Jiang Zhi was surprised. His voice unconsciously softened as he asked, "Did you... cry?"
Chi Wan paused for a fraction of a second, then answered calmly, "No."
She slowly straightened up, pulled her hand away from her lower abdomen, and walked toward the classroom, showing no trace of anything unusual.
Yet the complete absence of anything unusual was the most unusual thing of all.
Jiang Zhi looked down the quiet, empty hallway. It was class time now, and the girl had always spent this hour quietly and diligently doing homework or listening to the lecture. Not that she wasn't allowed to skip class, but at least for the past two weeks, she had never done so—she had always been the model student.
He glanced back at the exit of the girls' restroom, then turned and headed toward his classroom as well.
Chi Wan slipped into the back of the classroom without drawing attention. The teacher at the podium merely glanced at her and continued the lecture.
Chi Wan opened her textbook, leaned back in her chair, and stared straight ahead with calm eyes. Her palms and lower abdomen still throbbed with a dull ache. She saw Lu Yulin turn around and cast a contemptuous smile her way. The disdain and arrogance in that gaze were blatantly mocking her for overestimating herself, as if saying, "I did it, so what can you do to me?"
Chi Wan's expression remained calm, devoid of any anger or fear. Instead, a sudden smile curled the corners of her lips.
Lu Yulin hadn't expected her to smile. Far from seeing fear in those eyes, she once again caught that same provocative look from the other day. Furious, she gripped her paintbrush tightly.
The boy sitting beside Chi Wan had watched the silent exchange between the two girls. With a lazy tone, as if asking a casual question, he murmured, "Did she bully you?"
Chi Wan turned her head to look at him, but her retort was sharp: "Troublemaker."
Jiang Zhi raised an eyebrow, a hint of a smile actually touching his face. "I'll take that as a compliment."
"Hmph." Chi Wan let out a cold laugh, too lazy to engage with him further.
In this lifetime, it was because she sat next to Jiang Zhi that she had incurred Lu Yulin's jealousy and hatred. But what about in her past life? She had sat quietly in the corner, almost devoid of any presence, yet simply because someone compared her to Lu Yulin, she had been harassed, bullied, and pointed at by everyone.
Back then, afraid of causing trouble for Song Wenbin and Fu Ping, and terrified that being called to the school would make them dislike her even more, she had endured it all in silence without fighting back.
Thinking of all that had happened in her past life, thinking of that fire, Chi Wan's nerves tightened beyond her control. Her hands clenched into tight fists, and her bloodshot eyes burned with resentment. Right as the tears threatened to burst forth, she abruptly stood up. Her chair scraped sharply against the floor, drawing everyone's attention.
The class could only watch as the girl strode briskly out of the classroom, leaving the teacher standing in stunned confusion, completely at a loss.
Yan Xu turned around at the sudden noise, looking puzzled as he asked Jiang Zhi, who kept staring at the door, "What's her problem?"
With a complicated look in his eyes and an impatient tone, Jiang Zhi replied, "How would I know?"
He truly didn't know. Why had the girl, who was just provoking someone moments ago, suddenly lost control and fled in such disarray? If his senses weren't failing him, that frail back looked as though it were enveloped by a crushing wave of hatred and sorrow—so heavy that fleeing the crowd was the only thing she could do.
Up on the rooftop, Chi Wan stood in the wind, letting the chilly breeze sweep over her, yet it did nothing to suppress the turmoil inside. She paced back and forth as if trying to vent her agony.
"Why? Why didn't you want me? Why?" she muttered over and over, her eye sockets burning red, the veins on her forehead faintly visible, consumed by the utmost resentment.
Her body felt intensely hot, as if the searing agony of the raging fire had returned once again to her skin and her soul.
On the deserted rooftop, only a girl trapped like a cornered beast paced and let out a muffled, desperate cry.
After a long while, as if all her strength had finally been exhausted, the figure stopped. She slowly squatted down, wrapped her arms around her knees, and buried her head as sorrowful sobs escaped her.
After a considerable amount of time, the weeping gradually subsided. Chi Wan sat directly on the floor without a care, leaning against the wall. Her bright eyes were clear and limpid, washed clean like water, shimmering with a glistening sheen.
Suddenly, a slender, pale hand appeared within her downward gaze. Someone crouched down, and a gentle, soothing voice said, "Here, wipe your face."
Chi Wan raised her head and met a gentle, refined face. The young man looked at her with focused attention and a soft smile. Seeing that she didn't take the tissue, he assumed she felt shy and embarrassed, so he added considerately, "It's quite windy on the rooftop today, and it's easy to get sand in your eyes. Would you like to wipe them?"
Faced with such a gentle and handsome face, almost any other girl would have felt shy and her heart would have fluttered. But Chi Wan merely stared at him for a moment, then pushed herself up by the wall and walked right past him without looking back. From beginning to end, she didn't say a single word, nor did she accept the tissue.
A trace of confusion flickered in the young man's gentle eyes, which was immediately replaced by a cultured smile.
"Nanyang."
As Cai Zhenghao came up to the roof, he caught sight of their Student Union President's gentle smile. Remembering the girl with red, swollen eyes he had bumped into in the stairwell just now, he flashed a rascally grin and said, "Did you just reject another girl's confession?"
Upon hearing this, Qin Nanyang paused for a moment before catching his meaning. He chuckled and said, "Don't talk nonsense, she wasn't."
"Oh~ she wasn't~," Cai Zhenghao teased, completely disbelieving him.
Qin Nanyang could only let out a helpless sigh and dropped the subject.
He had simply felt a bit tired and come to the rooftop to rest. Yet the normally deserted rooftop had played host to an uninvited guest today, who had stayed behind to cry by herself for quite a while.
Only...
He recalled the girl's extraordinarily clear eyes and that face which had remained completely calm even after seeing him. Qin Nanyang gave a soft laugh and walked toward the stairwell on his own.
Before reaching the door, he didn't forget to remind the person behind him, "Remember to lock the access door."
With a complicated look and completely baffled, Cai Zhenghao followed behind him. "Got it."
After leaving the rooftop, Chi Wan didn't return to the classroom. Instead, she went straight to the southeast corner of the sports field and scaled the wall to skip class.
For two whole classes, Jiang Zhi didn't see his deskmate return, which finally confirmed that the girl had actually skipped school.
Bored, he slumped over his desk, let out a yawn, and drifted into a sleepy haze.
Long after the end-of-class bell had rung, Yan Xu once again shook the sleeping Jiang Zhi awake. "Bro, Big Brother Zhi, wake up. Time to go eat."
Jiang Zhi groggily opened his eyes, taking quite a while to shake off the sleepiness.
"Let's go."
Seeing his exhausted state, Yan Xu asked with concern, "Bro, aren't you afraid of dropping dead from pulling all-nighters at the internet cafe every day?"
Jiang Zhi raised his leg in a feigned kick, which Yan Xu nimbly jumped away from, hearing the boy complain, "Hey! A gentleman uses his words, not his fists."
Jiang Zhi teased, "Not bad, your reflexes are getting faster."
Receiving the praise, Yan Xu immediately became full of himself. "Hehe, how's that? I feel like with a bit more effort, I can wash away my past humiliation and beat that stinking girl."
Jiang Zhi was amused by his childish thought. "Have you ever considered that while you're working hard, she might be working even harder than you?"
The eager-to-fight Yan Xu was instantly crushed. His shoulders slumped, and he indignantly muttered, "Heaven is against me."
"Such a character!" Jiang Zhi scolded with a laugh, quickening his pace to put some distance between them, afraid of catching his stupidity.