The Beauty on the Wall Leans Over

Zhou Dongdong cried for a while, then stood there biting her finger as she watched Liu Chang'an sell dog meat, repeating the same hummed phrase over and over.

Before long, people noticed Liu Chang'an's setup and came over to take a look. Old Lady Liu wiped her nose and asked where Liu Chang'an had gotten the dog.

"I was helping someone watch a construction site last night when I ran into someone walking their dog. The dog actually ran over and tried to bite me, so I punched it in the head and killed it. The owner was quite reasonable; he didn't give me any trouble, left the dog behind, and even treated me to tea."

"A single punch? You think you're Wu Song?" Old Lady Liu said dismissively. "You're not being honest. This dog doesn't have rabies, does it?"

"That's impossible. Dogs like this are almost always vaccinated. If a dog died of rabies, it would be very thin with lots of sores on its skin and flesh. Look at how plump this dog's skin is—does it look like a sick dog?"

Old Lady Liu nodded, held up three fingers, thought for a moment, and then held up five.

There are many people in Junsha who enjoy eating dog meat, but they are often reluctant to buy it from market vendors. First, it doesn't look hygienic, and second, they worry about the source of the meat. However, everyone wants to eat fresh meat from a dog slaughtered by someone they know. With a dog weighing over a hundred pounds, some bought three pounds, some five, and it was all sold out in a single morning.

Liu Chang'an gave three pounds of dog meat to Zhou Dongdong, who had been crying while watching him sell it. Zhou Dongdong looked at the meat in her hands while still sobbing, cried even harder, and then trotted home with the meat.

By the time the dog meat was sold, the offal had also been stewed, but there was no time left to make the dog meat sauce. Liu Chang'an was already late by the time he arrived at school.

"You're late every single day now. You might as well just stay home and study." Huang Shan blocked Liu Chang'an at the school gate again.

"I ran into a dog last night, killed it, and sold the meat. I made about a thousand yuan," Liu Chang'an explained the reason for his tardiness.

Huang Shan held out his hand, truly at a loss for words. He knew for a fact that this wasn't a made-up excuse, which was exactly why he found it so absurd. It was the first time in his teaching career he had ever heard such a reason.

"Go on in." Huang Shan waved his hand and shook his head helplessly. Considering that Liu Chang'an's ability to support himself was something no ordinary student could compare to, he couldn't be bothered to argue with him.

When Liu Chang'an entered the classroom, Miao Yingying was sitting in his seat chatting with Bai Hui. Liu Chang'an returned to his original spot and said to An Nuan and Gao Dewei, "I killed a dog last night. Come to my place tonight and have some dog meat."

"Not going. I have to study." Gao Dewei remained obsessed with his studies, unable to pull himself away, and was uninterested in anything else.

"How about you?"

"I... I..."

"Forget it, I'll eat it myself."

An Nuan crumpled a piece of paper and threw it at Liu Chang'an. Liu Chang'an dodged it nimbly, and it hit Miao Yingying, who was walking back.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to..."

"Right, right, it's all Liu Chang'an's fault... hee hee..."

Miao Yingying sat down, glanced at the focused Gao Dewei, and then turned to look at Lin Xinhuai, who was dozing off on his desk. Needless to say, Lin Xinhuai must have spent the whole night at an internet cafe.

Bai Hui still ignored Liu Chang'an today and was wearing a face mask. A cute duck was drawn on the pristine white fabric.

At noon, Bai Hui took off the mask. Her expression was unpleasant all day because she had quietly noticed that Liu Chang'an was reading Zi Bu Yu, a book he often looked at, and had placed a bookmark on the page for Duck Favorite. When he left the classroom, Bai Hui flipped it open to take a look and felt like she had truly been asking for trouble.

Why was it that only now, as high school was nearly over, did she realize there was someone as annoying as Liu Chang'an in her class? And she had actually thought he had liked her for three years—the sheer shame of it made the girl's cheeks burn bright red.

During the second-to-last period in the afternoon, An Nuan noticed that Huang Shan's car had left early. Without waiting for the class to end, she grabbed her backpack and slipped out from the back of the classroom. She was well-liked in class, and as the class monitor, she tended to turn a blind eye to many things, not being too harsh on her classmates. She wasn't afraid of being reported for skipping once, as the last period was just self-study anyway.

Liu Chang'an, of course, also left in a leisurely manner. Miao Yingying couldn't help but nudge Gao Dewei next to her, "Liu Chang'an and An Nuan skip class all the time. How do you manage to get along with them?"

Gao Dewei thought for a moment, looked at Miao Yingying, and said, "Because they're good at studying."

Miao Yingying rolled her eyes at Gao Dewei. Someone like him would definitely never find a girlfriend even after getting into college.

An Nuan didn't actually skip class often; she usually only left when she had to practice. Most of the time when she wasn't in the classroom, she was in the gym. Liu Chang'an, however, was not being falsely accused.

An Nuan waited for Liu Chang'an by the wall under the green cypress tree. Since it wasn't lunch break or the end of the school day, leaving the school would inevitably lead to questioning by the guards, so climbing the wall was the better choice.

Seeing the slow-moving Liu Chang'an, An Nuan jumped and waved, signaling him to hurry up. She had to be home by eight, so if she wanted to eat dog meat at Liu Chang'an's place, it was better to skip a period to have more time.

"I've never climbed a wall before." An Nuan stood with her hands behind her back, looking at the high wall with some difficulty. The wall in this area was old, built with red bricks and topped with broken glass as an anti-climbing measure, though because so many people had climbed it, sections of the glass were missing here and there.

"You're fast at climbing trees, what's so hard about climbing a wall?" Liu Chang'an didn't believe her. Sports students, especially those in ball sports, had great explosive power; climbing this wall should be a piece of cake.

"When was I ever fast at climbing trees?" An Nuan stomped her foot. One could love sports and still be a lady; ladies didn't climb trees.

"In your freshman year during PE class, you were playing badminton. The shuttlecock flew into a tree, and you climbed up like a monkey and plucked it down."

An Nuan was a little happy that Liu Chang'an remembered something she barely recalled herself, but unhappy that what he remembered was her climbing a tree, and that he had used a monkey to describe her.

An Nuan raised her leg to kick Liu Chang'an, but he dodged it nimbly. An Nuan glared at him, "Give me a boost."

Since she had been exposed, An Nuan stopped being coy. She jumped up, grabbed the top of the wall, and looked back to signal for Liu Chang'an to push her. One had to be careful climbing walls, and having someone help made it easier to avoid scraping against the broken glass on the side.

Liu Chang'an reached out and cupped her bottom to push her up. An Nuan felt a strange sensation in her heart. Once she climbed onto the wall, she turned around and sat down, her slender calves swinging back and forth. "I'm not letting you up!"

Liu Chang'an watched her swing her legs from below. The sunlight was behind her, and the strands of hair by her ears fluttered in the orange-yellow glow. A faint smile appeared on her soft, beautiful cheeks, and her eyes held a mischievous, triumphant glint. She hummed a soft tune, and it was as if one could see the musical notes falling out, swaying along with her beautiful, dangling calves.

The tendons behind An Nuan's heels were long, making her entire lower leg look taut, slender, and firm—absolutely beautiful.

"Dummy." An Nuan saw Liu Chang'an looking at her with a faint smile, pursed her lips, and chided, "Hurry up and come up."

A girl's mind could change in an instant; a moment ago she wouldn't let him up, and now he was a dummy for not hurrying.

Liu Chang'an climbed up and sat beside An Nuan. The two sat on the moss-covered, green wall for five minutes before climbing over and heading toward Liu Chang'an's house.