Chapter 30

Jin Qishan pulled out Shen Hua’s chair and sat down in it.
Su Xiaoxiao snorted and turned her head away, ignoring him.
He leaned his chin on one hand, saying nothing, just quietly watching her.
“What are you looking at?” she snapped, flustered under his gaze.
His tone was calmer now, though his face stayed cool. “Why didn’t you go eat?”
“Didn’t want to.” She gave him a sideways glance, then mentally reminded herself: Don’t get angry. Anger causes wrinkles.
He opened a yogurt drink and pushed it toward her. “Why not?”
Her irritation, which had just started to fade, flared back up instantly. She wanted to smack him with the carton.
“Can’t you tell?” she glared at him. “I’m mad.”
Jin Qishan chuckled lowly. “Yeah, I see that now. You’re mad like Zhang Fei.”
Zhang Fei?
The beardy general who said, “Same here, brother”?
The image made Su Xiaoxiao burst out laughing. She immediately began explaining the meme to him.
Switching voices, she acted out the whole scene, first Guan Yu, then Liu Bei, then Zhang Fei himself.
Finally, she crossed her arms and deepened her voice, imitating Zhang Fei’s fierce scowl: “Same here!”
Jin Qishan tried to hold it in, covering his face with a book, but his shoulders were shaking with laughter.
Su Xiaoxiao yanked the book away and insisted on performing again right in front of him.
The evening breeze drifted through the open window, stirring the loose strands of her hair and brushing against her flushed lips. She pushed them aside absently with her hand.
And Jin Qishan couldn’t help but think of that day at his grandmother’s house, when a similar breeze had stirred something deep inside him.
Just then, Shen Hua came back from the art building restroom, only to see Jin sitting at her desk, chatting and laughing with Su Xiaoxiao.
Ugh. She still felt full from dinner. Maybe she’d better walk it off on the track.
Cai Meng, seeing her turn to leave again, called out, “Hey, Shen Hua, why aren’t you going in?”
Shen Hua rubbed her stomach. “Ate too much. Gonna take a walk.”
Cai Meng frowned slightly but didn’t press.
Then she stepped into the classroom, and froze.
That cold, aloof boy was smiling faintly, his gaze fixed warmly on Su Xiaoxiao.
Something in her chest ached.
Her mind flashed back to that day in ninth grade, when she’d waited by the basketball court, clutching a pink envelope. He’d backed away and left her with a quiet, “Sorry.”
By the time everyone finished dinner and trickled back in, Jin and Su Xiaoxiao were still talking softly. Then he finally got up and returned to his seat.
Su Xiaoxiao looked down at the opened yogurt, took a sip, it was strawberry flavor, a little too sweet.
When Shen Hua and Zhang Dongshan came back, she divided the cake Shen Yi had given her and shared it around.
Duan Hao finished his piece and immediately leaned closer, smirking. “Got more? I want another.”
His stare made her uncomfortable; she frowned. “No.”
He grinned, shameless. “Then give me yours.”
What the hell?
She’d already eaten half of it!
The guy was seriously disgusting.
But since they’d only just met, she couldn’t tell if he was joking or just plain deranged.
During the last self-study period, a note came from Jin Qishan:
After class, milk tea’s on me. Don’t rush off.
Su Xiaoxiao turned to Shen Hua. “Qishan says he’s treating us to milk tea later. You coming?”
Shen Hua hesitated. Their houses were in opposite directions, and she didn’t like walking home too late, alone, after the evening rush.
Su Xiaoxiao understood immediately. “Don’t worry, after milk tea, Qishan and I’ll walk you home. Okay?”
“Okay,” Shen Hua agreed with a small smile.
After school, Su Xiaoxiao and Shen Hua stopped by the most popular milk tea shop at the school gate, while Jin Qishan and Zhang Dongshan went next door to buy some barbecue skewers.
While Su Xiaoxiao and Shen Hua were waiting in line, Su’s sharp eyes spotted Shen Yi standing alone in the crowd.
She instantly remembered the plot, this was the moment when Shen Yi was supposed to walk through the crowd and wait for his driver in a quiet side alley.
Su Xiaoxiao glanced at Shen Yi, then at Shen Hua, and a brilliant idea suddenly struck her.
“Shen Yi!” she cupped her hands around her mouth and called loudly.
Hearing his name, Shen Yi turned his head.
“Over here!” Su waved at him enthusiastically. “Come on, I’m buying you milk tea!”
When Shen Yi saw who it was, surprise flashed across his face, quickly followed by genuine delight. He hadn’t expected to run into her here, but he was glad he did.
Su Xiaoxiao was the first person to befriend him since transferring to this school, and for some reason, she gave him a sense of familiarity and ease. Even her friend beside her seemed oddly approachable.
“Sure,” he said with a smile, quickly texting his driver to wait a little longer.
With only a few people left ahead of them, Su Xiaoxiao asked, “What do you want to drink?”
Shen Yi studied the menu for a second, then turned the question back on her. “What are you getting?”
“I’m going for the original milk tea, with pearls,” she said, pointing at the picture on the board.
“Then I’ll have the same,” he said lightly. “I’ve never tried it anyway.”
When it was their turn, Su Xiaoxiao ordered, “Three original milk teas, one taro, and one red bean, please.”
The owners were a young couple who had run the shop for years. Su and her friends had been regulars since junior high.
The boss’s wife recognized her and smiled. “School’s out already? Haven’t seen Qishan today.”
Su found an empty table inside and smiled back. “He went to buy barbecue, he’ll be here soon.”
Not long after, Jin Qishan and Zhang Dongshan came in, carrying a big bag of skewers.
The moment Jin Qishan walked through the door, his eyes landed on Shen Yi, sitting directly across from him, with Su Xiaoxiao and Shen Hua beside him.
His face instantly darkened. Of course it was that guy again.
So he’d actually followed them here, huh?
A humorless laugh escaped Jin as he sat down right across from Shen Yi, radiating chill.
The once-lively atmosphere instantly cooled.
Su Xiaoxiao noticed Jin’s expression and sighed inwardly, yep, enemies meeting always ended in tension.
But come on, Shen Hua and Shen Yi were the canon couple. She couldn’t break them up even if she wanted to.
And besides, if Shen Hua had ever liked Jin Qishan, she would’ve fallen for him long ago. If years of chasing hadn’t worked, maybe it just wasn’t meant to be.
To ease the awkwardness, Su smiled and introduced, “This is Shen Yi from Class 7, he just transferred today.”
Jin merely gave a cold hum through his nose.
Zhang Dongshan, ever the friendly one, shoved a skewer toward Shen Yi. “Hey bro, we had some of the cake you gave us, come try our barbecue too.”
Jin tapped the table sharply, displeased. “Correction, it’s the barbecue I bought.”
Right then, the boss came over with their drinks. “Who ordered the original pearl milk tea?”
Jin Qishan and Shen Yi answered at the same time. “Me.”
Their eyes met, neither looked away, both expressions faintly mocking.
The boss handed each of them a cup. “And this one?”
Jin Qishan pushed the remaining milk tea toward Su Xiaoxiao and asked with a deliberately casual, pointed tone, “You like original flavor too, huh?”
By now, Shen Yi understood perfectly where this hostility came from.
He gave a faint smile and said meaningfully, “I don’t really mind what I drink. I just wanted what Xiaoxiao liked.”
The air grew tense. Even Shen Hua could feel the undercurrent between the two boys.
When it was finally over, Su Xiaoxiao let out a long sigh of relief, thank goodness. Babysitting two walking tempers was exhausting.
Then she turned to Shen Yi. “Hey, which way are you heading after this?”
“East.”
“Perfect. Hua Hua lives that way too. You can walk her home, it’s getting dark, and I’d worry if she went alone.”
Shen Yi blinked in surprise, then nodded. “Alright.”
Shen Hua panicked, waving her hands. “Oh no, no, it’s fine, I can go myself.”
“Nope,” Su Xiaoxiao said firmly. “You’re too pretty to walk alone at night. If you don’t want Shen Yi to walk you, then I’ll go with you myself.”
“I, it’s okay,” Shen Hua mumbled shyly, glancing at Shen Yi. “We can walk together.”
Su Xiaoxiao grinned secretly, exactly as planned.
Across the table, Zhang Dongshan pounded the table and wailed dramatically, “Unbelievable! How come no one ever thinks about me? I live in the west, all alone and terrified, can’t anyone walk me home?”
Jin Qishan kicked him under the table. “Speak human, dumbass.”
Su Xiaoxiao burst out laughing. Wherever Zhang Dongshan was, boredom never existed.
After their group left, the shop owner’s wife turned to her husband and whispered, “I can’t keep up anymore. Who’s with who now? And where did that new handsome guy come from?”
The boss smirked. “When I brought their drinks, I could smell the gunpowder in the air.”
His wife nodded knowingly. “Well, one thing’s clear, Zhang Dongshan’s officially out of the picture.”
“How so?”
She rolled her eyes like a gossiping oracle. “There are two handsome boys now. What’s he got left to offer?”
At this age, after all, looks ruled the game.

On the way home, Jin Qishan pedaled furiously, leaving Su Xiaoxiao struggling to keep up.
“Qishan, slow down!” she called, panting.
The wind pushed against her, and her legs began to ache. As he grew smaller in the distance, she finally huffed and stopped chasing. Fine. Let him ride as fast as he wants.
Jin Qishan thought she was still behind him, but after a while, he realized he couldn’t hear her bike anymore. He turned around, and panic struck when he saw she was gone.
Racing back the way he came, he finally spotted her figure and exhaled in relief.
Without a word, he slowed down and started riding quietly behind her.
Su Xiaoxiao glanced over her shoulder. “Didn’t you already leave? What are you doing back here?”
He muttered, low and sulky, “I don’t like Shen Yi.”
Can you please not hang out with him?