This was the first time she had examined Chi Yao’s hand so carefully.
Perhaps from nervousness.
Unconsciously, she held her breath cautiously.
Her fingertips occasionally brushed against his. Boys naturally seemed to have a higher body temperature than girls. She felt the warmth from Chi Yao’s hand gradually transferring to hers.
The atmosphere was a bit strange.
As she applied the medicine, Lin Zhexia thought to herself, Isn’t it too quiet?
She was about to say something, hadn’t even cleared her throat, when Chi Yao’s door was pushed open.
“Holy shit,” He Yang stood shocked at the doorway, shouting, “I swear I was going to knock, but the door wasn’t closed, and it just opened when I touched it.”
His loud voice rang out, and then the three of them stared at each other.
He saw his “Brother Yao” sitting on the sofa, with his “Sister Xia” crouching, her nose nearly touching his hand, the two of them very close.
“…What are you two doing?”
Lin Zhexia, holding the cotton swab, stood up abruptly with a hint of inexplicable guilt: “Applying medicine. His hand got scraped.”
“Oh,” He Yang didn’t think much of it. He plopped down on the sofa, squeezing next to Chi Yao, saying, “I’m here to escape. Midterm results are out, and my mom is chasing me with a beating.”
“I told her that even though I ranked 23rd, there are still more than ten people behind me. She asked why I always compare myself with those below me.”
“If I don’t compare with those below me, where would I get the confidence to continue studying?”
Lin Zhexia packed up the first aid kit, nodding: “That does make some sense.”
He Yang: “Right?”
He turned to look at Chi Yao, hoping for his agreement.
“Never been outside the top three,” Chi Yao said. “Wouldn’t know.”
He Yang: “…”
He Yang decided to change the subject: “How did your hand get like this, such a long cut?”
Chi Yao only said, “Ran into some trouble.”
He Yang was shocked: “You fucking got into a fight?”
“And it was one against three,” Lin Zhexia added. “I encountered some thugs after school. Don’t tell anyone about this.”
Many things that couldn’t be shared with parents could be freely discussed among peers.
He Yang naturally understood this principle: “Don’t worry, I won’t say anything. But my Brother Yao fighting one against three—badass.”
Lin Zhexia didn’t have time to continue chatting with them; she still needed to get home to finish her homework.
After Lin Zhexia left, He Yang casually played with the game console on Chi Yao’s coffee table.
He played for a while and chatted with Chi Yao: “Really, one against three?”
Chi Yao: “No.”
He Yang: “When you say it like that, it must be true.”
He Yang played games for a while. Chi Yao went to the refrigerator for water, asking him, “Want some?”
“Yes.”
As he reached out to take the mineral water bottle, he glimpsed Chi Yao’s thin T-shirt. Thinking about the fight they had just discussed, he suddenly recalled something from the past that he hadn’t been able to remember.
The words “fight” acted like a thread, connecting that incident he couldn’t recall before.
He remembered what had happened before he caught Chi Yao exercising.
It was probably when they were eleven or twelve years old.
Somehow, a group of vocational high school students began hanging around their neighborhood.
One evening, they went together to the small shop to buy snacks. Just after leaving the residential area, they were cornered by several tall, burly vocational school students.
“Little kids,” the group reeked of cigarettes, one of them tapped He Yang’s head, saying, “how about giving your pocket money to big brother?”
To them at that time, these guys looked like giants who could knock them across the street with a single punch.
Fortunately, Lin Zhexia had been quick-witted, shouting to an unfamiliar auntie across the street: “Mom!”
Then they managed to escape during those few moments of confusion.
They were also lucky that there were many people near the residential area; otherwise, shouting “Mom” any number of times wouldn’t have helped.
Although he had no proof, he always felt that these two events might be connected-
After returning home, Lin Zhexia started on her homework. As she wrote, she realized something was off.
Chi Yao’s angry words, “Last time you could run away”—what “last time” was he referring to?
She thought for a while, but because there had been so many incidents between her and Chi Yao, she couldn’t recall.
Forget it.
She quickly gave up thinking about it.