When we returned to the hotel, we made it just in time when the cla.s.s leader had finished her head count. Some of the students were returning back to their rooms and some of them were catching fireflies outside.
If we got back a little later, the cla.s.s leader would have called us.
The cla.s.s leader looked at me suspiciously when she saw that Xiao Qin had cried and Winnie was soaked from head to toe. (She also had two b.u.mps pointing out on her chest)
“Um.” I explained, “Xiao Qin is sad because she suddenly remembered her grandmother who pa.s.sed away.”
I feel like I have used that excuse once before.
“Then what about you?” The cla.s.s leader looked at Winnie, “Why are you so wet?’
Winnie scratched her head, “It’s nothing, I just ate something bad.”
The cla.s.s leader furrowed her brows which showed she didn’t understand.
“Oh, you’re saying… why my clothes are wet?” Winnie suddenly realized and said without any shame: “I accidentally slipped and fell into a gutter, it’s a good thing I know how to swim.”
The cla.s.s leader urged Winnie to change into a set of dry clothes and told her she could user hers if she didn’t have any spares. Since Winnie was only a bit shorter than the cla.s.s leader, she should be able to wear the same clothes.
Winnie agreed and ran into the hotel first.
A huge mosquito flew past Xiao Qin’s shoulder and landed on the cla.s.s leader’s exposed leg since she was wearing shorts.
The cla.s.s leader, who had sensitive skin, was able to send the mosquito to its death with a single clap before it began to suck blood.
Fortunately, I didn’t act rashly to help to cla.s.s leader hit it, otherwise I would have been called a pervert again.
Gong CaiCai, who was standing not far behind the cla.s.s leader, looked at the crescent shaped moon in the sky and for some reason a sad look appeared on her face.
Huh, did she also remember her grandmother who pa.s.sed away?
According to the “28 Middle Beauty X-Files” written by Eunuch Cao, Gong CaiCai’s family seems to have a longevity gene, so her grandmother is probably alive and well.
“Cai Cai, what’s wrong?” The cla.s.s leader asked what I wanted to ask.
Gong CaiCai wiped away the tears that easily emerged from the corners of her eyes: “Cla.s.s leader, I’m fine, I just get sad every time I see the crescent moon…”
Huh, is Gong CaiCai perhaps a literary girl? She’s fully aware that life has joys and sorrows, so she feels the impermanence of life every time she sees the moon?
“Um, it’s because when I see the crescent shaped moon, it reminds me of all the bowl I broke so far…” Gong CaiCai said and lowered her head in shame.
d.a.m.n, that’s not poetic at all and it’s also very costly!
“For you.” Xiao Qin handed something to Gong CaiCai she was holding between two fingers.
“Thank, thank you.” Gong CaiCai subconsciously said thank you, it seems politeness has become deeply ingrained in her genes.
It turns out what Xiao Qin gave her was a large mosquito.
“Ah, ah, help!” Gong CaiCai was so frightened that she almost fell to the ground, but fortunately the cla.s.s leader supported her.
I quickly slapped the mosquito released by Xiao Qin and asked her a bit unhappily: “Is there any more?”
“No.” Xiao Qin spread out both her hands, “I just wanted to let Cai cow…”
“Call people by their names.”
“I just wanted to let Gong CaiCai cla.s.smate know that mosquitoes aren’t scary. I didn’t mean any harm.”
“Yeah right. How about I catch a black beetle for you to show how they aren’t scary either?”
I said as I began to pretend looking around.
“Ye Lin cla.s.smate’s bullying me.” Xiao Qin yelled and ran back inside the hotel.
Did she go back to the room with Winnie? I really don’t know how long she’s going to give Winnie the cold shoulder.
It was already dark outside and Xiao Qin did some basic repairs on my shirt, but it still wasn’t enough to get past the cla.s.s leader’s G.o.dly eyes.
In order to get away from the mosquitoes, Gong CaiCai slighty bowed to the cla.s.s leader, then slowly walked back to her room.
“What happened to your clothes?” The cla.s.s leader asked after she was sure there was no one else around.
“Ah, I accidentally fell into a gutter…”
“Isn’t that Winnie’s excuse?”
“I suddenly thought about my grandmother that pa.s.sed away…”
“I think she died from you getting her angry.”
Speaking of which, I have never really met my maternal grandmother and grandfather, which is Ai ShuQiao’s parents.
Ai ShuQiao originally wasn’t a local of Dong Shan city and her parents also lived quite far away. When she married my father, I heard her parents looked down on a third-tier city like Dong Shan city and they threatened to break off relations with their daughter.
Then Ai ShuQiao simply cut off all relations with them.
I heard even after she became a successful capitalist in the United States, she did not get in touch with her parents in China.
At first, my dad thought that Ai ShuQiao cut off relations with her parents because she loved him. Now I think I understand, Ai ShuQiao simply does not care nor does have any affection.
She doesn’t care about love and simply threw my dad away.
To her, the only thing that matters in the world is anything that is “interesting”. If she loses interests in something, whether it is her parents, husband, or children, they will be abandoned like a pair of old shoes.
I am now unfortunately one of her interests, so I do not know how she will toy with me.
“How on earth did you rip your clothes?” The cla.s.s leader asked again seeing that I had s.p.a.ced out.
I don’t know why I didn’t answer the cla.s.s leader’s question, but I instead asked her: “Cla.s.s leader, do your parents have a good relationship?”
The cla.s.s leader was stunned, “Their relationship is very good. They aren’t in the same company in Shanghai, my dad is in a financial company, and my mom works in vaccine research inst.i.tute, they are busy with work everyday, but my dad still remembers all the anniversaries an will celebrate with mom.”
In a short period of time, the cla.s.s leader seemed to become the one her parents call “Sha Sha”. She intertwined her fingers and recalled the time she spent with them.
“As soon as they can arrange a vacation together, they would come back to see us. Although I wish they could always stay around, but work is also very important.”
“Recently my mom’s research inst.i.tute seems to have made a major breakthrough. I heard that if it’s successful, everyone on the team would be given a large bonus. The money doesn’t really matter, I just hope she can get a longer vacation…”
It was obviously something to look forward to, but the cla.s.s leader suddenly seemed worried, “My parents have been saving up to buy a house in Shanghai, if they eventually save enough money…”
“Forget it, they might not necessarily be successful.” The cla.s.s leader rea.s.sured herself. On the contrary, it seemed like she was hoping her mom would fail.
After talking a bit more about herself, the cla.s.s leader noticed that I did not respond and she covered her mouth with a little regret.
“Ye Lin, I… did I bring up some sad memories for you.”
The cla.s.s leader felt that, for me, who had a single parent family and never experienced a mother’s love, it was cruel to show off her happiness in front of me.
“I have a sewing kit in my backpack.” The cla.s.s leader’s tone was apologetic as well as gentle, then she said softly, “Take off your shirt, I’ll fix it for you.”
Ten minutes later, I got my cla.s.s t-shirt, which was st.i.tched by the cla.s.s leader. I couldn’t tell it was an amended shirt if I didn’t look closely.
How skillful. Cla.s.s leader, are you sure you want to use those hands to hold down a trigger?
But it is just wishful thinking on my part. I’m not saying the cla.s.s leader should be a full-time housewife just because she’s amazing at housework. The cla.s.s leader is a woman who could use both an embroidery needle and a sniper.
I took the clothes from the cla.s.s leader and immediately put them on so she could immediately see the results of her efforts.
The cla.s.s leader did not pay too much attention to me in the corridor where people frequently pa.s.sed by as if she would be responsible for sewing up any other students’ clothes when they were torn.
The two of us stood in the hallway, outside our respective doors. We were only three steps apart, yet neither of us could find anything to say.
At that moment, Winnie, who had changed into dry clothes in the room next to the cla.s.s leader’s, came out while dragging Xiao Qin out while adjusting her shorts carelessly.
“Hey, why are the two of you looking at each other as if you were in love.” Winnie patted me on the shoulder and joked with us.
After what just happened, how do you not find it awkward to look at me, and you’re even making these kind of jokes?
Xiao Qin squinted her eyes and tried to shoot lasers at the cla.s.s leader.
I’m not sure if it was Winnie’s joke or Xiao Qin’s gaze that made the cla.s.s leader turn away and stop looking at me.
But in doing so, she instead saw the red marks on my wrist made by Winnie’s nails.
“What happened to your hand?” The cla.s.s leader subconsciously wanted to grab my hand to look at it, but was too embarra.s.sed to do it in front of Winnie and Xiao Qin.
“I suddenly remembered my grandmother who pa.s.sed away…”
Anyway, a made up excuse is free to use and it wouldn’t hurt if I used it again.
“What are you talking about, isn’t it because I scratched you?” Winnie said without thinking and poked me in the waist with her elbow.”
The cla.s.s leader frowned warily at Winnie and Xiao Qin changed the target her laser beams to Winnie.
Winnie then remembered it was something she couldn’t tell anyone other than Xiao Qin and me, so she quickly changed her wording and said:
“I, I had a fight with Ye Lin and he got injured.”
“Why did you two fight?” The cla.s.s leader questioned.
“Because I, I wanted to…” Winnie scratched her head and couldn’t make up a good reason, so Xiao Qin spoke for her, “Because Winnie wanted to rape Ye Lin cla.s.smate, that’s why she scratched him.”
The cla.s.s leader scoffed, “No way, the other way around sounds more likely.”
“Hmph, then cla.s.s leader, you can ask her yourself.” Xiao Qin sent an overbearing glance at Winnie.
Winnie could only continue to follow behind Xiao Qin and apologize to her, but Xiao Qin still had a look of indifference.
The cla.s.s leader didn’t quite understand what was going on between the three of us, but her keen eye picked up on a small detail.
Out of habit, I always wore the watch my dad bought for me on my left wrist, and today was no exception.
So when Winnie pushed me down, her nail ran into my watch and she lost a small piece of the nail on her right index finger.
Combined with the conversation between Xiao Qin and Winnie and my torn shirt, the cla.s.s leader’s logical reasoning skills kicked in and she likely deduced out a rather outrageous result.
That is: although I said I don’t have a relationship with Winnie, it’s possible Winnie likes me unilaterally and she has done something that overstepped her bounds tonight. Which is why Xiao Qin, who is my step-sister, has been mocking her in a nonchalant manner.
“Hmph.”
After biting her lip in anguish for a few seconds, the cla.s.s leader suddenly entered her room and then slammed the door very hard.
Her figure from behind seemed to say, “What are you so proud of?”