Chapter 21: That Delicate Flower (21)

After the New Year’s show, everyone was free to head straight home.

“Yangnuan, are you going home by yourself later, or is someone coming to get you?” Gu Si asked, smiling as she held her camera.

“Someone’s coming.”

Gu Si sighed. “Then I guess I’ll have to go by myself. Want to hang out over New Year’s?”

“No. I want to review for exams.” Song Qi shook her head.

Gu Si nodded. “All right. You’re working so hard—I can’t afford to fall behind.”

“I’m going to pack up.”

“Okay.” Gu Si bit her lip and watched Song Qi walk away.

She had a sharp sense that something had changed.

Host, are you going to deal with the female supporting character? The system’s voice sounded faintly excited.

I’ll wait for her to get herself into trouble. Song Qi stacked her worksheets one by one and stuffed them into her backpack.

The system sighed and fell silent.

Xu Yangnuan’s parents had both come to pick her up, and they planned to take Song Qi out to dinner.

The system watched Song Qi switch seamlessly into girlish mode. She slung her backpack over her shoulder and ran off with a gait that didn’t belong to a twenty-six-year-old. Her acting was flawless. The system was thoroughly impressed.

Song Qi and Gu Si didn’t speak at all over the three-day New Year’s break.

Gu Si did message Song Qi, but Song Qi didn’t reply.

It was a stroke of luck that they ran into each other at the school gate on the day classes resumed.

Gu Si was holding a half-eaten savory crepe. Her eyes lit up when she saw Song Qi, and she waved.

“Yangnuan, you didn’t go online at all over break?”

“No. Aren’t finals coming up?” Song Qi lied without batting an eye.

Gu Si seemed relieved. “No wonder you never answered my messages.”

The two of them entered campus side by side.

It was still early, so there weren’t many people at school. Everything was quiet. Since Song Qi wasn’t saying anything, it felt even quieter.

“The New Year’s homework was so hard, especially the math.”

“Was it?” Song Qi thought for a moment, but couldn’t remember it anymore. “It wasn’t that bad.”

“Academic genius, I think you’re just trying to make the rest of us feel bad.”

Song Qi glanced at Gu Si’s pout and said offhandedly, “If you put all your energy into studying, you wouldn’t find it so hard.”

“I can’t help it. I love anime and novels.” Gu Si sighed.

“Then there’s nothing to be done.”

Song Qi had killed the conversation again. Fortunately, they’d reached the classroom, and they could go their separate ways.

That afternoon, the first snow of the year fell in A City.

The students on the first floor were thrilled. Those upstairs watched them play around outside.

Quite a few people leaned over the railing or gathered by the windows to look out.

Song Qi held a cup of milk tea. Qin Xiao had run out to buy it for her, and she’d accepted it quite happily. After all, she tutored him in every subject. A cup of milk tea was fair payment.

“I wonder if we’ll have PE this afternoon.” Qin Xiao watched the students below and sighed.

“Think with your toes. Of course we won’t.” Song Qi chewed a tapioca pearl and stared blankly outside. When I get home, I’ll hire an army of pastry chefs. How did I never realize sweets tasted this good?

Qin Xiao sighed again.

“Great. You can finish the worksheets you haven’t done yet.” Song Qi glanced at him.

Qin Xiao rolled his eyes. After the last monthly exam, he’d finally made it into the middle of the class.

“When you clear the cutoff for a top university, you can graduate as my student.”

“Mm. I’ll do my best to leave my master in the dust.”

“Good luck.”

“Yangnuan! Brother Qin Xiao!” Gu Si ran up to them, wearing a fluffy white glove that looked adorable.

Qin Xiao didn’t answer. He simply walked away.

When it came to Gu Si, he generally ignored her.

“Yangnuan, it’s so cold,” Gu Si said.

Song Qi nodded. “Mm. So dress warmer.”

Gu Si glanced at Song Qi, then quietly pulled her hand from her pocket and put it on Song Qi’s. “My hand’s cold too.”

“So let’s go back to class.” Song Qi took a step back.

Gu Si blinked at her, looking uncertain.

“It’s warm in the classroom. I’m going back too.” Song Qi drank the last of her milk tea and gave the empty cup a disappointed shake.

Gu Si murmured in agreement.

The weeks after New Year’s were dull and uneventful. Song Qi suspected the book would sum them up in just a few words.

By the time school let out in the evening, the snow had piled up. The slick tiles were already sending people sprawling. The happier they’d been when the snow started, the more miserable they were when they fell.

Students clung to anything they could find as they crept along.

Song Qi walked at an easy pace, almost as if she were out for a stroll.

Gu Si looked at Song Qi in the distance, glanced at the people in front of her, then gritted her teeth and hurried after her. She nearly fell several times, but each time managed to stay upright in some bizarre pose.

“Yangnuan!” she called. Just as she was about to slip, she grabbed Song Qi’s arm and steadied herself with a sigh of relief. “Yangnuan, you walk so fast.”

“Not really.” Song Qi supported Gu Si. “Let’s hurry back. It’s freezing.”

Gu Si kept hold of Song Qi’s arm and made no move to let go. Song Qi didn’t say anything. She simply guided her forward, step by step. Gu Si didn’t release her until they reached the dormitory.

She looked down at her shoes. After hurrying through the snow, a lot of slush had seeped inside. Her feet were numb with cold.

Then she looked at Song Qi’s shoes. Only the edges were damp.

“Go home and soak your feet. It’ll help. I’ve got medicated foot-soak packets that draw out the chill. Do you want some?”

“Ah?” Gu Si looked at Song Qi, surprised to hear a high school student talk about something like that.

“Do you want them?” Song Qi asked again.

“Yes.” Gu Si nodded. Soaking her feet couldn’t hurt.

Xu Yangnuan’s mother had prepared a lot, so Song Qi gave her five packets.

Gu Si almost said she didn’t need so many, but then she remembered this might be the only thing Song Qi had ever given her. She took them anyway.

“Thank you.” Gu Si smiled, her eyes crinkling. “Can I come over and soak our feet together?”

Song Qi…

“We might not have enough stools. You can soak yours by yourself. I’m going to memorize vocabulary while I soak mine.”

“Okay.” Gu Si sighed. She’d been about to say she could bring her own stool. “I’ll go, then.”

“Mm.”

“See you tomorrow.”