Chai Shuqing knew she was joking. Putting aside the fact that such behavior was utterly inhumane, with so many people passing by on the street, how could Xia Jin possibly do something that would damage her image?
Wait a minute... Chai Shuqing suddenly remembered that in junior high school, Xia Jin seemed to have actually kicked someone into a garbage dump.
Damn it! She gripped Xia Jin's neck tightly with both hands, as if she would strangle her to death if Xia Jin dared to throw her into the trash can the next second, and they would die together.
Xia Jin freed one hand and pulled her hand down a little: "Are you trying to strangle me by holding me so tightly?"
Chai Shuqing loosened her grip a little.
Summer temperatures are already high, and the heat from their bodies burning in each other's hearts was even more intense.
Chai Shuqing rested her chin on Xia Jin's shoulder, the other woman's long hair bringing a pleasant fragrance to her nose.
She could tell that Xia Jin didn't like her associating with the senior students who had feelings for her, and she also didn't like her getting too close to girls.
It seems that the reason she fell out with Xia Jin was because she got too close to Yao Yunqi.
I was a bit confused before, but now it's much clearer.
They were classmates for three years in junior high school.
In the first year of junior high school, Chai Shuqing and Xia Jin didn't have much contact; they were on different wavelengths.
Although Chai Shuqing wasn't a particularly obedient student back then—occasionally late for class, dozing off, taking leave to go to concerts, and having her parents called in several times—she was willing to study, had a fairly good brain, and consistently maintained above-average grades, occasionally even ranking first in her grade.
She was just mischievous and lively, and felt that school wasn't free enough, so she occasionally wanted to fly away and play. Aside from these harmless little mischiefs, she could barely be considered a good student in the eyes of the teachers.
In comparison, Xia Jin seemed to defy the heavens; she didn't study, yet she amazed all the teachers by submitting blank exam papers.
She openly slept in class, skipped classes, had her parents called in countless times, was punished by standing in the corner countless times, and was dragged under the red flag and criticized in front of the whole school. She never wavered, always maintaining that arrogant, fearless attitude. She even mingled with other equally incompetent students, forming an alliance and becoming a powerful figure throughout the school.
And she was the leader of them all, with a bunch of underlings who brought her snacks every day.
She doesn't bully people unprovoked, but if anyone provokes her, that person is doomed.
The scope of "provoking her" includes many things. For example, back then she might have had that chuunibyou (middle school syndrome) phase, and her seat was in the last row, at a separate table. She wouldn't allow anyone to touch her table, otherwise it would be considered provoking her.
As a result, everyone avoids her when they see her, fearing that they might accidentally bump into her and bring disaster upon themselves.
There is an example of this saying that misfortune comes from nowhere.
Once, she was walking past a basketball court when a group of boys were playing basketball. The ball accidentally hit her hand, and she threw it back, sending one of the boys to the hospital.
Xia Jin's parents were called in and paid the other party's medical expenses.
Chai Shuqing really admired the other person. After all, she herself was quite afraid of being called to the meeting with her parents, because she would inevitably be nagged by He Xiaoying afterward.
However, Xia Jin was like a heartless person. No matter how her grandmother came to the school and tried to persuade her, she remained unmoved and extremely cold-blooded.
The teacher tried to persuade her earnestly, but she remained unmoved, continuing to do as she pleased.
Chai Shuqing originally thought that she and her daughter would never cross paths during her three years of junior high school. That is, until the second year of junior high school, when their class got a new math teacher.
The new math teacher is very strict and will not allow students to go easy on each other; those who do not hand in their homework will be punished accordingly.
Before this, everyone in the class had unanimously refused to collect Xia Jin's homework, and never dared to write Xia Jin's name on the list of those who hadn't handed in their homework.
After the math teacher found out, she scolded the class representative, telling her that she couldn't protect the students in the class like that, and that she had to write down the names of those who didn't hand in their homework.
When they changed seats, Xia Jin ended up in Chai Shuqing's group. Chai Shuqing was the group leader. After collecting the math homework, she handed it to the class representative. The class representative glanced at the list of students who hadn't handed in their homework and whispered to Chai Shuqing, "Did Xia Jin hand it in?"
"without."
The class representative was a little troubled: "I have to write down the names of those who didn't hand in their papers, otherwise the teacher will scold me again."
"Remember her name, she might come looking for trouble later," Chai Shuqing said casually.
The class representative's eyes welled up with tears of embarrassment: "Maybe I should just tell the teacher I don't want to be the class representative anymore."
"Hey, why are you crying? Don't cry," Chai Shuqing comforted her.
Tears streamed down the girl's face: "Why is my life so hard? If I don't remember names, the teacher will scold me; if I do remember names, people will cause trouble for me."
Chai Shuqing took a pen and neatly wrote Xia Jin's name on the list: "Don't cry. If Xia Jin causes you trouble later, just say that I wrote it."
The class representative grabbed her hand and said, "Shuqing, why don't we go and tell the teacher that I'm quitting as class representative, and you shouldn't be the group leader either?"
Chai Shuqing told her to hand in her homework to the teacher first.
The math teacher later made Xia Jin copy the text as punishment, but Xia Jin refused. The math teacher had a bad temper and didn't believe she couldn't control Xia Jin, even threatening to report her to the principal and have her expelled.
Just because she didn't hand in her homework, Chai Shuqing wrote down her name, which later escalated to expulsion, something she never expected.
During a break between classes, Chai Shuqing felt sleepy and was about to lie down on her desk for a nap when Xia Jin walked over, bent her fingers, and tapped her desk hard.
Chai Shuqing was not easily swayed by gentle persuasion, and she was not afraid of Xia Jin at all. Because the other party was disturbing her rest, she said impatiently, "What are you banging on!"
At that moment, the whole class held their breath because of Chai Shuqing's words, and they all felt that she had offended Xia Jin and was doomed.
Xia Jin sneered: "You're pretty arrogant. You remember my name?"
Chai Shuqing stared at her without blinking: "So what if I wrote down your name? The teacher told me to. You didn't hand in your homework, and now you're blaming others?"
The two remained locked in a standoff for about ten seconds.
Chai Shuqing actually couldn't stand the kind of atmosphere where no one spoke and it was extremely quiet. But since the other person didn't look away, she wouldn't look away either; she couldn't lose in terms of presence.
So, it seems that Chai Shuqing's mind wandered because she had been looking at her for too long. Her focus shifted from remembering the name to Xia Jin's appearance, and she found that Xia Jin was quite pretty.
Finally, the bell rang, and Xia Jin returned to her seat without saying a word.
Chai Shuqing sat down and continued her class as if nothing had happened.
When school was over, the math class representative came over, a little worried about her: "Why don't you go to the office and ask the teacher to call your parents to pick you up?"
"It's okay." Chai Shuqing took out two chocolate bars from her schoolbag and gave one to her: "She's a minor just like us. What can she do to me? I have teachers, parents, and police. What's there to be afraid of?"
As the two walked out of the school gate, they ran into Xia Jin.
Chapter 56 Chai Shuqing & Xia Yan Extra Four
The weather was overcast, with thick clouds covering the sky, as if they might collapse at any moment and fill the earth.
Chai Shuqing linked arms with the math class representative, completely ignoring Xia Jin passing by.
The scene that Chai Shuqing had imagined—being stopped by Xia Jin—did not happen, and Chai Shuqing did not turn around to see what Xia Jin's expression was.
After the two girls walked arm in arm for a while, the math class representative breathed a sigh of relief, then said goodbye and went home.
For the next few days, Xia Jin didn't cause her any trouble.
On Wednesday afternoon, during the weekly math test, the math teacher warned Xia Jin, implying that she had a bad attitude. Xia Jin argued back, and the teacher got so angry that she said, "Someone like you should just drop out of school."
Then, filled with anger, the math teacher left the classroom, leaving the math class representative to sit on the podium and watch.
In the classroom, everyone was engrossed in doing their test papers.
Chai Shuqing glanced back and saw Xia Jin casually crumple the test paper into a ball and throw it into the desk drawer before nonchalantly lying down to sleep.
After finishing a math test, Chai Shuqing had twenty extra minutes. She twirled her pen and stared out the window for five or six minutes, then, for some reason, she told the class representative that her test paper had gotten wet and asked for a blank one.
At the age of thirteen or fourteen, emotions outweigh reason, and many things cannot be explained by logic.
For example, she wrote Xia Jin's name in the name column of the blank test paper, and then randomly copied a few answers onto the math test paper she had finished.
She didn't know what Xia Jin's handwriting looked like, but she deliberately wrote it in a messy way, and surprisingly, nothing was discovered when she handed it in.
It's possible that Xia Jin's books and assignments were mostly blank.
Afterwards, she felt she had gone mad, thinking that because of this one exam paper, she would never have anything to do with Xia Jin again.
The next day in math class, when the teacher was handing out the tests, she called out Xia Jin's name. Xia Jin sat in her seat, seemingly unaware that it was her test. After all, she hadn't handed in her test at all; how could there be one of hers?
She remained motionless in her seat, and the math teacher called her name several times: "Xia Jin! Take your test paper away."
Xia Jin frowned, slowly went to the podium to collect her test paper, and when she came down, she glanced at Chai Shuqing. Chai Shuqing had her head down at the time and did not notice her gaze.
Perhaps because someone who never did homework or even bothered to hand in a test suddenly handed in a completed test, the math teacher's attitude towards her wasn't so bad afterward.
Several more weeks passed like this.
Apart from the time Xia Jin tapped on her desk, Xia Jin never contacted her again, not even saying a word to her. As a result, Chai Shuqing felt that Xia Jin wasn't as bad or scary as the rumors at school made her out to be.
The two crossed paths again one Friday afternoon when Chai Shuqing was rushing home and left her homework at school. She turned back to get it after reaching the school gate and ran into Xia Jin, who was still in the classroom.
Xia Jin seemed to be drawing, but Chai Shuqing didn't care what she was drawing. After stuffing her homework into her schoolbag, she picked up her schoolbag and prepared to leave. A gust of wind outside the window blew a test paper that was on Xia Jin's desk onto Chai Shuqing and it landed at her feet.
Chai Shuqing paused, hesitated for a few seconds, and then picked it up.
On the blank math test paper, a girl's back was drawn in pencil, sitting in a seat, propping her head up and looking out the window.
Xia Jin wasn't very good at studying, but she was quite good at drawing.
She returned the test paper to Xia Jin, who didn't say a word. Chai Shuqing turned around and glanced at her seat. She thought the drawing on it looked like her. Her seat was the one on the right by the window. Every time she finished her homework, she would prop her head up like that and stare blankly out the window.
After taking a few steps, Chai Shuqing tugged at her backpack strap and turned back: "Is that me drawn on your backpack?"
Only after that did the two begin to truly interact.
After becoming friends with Xia Jin, Chai Shuqing discovered that although Xia Jin seemed difficult to get along with on the surface, she was actually very kind to her.
By the second semester of their third year of junior high, Chai Shuqing and Xia Jin had become very close friends.
Even under Chai Shuqing's influence, Xia Jin finally restrained her temper a little and was willing to do her homework with Chai Shuqing when she was doing her homework.
Xia Jin wasn't unintelligent; she had a natural talent for science. She had promised Chai Shuqing she would study with her. After only a short period of serious study, her math, physics, and chemistry grades reached excellent. Although the teacher suspected her of cheating and called her parents in, Xia Jin's personality was such that she didn't care about anything.
Chai Shuqing thought she really didn't care about anything, but that wasn't actually the case.
A month before the high school entrance exam, Chai Shuqing was asked to come out with Xia Jin and Yao Yunqi at the same time to do her homework on a Sunday afternoon.
In the end, Chai Shuqing rejected Yao Yunqi and accepted her offer.
The two of them decided to do their homework at a bookstore in a study room. However, that day, Chai Shuqing waited there for almost an hour, finishing all her homework, but Xia Jin still hadn't come. She sent Xia Jin a message, but Xia Jin didn't reply.
Being stood up made her very unhappy, so she packed up her books and went home.
In reality, just as Xia Jin was about to go out to find her, her grandmother suddenly tripped and fell.
On the way to take her grandmother to the hospital, she accidentally dropped and broke her phone. As a result, she didn't receive any messages from Chai Shuqing. By the time she finished settling her grandmother in the hospital and rushed to the study room bookstore, Chai Shuqing had already left.
Xia Jin thought she would explain to the other party when she got to school.
On her way to school on Monday, she ran into Chai Shuqing and Yao Yunqi, who were walking to school together. The two of them were walking ahead of her.