After the camping trip, school started a week later.
After the start of the school year, Fang Xiazi officially became a busy senior student.
She had to resign from the student union, and she couldn’t continue to host the literary and art evening at the beginning of the semester.
In her life, almost everything was about studying, studying, and studying.
And only by studying day and night could she distract herself from the pain of breaking up with Han Yicheng. As Huo Xingchao had told her, her life was so busy that she was only allowed 4.44 seconds of sadness each day.
After returning from the summer camp, Fang Xiazi broke up with Han Yicheng.
She was decisive in her words, pinching herself painfully behind her back, her expression firm.
The boy sighed, nodded in agreement, patted her shoulder, and with a sincere look said, “Xiazi, I’m sorry, but I hope you can find someone who truly loves you in the future.”
Fang Xiazi avoided his hand, gave him a cold glance, and left without saying a word.
In that moment, she really wanted to cry very, very much, but she held back with all her might, leaving her ex-boyfriend with a beautiful back.
Before the summer camp, she didn’t know that, apart from her, Han Yicheng had a childhood sweetheart.
Because every time Xiang Rikui came to learn the piano, she happened to be leaving for the violin room, and they passed by each other countless times. However, she always thought that the smiling girl was just a student of the neighboring aunt.
She never thought that Han Yicheng confessed to her because of this girl.
But now, she figured it out.
So, two weeks after the start of school, when the boy came to her again, apologized, and hoped for a reconciliation, his eyes carried a deep sadness.
She knew it wasn’t for her.
In the school parking lot, Fang Xiazi looked at him expressionlessly. “Han Yicheng, what do you want?”
It was almost half an hour past the end of the school day, and most of the teachers and students who could go home had already left the school gate. In the deep night, there were only the two of them in the parking lot.
The boy’s handsome face was half-lit by the moonlight, and there was a bit of sadness in his brown eyes. He spoke slowly, “Xiazi, I regret it now. Can we be together again?”
…
Yesterday, when Xiang Rikui came to learn the piano, her eyes were swollen, she was absent-minded, and she made mistakes in three out of ten notes.
Han Yicheng felt that something was wrong, and very worried about her state he asked her what happened.
Tears welled up in the girl’s eyes and threw herself into his arms, sobbing heartbreakingly.
“Brother Han, Huo Xingchao is not going abroad again. What should I do? He must have heard that you broke up with Senior Sister Fang and decided not to go abroad. Brother Han, do I really have to watch him be with Senior Sister Fang? I can’t do it…”
…
Han Yicheng thought to himself, Xiang Rikui is his little sun.
From childhood to adulthood, his life was lonely, gloomy, and monotonous, and only her smile could add a bit of sunshine to his world.
She was such a good girl. He couldn’t let her smile disappear.
So, he had to do something.
Fang Xiazi looked into his eyes. Before, they were like a clear and cold landscape, proud, icy, high above.
But at this moment, they turned into a pair of silent dead water lakes, and every ripple caused by the wind was filled with sadness.
Unfortunately, whether it was silence or sadness, it could never be for her.
The girl sneered, raising the corners of her lips, her voice indifferent, “Xiang Rikui must have told you something again.”
Han Yicheng paused, feeling her mocking yet understanding look. He lowered his head in silence for a while before raising it again.
“Xiazi, for the sake of our many years of friendship, I have one request. Can you give Xiao Kui a chance?”
“Give her a chance?”
Fang Xiazi found it absurd. “What chance can I give her?”
“Pretend to be my girlfriend.”
Ignoring the girl’s astonished expression, the boy spoke sincerely.
“Only if you pretend to be my girlfriend can Huo Xingchao give up. Xiazi, you don’t like Huo Xingchao anyway, right? This method can also help you get rid of his entanglement. It’s a win-win situation, isn’t it?”
…
“Han Yicheng, is your brain fried by the moon? First, Huo Xingchao is not bothering me, and I don’t need to use this harmful method to make him give up. Second, I don’t want to have any relationship with you. We have no friendship between us. Please don’t bother me for the sake of your little sweetheart. Move aside!”
“Xiazi!”
Han Yicheng held onto her bicycle handlebars, furrowing his brows.
“Can you show a little sympathy for Xiao Kui? She’s really a very kind and innocent girl. You don’t have to do anything, just pretend. You don’t like Huo Xingchao anyway, right, Xiazi…”
…
It’s ironic.
Really damn ironic.
From the time they met until now, it was the first time Han Yicheng had said so much to her.
Each sentence was like a knife, each word carrying sharp thorns, piercing into her heart, leaving it bleeding, making even breathing difficult.
Actually, she used to really like Han Yicheng.
In middle school, she started reading some romance novels.
Sentences like “The faint fragrance of the sycamore tree” and “The minty smell on the boy lingers in the cold air”, these affected yet tender sentences are like shallow waves being pushed onto the beach, creating white splashes and leaving traces on the heart.
At that time, describing boys as “clean” was popular, and Han Yicheng perfectly matched every imagination a teenage girl had about the word “clean.”
The figure in the white school uniform looked slightly slender, with fair skin and a slightly aloof and melancholic expression. His long fingers played the piano skillfully, and when she got close to him, she could always smell a faint mint fragrance.
For some reason, it seemed like a flower was slowly growing from the depths of her heart, joy and anxiety watering it.
The folds of the flower leaves reflected an unnamed fragrance, filling her heart.
And then came the skipping of her heart.
On a rare snowy day in the south, she secretly wrote Han Yicheng on her father’s car, drew a heart, and then quietly erased it.
Every time the monthly exam rankings were announced, Han Yicheng was the first in liberal arts, and Fang Xiazi was the first in science. Seeing the two names side by side made her very, very happy.
She studied hard for him, practiced the violin, wore his favorite shirt, and understood every background of the musicals he liked.
Every time a boy confessed to her, she would think, “Where does this compare to Han Yicheng?” When Han Yicheng confessed to her, she felt that he was perfect, and she wanted to spend her life with him from school uniforms to wedding dresses.
But when he stood in front of her like this, speaking confidently about another girl’s virtues, hoping she would retain some basic human sympathy, she suddenly felt bitterly ironic.
“Han Yicheng, for the sake of our shallow friendship, let me tell you something sincerely.”
The girl lowered her head, trying her best to open her eyes wide, blinking to hold back the tears in her eyes, then raised her head and smiled.
“In this world, not everyone you like will like you back, no matter how hard you try.”
“So, even if Huo Xingchao doesn’t like me, he won’t like your Xiao Kui just because he doesn’t like me. Instead of asking me, you might as well ask Huo Xingchao.”
…
“Xiazi,”
The boy frowned, wanting to say something more, but his phone suddenly rang in his pocket, interrupting his words. He took it out, looked at the screen, glanced at the girl with an indifferent expression, hesitated for a moment, and still answered it with a gentle tone, “Xiao Kui…”
Fang Xiazi gripped the handlebars, hummed lightly, exerted force, and smoothly maneuvered away from his hand, turning to the right.
At the corner, a familiar figure came into view.
The young man, stepped on the pedals, raised his eyebrows at her, rang the bicycle bell twice, his lips curved, and his eyes bright, “Ding dong ding dong.”
“Senior Sister.”
She nodded, not saying anything.
Just as she was about to step on the pedal, a sudden force hit her shoulder with great strength. Without any mercy, she was caught off guard, and her whole body stumbled and fell off the bicycle. Her palms grazed the ground directly, leaving behind several harsh scratches.
Han Yicheng stepped on the pedal of her bicycle, looking extremely anxious. “Xiazi, can I borrow your car for a moment? I have something very urgent. Thank you!”
Then, he swiftly drove towards the school gate.
…
…What does this mean?
Did she agree?
Han Yicheng, you have no morality, and now you don’t even have basic decency?!
The girl endured the pain, quickly stood up, and grabbed the hem of the young man who was parking nearby. “Huo Xingchao, can I borrow your bicycle for a moment?”
The young man was taken aback, “Oh, of course, but do you need me to drive you? Your hand…”
“Thank you.”
Fang Xiazi directly hopped on the bike and swiftly chased after the figure in front.
“Sister?”
“Don’t worry, I’m a black belt in karate.”
…
Huo Xingchao frowned, images of Han Yicheng’s anxious face and Fang Xiazi’s pursuit kept replaying in his mind. As he thought about it, his steps toward the administrative building suddenly stopped.
Wait a minute.
This scene, this development, why does it feel so familiar?
… Ah, it’s really damn familiar.
The young man rushed to the second floor, knocked on the door of the principal’s office, and, panting, looked at the middle-aged man behind the desk.
“Uncle, I ranked first in the class in the recent exams. As a reward, can you take me to one of those alleys near the school—dark, secluded, almost no pedestrians, and without surveillance cameras—and let me take a stroll?”
T/N: Super weird request that gets shrugged off. It’s surprisingly translated correctly. I checked a few times.
“…I’m pleased that you ranked first, but I really don’t have time for that. Thanks anyway.”
“Headmaster.”
The young man put on a serious face, resolute in his expression. “I accidentally stumbled upon a case of campus violence just now. As the principal, it’s your responsibility to investigate it thoroughly. But don’t worry, I can assist you.”
…
Huo Xingchao sat in his aunt’s Chery QQ, shaking his leg while sitting in the passenger seat.
In his mind, he kept contemplating the plot’s development. He couldn’t help but develop a dislike for the term ‘butterfly effect.’
He had already planned a series of perfect hero-rescues-beauty plans for this significant event.
If the damn plot decided to advance prematurely, he truly had nothing to say.
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