Criticizing Love - Chapter 34

Chapter 34

The sun hung high, rising in the east and setting in the west.

Ginkgo leaves fell all over the bluestone path along the planned road, and the deep autumn of Nancheng was gradually covered in a brilliant golden yellow.

A few sparrows perched on the treetops outside the window, seemingly starting to prepare for the winter very early on, their grayish-brown fluff expanding by a round.

These little fellows were rushing for a morning gathering, lined up in a row, hopping and chirping, pressing the withered branches to bend over and over again, as if they would break in the next second.

As expected, the dry branch finally crumbled under the heavy burden, breaking off across the window.

The bright glass abruptly caught a flash of fluttering wings, and the chaotic black shadows made Lin Xi raise her head.

“Oh my.”

Right at this moment, Zhong Sheng carried a delicately packaged little cake and placed it on Gu Nianyin’s desk.

This person carried a thought-provoking smile on her face. Seeing this, Lin Xi couldn’t help but ask: “What’s this?”

“From a younger sister in the next class to the Great Deity.” Zhong Sheng tapped the box with great interest.

Hearing this, Lin Xi couldn’t help but furrow her brows: “…For what?”

“To secretly convey her affection, of course.” Zhong Sheng’s gaze carried a particular meaning, watching Lin Xi’s reaction.

Then she seemed to realize something, tilting her head to look at Lin Xi: “Have you not heard about it yet?”

Lin Xi was completely bewildered: “What?”

“I heard the Great Deity likes girls! Did you guys know about this long ago?”

Before Zhong Sheng could open her mouth, Qin Zhuo ran into the classroom from outside with immense excitement.

This fellow ran until he was panting heavily, giving off quite a sense of demanding answers from the two in the back row.

Zhong Sheng pointed at Lin Xi with a calm face: “She didn’t know.”

“I…” Hearing this sentence, Lin Xi instinctively wanted to rebut, but the moment she spoke, she cut herself off.

She knew about this matter of Gu Nianyin’s through means that weren’t exactly honorable, and she didn’t want to use this matter as some kind of capital to brag about.

What kind of person Gu Nianyin liked was entirely her own choice; sexual orientation ought to be the most trivial thing not even worth mentioning.

Thinking up to this point, Lin Xi’s brow furrowed tightly: “How did you guys find out?”

“Yeah.” Qin Zhuo also calmed down a bit, echoing in suspicion of the accuracy of the matter, “Who was the first to say this? A-Xi is so close to the Great Deity and didn’t even know, it couldn’t be fake, right?”

“It seems to be Class Thirteen,” Zhong Sheng said.

“Didn’t the Great Deity stay in Class Thirteen for a few days before? This news first spread from their class, and then over the weekend… the whole school found out.”

As Zhong Sheng spoke, she also felt a bit uncomfortable.

With this kind of privacy exposed to the outside, quite a few girls in the school were wild with joy over Gu Nianyin’s looks and sexual orientation, yet they forgot that this was her own private matter.

Listening to Zhong Sheng speak, Lin Xi couldn’t help but recall that foul-mouthed guy she ran into back when she helped Gu Nianyin move classrooms.

She still remembered that back then, he was brooding over the fact that Gu Nianyin rejected a confession from a boy in the same class. Quite likely, he kept pestering repeatedly afterward, and that boy who failed his confession spoke out the reason.

Although the facts might not necessarily be so.

But Lin Xi still wanted to curse—ptui, foul stench of a man.

Under the sunlight, the young girl’s gaze was heavy, being highly displeased about this matter.

Right now, she would actually rather she had misheard back then.

Identical to Lin Xi, Qin Zhuo was also somewhat worried: “Do you think this will cause trouble for the Great Deity?”

“Probably not, what era is it now.” Zhong Sheng was careless and casual, thinking nothing of it. “Our Great Deity has the looks and the grades, how could the school manage her? Even if there are a few old antiques who don’t accept it, they just have to endure it, don’t they?”

Saying this, Zhong Sheng raised her hand to tap the little cake on Gu Nianyin’s desk, not exactly envious, nor was she teasing: “Look at how high our Great Deity’s popularity is, someone’s already making a move and it’s only Monday.”

Lin Xi glanced at that cake, unable to control a cold snort: “Just a ten-yuan cake from the school entrance, who could that capture?”

Zhong Sheng heard the sound of a fish taking the bait, sharply raising her eyes: “Jealous?”

Her eyes carried playfulness, and Lin Xi instantly felt inexplicably guilty.

More of it was annoyance.

How could she know that Zhong Sheng had already become the biggest and only CP captain for her and Gu Nianyin? She only felt that she was matching random people up again just like in the past, making a motion to hit Zhong Sheng: “Jealous of your uncle.”

Zhong Sheng nimbly dodged, glib-tongued: “A-Xi, how did you know my uncle is called Zhong Great Vinegar!”

The surprise in this person’s eyes was faked quite well. Lin Xi couldn’t outtalk her, and much less did she want to keep holding onto the word “vinegar” with her, fiercely tossing two words over: “Get lost.”

“You’re anxious…” Seeing this, the smile in Zhong Sheng’s eyes grew even thicker. Just as she was about to tease her, she saw Gu Nianyin walking into the classroom with her schoolbag on her back.

Enthusiastic and eager, like a golden retriever wagging its tail, she decisively abandoned Lin Xi, tightly fixing her gaze on the newcomer: “The Great Deity is here, good morning Great Deity!”

And hearing this shout of “Great Deity,” Lin Xi had absolutely no intention of looking toward Gu Nianyin.

Her displeasure had expanded several times over in these short few minutes. Right now, putting her arms down, she directly buried her head to go to sleep.

“Good morning,” Gu Nianyin responded calmly to Zhong Sheng, though her gaze had noticed Lin Xi’s action ever since she entered the door.

She unhurriedly put down her schoolbag, and the cake that had been intentionally placed in the center of the desk forced its way into her line of sight: “What is this?”

“This is from the next class’s…”

Before Zhong Sheng’s words of explanation could finish, Gu Nianyin picked the cake up.

With an expressionless face, she leaned forward to bypass Qin Zhuo, who was standing right in front of the trash can. Subsequently, only a “clang” was heard, and the delicate cake dropped straight into the trash that the student on duty had just swept up.

“It’s been hard on you, in the future please do not place this kind of thing on my desk, placing it in the back trash can will do,” Gu Nianyin calmly accounted to Zhong Sheng and Qin Zhuo. The warm autumn sun shone on her profile, freezing a thin layer of frost.

Too heartless, too cold.

But it was also decisive.

The cold wind surged in from the back door of the classroom, causing Zhong Sheng and Qin Zhuo to shudder.

The two looked at each other, subsequently nodding to Gu Nianyin almost simultaneously: “Oh, okay, we know.”

“Thanks a lot.” Gu Nianyin lightly nodded her head, no longer sharing her gaze with anything around her.

The pulled chair scraped across the tiled floor, letting out a soft sound.

Afterward was the sound of a zipper, and books were placed onto the desk, kicking up a small gust of wind.

Lin Xi remained buried in her arms, the sunlight shining on her back seeming to burn through the rope suspending her heart.

There was no sensation of weightlessness. Her heart just let go abruptly like that, wrapped by a softness born from nowhere, giving her the thought that she was truly about to fall asleep.

“I didn’t accept it.”

Amidst the noise, a cold line of voice landed in Lin Xi’s right ear.

Lin Xi furrowed her brows, the sleepiness she had managed to brew with great difficulty just now instantly vanishing.

“What are you telling me for?” Lin Xi was still keeping her head down, her voice muffled in her arms, heavily awkward.

“Afraid you didn’t see,” Gu Nianyin said softly.

Lin Xi let out a sneer, her shoulders being carried into a shrug: “Please, I have ears.”

Saying this, Lin Xi tilted her head, her cheek resting on her arm.

Her brows inexplicably carried a kind of provocative sensation, subsequently exposing her ear that wasn’t covered by hair to Gu Nianyin.

Hearing this, Gu Nianyin very calmly delivered a line: “I thought you wouldn’t care.”

When she said this, her eyes were looking right at Lin Xi.

That voice, so faint it was about to disappear, was highly infuriating when translated: So you do care.

The head Lin Xi had resting on her arm instantly froze, and subsequently, like a cat that had its tail stepped on, she used anger to cover up her thoughts: “Damn it, isn’t that because you guys are noisy as hell, didn’t you see someone else is sleeping!”

“So that’s how it is.” Gu Nianyin’s voice turned a few fractions lighter, but the gaze looking into Lin Xi’s eyes was deeply pitch-black, as if capable of seeing through the true thoughts beneath this blame.

The head that wasn’t completely lifted pinned down a few strands of hair, and amidst the light movement, the sound of strands rubbing together could still be heard by the ear.

It was just like a net, weaving along with the beating of the heart, and tightening closer and closer along with the beating of the heart.

Lin Xi wasn’t very comfortable being watched by Gu Nianyin, subsequently hiding her head back in her arms.

Only, before long, she ghost-mindedly let out a “Hey” to Gu Nianyin again.

Gu Nianyin knew Lin Xi was calling her, turning her head to look at her head slumped on the desk: “Is there anything else?”

Lin Xi lazily: “In the future, don’t just casually speak about everything to the outside, gossip is a fearful thing, do you understand?”

Lin Xi spoke these words obscurely, yet Gu Nianyin understood.

Secrets are like razor blades. The more they are kept from the light, the sharper they become.

She had this preparation, also calmly replying: “It wasn’t casual.”

“You call that not casual?” Lin Xi couldn’t hold back her questioning, abruptly lifting her head as she spoke.

“Yeah.” Seeing this, Gu Nianyin slightly curved her eyes, “Thank you for your concern, but I got the result I wanted, so it doesn’t matter.”

This person’s voice was even fainter than just now, her cold pupils carrying a hint of willingness.

Lin Xi suddenly felt as though she had followed Gu Nianyin’s train of thought, standing at the edge of the cliff together with her.

So Gu Nianyin’s rejection back then wasn’t an indifference toward her sexual orientation privacy being made public.

Rather, she had a purpose to tell a certain person about this matter.

As the saying goes, hiding a tree in a forest.

Thinking here, Lin Xi’s chest was abruptly twisted for a moment.

She didn’t control her train of thought, unable to help but wonder what kind of demerit Gu Nianyin had ultimately received, and whether she did this entirely for a result.

…Could it be that she was just like her, willing to pay any price, wanting to take revenge on that woman?

Could it be that they were… reaching the same destination by different routes?

This kind of thought suddenly appeared in Lin Xi’s head, and a sense of relief grew out of the bewilderment.

She didn’t know the truth of this matter she guessed, yet she was basely and impatiently wanting to beautify and rationalize her behavior.

She really was a rotten person.

It seemed that because this route received a not-so-good answer, Lin Xi’s single-threaded processor returned to that initial sentence of Gu Nianyin’s.

This person’s reaction to certain words was lagging and slow, only noticing that first half of Gu Nianyin’s sentence until now.

Don’t worry about me.

“Who worried about you!” The two emotions interweaved, and Lin Xi raged.

As the young girl spoke, that head she had just lifted abruptly dropped back down again.

The voice shrouded in her arms became muffled once more, but this time it added a few fractions of anger turned into shame: “Gu Nianyin, I’m warning you, I slept very late yesterday, don’t disturb me again! My morning grumpiness is very severe, I don’t know what kind of things I will do to you!”

The sunlight slanted into the back row of the classroom. Amidst the chaotic flow of people, Gu Nianyin kept her eyes lowered, fixing her gaze on Lin Xi’s back.

Those deep brown pupils curved slightly without being seen by anyone. She was highly interested, seemingly also wanting to try and see what kind of things could be done by that last half of Lin Xi’s words.

But hesitating for a moment, the hand Gu Nianyin prepared to lift gathered the long hair hanging down the side of her face.

The young girl’s frame crouching over the desk was shrouded in sunlight, clear and unobstructed, outlined within Gu Nianyin’s peripheral vision.

Forget it, forget it, if I provoke her more, she’s really going to eat someone.

Cute.

The sun didn’t notice, but at a certain moment, Gu Nianyin lightly hooked the corners of her lips.

The rhythmic preparatory music for running drills echoed through the sports field. After two periods, Nancheng High School arrived at the long break between classes.

Having sat for a whole morning, Lin Xi got up from her seat, unscrupulously stretching her muscles, when the Chinese literature class representative suddenly appeared and called her name.

“Lin Xi.”

Lin Xi was startled by this sound, twisting her waist: “Ouch.”

She knew the literature teacher wouldn’t look for her over anything, but Wang Tingxiu would: “Tingxiu is looking for me?”

“Yes.” The literature class representative nodded her head, subsequently looking toward Gu Nianyin again, “And the Great Deity, the teacher wants the two of you to go to her office right now.”

Hearing this, Lin Xi was surprised yet carried a touch of luck.

Wang Tingxiu looking for them at this time meant she didn’t have to go run that incredibly crowded drill!

“Let’s go.” Lin Xi was in a good mood, rarely proactively and friendly calling Gu Nianyin to walk together.

“Okay.” Gu Nianyin nodded her head, following behind Lin Xi.

Not knowing if it was because of the weekend’s events, Lin Xi felt that as she walked on the road today, the gazes around them were exceptionally numerous.

Rustling sounds hid in the corners behind them, unable to be heard clearly, unable to be understood, disturbing Lin Xi’s ears until they were highly displeased.

“Gu Nianyin.”

Right at this time, an abrupt female voice rang out from the crowd, pronouncing Gu Nianyin’s name with absolute clarity.

Her steps pausing slightly, seeing Lin Xi stop, Gu Nianyin also halted her steps.

The two turned their heads to look, only to see a tall and slender girl walking to the front of them. She looked somewhat nervous, her lowered hands clutched together.

Gu Nianyin didn’t give her too many looks, expressionless: “Looking for me for something?”

The girl nodded her head.

She was somewhat hesitant, her peripheral vision catching Lin Xi, who was standing right beside Gu Nianyin.

This person was tall and slender, half a head taller than Gu Nianyin; once a shadow cast down, it shrouded the person beneath her shadow.

Coupled with the face that carried quite an oppressive weight when she made no expression, and the wild, untamed aura hanging between her wildly growing eyebrows and eyes, it made her even more nervous.

“That… Student Lin Xi, can I speak a few words with Gu Nianyin alone?” Facing full pressure, the girl gathered her courage to request of Lin Xi.

With this kind of request, Lin Xi could roughly guess what this girl wanted to say to Gu Nianyin.

She looked at the person before her with a calm expression, unable to help but sigh in her heart: She’s stayed in this school for almost three years, and she hadn’t seen anyone who could be confessed to one after another like this.

The popularity of our princess in the glass house was truly prosperous.

“Heh.”

A cold laugh sliced through the wind of the corridor, pulled out from the corners of Lin Xi’s lips.

Her displeased mood was even stronger than when she saw that little cake just now.

Although this person usually looked wild and untamed, presenting a look of being very hard to mess with, her heart was good. She was also willing to do things that fulfilled others’ wishes, having helped Zhong Sheng create quite a few opportunities to be alone with older sisters in the past.

But happening to be this time, Lin Xi just didn’t want to.

The young girl’s thin shoulder casually leaned against the wall like that. Within her refusal, she simultaneously blocked the path that girl would absolutely have to walk through if she wanted to take Gu Nianyin away.

“I’m sorry, not really okay.”

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