Criticizing Love - Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Lin Xi had been aware of the injury earlier.

But having grown up with a free-spirited nature, she was used to small nicks and scratches; the sting of a scrape didn’t feel like much to her.

However, someone else cared.

As the sun slanted into the stairwell, Gu Nianyin’s approaching silhouette blocked most of the light in Lin Xi’s vision. Gu Nianyin tilted her head slightly, the sunlight smoothing over her eyelashes. Even though it was Lin Xi who had grabbed her wrist to restrain her, the gaze Gu Nianyin returned felt like she had seized the initiative, using the proximity to observe Lin Xi’s wound more closely.

There was a natural tranquility about this person. Her clear eyes just looked at you—deep as a cold pool, silent, yet more invasive than anything else. Her breath mingled with the cool breeze of the stairwell, drifting over the scraped skin. She intruded into Lin Xi’s personal space without hesitation.

Thump, thump!

Lin Xi’s heart hammered twice. She never expected that her defensive move of grabbing Gu Nianyin’s wrist would evolve into this. Her brow furrowed, and she abruptly threw Gu Nianyin’s wrist aside: “I don’t need you to tell me.”

Lin Xi was strong; the force of the release caused Gu Nianyin’s shoulder to jerk slightly. Yet, there was no sign of displeasure on her face, not even a change in expression. She maintained the same tone she used to warn Lin Xi earlier: “You should apply medicine.”

Lin Xi scoffed, not looking up: “Mind your own business.”

“This scrape is from pulling the window just now,” Gu Nianyin noted.

Lin Xi found it somewhat amusing and looked up: “So?”

Gu Nianyin: “You helped me, so I want to—”

“Forget it,” Lin Xi interrupted before she could finish.

The fast heartbeat was making her irritable, and she couldn’t shake the feeling. Lin Xi stared into Gu Nianyin’s eyes, huffing at this “dodder flower” who needed others to stand up for her: “I’m not like you. I can handle my own affairs.”

Gu Nianyin’s gaze flickered slightly. She then asked, “Are you angry for me because of what happened just now?”

The girl’s voice was faint, floating like a wisp of smoke. But since the stairwell wasn’t well-ventilated, the words seemed to linger right in front of Lin Xi.

A direct hit.

Lin Xi froze for a moment. Her disdain was real, her anger was real, and her annoyance with Gu Nianyin was also real. But how did the facts get twisted like this coming from Gu Nianyin’s mouth?

She was angry FOR her?

“In your dreams!”

Lin Xi had never regretted an action so much. She spat out those three words in anger, then hoisted the desk behind her. Regardless of whether the other person could keep up, she headed downstairs without looking back.

Behind her, Gu Nianyin’s eyes followed Lin Xi’s back. Only when Lin Xi was about to disappear from sight did she finally start walking. The sun was blocked by the stairs at the turn, but even if the sun couldn’t see, Gu Nianyin’s gaze remained locked onto the other girl.

Lin Xi walked with a brisk pace and arrived at the back door of the classroom by habit. Before she even entered, she saw Wang Tingxiu from a distance, presiding over the self-study session from the podium. The entire classroom was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

It was strange. Since when did their elite class need someone to monitor self-study?

As if every homeroom teacher possessed a supernatural ability to hear everything, just as Lin Xi smirked at Wang Tingxiu’s unnecessary effort, Wang Tingxiu looked up. Then, looking past her, she gazed at Gu Nianyin with the kind of smiling eyes every parent reserves for a star student: “You’re here?”

“Yes,” Gu Nianyin nodded from the back door.

With those simple words, the students in the class all turned their heads to look. Lin Xi, standing to the side, finally realized that Wang Tingxiu wasn’t there to monitor self-study. She was waiting for Gu Nianyin.

So was the rest of the class.

“Wow, she’s really here!” “Is this a special admission?” “No, this protects all our statuses. Now we don’t have to worry about being pushed out by Gu Nianyin in the next exam.” “I wonder where my goddess will sit. I think the spot in front of me is perfect for her.” “So that means I should leave? Sob sob…”

The quiet room immediately filled with hushed whispers. Wang Tingxiu didn’t strictly enforce silence, instead introducing her to the class: “This is our new classmate, Gu Nianyin. From now on, there are 36 of us.”

“Welcome!” “Wooohooo!!”

Wang Tingxiu’s simple introduction sent the class into a fervor. Thunderous applause filled the large classroom—a warm welcome for Gu Nianyin.

Except for Lin Xi.

She walked through the excitement and sat back in her seat, her face still wearing a look of disdain.

Zhong Sheng, lacking any situational awareness, turned around the moment Lin Xi returned, her eyes shining: “Xi! I couldn’t find you on the walkway earlier. I thought Tingxiu did something to you, but it turns out you got such a lucky job!”

“Get lost,” Lin Xi snapped, her existing irritation mounting.

“I can get lost, but you have to tell me first,” Zhong Sheng wasn’t deterred. If anything, she was more curious, leaning over Lin Xi’s desk. “What did you do with the ‘immortal’ for half a period? Were you captured by her charm? Is your little heart going thump-thump…”

As Zhong Sheng chattered away, Lin Xi’s eyebrows drew tighter by the second. She felt like her tail had been stepped on: “Thump what heart?!”

“Why such a big reaction?” Zhong Sheng found the “sweet spot” in Lin Xi’s anger and smiled, raising an eyebrow. “Did it really skip a beat?”

“If my heart stopped beating, you’d be crying right now, okay!” Lin Xi retorted.

It was strange; ever since Lin Xi was young, the ratio of straight girls around her was incredibly low. She claimed she wasn’t interested in men or women, frequently reminding Zhong Sheng—who was always trying to pull her into the “Sapphic circle”—that she didn’t like girls.

Zhong Sheng looked at Lin Xi, her smiling face practically screaming: Really? I don’t believe you.

Zhong Sheng was gay and passionate about recruiting her “top-tier” best friend. Usually, Lin Xi would just roll her eyes. But this time was different. She grabbed the math paper spread out on her desk, folded it, and shoved it into her desk drawer, announcing cruelly: “Don’t even think about looking at my math paper.”

“No, no, no, wait!” Zhong Sheng immediately caved. Her comprehension skills were limited; only Lin Xi’s explanations could make sense of highly logical math problems. “Xi, Xi-Xi, Sister Xi, Grandma Xi…”

“My, Lin Xi sure has a high rank in your family tree.”

Amidst Zhong Sheng’s pleas, Wang Tingxiu’s voice drifted down with a laugh. Zhong Sheng’s heart skipped a beat as embarrassment flooded her. She looked at the shadow on her desk and slowly looked up: “…Teacher.”

“No chatting during self-study,” Wang Tingxiu said, not intending to dwell on it. She tapped Zhong Sheng’s chair, signaling her to turn back around.

“Aye aye, sir!” Zhong Sheng complied instantly, turning back fast.

But in her peripheral vision, she saw a slender, well-proportioned arm reaching toward them. Sunlight swept across the desk, and a beautiful wrist bone radiated a porcelain-white glow. Zhong Sheng lingered on that paleness for two seconds, but before she could settle, she heard Wang Tingxiu say: “Nianyin, you can sit here for now.”

“!”

Zhong Sheng was immediately thrilled, thinking Lin Xi was incredibly lucky. But then, Lin Xi’s voice rose in protest: “Why?!”

Wang Tingxiu looked at Lin Xi with dissatisfaction, pointing to the seating chart: “There are 35 people in the class, and you’re the only one with a single desk. Who else would the new student sit with?”

“You could move someone else here,” Lin Xi said, desperately rejecting the idea of sitting with Gu Nianyin. She looked around and locked onto Zhong Sheng. “Like Zhong Sheng.”

Saying this, Lin Xi grabbed Zhong Sheng’s shoulders and turned her around: “Sheng, sit with me. Would you?”

Zhong Sheng was deeply moved that her best friend would pass up the chance to sit with the new school beauty just to sit with her. “Really? Xi, you’re finally willing!”

She looked at Lin Xi with an exaggerated, ecstatic gaze, as if Lin Xi hadn’t invited her to be a desk mate, but to spend the rest of their lives together: “Xi, you don’t know, I’ve always wanted to be your desk mate! Every time I tried to pick a spot near you, you always chose the back row before I could. Do you know how sad I was…”

Wang Tingxiu stood by with her hands on her hips, her eyelid twitching at Zhong Sheng’s dramatic performance. She looked at the culprit: “Lin Xi, can you not be so—”

Before she could finish, the homeroom teacher of Class 2 walked by the door: “Hey, Teacher Wang, why are you still here? Director Liu just messaged the group for all senior homeroom teachers to meet him for a meeting. Didn’t you see?”

“A meeting?” Wang Tingxiu froze, then saw the notification light blinking on her phone. “Thanks, I’m going right now!”

Her ample time suddenly vanished. Looking at the stalemate between the three students, she ordered: “You three discuss where to sit amongst yourselves. Have it decided by the end of the day. I’ll check during tomorrow’s morning self-study. Got it?”

That “Got it?” was aimed specifically at Lin Xi.

Lin Xi understood and put on a smile: “Don’t you worry about it. Go to your meeting.”

“Hmph.” Wang Tingxiu pointed at Lin Xi from afar, but fearing she would be late, she hurried off.

The class fell quiet again. Most students here cared more about studying, so not many continued to watch Gu Nianyin. Lin Xi openly held onto Zhong Sheng, her head high, looking at Gu Nianyin with an air of “the matter is settled,” waiting for her to concede.

But Gu Nianyin didn’t move. She remained standing by the desk. The surface, now joined with Lin Xi’s desk, was clean and organized, holding her books.

Zhong Sheng, who had been immersed in the excitement of being “chosen,” finally noticed the weird atmosphere. She looked at Lin Xi, then at Gu Nianyin, and offered: “Um, how about you sit in my spot first? After class, I’ll help you swap our desks.”

“Are you sure?” Gu Nianyin looked up, her gaze shifting from Lin Xi to Zhong Sheng.

The September weather wasn’t cold enough for chilling winds, and the sun on the roof was clearly releasing heat. Yet, as Zhong Sheng met those eyes, a cold chill seemed to crawl up from her fingertips. A breeze drifted through the back door into the empty back rows; Zhong Sheng swallowed hard.

It was an unplaceable sense of pressure. Zhong Sheng looked into Gu Nianyin’s pupils in disbelief. She realized, for some reason, that Gu Nianyin’s question was giving her a chance to back out.

Gu Nianyin wanted this spot.

“What are you standing there for? Sit down.” Seeing Zhong Sheng motionless, Lin Xi tried to pull her down to solidify the arrangement.

But the person she was pulling didn’t sit; instead, she practically bounced up. Zhong Sheng pulled her arm out of Lin Xi’s grip and stammered: “Uh, actually, Xi… I think… I’ll stay in front of you.”

“The door is right here and I have… uh, chronic joint pain. I can’t catch a chill.” Zhong Sheng clutched her knees, giving an Oscar-worthy performance as she limped back to her original seat.

Lin Xi was forced to watch this from the sidelines, her face twisted in disgust.

And then, a greater annoyance appeared. With Zhong Sheng no longer blocking the way, Gu Nianyin sat down directly.

Faint golden light spilled across the window. Beside Lin Xi’s shoulder, a scent that didn’t belong to her drifted up. In her peripheral vision, a simply packaged band-aid was pushed toward her.

Gu Nianyin said softly: “Please take care of me from now on, Classmate Lin Xi.”

Support Criticizing Love