Chapter 3 (2/2)

The self-proclaimed open-minded He Luo couldn’t understand this. But she immediately decided to stand next to Bai Lian and to say goodbye to her vulgar thoughts.

“I too look down on narrow-minded boys,” she added with a smile.

“I too don’t need you to take an interest in me,” Zhang Yuan retorted in an instant. Initially he still kept his smile and wanted to say he did not do it on purpose. Six girls were indeed equivalent to a group of 6,000 ducks. It didn’t matter if they were chattering non-stop, but what did they mean by narrow-minded boys? When did he, Zhang Yuan, ever took offence with a girl, or quarrelled with them, or was sarcastic to them…

Well, this he felt a lack of confidence in.

His words earlier was rather cold and narrow-minded. He saw He Luo turned her eyes outside the window, her mouth open as she ate her ice cream in a daze.

Zhang Yuan took Bai Lian’s book. “I’ll buy you a book cover later.”

“Never mind.” Bai Lian noticed the atmosphere had become dull and quickly smoothed things over. “Ay, it’s not a big deal. It’s fine, it’s fine.”

“Big sister, did you want to see me carry on the name of a narrow-minded person?” Zhang Yuan smiled and glanced at He Luo. She pretended not to hear and focused on the sparrow jumping outside.

Zhang Yuan took the book and a.n.a.lysed it for half a period of cla.s.s. He used a pen to trace the cover a few times. With the introduction of vines and stems, the grey of the cover became duller. Underneath were two lines of words: First year, cla.s.s 6. Bai Lian.

He was incredibly satisfied with his masterpiece and pa.s.sed the book all the way over to her seat.

When the book pa.s.sed through He Luo’s hands, her eyes shone and immediately shot Zhang Yuan a glance. Bai Lian waved at him when she received her book, a nice dimple showing as she smiled. He Luo looked at her, and thought about him. Her heart felt a sudden wave of grievances.

*

He Luo and a few girls played badminton together after school. Zhang Yuan dribbled a basketball as he walked over. “You all played well.”

Bai Lian handed him the racket. “You might not be able to win over He Luo.”

“Oh? Let’s compete and see!” Zhang Yuan turned the racket in his hand, waving it a few times.

“Why don’t you guys play? Coincidentally I’m already tired.” He Luo handed her racket over to Bai Lian and returned to the cla.s.s to collect her bag.

She once again did not give him any face. Zhang Yuan felt a little irritated and when he exchanged the ball from one hand to another, he accidentally threw the racquet away. He stared at He Luo as she walked through the field, smiling as she said goodbye to her friends along the way.

Tian Xin ran over to the field. “I finally done sweeping the cla.s.sroom! Who can share their racket with me?”

“Here, I’ll give you!” Zhang Yuan stuffed the racket in her hands and hurriedly grabbed his bag. He ran out to the school entrance and waited at the intersection of the road. There was no sign of He Luo in the pedestrian path. He stood there as he hesitated for a moment before reluctantly returning to the school to get his bicycle. As soon as he turned around, he saw He Luo standing at the kiosk near the school, reading a comic book with interest.

“He Luo!” Zhang Yuan shouted.

“Do you have anything you need from me?” Her tone was indifferent.

“Uh, nope.” He was puzzled. Why did he chase her all the way outside? Earlier he thought of many words to ridicule He Luo but he had already forgotten them. “Why are the two sides of your face different?” He could tell her right cheek was somewhat puffed up.

“Are there any differences?”

“Here. Are you eating a candy?” Her cheek looked like a squirrel’s stuffed with nuts.

“Toothache!” He Luo replied. Could it be her face was entirely swollen? She touched her cheek and put down the comic book. How embarra.s.sing. There was no ground for her to grill into and hide. She quickly rushed to catch the bus.

“Have you seen a dentist?” Zhang Yuan caught up to her.

“Your house is not in this direction.” He Luo was still holding her cheek as she looked up at him.

“I…” He didn’t know how to answer. “Aren’t you having a toothache? Why do you have so many questions? Stop talking so much.” Zhang Yuan smiled.

He Luo purposely didn’t stand by his side and walked ahead of him. Silence. No one spoke.

May, north of China. The flower-covered pathway was blossoming in green, pink, yellow, all kind of colours. Under the sunset glow, the flowers looked gentle. The two of them slowed their steps as they walked, as if they both were imprinting the scenery onto their minds.

At the stop sign, He Luo said, “I wait for the bus here.”

“I ride the bicycle every day.” Zhang Yuan also stopped at the sign. “You must go and see a dentist. I know a good dentist who is my neighbour. I’ll give you the number later!”

“Okay, thank you.”

“Give me your house number.” Zhang Yuan immediately added, “I’ll ask my mom as soon as I get home later and tell you as soon as possible. What if it hurts so much that you can’t sleep?”

“It only hurts for a while.” He Luo told him her house number. “It’s not acute appendicitis. It’s not as bad as you’re making it sound.”

“With appendicitis, you have to undergo an operation.” Zhang Yuan held his chin, pretending like he was in deep thought. “This I can’t help you. It so happens I don’t know any butcher.”

“What butcher?” He Luo was surprised and stomped her feet. “You would need a butcher for appendicitis!”

She had also forgotten that she was in pain.

Road 2’s bus would pa.s.s by every three minutes. He Luo boarded the bus and thought of Zhang Yuan’s serious face as he said, “That you need a butcher.” She couldn’t help her laughter. Because of her accidental words, she didn’t dare to look at him. She was worried she would make a mistake again and made him hate her. But it appeared that he didn’t. He even chased after her and told her to see a dentist.

When He Luo thought about it, she couldn’t help laughing.

But what did “I too don’t need you to take an interest in me” mean? This sentence became a hook and had firmly settled in her heart. “Then who do you want to take an interest in you? Is it Bai Lian?” She really wanted to ask this a thousand times.

When did it start that I became so worried about the outcome? As she wrote in her diary, He Luo occasionally would grin from ear to ear, and would sigh in a moment later.

Mom and Dad exchanged glances. They both understood what it meant.

Thoughts

Zhang Yuan is like a fantasy fulfillment for us who had a crush on a cute boy in school. It’s so obvious to everyone (me) but them that they like each other but the mention of Bai Lian makes me nervous.

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