Chapter 23 : The Flag Raised in the Last Chapter is Pulled Out in This One

“We have met, but I probably won’t see you again…“

The morning light, filtered through the classroom’s blinds, cast a shadow like prison bars on Bai Ling’s desk.
The murmur from the nightclub stairwell last night still lingered in Bai Ling’s mind.
She pursed her lips, feeling like a fool.

She mechanically twirled a neutral pen, watching as the gold-leaf-like sunlight just happened to fall on the collar of the white shirt of the person in the front row.

‘How could it be such a coincidence?!’

Today was Monday, and it was also the first time their history major class one had a class meeting.
The counselor hadn’t arrived yet, and everyone was sitting in the classroom, chattering and making friends with each other.

The noisy voices in the classroom, mixed with Chengzi’s incessant “savior theory,” fermented in her ears.

“I’m telling you, that girl on the rooftop last night was so cool!“
Chengzi excitedly tapped the table.
“It felt like the kind of savior who would come down from the sky to save me whenever I called for help! Although she looked like she had just crawled out of a river, it didn’t stop her from being cool!“

“Oh… crawled out of a river, huh…“

Su Jiu Li’s page-turning movements suddenly stopped.
She turned her head thoughtfully to look at Bai Ling.

“By the way, she was about the same height as Bai Ling!“

Chengzi also suddenly turned her head, her two hands gesturing in front of her, describing the savior’s figure.
Excluding the exaggerated parts, it was basically a perfect match for Bai Ling.

“How could it be me…“

Bai Ling buried her head under the desk and answered in a muffled voice.

She didn’t dare to look up.
Why, you ask?

‘That familiar back was sitting in the first row! Right in front of her!’

‘What the hell! Lin’an University is so big, why would she be in the same class as Xu Zhi!’

‘Just last night, she had said they wouldn’t see each other again. It had only been one night, and they had met again!’

‘Thinking about it carefully, she had only been in Lin’an for three days, and she had seen him every day for three days!’

‘She had clearly said she wouldn’t see Xu Zhi…’

Bai Ling just felt like an idiot.

‘How could she not have thought of being assigned to the same class as Xu Zhi?’

“What’s wrong with you?“
Lin Xiao Xia, on her left, suddenly leaned over.
The bun she had just put up this morning trembled with her movement.
“You’ll get cervical spondylosis if you keep your head down like that!“

“Leave me alone. I’m a mushroom…“

Bai Ling’s canvas shoe ground out a swirl on the floor.
She muttered to herself, hypnotizing herself, wishing she could curl up in her desk drawer.

This was her habit.
When she was nervous, she would unconsciously grind the floor with the tips of her toes.

“The mushroom should be photosynthesizing!“
Chengzi grabbed Bai Ling’s head and forced it up.
“Quick, see if there are any handsome guys you like!“

Xu Zhi in the front row suddenly turned around, startling Bai Ling so much that she abruptly lowered her head.

“Thump!“

“Hiss… that hurts…“

The desk was nearly dented by her head.
Her beautiful hair cascaded over the desk like a waterfall.

“That sound! It’s like Ancient wood!“

Lin Xiao Xia was amazed that Bai Ling’s head could make such a dull sound.

The other two girls nodded in agreement.

“Doesn’t anyone feel sorry for me…“

Bai Ling stuffed her head under the desk and said in a muffled voice.

“Ahem! Everyone, please be quiet!“
The counselor who walked in from outside the door was wearing a pair of gold-rimmed glasses.
His leather shoes tapped against the classroom floor.
“Hello everyone, let me introduce myself first. I’m our class’s counselor. My name is Zhou Xuan…“

“Wow! Bai Ling-jie, look, a handsome guy!“

Lin Xiao Xia nudged Bai Ling’s waist with her elbow.
This girl’s skill at nudging people in the waist was clearly well-practiced.
The plastic head of Bai Ling’s hoodie drawstring trembled from her elbow.

“I’m not looking. I’m not interested. All the handsome guys can go to hell…“

Bai Ling still had no intention of looking up.

“How can anyone not be interested in handsome guys? And he’s the gentle type. He looks like the kind of character who looks like a top but is actually a bottom.“

Chengzi was quite excited.
Lin Xiao Xia nodded vigorously beside her.

Bai Ling didn’t even know that these two girls could ship any and every couple, even the counselor.

“Now, everyone, please introduce yourselves. Let’s start in order of student number.“

Zhou Xuan on the podium picked up the class roster.

“First up, Bai Ling.“

‘Self-introduction!!!!!!!!!’

‘I’m done for!!!!!’

‘How could I have forgotten about this kind of thing!’

‘What do I do, what do I do, what do I do?’

Bai Ling’s knuckles, clutching the edge of the desk, turned pale.
She felt like she was about to die from a cold sweat.

“Um… I… my name is Bai Ling… that’s all!“

Bai Ling could only force herself to stand up.
She kept her head down, not daring to look up, her words stuttering.

In just a short sentence, Bai Ling felt like she had been talking for a whole year.

When she hurriedly sat down after finishing, her knee hit the crossbar of the desk, and the pain made tears well up in the corners of her eyes.

“He must have forgotten me. He must have forgotten me…“

As soon as she sat down, Bai Ling quickly buried her head in her desk and hypnotized herself.

But what she didn’t see was that Xu Zhi had already turned around to look at her the moment she said the two words “Bai Ling.”

Difficult times always passed slowly.
Bai Ling felt like the half-hour class meeting had lasted a lifetime.

Bai Ling counted the beats of her pulse.
When her pulse beat for the 2,164th time, Zhou Xuan’s announcement of the end of the class meeting exploded like a gospel.

The moment the words “class meeting is now over” sounded, Bai Ling shot up and, in the blink of an eye, was at the classroom door.

“Hey, hey, wait for us!“

Chengzi only saw Bai Ling’s cool retreating figure disappear at the classroom door.

Bai Ling flew through the corridor, the leaves of the potted plants on both sides trembling from the wind she created as she ran.

‘Run, run, run!’

‘Don’t get caught, don’t get caught, don’t get caught!’

Bai Ling buried her head and rushed into the stairwell, but she didn’t expect to run into a broad chest.

The scent of cedarwood, along with a warm breath, instantly drilled into her nasal cavity.

She looked up, and Xu Zhi’s face filled her vision.

‘Eh?’

‘Eh, eh, eh?’

Bai Ling turned her head sharply, accidentally crushing the mottled sunlight in front of the stairs.
The doorway of the stairwell was empty.

She turned her head again.
The cross-breeze from the corridor lifted Xu Zhi’s cuff.

‘Wasn’t this person just in the classroom? How did he suddenly appear here?’

‘Crap! I’ve been caught!’

“Bai Ling?“

Xu Zhi supported her arm and asked tentatively.

The warm touch flowed into her heart through her skin, making one greedy for this trace of warmth.

“Um… hello?“
With nowhere to run, Bai Ling could only answer awkwardly.

“You’re Bai Ling?“

“Should I say… yes… or no?“

Bai Ling wanted to muddle through.

“Do you know me?“

Xu Zhi pointed to his face.

“I don’t!“
Bai Ling shook her head vigorously.

“I see. I’m sorry. I have a childhood friend who is also named Bai Ling. I must have mistaken you.“

Xu Zhi let go of his hand supporting Bai Ling’s arm and watched as the hem of Bai Ling’s clothes brushed past his waist, bringing with it a gust of osmanthus-scented wind.

A flock of white doves suddenly flew past the window.
The “whoosh” of their wings cutting through the air, mixed with Bai Ling’s wildly beating heart, resonated in her chest.
The sunlight, broken into fragments by the iron railing, cast the shadows of the two of them on the fire door.
The scents of osmanthus and cedarwood in the cross-breeze mixed together, sometimes strong, sometimes faint.

“Your childhood friend might…“

Bai Ling’s fingertips unconsciously caressed the stair railing.
She suddenly caught a glimpse of the red string at Xu Zhi’s collar.
The jade pendant that had once hung around her neck for six years was now pressed against Xu Zhi’s skin, its cracks reflecting a warm luster.

That night, this jade pendant had also reflected light like this, but it was the cold light from a blade.

“It’s nothing.“

She suddenly turned her head and walked towards the stairs, the rubber soles of her shoes making a short, mournful sound on the concrete floor.

“Last night, thank you!“
Xu Zhi suddenly shouted.

This shout nearly made Bai Ling, who was about to go down the stairs, stumble.

“I’ve never seen you! You’ve got the wrong person!“

“But I wouldn’t mistake that osmanthus scent. My nose is very sensitive.“

“Are you a dog?!“

“Actually, a dog’s sense of smell isn’t that sensitive. A pig’s sense of smell is the most sensitive.“

“Then you’re a pig!“

Bai Ling glared at him and ran down the stairs, disappearing around the corner.

On the floor above the stairwell, three small heads poked out from the railing.
The peeping girls were crowded together, knocking the emergency exit sign askew.

“The way Bai Ling-jie looked at him was definitely not innocent.“
Lin Xiao Xia, on the far left, smacked her lips.
“His name is Xu Zhi, right?“

“Tsk, tsk, she just got dumped two days ago, and now she’s met a new love. A femme fatale…“
Chengzi excitedly bit her nails.

“I think it’s more like a calamitous love.“
Su Jiu Li rubbed her chin, her eyes reflecting the scene below.

The screw on the sign fell to the ground with a clatter.
The three girls simultaneously shrank their necks.
The morning light shone through the dusty glass window, plating this formal reunion with a mottled luster like that of an unearthed bronze artifact.