Chapter 3: Emotions Unravel

Yaqi quietly returned and sat down. She turned her head to look at Liu Ya, who was still sleeping. Remembering Gongyu’s words earlier, her uneasy heart relaxed a little.

‘So that’s it. No wonder Liu Ya reacted that way. I guess being too popular isn’t good… but she didn’t have to be that angry…’

‘No no! I need to be more careful. It’s been years since I last saw Liu Ya, and I don’t want her to hate me.’

‘And now if… if it really becomes like that… ah! I won’t think about it!’

Yaqi quietly stared at the peaceful Liu Ya, and slowly, a smile spread across her face.

‘But I never thought that the sloppy, unwashed Liu Ya who only wanted to play with me would turn out like this.’

‘I heard about it from Uncle Liu, but before meeting her, I was still worried about how she was doing.’

‘Good thing I dared to say hi to her back then. I wasn’t sure, but the moment I saw her, I knew it was her.’

‘Hehe, great! That means Liu Ya must have moved on from her mother’s situation. Since she can go out now, and before it was so hard to get her to leave the house…’

Yaqi looked around to make sure everyone was still sleeping quietly, then turned back. She gently stroked Liu Ya’s hair and whispered softly:

“Liu Ya, you’re amazing!”

She looked around again, confirming no one noticed, then withdrew her hand. She watched for a while longer before slowly lying down on the table. Soon, she was asleep.

After some time, once he was sure the breathing beside him had become steady and even, Liu Ya let out a long sigh. He twisted his body, buried his head in his folded arms, and spent the rest of the long lunch break wide awake.

During the afternoon classes, Yaqi and Liu Ya shared a book. Yaqi could feel countless burning gazes directed at her. Remembering Gongyu’s words, she deliberately kept some distance between them, but Liu Ya leaned closer instead, giving Yaqi a headache.

But compared to that, what really troubled Yaqi was the textbook, which read like a heavenly scripture, and the teacher’s lecture, which sounded like chanting.

The whole afternoon passed painfully in the midst of this chanting. When she came to, it was already evening, time for school to end.

“Liu Ya, see you tomorrow!”

“See you tomorrow!”

The school had both boarding and day students. The day students had already packed up and left, but not without saying goodbye to Liu Ya first. Liu Ya smiled and responded to each one.

Liu Ya was also a day student, but because of student council work, she could stay with the remaining boarders until dinner time. This was the most anticipated time of day for those poor boarders.

Before dinner, there was a 20-minute self-study period with no teacher supervision. Liu Ya usually attended, except when she had to help out elsewhere.

Fewer people meant fewer competitors. After all, every second spent with the top student was precious. Some questions that were too embarrassing to ask in a crowd might accidentally get answered now.

Of course, there were also those with ulterior motives. As the saying goes: “The drinker’s heart is not in the cup.” They would approach Liu Ya under the guise of asking questions, stealing glances at her charming face and inhaling her intoxicating scent.

During self-study, everyone was doing homework. Since it was only the second day of school and nothing much was happening, Liu Ya was also in the classroom studying.

Liu Ya could handle all the homework with ease. Yaqi, on the other hand, looked pained as she propped her head up with both hands.

‘Wuwuwu… why? Why is it that even though I know Chinese characters and letters and numbers, my brain just shuts down when they’re combined?’

‘There’s so much knowledge in the book that I’ve never seen before… Is the teaching pace abroad really that different from back home? And Liu Ya said the school is fast… What am I going to do now… Ah…’

Yaqi felt her head burning. She simply lay down on the table, groaning in false pain.

Liu Ya quietly turned to look at her, let out a contemptuous “hmph,” a smug smile curling at the corner of her mouth.

‘Hmph! Can’t handle even this? Useless… When I started learning from scratch, it was much harder than this!’

‘But it’s good too… Take a good look, Tang Yaqi! I’m doing just fine without you!’

When self-study ended, everyone went to eat. Only Liu Ya and Yaqi remained in the classroom. Liu Ya packed her schoolbag, while Yaqi lay motionless on the table.

Liu Ya put down her book and looked over in confusion. She could faintly hear soft snoring.

‘What the… sleeping like that? Pathetic… It’s embarrassing to even know you… Hmph…’

‘But… is she a boarder? Whatever… None of my business…’

Despite thinking this, Liu Ya’s movements became noisy. She deliberately slammed her books on the desk, making a loud bang. The noise woke Yaqi up.

“Ah… what’s wrong?”

“Hmph!”

Yaqi looked around blankly. Liu Ya ignored her, put on her backpack, and walked around behind her. Just as she was about to leave, Yaqi grabbed her wrist.

“Is school over? Wait for me, Liu Ya…”

“Why should I wait for you? I’m a day student. Besides, if you don’t go eat now, there’ll be no food left!”

“Um… I’m a day student too…”

“Oh, really? Then why didn’t you leave earlier? Day students are dismissed already!”

“Because I saw you hadn’t left… I thought school wasn’t over yet…”

“What does it have to do with you whether I leave or not?”

“Liu Ya…”

Liu Ya shot Yaqi a contemptuous glance, shook off her hand, and prepared to leave. But as she took a step, Yaqi pulled her back.

“Wait…”

“Ah!”

Liu Ya didn’t expect the pull. She stumbled and was about to fall. Yaqi quickly reached out to catch her, but ended up falling into Yaqi’s arms herself. Yaqi’s hands just happened to support the small, delicate mounds.

“Liu Ya… are you okay?”

Liu Ya came to her senses, her face reddening to the roots of her ears. She pushed Yaqi away, stood up, and straightened her clothes. Turning back, she glared furiously, her lips trembling and her eyes watery.

“Tang Yaqi… What exactly do you want!”

Seeing Liu Ya like this, Yaqi panicked. She knew Liu Ya was truly angry now. She quickly stood up and bowed repeatedly in apology.

“Sorry, sorry, Liu Ya! I just wanted to apologize for what happened this morning. I…”

“It’s too late to apologize now! Who do you think you are to me!”

Liu Ya yelled, cutting her off. Tears slipped from the corners of her eyes without her permission. The entire classroom echoed with her shrill, mournful cry.

“Liu Ya… don’t cry… This is such a small thing… I didn’t mean to…”

Liu Ya’s eyes widened in fury as she stared at her. The grievance burned like a raging fire, torturing her nerves. Yaqi’s figure blurred before her eyes, and the tears that had been held back finally broke free, streaming down her face.

Yaqi froze for a moment, then quickly took a clean tissue from her pocket to wipe Liu Ya’s face. But the moment the tissue touched her cheek, Liu Ya slapped it away, sending it to the ground.

At that moment, Liu Ya’s elegant and composed face contorted, as if she had suffered a great injustice. Her resentful gaze grew fierce, and her teeth ground together.

“Tang Yaqi… I never want to see you again!”

With that, Liu Ya turned, pushed open the door, and ran out of the classroom. Yaqi stared at the door swinging back and forth, creaking noisily. She collapsed weakly to the floor, tears silently falling.

Liu Ya wiped her tears as she ran all the way to the small garden by the school gate. She stopped to rest, feeling her useless heart still pounding wildly.

She fought back the tears, raised her hand, and pounded her chest hard.

She didn’t know why, but it seemed to calm her down a little, allowing her to catch her breath.

Liu Ya’s head was buzzing. She took deep breaths and slowly walked toward the gate. She saw a familiar figure waving at her. Liu Ya paused, confused, and walked over.

“Old Liu? Why you? Where’s Aunt Zhao? Isn’t she supposed to pick me up?”

“Aunt Zhao is at home cooking. I happened to be at school today, so I came to pick you up. And… can you at least call me Dad today?”

“Hah, you don’t deserve it…”

“Hmm…”

Liu Ya paused, then continued, “Besides, you know what I mean, don’t you?”

“…Ahaha… Fine.”

Liu Ya’s father smiled bitterly, took her bag, walked ahead to open the car door, and placed it in the passenger seat. Turning back, he noticed Liu Ya’s red eyes.

“What’s wrong, Liu Ya? Have you been crying?”

Liu Ya quickly wiped her eyes.

“Ah, no… Dust from the blackboard got into my eyes while I was cleaning it.”

“Do you need some eye drops?”

“I said it’s fine. It’ll go away soon…”

“Oh, okay. I thought something happened to you… You scared me.”

“Hah.”

“Oh, right! I have a surprise for you today!”

“A surprise?”

Liu Ya didn’t take it seriously and headed for the passenger seat.

“Hey! Wait, Liu Ya! Sit in the back today.”

“Huh? …Fine, whatever.”

Normally, Liu Ya always insisted on sitting in the front passenger seat, as if it were an unbreakable rule. But after everything today, she was too exhausted to care.

Liu Ya walked to the back door, opened it, got in, and flopped her head onto the seat. She closed her eyes and sighed softly.

‘Damn it… My eyes still feel terrible… And my chest hurts too…’

After waiting for a while with no sign of Old Liu getting in, Liu Ya turned her head in confusion. She saw him standing by the car, anxiously looking toward the school, as if waiting for someone.

“Aren’t we leaving?”

“Ah, wait a bit, Liu Ya. We’ll go soon… Hiss… This shouldn’t be happening. Liu Ya’s out already…”

“Ah! There she is! Yaqi, over here!”

Hearing that shout, Liu Ya’s eyes flew wide open. She sat up abruptly and looked out the window. The figure running toward them was the last person she wanted to see right now.

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