Chapter 21 Part 2

Truth be told, Bai Shuangshuang hadn’t stepped in out of some instant fondness for Jiang Chan. It was simply that, in the moment Jiang Chan spat out that mocking line, she’d glimpsed a fleeting vulnerability in her eyes.

She knew that look all too well.

That flicker of pity had spurred her to act in a way she never would have imagined.

But now, faced with Jiang Chan’s rejecting glare for the second time—after the initial jolt of surprise had worn off—Bai Shuangshuang felt nothing at all.

The reason was simple.

She had endured far more heartbreaking scenes than this.

With that, Bai Shuangshuang fell silent for good.

Jiang Chan wasn’t Bai Tongsheng. And she would only ever let herself fall for Bai Tongsheng once.

~~~

The fallout from the Jiang Chan incident came as no surprise.

For disrespecting a teacher and conduct unbecoming, the school suspended her for a week and sent her home.

Getting kicked out to cool her heels at home right after transferring in? That was a school first.

On Friday, when Bai Tongsheng arrived to wait for Bai Shuangshuang, her sister casually brought up Jiang Chan.

Bai Tongsheng’s expression soured the instant the name left her lips, but Bai Shuangshuang didn’t notice. She recounted the entire episode in full detail.

When she finished, she turned to her sister. “A-Sheng, what do you think of Jiang Chan?”

Only then did she register Bai Tongsheng’s pallor and add, with belated concern, “A-Sheng, are you feeling okay? You look a little off-color.”

Bai Tongsheng’s voice was low and heavy. “Do you like her?”

“Huh? I haven’t even known her for half a day—we’re not friends or anything.”

“Then is she important to you?”

“Not at all. A-Sheng, what’s wrong?”

Bai Tongsheng halted mid-stride and fixed her with a stare, her eyes brimming with undisguised disgust. “Bai Shuangshuang, in all the time you’ve been in school, this is the first classmate whose name you’ve ever mentioned to me.”

Bai Shuangshuang did share snippets of her daily life from time to time, but she always referred to people by their roles: “the kid sitting in front of me,” “my roommate,” “our class monitor.”

This Jiang Chan—the one whose name she’d dropped more than once—was the first to stir a genuine sense of threat in Bai Tongsheng’s heart.

“Eh? Is that so? I wouldn’t have noticed if you didn’t point it out. It’s because Jiang Chan is special, you know. Sure, it wasn’t great that she talked back to the teacher like that, but honestly, in a way, it was pretty brave. And it’s not just me—most of the girls in our class say the same thing when they talk about her. What do you think, A-Sheng? How do you feel about a girl like that?”

Bai Tongsheng felt a savage impulse to rip the smile from her face—the one that had bloomed there because of someone else. She let out a quiet breath in her mind, aware that her rationality had been slipping lately.

“Bai Shuangshuang, do you remember what I told you once?”

“Hm? What?”

Her gaze darkened. “You can never be kinder to anyone else than you are to me.”

Bai Shuangshuang couldn’t figure out how the conversation had veered from Jiang Chan to this, but one look at Bai Tongsheng’s stormy expression, and she thought she had it figured out. Amused, she reached out and pinched her cheek. “Is A-Sheng jealous? Of course I’ll always be the best to my A-Sheng. What’s there to be jealous about? You’re my little sister—she’s just a friend at most. It’s not the same thing at all.”

Bai Tongsheng stared at the pale, delicate hand filling her vision and let out a mocking laugh in her heart.

—Right now.

—I’m something even worse than jealousy.

~~~

The next time she saw Jiang Chan, Bai Shuangshuang assumed her hair had been dyed back to black. But the moment she stepped into the classroom, there it was: that same brilliant shock of yellow, gleaming under the sunlight.

She felt a flicker of curiosity. Given the Discipline Director’s personality, he should have forced her to dye it back no matter what. For him to make this unprecedented exception—could it be because they’d called her parents?

And were Jiang Chan’s parents some kind of big shot?

Bai Shuangshuang only pondered it briefly without digging deeper. She slung her backpack over her shoulder and took her seat. Jiang Chan shot her a glance before looking away again.

Bai Shuangshuang could sense the “keep away” aura radiating from her and had no intention of striking up a conversation. Soon the classroom filled with more students. After two days apart, everyone missed their friends, and the room buzzed with cheerful chatter.

Except for their desk. It felt like an invisible wall stood between them, leaving their corner in eerie silence.

~~~

Bai Shuangshuang got her next taste of Jiang Chan’s foul temper when the girl unleashed it on a classmate.

The target was Wang Shishi, the most popular girl in the class.

Bai Shuangshuang had no idea what sparked it. She’d only stepped away for a cup of water and returned to find Wang Shishi’s eyes brimming with tears. The girl held them back with visible effort as she edged away from Jiang Chan and retreated silently to her own seat.

She looked heartbreakingly fragile, like Daiyu mourning the fallen flowers.

Wang Shishi was sweet-tempered and never picked fights with anyone. For Jiang Chan to reduce her to tears spoke volumes about the explosion of rage she’d unleashed.

Bai Shuangshuang settled back into her seat. She glanced at Wang Shishi, now surrounded by classmates offering comfort at her desk, then shifted her eyes to Jiang Chan, whose face remained thunderous beside her.

She didn’t need to ask what happened—the two girls in front of them were already whispering about it.

From their hushed conversation, Bai Shuangshuang pieced it together and learned what Jiang Chan had done. Her opinion of the girl soured a bit.

Wang Shishi had only approached to check on the new student. Before she could even speak, Jiang Chan had coldly swept the items off her desk to the floor.

The next instant, she’d snarled at her to get lost.

When Wang Shishi tried to respond, Jiang Chan tore into her with a barrage of abuse. The sudden fury proved too much even for Wang Shishi, whose eyes welled up on the spot.

That led straight into the scene Bai Shuangshuang had walked in on.

From that day forward, “Jiang Chan” became synonymous with “that crazy dog with the rotten temper.”

In the end, aside from her desk mate Bai Shuangshuang exchanging a few words now and then, even the girls sitting in front stopped talking to her.

But Jiang Chan never cared. Even without a single friend by her side, she carried on as she pleased, an intangible barrier around her separating her from everyone else.

~~~

Bai Tongsheng’s prep for the high school entrance exams soon ramped up to fever pitch. Naturally, Bai Shuangshuang refused to let her keep coming to pick her up. One night before bed, she brought it up.

Bai Tongsheng sat there stone-faced, showing zero interest in the suggestion. Bai Shuangshuang gritted her teeth, leaned in, and planted a kiss on her forehead.

She wasn’t sure exactly when she’d discovered it, but whenever Bai Tongsheng got mad, a single kiss on the forehead—like soothing a child—never failed to brighten her mood.

And this time was no different. That one little peck on the forehead finally coaxed her into agreeing.

It was another Friday, and there were thirty minutes left until the end of class.

The sky, which had been clear just moments before, suddenly opened up. Within minutes, a heavy downpour battered the windows with a relentless patter.

A number of students muttered complaints under their breath.

“Why is it raining now? My umbrella’s back in the dorm—I have to go grab it. What a pain.”

“Didn’t the forecast say clear skies all day? Who even looked at that?”

“Quiet down. Just half a class left—can’t you sit still?”

The English teacher spoke up, and the room fell instantly silent.

Bai Shuangshuang reached back into her bag and felt the umbrella strapped to the side. She let out a breath of relief. Good—she had remembered to bring it.

The tedious English lesson finally wrapped up, but the rain showed no signs of easing. Students grumbled as they filed out, their steps as hurried as ever. Before long, the classroom stood nearly empty.

Bai Shuangshuang finished scribbling the last line of her English composition. She was always the last to leave. No cleaning duty on Fridays; they’d take care of it when they returned early on Sunday.

By the time she reached the ground floor, she spotted a crowd huddled on the steps, no doubt waiting for friends or family to bring umbrellas.

Bai Shuangshuang wove through the group, pulled her umbrella free, unfastened the strap, gave it a shake, and popped it open.

Suddenly, someone bolted straight out into the storm—a striking head of bright yellow hair impossible to miss.

Bai Shuangshuang called out on instinct. “Jiang Chan!”

The girl froze in place as the torrent soaked her. In moments, her autumn jacket was drenched halfway down.

Bai Shuangshuang hurried over. Jiang Chan was a touch shorter than Bai Tongsheng but still taller than her, so she hoisted the umbrella higher. “This rain isn’t letting up anytime soon. Share mine?”

Even someone as prickly as Jiang Chan surely wouldn’t turn down shelter in a storm like this.

Jiang Chan said nothing. Her actions spoke volumes.

Bai Shuangshuang watched her figure fade into the sheets of rain and sighed.

She’d rarely met anyone so impervious to kindness.

~~~

Bai Tongsheng from her previous life had been the first.

Bai Shuangshuang had no intention of taking the bus today. Truth be told, she rather enjoyed strolling through the rain.

The downpour might splatter mud on her pants with every step, but she walked on with a lightness in her heart.

A left turn out of the school gate led to a long street lined with shops—places selling snacks, stationery, and all sorts of wares that could tempt money from high school pockets.

The heavy rain had cleared out the usual crowds; the once-bustling storefronts stood nearly deserted.

Bai Shuangshuang took the cake bag from the server, slipped it carefully into her backpack, and had just reopened her umbrella when someone came dashing toward her from up ahead.

The yellow hair gave her away at a glance. Spotting Jiang Chan again didn’t surprise her, but her outfit did.

How had she ditched her jacket in just a few minutes?

Jiang Chan barreled past without a glance, as if Bai Shuangshuang weren’t even there.

Bai Shuangshuang turned and watched her duck into a nearby deli, wondering if she’d imagined the whole thing.

Shaking it off, she pressed on under her umbrella. As she passed the mouth of an alley, faint mews drifted out from the shadowed lane.

Bai Shuangshuang halted at once, traced the sound, and turned into the alley.

There, nestled together on the inner side of a large trash bin, were three filthy little stray kittens.

Starving and desperate, the kittens mewed piteously at the sight of her, big eyes pleading without a thought to whether she meant harm.

Bai Shuangshuang remembered the cakes in her bag. She dropped into a squat, yanked out the bag, and set every last one before them.

One kitten gave a tentative lick, tasted the sweet richness, and soon they were all clustered together, devouring the treats with gusto.

Smiling as she watched, Bai Shuangshuang’s gaze drifted to the object sheltering their heads. That jacket… it looked familiar.

The bottom half lay spread across the concrete, while the top was folded into a makeshift tent, protecting the trio beneath.

Sodden with rain and streaked with mud, it was hard to make out its original color or style. She reached to pick it up for a closer look—only to freeze at a sharp voice.

“What are you doing!”

Bai Shuangshuang looked up. Jiang Chan stood beside her, soaked to the skin.

Her eyes burned with fury, as if flames might erupt at any second and reduce her to ashes.