaningful “Oh.”
Lin Huaixi: “…Not losing points and not violating school rules doesn’t mean you can skip class openly and properly.”
Zong Nanze asked, “Then could I trouble you to show a little more of that fine virtue of caring for your classmates and accompany me to the infirmary?”
Lin Huaixi hesitated for a few seconds, but in the end he compromised. “Fine. I’ll take you there.”
The two of them crossed the quiet campus toward the infirmary. Zong Nanze glanced at him and suddenly said with emotion, “I really never thought the two of us would ever walk together this peacefully.”
Without turning his head, Lin Huaixi replied, “Caring about your classmates is a virtue.”
Zong Nanze fell silent for a few seconds, then pressed the back of his hand to his nose and laughed again.
Lin Huaixi looked at him speechlessly.
Your sense of humor is seriously weird!
Afraid Zong Nanze was about to ask again whether laughing violated school rules, Lin Huaixi coldly turned his head away and stopped responding to him.
Zong Nanze laughed the entire way until they reached the infirmary, only then finally falling quiet.
Seeing that he had safely delivered him there, Lin Huaixi had originally meant to leave, but Zong Nanze stood at the doorway and did not go in for quite a while.
“What’s wrong?”
“There’s nobody in the infirmary,” Zong Nanze said casually.
Suspicious, Lin Huaixi walked over and discovered that the room really was empty. The school doctor was nowhere to be seen.
After a pause, Lin Huaixi said, “Then wait here for a bit.”
Zong Nanze shrugged like it had nothing to do with him. “Forget it. By the time the doctor comes, my wound will probably already be healed.”
Lin Huaixi was not impressed by Zong Nanze’s sense of humor. He lowered his gaze and didn’t want to bother with him anymore.
But Zong Nanze stopped him. “Disciplinary committee member, could you please go one step further in that noble virtue of caring for classmates and help me put medicine on it?”
He demonstrated how he would have to apply the medicine himself. The movement looked extremely awkward, and with the tension of his muscles, even more blood welled up.
Looking at those blood beads continuously seeping out, Lin Huaixi frowned tightly. After struggling inwardly for three seconds, he finally nodded unwillingly. “Fine.”
Fortunately, Zong Nanze didn’t push his luck. He obediently sat down to the side and even helped Lin Huaixi get the cotton swabs and alcohol ready.
Lin Huaixi couldn’t find anything to criticize about that. He only pressed his lips together coldly and lowered his head to disinfect the wound.
The cut was deeper than he had imagined. The moment the alcohol went on, even Lin Huaixi’s own legs felt a little numb. But when he looked up, Zong Nanze was simply gazing at him with smiling eyes.
“…”
With a look like that, if Lin Huaixi hadn’t already known what kind of person Zong Nanze was, he really might have thought Zong Nanze liked him.
Lin Huaixi gave no reaction at all. He simply poured on more alcohol. After three seconds of frozen silence, he got what he wanted and saw Zong Nanze draw in a sharp breath.
“Does this count as taking revenge in the name of public duty?” Zong Nanze never once pulled his hand back, quietly letting Lin Huaixi tend the wound. There wasn’t the slightest trace of annoyance in his tone. If anything, it sounded more like teasing.
“No,” Lin Huaixi said expressionlessly. “This is me caring for a classmate.”
Those four words seemed to hold some special magic for Zong Nanze. He burst out laughing again, laughing so hard his whole body shook. His voice was magnetic and low, so rich that it made one’s chest feel slightly numb and itchy.
Lin Huaixi stared at him blankly, almost blurting out, Are you sick or what? What are you even laughing at?!
After wrapping up the wound, Lin Huaixi clumsily tied it into a bow. Throughout the whole process, Zong Nanze kept laughing as if someone had pressed his laugh point.
The task finished, Lin Huaixi turned to leave. But just as he reached the doorway this time, he was called back again.
Irritated, Lin Huaixi turned around, frost seemingly frozen between his brows and eyes.
Zong Nanze looked as though he had laughed tears out. He seemed much fresher than usual. His peach-blossom eyes had relaxed, losing their flirtatiousness and carrying instead a faint trace of sincerity. He lifted the bandaged arm and gave it a small wave. “Thanks.”
Although their contact had increased a little, Lin Huaixi was still full of wariness toward him. He only let out a little snort through his nose and didn’t respond.
To Lin Huaixi, this was only a small interlude. His relationship with Zong Nanze did not change at all, and when it came time to deduct Zong Nanze’s points, he was never the slightest bit softhearted.
He had previously wanted to ask the teachers for help, but the stern grade dean never once sat down with Zong Nanze to lecture him or tell him to restrain himself. So Lin Huaixi could only pin his hopes on Zong Nanze getting scared and repenting on his own.
It was almost time for evening self-study. The orange-red glow at the horizon was gradually being dyed dark blue, and the sky was on the verge of losing its final trace of light.
Wearing the disciplinary committee armband, with the top button of his shirt fastened all the way to the top, Lin Huaixi walked toward the little grove with a serious expression.
If he couldn’t intimidate Zong Nanze, he certainly intimidated all the other students. At first, everyone had been full of curiosity about him. Now, little by little, that curiosity had turned into fear. They were terrified that this cold and merciless disciplinary committee member would deduct their points the second he felt even slightly unhappy.
Every time Lin Huaixi appeared, no matter how lively the atmosphere had been, it would instantly pause as though someone had pressed a stop button. The classmates didn’t dare greet him. If possible, they would much rather walk around him entirely.
Whenever Lin Huaixi saw this, he silently shed two wide noodle tears in his heart. He knew what mattered more, so he had never once broken character, nor did he feel like explaining himself.
With serious business weighing on his mind, he kept walking toward the grove. But as he reached the edge of the field, the wind carried over a string of blurred, indistinct sounds.
Lin Huaixi suddenly snapped back to attention, the whole of him frozen in place. His mind went blank, and he couldn’t believe his own ears.
Then he heard that familiar voice again—the one he had missed for so long.
Lin Huaixi whipped around. The last trace of disappearing light behind him fell into his eyes, illuminating a part of him that had been dark and quiet for a long time.
He was completely stunned. Only the constant trembling of his lashes gave away what he was feeling. Lin Huaixi parted his lips, silently mouthing a name.
Qi Wang stood at the edge of the field. After not seeing him for several months, he looked even taller than before, his shoulders broader as well. But his face still carried that warm, soothing smile which made people instinctively feel safe.
“Qi Wang!”
Lin Huaixi had been suppressing himself for so long. This was the first time he truly became himself again. He couldn’t care about anything else anymore. He forgot where he was and what he had been about to do, and with a smile on his face, he ran straight toward Qi Wang.
Qi Wang also opened his arms to him.
There were still many students on the field. They turned their heads and saw the cold, serious disciplinary committee member with the frost gone from his brows and eyes, joy and surprise flowing openly in his gaze. Even the collar fastened at his throat had loosened. Like a gust of wind, he dashed forward and leapt straight into someone else’s arms.
