This time, Rong Si did not question her any further and, instead, laughed lightheartedly. The fingers that were by his side moved, and, lifting his hand, he reached out and patted Li Erqin on the head.
“Don’t dwell on it too much.” He retracted his hand. “Those who truly wish to be friends with you will naturally take the effort to get to know you. As for the rest, just ignore them.”
Li Erqin mulled over these words and suddenly came to a realisation. “So this is why you are always ignoring others?”
“…… ummm that’s not it.”
“You’re normally a man of few words.”
“Do you like people who talk a lot?”
The conversation seemed to be *moving into strange directions. Li Erqin waved her hand. “Not at all.”
*(T/N : the term is to flee, scuttle or exit here and there.)
Rong Si nodded. “That’s good then.”
What’s so good?
Li Erqin was still pondering on his words when Rong Si (who was beside her) stood up.
Shivering from the cold air, he expelled out a deep breath. “I’m almost frozen to death. Want to head back?”
Li Erqin mirrored him and stood up. “Ok.”
Rong Si gave her a scrutinizing look. “Are your emotions still in a jumble?”
“Not at all.” She laughed. “It wasn’t such a big deal to begin with.”
Rong Si nodded.
“I just had a little trouble sorting my thoughts out earlier on why the teacher was not capable of differentiating between right and wrong (thus making wild allegations).”
Rong Si answered matter of factly, “Possibly because even teachers are human.”
“……” Li Erqin was momentarily rendered speechless. “That’s …… true.”
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After locking the door, they descended from the rooftop with Rong Si walking ahead. As the walked down the stairs, their shadows, one taller and one shorter, would crisscross back and forth and, every so often, would merge together.
It was the evening remedial time so the entire school was quiet. The only sounds that could be heard were Rong Si and Li Erqin’s rhythmic footsteps as they echoed through the passageway.
Li Erqin felt that the tempo of her heart was gradually matching the rhythm of their footfall.
Steadfast and smooth.
Something was stirring up and taking various twists and turns. No matter how much Li Erqin struggled to catch it, it remained elusive.
At that moment, she lost her footing and wasn’t able to step on the next flight of stairs. “Oh no!” With a yell, her whole body plunged forward into a free fall.
Rong Si was alerted by the sound and turned back, only to see a warm body brandishing her hands in an awkward posture and hurtling down from the top. Reacting on pure instinct, his hands reached out to steady her, his feet not moving even by a fraction.
The first thought that popped into his head was really light.
When Li Erqin steadied herself, she was in a bit of a kerfuffle as she immediately extracted herself from his embrace. Her whole brain felt as if it had been cooked. Scathingly hot.
“You ……” For the second time this evening Rong Si repeated, “You should really watch where you’re going ……”
Li Erqin stood where she was and used both of her hands to cover her hot cheeks. She laughed sheepishly. “I wonder what would have happened if you weren’t here to catch me. Would I have fallen flat on my face and gotten up to find my nose bent out of shape?”
Once she had finished speaking, she didn’t wait for Rong Si to react but instead forced out a dry laugh. “Ha ha ha.”
Rong Si didn’t make a comment and merely looked at her.
Li Erqin slowly collected her smile and exchanged it for a solemn and cautious expression. “Did I hurt you?”
Even though the weather was cold, Rong Si was dressed minimally. On several occasions, Li Erqin had observed Rong Si from afar and had often felt that he was tall and slim, and he appealed so much to her that she could not take her eyes off him.
And she had just collided so forcefully into him (his body)…
“I’m sorry …”
“Let’s go.” Rong Si turned and continued on down the stairs, and Li Erqin was not able to glimpse his reaction.
She followed behind him in remorse. “I’m sorry. Please don’t be mad with me.”
Rong Si stopped.
Li Erqin stopped too.
Both of their shadows once again merged together.
“Li Erqin.” His expression was solemn as he called her name.
“Yes?”
“When someone is upset and you’ve put aside what you were doing to accompany her and chat with her, which kind of like would that be?” Rong Si stood a few steps below her so that he had to lift his head to look at her. The lights were lit up behind him, distinctly highlighting every single strand of his hair.
“The liking between good friends.”
Rong Si touched his nose before proceeding down the stairs.
“Rong Si.” This time it was Li Erqin who called out his name.
“Yes?”
“Do you already have someone you like?”
His footsteps once again halted.
Rong Si lowered his head and smiled. Not that clueless after all.
“Yes.”
(Minodayz: Ohhhhh myyyyyy…just say it plsssssssssssss……)
Li Erqin felt as if she had suddenly dropped into the freezing sea. This strange mood changed into a floating *glop that seemed to completely envelope her.
*(T/N: I’ve used glop as author used mucous membrane – not sure how to better translate it.)
She jumped down the last three steps and landed in front of Rong Si. Then she walked forward in front of him.
Rong Si raised his brows in surprise. “You’re not going to ask anymore?”
Li Erqin shook her head. “Not asking anymore.”
(Minodayz: WHATTTT….. WHYYYY??? Ask ask ask!!! – my heart is breaking!!!)
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In the classroom, Peng Zige had been sitting restlessly at his desk. He was wondering if Rong Si was able to offer Li Erqin comfort. More importantly, he wanted to know what they were chatting about.
One extra person meant one more source of strength, right! If they had included Su Zi and himself, they would definitely have been successful in comforting her!
“Su Zi …” He jabbed Su Zi on her back.
Su Zi moved a little but didn’t turn around.
Peng Zige found her reaction odd and tried again. “Su Zi .…..”
“Don’t speak to me.” Su Zi’s voice floated back softly and sounded rather nasally.
Peng Zige immediately realised that something was not right so he hunched over and slinked like a cat into Li Erqin’s seat. Extending his head to look over, he caught on that Su Zi was crying.
Peng Zige exclaimed, “…… what is this about?”
“Just leave me alone.”
Peng Zige: “……”
Peng Zige sat upright in Li Erqin’s seat and ‘left her alone’ for a moment. Then, using his elbow, he nudged her arm. “What’s wrong?”
Su Zi wiped her tears. “None of your concern.”
“How can you be like this missy?” Peng Zige intentionally used a strange accent to say, “Big brother here is showing his concern for you!”
Even though Su Zi was harbouring some matters of the heart, yet she couldn’t resist rolling her eyes at him.
Peng Zige thought this was funny. “Hey! What’s with the eyes?”
This time, Su Zi lowered her head and ignored him.
“Little Zi Zi ~.” Once again Peng Zige called out to her.
“Peng Zi Ge!” An explosive sound reverberated from the teacher’s desk, causing half the class to hurriedly raise their head in fright before turning collectively to look at Peng Zige.
Peng Zige also jumped up in fright and looked towards the duty teacher, petrified.
“Are you harassing female students again! Insteading of working on your worksheets during the evening remedial, what are you doing in someone else’s seat?”
Peng Zige recovered his wits. “I’m discussing the questions.”
The duty teacher smiled sarcastically, “Which question?”
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When Rong Si and Li Erqin reached the classroom door, they saw Peng Zige standing awkwardly in the corridor with Su Zi beside him mopping up her tears.
There were both surprised by the sight.
“Zige!” Rong Si called out. “What happened here?”
Peng Zige and Su Zi turned simultaneously to look, and they both had on a rather awkward expression. “Su Zi wasn’t in a good mood so I came out to comfort her.”
Rong Si turned his attention over (to Su Zi).
Li Erqin hastened over to Su Zi’s side. “What’s the matter?”
Su Zi shook her head. “It’s nothing…”
Li Erqin looked inquiringly at Peng Zige. Peng Zige clutched at his hair in frustration. “It’s really nothing. Just being a little girl …”
When he received Su Zi’s glare, he corrected himself, “Just a teenage girl and her matters of the heart …”
Su Zi shot him another glare.
This time, he obediently shut his mouth.
“It’s cold out here. Let’s head on in,” Rong Si said.
Peng Zige nodded and inquired of Su Zi, “Should we head in?”
Su Zi nodded and whispered to Peng Zige, “Thank you.”
Peng Zige was embarrassed and laughed in spite of himself. “It was nothing.”
In any case, the Duty Teacher did not take him to task over this. The teacher had allowed him to step out of the classroom to finish his conversation with Su Zi as long as he didn’t disrupt the other students’ studying.
Moreover, he felt that the words of comfort he had just offered did not amount to much anyway.
Su Zi had hesitatingly said, “I think Rong Si likes Li Erqin,” and afterwards, what did he say?
“Li Erqin is still clueless!”
“It’s possible that Rong Si doesn’t like Li Erqin!”
“Or maybe you liking Rong Si is not that kind of “real” liking someone.”
“Let’s say Rong Si does like Li Erqin, if you really like someone, wouldn’t you want to give him your blessing and wish him happiness?”
What happened after that?
Oh right, Su Zi had cried even harder.
After he saw that Su Zi had returned to her seat, he stole a glance at her to see her expression. Her mouth was turned down in displeasure.
Without a second thought, he reached over and gave Su Zi’s hand a covert squeeze. In a flash, he was by Su Zi’s ear and whispering in a soft voice that was only meant to be heard by two people, “Don’t feel so bad anymore.”