Asking Her Archrival to Meet in the Grove Between Classes

The task was complete, but Lu Xiaoxiao didn't know why she was reluctant to get down from his back.

With her ear pressed against his neck, she could hear the faint panting in his breaths, and a trace of shame suddenly welled up in her heart.

She thought she was being too selfish. Task 21 was already complete, yet she was still shamelessly clinging to his back, refusing to get down.

Lu Xiaoxiao, when did you get so melodramatic?

After pondering for a moment, she said, "Shao Enci, put me down. If the other students see us, they'll start talking nonsense again."

Shao Enci didn't let go, or even slow his pace.

He carried her across at the traffic lights to the other side of the road, his steps steady.

Several office workers passed them, their eyes falling on the pair. Their lips curved in unconscious smiles, as if they were thinking, It's wonderful to be young. This is what youth should look like.

"A straight body casts no crooked shadow," Shao Enci said mildly. "Let them talk."

Better yet, let the whole school know.

And let He Jiran hear about it too, so he'll know his place and stay away from her...

Lu Xiaoxiao lowered her lashes helplessly. She had only made that excuse because she didn't want him to get too tired, but he hadn't fallen for it.

Forget it. If he was willing to carry her, let him. She wasn't the one getting tired, anyway.

She shifted into a more comfortable position and rested her chin on his shoulder. Taking advantage of his good mood, she began asking about the progress of task 22. "What classes do you have today?"

""Theory of Computation" and "Mathematical Foundations of Machine Learning" this morning. Just one this afternoon, Data Structures and Algorithms." Shao Enci answered earnestly, failing to notice a puddle underfoot. Muddy water splashed up, dirtying the new pair of AJ sneakers on his feet that had cost over fifty thousand yuan.

In the past, his obsession with cleanliness would probably have made him take the shoes off and throw them away on the spot, then call his assistant to bring him a new pair. But right now, he had someone far more important than his shoes on his back. If the shoes got dirty, so be it.

Lu Xiaoxiao didn't notice his shoes. Resting her forehead against his shoulder, she suddenly understood why so many people wanted to fall in love. How wonderful it was to be cherished like this by someone who wasn't related to you by blood.

If she had understood sooner in her last life, perhaps she wouldn't have had to die.

But at the thought that there were still no clues about the murderer, she couldn't help frowning again.

Noticing that she had gone quiet, Shao Enci asked, "What about you?"

"What?" She snapped out of her daze.

"What classes do you have today?" he repeated.

Shao Enci actually had her class schedule saved on his phone and had long since memorized it, but he didn't want her to feel the conversation had gone flat.

"Oh, I have Calculus A2 and General Chemistry this morning, and College English Listening and Speaking and PE this afternoon."

"You chose tai chi for PE, right?" As Shao Enci said "tai chi," the corners of his mouth lifted involuntarily.

He had seen her practicing tai chi while passing the gym before: white crane spreads its wings, hands strum the lute, brush knee and twist step to the left and right.

She was pretty, but her movements weren't very coordinated. Her limbs were stiff, like a zombie that hadn't quite come back to life.

He couldn't help letting out a chuckle.

"What are you laughing at?" Lu Xiaoxiao was completely baffled. "What's wrong with tai chi? You just do a few moves indoors. You don't have to run eight hundred meters."

"Mm." He nodded earnestly. "I think if a director making zombie movies saw you doing tai chi, they'd definitely want a long-term partnership with you."

"..." Flushed with embarrassment and anger, Lu Xiaoxiao pounded his shoulder. "And swimming is so much better? You go around bare-chested with a bunch of girls watching, and you're not even ashamed."

Shao Enci raised an eyebrow, a hint of laughter in his voice. "So you do know what shame is? Then who was it that barged into the bathroom the day before yesterday to watch me shower, lifted my shirt, and sucked on my abs..."

"Stop talking!" Lu Xiaoxiao flushed crimson and reached out to cover his mouth. "We're still outside," she muttered. "How embarrassing would it be if someone heard?"

Shao Enci didn't dodge. He lowered his eyes and, when she wasn't paying attention, opened his mouth and gave her fingertip a gentle bite.

Lu Xiaoxiao snatched her hand back. "Shao Enci, were you born in the year of the dog?"

"I learned it from you." His lips curved.

She froze for a moment, remembering how he had gotten angry and tried to leave that night, and how she had clung to him like an octopus and left a row of teeth marks on his neck. He had certainly learned to bite people from her quickly.

Seeing that they were almost at the school gate, Lu Xiaoxiao patted his shoulder. "Put me down. It won't look good if we go in like this."

This time, Shao Enci didn't insist. He bent down and carefully set her on the ground.

She nearly bumped into his arms when she turned around. He reached out to steady her, then glanced down at her reddened ears, a hint of amusement flashing in his eyes. "What, haven't you taken enough advantage of me yet?"

Lu Xiaoxiao looked up at him. The countdown for task 22 suddenly popped into her head, and she blurted out, "Can you come to the grove at school after first period?"

Shao Enci bent slightly and leaned closer, his handsome face growing larger before her eyes.

She caught the scent of mint and locust blossoms on him, and her breath hitched.

"What for?" He lowered his voice, a lazy hint of laughter in it. "To have a secret tryst with me?"

"That's right, a secret tryst." After saying that, she didn't dare look at his reaction. She turned and ran through the school gate, leaving him with one last remark: "If you don't come, I'll find someone else."

Shao Enci stood where he was, hands in his pockets, lazily watching her retreating figure as a smile curved his lips.

When Lu Xiaoxiao rushed into the classroom just as the bell rang, the calculus teacher had only just opened his lecture notes. She slipped into a window seat in the second row and opened her textbook, her breathing still uneven.

Water droplets clung to the plane tree leaves outside the window, occasionally falling onto the windowsill with faint taps.

The teacher wrote the conditions for series convergence on the blackboard, the chalk knocking dully against the board.

Her eyes rested on the blackboard, but she didn't take in a single word.

Behind her, several girls were talking in hushed voices.

"I saw Shao Enci carrying a girl to school on his back today. He was really gentle with her. She looked like his girlfriend."

"Seriously? A rich young master like him didn't drive on a rainy day, but walked to school carrying his girlfriend?"

"I swear it's true. The girl's figure and clothes looked a lot like Lu Xiaoxiao's... Could it really have been her?"

The girls all looked at her at once.

Lu Xiaoxiao slowly turned to look at them without saying a word. She merely curved her eyes and brows and gave them a faint, cold smile, leaving them to figure it out for themselves.

The girls exchanged glances and silently looked away.

When the class ended, there were 20 minutes and 18 seconds left on the countdown for task 22.

The rain outside had stopped, and the air smelled of earth and fresh grass.

Lu Xiaoxiao closed her textbook and hurried out of the classroom building. As she ran toward the school's back garden, she looked down and sent Shao Enci a message:

[I'm waiting for you in the grove. You have to come.]

Her phone buzzed.

Shao Enci: [Turn left.]

She stopped and turned her head.

Shao Enci was standing just a few steps away to her left, looking as though he had been waiting for a while.

He strode over, and before she could speak, he placed one hand on her shoulder and gently guided her against a clean tree trunk beside them. With his other hand, he cradled the back of her head, cushioning her hair from the rough bark with his palm.

Then he bent slightly and leaned close, his thin lips almost touching the rim of her ear. He lowered his voice. "How do you want to have our secret tryst? Should I kiss your ear first, or your neck, or..."

He turned his face, the corner of his mouth almost brushing hers, and lowered his voice another notch. "Go straight for a passionate French kiss?"

Hemmed in between the tree trunk and his chest, Lu Xiaoxiao could see his lowered lashes just by looking up.

She held her breath, not daring to move, like a cat being held by the scruff of its neck.

"Your eyes are closed, and you're not saying anything." He gave a low chuckle, his breath brushing her cheek. "You're like a block of wood. How are we supposed to have a secret tryst like this, hm?"

Her fingers clenched. She took a deep breath, then lifted her face and kissed him.

Shao Enci froze for a moment, then closed his eyes. His hand cupped the back of her head and drew her a little closer into his arms.

Without hesitation, his tongue slipped between her lips and teeth, and he tasted white peach.