Although They're Mentally ill, They're Extremely Easy to Comfort - Chapter 24

“I don’t answer the phone, because I’m sick…”

Ling Xi was dozing on her office desk when her phone suddenly rang loudly. She fumbled for her phone with her head buried.

Jiang Xingran, who was busy writing an academic report beside her, couldn’t stand the noise anymore and complained, “When are you going to change your ringtone? It sounds so anxious!”

Ling Xi finally grabbed her phone, lifted her head, and saw an unfamiliar number. She hesitated for a moment but still slowly answered, “Hello?”

“Not awake yet?”

The woman’s voice on the phone was still indifferent, the original flavor and the familiar formula.

Just three words in one sentence, and Ling Xi suddenly became energetic: “Qiao Bo’er?”

“Mhm, this is my number.”

“What’s the matter?”

“I’m almost at the classroom, come out.” Ling Xi could hear the click of Qiao Bo’er’s high heels on the phone. She must be walking fast and hurriedly, and her voice carried a subtle urgency.

Ling Xi tilted her head, clamping the phone between her shoulder and head, and hastily tidied up her teaching plan and materials: “Okay, I’ll be right there.”

Jiang Xingran put down her pen and scrutinized Ling Xi’s expression. She was actually smiling!

Normally, she would dawdle for a few minutes even after the class bell rang before slowly walking to class. Now, a phone call had her energized like she was on a stimulant—it was completely out of character.

Watching Ling Xi walk quickly out of the office, Jiang Xingran wondered, “Has your late-stage lazy cancer found a cure recently?”

Ling Xi crossed the lawn path outside the office building and ran all the way to the classroom.

The weather was stuffy and hot, and due to her lack of exercise and frail health, sweat dramatically soaked her collar.

Ling Xi leaned on the door frame, gasping for breath, looking at Qiao Bo’er who was patiently waiting in the classroom. She asked with difficulty, “Why… why did you… suddenly think of coming again?”

Then she saw the packaged fried chicken bag on the table, and Ling Xi was a little confused about the purpose of Qiao Bo’er’s sudden arrival.

Qiao Bo’er didn’t immediately respond. Instead, she walked up to Ling Xi, took out a tissue, and naturally wiped away Ling Xi’s sweat.

The movement was light and without any offensive intention.

This time, Ling Xi didn’t flinch or try to dodge; she just accepted her kind gesture.

She looked up at Qiao Bo’er’s slightly pursed lips, and that familiar perfume scent assailed her—this scent was perfect for summer.

Qiao Bo’er didn’t stop her hands and suddenly spoke, “I packed KFC, there are chicken pieces, a burger, cola, and fries… and…”

Seeing Qiao Bo’er suddenly stop, Ling Xi curiously pressed, “And what?”

Qiao Bo’er leaned against the other side of the door frame, looking at the still-silly-looking Ling Xi. Her gaze was intense, full of expectation and passion, yet her tone was so calm: “And I missed you.”

The perfume scent created the illusion of a breeze, and so the wind carried the desire to see her, coming as soon as it was felt.

It tousled Ling Xi’s bangs and fluttered Qiao Bo’er’s skirt.

Ling Xi’s heart was like stagnant water. Qiao Bo’er’s gentle and ethereal “I missed you” didn’t cause any ripples.

“Let’s go inside and start the class,” she said casually, breaking the ambiguous atmosphere by putting her hands in her jeans pockets.

This reaction caused Qiao Bo’er’s brows to subtly furrow. Ling Xi noticed but didn’t say anything.

Walking into the room first, Ling Xi adopted a hungry look, hissing and smacking her lips, “If you’re coming to class, just come to class, why bring delicious food…”

Qiao Bo’er played along with her act but responded with something else: “Chu Xi said you looked a bit down, but you seem quite lively and jumping to me.”

“I really am down, I didn’t sleep well all night, and my dark circles are showing!” Ling Xi pointed at her eyes and complained, but then suddenly changed the topic: “But what about you? Aren’t you busy with work? Why did you decide to come to class again? You’re so impulsive.”

Qiao Bo’er couldn’t possibly admit to Ling Xi’s face that she would turn into a huge jealous person over a cup of milk tea or a female student. So she could only be prickly and defiant: “I’ll do whatever I want, it’s none of your business.”

“You said I was the one who was moody, but I think you’re the one who learned the real trick… You do whatever you want, why don’t you fly to the sky?”

Qiao Bo’er glared at Ling Xi: “A dog’s mouth speaks no ivory.”

Sure enough, a verbal spar was inevitable within five lines of dialogue between the two.

Ling Xi walked to the podium and demanded, “Stop, class is officially starting.”

As she spoke, she took out the piece of paper she had found this morning from her pants pocket and used a small magnetic clip to stick it on the blackboard.

Qiao Bo’er stood with her arms crossed, staring at the note with an unreadable expression, secretly lamenting how quickly the idiot had discovered the homework she had hidden.

This was practically a public execution!

Ling Xi leaned one hand on the podium, and the other pointed at Qiao Bo’er’s handwriting. Today she wasn’t as serious as yesterday, returning to her cheeky demeanor.

“You put my handwriting on the blackboard, what do you want?”

“Of course, it’s to systematically teach you how to correctly write Zhongshan Seal Script… Not bad, you even remembered to bring the four treasures.”

Ling Xi walked over and sat beside Qiao Bo’er, carefully smoothing out the unused cicada-wing paper from yesterday, placing a practice grid underneath it, taking out the ice-jade ink dish and the fine-tipped brush, and completing the preparations.

“You should know the basic common knowledge of the four treasures of the study—brush, ink, paper, and inkstone—so I won’t elaborate. Before we start writing, I’ll teach you a few small steps and tips.”

Ending the opening remarks, Ling Xi picked up the brush and explained, “First, you need to know that the brush used for Zhongshan Seal Script is relatively thin and pointed. This brush is called a wolf hair outline brush.”

She then pointed at the cicada-wing paper and looked at Qiao Bo’er’s failed work on the blackboard: “Secondly, the writing effect will differ depending on the paper used.”

“Look at the assignment you handed in. The ink bled very badly. That’s because you chose the wrong paper and used the wrong brush. You weren’t using the set I gave you yesterday, were you?”

Being lectured by Ling Xi, Qiao Bo’er actually felt a sense of loss because her homework was too rough.

She suffered severe insomnia in the latter half of the night and practiced for a long, long time in the study, but no matter how much she practiced, she couldn’t see any improvement. For a moment, she even wanted to rush over and drag the lazy bum out for an on-site lesson.

Seeing the sudden look of dejection on Qiao Bo’er’s face, Ling Xi comforted her, “I can see you put in the effort, and I’m not criticizing you; you just used the wrong tools.”

“Back to the main point, for a slender script style like Zhongshan Seal, it’s suitable to use cicada-wing paper or well-sized calligraphy rice paper. Wax-dyed paper is also good. These three types don’t bleed ink, so the characters you write will have a clean, three-dimensional line effect. Of course, to write beautifully, you still need to practice more.”

Ling Xi took out some ink, poured it into the dish, and took Qiao Bo’er’s tissue to wrap the brush tip and gently press it: “After preparing the ink, you must first ‘moisten’ the brush.”

“Moistening the brush means—when the brush tip has been left to dry for a long time, it becomes very hard, which causes uneven ink absorption and easily scratches the paper. So, before starting to write, you need to use some scrap paper or cloth to wrap the brush tip, press the bristles to open them up, and then shape the brush into a pointed tip.”

“This way, the writing effect will be much better. See, it’s like this.”

Ling Xi’s hands were already slender and soft, and her grip on the brush was experienced. Qiao Bo’er watched, her eyes slightly curved—she wished this class could be a little longer.

After demonstrating once to Qiao Bo’er, Ling Xi handed the brush to her: “Here, you hold the brush, and I’ll teach you how to grip it and take ink.”

Ling Xi bent over behind Qiao Bo’er, her left hand lightly pressing on her shoulder, and her right hand naturally covering the back of Qiao Bo’er’s hand. This seemed to be the first time she had looked down on Qiao Bo’er from above.

She was momentarily distracted, her gaze resting on Qiao Bo’er’s face. The exquisite contours were like something out of a painting—how could someone be born so beautiful?

“Ineffably beautiful” felt like too clumsy an adjective.

It was just a common hands-on teaching posture, but with a different emotion and state of mind, it stirred up a unique feeling in Qiao Bo’er’s heart.

Yet, she also felt annoyed. Why did she have to bother herself and learn Zhongshan Seal Script?

Now it was great; her clumsy side was completely seen by Ling Xi. The mischievous idiot had plenty of bad ideas and would surely make fun of her later.

Noticing Qiao Bo’er was spacing out, Ling Xi raised her left hand and tapped the back of her head: “Student, no daydreaming.”

“I wasn’t.”

“Yes, you were… and you’re talking back!” Ling Xi tapped her head again. Qiao Bo’er clicked her tongue and ignored her.

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