It's not that I don't want to go back, it's that she won't let me go back
"Holy crap..."
Zhong Jincheng's mouth fell open, letting out a startled sound.
Hu Caiwei's expression was stunned, and Gao Qiang, Wang Haoran, and the others were left staring in blank amazement.
Everyone knew that Bai Qingxia was pretty, yet they always subconsciously forgot about this girl's existence.
Because she was too low-key, with her unchanging single ponytail, unchanging school uniform, unchanging few words, and unchanging cold face.
But today, she had suddenly changed. The change in her hairstyle and attire instantly turned her into a completely different person.
A Bai Qingxia as dazzling as a star.
Clearly she was still the same person, yet she seemed fundamentally different from before.
In the corner by the window at the back of the classroom, Bai Qingxia stood up and placed the class sign upright on her desk.
Noticing everyone sizing her up, she silently lowered her head, took the class sign, and walked toward the door. Along the way, she couldn't help but glance back out of the corner of her eye, and seeing that Lu Yuanqiu was following right behind her, she felt a little more at ease.
Wang Haoran came back to his senses and spoke up, "Um... let's go, everyone downstairs to assemble, assemble!"
Right after finishing, right in front of Hu Caiwei, he couldn't help but quickly peek toward Bai Qingxia's side again, only then walking out of the classroom with a surging mood.
Bai Qingxia was freaking gorgeous!
Everyone went downstairs en masse. Walking in the crowd, Bai Qingxia felt extremely uncomfortable, constantly keeping track of Lu Yuanqiu's position. Seeing that Lu Yuanqiu wasn't keeping up, she walked a bit slower until Lu Yuanqiu followed behind her, at which point she began walking at a normal speed.
"Nervous?"
Lu Yuanqiu asked quietly beside her.
The girl nodded, hugging the class sign not as if it were a sign, but as if it were her sense of security.
Her skirt wasn't even considered very short, yet Bai Qingxia kept wanting to reach out and pull it down. The surrounding gazes also made her very uncomfortable, as more and more people cast sideways glances at her.
Although they were all looks of amazement and appreciation, in Bai Qingxia's view, these gazes were like one blindingly harsh strobe light after another, shining on her until she had nowhere to hide and felt utterly uneasy.
Accustomed to social anxiety and low self-esteem, even the admiring gazes of strangers could become fatal.
"Be a bit more confident, don't be nervous."
Lu Yuanqiu saw her discomfort and comforted her from the side.
Bai Qingxia nodded, but Lu Yuanqiu knew this fellow hadn't listened at all.
So he said again, "Every time you take an exam, you can perform at your normal level. Why weren't you nervous back then?"
"It's different." The girl lowered her head and whispered a refutation.
Lu Yuanqiu chuckled, "They're both the same. Today is also an exam-an exam titled Youth. Walk that hundred meters holding the sign, and your youth will score a hundred points, believe it?"
Bai Qingxia raised her head, looking in the direction Lu Yuanqiu was pointing.
That was the runway below the sports field rostrum, and also the route each formation had to walk.
Lu Yuanqiu: "Treading on the birthday gift I gave you, isn't that enough to give you courage?"
Lu Yuanqiu didn't know he had spoken a piece of encouragement that carried absolute weight for Bai Qingxia.
The girl turned her head to look at him, a pair of pretty pupils reflecting the boy's face, and her gaze gradually grew resolute.
Lu Yuanqiu: "Take a deep breath and go. Come on, one, two, three, inhale--"
Bai Qingxia nodded, obediently standing in place to inhale, her full chest lifting upward.
Lu Yuanqiu lowered his head to glance at her chest, then said, "Exhale--"
The full chest slowly lowered.
Lu Yuanqiu thoroughly enjoyed the view.
Bai Qingxia gripped the class sign and walked toward the front of the class.
Beneath the dark blue pleated skirt, her legs were straight and long, the absolute territory glowing white under the sunlight, and her seaweed-like long hair was scattered across her waist, swaying with every step she took, almost matching the width of her slender waist.
The surrounding gazes continuously converged toward her. In Lu Yuanqiu's eyes, Bai Qingxia holding the class sign was stepping out of the shadows and into the sunlight step by step.
Standing in line according to the previous formation, Lu Yuanqiu sized up the formations on the sports field.
Looking across, all sorts of freaks and monsters had appeared.
Qing Dynasty eunuch costumes, white lab coats, hospital gowns, Hulu Brothers... everything imaginable. In comparison, the JK and DK uniforms of Senior Class 28 looked practically as normal as could be.
Senior Class 27, lined up right in front of them, was wearing Hogwarts cloaks-Gryffindor ones at that.
Because Lu Yuanqiu was relatively tall, he stood at the very back row of the formation. He saw Bai Qingxia and Liu Wei standing together right at the front of the class.
The girl lowered her head, not knowing what she was thinking either. At that moment, she looked back, her gaze seeming to search for something, until she spotted Lu Yuanqiu in the back row, and only then did she turn her head back around.
The march on the sports field was still playing.
"Now walking toward us is Class 1, Grade 1..."
The host's voice spread across the entire sports field through the microphone.
Things had already started over there. Lu Yuanqiu waited in place, feeling bored. At that moment, he turned his head to glance at Zheng Yifeng standing beside him. Damn, this kid really was handsome.
Tall, fair, and thin; compared to Lu Yuanqiu, he looked more like the authentic male protagonist of a campus novel.
However, just like Lu Yuanqiu, Zheng Yifeng didn't have many friends in the class either. Of course, he didn't care; after all, his life consisted of nothing besides sleeping and sleeping.
"Bai Qingxia really looks good today. That kid Zhong Jincheng is already starting to swallow his saliva."
Zheng Yifeng crossed his arms and spoke out of the blue. Lu Yuanqiu knew he was talking to him.
"Yeah, do you like her?"
Lu Yuanqiu replied.
He knew that whether Zheng Yifeng liked her or not, this guy's ultimate partner was already predestined.
Zheng Yifeng shrugged, "I like her. Who doesn't like pretty girls? But I don't think she'd like someone like me."
Lu Yuanqiu: "Then what kind of person would she like?"
Zheng Yifeng turned his head to look at him, just about to answer, when a commotion suddenly erupted from the front.
People in the front rows successively stepped aside to both sides, as if making room for someone to pass. Lu Yuanqiu and Zheng Yifeng turned their heads at the same time, only to discover it was Bai Qingxia holding the class sign as she squeezed through the crowd, walking toward the back row.
The girl lowered her head, her earlobes flushed red. Under the watchful eyes of everyone in Class 28, she walked all the way until she stopped right in front of Lu Yuanqiu.
Bai Qingxia didn't speak, nor did she even raise her head to look at Lu Yuanqiu. She directly reached out with her fair little hand, grabbed Lu Yuanqiu's wrist, and then turned around to pull him as she squeezed back through the formation, dragging Lu Yuanqiu to the very front of the line.
Everyone stared in blank amazement, failing to understand what this usually cold and silent pretty girl was trying to do.
The front row was entirely girls. Lu Yuanqiu, a tall guy, stood there foolishly, sticking out like a sore thumb. Even with social butterfly skills like his, he felt somewhat uncomfortable at the moment.
So he low-voicedly asked Bai Qingxia, "No... what are you doing?"
Bai Qingxia hugged the class sign and simply refused to speak, keeping her head lowered in front of him and maintaining her silence.
Homeroom Teacher Liu Wei gave an awkward laugh and couldn't help asking either, "Qingxia, what do you mean by dragging this guy over?"
Bai Qingxia still kept her head down without speaking, refusing to open her mouth even if it killed her.
Liu Wei and Lu Yuanqiu exchanged a mutual glance of dismay. Liu Wei shot him a disgusted look, while Lu Yuanqiu raised an eyebrow with a look of detached indifference.
"Why are you still standing there for? Go back! Trying to show off, aren't you?"
Liu Wei rolled her eyes and ordered him.
"Tch." Lu Yuanqiu indifferently raised a hand, turning to head back, but the moment he took a step, the silent, head-lowered girl hurriedly grabbed his arm again.
Not letting him go.
Hu Caiwei and a crowd of other girls watched this scene with strange expressions.
Liu Wei was once again dumbfounded; she truly couldn't understand what this girl was trying to express.
Seeing the homeroom teacher's speechless appearance, Lu Yuanqiu smiled lewdly and said smugly, "Look, look, it's not that I don't want to go back, it's that she won't let me go back."