Chapter 14 : Interlude: I Thought You’d Slap Me

“Wow, Ye Qingshu, you’re amazing.”

In the changing room, as Ye Qingshu slipped into her tennis outfit, a classmate’s envious voice rang out.

“You’re only a first-year, and you’re already hanging out with Yang Xinwei-senpai… If that ballet girl found out, she’d probably puke blood.”

“Right? She acts all high and mighty because her family’s got money, looking down on everyone, but Senpai ignored her and went for Ye Qingshu. Guess that settles who’s the first-year queen bee?”

“I’ve always thought Ye Qingshu was prettier! That girl struts around like she’s a little swan, but she’s just a smug cuckoo.”

“Haha, cuckoo’s too harsh—magpie, maybe~”

Ye Qingshu, adjusting her skirt hem, gave an embarrassed smile.

“Come on, ‘queen bee’? You guys are too much.”

Her reaction only made the girls’ teasing grins widen.

“You say that, but your eyes are practically sparkling like a rainbow bridge~”

“But since we’re tagging along to play tennis with Senpai’s group thanks to you, we’ll let you off the hook for now.”

“Hey, what if Yang Xinwei-senpai fell for Ye Qingshu at first sight?”

That comment sent a wave of panic through Ye Qingshu, and she hurriedly said, “D-Don’t talk nonsense!”

But the girls, barely half a year into middle school, dove into the topic with gusto.

“Didn’t Senpai have a girlfriend? That third-year basketball team manager?”

“That’s just a rumor, right? I heard it was more likely that cheer squad girl from the last sports festival. People saw them in the school grove a few times~”

“That short-skirt girl? No way! Senpai’s probably single, right?”

“Wait?! So he might actually like Ye Qingshu?”

“Maybe~”

As the chatter grew wilder, Ye Qingshu’s face burned red.

“You guys! Can you stop being so gossipy?! Acting like it’s a done deal—aren’t you bored?”

“Okay, Ye Qingshu, what if Senpai does like you? What then?”

Huh?

Ye Qingshu blinked, her mind flashing to someone’s face.

Not Yang Xinwei, of course.

“I-I’d obviously…”

Under the girls’ envious and slightly jealous stares, the word “reject” wouldn’t come out.

“Wow~ She’s blushing and quiet!!”

Her few seconds of hesitation triggered a massive uproar in the changing room.

“N-No, it’s not like that! Seriously, you guys!”

“Then, Ye Qingshu, do you like someone else?”

“I… I…”

Ye Qingshu instinctively glanced toward the badminton court, her heart pounding like it might burst.

“No way there’s a better guy than Yang Xinwei-senpai.”

“But her childhood friend, Mu Ziqing from our class, isn’t bad, right?”

“He’s still no match for Senpai, though.”

“Haha, it’s definitely not that Zhu Hanqi who’s always bugging Ye Qingshu. He’s so clingy. Sure, you grew up together, but don’t you find him kinda annoying? Always asking you stuff, acting all buddy-buddy.”

Faced with a classmate’s matter-of-fact question, Ye Qingshu opened her mouth, subconsciously gripping her skirt.

“Uh, no, well… I guess… sometimes it’s a bit bothersome…”

No!

That’s not what I wanted to say!

But… if I argue back now, they’ll think I’m with Zhu Hanqi…

If they tease me about him.

Ye Qingshu’s mind flashed back to Senpai’s earlier expression and words.

“You’re friends with a guy like him too?”

I don’t want to be lumped in with that kind.

…

“Ye Qingshu!”

About to step out of the classroom, she heard a hushed call from behind.

Her heart stirred. She stopped, turned, suppressing her unease and guilt, and looked at Zhu Hanqi, who was watching her cautiously.

That expression took her back to their first meeting, when he’d shown the same wariness and timidity.

Noticing her awkward look, Zhu Hanqi froze, then spoke in a casual tone, as if nothing was wrong.

“I asked you to pick up that shuttlecock this afternoon, and you totally ignored me. So cold!”

Thank goodness, he’s joking with me.

Relieved, Ye Qingshu was about to revert to her usual self when a classmate suddenly linked arms with her.

“Pick it up yourself. You’re a big guy—got no hands or feet?”

Huh?

Staring at the girl clinging to her arm, Ye Qingshu’s mind blanked.

Who?

“I-I just thought Ye Qingshu was closer…”

Zhu Hanqi’s face reddened, flustered by the accusation.

He’d only wanted to give her an out, but now that out was being used against him.

“Closer what? You’re always bothering Qingshu—helping with homework, borrowing notes, and now even picking up a shuttlecock? Why should she?”

The girl hugged Ye Qingshu’s arm, acting like she was standing up for her.

“I-I…”

Seeing Zhu Hanqi’s pleading look, Ye Qingshu opened her mouth to defend him, but the afternoon’s group of girls piled on.

“Wow, Zhu Hanqi, you’re kinda pathetic.”

“Seriously? Qingshu’s nice, but you can’t keep relying on her.”

“Clinging like that when she didn’t help you once? Kinda low-class…”

As if instinctively stepping back, Zhu Hanqi’s eyes showed a mix of fear and unfamiliarity with the environment.

Mu Ziqing, who’d eaten Ye Qingshu’s bento and taken sick leave early, wasn’t there. None of the class’s boys spoke up for this unremarkable guy.

Especially since he was already envied for being close to the prettiest girl in class.

Everyone watched like it was a show, as if observing a trapped animal, curious about his next move.

“No, I was joking, I… Ye Qingshu, I was just…”

I know! I know you were giving me an out!

But the girls’ righteous indignation on her behalf made it impossible for her to say it.

“Qingshu?”

The final straw came at the critical moment.

Yang Xinwei strolled over from the hallway, greeting them with a smile.

“I asked Xiaowan to check if you’re coming to the new tennis group meeting, but I didn’t hear back, so I came to see.”

He curiously eyed Zhu Hanqi, surrounded by girls, and Ye Qingshu, who seemed both protected and controlled.

“Isn’t that the badminton guy from this afternoon? What’s going on?”

“Senpai! Judge this! Even if they grew up together, this guy can’t keep making Ye Qingshu do stuff for him. He got mad just because she didn’t pick up his shuttlecock!”

“That’s a bit…” Yang Xinwei frowned, giving Zhu Hanqi and Ye Qingshu a once-over.

“Even if you’re childhood friends, still…”

With Senpai’s arrival, people from other classes and grades gathered.

“Wow, Yang Xinwei-senpai? Why’s he in first-year?”

“Defending some first-year girl, I heard?”

“So K-drama! Who is it? The ballet girl?”

“No! The one playing tennis with Senpai this afternoon! Ye Qingshu, I think?”

“So jealous… What about the guy they’re ganging up on?”

“Oh, him? The orphan guy, no parents. Last parent-teacher meeting, Ye Qingshu’s mom stepped in for him…”

“Poor guy. Probably got unrealistic hopes because of her mom’s kindness. Poor Ye Qingshu, suffering for it.”

…

That’s right.

It’s all Mom’s fault.

If she hadn’t been so kind.

I wouldn’t be here, surrounded, judged like some zoo animal.

Snap.

In that moment, the string in Ye Qingshu’s mind broke under the growing noise.

“Zhu Hanqi.”

She looked up softly, seeing the shock on the boy’s face.

He was like a cornered lamb, and she held his dignity and pride in her hands.

“Can you stop always relying on me and my family?”

…

Looking at the girl gripping her collar, Ye Qingshu smiled.

It was the kind of self-mocking smile she often saw on her childhood friend.

“I thought you’d slap me.”

She looked at the girl before her—more beautiful, kinder, standing higher on the social pyramid.

This person’s so good. Just hearing about this, she’s angry for Zhu Hanqi.

“After I told my family about this, my little sister slapped me.”

Ye Qingshu said softly, touching her still-red cheek.

“No hesitation, right in front of Mom, crying her eyes out as she slapped me.”

Then Mom took her and left, as if abandoning their daughter.

“Why did you do it? Why say something so cruel?”

Letting go, Shen Yingxu slumped onto the couch, looking at Ye Qingshu with complex eyes.

“Because I’m vain.”

Ye Qingshu laughed. “Vain to a nauseating degree. Acting like I didn’t care, but I was the one who looked down on Zhu Hanqi the most.”

She tilted her head up, staring blankly at the ceiling.

“That day, when I got home, Yushu brought back a cookbook, saying Zhu Hanqi asked her to give it to me. It was hard to find, something I’d mentioned in passing when I started cooking. He probably meant to give it to me himself when he called out to me.”

“I know he’s always like that—sarcastic and sharp-tongued on the surface, but it’s a habit to protect himself from others’ cruel words. Behind it, he quietly cares for those he values…”

“After that day, we stopped talking or meeting offline. Online, just his occasional holiday greetings, group-sent to my family… In the same class, we became the farthest strangers.”

“But what right do I have to complain? I brought it on myself.”

Ye Qingshu lowered her eyes, looking at Shen Yingxu.

“That’s most of what happened between us. I’m really tired… Can you leave now, Class President?”

A deathly silence lingered in the room for a long time.

Until.

“…One more thing I need to clarify.”

Shen Yingxu shook her head gently.

“What?”

“About what those rumors said—please tell me, which parts are true, which are false.”