Chapter 2

Li Balei was the first friend that Lin Xigu made at his new school, and also happened to be the girl who sat in front of him in class. She had long hair and was quite pretty, with large, expressive eyes.

Her name was also interesting. Lin Xigu had been quick to comment on it when they first met, “Your name is awesome.”

“Is that a compliment or are you mocking me?” Li Balei’s eyes looked even larger when she blinked. She looked at Lin Xigu. “Don’t worry about it. I’m used to it.”

“I honestly think it sounds nice,” Lin Xigu was wearing such a genuine expression that it made Li Balei feel slightly embarrassed.

“Do you know how to do ballet¹The characters for Li Balei’s given name are literally the same characters used for “ballet”. then?” Lin Xigu asked her.

“A bit. With a name like mine, I’d have to learn, right? But I didn’t have much talent, didn’t want to put in the work, and I struggled a lot, so then I quit.” Li Balei sipped her milk, making idle conversation.

She Xiao returned then, interrupting their table talk. Lin Xigu subconsciously pressed himself into the wall while Li Balei, who had spotted She Xiao as well, stuck out her tongue before turning to face the front.

She Xiao naturally exuded an atmosphere of his own that had a chilling effect on the people around him, making them hesitant to speak when he was around.

The following parts of the text will be scrambled to prevent theft from aggregators and unauthorized epub making. Please support our translators by reading on secondlifetranslations (dot) com. If you are currently on the site and and you are seeing this, please clear your cache.

Mblka dlmv nzypp oyp xyvb, vywtbv cu vblka bsxlassx vlynbla, Hbsw Ubldt. Nkd Dktw vssj swv bkp vlmvcssj yde osajcssj kd ralryayvksd. Jlpkel bkx, Fbl Dkys oyp akqzkdt vbaswtb bkp elpj okvb bkp blye vkzvle. Wasx Nkd Dktw’p hydvytl rskdv, bl nswze sdzu pll vbl vkr sq bkp nbkd.

Ikde sq nwvl. Nkd Dktw nswzed’v blzr cwv pyu, “Tlal.”

Tl nyalqwzzu alynble shla yde rwzzle swv, qasx vbl csvvsx sq Fbl Dkys’p elpj eayola, vbl cssj vbyv bl bye clld plyanbkdt qsa, tldvzu rzynkdt kv kd qasdv sq bkx sd vbl elpj.

Fbl Dkys zssjle esod yv vbl cssj, pkzldv.

Nkd Dktw pbaydj cynj ytykdpv vbl oyzz, qllzkdt y vokdtl sq altalv. Ebu yal usw pwnb y esrl? Eyp vbyv dlnlppyau? Ebyv’p vbl xyvvla okvb usw?&dcpr;

Hbsw Ubldt’p qkapv saela sq cwpkdlpp oyp qsa vbl nzypp alralpldvyvkhl vs byde cynj vbl xyajle iwkgglp qasx vbl ralhkswp nzypp. Nkd Dktw, wrsd alnlkhkdt bkp iwkg, tzydnle yv bkp pnsal. 87. Tl qzkrrle vbaswtb vbl alpv sq kv. Mblal olal nyalzlpp xkpvyjlp, vs cl pwal, cwv yzps rasczlxp vbyv bl vawzu eke dsv jdso bso vs pszhl. Tl rlljle vs bkp zlqv yde nywtbv pktbv sq Fbl Dkys’p iwkg sd bkp elpj, ekprzyukdt y dsvyczu zyatl ‘120’.

Wwzz xyajp. Nkd Dktw pnayvnble bkp dspl. Tl alyzzu oyp vss nssz.&dcpr;

Hbsw Ubldt tyhl y pnyvbkdt alhklo sq vbl nzypp’p rlaqsaxydnl sd vbl iwkg; kv oyp nzlya qasx bkp qasod vbyv bl oyp ekppyvkpqkle okvb vbl zsv sq vblx. “Elald’v vbl iwlpvksdp alzyvkhlzu lypu? Jwv usw oswzed’v jdso vbyv cyple sd psxl sq vbl ydpolap R tsv cynj! Tyhl usw clld vyjkdt vss xydu wplzlpp nzypplp zyvlzu? Nssjp vs xl zkjl ol dlle vs nwv cynj sd rszkvknyz pnkldnl yde bkpvsau. Ebyv ycswv tux nzypp – es usw oydv vbyv nydnlzle yp olzz?”

You could have heard a pin drop. Zhou Cheng was a terror when he got worked up. 

“One measly pop quiz – I thought, my gosh, if the class average isn’t 110, I’ll eat my shoe. But in the end, only She Xiao got a perfect score, followed by Sui Sheng with 118. The rest of you didn’t even make it over 115. At one point, I even questioned whether I was grading them wrong. And you’re telling me that you still intend to write the end-of-month test? How? With results like these, you couldn’t do worse if you tried.”

Zhou Cheng rambled at rapid-fire speed when he was angry. Lin Xigu could barely make out what he was saying. He stared down at his quiz, his mind starting to wander.

“Look at your quiz, all of you! Liang Qiming, you got a 63 and you still have the gall to nature gaze? Are there equations in the sky? Are the birds singing about them?”

Somewhere in the room, somebody snickered.

Liang Qiming was the hapless fall guy of their class. Not only were his grades consistently dismal, he was also wider than he was tall and it made him an easy target for teachers when they were in a bad mood. It never seemed to bother him and he always played it up for laughs, all criticisms going in one ear and out the other.

He raised his head to look at Zhou Cheng, spinning his pen with indifference.

“Would you look at that technique – haven’t I told you to stop spinning that thing? Are you at school or the circus? If you don’t stop spinning that pen this instant, I’ll spin your finger off your hand. It’s time to think about that pathetic 63 on your quiz! Oy vey, if I were you, I’d have sores in my mouth, living like you haven’t got a care in the world!”

Zhou Cheng was not usually a talkative person but once he got started, there was no damming the flood. They all received a proper tongue-lashing for most of the period; few math questions were covered but Zhou Cheng did talk himself hoarse.

His outburst was understandable. Zhou Cheng chaired the math department at their school. On their last midterm exam, their class had placed third in their grade. This was a deviation from the norm; Zhou Cheng’s class always ranked first on the math exam.

His class this year was giving him no shortage of stress.

When the bell rang, they had only made it halfway through the quiz review. Zhou Cheng threw his chalk down. “Nobody move! Private study is canceled! Come on, we’re still doing math, let’s continue!”

The room broke out in sighs and groans. They all preferred study hall to math class. 

Lin Xigu was the only one who did not care either way. It was all the same to him.

---

Zhou Cheng’s double math session made up the final two periods of the day and school was out by the time he’d finished. Lin Xigu meandered home with his backpack on his shoulders, his earbuds in, and his mp3 player stowed in his pocket, teeming with slow songs. 

There were three dishes and a soup laid out for him on the table when he stepped in. It was quite a spread, but there was no one to share it with. 

Lin Xigu did not equate being alone to being lonely: he ate, washed the dishes, read for a little while and then washed up for bed.

This had been his life since his junior years, and he had almost forgotten what it had been like to live with another person. His parents divorced when he was young and his dad was granted sole custody. His job kept him on the go so Lin Xigu was raised by the nanny for a time. And then it was only him.

Up until now, he had always felt content with his life; free to do what he wanted, free to just be.

He turned on his PC that night and video called his mom for a few minutes. They didn’t talk about anything particularly meaningful, just a simple exchange about the goings-on in their lives. Lin Xigu said that the new school was good, and that his teachers and classmates were all very nice.

From the other end of the video, his mother Ji Qiong advised, “Then you just focus on school and put everything else aside for now. You’re still young. There are many things that can wait until you grow up… let it happen naturally.”

“I know, I know. Okay, Ma, I’m hanging up now. I’m going to bed.” 

Lin Xigu powered down the computer and threw himself onto his bed. Burying his face in the pillow, he couldn’t help but remember why he had transferred schools in the first place.

It was no big deal, really, just the betrayal of a backstabbing friend. They had been close throughout elementary school and later, high school, and Lin Xigu had come out to him in private. In later years, that friend tried to woo a girl who ended up catching feelings for Lin Xigu instead.

He didn’t know what his friend had been thinking when he retaliated against him. But just like that, his secret was out. 

The gossip had made its way around and people always seemed to be whispering about him wherever he went. Some boys looked at him as though he were a plague to be avoided.

Lin Xigu could not help but think ‘What are you even afraid of? Have you looked at yourself lately? I’m gay, I’m not blind.’

---

The next day, She Xiao was already in his seat, napping, by the time Lin Xigu arrived. Lin Xigu vacillated between waking She Xiao and waiting; it would be awkward to wake him but loitering around him didn’t seem that much more dignified either.

At last, Lin Xigu walked over and rapped lightly on She Xiao’s desk.

It took three knocks before She Xiao lifted his head with a frown.

Lin Xigu nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw his face. His eyes were extremely red.

“S- Sorry to wake you,” Lin Xigu grinned antsily. His expression betrayed his unease.

She Xiao glared at him, his hostile expression making Lin Xigu’s heart cower. This person was too combative; this was clearly at odds with his outward appearance. He was going to deduct 5 points in a minute. What was he playing at, firing off death glares first thing in the morning?

She Xiao stood, his gaze boring a hole through the top of Lin Xigu’s head as he watched him shuffle past him.

Nevertheless, Lin Xigu did feel a little guilty that he had interrupted his sleep. He pulled out a box of milk²Western readers may not be familiar with milk in this form. It’s basically milk that has been packaged in a juice box-like carton. from his backpack, poked the straw in and offered it to She Xiao, asking quietly, “Have you had breakfast yet? Would you like some milk?”

He placed the milk where She Xiao could see. “I’ll put it here for you.”

Without even looking at it, She Xiao pushed it back, a look of deep annoyance on his face. He was too forceful and the milk fell over, spraying droplets everywhere.

Lin Xigu sighed as he looked at the spill on his desk, and mopped it up with a tissue. He picked up the box and took a sip from what was left before setting it back down on his desk. Taking a deep breath, he repeated to himself, “I’m not mad. He has issues. He’s cute. He has nice teeth.”

Lin Xigu flipped open his workbook and began working through math questions, still repeating “She Xiao has issues” to himself.

---

He had been stuck on a problem for ten minutes. 

Lin Xigu threw his pencil down and stole a peek at She Xiao. He had just woken up and his eyes were still reddened from sleep. Coupled with the pink around the outer corners of his eyes, he looked rather… rather alluring. 

Lin Xigu was nearly dazzled.

… Sigh.

If he has issues, he has issues.

After all, he’s perfect.