Chapter Eleven: Guessing Too Much

  Yao Qiyun's transfer procedures were handled smoothly under the arrangement of Situ Ji'an. When he was at home, he had already studied in high school for a year and should have been promoted to high school after a summer vacation. However, considering the teaching level of the town high school where he originally belonged, in order to make him better adapt to the new school's teaching progress, Situ Ji'an listened to the school's suggestion and let him stay one grade behind, studying with Situ Yuan in the first year of a key high school in G city.

  It was fortunate for Sī Tù Xīn that Yáo Qǐyún wasn't assigned to her class, thus sparing her the visual torture of having him in class.

  Yao Qiyun's first day as a transfer student, Situ Ji'an had some business to attend to and couldn't take him to school in person. So he repeatedly instructed Situ Xuan to accompany Yao Qiyun to get used to the route to and from school and the school environment. Situ Xuan couldn't push it off, although unwilling, that morning after breakfast he had no choice but to wait for Yao Qiyun to head out together.

  At that time, the Situ family's Jiu'an Hall was gradually taking shape and had just begun to gain a reputation in the industry. However, Situ Jiu'an never forgot his humble origins and required his children to be self-reliant and frugal in their education, without giving them any special treatment. Therefore, even though they were from a wealthy family, Situ Yue rarely enjoyed privileges such as being picked up and dropped off by someone, and instead took the bus to school every day.

  Two people walked to school, one in front of the other. Situ Xuan led by several steps and didn't talk to him. If it weren't for her not knowing the way from home to school at all, she would have run away long ago. Yao Qiyun also seemed to have given up on getting along with her harmoniously. If it weren't for his footsteps following closely behind, Situ Xuan would almost think that a shadow was following him.

  The bus stop was about half a street away from the Sito's house. When they walked to an intersection, the pedestrian crossing light turned red just as they arrived. Sito squatted down to tie his shoelaces, and Yao Qi Yun didn't stop in time, so he ended up walking ahead of her. Not knowing whether it was because he felt awkward or didn't want to be too close to her, he stood a few steps away from her, waiting for her.

  When Situ Xuan tied his shoelaces and stood up, the first thing he saw was Yao Qiyun standing fearlessly in the middle of the road. The vehicles were endless during the morning rush hour, some of which had already honked their horns sharply.

  Xīng Tuò quickly pulled him back, and a few cold sweats suddenly appeared on his forehead. Without thinking, he blurted out: "What's wrong with you? Are you trying to direct traffic or looking for a short cut, didn't you see the red light?"

  Yao Qiyun's face turned red with embarrassment, and only then did Situ Yue realize that he was born in a rural area, the farthest he had gone was to attend school in town, and perhaps he was not familiar with the concept of traffic lights at all. He also regretted speaking too harshly earlier, especially to someone as proud as Yao Qiyun. Situ Jiu'an hated people who were materialistic, and Situ Yue had been influenced by this since childhood. Although he found Yao Qiyun annoying, he knew that one's birth was not something they could choose, so even if he was angry, he didn't want to attack him on this aspect.

  She couldn't bring herself to say something pleasant, so she vaguely added: "Be careful on the road, if anything happens to you today, my dad won't forgive me."

  She was afraid that Yao Qiyun would be hit by the car, and in her anxiety, she used too much force, causing the bag on her back to slide down from her shoulder. Her schoolbag was extremely large, and it was unknown what else was inside except for textbooks, because of the physical education class in the afternoon, she also carried a badminton bag, which contained everything including the ball, racket, extra clothes and sports shoes.

  When the two of them were crossing the road together, Yao Qiyun didn't even say hello before taking the ball bag off her shoulder.

  Situ Xuan was startled and initially thought someone had flown in early to grab the package, but when he realized it was him, he patted his chest in annoyance.

  "Can't you be less frightening?"

  "I'll take this for you." Yao Qiyun took her ball bag without asking and slung it over his own shoulder.

  "No... don't bother." Si Tu Jue, who was quite taken aback, felt a rare sense of embarrassment. Although she was slender, she wasn't the fragile type; she had carried heavier burdens than this before and never got into the habit of relying on others. His behavior left her at a loss for what to do.

  "It's really not heavy at all, I don't need help!"

  She struggled to retrieve her bag, Yao Qi Yun dodged and weaved, seemingly determined to take over. But Situ Jin was not willing to owe him a favor for nothing, and insisted on refusing. The two walked while tugging and pulling at each other, and passersby would never believe that this was just because one of them suddenly wanted to be a good Samaritan, while the other refused to accept help.

  Finally, Yao Qiyun couldn't take it anymore. He simply switched the ball bag to his other hand and said, "Be careful of the car... can you stop arguing?"

  "Now neither my dad nor my mom can see, you don't have to do this."

  In Situ Xin's view, mutual help is not impossible, but it is limited to friends, no, even a stranger would be more natural than his "good intentions" at this time. She was not a person without eyesight, in the days she came to her home, Yao Qiyun hated that he could not take on all the household chores and miscellaneous tasks, he seemed eager to prove to the people who took him in that he was not useless.

  He cherishes the present too much and is afraid of going back to the past.

  Situ Xuan, however, disliked people who were insincere, especially when he and she didn't have a good relationship to begin with. In that case, it was better for each of them to mind their own business. Why bother pretending to be nice? It would only exhaust her, and she had no intention of ordering him around like a servant.

  Her words perhaps struck a weak point in Yao Qiyun. He fell silent for a moment, before saying coldly: "Why don't you give me a chance to prove myself?"

  At this moment, Situ Xuan suddenly saw that the hands grasping the shoulder strap of the ball bag had all their fingernails sunken into the flesh, and the original stubborn stains were gone without a trace. Instead, there were mottled scars, and in several places, even pink flesh was exposed, as if someone had taken extreme measures to remove something from between their fingers.

  They say that the fingers are connected to the heart, but when Cui Juan was a child playing with a compass, she once got poked by the needle in the gap between her fingernails. The pain still lingers vividly in her mind. She couldn't think of anyone who would be so cruel to herself, it's almost as if she had mutilated herself. Was it because on that day when they quarreled, she was furious and deliberately shook off his hand with a disgusted look?

  Thinking of this, she couldn't help but shiver, and also lost the thought of going back to her backpack, and was shocked all the way to school.

  After school, Si Tu Jue didn't want to leave and played two more games of badminton with Wu Jiang in the school's gymnasium. When they finished, she didn't go look for Yao Qi Yun, but instead went home by herself. Along the way, she thought to herself, he wouldn't get lost on his way home from school, would he? But when she rang the doorbell, it was still him who came running out to open the door.

  He didn't get lost.

  Watching Yao Qiyun carefully watering the potted plants at home, Situ Xuan didn't know whether he felt relieved or somewhat regretful.

  Later, on the way to or from school, as long as she met Yao Qiyun, Situ Xuan no longer refused his "kindness". He helped her carry her bag, washed the dishes her father ordered her to wash at home, and even cooked a midnight snack for her when she was hungry at night. Whatever he wanted to do, that's what he did. As he said, since he wanted to, why shouldn't he give others a chance? This "good kid" who embodied the traditional virtues of the Chinese nation won the praise of her parents, and she wouldn't be scolded for opposing him all day long.

  Situ Xuan also suspected that his compromise was largely due to his hidden fear of this person, someone who was ruthless even to himself, what couldn't he do?

  She thought she had made concessions, but in her father's eyes it wasn't that way. One time, Shi Tu Jiu An came home from work early and happened to run into Shi Tu Yuan and Yao Qi Yun returning home from school one after the other, with Yao Qi Yun carrying Shi Tu Yuan's backpack on his shoulders. As a result, Shi Tu Jiu An flew into a rage, severely scolding her daughter and calling her lazy and looking for ways to bully others just because Yao Qi Yun was honest.

  Situ Xue was June flying frost, feeling very wronged, repeatedly emphasizing that it was Yao Qiyun who insisted on doing so, and she had no choice but to comply. She called Yao Qiyun as a witness, and he also acknowledged that this was indeed the case. However, Situ Jiu'an refused to believe it, thinking that Yao Qiyun was too kind-hearted and had been manipulated by her to cover for her, while his spoiled daughter was not even one percent as good as him. He then ordered Situ Xue to stay at home for a week, finish her homework, do chores, and not go anywhere or accept help from anyone, including on weekends, to reflect on what she had done wrong.

  Situ Xuan took advantage of her father's inattention, silently glaring at the "culprit" with anger, secretly scolding herself for being too foolish and unknowingly falling into his trap, thus becoming even more convinced of his hypocrisy, deceitfulness, and treachery.

  Situ Jiu'an hadn't planned on ending his "education" of his daughter so soon, but Xue Shaoping arrived just in time to save the day.

  Xue Shaoping made it clear that since they were a family, there was no need to be so polite. He said to Situ Jiuan: "Since we are a family, there is no need to be so polite. Qiyun is a sensible child and he is like our daughter's older brother. It's nothing wrong for an older brother to help his younger sister with something."

  After this incident, Yao Qiyun didn't discuss anything with Situ Xuan about it, but the habit of carrying her school bag every day remained unchanged. Situ Xuan responded coldly and from then on stuffed as many books into her own bag as possible, even taking away things that could be left in the classroom, as if she wanted to stuff a few bricks inside too. Yao Qiyun also kept his cool, always expressionless when receiving her bag.

  Mom saved Su Ke from Dad's anger, but couldn't avoid the punishment set by Dad. However, what made Su Ke most distressed was not washing all the dishes and mopping the floor for a week, but also losing the opportunity to go out on weekends, which made her restless.

  On Saturday night, Jiǔ'ān went out as usual to socialize, while Jiǔ took the opportunity to clean up the last corner of the kitchen. Pretending to be exhausted, she lay down in her room until her mother started watching soap operas again, then snuck over to the edge of the big gate.

  She was afraid of startling others and didn't even dare to turn on the light, so when the living room lights suddenly came on, she involuntarily let out a mournful cry in her heart.

  Yao Qiyun stood at his room door, frowning and asked: "Where are you going?"

  "Sidney Siu hastily wanted to get rid of him and said in a bad temper: 'Can't you even take out the trash?'"

  Yao Qiyun calmly stated: "I've already taken out the trash for you."

  "You..." followed by some uncivil words, Sik Tsz-yam swallowed back into his belly. Why waste time here? She looked up at the second floor where the TV sound came from and immediately went to open the door.

  Yao Qiyun came over and pressed against the door, "You can't go out, if Master Sutu comes back later..."

  "That's just great, you've got one more thing over me now. I'm telling you, don't get in the way, or else... " Si Tu Jue couldn't think of a suitable threat for the time being.

  "How are you?" he asked in a low voice, very seriously.

  Situ Xin once again showed his quick wit and raised his face to approach him.

  "Yao Qiyun, you..."

  He was indeed startled and took a step back, "Wh-what?"

  At this time, Situ Xuan had quickly opened the door and flashed out.

  "Your retainer is so ugly!"

  Situ Xuan successfully escaped, but didn't go too far, perhaps she just wanted to break free from the restraints. She snuck into Wu Jiang's house, where his parents were present, and they smiled at her with delight, taking a liking to her. However, Situ Xuan also didn't dare stay for long, grabbing a few comic books before making a quick exit.

  When she walked to the gate of her home, she couldn't be certain whether her father had returned home or not. She didn't dare take a chance and use her key to open the door. Since she had already been discovered by Yao Qiyun anyway, she decided to go all out and familiarly jumped over the fence, walked to the window and started up her "secret mechanism".

  Yao Qiyun's room light was on, and she hadn't slept. After hearing the noise, she immediately rushed to the window and looked out, seeing it was her, and revealed a relieved expression.

  He stared blankly at Sutu Jin as she skillfully opened a security iron bar in front of him, jumped in with ease, and finally patted the dust off her body with a calm expression, only then did he thoroughly understand her love for this room and the fundamental reason why Wu Jiang knocked on the window that night.

  "You want to go to my dad and tattle? Oh, right, didn't you already report me once before when I went out?" Si Tu Jue said.

  Yao Qiyun looked at her with a cold eye, full of disapproval on her face.

  "Your dad just came back..."

  But it was unnecessary for him to say that, as Situ Xuan also knew. Because she had also heard her father's footsteps coming downstairs.

  "Qī yún, nǐ shuì le méi yǒu?"

  Translation: "Qi Yun, have you slept?"

  The two people in the room changed color, not just Si Tu Xuan who was momentarily stunned, but also Yao Qi Yun showed a flustered expression. The secret of Si Tu Xuan's window is a small matter, the crucial question is how to explain why they, an unmarried man and woman, were staying in one room at night when the atmosphere was so intimate. Even if they didn't do anything, how would Uncle Si look at him? And what would Auntie Xue think if she knew? He couldn't tolerate even a slight flaw in his image in their hearts, nor did he want them to have any misunderstanding about him.

  Xī Tuò Jìn rushed to the wardrobe, that was the only place in this room where she could fit. But when she opened the door of the wardrobe, she just wanted to cry. Because after Xī Tuò Jìn moved a large number of clothes upstairs, the wardrobe became empty, and Yáo Qǐ Yún's clothes were really too few, so Xī Shǎo Píng made full use of the space to stuff several quilts into the gap.

  Everyone knows that Situ Jiu'an has a quick temper, and it's absolutely impossible to wait for them to move the cotton quilts away and settle in safely before sneaking back in.

  "Oh, I just fell asleep for a bit, and now you're here..."

  Yao Qiyun responded with a mouthful. If it wasn't for himself being flustered like a headless fly, Situ Xuan would definitely enjoy his frantic expression at this time.

  She kicked him angrily, dispelling his idea of shoving her under the bed, where the gap between the bed and the floor was less than twenty centimeters. Who would know better than her about every nook and cranny in this room? Even if she could shrink herself, she would suffocate inside.

  "If you're not sleeping, we can have a chat." The voice of Si Tu Jiu An was already outside the door, and Si Tu Xuan could imagine that his somewhat impatient old father had one hand on the doorknob.

  Situ Xin was so flustered that she did something even she thought was crazy - she shook open the quilt that Yao Qiyun had folded into a neat square, like a block of tofu, and crawled inside.

  She had no idea whether this would work as cover, like an ostrich burying its head in the sand with its rear end sticking out, but at least it gave her a psychological sense of security about the terrible thing that was about to happen.

  One second later, she felt that there was one more person beside her, or rather "on" her. Then the door was indeed opened by Situ Jiu'an himself. How well a daughter knows her father! Situ Juan wanted to cry even more.

  "Has he really fallen asleep?" Si Tu Jiu An had not yet flown into a rage, his voice was still quite gentle.

  Before Situ Xin's brain gradually became hypoxic, she had somewhat figured out why her father hadn't noticed at first glance that there was an extra person hiding under the quilt. Because she had buried herself entirely under the quilt, pressed flat by Yao Qiyun, who had half of his body on top of hers. Fortunately, neither of them was fat, and the two very "thin" people were lightly concealed under the undulations of the quilt, which subtly covered up the extra thickness.

  Yao Qiyun's posture was propped up with his waist half-straight. "I seem to have caught a cold, so I took a nap. Is there something you need from me, Uncle Situ?"

  His voice was even off, and Sutu Jin'an, who was almost suffocating to death, could hear the tremolo in his words. But perhaps Sutu thought it was just a "good child" being afraid of worrying adults and hiding their illness, a normal condition with a cold and weakness.

  "Caught a cold? I'll get Aunt Xue to bring you some medicine." Si Tu Jiu An's concerned voice drew closer and closer to the bed.

  "No, no, never mind, I'll just take a nap!"

  "Really nothing's wrong?"

  "It's really nothing, just need some sleep."

  It seems that Yao Qiyun's extreme desire for "sleep" also dispelled Sutu Ji'an's idea of talking to him. Although he was not at ease, he felt that the child looked strange, but for a while, he didn't know what was wrong either. Yao Qiyun is a sensible child who doesn't need people to worry about him, which is what Sutu Ji'an appreciates about him, but also worries about him.

  "Then you'd better get a good sleep, I don't have anything else to do. By the way, that little girl Situ Xuan has been spoiled by me and your aunt, so just deal with her as you see fit, don't give in to her. I'm going upstairs now, tomorrow let your Aunt Xue bring you some medicine."

  Situ Jiu'an left the room just like that. To be honest, it's not his fault that he didn't notice the inside story in the quilt even though he was so close. Even if he was clever all his life, there was no way he could have thought of "that aspect" when facing this half-grown child.

  Before Sicong became "thinner", she heard the sound of her father closing the door, which was no different from letting her live. In a few more seconds, she would definitely become a specimen crushed to death by others.

  Although Yao Qiyun's hand was propping up, more than half of his body weight was still directly on her. Moreover, under the quilt, she had difficulty breathing and struggled slightly. The extremely venomous Yao Qiyun was afraid of being exposed and deliberately used his thighs to tightly restrain her. If there really wasn't any air, it would be fatal. He was really too ruthless.

  Situ Xuan exerted all his might, using the strength he had since childhood to fling him off. Yao Qiyun was also still in shock, and following the momentum, he flipped over onto one side. Neither of them could say a word, staring at the ceiling with sweat dripping down their faces, gasping for air like dying fish, savoring the feeling of having narrowly escaped death.

  Many years later, Situ Xin thought of this matter in a foreign land and suddenly felt that they were foolish and absurd at the time. In fact, there was no need to be so, even if Situ Jiu'an made a surprise attack, they would open the door with a big smile and say something like "we are discussing learning problems" or some other lie. Even if Situ Jiu'an didn't believe it, what flaw could he pick out? Maybe he would even be genuinely happy for their improved relationship.

  The question is, why did Situ Xuan and Yao Qiyun at that time not think normally and subconsciously dodge each other?

  She doesn't know.

  At that time, they also had no answer.

  After a long, long time, Yao Qiyun found his voice again and croaked out a question as he turned his face sideways on the pillow: "Situ Xuan, what do you really want to do?"

  Xī zǐ jué's intuition as a woman also miraculously recovered at this moment, she discovered faster than him that the two of them were wrapped in the same quilt, lying on the same bed, and moreover, Yáo Qǐyún, who had come back to his senses from the tension, was still breathing unevenly, his whole body stiff.

  She kicked him to the bedside with one foot.

  "Yao Qiyun, what exactly do you want to do?"

  Yes, they didn't understand each other from the start. From beginning to end, it was like this, with doubts in their hearts and stubbornness on their lips. No one dared ask, no one wanted to say, they just kept guessing.

  They were boys and girls who had gone through their youth together.

  Romantic people would say this is called "childhood sweethearts" or "innocent love".

  But didn't Situ Xin and Yao Qiyun grow up with a guess in their hearts?