Criticizing Love - Chapter 5

Chapter 5

The westering sunlight hit the corridor connecting the two buildings, split into segments by the vertical pillars. Lin Xi stood right at the boundary between light and shadow.

The sun had made her hair a bit disheveled, each stray strand gilded with gold. When she spoke, there was an untamable defiance in her brows—even a hint of provocation.

In her view, Gu Nianyin might not recognize her face, but she must have heard her name. It was the name of Lin Deyuan’s daughter; the room Gu Nianyin now occupied had belonged to her.

In this instant, Lin Xi felt a sudden flash of gratitude toward Wang Tingxiu for making her help Gu Nianyin. Their lives were tightly interwoven; Lin Xi, of course, had a clear conscience.

But what about Gu Nianyin?

Lin Xi truly wanted to see if this “high mountain flower” would show a look of unbearable shame upon realizing she was standing before the daughter of the family her mother had helped destroy.

The light cascaded down the girl’s back. Lin Xi watched Gu Nianyin with her chin slightly raised, waiting.

What she received, however, was Gu Nianyin’s gaze, which remained calm even after several seconds. Gu Nianyin tilted her head slightly, letting the sunbeams and Lin Xi’s provocation land on her lashes, and said simply, “I see.”

No shame. No shock. Not even a trace of fluster.

A breeze blew through the courtyard. Gu Nianyin lowered her eyes slightly. From beginning to end, her gaze—whether raised or lowered—was faint, as if devoid of emotion.

Lin Xi’s complex, swirling thoughts vanished into nothingness, like a punch landing on a bale of cotton.

Not only did Gu Nianyin not recognize her, but she also didn’t seem to realize that the name “Lin Xi” belonged to Lin Deyuan’s daughter.

Are you kidding me?

Lin Xi found it absurd. Yet, thinking of Lin Deyuan, it was strangely logical. After all, Lin Deyuan wanted nothing to do with her; he had discarded her during the divorce, and now he had simply wiped away every trace of her existence.

“Heh.”

The silence was broken by Lin Xi’s contemptuous laugh. She thought that if Lin Deyuan hadn’t provided the context, she wouldn’t mind filling in the blanks for the “Princess in the Glass House.” After all, how much of a person’s growth is orderly and free from force?

“Lin Xi.”

Just as these dark thoughts took root in Lin Xi’s mind, a soft call reached her ears. The two simple syllables sounded like jade stones clashing. To say it didn’t sound good would be a lie.

Lin Xi snapped back to reality and looked at Gu Nianyin. “What?”

“I want to stop by my old classroom to pack my books. Could you wait for me for a moment?” Gu Nianyin asked. Her voice was still flat, stating her needs with cold detachment.

Quite the ‘dodder flower,’ Lin Xi thought. Even asking favors sounds so calm and natural.

But Lin Xi wasn’t Lin Deyuan. To this request, she had only one answer: “No time.”

“Then when will you have time?” Gu Nianyin followed up, her tone exceptionally level.

The question made Lin Xi feel like Gu Nianyin was sticking to her like glue. She knit her brows. “Can’t you move them yourself?”

Gu Nianyin replied, “Teacher Wang told you to help me move.”

Lin Xi stared into Gu Nianyin’s calm eyes. Her mind was in a turmoil, but she couldn’t find a single rebuttal. The voice of Wang Tingxiu threatening to call her parents echoed in her ears. Cornered, she gritted her teeth and snapped, “Fine, let’s go.”

Lin Xi walked ahead, with Gu Nianyin following behind. A lingering wind tossed a few strands of hair across Gu Nianyin’s lashes, while her gaze rested unobtrusively on Lin Xi.

It seemed Gu Nianyin’s class was currently in self-study. Without a teacher guarding them, the room hummed with the sound of voices. As Gu Nianyin set down the chair and stepped inside, many eyes were drawn to her.

The atmosphere in the regular classes was different from the elite class; self-study was never quiet. Lin Xi leaned casually against the doorframe, watching a girl from the front row walk up to Gu Nianyin, talking animatedly. The girl spoke with sincere heat, but it failed to infect Gu Nianyin.

Gu Nianyin’s eyes remained lowered and faint. She eventually just nodded at whatever was said—nothing more—leaving the answer to stir up its own ripples.

Everything in this room was noisy; the restless air was filled with whispers. Lin Xi disliked the excessive, grating noise. She walked to the window, wanting to see when Gu Nianyin would finish packing.

But Gu Nianyin’s movements remained unhurried. She gathered the books on her desk into a neat pile. Held against her slender frame, the books seemed to emphasize her pine-like posture, standing upright in the middle of a whispering classroom.

She looked as though she had never belonged there. She belonged in the elite class.

The sun grazed the edge of the fourth-floor walkway, shining directly into Lin Xi’s eyes. She narrowed them indifferently.

But what ‘should’ be, and what ‘shouldn’t’ be? There are plenty of things that “should” happen in this world that are still ignored or never followed. Like her father abandoning his wife to be with Gu Nianyin’s mother.

“She’s going to the elite class.” “Let her go. I’ve been tired of looking at her anyway—sitting there all day like a stiff board, who does she think she’s looking down on?” “I heard her mom is quite something. Maybe she used… this to get in.” “That explains it! I thought the elite class was one-in, one-out.

I was wondering how they suddenly expanded for her. What a thick skin.” “Of course she’s thick-skinned. Da Zhou just confessed to her and she rejected him. No idea what she said, but I’ve never seen Da Zhou look so pissed.”

The disgusting dialogue drifted into Lin Xi’s ears. The classroom windows provided no soundproofing.

In school, grades are everything. Gu Nianyin’s sudden transfer had broken the local ecosystem, and many resented her for it. If being a top student wasn’t enough, she was beautiful, too. Her non-conforming coldness and arrogance caused the malice to spill out into the hallway.

Amidst these malicious speculations, the boy sitting closest to the window was particularly loud: “So pretty… who knows how many guys she dated at her old school. Probably isn’t even a vir—”

Slid!

Before the boy could finish, the window was suddenly thrown open. Startled, he stared at the opening. “What the—”

His voice died the moment he saw Lin Xi’s face.

The light hit Lin Xi from behind, covering her in a golden glow that sharpened the upward tilt of her eyes. In the words of her friend Zhong Sheng, Lin Xi had a high-end “world-weary face,” with a small beauty mark perfectly placed under her left eye. Just staring at someone made her look like she wasn’t to be messed with.

The boy swallowed hard. After a long pause, he stammered, “What are you doing? Do you know this is…”

Lin Xi had heard enough. She didn’t feel like talking to him and simply threw two words at him: “Shut up.”

Her voice was low, but those two words cut through the room like a blade. The cold edge silenced the entire class. Lin Xi’s looks were unique in the grade, and someone soon recognized her. A girl stood up righteously. “Student Lin Xi, what are you doing? Our class is in self-study. You are publicly disrupting our order. I will go to our homeroom teacher and tell—”

Lin Xi crossed her arms, interrupting her without a hint of being threatened. “Are you the Class Monitor?”

The girl blinked, stunned. “Yes.”

“Then come out,” Lin Xi said, her tone softening slightly as she beckoned the girl.

The Class Monitor didn’t actually have much courage. Despite Lin Xi’s tone being better than at first, she was still intimidated. “…For what?”

“Didn’t you say you were going to the teacher?” Lin Xi raised an eyebrow with a smile. “I want to see whose side they take.”

The Class Monitor faltered. She knew the boy she was defending was in the wrong. Seeing that Lin Xi was actually willing to go to the teacher, she immediately lost her nerve. “I… I meant…”

Lin Xi knew she had no guts. She cut her off impatiently. “If you don’t have the courage to go, don’t start the conversation.”

She scanned the room as if looking for anyone else brave enough to speak up. Everywhere her gaze landed, heads dropped.

What a trashy class. A total mess.

With a face full of disdain, Lin Xi’s gaze finally landed on Gu Nianyin. She didn’t consider herself as “backing up” Gu Nianyin; she was just intervening against an injustice. “Are you done?”

When the words reached her, Gu Nianyin was still organizing her things. Her seat was only one aisle away from the window; looking up, she saw Lin Xi’s face. The girl was still standing without any “proper” posture, her tall frame leaning against the window frame, half her body practically leaning inside. The untamable defiance was still in her brows, but this time, it wasn’t directed at her.

The sun was about to sink behind the roof, its brilliant orb overlapping with Lin Xi’s silhouette.

She is the one who hates being near me, yet she is the one who stood up for me.

Gu Nianyin’s finger brushed the cover of her biology book. She placed it on top of the pile. “Almost.”

“Then move faster. Any slower and I might not be able to stop myself from hitting someone.”

Being near this class made Lin Xi more uncomfortable than being near Gu Nianyin. Her tone was impatient. She shot one last dark look at the gossips by the window, then slammed the window shut with a loud bang.

The Class Monitor sat back down, defeated. Silence fell like a heavy shroud, weighed down by the shadow leaning against the window. No one dared to whisper.

Lin Xi rubbed her shoulder, feeling she had been a bit too meddlesome. If she had extra justice to hand out, she should have helped an old lady across the street instead of backing up Gu Nianyin.

And this Gu Nianyin was something else. People were talking right in her ear, and she hadn’t said a word while packing. For someone who looked so arrogant, she was a total pushover—didn’t even know how to talk back.

“Princess in a Glass House,” Lin Xi muttered disdainfully.

Clack.

As Lin Xi turned to check on her, the sound of a heel stepping over the doorframe rang out. Gu Nianyin walked out of the classroom carrying a stack of books. The sunset leapt into the corridor and draped over her; even the heavy books didn’t bend her spine.

Lin Xi’s gaze lingered for a moment before moving away. “Let’s go. Class is almost over.”

She showed no sign of being “tender toward the fair sex,” picking up the desk and walking off. It was as if she wasn’t the same person who had just defended Gu Nianyin.

They walked in silence until they reached the stairwell. Lin Xi was carefully carrying the desk down, which blocked her view of the steps. Just as she landed on the second-floor landing, a voice called from behind her.

“Lin Xi.”

The voice was unhurried, revealing no emotion. Lin Xi thought Gu Nianyin was going to ask for another favor. She set the desk down and turned around irritably. “Wha—”

Before she could finish, she saw Gu Nianyin had already walked down behind her. A breeze blew from behind the girl, carrying the warmth of the afternoon and the cool of the stairwell, pushing that nameless floral scent toward Lin Xi once again.

Along with it came Gu Nianyin’s face, enlarging frame by frame.

Lin Xi disliked contact, especially with Gu Nianyin. She reflexively grabbed the arm that was reaching toward her. “What are you doing?”

Gu Nianyin didn’t panic. She radiated a deep-seated calm as she stood there with Lin Xi. Her gaze fell on the hand gripping her wrist.

“It’s torn.”

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