Jiang Chen was unusually irritable today. His dream last night was so messed up, having always dreamed of the same messed up person. This very same messed up person moreover, was currently leaning against the lamppost, holding a transparent, disposable cup, smiling brightly while sucking the soy milk with a straw.
"Morning." Chen Xiaoxi was nipping on the straw while greeting him, "You're a little late than usual, overslept?"
Jiang Chen shot her a glance, then continued walking forward with a wooden expression on his face.
Chen Xiaoxi quickly tried to catch up to him, she was catching her breath and at the same time, was sucking on her soy milk.
"Can you not eat something while walking?" Jiang Chen argued while also walking.
"Oh." Chen Xiaoxi who was following behind, pouted. She wanted to ask why he had to have such high demands. Because of him, she wouldn't dare eat popsicle while walking, and now, she couldn't drink soy milk as well. If this went on, she felt like she was going to die from malnutrition.
Even though she had such thoughts, Chen Xiaoxi still obediently threw the cup in the garbage truck parked by the roadside.
They still haven't been dismissed by their third class but Chen Xiaoxi already claimed to have smelled an indistinct fragrance coming from the cafeteria, and decided right then and there that she was hungry. Hence, she turned around, airing her complaints at Jiang Chen in a low voice, "It's all your fault that I'm so hungry now."
Jiang Chen pretended not to notice her, and unexpectedly, the English teacher called her up, "Chen Xiaoxi, answer this problem."
Chen Xiaoxi had a grieving look on her face as she stood up, her hand was under her desk, yanking hard on the school uniform of her seatmate, Jing Xiao. Jing Xiao's face was also one of confusion. The class was about to end so no one was paying attention to the lecture, hence she whispered, "I didn't listen."
"What may T." Chen Xiaoxi thoughtlessly answered.
The English teacher was actually a very humorous person, and asked her while laughing, "T who?"
Chen Xiaoxi had a clueless look on her face, she kept on mumbling the teacher's question under her breath, then as though having a yureka moment, she replied, "Carry water."
(T/N: The characters used by the teacher for "T who" was 踢 ti谁 shei/shui, so ti shui, the pinyin for carry water is also 提 ti (carry) 水 shui (water)
The entire class froze, then erupted into laughters the next second.
The English teacher gave Xiaoxi an earful, the content of it was roughly around the lines of: "Since you've attended my class absentmindedly, and disturbed your fellow classmates, then say sorry to your classmates, say sorry to your parents, say sorry to your classmates' parents, say sorry to your classmates' parents who have given their salary to the government."
Chen Xiaoxi's face flushed red as she slowly and hesitantly sat down, pinching Jing Xiao in the passing, "You also laughed."
Behind her, Jiang Chen kicked her leg from under the table which caused her to hurriedly sit down in an upright manner, and also unfortunately meet the sharp gaze of their English teacher.
After enduring for so long, the bell signalling the end of class finally rung. Chen Xiaoxi’s face which was one of being eager to study and of wanting to improve oneself also shattered into pieces along with its ringing. As soon as the teacher stepped one foot out the door, she quickly turned around and told Jiang Chen, “I’m really very hungry.”
"What does it have to do with me?" Jiang Chen glared at her.
"You have something I could eat." Chen Xiaoxi looked at him with puppy eyes. Recently, the malignant trend* of giving chocolates as Valentine's Day present has become widely popular. Under Jiang Chen's desk, some shameless girls would always put Tresor Dore and Dove chocolates which are worth two weeks of Chen Xiaoxi's allowance, and also some other chocolates with names that when you hear them, you can already tell that they're cheap.
(T/N: The term used was noxious winds carrying evil influences.)
Jiang Chen's hand went under his desk, and his hand really pulled out a box of Tresor Dore containing 16 pieces of chocolate, he looked down to search for a signed note, but he wasn't able to find any. This kind of method is really likeable, one should learn from Uncle Lei Feng's ways of performing good deeds anonymously, it is fine to just remember the moment by writing it down in one's diary.
(T/N: Lei Feng was a soldier in the PLA who has been made into a model of altruism and dedication. When he died they have found his diary which meticulously recorded many heart-wrenching good deeds that he performed anonymously. The publication of his diary has been distributed to every school in then Communist China.)
He opened the box at an exasperatingly slow speed, then picked up a piece of chocolate and handed it over to his seatmate, Bei You Xin, "Eat?"
Bei You Xin shook his head, "Who would want to eat this sickening sweet thing, I'm not a woman."
Chen Xiaoxi raised her hand, "I'm a woman, I'm a woman, give it to me."
Jiang Chen tore open the golden wrapper of the chocolate ball, "Why should I give you something to eat?"
Chen Xiaoxi justified, "This morning, you told me not to eat something while walking, so I had to throw my soy milk away. I'm starving now, and it's your fault."
He replied, "Oh, how come I remember you throwing away an empty cup in the garbage truck?"
"Why….you're talking nonsense!" Chen Xiaoxi retorted, her voice laced with guilt, but eventually, she swallowed down this sentence with great difficulty, "How did you know?" She was thinking that this guy must have eyes on the back of his head.
Jiang Chen popped the chocolate into his mouth, chewing it ever so sweetly that she couldn’t help but want to scowl at him. Only by looking at Chen Xiaoxi’s face filled with jealousy, envy, and hatred would he feel that it was worth it. This is probably some kind of sick problem, or in other words, he just liked to tease Chen Xiaoxi.
Chen Xiaoxi looked at that piece of chocolate that was thrown inside his mouth in such a disrespectful manner. She was itching to pounce on him to dig it out of his mouth, then force him to apologise to this great Tresor Dore chocolate. In the end, Jiang Chen couldn't stand her pitiful look akin to a stray puppy looking at some bones, and pushed the box of chocolate towards her. He couldn't help but add a line, "Be careful of getting fat till you die." in order to find a sense of balance in his heart.
Chen Xiaoxi turned away with Jing Xiao leaning her head over to exploit Chen Xiaoxi, establishing a rule of, "you get a piece, I get a piece", when dividing the chocolates. Only after having downed several mouthfuls of water with gu lu gu lu sounds did Jiang Chen tell Bei You Xin, "What the heck, really sweet."
Bei You Xin laughed, saying, "How old are you to be playing childishly with Chen Xiaoxi?"
Jiang Chen objected, "I was only trying to match her level."
"Jiang Chen." Bei You Xin suddenly lowered the volume of his voice, "Then, have you finished reading that novel?"
Jiang Chen aimed a vigilant look on Chen Xiaoxi who was sitting right before him, then whispered, "Forgot to bring it, I'll return it to you tomorrow."
"Stop pulling that forgetful act on me, I'll just go to your house when we're done with classes to get it, a lot of people are lining up waiting to borrow it." Bei You Xin with a knowing look on his face, laughed impishly.
Who's pretending to have forgotten it? That novel caused him to have a messed up dream all night long, he doesn't want to have it with him any longer.
"Jiang Chen." Chen Xiaoxi suddenly turned around, her smiling face was looking like a blossoming flower, her eyes were twinkling like the glistening reflection of the sunshine on the waves.
Jiang Chen was so frightened that he couldn't help but shrink back, that was exactly how she smiled in his dream. To him, the way she looked right now was akin to a hopping corpse* with a paper talisman hanging on its face. She was all smiles one moment, was being loud the next, then kept on whispering, "Jiang Chen, Jiang Chen", truly making a person become irritated.
(T/N: Jiangshi or hopping corpse/ zombie is a type of undead creature in Chinese legends and folklore. They are typically depicted as a stiff corpse with arms outstretched, moving around only through hopping, also dressed in official garments from the Qing dynasty and usually with a paper talisman attached onto its forehead.)
"What?" The manner of speaking was naturally irritated.
Being fired at with such aggressive questioning that came out of nowhere, Chen Xiaoxi forgot what she wanted to say, and had to silently think, "What was it that I was going to say.", then turned around.
Instead, Jing Xiao who was very happy from eating the chocolates helped speak up in behalf of Xiaoxi in the spirit of sisterhood, "What are you being so aggressive for?"
Of course, Jiang Chen couldn't explain why he was being so aggressive, hence he just simply smiled and looked down to search for the textbook of their next lesson.
Jing Xiao leaned on Xiaoxi's shoulder to whisper something, her voice was surely not too small and was audible enough so that the people at the desk behind them could hear, "Xiaoxi, let me tell you something, last time when you went over to my house, my older brother said you looked very cute."
Xiaoxi shrugged Jing Xiao off her shoulders, and laughed while patting her, "What nonsense, your brother does not care about others."
"You don't like guys who does not care about others?" Jing Xiao asked and even deliberately aimed a look at Jiang Chen.
Jiang Chen ignored Jing Xiao's ridicule, and on the contrary, watched Chen Xiaoxi. She was smiling, her ears were all red, looking very happy.
During lunchtime, Chen Xiaoxi was poking her plate around with her chopsticks, she then asked Jing Xiao who was beside her, "Don't you feel sick after having eaten too much chocolate?"
"Yeah." Jing Xiao threw her chopsticks away, her plate was pushed to Bei You Xin who was sitting across the table, "I didn't touch this with my chopsticks at all."
Bei You Xin face was one of, "I've gotten a steal." He shifted her plate aside, and also had the cheek to ask Xiaoxi, "Do you need my help with that?" The appetite of teenage boys has always been a mystery.
Chen Xiaoxi shook her head, "If I won't eat lunch, it would be very likely that I'd get hungry in the afternoon."
"A gigantic appetite." Jiang Chen surmised.
"Why are you making life difficult for me today?" Chen Xiaoxi bit her chopsticks looking aggrieved, although he usually does not put on a good face, but he particularly felt like picking faults today.
Jiang Chen was stumped for words, and quickly changed the topic, "Don't you feel like there are wood chippings in your mouth when you bite your chopsticks like that?"
The moment he said that, Xiaoxi suddenly felt that there really were wood chippings in her mouth so she spat it out twice, with her tongue stuck out. Frightened, Bei You Xin quickly extended his hands out to protect his two dishes, "Don't spit I tell you."
Afternoon, during dismissal, Bei You Xin walked home together with them. Chen Xiaoxi felt strange. After a very long while of trying to get into the heart of the matter, the explanation she got was that Jiang Chen invited him over. Xiaoxi felt completely wronged. She has been neighbors with him for more than ten years, yet she doesn't even know what his yard looks like, so how come Bei You Xin could just come over to his house to play. Hence Chen Xiaoxi very tactfully expressed to them that she was also willing to take the time to go over to Jiang Chen's house. Both said that she wasn't welcomed.
Poor Xiaoxi felt very frustrated.
Bei You Xin was sitting cross-legged on the sofa in the living room, clicking his tongue in amazement, "Your A/V equipment looks very advanced, let's find some time to have some other bros come over to watch some CD, hehe."
Behind those two "hehe", were innumerable twists and turns that people inside this house might not know what's churning inside his head.
Jiang Chen came out from his room and threw the book at him, "Don't even think about it, my mother will kill me."
"Hehe." Bei You Xin flipped over a page, "The last time I lent a book to Wang Da Zhuang, that despicable guy refused to return it no matter what, and when it was finally returned to me he even had the nerve to steal a few pages."
Jiang Chen was drinking water and did not have the chance to reply as Bei You Xin has become a chatterbox, "Wang Da Zhuang likes Chen Xiaoxi you know?"
Jiang Chen's hand that was holding the cup couldn't help but tighten, he suddenly felt like he was boiling over in anger.