Chapter 5 You Will Love Me five
The sun was bright and warm outside, and I lay on the railing outside the classroom, greedily enjoying the warmth of the sun caressing my cheeks. After a while, Xiaoyuan walked out of the classroom empty-handed.
"Did you throw it in the trash can?" I really can't imagine that someone as picky as Hua Ziyin would accept a shirt that is one size larger, not to mention that he specifically emphasized that he wanted the same one last time.
"No!" Xiaoyuan came close to me, "When I said it was you who gave it to him, he accepted it without saying a word and even said 'thank you' to me." Xiaoyuan laughed as she spoke, and a blush floated across her round little face.
"This is weird." I muttered quietly, " What's wrong with Hua Ziyin today?"
"Hexue!" Xiaoyuan turned to face me, her eyes flickering as she looked at me, "I want to ask you a favor."
"What is it? Tell me. Why do you need to 'beg'?"
Xiaoyuan has always been a sensitive girl with a strong self-esteem. In all this time, she has never asked me for anything, so no matter what she says this time, I will agree to her.
"Can you..." Xiaoyuan suddenly lowered her head, not daring to look at me, and said in a very low voice, "Can you help me talk to Hanako Yin and ask him to help me with my homework? Hexue, I don't want to be the 'last' anymore, I don't want to be laughed at as a fool anymore. If possible, I want to apply to a better school in the future. I don't want to see my parents sighing anymore, I also want them to be proud of me..."
I almost blurted out that you don't have to tutor Hanako-in, I can also help you with your studies. But when I saw Xiaoyuan's slightly red cheeks, I decided to keep the words to myself.
How could I not see that Madoka has special feelings for Hanako Yin?
However, I was afraid that if I were to get along with someone like Hanako-Yin, it would be Madoka who would get hurt in the end. But I didn't know how to persuade Madoka to stay away from Hanako-Yin without hurting her self-esteem, so I had to remain silent.
Seeing that I didn't say anything, Xiao Yuan was so embarrassed that tears were about to fall: "He Xue, you have such a good relationship with Hua Ziyin, if you tell him, he will definitely agree. He Xue, please, please?"
"Okay." I nodded. Although I was extremely reluctant to have anything to do with Hua Ziyin anymore, and although I was not sure whether I could convince Hua Ziyin, I still nodded without hesitation.
Xiaoyuan burst into laughter, but I was worried, not knowing whether my decision was right or wrong.
Later, every rainy night, I would filter every detail of our story over and over again, trying to find a turning point for things to develop in another direction. Every time, I would be immersed in regret, regretting that I should not have agreed to Xiaoyuan's request at that time.
Unfortunately, I didn’t know at that time that it was my promise that opened the door to tragedy.
So, after school that afternoon, I went to the parking shed to wait for Hua Ziyin. I waited for a long time before I saw Hua Ziyin slowly coming out with his bicycle. Although he lowered his head, I could still clearly see the scar on his face. I suddenly couldn't say the confident words I had prepared.
I was hesitating whether I should thank him for his help that day, but he walked straight towards me, took out the navy blue shirt from the front basket of the bicycle and stuffed it directly into my hand.
"Don't you think you can find this kind of ordinary shirt even with your eyes closed?" He leaned on his bicycle, tilted his head to one side, and didn't look at me. "How come you didn't even buy the right size? I remember I said it was size L that day. You can't even tell the difference between size L and size XL?"
I was so choked by him that I couldn't say a word of rebuttal. I could only tell the truth: "This shirt is a limited edition and has been sold out a long time ago, so..."
"Didn't they say it was sold out?" he interrupted me, "Where can I get the XL size?"
"Why do you care where it comes from?" I was annoyed by his tone. "Anyway, this is the W brand, navy blue, cotton and linen shirt you wanted. As for the size, I can only find XL. It's up to you to take it or not. If not, I'll pay you for it."
When I said this, he turned his head and looked at me straight, his thin lips tightly pursed, without saying a word.
"What? You don't want to?" I felt a little guilty when he looked at me, "Hua Ziyin, you are not such an unreasonable person, are you?"
"I am such an unreasonable person." He lowered his head and stopped looking at me, pushing his bicycle forward. "I just want you to compensate me with an identical one, and I also know that you can't buy an identical one at all."
I was stunned in place, and when I realized what he meant, I angrily took a few steps forward and grabbed the back seat of his bicycle: "What do you mean?"
He stopped, parked his bike, and looked at me with his arms folded across his chest. As he looked at me, a strange smile appeared on the corner of his mouth: "What I mean is, the night you said you would compensate me with an identical shirt, I went to the W brand counter. At that time, there were only two sizes of this kind of shirt left, S and M, and I bought them all on the spot. So I knew long ago that you could never buy an identical one."
I listened to his words and was so angry that the veins on my forehead were throbbing.
How can there be such shameless people in the world?
"You, how could you do this?" Even someone like me who has seen a lot of ups and downs was about to cry out of anger, "I was wholeheartedly looking for this shirt..."
"Forget it!" He suddenly sighed and grabbed the shirt from my hand. "Although it's an XL size, it's barely acceptable."
"Now, even if you want it, I won't give it to you." I didn't appreciate his kindness and reached out to grab the shirt from his hand. "I'm going to give it back to Xu Yun. As for you, I'll pay you back, even if it's ten times the . You name your price. Anyway, you already have sizes S, M, and L."
I glared at him angrily and reached out to grab the shirt from his hand.
At first, he held the shirt high up, dodging left and right to avoid my snatching, but when he heard me say the name "Xu Yun", he suddenly stopped all his movements, looked at me coldly, and then threw the shirt to the ground in front of me like throwing away garbage, saying disdainfully: "I don't want other people's things!"
I was so angry that I laughed: "It's just right that you don't want it. I can give it back to Xu Yun."
"Okay, remember you owe me a shirt." He pushed the cart forward.
"Well, since I already owe you a shirt--" I stretched out my hand to block his way, acting like a rogue, "I might as well owe you another favor."
Hua Ziyin stopped and looked at me in confusion.
I looked up, not wanting to be servile even if it was a request: "How about helping Xiaoyuan with her homework?"
"What about the benefits?" He shrugged. "Unless you dare to exchange a condition with me, do you dare?"
"What is there that I am afraid of?" Even though I knew he was trying to provoke me, I still agreed to his request because it was the only way to fulfill Xiaoyuan's wish.
"So straightforward?" The corners of his mouth slowly lifted. "Aren't you afraid that someone as unreasonable as me might make excessive demands?"
"Can you?" I also smiled, looking confident, but in fact my palms had already begun to sweat.
"Of course I would—" he drawled, his eyes fixed on my face.
I knew he was waiting for my disappointed or annoyed expression, but I refused to let him succeed. I curled the corners of my mouth and maintained a perfect and elegant smile.
He waited for a while, probably feeling bored, and suddenly said: "But I won't do it this time. Okay, I promise you, I will help Xiaoyuan with her homework."
I couldn't believe my ears and looked at him in surprise.
He suddenly looked at me and smiled, his eyebrows and eyes flying: "I just want to see this surprised expression."
"boring."
I ignored him and strode away. I took two steps and confirmed without looking back: "Remember that you promised to help Xiaoyuan with her homework."
"Of course!" He rode his bike past me as fast as the wind and shouted, "You have to come with me during tutoring. This is the minimum condition. No negotiation."
I stood there in a daze, watching Hua Ziyin's figure slowly blend into the twilight, until only a small black dot remained. Suddenly, a strange thought came to my mind - it seemed as if I could never exclude this person from my life.
