This was probably the legendary natural body fragrance.]
Bai Qingxia bit her pink lip with her pearly teeth, her voice sounding as though she had forced it out through clenched teeth. "Just one!"
Bullshit! What about the strap I pulled earlier? Doesn't that count as clothing?
Lu Yuanqiu argued inwardly, amused, but he knew he would be a complete asshole if he actually asked that.
Perhaps because he had the soul of a thirty-year-old inside him, he instinctively wanted to tease the teenage girl before him.
At this age, a little teasing could easily bring someone to tears. It really was entertaining.
But teasing was one thing; crossing the line was another.
Lu Yuanqiu nodded and made no further outrageous demands. He merely leaned his head forward and pulled open the collar of her school uniform. "Nothing hidden in your sleeves, right?"
Bai Qingxia said, "No!"
Lu Yuanqiu turned to look at her. Their eyes were much closer than before, and an unusually faint blush rose to Bai Qingxia's cheeks as she quickly looked away.
So this was what she looked like when she was shy. Having never seen this icy school beauty show any other expression on campus, Lu Yuanqiu found it rather surprising.
Then he sneered. "Your word isn't proof. I'll know once I've checked."
As he spoke, he brought his head closer to her left armpit. Her cheeks burning with embarrassment and indignation, Bai Qingxia turned her face away.
Besides the fresh scents of body wash and laundry detergent, Lu Yuanqiu caught a faint, delicate fragrance unique to a young girl.
...Of course, it wasn't body odor.
This was probably the legendary natural body fragrance. It smelled lovely, much nicer than the scent of expensive cosmetics.
The sleeve was completely empty, with a glimpse of her snowy, delicate upper arm visible inside. Lu Yuanqiu smiled faintly and made a show of checking the other sleeve. Embarrassed and annoyed, Bai Qingxia turned her head the other way.
Lu Yuanqiu had already noticed something worth paying attention to.
It was a detail his teenage self never would have noticed.
If a girl were subjected to such an intrusive, close-range search by a boy, her eyes should have been full of disgust and coldness.
But Bai Qingxia seemed only embarrassed and annoyed.
At that moment, Lu Yuanqiu understood something.
Bai Qingxia didn't dislike him.
Taking that thought a little further, Bai Qingxia might even have had some fondness for him before this.
That would also explain why Bai Qingxia had voted for him.
But searching his memories, Lu Yuanqiu couldn't recall any previous interaction between them.
They had never exchanged a single word, or even met each other's eyes in class.
Had his teenage self been too oblivious to notice?
Thinking about his teenage years gave Lu Yuanqiu a headache. Back then, he had cared only about Hu Caiwei, anxiously fawning over her. A single hot-and-cold exchange with her could leave him tossing and turning all night.
Looking back now, he really had been an idiot.
Lu Yuanqiu silently took two steps back and looked down.
"Nothing hidden in your pants, right?"
Hearing that, Bai Qingxia immediately obeyed and turned both pockets inside out to prove it.
Lu Yuanqiu didn't even look. He merely glanced at the clock on the wall. Only a few minutes had passed...
The car that would hit her probably hadn't even reached the intersection yet.
He kept finding fault. "What does turning out your pockets prove? Let me check."
With that, he crouched down and reached forward, intending to feel those long legs whose shapeliness even her uniform pants couldn't hide. Bai Qingxia hurriedly drew back. This time, she truly panicked, breathing hard with nerves.
Lu Yuanqiu had anticipated that reaction, so he offered a compromise. "Right, there are boundaries between boys and girls. This isn't really appropriate... How about this? Jump in place a couple of times so I can check."
Bai Qingxia looked up in bewilderment.
Lu Yuanqiu widened his eyes as he explained, "I'm checking whether anything falls out!"
Bai Qingxia didn't move.
"Either I check with my hands, or you jump in place twice. Your choice."
Hearing that, Bai Qingxia took a deep breath and chose to comply.
Stealing was wrong, after all. She had no grounds to argue.
She raised her forearms slightly, as though gathering her strength, and hopped once in place.
Lu Yuanqiu was about to make a show of looking at the floor to see whether anything had fallen out, but he had forgotten to switch off his auto-aim. He instinctively looked up instead, his eyes and head bobbing along with her.
That big?!
Fortunately, the girl was concentrating on looking down and didn't notice Lu Yuanqiu's gaze.
Bai Qingxia hopped again, and Lu Yuanqiu hurriedly said, "Okay, okay, that's enough."
Keep bouncing like that and you'll make me dizzy.
"I wasn't lying. I only took three buns, and I've given them back now. Can I go?"
Bai Qingxia's questioning voice had already begun to choke with tears.
Lu Yuanqiu couldn't think of another reason to keep her there. Seeing no response from him, Bai Qingxia immediately went to the table and packed everything she had emptied out back into her schoolbag.
As she was about to leave, Lu Yuanqiu quickly said, "Wait."
Bai Qingxia turned around, clutching her schoolbag tightly against her chest, her beautiful eyes watching Lu Yuanqiu warily.
Lu Yuanqiu finally couldn't help asking, "Are you very hungry?"
Hearing that, Bai Qingxia lowered her head and remained silent.
Lu Yuanqiu said nothing more either. He turned around, tore open a bun's wrapper, and held it out to her. "Eat before you go."
The storeroom fell quiet. For a long while, Bai Qingxia neither raised her head nor reached out. She stood there hugging her schoolbag as though being made to stand as punishment, her thin body looking as if a gust of wind could knock her over.
Her hair obscured her face, so Lu Yuanqiu couldn't see her expression. He could only continue, "I've already opened it. We can't sell it now. Take it!"
He firmly pressed the bun into her hand.
A few seconds later, Bai Qingxia slowly raised her hand and brought the bun to her mouth, taking small bites before eating faster and faster.
Seeing that, Lu Yuanqiu smiled in satisfaction.
But suddenly, he saw two tears fall from Bai Qingxia's eyes onto the floor, one after another, like pearls slipping off a broken string.
Bai Qingxia was crying.
From the moment she had been caught through the search, she had stubbornly refused to shed a single tear. Only now, when she finally ate the bun, could she no longer hold them back.
Lu Yuanqiu watched her silently, then turned and opened another bun, pressing it into her free hand.
He then felt around in his pocket and pulled out a tissue. Realizing he had already blown his nose into it, he tossed it onto the floor in disgust.
Damn, my seventeen-year-old self didn't carry tissues?
A real man should always have tissues on him.
Lu Yuanqiu didn't know whether something had happened to Bai Qingxia's family.
However poor they were, this was the twenty-first century. How could a good student with excellent grades and conduct be driven to steal buns from a supermarket?
After finishing the second bun, Bai Qingxia looked at the third. Before Lu Yuanqiu could turn around, she immediately went over, opened it, and began eating.
As she ate, she opened her schoolbag and took out a pen and paper, quickly scribbling down a few lines.
By the time she finished writing, she had finished the bun too. Bai Qingxia quickly wiped her tears with her sleeve, then solemnly presented the sheet of paper to Lu Yuanqiu with both hands.
It read:
[August 30, 2010. Bai Qingxia owes Lu Yuanqiu three buns.]
Lu Yuanqiu took the note and stared at it blankly.
His gaze soon settled on the three characters of his name, "Lu Yuanqiu."
For a long while, he said nothing.
Those three characters, sharp yet graceful, looked exactly like the handwriting on the ballot slip in his memory.
Yes, Hu Caiwei's handwriting was just as elegant as Bai Qingxia's, but hers lacked that sharpness.
Handwriting reflected its writer. Wasn't the girl standing before Lu Yuanqiu every bit as graceful and sharp?
Lu Yuanqiu casually tossed the IOU aside.
"You think writing an IOU means we're done here today?"