Chapter 13

If Shi Xiu’s ferocity was worn on her face, a single slash to the throat, then Shang Jinyue’s ruthlessness was hidden deep in her eyes. She would unhurriedly slit your throat, calmly waiting for you to bleed out, like handling a lamb.

Stared at by Shang Jinyue like this, the boy’s heart pounded wildly. His voice lowered considerably when he spoke: “C-can’t you look more carefully…”

But Shang Jinyue answered him, “I looked carefully enough.”

It hadn’t been long since the start of Grade 12. The class was newly formed from shuffled students. Apart from those who played well together before, many people weren’t very familiar yet.

The general impression of Shang Jinyue was that she had a cold temperament. Although well-mannered, her status as the Eldest Young Miss of the Shang Group made everyone think she was too aloof and noble to approach easily.

Besides Shi Xiu, who had been audaciously clinging to Shang Jinyue in the previous life, no one else in the class had ever dared to initiate contact with her.

Thus, few people had ever considered that Shang Jinyue could also get angry.

Even Shi Xiu hadn’t thought about it.

When they were partners, Shang Jinyue never showed much emotion over her matters.

Now that they had no relation, why would Shang Jinyue be angry for her?

Shi Xiu stood frozen on the chair, forgetting she had been about to jump down.

Shang Jinyue also reached out, steadying the chair propped up on the table, and looked expressionlessly at the boy: “Your action just now was caught on the surveillance cameras. I am now…”

She paused here.

Consciously trying to change a habit, she passed the power of choice to Shi Xiu: “Do you want him to apologize to you now, or should we go find a Teacher and let the Teacher handle it?”

Accustomed to being ignored by Shang Jinyue, forced to stand behind her, Shi Xiu felt a bit uncomfortable with the choice offered.

But Shi Xiu only froze for a moment, internally cursing herself for being “incurably unchanged,” before taking back the right that belonged to her: “If you apologize to me now, I won’t go find Old Guo.”

Shi Xiu raised her chin, making herself, already standing high above, seem even more arrogantly untouchable.

The boy clutched his swollen forehead, refusing to bow his head: “Seriously, running to the Teacher for every little thing? Have you no shame?”

Hearing this, a flicker of contempt passed through the eyes of both already twenty-seven-year-old souls.

Such words might fool teenagers with little life experience, but Shi Xiu and Shang Jinyue wouldn’t even consider them.

Their tacit understanding came at an inopportune time.

“Are you scared?”

Shi Xiu’s raised voice overlapped perfectly with Shang Jinyue’s cold tone, echoing clearly in the noisy classroom.

A breeze stirred the shadows of the trees outside the window, letting in clean light.

Just like their shadows standing side-by-side in this moment.

Shi Xiu felt that familiar, frustrating tangle of fate she desperately tried to escape, yet was always entangled by.

Her tacit understanding with Shang Jinyue arrived too late and was completely useless now. Turning her head, she saw Shang Jinyue was still expressionless, as if unaffected by this coincidence.

“What am I scared of.”

The boy’s stubborn words pulled Shi Xiu’s thoughts back.

Perhaps this person truly lacked any backbone, because he caved faster than Shi Xiu expected: “I really think you two are no fun. Isn’t it just an apology? I’m sorry. I won’t mess with you anymore. If I can’t afford to provoke you, I can at least hide. Grandaunt.”

The apology lacked any sincerity, his face still full of defiance.

Watching silently, Shi Xiu didn’t mind rubbing salt into the boy’s shattered dignity: “Hey, Eldest Grandnephew, remember to take a detour next time you see your Grandaunt.”

“Just you wait,” the boy gritted his teeth, then turned and headed out the classroom door.

The school forbade fighting. In Grade 12, no one wanted to cause trouble for anyone else. Who knew when this threat would be carried out.

Perhaps the moment he stomped out the door frame, it had already expired.

“Idiot.”

“Do you want to come down?”

As Shi Xiu watched this pathetic bully flee with a look of disdain, Shang Jinyue’s voice sounded beside her.

The warning bell rang at a coincidental moment. Students in the corridor began drifting back into the classrooms unhurriedly.

Their moving figures played with the sunlight, casting alternating lines of light and shadow across the back of the classroom.

And Shang Jinyue’s long, pale fingers rested steadily within Shi Xiu’s line of sight.

Shi Xiu fell into a silent trance.

It felt like a dormant old dream suddenly shining into reality.

She didn’t want it anymore.

Yet Shang Jinyue’s initiative had arrived.

Honestly, Shi Xiu didn’t really want to accept Shang Jinyue’s help.

But the person had just helped her resolve a crisis. Turning around and ignoring her immediately would seem somewhat ungrateful.

Shi Xiu said “Thanks” and used Shang Jinyue’s support to step down from the chair.

And after she jumped down from the table, she decisively let go of Shang Jinyue’s hand.

The brief contact felt more profound than a century. Shang Jinyue looked at her now-empty hand and silently closed it into a light fist.

They were deskmates, so their path forward was the same.

Not talking was more awkward than talking. Shi Xiu brought up the paper ball Shang Jinyue had used to interrupt the boy’s so-called joke: “What was wrapped inside that paper ball?”

“An ink bottle,” Shang Jinyue answered.

“It was empty, just discovered. So I wrapped it in paper. Even if it shattered, it wouldn’t cut anyone.”

This person spoke so calmly, explaining away her action as a mere mishap with a few sentences, her motives cleanly detached.

Shi Xiu couldn’t help but admire it.

This was something only Shang Jinyue could pull off. Even if it escalated to a Teacher, she’d have a valid justification.

“Impressive,” Shi Xiu praised her genuinely.

But such impressiveness was destined to belong to a world different from her own.

Perhaps sensing the intentional distance in Shi Xiu’s words, Shang Jinyue added, “It was just a desperate measure in a moment of urgency.”

Shang Jinyue subtly emphasized “in a moment of urgency.”

But what Shi Xiu heard was “desperate measure.”

She understood.

After all, Shang Jinyue wouldn’t have risked seriously injuring the boy for her sake.

What was she, anyway?

A sardonic smile flickered in the girl’s eyes. Once again, the conversation between them died out.

It was only a few steps from the back of the classroom to their seats, yet they walked in heavy silence.

Just as Shi Xiu was about to sit down, she heard an apology from Shang Jinyue: “Sorry. What I said during self-study wasn’t my intention. I forgot that you really love to draw.”

The girl’s cool voice sounded beside Shi Xiu, like a butterfly gently flapping its wings near her ear.

That faint, almost imperceptible flutter could stir a massive storm across North America.

Unprepared, Shi Xiu blinked suddenly.

But she quickly adjusted, looking carelessly at Shang Jinyue and asking back, “Wasn’t it obvious enough from what I usually do?”

Not far behind them was the dragon head draft Shi Xiu had sketched. Throughout the summer break, the most frequent thing in her conversations with Shang Jinyue was talking about drawing something she’d seen that day.

It wasn’t that Shi Xiu hadn’t shown it clearly.

It was that Shang Jinyue hadn’t yet realized that sometimes love and desire are at odds.

When Shi Xiu no longer accommodated her, choosing freedom, her own “not wanting Shi Xiu to leave” became the biggest obstacle to getting closer.

“May I ask, when are you leaving?” Shang Jinyue watched Shi Xiu sit back down in her seat and asked, unwilling to let go.

And Shi Xiu, glancing at the math problems finished early thanks to a certain someone, felt it wouldn’t hurt to tell Shang Jinyue: “I applied with Old Guo last semester. The process hasn’t been voided yet.”

Shi Xiu counted on her fingers, listing for Shang Jinyue: “Hmm… the school agreed, the art studio agreed too. The only thing left is the guardian’s informed consent form. Once my dad comes back from his business trip, he just needs to sign it.”

Listening to Shi Xiu’s well-thought-out plan, Shang Jinyue’s hand subtly clenched.

She thought, if Shi Xiu hadn’t misunderstood her words last class, she probably wouldn’t have known this person was leaving until the desk beside her was already empty.

But based on her understanding of Shi Xiu’s father, Shi Wendong, she felt this wouldn’t be as easy as Shi Xiu imagined: “Have you discussed it properly with Uncle?”

“Nope,” Shi Xiu answered honestly, but with extreme confidence. “Even if he disagrees, he’ll have to agree.”

Shi Xiu was determined to go study art.

Shang Jinyue couldn’t stop her.

And Shi Wendong certainly couldn’t either.

As Shang Jinyue anticipated, when Shi Xiu returned home and told Shi Wendong she wanted to prepare for the art exams at a studio, she was greeted by an informed consent form torn to shreds.

“Shi Xiu, have your wings grown hard?”

“You’re not taking the proper academic path and want to go study art?! I’m not dead yet, and you’re already thinking about squandering my money?”

Shi Wendong stomped on the fragments of Shi Xiu’s application form, the collectible walnuts in his hand clacking loudly.

He glared furiously. For this daughter who had rarely come to greet him upon his return home, he only had one sentence: “I disagree! Don’t even think about it!”