Nothing hidden? You still had another layer of clothes on!
Bai Qingxia hugged her schoolbag to her chest and hurried toward the supermarket entrance with her head down.
Clearly, she had no experience stealing. She had come in wearing her bag and was leaving clutching it. Anyone could tell there was something suspicious inside.
She did not even dare lift her head, and her steps were quick. If she had not been inside a supermarket, she probably would have broken into a run.
Lu Yuanqiu could more or less imagine how she had ended up in a traffic accident...
The next moment, her smooth, fair forehead struck a solid chest.
Thump!
It was a solid hit. The girl let out a muffled grunt and stepped back, her snowy, translucent earlobes flushing red with nervousness.
They looked like a pair of fresh cherries with an enticing sheen.
Lu Yuanqiu looked down at her, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly. At seventeen, he was not exactly handsome, and he wore his hair in a buzz cut.
But he had strong features and wheat-colored skin. Years of playing basketball had brought his height to 183 centimeters.
Turning back the clock on his youth had also restored every muscle in his body to its prime.
Honestly, Lu Yuanqiu was the person in their class best suited to being the sports representative.
"Sorry."
Without even looking closely enough to recognize him, Bai Qingxia apologized and changed direction, ready to continue walking with her head down.
Lu Yuanqiu turned. "Hey, wait!" He quickly grabbed at her back, only for his expression to freeze at what his hand had done.
Through her school uniform, Lu Yuanqiu had pulled a stretchy strap into a long, raised line.
Bai Qingxia went rigid.
Like a snake caught at its vulnerable spot.
This was...
Lu Yuanqiu's face instantly became a picture of shock, and he hurriedly let go.
Snap!
The strap sprang back with a crisp sound, making the girl stumble forward two steps.
Her earlobes visibly grew even redder. Bai Qingxia looked back, staring blankly at Lu Yuanqiu with frightened, doe-like eyes.
Once she recognized him, she immediately tried to run. But how could Lu Yuanqiu give her the chance? With one stride of his long legs, he blocked her path again.
Thump!
Once again, her forehead hit his chest, accompanied by a soft grunt.
"You stole something, and now you're trying to run?"
Clutching her schoolbag, Bai Qingxia slowly backed away. Her beautiful, watery eyes were beginning to redden, and there was a hint of helplessness in her stunned expression.
Lu Yuanqiu grinned smugly, then turned and changed the sign at the supermarket entrance from "open" to "closed."
Then he walked up to Bai Qingxia and raised his phone like an FBI agent, playing the footage.
"Miss School Beauty, you're under arrest."
He opened the storeroom door.
With his strong arm, Lu Yuanqiu pulled Bai Qingxia over and pushed her inside.
Her arm was so slender that he could wrap one hand around it, yet it was as soft as silicone.
When Lu Yuanqiu shut the storeroom door, Bai Qingxia realized she had no hope of escaping. She could only hug the schoolbag tightly against her chest and shrink helplessly into a corner.
Strands of hair fell over her forehead, half concealing her fair, delicate face and the trace of despair on it.
Lu Yuanqiu sat in the chair before her and rapped his knuckles hard against the table. "Whatever you took, however much you took, get it all out. Or are you waiting for me to search you?"
"Bad luck, Bai. My dad owns this supermarket."
Bai Qingxia raised her head. Her long lashes trembled slightly, and tears were already glimmering in her eyes.
But she did not cry or say a word. After a moment of silence, she unzipped her schoolbag, walked over to the table, and took out the three pieces of bread she had put inside.
Lu Yuanqiu glanced at them and could not help silently calling her an idiot.
She'd picked the cheapest bread. If she was going to steal anyway, why not take something more expensive? Something tastier?
Even a chicken drumstick or a sausage would've been better.
After taking out all the bread, Bai Qingxia held her bag open for Lu Yuanqiu to see, showing him there was nothing else inside.
There really was nothing else. In the surveillance footage, Lu Yuanqiu had only seen her take three pieces of bread.
But he did not know exactly when the accident would happen. He could not let Bai Qingxia go home now.
To get rid of the thorn lodged in his heart, Lu Yuanqiu had already made up his mind. He would even keep her here overnight if necessary.
As long as she made it through today alive and unharmed.
Everyone at school already thought he was a bad student anyway. Surely acting a little worse wouldn't hurt?
Lu Yuanqiu picked up the schoolbag and inspected it, then tipped everything inside onto the table as though he did not believe her.
A pile of things clattered out: textbooks, summer homework, stationery, and a damaged pencil case... So the pretty pink pencil case she usually kept on her desk was torn underneath?
Finally, a crumpled black plastic bag fell out. Lu Yuanqiu opened it and found just one white sanitary pad inside.
Panic flashed across Bai Qingxia's small face. She immediately rushed forward, grabbed the plastic bag tightly, and quickly tossed it back into her schoolbag before wrenching the bag away from him.
Rrrip-
The schoolbag strap tore apart.
Only when he saw the messy threads sticking out, in a different color from the bag itself, did Lu Yuanqiu realize.
The strap had broken before. She had simply sewn it back together.
And now it had broken again.
"That's everything! Just three pieces of bread!"
Bai Qingxia lifted her head and glared weakly at Lu Yuanqiu. Her reddened eyes made her innocent face look all the more pitiful and endearing.
But that look in her eyes was fierce.
Lu Yuanqiu glared back. "Now you're getting hostile with me?"
No matter how fierce you get, I can't let you leave.
I want to see you, Bai Qingxia, show up safe and sound in my senior year. I want to see you take on the college entrance exams as a top student and have a fresh, vibrant life.
Lu Yuanqiu deliberately ignored the damaged schoolbag, snatched it back, and casually tossed it onto the table.
"You think I'm that easy to fool? You brought a schoolbag in here just to steal three pieces of the cheapest bread?"
He advanced toward Bai Qingxia. She quickly lowered her head and backed away like a girl being bullied.
Normally, she was as cool and aloof as a solitary snow lotus that warned strangers away. But faced with an unreasonable big bad wolf like Lu Yuanqiu, she could only helplessly become a snowy lamb awaiting slaughter.
When her back hit the wall, Bai Qingxia raised her small hands in panic and held them close to her chest. She glanced behind her. There was nowhere left to retreat.
It had been a long time since Lu Yuanqiu had played the villain, and he was a little rusty. Looking down at the bulging chest of her school uniform, he demanded, "It's all puffed up here. Are you hiding something else?"
Bai Qingxia immediately covered her chest with her hands. Her beautiful eyes fixed on Lu Yuanqiu as she denied it, embarrassed and angry. "No!"
Lu Yuanqiu raised a hand with an easy flourish and backed away, refusing to hear her explanation. "Unzip it yourself. Don't make me do it. Or would you rather everyone at school heard about this tomorrow?"
"Shocking news! Bai Qingxia, the top student with perfect grades and conduct, caught stealing in a supermarket! Nabbed red-handed by Lu Yuanqiu, the righteous academic slacker!"
Lu Yuanqiu shook his head with an exaggerated expression.
At his words, Bai Qingxia instantly panicked. "Don't tell anyone!"
She raised her five slender, fair fingers to the zipper at her neck and slowly pulled it down.
Her slender, snowy neck emerged. Lu Yuanqiu could see the collar of a T-shirt inside, wrinkled from too many washes, and a glimpse of her delicate collarbones beneath it.
Her skin really was fair.
But the next moment, as the zipper slid down, the culprits behind the bulging fabric finally sprang free.
Yes, sprang.
Lu Yuanqiu stared down.
For the first time, he discovered just how spacious it was beneath a school uniform-spacious enough to accommodate both the eastern and western hemispheres of the world.
With trembling hands, Bai Qingxia spread her uniform open to either side, revealing what lay beneath. Her eyes were red, her gaze humiliated as she said, "Can you see now?! I'm not hiding anything!"
Lu Yuanqiu leaned a little closer to inspect her.
He had not expected such a slender waist to be hidden beneath that roomy uniform. But her T-shirt was clearly too small. It was fine around her waist, but farther up, it became so tight that Lu Yuanqiu worried the thin white fabric might split down the middle.
Breathing in the clean scent of shower gel mixed with laundry detergent, Lu Yuanqiu challenged her again:
"You still have another layer of clothes on!"