When Zhou Xiu returned to base camp, Yu Qingyan could not help sighing. “Young Master Yuan really is amazing. Eh, where did he go?”
After Zhou Xiu left, the boys had played several more rounds, and Xi Shaoyuan had defeated Xie Cheng.
Du Feiyang said, “Our Xiu Xiu is amazing too. The two of them worked together and played a small slam, running Zhang Qi ragged…”
Thinking of Zhang Qi throwing ice cubes into his clothes while stubbornly continuing to play cards, Du Feiyang once again felt the urge to laugh until tears nearly burst out.
Zhou Xiu wiped away her sweat. Her light spring shirt was a little damp. After finishing her bottle of mineral water, she asked, “Why do you all always admire Young Master Yuan so much?”
“What’s so good about him?”
As Xi Shaoyuan’s love rival of many years, Tan Ming finally no longer felt so bitter in his heart when he heard Xi Shaoyuan’s name.
He said to Zhou Xiu, “The Xie God you see now is what Young Master Yuan used to be.”
“Before he entered high school, he won so many awards his hands went soft. He was Yude’s most famous student. The reason Lu Lingshan has chased him for so many years is because she has liked him since middle school.”
He said lightly, “It’s just that after Young Master Yuan entered high school, he became much more low-key.”
Hua Xu took over from Tan Ming. “Young Master Yuan’s family is extremely rich.”
She handed Zhou Xiu a wet wipe to clean the mud from her hands and said with disgust, “Where did you go? How did you come back covered in mud?”
Zhou Xiu accepted the wet wipe and said, “Xuxu’s family is also very rich.”
Although she had stayed at the Xi family for a while, and in the dream she had seen herself living there for two years, she really had not noticed just how wealthy the Xi family was. She only felt that many people respected Madam Xi very much.
Hua Xu laughed and patted Zhou Xiu on the shoulder. “It’s different. My old man can’t compare to Young Master Yuan’s mother at all. Young Master Yuan is a child from a major family.”
She looked down and suddenly asked in surprise, “Xiu Xiu, where are you bleeding?”
After Zhou Xiu wiped away her sweat, she lowered her head and only then discovered bloodstains on her clothes. But Zhou Xiu herself was not injured and did not feel pain anywhere.
Zhou Xiu froze. After a long while, she said, “Maybe when I was cooking, some fish blood accidentally splashed onto my sleeve.”
Hua Xu did not suspect anything and brushed a few bits of grass from Zhou Xiu’s hair.
Zhou Xiu looked at her sleeve and frowned. This blood belonged to Xi Shaoyuan. When he had fallen down the small slope just now, he must have been injured, and the blood had dripped onto her clothes.
But Xi Shaoyuan’s expression earlier had not looked like that of someone injured. He had even been able to mock others, so Zhou Xiu had not paid him any attention.
Zhou Xiu took plasters and disinfectant out of her schoolbag and clenched them in her hand.
After holding them for a while, Zhou Xiu looked around but did not see Xi Shaoyuan anywhere. She put the plasters into her pocket.
Seeing that it was getting late, Zhou Xiu prepared to pack up the remaining things and take the bus back to school.
While packing, she realised Tan Ming really had prepared a lot of abundant ingredients.
Following the principle of not wasting food, Zhou Xiu asked Yu Qingyan and the others, “Do you still want some sweet-and-sour dessert?”
Yu Qingyan decisively nodded.
Zhou Xiu found a bag of chilled hawthorn berries, scooped out the soaked snow fungus that had expanded but had not been used up, added rock sugar, and simmered it with goji berries and hawthorn in boiling water for three minutes. After letting it cool for a while, she chopped up some crushed ice and made a pot of cool, silky rock sugar hawthorn, snow fungus, and goji berry sweet soup.
The girls, who had grown a little tired of the rich feast earlier, had absolutely no resistance to this sweet-and-sour soup with such a pretty appearance.
Lan Xin and Hua Xu followed Zhou Xiu’s method and also stewed a pot of hawthorn, snow fungus, and goji berry sweet soup themselves. The steps were simply too easy. As a result, every underachiever in Class 24 received a small bowl of chilled sweet soup.
At five in the afternoon, the setting sun was about to sink.
Xu Qing raised Class 24’s flag and called everyone to gather. The underachievers scattered around the area received the signal and lined up, preparing to leave the botanical garden.
Winner Class next door also gathered and took attendance, ending their day of spring outing.
The underachievers packed up the mess from their cookout. Looking at the stoves where the fire had already been put out and the bowls and plates that had been eaten clean, they felt extremely satisfied.
On the bus ride from the suburbs back into the city, the underachievers lay in their seats and took out their phones to look at the photos they had taken a few hours earlier.
There was rich and delicious food, beautiful scenery, and the neighbouring class shamelessly coming over to freeload. A sense of pride rose in their hearts.
The girls had learned how to make simple and tasty desserts, and the boys had learned how to make hot pot.
For many of them, this was the first time in their lives they had personally cooked food, and they had even received many looks of envy and jealousy. This outing had turned out unexpectedly pleasant.
On the bus returning to the city, many underachievers, after playing for the whole day, gradually fell asleep.
The sky darkened, and night fell.
After Zhou Xiu sat quietly on the bus, a wave of exhaustion surged over her.
That day, Zhou Xiu had been busy all morning without stopping, teaching her classmates how to cook outdoors. Aside from the break when she played cards at noon, she had spent almost all the remaining time searching for all kinds of plant specimens in the Forest Botanical Garden, running around far too much. After becoming overly tired, her carsickness began to rise.
The air conditioning in the bus was a little low. Zhou Xiu took off her clothes and covered the already-sound-asleep Yu Qingyan and Hua Xu with them, then carefully stood up.
Zhou Xiu walked to the front half of the bus near the window, supporting herself on the seats as she looked at the scenery flashing past on the provincial road. She stared at the mountains and the moon, trying to distract herself.
Not far away, Xu Qing had not fallen asleep and was looking at his phone.
He glanced at Zhou Xiu and turned off the light from his phone.
After a while, once Zhou Xiu had had enough of the mountain breeze, she felt much clearer and prepared to return to her own seat, feeling light-headed. When she was halfway there, the bus passed a toll station and braked gently.
Zhou Xiu’s body suddenly lurched forward. Xu Qing, quick-eyed and quick-handed, reached out and steadied her.
He said quietly, “Shh — don’t speak.”
Xu Qing caught Zhou Xiu and discovered that her complexion did not look quite right. He quickly took motion sickness medicine out of his pocket.
“Sit down. You can’t walk around casually while the bus is moving.”
Xu Qing took out a sheet of tablets from his pocket, then took a bottle of water from his schoolbag, opened the cap, and handed it to Zhou Xiu together with the motion sickness medicine.
He naturally circled his arm around Zhou Xiu, resting it on the seat in front. A very faint smile spread across his lips. “Tan Ming was carsick earlier too. He was fine after taking the medicine.”
Zhou Xiu’s ears were ringing badly. When she realised she had sat down on Xu Qing’s lap, her brain exploded.
Xu Qing calmly held the opened water bottle. His hand froze in mid-air, and the water inside the bottle swayed dangerously.
Zhou Xiu accepted the water and took the medicine.
Only then did Xu Qing release his hand and say, “Sit here. It doesn’t shake as much here.”
Xu Qing stood up and let Zhou Xiu sit in his seat. He walked over and sat down in the empty seat beside Hua Xu. This was the seat at the very back of the bus, where the aftershocks were stronger and it was easier to get carsick.
When the bus stopped at the entrance of Yude High School, Tan Ming woke up. As soon as he opened his eyes, he discovered that Zhou Xiu was actually asleep beside him.
Her sleeping face was deep and quiet. Her clean, bare face revealed a calm student-like air. Her lips were full and delicate, the bead of her upper lip slightly raised, and her cheeks carried a faint pink colour.
Zhou Xiu looked unexpectedly cute when she was asleep.
At such a close distance, Tan Ming’s gaze fell on Zhou Xiu’s lips, and his mind uncontrollably recalled certain fragments of memories. As if he had been set alight, he quickly shifted his gaze away.
Only when the driver urged everyone to get off did he finally turn his head and shake Zhou Xiu.
Zhou Xiu woke up. She rubbed her eyes and sleepily carried her schoolbag off the bus.
The students got off one after another. Tan Ming remained in his seat in a daze for a while before finally getting off.
……
Zhou Xiu returned to the classroom and put down the many specimens, carefully counting them one by one.
When Yu Qingyan saw that Zhou Xiu had actually “escaped with stolen goods” from the botanical garden, she asked in surprise, “Xiu Xiu, aren’t you afraid of being caught by the botanical garden guards?”
Zhou Xiu blinked and helplessly spread her hands. “I collected specimens from fallen leaves and flower buds on the ground.”
For this reason, Zhou Xiu had specially started a livestream to prove it, but it seemed no one cared about that pile of specimens. Zhou Xiu treasured them as she finished counting the pile of leaves and flowers, put down her schoolbag, and focused intently on searching up information online.
Yu Qingyan could not help admiring her. As expected, a top student was devoted to learning wherever she went.
It was already quite late. Hua Xu glanced at her watch and asked Zhou Xiu if she needed someone to send her home. Zhou Xiu shook her head. “You go first.”
“I still need to write papers for a while.”
Zhou Xiu sorted out more than a dozen biology reference books. When the friends from Class 24 saw this, they could not help opening their mouths wide and trembling as they shook their heads.
People gradually dispersed. Zhou Xiu started her livestream and began writing test papers.
The fans in her livestream room were nearly frightened to death.
“Streamer, are you okay?”
When Zhou Xiu was photographing the Chinese quillwort, the livestream had been on. Suddenly, the phone shook violently as if the sky and earth had turned upside down, and then the livestream cut off. Zhou Xiu’s few remaining loyal fans worried that something had happened to her and waited anxiously for a long time.
Only when it reached the time when Zhou Xiu livestreamed writing papers every night, and she came online punctually, did everyone finally feel relieved.
A big boss was a big boss. A schedule that remained unmoved by thunder would not be shaken no matter what happened.
When Zhou Xiu saw the long strings of messages in the livestream room, she thought of Xi Shaoyuan.
After hesitating for a long time, she called Xi Shaoyuan.
In Rocket Class’s classroom.
After returning to school, Xie Cheng had brought Xi Shaoyuan to his own class. He glanced at Xi Shaoyuan’s arm, which was too terrible to look at, and was just about to call the school doctor.
At that moment, Xi Shaoyuan’s phone rang.
Xie Cheng glanced over, lazily threw away the plaster, and asked carelessly, “Zhou Xiu?”
Xi Shaoyuan answered the phone.
On the other end, Zhou Xiu asked him, “You’re not injured, right?”
Xi Shaoyuan was silent for a while, then said, “No.”
Zhou Xiu said nothing for a long while on the other end and soon hung up. Only after a long time did Xi Shaoyuan put the phone back into his pocket.
Xie Cheng glanced at Xi Shaoyuan. “I’m leaving. Remember to close our classroom door before you leave.”
When Xie Cheng went downstairs, he ran into Zhou Xiu.
Under the light, Zhou Xiu saw the bloodstains on his clothes. She stopped and thought for a moment, then turned and walked toward Rocket Class.
Before the large group left the botanical garden and got on the bus, Zhou Xiu had not seen Xi Shaoyuan in Winner Class’s line.
Xie Cheng thought lightly: Zhou Xiu’s brain really turns fast.
……
Zhou Xiu passed by the door of Rocket Class and saw Xi Shaoyuan’s figure inside. She walked in and took alcohol, iodine, gauze, and plasters out of her schoolbag.
Xi Shaoyuan’s shirt was rolled up, and the exposed arm was covered with bloody scratches.
Zhou Xiu picked up cotton with tweezers, dipped it in alcohol, rinsed his wound, wiped away the clotted blood, then applied a layer of iodine before finally putting on plasters.
Xi Shaoyuan lowered his head and looked at Zhou Xiu’s calm face. He could not help raising his hand, wanting to touch her head, but he soon lowered it again.
He could not resist emphasising once more: Zhou Xiu, I won’t like you.
But at this moment, the atmosphere was rarely beautiful. Xi Shaoyuan unexpectedly fell silent, the words stopping at his lips, unable to come out. His face gradually turned cold as he prepared to speak.
“You—”
Zhou Xiu neatly threw the dirty cotton and gauze into the rubbish bin, carried her schoolbag, and left the classroom.
Xi Shaoyuan did not regret it at all.
Enduring it was not uncomfortable at all.
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