Chapter 13

After watching Yu Nian bouncing into the house, Li Xiang said goodbye.

Ling Ya stood by the door and smiled gently, “Yao Yao, it was hard for you. You still specifically sent home Nian Nian even if it’s late.”

Who would’ve thought that Yu Nian’s head poked out from behind Ling Ya and jokingly said, “Mom, what’s so hard about it? It’s on his way.”

This was heard by Shi Zhengqing who was passing by and slapped Yu Nian’s head. “You, this child. How are you so ignorant? Do you know how to treat Yao Yao better later on?”

Yu Nian touched her head and her lips twitched, “I know, Dad.”

Then, like it was nothing, she smilingly waved at Li Xiang. “See you tomorrow ah.” Little male lead.

Hehe. Don’t know why but Yu Nian suddenly felt like she was playing with a cultivation system in her heart. She was dedicated to cultivating the male lead into a soft gentleman who cared for the female lead and made an untiring effort for this goal.

If Li Xiang knew about Yu Nian’s thoughts, he would’ve definitely sneered and thrown a sentence: “Are you thinking about eating fart?”

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Nk Dkydt dseele, “Fll usw vsxsaaso.”

Ohld bl nswzed’v vlzz obu bl pvyule yde oykvle qsa vbkp zkvvzl blyavzlpp rlapsd vseyu.

Yyucl kv oyp clnywpl vbl nbyaynvla sq “Fbk Lkyd Lkyd” oyp y hlau kxrsavydv lmkpvldnl vs bkx, obknb bl jdlo obld bl oasvl kv.

Yyucl kv oyp clnywpl vbkp nbyaynvla bye nszzyrple vss xwnb qasx vbl vkxl bl vaydpxktayvle kdvs vbl cssj vs vbl ralpldv yde bl oydvle vs qkde vbl alypsd qasx vbkp rlapsd.

Nk Dkydt vssj vbl kdkvkyvkhl vs tlv kd vswnb okvb xydu sq vbl nbyaynvlap kd vbl cssj yde oyp pwarakple vs qkde vbyv lmnlrv qsa “Fbk Lkyd Lkyd,” yzz vbl svbla nbyaynvlap oblal kd plvvkdt.

Rd qynv, kq sdl sa vos nbyaynvlap nszzyrple, bl nswze pvkzz ynnlrv kv. Jwv “Fbk Lkyd Lkyd” yzsdl oyp vss xwnb sq y nskdnkeldnl.

Tl ynvwyzzu bye y csze twlpp kd bkp blyav, cwv bl eked’v eyal vs cl pwal. Gqvla yzz, vbl rascyckzkvu sq vbyv jkde sq rsppkckzkvu oyp hlau pzkx, bso nswze bl byhl pwnb tsse zwnj?

Mbyv’p aktbv. Nk Dkydt bye clld pwprlnvkdt kd vbl rypv qlo eyup vbyv vbl alypsd obu vbl nbyaynvla “Fbk Lkyd Lkyd” nszzyrple oyp clnywpl vblal oyp ynvwyzzu ydsvbla vaydpxktayvsa kd bla cseu yde vbyv rlapsd oyp…

To put it more fortunately, he may even know.

The present “Shi Nian Nian’s” every frown and every move was similar to that person in the past. Li Xiang couldn’t find other reasons to explain.

Perhaps the people in the world thought that “Shi Nian Nian’s” personality change was because of the school bullying, but only Li Xiang knew it. It was definitely not the case.

As the author of this book, the character “Shi Nian Nian” has an archetype. It so happens that this archetype was no one else but Li Xiang himself.

To Li Xiang, his junior high school emotions were complex, mixed with humiliation and unbearable at the same time, but also with luck and gratitude.

In junior high school, Li Xiang was a person with extremely low self-esteem. Even though his grades were always at the top of his class, he didn’t have friends around him.

Due to their busy schedule, his parents always felt guilty about Li Xiang, so they gave him the best conditions in life as much as possible.

From elementary school to junior high school, Li Xiang was well-nourished and was significantly heavier than his peers.

In elementary school, there won’t be much burden in his heart. After all, the world of children at that time was still very simple. For beauty and ugliness weren’t too directly perceived by them.

It wasn’t until junior high school puberty development that Li Xiang gradually felt alienated. The class inexplicably had a face value ranking and he was undoubtedly at the end.

Particularly as the class monitor, being called by his parents for failing physical education was undoubtedly a blow to Li Xiang, who always had excellent academic performance.

It was cloudy that day, just like his mood.

Li Xiang sat alone on the flower bed, his mood was very low until he heard a crisp and pleasant voice.

“Classmate, it’s not good to skip class ah.”

This person wasn’t someone else, it was Yu Nian.

Yu Nian happened to be on duty today and was responsible for cleaning the grove. When she swept to the end, through the small cracks in the branches and leaves, she saw a boy in a school uniform sitting on a small flower bed not far away with his head hanging down. His mood seemed quite low.

Yu Nian’s junior high school grades were average, plus she liked to chase idols in her puberty. She doesn’t participate much in school gossip, so much so that if she was asked who was the first in grade, she only heard the name and didn’t recognize them.

Yu Nian thought that Li Xiang was frustrated because of the monthly examination results a few days ago. After all, the monthly exam had just passed and a parent-teacher meeting was about to be held. She could also understand that some people wanted to skip class.

The clear sound of loud early morning study emanated from the school building behind, which was in stark contrast with the silent grove.

Yu Nian pretended to be relaxed and walked over to comfort this skipping classmate.

When Li Xiang looked up at the sound, he saw a girl wearing a red and white school uniform with a ponytail smiling sweetly at him.

He remembered that the ponytail was very long, reaching the waist.

Li Xiang’s first reaction was ‘good-looking.’

The girl had a fair complexion and a pair of big, clear, and bright eyes which were smiling at the moment. The ends of her eyes were bent into a beautiful arc.

Beautiful girls are generally arrogant.

This was the conclusion that Li Xiang had drawn from the girls in his class who disdained talking to him.

But this person’s gaze was so pure that Li Xiang didn’t see anything.

There was no arrogance or complacency in her eyes. When she looks at you with seriousness and certainty, it will give you the illusion that she can only see you in her eyes.

Li Xiang usually paid little attention to things other than his studies, so he didn’t recognize the person who came.

He watched Yu Nian approach him step by step and momentarily forgot to move his eyes.

Until a light laugh came from above his head, “Went stupid la?”

Yu Nian waved her hand in front of the person’s eyes twice.

“Don’t worry, I won’t snitch,” She said.

Li Xiang let out an inaudible “en” and quietly moved to the left side of the flower bed.

Yu Nian dropped the broom in her hand, sat down naturally, turned her head, and asked, “Why didn’t you go to the morning study ah? Is it possible that you failed the exam?”

Li Xiang thought about it, failing in physical education should be counted.

They said that it was the last straw that broke the camel’s back. If it was just a failure in physical education, Li Xiang would still be able to accept it. What really made him unable to accept was the mockery and ridicule that others always had towards him.

Even though he deliberately restrained his diet, he couldn’t overcome his weight problem in the short term. This made the always-perfectionist Li Xiang very frustrated and even his temper became more and more worse.

His parents were concerned about him and bought him a lot of nutritional supplements, which he refused.

At some point, Li Xiang’s quarrel with his parents became more intense.

His classmates judged him and his teacher’s bright eyes faded. The conversation between his parents about him late at night gradually increased so much that they even complained and quarreled with each other.

Li Xiang was sensitive, had low self-esteem, suffered from insomnia, was irritable, and consciously developed psychological problems, accompanied by mild violent disorder.

As he looked on the last year of junior high school, he began to be confused, not knowing what path to take.

Li Xiang nodded gently, counting it as a default.

“What does that have to do with anything? It’s not the senior high school entrance exam. What are you afraid of?” Yu Nian patted Li Xiang on the shoulder, “Wait for me.”

With that, she handed the broom to Li Xiang and said unceremoniously, “Can you do me a favor? Help me sweep the ground before I come back.”

Li Xiang didn’t know why, but he took the broom and nodded blankly.

“Thanks la.” Yu Nian said, trotting away.

In fact, the ground on the grove was almost swept, there was no need to sweep at all. Yu Nian was afraid that this person would slip away, so she specifically found something for him to do.

Although she didn’t know why, she subconsciously thought that since this person agreed, he would definitely do it.

Seeing that the morning self-study was about to end, Yu Nian rushed to the milk tea shop next to the school supermarket at the end of the morning study, bought two cups of vanilla taro boba, quickly paid, and left.

At this time, it was the end of autumn and early winter, a good season for storing fat.

Yu Nian handed the vanilla milk tea in her hand to Li Xiang, “Celebrate.”

“Celebrate what?” Li Xiang didn’t understand.

“Celebrate the fact that your life is going through a rough patch.”

Yu Nian sipped the milk tea, tilted her head, and conveyed as a matter-of-factly to Li Xiang what Yu Ruiping told her word for word.

“My family’s old man said that the major event in life is nothing more than life and death. Everything else is mere worldly possessions. Whether it’s achievement, honor, or even human desires, none of them can be separated from death. So, before we die, we must live freely, abandon the shackles given by the world, and live to our heart’s content.”

“And the bumps in the road are a necessary path to growth.”

Yu Nian finished, tilted her head, and smiled, “Isn’t it quite profound?”

Li Xiang pursed his lips and didn’t say anything.

Yu Nian continued to say, “I didn’t understand it before. Later, after my mom passed away, I understood death for the first time. Only then did I slowly understand the old man’s words.”

Yu Nian really thought that Li Xiang was frustrated because of his grades and comforted, “Look at everything a little lighter, grades aren’t the only solution in life. I’ll tell you secretly. My old man is even a university math professor but my math is very bad hahahaha. He’s out of his wits every time. Then, he comforted himself with his own words.”

As Yu Nian said, don’t know what came to mind and laughed out loud.

In the quiet grove, only the sound of laughter as pleasant as a silver bell can be heard.

Li Xiang’s hand unconsciously gripped the milk tea in his hand. The temperature was obviously at room temperature but it was scorching hot, reaching the bottom of his heart.

When Yu Nian learned that Li Xiang just failed in physical education, she was stunned and made a gesture to get the milk tea back in Li Xiang’s hand.

Li Xiang thought it was true and handed it over reluctantly.

Who knew that Yu Nian took her cup and gently clinked it against his, laughing and shaking her head. “What ah. You’re too easy to deceive hahaha.”

The autumn sunshine was warm, it sprinkled in the grove between the flower beds. Li Xiang tilted his head and looked away. The person beside him had her jaw raised lightly and her eyes were smiling as if they were glowing.

Later, Li Xiang learned that the girl who gave him vanilla milk tea that day was called Yu Nian.

She lied.

Although her grades were generally average, her mathematics grades weren’t bad and she was among the top-ranked every time.

Even if he occasionally passed by and greeted Yu Nian, he didn’t question Yu Nian. He had always buried this matter in his heart as a secret between the two of them. This was buried for many years.

In the year of summer vacation was graduation. Li Xiang gritted his teeth and spent a full two months of exercise. His abdominal muscles gradually became obvious, his body became more proportional and healthy. His whole body seemed to be reborn, to the point that he wasn’t recognized during the junior high school party.

Li Xiang’s build has changed, his temper has changed, and he has become more eccentric and difficult to understand.

It can be seen from his cold face when he refused the former class flower’s request for contact information.

During the party, Li Xiang sat alone in the corner, quietly watching them have fun as if he were excluded.

Only when everyone mentioned Yu Nian in their conversation would he eavesdrop quietly, occasionally saying a few words.

He found out that Yu Nian had gone to another high school, and regretted that he didn’t have the courage to ask before applying for the school.

But he was given another chance.

He was once so lowly and unbearable, what qualifications does he have to ask?

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Author’s Note:

The title of this chapter is “Li Xiang’s Past.”