The School Beauty from the Next Class Insisted I Confess - Chapter 17

Today is the Mid-Autumn Festival, and Xu Qingfeng’s final draft of the script is finally complete.

In the early morning sunlight streaming onto the windowsill, the young girl took off her black-rimmed glasses, revealing delicate features and skin so fair and translucent that no pores could be seen under the sun’s rays, though there were slight dark circles under her eyes.

A vigorous high school student always recovers her energy with a good night’s sleep.

Xu Qingfeng, who had stayed up late writing, experienced the pain of writing a novel for the first time.

Previously, her inspiration flowed easily, confined to short poems, taking at most half an hour of immersion.

The initial draft of the script was similar to the synopsis, without dialogue added yet.

After incorporating suggestions from the club members, she spent last night adding detailed descriptions.

After many revisions and deletions, she was still dissatisfied.

Xu Qingfeng harbored a secret, unspoken desire: she wanted to add some intimate scenes to the script.

As soon as the thought emerged, the two little black and white figures in her mind started fighting.

Little Black: Write it! It’s a heaven-sent opportunity! Are you even human if you don’t write it?

Little White: Absolutely not! Yiqiu considers you a good friend. Is this how you covet your good friend, taking advantage of her overtly without her knowledge? Xu Qingfeng, you must have integrity.

Little Black punched Little White on the head, causing Little White to see stars and become dizzy.

Little Black said: To heck with your integrity.

Little Black pulled out a chibi version of Xia Yiqiu from somewhere and planted a big kiss on her cheek.

Little Black said to Little White: See? Pathetic coward.

“Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah!” Xu Qingfeng screamed, clutching her head, finally breaking free from the fantasy.

How could I have such thoughts? Stop, stop.

But… she really kind of wanted to do what Little Black did.

After receiving feedback from the club members, Xu Qingfeng extensively revised The Silent Quarrel, changing it so that Fu Qingfeng, in her ghost state, gradually leads Shen Yiqiu to uncover the truth, and finally, Fu Qingfeng thanks Shen Yiqiu before leaving.

She sent the script to the actors’ group chat, notifying everyone to start reading and familiarize themselves with the material.

Since this was not a task assigned by the school but a voluntary participation for the Psychology Club, rehearsals could only take place during extracurricular time. The specific schedule would depend on Xia Yiqiu’s ideas.

President Xia decided to hold a vote to gauge popular opinion. The result showed that half agreed to sacrifice holiday time, so, excluding the Mid-Autumn Festival day, they would go to the Psychology Club to rehearse for the next two days.

Fortunately, the poor senior students of Weicheng No. 1 High School would be joining them.

Today, Gao Zhi invited Xu Qingfeng to go to the city center square to watch the fireworks tonight. Her home was filled with many relatives today, and she absolutely did not want to stay there. It was time to go check on her childhood friend, who was almost always alone during the holidays.

The city center square is close to the T-River bank, offering a view of the synchronized fireworks display from the opposite side of the river. The grandest fireworks show in Weicheng, apart from the Spring Festival, was set to take place tonight.

Xu Qingfeng thought about refusing, but Gao Zhi said she had been so hardworking recently, and now that she finally had the idea of relaxing, if Xu Qingfeng refused, she would keep begging.

Gao Zhi had been doing this since childhood; if she didn’t persist, she wouldn’t be able to coax the home-loving Xu Qingfeng out.

Xu Qingfeng was just about to go back to sleep when her phone lit up with a new message.

Gao Zhi: Qingfeng, come pick me up tonight. I’ve never ridden in your car before!

Xu Qingfeng: Okay.

She really didn’t want to discuss it any further now.

As sleepiness crept in, she agreed without a second thought.

On the other end of the line, Gao Zhi was pleasantly surprised. She hadn’t expected to get a ride in Xu Dummy’s car; usually, such a request would be immediately dismissed.

Today, Little Gao wanted to be lazy and just asked casually.

Gao Zhi had her own bicycle, but her neighborhood was too close, making it truly unnecessary, and parking at the school lot would just waste time.

She heard that Xia Yiqiu from the same neighborhood rode home on Xu Qingfeng’s bike every day. She didn’t bother to think about how the two of them lived in opposite directions; she just felt that…

President Xia was perhaps too lazy.

She, Little Gao, could walk those few steps in no time.

Dozing off, she looked up and found it was already dusk. Xu Qingfeng was a little groggy when she woke up.

Did I sleep until evening?

I think I saw Gao Zhi say I need to go pick her up.

Checking the phone messages again.

Yes, it was true, she had agreed.

After a moment of silence, she got out of bed, tidied up, casually threw on a jacket, and prepared to leave.

Xu’s parents were not home tonight, but she still informed them before heading out.

Weicheng’s nightlife was vibrant and varied. Xu Qingfeng just passed by the city center square and saw the bustling night market and the colorful lanterns celebrating the festival. Although it was still far from the time for the fireworks display, many people had already gathered there, waiting for the fireworks show.

She continued cycling forward, expertly entering the neighborhood and riding to the entrance of Gao Zhi’s house, a place she hadn’t visited in a long time.

Gao Zhi was already waiting for her, waving from a distance, jumping up and down, full of vitality. She was dressed brightly and cheerfully, completely shedding the slump from a few days ago.

After Gao Zhi’s relentless phone harassment and pleading, Li Tian had agreed the day before the Mid-Autumn Festival to allow one call per week and to stop bothering her.

“Qingfeng, you rode so fast!” Gao Zhi shouted. She had only just received Xu Qingfeng’s message that she had set off.

Gao Zhi mounted the bicycle directly onto the back seat. Her unreserved seating was unlike Xia Yiqiu’s side-saddle. She wasn’t holding onto anything, arms spread, anticipating the wind of freedom.

Gao Zhi patted Xu Qingfeng’s back.

“Let’s go, Rider Qingfeng!”

Xu Qingfeng was truly speechless. Let’s go.

With a strong push of the pedal, the bicycle sped forward rapidly.

“Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Isn’t that a bit fast?”

Gao Zhi nearly fell backward and quickly wrapped her arms around Xu Qingfeng.

In a house a hundred meters away, on a road outside, Xia Yiqiu was casually looking at the script, her back to the window, thinking about the time management for tomorrow’s specific tasks.

I wonder what Qingfeng is doing.

Speak of the devil, turning around, she looked up and saw Xu Qingfeng carrying Gao Zhi, who was hugging her waist—what a sight of youthful spirit.

Xia Yiqiu sighed internally, her eyes filled with disappointment as she stared intently at their receding backs. The printed script in her hand was carelessly tossed aside.

After a moment of staring blankly, she sat on the balcony chair, looking at the osmanthus trees by the roadside, lost in thought.

Her backseat isn’t just mine.

Right, I’m just her friend.

What she was longing for was like a sentence she heard in a video long ago.

The young idol in the video said to her fans in her Cantonese opening line, “Qingfeng carry your heart, the bicycle backseat is waiting for you.” [1]

If only Xu Qingfeng’s bicycle backseat could be exclusively hers.

She knew, of course, that nothing could happen between Gao Zhi and Xu Qingfeng, but the hands wrapped around the other person’s waist were so glaringly conspicuous.

That action seemed to be reminding her that what she perceived as closeness all this time was, after all, just a matter of course behavior between good friends in the other person’s eyes.

She was so disheartened.

It’s easier for girls to get closer due to their shared gender compared to other types of relationships, but harder to reveal their inner feelings. Most people only see them as good friends, and even the parties themselves may not be able to distinguish between friendship and love. But if they were of the opposite sex, it would probably already be love.

However, the road is long, and there is still time.

Anything is possible.

Xia Yiqiu was truly mistaken. Xu Qingfeng’s bicycle backseat, aside from the accidental Gao Zhi, currently belonged only to her. Even that embrace lasted only a few seconds, which she happened to catch, causing this usually cheerful and outgoing girl to be uncharacteristically melancholic.

“Xu Qingfeng, why are you riding so fast?” Gao Zhi complained to the person in front of her.

Xu Qingfeng’s mood had improved, and a smile was on her face. She thought she had just seen Yiqiu’s back. Too bad she was reciting, or she could have said hello.

“Customer Gao Zhi, this rider is rushing to deliver you for self-pickup at the night market food stand.” It was clear that she liked to joke when she was happy.

Images of the night market delicacies flashed through Gao Zhi’s mind, making her mouth water.

“Then hurry up! I can accept that.” For this, Gao Zhi intentionally grabbed the bike frame with both hands.

“Faster, faster.”

“Food and fireworks, here I come!”

Xu Qingfeng maintained her current speed.

Fireworks are boring.

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