Chapter 6

Chapter 6

“Hey, what’s your name?”

When Zhou Yanfei caught up to me, I was thinking about how to get back to my original home and find the place where the accident had happened that day.

All I remembered was fire everywhere. But I couldn’t recall where it had been.

“You’re pretty impressive, you know. You didn’t even flinch in front of the dean. Other than me, you’re the second person I’ve seen do that.”

“Not as impressive as you.” I didn’t particularly like troublemakers like him.

“Why are you so cold when you talk?”

“Because I think you’re annoying.”

He suddenly yanked me by the collar. I stumbled two steps backward, and a car roared past.

Only then did I snap back to my senses and say, “Thank you.”

“That’s how you thank someone for saving your life? Put some sincerity into it. Help me write my self-criticism.”

He handed me the paper and pen. “Please. I’m off to play basketball.”

I smiled and tossed them right back at him. “You need someone else to write your self-criticism for you? Are you out of your mind?” Then I went upstairs without looking back.

In the stairwell, I ran into Xiao Ling.

He was leaning there quietly, sunlight spilling across his face. He was ridiculously handsome. If Zhou Yanfei was the kind of cocky bad-boy handsome that all the little girls liked, then Xiao Ling was… so clean and pure-looking that even an older-sister type like me felt her heart skip a beat.

However, he really did seem as aloof as the diary said.

And the warning look he had given me last night made my skin crawl.

“Sun Shuyi.”

When I passed him, he actually called out to me. Unexpectedly, his voice was deep and magnetic.

I swallowed and turned around.

“Why did you put thumbtacks in Song Xiaoxue’s shoes?”

His expression was cold as he looked down at me.

I froze, but he continued icily.

“I don’t like you, but that doesn’t mean you should do things that hurt other people.”

I was so angry I laughed. There wasn’t a single normal person in this place.

I took a step closer.

After looking him up and down, I asked, “Excuse me, are you ranked first in our grade?”

“What?” He frowned.

“Next time, I’ll be ranked first.”

I looked him in the eyes and said it seriously.

Xiao Ling actually curled the corner of his mouth. “Sun Shuyi, what are you doing?”

I smiled at him. “Did you not understand me?”

I remembered how the original owner had written in her diary about how wonderful he was, an untouchable flower on a high peak, elegant and pure as fresh snow.

Yet he looked at me as if I were some filthy mud that would dirty him if I so much as touched him.

“Are you trying to get my attention by provoking me? I don’t like you. Do you understand that? Just because you confessed to me, does that mean I have to like you?”

He took a step back. “Besides, first in the grade? Do you even believe that yourself?”

He gave a cold laugh, as if what I had said was a joke.

“Don’t think us knowing each other as kids is such a big deal. I don’t want anything to do with you now. And I’m already with Song Xiaoxue.”

“Oh, really? Then I wish you and Song Xiaoxue a lifetime of happiness… I just wanted to tell you that it’s fine to reject a girl, but there’s no need to maliciously assume the worst of her.”

His face remained cold, those dark eyes flicking away. “Someone saw you do it.”

“Was that someone you?” I smoothed the hair by my temple. “Rumors can kill people.”

“Also, you won’t beat me on the exam.”

He seemed unwilling to keep arguing with me, but his tone was full of disdain. “Fine. Then I’ll wait for you, ranked around one thousandth in the whole school, to surpass me. But I hope you stop causing trouble for Song Xiaoxue. It disgusts me.”

I was just about to speak when a basketball came flying over. By reflex, I reached out and knocked it away from Xiao Ling.

My hand burned with pain. Clutching the spot where it had been hit, I looked down the stairs. Zhou Yanfei was standing there with his chin lifted, staring at us. His brows were slightly furrowed, completely different from his good-natured expression earlier.

The silver cross around his neck gleamed.

He walked up step by step, stared at Xiao Ling, and said, “Top Student Xiao, don’t you think talking to a girl like that is a little ungentlemanly?”

The two of them were about the same height, both over five foot eleven, and both good-looking. For a second, I almost started shipping them.

“Zhou Yanfei, mind your own business.”

“What do you mean, my own business? Her business is my business.”

His voice was low, his gaze resolute. If I were a high school girl, I probably would have fallen for this hero standing before me on the spot.

As he spoke, he reached out to pat my shoulder. But I sidestepped, dodged his hand, and slipped away.

“You two keep chatting. I’m going to class!”