Chapter 13

Zhao Panpan was eating lunch slower than she ever had in her life, all because the gossip from the table behind her was simply too good to ignore.

“Seriously?” After hearing Xia Xia’s explanation, Zhang Ru’s eyes widened. “You mean our delicate, fragile Miss Yan actually carried you all the way from the teaching building to the school infirmary in the administration building?”

She was so shocked, so disbelieving, that her voice rose before she could stop it, drawing a few looks from the people around them.

Yu Ting was also stunned, though not nearly as dramatically as Zhang Ru. She glanced around and reminded her to watch her image.

Xia Xia blushed and nodded. She quickly stole a look at Yan Can across from her, then lowered her head and, with great restraint, ate her rice in tiny bites.

She remembered that although she had fainted at the time, her mind had stayed clear. She could feel someone lifting her up; as if worried she might slip or that they wouldn’t be able to hold her properly, that person gave her a very light bounce in their arms after picking her up.

Senior Yan’s voice by her ear had been very gentle; her embrace had been warm, and she smelled nice too.

The next day, Xia Xia had brought the cake she’d made herself and wanted to thank the senior in person, but when she went twice, she never saw her. Later, she heard from people in the senior’s class that she had taken leave… She hadn’t expected to run into her today…

Yan Can was chewing her food, and the exaggerated expressions on their faces amused her so much that she almost laughed. She held back the corners of her mouth and said with a proud air, “I’m pretty capable, after all.”

She knew the original owner’s frailty had long since taken root in the minds of these two, so she wasn’t surprised by their reaction.

Based on Xia Xia’s description, Zhang Ru pictured the scene and instantly got pink bubbles in her eyes. She blurted out without thinking, “Oh my god, a princess carry. If that were me, I’d totally fall for her!”

Yu Ting laughed and shook her head.

Xia Xia seemed to think of something too; her face turned even redder.

Yan Can laughed out loud. “All right, enough. Hurry up and eat; we still have to go back and take the exam.”

For Yan Can, it had only been a small act of kindness. She didn’t think there was anything worth discussing for this long.

But clearly Zhang Ru had no intention of ending the topic. She blinked slyly at Yan Can and said with a smile, “Miss Yan, if I weren’t the type to ignore what’s right under my nose, I really might fall for you.”

It was a joke, but also something she genuinely meant. Who wouldn’t love someone this boyfriend-like?

She would never have made this kind of joke with Yan Can before, but maybe Miss Yan had changed somehow recently?

She couldn’t really explain it. Even though her appearance was still the same, there was something about the way she spoke and some of the things she did that felt different. Zhang Ru couldn’t put it into words, but she didn’t think it was a bad thing.

So she teased Miss Yan without any restraint.

“Hey, Yan Can, if you happen to like me too, we could be a power couple. What do you think about an alliance through marriage?”

Yan Can knew she was joking, so she wasn’t angry. She smiled and said, “Dream on. Even if I liked girls, I still wouldn’t like your type.”

As soon as she said that, several people at the table looked over, especially Xia Xia.

Wait, she was serious? Did they really think she liked girls? Yan Can found it a little amusing, but she couldn’t be bothered to correct them.

“Mm, just what you’re thinking.” Instead of clarifying, she deliberately teased them.

Just listen to that tone; look at that expression. Zhang Ru and Yu Ting both understood immediately: she was doing it on purpose.

Maybe because the atmosphere was cheerful, Zhang Ru talked even more than usual today. Picking up on Yan Can’s previous words, she said, “Oh, so Miss Yan doesn’t like my type. Then what type do you like?”

She had only asked casually, but Yan Can answered just as casually.

“Anyway, not your type. You’re too clingy; I can’t stand it. If I had to pick a type—”

Halfway through, a pair of light brown eyes, calm as an ancient well, suddenly flashed through her mind, startling her. She steadied herself and said, “In any case, it can’t be too clingy. I can’t handle that!”

Yu Ting couldn’t hold back her laughter first.

Xia Xia wanted to laugh too, but the moment she looked at Yan Can’s face, she immediately lowered her head in embarrassment and bit her lower lip, forcing down her smile.

As the topic continued, Zhang Ru suddenly looked at Xia Xia. “Little junior, let me tell you something funny. You know what? Compared with boys, your senior Yan Can is even more popular with girls. When she first moved up to first year of high school, a lot of people were asking about her. Every time there was Valentine’s Day or Christmas or whatever, her desk would be stuffed full of gifts…”

She laughed. “It’s just that our Miss Yan is too cold. She has that dead-still iceberg face, and after she coldly rejected a few senior boys and girls, hardly anyone dared confess to her anymore.”

Xia Xia glanced at Yan Can and thought to herself that the senior didn’t seem cold at all. The day she spoke to her, her voice had been very gentle, and even now she was smiling as she talked.

“Hey, Su Ci, they’re talking about Senior Yan Can. They said girls have confessed to her before?”

Zhao Panpan, who had been straining her ears with her body leaned back so far she practically wanted to stick herself to the table behind them, eagerly shared the gossip she’d overheard with the person beside her.

But Su Ci clearly wasn’t interested. She gave a soft mm and kept eating in that same elegant posture.

From beginning to end, she looked like someone who neither spoke during meals nor in bed.

Seeing that, Zhao Panpan knew enough to stop talking and kept pricking up her ears for the sounds behind her.

“I’m done; I’ll go first.” The person beside her suddenly stood up and said. Zhao Panpan glanced over; only about a third of the food in Su Ci’s bowl had been eaten.

She sighed inwardly that there was a reason Su Ci was so thin. Her portion had already been only half of Zhao Panpan’s, and with such a small appetite, she absentmindedly nodded and kept eavesdropping.

This time, the topic had shifted to teachers. They were saying that there was a physics teacher in senior year who especially loved calling on students to answer questions, and if they couldn’t answer, he’d punish them by making them run laps. What kind of perverted physics teacher was that? Just as Zhao Panpan was getting into it, the conversation abruptly cut off.

She casually turned her head forty-five degrees and found that the people at the table behind them had finished eating and were getting ready to leave.

Zhao Panpan looked at her own food, barely touched and already cold, then shouted after Su Ci, who had gone a little way ahead, “Wait for me a second!” She quickly shoved down a couple of mouthfuls, then hurried after her.

Once they were out of the cafeteria doors, Zhao Panpan thought back on the gossip she’d just overheard. Remembering that Su Ci was friends with Yan Can, she suddenly got curious and couldn’t help asking, “Su Ci, how did you and senior meet?”

She didn’t say which senior, but Su Ci understood who she meant.

Looking straight ahead, Su Ci said without much emotion, “Why are you suddenly asking about that?”

“Just curious.”

Actually, Su Ci was curious about that too. That person had inexplicably said she was very important to her, said she liked her, and then they became friends. Even she found it strange.

“Maybe,” Su Ci said lightly, “she—”

The rest of the sentence wasn’t finished.

Zhao Panpan was baffled. “She what?”

Su Ci shook her head.

Maybe Yan Can liked her because all the friends around her were people from the same social class, and a poor student with no money or power like her was something novel to her?

Or maybe it was because she’d seen herself being bullied and sinking into the mire, and rescuing her gave her a sense of accomplishment?

But whatever the reason, there was one thing she had always believed:

When one person took the initiative to approach another, there was no way there wasn’t some goal behind it.

What was the goal? Even the top student Su Ci couldn’t figure it out.

Finishing all her exams in one day was rushed; it wasn’t until seven in the evening that Class One of Senior Year was finally dismissed. By the time Yan Can got home, the moon was already rising over the willow branches.

Tomorrow would be the fifteenth; Death Tuesday. She wanted to bring Su Ci home and keep an eye on her, but the other girl clearly didn’t want to come to her house, because the message she had sent yesterday—"Come to my place to hang out tomorrow!"—still hadn’t been answered.

Things seemed to have gone back to the starting point again.

Last time, she had only had to open her mouth and tell Su Ci to keep her company on her birthday, and Su Ci had agreed and gone home with her, staying by her side for the entire day.

Why wouldn’t it work this time?

After thinking about it, she realized it was probably because she had threatened Su Ci and emotionally blackmailed her into agreeing.

Was she going to have to do that again this time too?

Even if it would ruin the original owner’s image, if it was to save someone…

Sorry, Miss Yan; I’m using your face to do so many bad things.

After silently apologizing in her heart, she immediately sent Su Ci a message:

Come home with me after school tomorrow! Keep me company! I helped you, so you have to help me! You’re not allowed to refuse!

Ahhhhhhh why am I so bad!

Yan Can was too embarrassed to even look at it a second time, so she simply deleted the chat log. Out of sight, out of mind.

...

Su Ci didn’t reply to the message. Even after Yan Can finished her homework, ate dinner, and took a shower, there was still no reply.

Yan Can…

She suspected the girl had muted her.

So irritating!

At six in the morning, just as the sun was beginning to peek over the horizon, Chen Shu was already waiting off to one side.

At this hour, school hadn’t even opened its gates yet. He had no idea where the young miss was going, and just as he was thinking that, she shut the car door and gave him an address.

Traffic wasn’t busy at this hour; the shops along the street hadn’t started business yet, and people were coming and going in front of the breakfast stalls. The car stopped at the entrance to a familiar alley.

“Go back,” Yan Can said, tossing out those words before walking forward.

Chen Shu looked at the morning glow in the sky and thought to himself that perhaps the young miss had gotten into another fight with that little classmate of hers and was here to coax her.

Well, who would have thought that someone as noble and refined as the young miss would actually lower herself again and again to go find someone first.

Yan Can still hadn’t found Su Ci’s new address. All she knew was that last time Su Ci had turned into this alley, so today she’d gotten up early and come to block her path.

At the tail end of summer, the weather was still a little hot. She stood in a patch of shade, holding a hair dryer in her hand as she waited.

Beautiful girls always drew attention. People passing by kept sneaking glances at Yan Can’s side, and she glared right back. What are you looking at! Hmph!

At quarter to seven, she finally saw that familiar uniform.

She immediately jogged over and called Su Ci’s name.

Su Ci was silently memorizing vocabulary words in her head. She was the kind of person who studied every second she could; when no one was disturbing her, she was the sort of diligent top student who would even sort out knowledge points in her mind while walking.

When she heard Yan Can call her, she even thought for a moment that she was hearing things.

Only when she looked over in the direction of the sound did a trace of not-very-obvious surprise flicker in her eyes.

Probably having guessed her purpose, Su Ci didn’t seem surprised at all. Her gaze passed over Yan Can’s face, and then she kept walking.

Yan Can, who had been ignored, immediately hurried after her and fell into step beside her. “Su Ci, you didn’t reply to my messages, so I came looking for you,” she explained.

Seeing that she still had no reaction, she went on, “Su Ci, can you come to my place after school today?”

Since she wouldn’t reply on the phone, she had no choice but to say it right to her face.

But it was obviously no use even saying it to her face, because Su Ci remained silent. Yan Can had no other option but to lower herself and keep following her, buzzing along like a bee, talking the whole way until her throat went hoarse.

Even so, Yan Can still didn’t give up. When the two of them reached the bus stop, she was still whispering in Su Ci’s ear about going home with her.

Whether she was annoyed or finally moved by the other girl’s persistence, Su Ci finally reacted. Her light brown eyes settled on Yan Can as she said calmly, “You want me to keep you company?”

“Mm-mm-mm.” Finally having moved her, Yan Can pressed the advantage. “Yes, yes, you’re my friend! You know I don’t have many friends. My family house is empty all year round; I’m the only one there, and it gets really lonely.”

She glanced at her secretly and said, “I just want a friend to keep me company. I know school comes first. What I mean is, a friend can stay with me while I do my homework.”

After saying that, she looked carefully at Su Ci’s face. “Is that okay? Will you keep me company? If you don’t say anything, I’ll take it as you agreeing.” She eagerly nudged the hair dryer toward Su Ci. “Too hot?”

“Sorry.” Su Ci avoided the hair dryer and said expressionlessly, “I have something to do after school today, so I can’t keep you company.”

Something to do today? Yan Can looked at her suspiciously.

Could she be thinking about suicide?

Startled by her own guess, Yan Can immediately pressed, “What is it?”

Su Ci didn’t answer. Seeing her go silent again, Yan Can’s inner complaints kept building; this person was really too cold, too heartless. She had already humbled herself this much, and the girl still wasn’t moved at all.

After silently grumbling to herself, she decided she would cling to her no matter what.

She pinched a tiny bit of her shirt and shook it, making her first-ever cutesy plea in front of someone. “Aww, come on, please? You’re my friend!”

People waiting for the bus nearby noticed the commotion and all looked over. Su Ci’s expression immediately darkened, and Yan Can was startled by her reaction.

But after waiting a while, Su Ci still didn’t speak. So Yan Can grew bolder again, this time tugging lightly at her sleeve and swaying it from side to side as she said in a soft, sticky voice, “Please? Please? Please? Keep me company!”

She knew the original owner’s face was beautiful, and she knew that cute little girls acting spoiled were usually hard to refuse.

But she’d forgotten that Su Ci was different. This person was cold, heartless, and had no feelings.

A bus came and left. Su Ci looked straight at the face of the person in front of her and said coolly, “Someone like you, Miss, probably isn’t short of company.”