Chapter 66

It was only one word, but Lin Xigu caught a whiff of sweetness in the message.

He couldn’t help but laugh to himself for the better half of the class.

His tongzhuo looked inquisitively at him and asked, “What’s up?”

Lin Xigu felt more comfortable around him now and not as awkward as before. Still laughing, he explained, “I told my partner you’re teaching me to draw and someone is a little upset.”

His tongzhuo raised his brows, feeling slightly exasperated about couples and their typical coupley antics. “Upset?”

“Ah, not actually though. We’re just kidding around.” Lin Xigu was still basking in the response. After thinking about it some more, he hid his face against his desk and shook with quiet laughter again.

“You didn’t tell her I was a guy?” His tongzhuo deadpanned.

Lin Xigu blinked, thinking knowing your gender won’t keep him from getting upset. In fact, if you were a girl, he probably wouldn’t care at all. I am gay, after all.

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Jwv vbyv oypd’v psxlvbkdt bl nswze pyu swv zswe, ps bl sdzu pxkzle yde pyke, “R xwpv byhl qsatsvvld.”

Rv bye clld eyup pkdnl bl zypv oasvl kd bkp dsvlrye. Nkd Dktw oyp sd nzswe dkdl yp bl vssj kv swv ytykd yde yeele 200 rskdvp.

Tl oyp ps zspv kd bkp sod ldfsuxldv vbyv bl nsxrzlvlzu qsatsv vs alrzu vs Fbl Dkys’p vlmv. Ju vbl vkxl bl qkdyzzu alrzkle, vos rlaksep bye rypple yzalyeu. Nkd Dktw pdyrrle bkx y essezl sq y pxyzz qktwal xyjkdt y jkppu qynl.

Fbl Dkys alrzkle:

Mbyv vssj usw vos bswap vs eayo?

Mbl vlmv xyel Nkd Dktw pdknjla qsa ydsvbla tsse obkzl. Fbl Dkys oyp vss nwvl! Tl oyp ps nwvl, Nkd Dktw nswze cyalzu bydezl kv. Mos rlaksep zyvla yde Fbl Dkys oyp pvkzz flyzswp. Elal vblal ydu zkxkvp vs bso nwvl bl nswze cl?

Nkd Dktw eked’v qsatlv vs alrzu vbkp vkxl. Tl kxxlekyvlzu vlmvle cynj:

Ls! R oypd’v eayokdt vbl obszl vkxl! R oyp eskdt xyvb! =3333=

She Xiao didn’t say anything more. Lin Xigu didn’t know if his bout of jealousy had blown over but She Xiao did not bring up the topic after that.

Lin Xigu revelled in this conversation for several days afterwards. And each time he remembered, his heart softened and it made him want to hug She Xiao and pepper him with kisses.

---

Before their third mock exam, there was actually one last school form that needed to be filled out and returned, but Lin Xigu’s petitions to his dad were unsuccessful, and someone else completed the form on his behalf instead. However, Lin Xigu didn’t take it to heart. It was already time for the third mock exam. The end was close.

Very close.

Whenever Lin Xigu thought about She Xiao, his imagination would fly off to the wonderful time they would have after their Gaokao exams were over. Maybe they’d be able to get out of town for a bit. Even if they didn’t have anywhere else to go, just seeing him every day would be enough.

In the two days leading up to his mock exam, Lin Xigu worked away furiously on practice questions. He had already reviewed everything he needed to. Whenever he had time, he whipped through practice questions to increase his speed and familiarize himself with the types of problems that might appear on the exam, which would help to make the exam a little easier.

He had to cut back on the time he spent talking to She Xiao but he was still preoccupied with the reward She Xiao promised him. If he really did outperform himself and make it into the top ten, he might be able to leverage the reward into a different request the next time he saw She Xiao.

The next time he saw She Xiao…

The Gaokao exam would be happening for real at that time.

Lin Xigu received a text from his old upstairs neighbor, Xie Yang, asking him where he had gone since he had knocked on Lin Xigu’s door and no one had answered.

Lin Xigu chatted a while with him, explaining that he had moved schools and was no longer around. He asked Xie Yang how he was doing.

Xie Yang replied:

Me? I’m doing fine, I guess.

Xie Yang rarely came home after he started college. It had been well over six months since Lin Xigu had seen him last. They made plans to meet up when Lin Xigu was in town and exchanged a few more life updates before Lin Xigu set his phone aside and returned to his practice questions.

Lin Xigu always felt deeply nostalgic about the occasional message he received from the people he used to know. The city had left a profound mark on him. Despite the fact that he hadn’t experienced much of it outside of school, the city in his memories was a vivid place. He wasn’t quite sure if She Xiao was the reason for it or if high school memories were inherently memorable, but it was why he maintained his connections to the people from that city with enthusiasm; it brought him a special sense of peace and belonging.

Of course, Li Balei was the only exception. Since they talked nearly every day and Li Balei had so much to share all the time, Lin Xigu was all but immune to feelings of nostalgia during their conversations.

Li Balei called him that day, screaming, “Xiao-Lin Xigu! What should I do? He asked me out to dinner! Eek! He said he wants to talk to me after the mock exam! What should I do? I’m so nervous, I can’t even breathe!”

Lin Xigu was also surprised by the update. “Dinner? Just the two of you?”

“Probably? I don’t know!” Li Balei’s voice was quaking.

The person she was talking about was the cute basketball player whom she had liked for a long time. To be fair, he really was quite attractive, but no one could hold a candle to She Xiao in the looks department. In Lin Xigu’s heart of hearts, no one could compare to She Xiao.

“Are you going then?” Lin Xigu asked.

“I-I-I don’t know!” Li Balei bounced anxiously. “Lin Xigu, help me out. Should I go or not?”

Lin Xigu thought for a moment then quietly suggested, “Maybe… maybe let’s not go to this one?”

Li Balei paused and then said, “Yeah, actually, I didn’t really want to go either. I have no idea what he even has to say to me. We’re not friends, and he couldn’t possibly like me. He just broke up with Jing what’s-her-face. I think I’ll turn him down.”

Li Balei’s cool-headed response was unexpected to Lin Xigu; he knew she had had a crush on that boy for a long time, ever since she first met him in their first year of high school.

“That’s just my suggestion, at least, but you should make the final call, Balei,” Lin Xigu said, absent-mindedly tapping his pen against his notebook. “The Gaokao exams are coming up. I don’t want you to have to deal with any distractions right now. If he really has feelings for you or whatever, it shouldn’t matter if you wait until after the exams are over to reciprocate them, right?”

“You’re right. Okay, I won’t go!” Li Balei said, thumping her desk decisively. “I won’t go!”

Lin Xigu really liked this about Li Balei. On the surface, she seemed brash and impulsive, but she always knew the right thing to do. She never did anything foolish. Even if he hadn’t given his opinion, Lin Xigu guessed that she wouldn’t have gone anyway.

A crush was a crush, but the guy was extremely popular. Lin Xigu didn’t have a good feeling about someone who had just gotten out of a relationship developing a sudden interest in Li Balei. If he really did like her, where had he been the entire time he had known her?

The most likely answer was that he was bored after the breakup and wanted to mess around.

It was incredibly inconsiderate, with both the third mock exam and the Gaokao exams coming up, to pull such a stunt.

It was true that Lin Xigu didn’t want her to go, but apart from the Gaokao exams, he had an ulterior motive too. He knew that Fang Xiaoshan liked her, and if Li Balei were to start dating someone else, it would not only affect her own performance on the exam but Fang Xiaoshan’s as well.

The exam was three years in the making. He sincerely hoped that everyone would be able to glide through the final stretch unscathed.

---

Their third mock exam took place over two days, during which time Lin Xigu barely talked to She Xiao, throwing himself wholeheartedly into exam prep. The sciences were difficult, and he felt he hadn’t done well, but everything else seemed okay.

As the bell rang to signal the end of the final test, Lin Xigu checked that he had filled in his exam number and name correctly before handing in his paper.

Walking out of the school gates, he called She Xiao, but there was no answer.

She Xiao didn’t always answer his calls, so Lin Xigu didn’t think much of it.

He went home, ate dinner with his dad, then took a bath and readied his backpack for school the next morning.

It was crunch time; they weren’t even given a day off after the mock exams.

At nine in the evening, he received a call from Li Balei’s number.

Lin Xigu answered the call with “Hey, Princess.”

But it was Fang Xiaoshan’s voice on the other end, “Xigu, it’s me.”

“Oh, Xiaoshan,” Lin Xigu said with a smile, “What’s up?”

Fang Xiaoshan’s voice sounded sombre on the phone which made Lin Xigu inexplicably tense. “Xigu, we’re at the hospital right now. She Xiao fainted this afternoon, but don’t panic, it’s nothing serious.”

Lin Xigu’s hand trembled as he leapt to his feet. “What happened?”

“Wait a second, I’ll tell you when I get outside,” Fang Xiaoshan was a bit out of breath. It sounded like he was walking down the stairs. Once he was outside, he continued, “Don’t worry. I didn’t want to tell you at first, but I figured you should know.”

Lin Xigu tried to keep his voice steady. “Okay, tell me.”

Fang Xiaoshan explained the course of events to him. Listening to the whole story, Lin Xigu wished he could immediately rush over to see She Xiao and comfort Li Balei.

After finishing the last subject of the mock exam, Li Balei had run into the basketball guy at the gate who had proceeded to ask her out. Li Balei had shaken her head no and turned him down. Some friends of his who were passing by had stopped to cheer him on and Li Balei had tried to get away but couldn’t.

The North Building where she had taken her test happened to be where She Xiao was writing his too. At the moment She Xiao walked out, Li Balei was standing outside, simmering with anger but the guy was making it seem as though she was only pretending to be mad and had put his arm around her, trying to pull her along. The crowd of onlookers was making it difficult for her to resist. 

As She Xiao walked past them, he had abruptly reached out and pulled Li Balei behind him, then punched the guy in the face.

Word soon spread that two of the best-looking boys in school were fighting over a girl at the gate.

Strictly speaking, She Xiao should have had no problem holding his own in a one-to-one match, but the fight didn’t last long. His opponent had merely grazed She Xiao’s head with his elbow before She Xiao crumpled.

He had hit the ground immediately, his head making a loud thunk against the ground as he fell, and it had started to bleed.

As of Fang Xiaoshan’s call, She Xiao was still lying unconscious in the hospital.

The doctor said there was nothing seriously wrong with him. He was anemic, and he had not been getting enough rest, which was why he had fainted so suddenly. Although he had hit his head quite hard, he had managed to lower himself into a half-sit before falling over which had cushioned his fall, so his head injury was likely mild.

Li Balei hadn’t been able to stop crying. She didn’t know how to explain everything to Lin Xigu. She kept blaming herself, calling herself a drama magnet.

Therefore, Fang Xiaoshan was the one who relayed all of this to Lin Xigu.

When he finished, Lin Xigu asked, “Xiaoshan, can you go upstairs and give the phone back to Li Balei?”

“No problem,” Fang Xiaoshan sighed. “Don’t worry too much. They have him on a vitamin drip right now. The doctor said he can be discharged after he wakes up.”

“I know,” Lin Xigu’s voice still sounded calm, given the circumstances. “It’ll be okay.”

Li Balei was still crying when she answered the phone. “What do I do, Lin Xigu? How much do you hate me right now?”

“Why are you crying?” Lin Xigu asked with a smile. “Get it together. It’s not a big deal.”

“He never speaks to us so I never thought he cared much about me,” Li Balei was crying so much, her voice was hoarse. “I thought he never paid attention to anyone other than you. Not only did he pull me to safety, he even started a fight because of me. What am I going to do, Lin Xigu? I’ve always thought he was some kind of Terminator; how could he just pass out like that?”

Lin Xigu knew that although She Xiao rarely spoke, he suffered all the emotions he was supposed to. After Lin Xigu left, Li Balei had been the one to look out for She Xiao, refill his water bottle, and ask for handouts on his behalf. If the classroom was chilly and he had fallen asleep, she would ask Fang Xiaoshan to take off his jacket and tuck it around She Xiao.

She Xiao never acknowledged her kindness with his words, but it didn’t mean he did not notice.

Lin Xigu chuckled. “Stop crying already, won’t you? Didn’t the doctor already say it was anemia? It has nothing to do with you, Ballet Grrrl. Wash your face and go home.”

“I’m going to wait for him to wake up first,” Li Balei said. “I’m very upset with myself right now. I should never have had a crush on a guy like that. What use is looking hot if his character is worse than dog crap…”

Li Balei broke down into sobs, crying both for She Xiao and because the image she had built up of the person she had liked for three years had been dashed to pieces after getting to know him.

Lin Xigu comforted her for a while, then said, “Don’t think about it anymore. You’re not at fault here. Don’t cry. It’s not worth your tears.”

“Mn, mn, mn,” Li Balei hiccupped as she agreed, sounding especially pitiable.

Smiling, Lin Xigu continued, “Promise you’ll stop crying soon? She Xiao’s not that fragile, and neither is our friendship. I can’t believe you were scared to call me yourself over something like this. Are you a chicken or what?”

Li Balei sniffed. “I was worried you’d blame me.”

“Blame my ass. Hurry up and go home.”

Lin Xigu hung up, then sat on his bed for a long time, his mind wandering.

Actually, Li Balei was right. She Xiao was a Terminator. He would never have passed out unless his body had reached its limit. 

Lin Xigu curled up on his bed, his body folded into an arc. He didn’t turn on his lamp. Lying in the dark, he felt like his chest had been hollowed out. His eyes stung, and the image of the beautiful boy with his tongue cut out began to resurface in his mind.

It had been a long time since he’d last had that vision.

The house of horrors and the cruel fate weighing on She Xiao’s shoulders was finally about to drain the last of She Xiao’s life.