Ch8 - Jiang Jize x Xiao Shun [√]

Translator: Callis

Editors: Dragon & Walker

In the afternoon, the breeze stopped and air no longer flowed. The carbon dioxide they had breathed out all seemed to settle inside the classroom. The oxygen in the air was so thin that people started to feel dizzy.

The 70 computers were working at the same time, humming away, which made people feel even more stifled.

Not long after the English being broadcasted into their headphones stopped, an ear-piercing and rousing bell rang through the classroom from the broadcasting system.

The answer sheets came up from the back to the front row one after the other. Xu Xing removed his headphones. His ears were sweaty from the thick cushions on the headphones; they were red and warm.

After class, the whole class happily spilled out of the classroom, scrambling outside to take in the cool wind and the fresh air outside.

Xu Xing left the classroom with a flushed face and reddened ears and just happened to see Xiao Shun alone in front of him. Xu Xing rushed to catch up to Xiao Shun and said, smiling: “Let’s go together, Xiao Shun.”

Xiao Shun turned around and nodded slightly: “En.”

“Xing Xing, wait for me!”

Wang Zicong came up behind them, puffing and gasping. He had only run a short distance, but was already gasping for air.

Xu Xing mercilessly teased him: “You’re panting after that short road? Won’t your girlfriend if she sees this?”

Wang Zicong’s face was round, pale and rost. His skin was smooth and delicate, while not looking oily.

Wang Zicong mumbled to himself: “Don’t worry about losing weight, I can only deal with the GaoKao by eating and drinking well during my third year. When I go to college, I can go to the gym everyday~”

Xu Xing completely disregarded Wang Zicong’s words about losing weight.

Xiao Shun chuckled and said: “Chubby people have potential. Zicong’s features are very good and have great potential.”

However, the praised Wang Zicong felt that he hated the fat around his armpits from his slouched posture; there was a prickly heat in his armpits. In the summer, he relied on the snake powder his girlfriend bought to stop the prickly heat.

Wang Zicong didn’t want to mention this sorrowful situation. He smiled feebly and said to Xu Xing and Xiao Shun: “I’ll go to the restroom first. Xing Xing, help me take the headphones back to the classroom.”

When Xu Xing heard this, he was also infected with Wang Ziong’s urge to use the restroom. He said: “I also want to use the restroom.”

The toilets in the science and technology building were called five-star toilets among the students. There were individual stalls inside, and the floor was inlaid with organized tiles, which complemented the color of the walls. There was a huge mirror half the size of his body above the sink, which was polished by the custodial staff every day.

Even though it took more than 10 minutes to go back and forth between the science and technology and the school building, there were still many students who were willing to run all the way to use the restroom rather than use the stinky and dirty ones in the school building.

Xu Xing washed his hands and left the restroom. He saw that Xiao Shun was already standing outside in the corridor, waiting for him and Wang Zicong. He came over: “My deskmate still hasn’t come out yet?”

When Xiao Shun heard what he said, he turned around: “En, it should be soon.”

Xu Xing flicked the water off his hands and walked up beside Xiao Shun. He asked without thinking: “What are you looking at?”

Xiao Shun: “Not……”

His quick denial was even more suspicious.

Xu Xing stood at the side of the corridor and looked. He saw a boy and a girl standing on the overpass between the science and technology building and school building A.

The girl’s back was facing towards them; she had long curly hair that reached her waist. The boy’s back leaned against the overpass’ low wall, standing face to face with the girl.

It was Jiang Jize.

Xu Xing couldn’t help but take another glance at Xiao Shun who was standing next to him. His gaze was lowered, with one hand holding the zipper at the hem of his school uniform, and the other clutching at the weeds growing in the planters on the corridor’s fence.

Xu Xing had been looking for an opportunity to talk about Jiang Jize with Xiao Shun.

In the morning he had loudly called out Xiao Shun’s name in the courtyard, the pair’s gazes met accidentally and the red string had a clear reaction. Since then, Xu Xing had been waiting impatiently to know if the red string would yield even more information if the pair interacted more.

Xu Xing looked at the boy and girl on the overpass, and pretended to be surprised: “Those two people over there, they can’t be confessing, can they?”

Xiao Shun softy replied: “I don’t know…..”

Xu Xing said: “I heard about that boy. It seems like his name is Jiang something-ze. Or maybe it was Jiang Ze-something, hey —”

Xu Xing racked his brain for a while, thinking hard but ended with no results. He looked miserable and very anxious.

Perhaps it was because Xiao Shun couldn’t bear to see Xu Xing so confused and quietly provided: “Jiang Jize.”

Xu Xing suddenly reached enlightenment and clapped hands together, smiling: “Ah! Jiang Jize, you know him?”

Xu Xing’s quick-witted clap seamlessly cut into the conversation.

Xiao Shun nodded, quickly glanced over at Jiang Jize and casually said: “We attended the same secondary school. There practically wasn’t a single teacher or student who didn’t recognize him.”

Xu Xing asked curiously: “Why? what did he do to stir up the whole school?”

There were only two kinds of influential figures at school: one was the fighting type, which was so grave that they would suffer from the entire school’s criticism and was the protagonist of idle tea-time conversation; the other was someone with top-notch performance, sitting steadily at the grade’s top few positions and walking across the stage every semester to receive a certificate and scholarship from the headmaster.

Jiang Jize had the face of the first type.

Xiao Shun looked at the handful of weeds in his hands and spoke softly: “Jiang Jize, he……is an especially good person.”

The reason the name Jiang Jize had caused a sensation in secondary school was because during their second year, on a certain early autumn morning, the school was conducting its routine exercise broadcast. On stage, there were two people taking the lead, a boy and a girl. All of their movements were sticking to the regulations.

Jiang Jize stood in the first row, relaxingly following the gestures. His attention was suddenly attracted by the delighted cries of alarm of the boys standing next to him — they had reached the leg kicking movement in the exercise, and when the leading girl on stage made a lunge step, the school uniform pants made a tearing sound and split along the seam line of the crotch. The boys who were facing the stage immediately whistled excitedly.

Before the patrolling teachers could react, Jiang Jize quickly took off his outer jacket and stepped onto the stage with long strides.

Jiang Jize wrapped his own coat around the girl’s waist, who jumped, shocked by his actions. Jiang Jize had completely covered up the split in the girl’s pants. Only then did he explain to the girl: “Classmate, your pants split.”

When the girl heard this, she instantly flushed. When she looked back at the jeering boys offstage, she clutched at the jacket Jiang Jize had wrapped around her waist and her eyes instantly turned red.

The whole courtyard was in turmoil because of this. When the teachers heard about it, they rushed over to calm the girl. Jiang Jize jumped down from the stage and fiercely kicked the boy who had played the leading role in causing the commotion. He rained down curses: “Do you have a damn brain? Is this something you can make a sensation out of?”

Jiang Jize had vented his anger with his kicks. Because he had publicly undressed to help the girl, he had immediately become an ideal that all the girls in school adored.

After listening to this story, Xu Xing could only look at Jiang Jize with great admiration. He was speechless: “Only a second year……his EQ is very high.”

Xiao Shun nodded, then shook his head. “He had a girlfriend at that time. Because of this, the girl had a falling out with him. So, he just directly broke up with her, and then…..the girl on stage became his new girlfriend.”

Xu Xing: “……”

With the plot twisting in such an unexpected direction, he was at a loss.

Xiao Shun couldn’t help but smile: “He’s the type to ‘refuse nobody’……”

After he finished speaking, Xiao Shun’s eyes drifted towards the two figures on the overpass.

Xu Xing understood that Xiao Shun decided against what he was going to say, and continued on.

“That’s right.”

Xiao Shun didn’t forget to explain: “Although we were classmates in secondary school, he still doesn’t recognize me……”

When Xiao Shun said this, he instinctively lowered his gaze. From when he had started, his fingers had been incessantly, uneasily rubbing the plastic zipper at the hem of his school uniform.

Xiao Zhun didn’t explicitly say it, but Xu Xing could guess most of it: Xiao Shun liked Jiang Jize. During their second year of secondary school, Jiang Jize had become the ideal of all the girls in school while simultaneously descending like a deity, suddenly barging into Xiao Shun’s life, throwing everything into chaos.

The sky was clear, and the breeze was light.

His love was infinitely cautious.

Xu Xing looked at Xiao Shun, and then looked towards Jiang Jize, who was chatting with the girl. He wanted to say something, but hesitated. He wanted to comfort Xiao Shun and tell him not to feel sorry for himself. Even if they were oddly connected by a red string, it was still some kind of fate, and the two would definitely intersect.

Although Xu Xing couldn’t understand anything about Xiao Shun liking boys, he didn’t reject homosexuality. Rather, he felt that Xiao Shun was very pitiful — he was secretly in love with Jiang Jize, not daring to speak of it nor daring to chase after him. When he ran into Jiang Jize, he was afraid of even an accidental touch.

Xu Xing thought about it; then using the motion of pulling out dead grass and pinching it between his hands and the inattention of passersby as a cover, he folded the red string behind Xiao Shun onto his palm. He held the red string in the middle, and then covertly pulled the relaxed red string into a taut state.

A straight line was the shortest distance between two points —

Xu Xing pulled hard, and the red string glowed slightly.

Immediately, Jiang Jize and Xiao Shun coincidentally raised their heads under the red string’s influence.

One was standing in the corridor on the fifth floor, and the other was leaning against the fence on the overpass; the pair looked at each other from afar.

The subtle feeling made Xiao Shun flush.

Matchmaker Xu Xing is present (♡´艸`)