Chapter 13

"How much? I'll pay you. Brother Yu still has a bit of cash—when I say I'm treating, I'm treating." "Forget it, I can't afford it." Kong Yu looked like he wanted to cry. "Eat fewer snacks, kid. You'll actually look really handsome if you lose weight." Seeing how the guy only cared about eating all day long, Lin Xinyu could barely stand to watch anymore. "Brother Yu, stop joking. I'm already at one hundred and seventy pounds; no matter how I try to lose weight, I'll still be just as ugly." Kong Yu had lost his confidence long ago. In the past, when people joked around like that, he would at least argue back to prove he was the sharpest guy around. Not anymore. The murmurs of exclusion from the rest of the class had completely shattered his self-confidence, and the only place he felt relaxed was when he hung out with Lin Xinyu. Kong Yu was the type who never wanted to impose on others. Ever since Lin Xinyu declared that Bai Shihan was his wife, Kong Yu had constantly been leaving them alone to enjoy their own world. Knowing his personality after hanging out for so long, Lin Xinyu realized the guy was just stubborn, so he didn't say anything further. "Come on, Fatty. Be confident—have some faith in yourself. Your potential is really huge." Kong Yu smiled in response and joked back, "You're always feeding me empty promises, Brother Yu." The two parted ways near the stairs. Since they weren't in the same classroom, it wasn't very convenient to hang out during the day. Even so, the brothers were always there for each other whenever called upon. Back in the classroom. Before Lin Xinyu even stepped into the room, Bai Shihan had already spotted him. She had assumed Lin Xinyu would be waiting for her at her desk, but when she got back, he had vanished. After searching everywhere in vain, she had finally slumped over her desk, eyes wide open, staring fixedly at the doorway while waiting for Lin Xinyu to return. Bai Shihan had to admit that the moment she saw Lin Xinyu, she felt a little happy, along with a tinge of curiosity. Lin Xinyu wasn't going to the restroom anymore to pick up those annoying smells, so what on earth had he gone off to do? Of course, Bai Shihan kept all of these thoughts strictly to herself and would never proactively ask unless it was something she desperately needed to know. Hearing the movement beside her, Bai Shihan turned her head, still resting her cheek on her arm, though she peeked through the small gap where they connected. "I didn't know what kind you usually use, and the school shop only had these two types, so I just grabbed both." Lin Xinyu placed the black plastic bag inside Bai Shihan's desk drawer, his cheeks turning an unexpected, faint shade of red. Bai Shihan was stunned. He really was a normal person after all. She took the items Lin Xinyu had given her out of the drawer, opened the bag, and found... "Th-Thank you." "If you say thank you again, I'm going to hold your hand right now." "Oh." "Hey, who'd you learn that from? Don't you know saying 'oh' is very impolite? Come here, I have to hold your hand now." Lin Xinyu just wanted to scare her a little. The girl was very timid; as long as he did something slightly terrifying to her, she wouldn't dare do it again. Before Lin Xinyu could see the familiar, weak little expression appear on Bai Shihan's face, he suddenly felt something delicate and soft brush against his idle hand hanging down beside the desk. Looking down, Lin Xinyu wore an expression of utter disbelief. Bai Shihan had actually taken the initiative to place her hand in his! "Did you—did you agree to be my wife?" "N—No, just, just good friends." Bai Shihan quickly pulled her little hand back. If she had left it there any longer, her intuition told her she wouldn't be able to pull it away at all. "That doesn't count, I didn't really feel it properly. Let's try again, I want to take my time feeling it." "N—No way." She had already thanked him, so why was he still thinking about taking his time? Next time, she wasn't going to listen to him. Seeing that no matter what he said, Bai Shihan refused, Lin Xinyu couldn't do much about it. Still, it wasn't a total loss—at least the little girl had dared to hold his hand, hadn't she? Right now, Bai Shihan felt her face burning. Although the contact had been brief, that kind of feeling was completely unprecedented in all her years growing up. Being passive versus being proactive—there was definitely a huge difference between the two. Having done all that, Bai Shihan felt a slight pang of regret. By doing this, had she completely turned into one of those "bad kids" her parents always talked about? As the words "good friends" kept echoing in her mind, the hesitation that should have been there instantly vanished. Just as Lin Xinyu had said. What was wrong with good friends holding hands? As for Lin Xinyu, even without experiencing a second proactive move from her, the joy in his heart was already written all over his face. The whirring sound of the fan was pleasant to the ear, birds outside the window were tuning their voices in accompaniment to the breeze, and even the ginkgo tree began shaking its leaves to dance along... This was the first time Lin Xinyu felt that going to school could actually be such a happy thing. Bai Shihan, on the other hand, was troubled. Starting from the afternoon break, Lin Xinyu kept dropping his hand to hint that she should launch a sneak attack. For the first time, Bai Shihan felt a sense of regret for something she had done, and she made a resolute decision in her heart— Next time, even if she wanted to thank him, she would wait until he fell asleep to hold his hand. *** 031. He's the one who led you astray! (1/4) Having spent so many days together, this was the first time Lin Xinyu saw annoyance on Bai Shihan's face. At first, he thought she had a stomachache, until class monitor Li Hua stopped by the aisle. "Classmate Bai, can I borrow your homework to look at?" What a hopelessly dated pickup line; even a thirty-five-year-old uncle would be too proud to use it. Lin Xinyu didn't speak; he just turned his head away. Noticing his movement, Bai Shihan didn't even glance at Li Hua as she shook her head. In the past, she had always been too embarrassed to refuse. Once or twice under the pretext of checking answers was fine, but doing it every single time was getting genuinely annoying. It would be one thing if they were close acquaintances, but the problem was they weren't even that familiar... "No way, right? Didn't you always finish your homework early when we sat together as desk mates? Is Lin Xinyu affecting your studies? Actually, I can talk to the teacher and switch seats to the back." Lin Xinyu finally understood why Bai Shihan hated this guy—he completely failed to understand other people's intentions and only ever acted on what he thought. "Well, Monitor, where should I sit then?" Hearing Lin Xinyu speak, not only Li Hua, but several surrounding classmates looking for a show turned their heads. From their perspective, a clash between Lin Xinyu, the class rebel, and the class monitor was practically inevitable. Anyone with eyes could tell Li Hua had a thing for Bai Shihan, which was why Lin Xinyu had bothered to ask for her opinion in the first place. The little girl was slow to react and had no idea what liking someone even meant, let alone realizing that someone had feelings for her. Aside from someone as brazen as Lin Xinyu, whose intentions she could actually pick up on, she was completely oblivious to any other hints. "Can't you just sit over there? Do you expect to keep disturbing Classmate Bai's studies?" Li Hua pointed to a corner on the other side of the classroom, firmly believing he was playing the hero saving the damsel in distress, while making sure to look down at Bai Shihan. As it turned out, the girl's gaze remained locked onto Lin Xinyu and she hadn't looked at Li Hua even once from the very beginning. The little girl was rather angry right now. She was already annoyed by him constantly asking her for homework, and upon hearing him tell Lin Xinyu to move away so he wouldn't sit next to her anymore, her impression of Li Hua plummeted even further. What right did he have to make Lin Xinyu stop sitting next to her! Bai Shihan puffed out her cheeks, staring intently at Lin Xinyu, terrified that he might actually listen to the monitor and change his seat. Fortunately, it was dinner time, so there weren't many people left in the classroom, and only a handful were watching the drama unfold. The real reason Li Hua chose this exact moment was that he simply couldn't hold back anymore. Through his observations over this period, he had noticed that Bai Shihan was getting closer and closer to Lin Xinyu. How could he let that happen? What if her grades dropped? How could someone who didn't even study possibly teach Bai Shihan anything? The one who should be doing that was him. That was why he had mustered up the courage to come over, regardless of the fact that Lin Xinyu was a troublemaker he didn't care to fear."Squad leader, why don't you sit over there? I'm used to sitting here. Why don't you ask Bai if she'd like to be your deskmate?" Lin Xinyu said calmly, locking eyes with Bai Shihan to signal that everything was fine.

"She'd definitely want to without even thinking about it. Bai is first, I'm second—if we sit together, we can complement each other, and we can even get into the same university later on. What a great deal, right?" Li Hua looked down at Bai Shihan, but she still refused to look back at him.

Bai Shihan only felt angrier. "No."

Complement each other? Same university? She didn't want any of that!

"See, she— wait, what? No?" Li Hua found it hard to believe. "We used to be deskmates anyway! Did he threaten you?"

This was the first time Bai Shihan had ever openly rejected someone else's idea. Combined with the rapid, questioning tone ringing in her ears, her heart began to race, and her breathing grew shallow.

Seeing this, Lin Xinyu didn't want to waste any more breath on Li Hua. This kind of person had an overwhelming sense of superiority and thought the whole world revolved around him.

"Bai, tell me, did Lin Xinyu—"

"None of your damn business!"

Lin Xinyu had reached his limit. He stood up, towering over Li Hua by half a head, scaring Li Hua into swallowing hard and trailing off.

He had only been talking to Li Hua out of respect for the squad leader, but this guy had started rattling off accusations and pinning all sorts of bad things on him the moment he opened his mouth. Who could put up with that? Besides, Bai Shihan clearly detested him, so he might as well just chase him off.

Li Hua knew that if he stayed any longer, he might lose even more face, so he could only slink away.

In his mind, Bai Shihan must have been threatened by Lin Xinyu, which was why she said those things; otherwise, their relationship as deskmates had been so good before, she would never have acted like this.

He would just have to find a chance to talk to her alone.

The onlookers dispersed as well. They hadn't expected that the squad leader, who was usually so bold with them, would be so terrified in front of Lin Xinyu...

"He's gone now. It's fine. Be a good girl."

Lin Xinyu reached out and patted her head. This soothing gesture made Bai Shihan feel much more at ease.

Yet this scene was utterly grating to Li Hua's eyes.

See? That was a blatant threat! He definitely had to go report this to the head teacher...

"It's over." Bai Shihan was a little worried, afraid that Lin Shinyu might really end up moving to another seat just like Li Hua had said.Lin Xinyu sat down and said, "If you ever run into something like this again, just speak up. Don't be afraid, just express what you want to say." "I, I know." Bai Shihan nodded obediently. Thinking of what Lin Xinyu had said just now when he scared Li Hua away, she silently committed it to heart. At the same time, a smile bloomed on her face. From her previous perspective, she had already improved tremendously—she was at least one percent as formidable as Lin Xinyu now. Even though rejecting someone might make them unhappy, there was no need to pay any attention to it. The most important thing was oneself; Lin Shiyu had said all this. Back when she used to share a desk with Li Hua, it was precisely because she cared too much about other people's feelings that things had ended up like this. "You were pretty impressive today." Bai Shihan loved spending time with Lin Xinyu. Whenever he complimented her, it was always right on point and at the exact right moment—almost the moment she thought of something, he would say it out loud. It was precisely because of this that being together felt so effortless. Every time there was something Bai Shihan wanted to hear, it would tumble out of Lin Xinyu's mouth. Even when he gave her a stern scolding, she never felt upset. "Right?" This was a rare moment of pride for Bai Shihan. A long-absent self-confidence slowly painted itself across her face. "This still isn't enough; you'll have to keep working hard from now on." Lin Xinyu reached out and tapped her cute little nose, making Bai Shihan's face flush red. As for what else she needed to work hard on, Bai Shihan didn't bother asking. Once she figured out Lin Xinyu's tricks, she wasn't going to fall into his traps voluntarily—it would undoubtedly just be about becoming his wife again. She wasn't going to work hard just to be his wife... Before the evening self-study bell rang, at Lin Shinyin's insistence, Bai Shihan pouted her small lips in grievance, forced to obey him and head over to the study room to tutor him. After the two of them disappeared from view, Li Hua still couldn't quite believe his eyes. He only felt that this problem was somehow even harder than the final, most difficult math question on the exam... When a girl decides to be cute, she is truly adorable. Take right now, for instance: Bai Shihan was tutoring him with absolute focus, her delicate little face flushed pink and utterly endearing. If he weren't afraid of startling her, Lin Xinyu definitely would have leaned in and planted a big kiss on her cheek long ago. "Did you understand?" The little girl stopped her pen, shifted her gaze to Lin Shinyin, and seeing that he looked as though he hadn't been paying attention at all, her little temper flared up instantly."You aren't listening again. If you don't listen, I'm not coming down to tutor you anymore."

For some reason, hearing such harsh words from her made Lin Xinyu feel quite pleased. This girl never used to dare speak to him like that. Now that she had gained a bit more courage, he should keep nurturing it. Once she was completely bold, she would finally be able to let go and be herself.

Seeing that Lin Xinyu didn't answer, Bai Shihan began to pack her things to leave. Just then, however, he picked up his pen and began to solve the practice test, perfectly replicating the method she had just taught him in the answer section.

"Is this how you do it?"

Bai Shihan was stunned; she had never expected Lin Xinyu to be such a quick learner. "If you hadn't been so lazy before, your grades definitely wouldn't be bad."

"Of course. Now that I'm starting to put in the effort, believe it or not, I'm sure I can score better than the class monitor."

Bai Shihan nodded. She believed anything Lin Xinyu said. Even if others thought it was impossible, she was willing to trust him.

Lin Xinyu chuckled. "Why are you so silly? You believe everything I say."

"I... I think you can do it," Bai Shihan replied very seriously.

Being trusted unconditionally by the person you like—anyone would be happy, wouldn't they? Lin Xinyu reached out to pat her head, but this time, Bai Shihan dodged him.

"You can't. I, I won't grow taller."

Bai Shihan felt aggrieved. Every time she walked with Lin Xinyu, she had to look up at him. People said she should still be able to grow taller at her age. She had been secretly measuring herself for the past few days and hadn't grown a single millimeter. There was only one possible explanation: it was because he kept patting her head, preventing her from growing.

"It doesn't matter. If you can't reach, I'll just carry you."

The girl didn't understand what he meant. Whenever he said things like that, she would pretend not to hear, and she wouldn't ask either; it definitely wasn't anything good.

"I, I want to go to Zhejiang University," Bai Shihan said, biting her lip as she voiced her goal.

"Then go."

"But my parents want me to go to Tsinghua and Peking Universities." This was the source of Bai Shihan's hesitation, though Lin Xinyu's presence had begun to shake her resolve.

Hearing this, Lin Xinyu understood her concerns. Especially when he saw her bow her head, he knew immediately that this girl was about to retreat into her shell again.

"Look up and look at me, Bai Shihan."

Fortunately, his words worked. Hearing him, she obediently looked up and met his gaze.

"I, also, want, to, go, to, Zhejiang, University."

Lin Xinyu said it word by word, leaving Bai Shihan with her mouth wide open.

"I know it's hard, but I will strive for the place I want to go. No matter who tries to stop me, my choice won't change. You are the only person who truly understands yourself, not anyone else. Don't always hang your head when you face trouble; you're no worse than anyone else. If you do it one more time, I'm going to stamp your forehead."

Bai Shihan wasn't very scared this time; she had no idea what kind of "stamp" he was talking about, and one couldn't fear what one couldn't imagine.

"I'll give you one now just to help you remember."

Lin Xinyu stood up, but before his mouth could get anywhere near the girl's forehead, she seemed to have already anticipated it and immediately ducked behind the desk.

"No, don't, I, I won't do it next time..."

It was too terrifying. Bai Shihan felt that ever since they became "good friends," Lin Xinyu had become increasingly bold. It started with holding hands, then sleeping in his bed, and now he even wanted to stamp her...

"Do you know how to choose now?"

"I know." To prevent being stamped, Bai Shihan deliberately kept a distance from him.

Lin Xinyu didn't continue to tease her. He just suddenly thought about how great it would be if every girl had a progress bar for affection floating above her head. If that were the case, he would definitely check how far along Bai Shihan's was right now. If it were at ninety percent, he wouldn't have to keep himself from teasing this adorable little dummy.

Evening study hall passed quickly. Under Bai Shihan's guidance, Lin Xinyu finally mastered the concepts he hadn't understood.

"Let's go. Go home and make me something to eat."

In the past, she might have hesitated, but today, she waved her hands frantically.

"No, I can't. My aunt is coming to deliver groceries."

Every Monday night, her aunt would come by to drop off supplies. The reason was twofold: one, to deliver food, and two, to see if Bai Shihan was home alone. It went without saying that this was all arranged by her parents.

"Don't worry, she'll just leave them at the door. Come to my place tonight instead; I'll cook for you. I’m not lying—the cutting board at my house has wings and can even fly!"