Chapter 15

“That’s great!” Yan Can sprang up in delight and slipped an arm intimately through Su Ci’s, leaning her head toward Su Ci’s shoulder. Su Ci frowned and shoved her away with the flat of her hand, the distaste on her face unmistakable.

It didn’t work.

The other girl shamelessly leaned into her palm instead, pressing her fluffy head against Su Ci’s hand and rubbing lightly against it like a puppy.

Su Ci’s gaze sharpened. Her hand froze.

The girl’s soft black hair felt as smooth as the finest silk.

For one fleeting moment, Su Ci even thought it felt really good to touch; she even had the absurd urge to ruffle the top of her head. The thought was so terrifyingly strange that she stiffened on the spot.

She wasn’t some cat or dog. How could she possibly have such an impulse?

Perhaps sensing she’d gone a little too far this time, Yan Can stepped back to put some distance between them. After all, from the very first day they met, she’d realized this person didn’t like physical contact.

She lowered her eyes and looked especially well-behaved as she said, “Sorry, Su Ci. I was just too happy! If you don’t like me touching you, then I won’t do it again next time. No, I mean, there won’t be a next time.”

Her apology sounded sincere, and her attitude looked earnest too.

But her behavior didn’t change in the slightest; she still kept leaning toward Su Ci, shoulder brushing shoulder.

The summer uniforms were thin. Feeling the other girl’s hot body temperature, Su Ci seemed to have been burned; without showing it, she sidestepped, then quickened her pace, leaving Yan Can far behind.

Was she being too easy to talk to, to the point of letting this person act without restraint?

Yan Can saw Su Ci avoiding her and felt a little disappointed, though perhaps she’d been disappointed too many times, or perhaps she’d already come to terms with it. She just smiled and hurried after her.

She knew Su Ci didn’t like being too close to her, but seeing that her reaction wasn’t too severe and her rejection wasn’t too strong, she brazenly kept grinning and leaning in anyway.

And so, in an instant, one fled while the other pursued.

When Zhang Ru got out of the car, she happened to see that scene and nearly dropped her jaw.

She knew Yan Can’s personality had changed, but even so, seeing the Yan family’s young miss acting all sweet and obsequious still shocked her.

She thought Yan Can looked like some kind of canine again.

At that thought, she couldn’t help laughing. She jogged over, intending to call out to them, but when she reached the back of Yan Can, she abruptly stopped.

Suddenly, she got a mischievous idea.

After all, she was still a high school student; she had plenty of playfulness. As if hiding the truth from herself, she pulled her cap low to cover most of her face, then drifted up behind Yan Can like a ghost and slapped her hard on the backside. When Yan Can cried out and turned around to settle accounts, Zhang Ru pointed ahead as if she were a stranger.

She was pinning it on Su Ci.

Yan Can was a little speechless. Was this girl stupid, or did she think Yan Can was stupid? Such an obvious prank. “Zhang Ru, do you think I’m blind, or do you think I’m stupid?”

Did she not hesitate at all?

Zhang Ru lifted her sunhat and blinked. “You could still tell with my face covered like this?”

“Even if you were reduced to ashes, I’d still recognize you!” Yan Can shot her a glare, then turned to look for Su Ci. But the moment she turned her head: “?”

Hm? Weren’t there just a whole person there a second ago?

Su Ci had already walked off while Yan Can was distracted by Zhang Ru.

Yan Can looked at Su Ci’s retreating figure, then withdrew her gaze and gave Zhang Ru a slightly chilly look.

Zhang Ru felt a little spooked by that look, but she still grinned teasingly. Did I do something wrong?

Wasn’t she allowed to joke like this?

She’d thought Yan Can had changed, that you could joke with her more casually now.

Yan Can had been a little angry at first; she was busy trying to get closer to Su Ci, only to be interrupted.

But thinking of the fact that Su Ci had already agreed to keep her company, that trace of irritation vanished in an instant.

Zhang Ru didn’t know what Yan Can was thinking. Seeing her expression go from gloomy to sunny, she stepped up and hooked her arm through hers, smiling. “Come on, let’s go. The bell’s about to ring.”

“I know. Don’t hold on so tight; it’s hard to walk.”

“Okay, okay, I won’t, I won’t.”

…

The students had only just finished their exams yesterday, and this morning the results were already out. After third period, Ji Yun had the class monitor post the ranking list on the bulletin board at the back of the classroom.

Zhang Ru squeezed out of the crowd and hurried back to her seat, then told Yu Ting and Yan Can about the rankings.

Yan Can ranked first overall; in every subject except Chinese, where she came third, she was first. Yu Ting was third, just like last time.

Yu Ting nodded and asked, “What about you?”

Zhang Ru sighed. “Nineteenth.” Their class only had twenty students total.

Yu Ting comforted her. “It’s okay. Don’t get discouraged; second-to-last is pretty impressive too.”

Class One was an elite class. Even the weakest student there would still be someone the students in ordinary classes could only look up to.

From the moment she put down her pen, Yan Can had already estimated her score, so she wasn’t surprised to take first this time. She’d only known the answers in advance this round; what about the next one?

She still needed to find a tutor and make up for the gaps properly.

All morning, the teachers went over the exam papers. At noon in the cafeteria, Yan Can paid special attention but didn’t see Su Ci.

She sent Su Ci a message, knowing full well there wouldn’t be a reply, but sent it anyway for her own peace of mind.

As expected, there was no reply.

She was a little worried. Even though Su Ci had agreed to keep her company and go home with her in the afternoon, by first period in the afternoon there was still no response from Su Ci. Yan Can was so restless she could hardly sit still; as soon as class ended, she went to look for her. But she’d only taken a few steps out of the classroom when a student stopped her and said the math teacher was looking for her.

Yan Can guessed what it was about and had no choice but to go to the math office.

The math teacher was looking for her about the competition. The school wanted to open a temporary special training class for the students taking part. Starting next week, the competition students would have to attend classes every weekend. Yan Can had no reason to refuse, so she nodded and said okay.

The next class dragged on, leaving her with even less time to look for Su Ci. She’d even considered skipping class to go find her, but leaving aside the damage it would do to the original Yan Can’s image as a good, obedient student, even if she went looking for Su Ci, the other girl probably wouldn’t come out during class anyway.

So she stayed anxious all the way to the final period. Yan Can couldn’t rest easy and secretly sent Su Ci several messages, telling her to wait for her after school.

Since it was class time, after sending them she put her phone away in the desk drawer.

This period was physics, and Yan Can didn’t hear a single word the teacher said. Her mind was full of nothing but finding Su Ci after school and getting through today safely.

If she got through today, then what? Would she be able to get through each day safely and normally after that?

After more than a hundred loops, Yan Can knew her fate was tied to the female lead’s. When the female lead died, she looped. Her life was in the female lead’s hands, but the female lead didn’t know that and still wanted to die. Even if she managed to stop the female lead from dying this time, just like last time, and break the loop, what if the female lead kept wanting to kill herself? She couldn’t keep being this passive every time.

The most fundamental solution was still to change the female lead’s suicidal thoughts.

So why, exactly, did the female lead want to die?

Wang Hui had transferred out. The people who bullied her had all been warned privately by her. The campus bullying was gone, so what else did the female lead have to be unable to let go of?

Yan Can ruffled her hair into a mess and still couldn’t figure it out.

Forget it; one step at a time. For now, she could only solve the immediate problem and cross the river by feeling for stones.

The moment the bell rang, the physics teacher had only just finished saying class over when Yan Can shot out like a tornado.

Behind her, the physics teacher pushed up his glasses, still a little stunned.

Could it be that Yan Can had some urgent matter to handle? She could have said so; it’s not like he was that awful, like Teacher Gou, so unreasonable.

In the classroom, Zhang Ru’s hand, which had been reaching out, froze awkwardly in midair without being withdrawn. Just now she’d wanted to ask Yan Can whether she wanted to go play golf with her, but before her hand even touched Yan Can’s shoulder, the young miss had already rushed off like a gust of wind.

She withdrew her hand and tidied up her desk, then suddenly heard a buzzing sound; it was her phone vibrating. Following the sound, she found Yan Can’s phone in the desk compartment. She took it out and saw two words flashing on the screen: Su Ci.

Should she answer it? Would that count as invading privacy? Probably not; they were classmates, and their relationship was so good. While Zhang Ru hesitated, the call hung up.

Zhang Ru…

She waited a bit, but the other side still didn’t call back.

No, keep calling! I’m already prepared to answer, so call again!

Zhang Ru glared at the phone and somehow got stubborn about it.

Yu Ting, after packing her schoolbag and seeing Zhang Ru standing there in a daze, staring at the phone in her hand, asked in confusion, “You still haven’t left?”

Thinking she was worried about the rankings, Yu Ting was just about to comfort her when she saw Zhang Ru lift her chin and say, “Yan Can left her phone behind. I’m worried she’ll come back looking for it, so I’ll wait a bit.” She continued staring.

“Oh.” Yu Ting nodded and set her bag on the desk. “Then I’ll wait with you.”

Second-year classes got out five minutes earlier than third-year classes. Su Ci packed up quickly as soon as class ended and walked out of the classroom.

Auntie Wei was back, and since the other woman didn’t know her new address, she was waiting for her at the entrance to the old alley.

Su Ci was afraid she’d be kept waiting too long, so she hurried downstairs while thinking she should go home first, return the keys, then take a taxi to Yan Can’s place.

Along the way, remembering the messages Yan Can had sent her repeatedly, she still decided to let Yan Can know. She called, but no one answered, so she sent a text instead.

By the time Yan Can rushed to the second-year Class One, most of the students had already left. There was no sign of Su Ci at a glance; all the insecurity she’d been suppressing surged up at once, turning tangible and crushing her so hard she could barely breathe.

Her hand went into her pocket, wanting to call immediately and ask where she was.

But the pocket was empty. In that instant, she had a strange, very intense bad feeling.

She might not make it in time…

She stopped the student from Su Ci’s class who was closest to her and asked in a tight voice, “Where’s Su Ci?”

The other person said she didn’t know. She really didn’t know; there were so many people in the class, how could she possibly know where each one had gone?

Seeing how anxious Yan Can looked, she said, “Why don’t you call her and ask?”

Both hands hanging by her sides began trembling uncontrollably; Yan Can herself didn’t even notice as she turned and rushed out.

Then a voice suddenly called after her from behind; it was a chubby girl who had once sat next to Su Ci.

“She left as soon as school got out,” Zhou Yuanyuan said. “She looked like she had something urgent to do.”

She left right after school? Something urgent? Urgent to die? Was she that impatient to die? Hadn’t she said she’d wait for her after school?

Yan Can was in a terrible mood now, angry and panicked at the same time. She immediately ran toward the covered corridor; as she ran, she glanced at the time. It was not yet 5:30. She should still be all right. The phone should be in the classroom.

First she’d go get the phone; then she’d try her luck and see if she could talk her down over the phone. While she ran back to the classroom, she suddenly felt stupid. Why hadn’t she installed a location system on Su Ci’s phone from the very beginning? Then next time she could find her easily.

Thinking that, she kept moving, but all at once something seemed to prick her in the chest. The sudden pain made her stop.

Before she could even make sense of what that feeling was, her heart jerked hard again. This sensation felt a little familiar, like the world’s warning the last time she had half-confessed to the female lead.

But she hadn’t done anything.

The instant her other foot hit the ground, the stabbing pain in her heart reached a level she couldn’t bear. It hurt, hurt, hurt—she felt like she was going to be tortured to death. Then, all of a sudden, her vision went black. She thought that maybe this time she really was going to die together with the female lead. But in the next second, light flooded back into her sight, and she looked around in bewilderment.

Heavens above, where had they thrown her this time?