At that, the crowd scattered like birds.
Teacher Fu of Class 1 looked at Su Baixue, Shao Li, and Zheng Xiong, glanced at his watch, and said to Su Baixue, "You go back first."
Then to Zheng Xiong, "I've heard what happened. Which class are you in?"
Zheng Xiong stammered, "Class 10, Zheng Xiong."
"I'll contact your homeroom teacher. Come with me to the office!"
Zheng Xiong scratched his hair irritably and followed the teacher.
Seeing that everyone had left, Shao Li turned back to Class 2 to pack her things. She was also in a hurry to go home.
After she was mostly packed, her deskmate gently nudged her arm and whispered, "Lili, someone's at the door looking for you."
Shao Li looked up and saw Su Baixue's pale face at the doorway.
She picked up her backpack, walked out, leaned against the doorframe, and said expressionlessly, "Something?"
"Thank you." Su Baixue lowered her head.
"I really don't get how you scored so high," Shao Li said impatiently. "If I were second in the grade, I'd walk with my head held high every day. No need to thank me. It was nothing."
Shao Li shouldered her backpack and headed for the school gate. After walking for a while, her clothes were tugged.
She turned around, a little speechless.
"What else do you want? Can you hurry up? I'm in a rush to get home for dinner." The one tugging her was Su Baixue.
Su Baixue looked up, took a deep breath, and said anxiously, "Well... well, can we be friends?" It was the first time she had expressed a desire to be friends with someone.
But Shao Li didn't know that. After hearing Su Baixue's words, she was silent for a moment.
Then she said firmly to Su Baixue, "I'm afraid not. I really dislike your personality. We don't mesh."
Su Baixue heard Shao Li's words and lowered her head again.
Shao Li felt the girl in front of her might cry. That's how Su Baixue seemed to her—always on the verge of tears. Sometimes when she saw Su Baixue eating alone in the cafeteria, she looked very lonely.
So Shao Li couldn't help adding something.
"If I were you, when Zheng Xiong tried to kiss me, I would have slapped him directly. If I didn't want it, I'd tell him loudly, not act all hesitant and uneasy. That way, Zheng Xiong would definitely misunderstand." Shao Li paused. "And Tian Ling said that about you—aren't you angry? She said you say the opposite of what you mean!"
"You sure have a good temper." Shao Li sneered.
Su Baixue lowered her head even more and whispered, "I'm sorry..."
"I'm mocking you, and you say sorry. I'm done." Shao Li didn't want to deal with Su Baixue anymore. "Your sorry is really cheap."
"Thank you." Su Baixue thanked her again. She looked up at Shao Li, her eyes red-rimmed, but surprisingly, tears didn't fall. They just shimmered in her sparkling eyes, wavering, making people's hearts soften, feeling sour and astringent like eating dried tangerine peel...
Ah, dried tangerine peel.
Shao Li inexplicably pulled down her backpack, fished out a pack of dried tangerine peel she had bought, pulled out a piece, and handed it to Su Baixue.
"Are you feeling unwell? Your face was so pale just now, like you were about to faint." Shao Li didn't know why she pulled out the tangerine peel, but since she had, she made up an excuse.
"Have some tangerine peel. I use it to refresh myself."
Su Baixue took it dumbly, "Mm... thank you."
Awkward.
Shao Li pointed at the school gate and said awkwardly, "Then... I'm going."
"Goodbye."
Su Baixue watched Shao Li walk away and looked at the dried tangerine peel in her hand.
Tangerine peel. She had never tried it.
Curiously, Su Baixue picked up the tangerine peel and took a bite... The sourness made her eyelid twitch, and her whole face scrunched up.
She felt more awake.
Her phone lit up, and the special ringtone for Grandma sounded. Su Baixue ran back to the classroom, grabbed her backpack, pushed her stool under the desk, turned off the classroom light, and closed the door.
She ran out of the school gate.
Grandma was waiting for her.
...
There were few people on the bus today. Su Baixue leaned on her grandmother's shoulder, listening to the mechanical stop announcements. As long as her grandmother was there, she felt at ease, her heart very calm.
Su Cui asked softly, "Nothing happened at school today, right?"
Su Baixue shook her head.
She didn't want to worry her grandmother.
But...
Su Baixue looked up at Su Cui's aged face. "Grandma, you told me earlier to make friends. What if the friend I want to get to know doesn't want to be friends with me?"
"Then just let it be." Su Cui yawned. "Friends aren't objects you can grab easily. Fate is unpredictable."
"If there's none, there's none. If there is, cherish it."
Su Cui was sleepy. "Don't overthink."
"Baixue, we're almost at the stop. Wake me up. I'll take a nap."
"Mm."