Zhou Mianmian couldn't help but step back, her heartbeat a bit rapid.
She was too unfamiliar with this Xie Xiao, and for a moment, she didn't know what to say. Should she speak gently to him as before?
But how should she start?
She opened her mouth, "I... I didn't treat you like an ATM..."
Her face was somewhat embarrassed, yet she insisted, "Those things, weren't they given by you voluntarily? I never forced you."
The meal card was also something you wanted to recharge for me, and the items were ones you bought for me; all that kindness was initiated by you...
Zhou Mianmian didn't understand what had gotten into Xie Xiao, why would he say such cruel things? Why portray himself in such a disgraceful light?
She looked at Xie Xiao, and for the sake of the little face she had left, she said word for word, "It was all voluntary, wasn't it?"
Xie Xiao looked at the girl in front of him, and a surge of anger ignited within him. He was no longer the Xie Xiao who, even after initially lying on the hospital bed and finding out about his paralysis, never blamed her. Instead, he worried about what she would do in the future.
Three years could change many things, although upon just coming back to life there might still have been a filter of sorts.
It can only be said that he was pathetically foolish, and now he had nothing left.
Watching the girl in front of him insisting that she was there voluntarily, Xie Xiao suddenly laughed.
"Right, I was the idiot before, so now I'm not willing anymore. Could you stay away from me? Later, I will ask the teacher to change my seat, and you don't have to always act like a victim. Stop saying those seemingly true yet false words. Zhou Mianmian, I owe you nothing."
"Then what about those two and a half, three years we had before?" Zhou Mianmian couldn't believe what she was hearing, as the students around them looked on as if it was a spectacle.
The cashier at the front desk feared trouble and came over.
As she approached, she heard the tall and handsome boy speak with a mocking tone, "Consider it my bad luck."
Then Xie Xiao, no longer caring what others thought, turned and went to the cashier, and even smiled and said as he passed the cashier, "Sister, let's settle the bill."
Zhou Mianmian felt as if she'd been in an idol drama from the morning, with no end to it. Xie Xiao was annoyed and naturally had no intention of wasting another minute on her.
He felt he was quite kind. All he wanted was to see less of Zhou Mianmian in the future.
He had too many things he wanted to do and didn't want to waste time.
Xie Xiao walked straight out of the convenience store.
Left standing at the original spot, Zhou Mianmian only remembered that mocking sentence, "Consider it my bad luck."
Did her nearly three years of feelings for Xie Xiao amount to nothing but bad luck?
It was as if she returned to her childhood, when the neighbors' voices of gossip echoed, "Having a girl and still treasuring her so much, I heard she has an ill-fated destiny... bad luck..."
"They also said that it was because of buying her a toy that the accident happened... how unlucky."
"Unlucky..."
"Bad omen..."
The slap from her grandmother landed on her face, "A jinx, it's our family's bad luck to have encountered you... why don't you just die?"
At that moment, Zhou Mianmian actually didn't want to cry.
Ignoring the gazes around her, she gripped the bread in her hand and walked out of the convenience store.
Xie Xiao was the first person to treat her so well, and she didn't want to let go of him.
Before, she wanted everyone to like her, everyone to be nice to her.
As a result, she had overlooked Xie Xiao, but now she saw clearly that everyone combined couldn't compare to one Xie Xiao.
She would make it up to him!
After coming out of the small supermarket, Xie Xiao headed to the review building, where it seemed Luo Yanran was on the third floor.
Xie Xiao, holding some items, went upstairs and glanced inside only to find that she wasn't in the classroom.
But Liu Ou was there, and she noticed him.
She therefore took the initiative to come out, "Junior, who are you looking for?"
"Looking for Ranran," Xie Xiao said with a smile.
Liu Ou was momentarily stunned before she realized Ranran meant Luoluo and couldn't help but curl her lips in a smile. Had their relationship become this close after just one outing?
"She's gone to the restroom, but evening self-study is about to start. Are you sure you want to wait?" Liu Ou asked.
"No need, this is for her. Please pass it on for me. I have to go, thank you, senior," Xie Xiao said as he handed over the snacks to Liu Ou. This was just perfect; giving them to Luo Yanran in person, he was afraid she wouldn't accept them.
Now like this, he guessed Luo Yanran would likely reach out to him soon; if he was lucky, he might even arrange another meal together.
He knew her too well; she wouldn't want to take advantage of anyone.
Xie Xiao left the items and ran off.
Liu Ou, holding the snacks, glanced at them, and indeed they were all her best friend's favorites.
But she felt that this best friend's unrequited love journey might be ending soon—if this little junior called Xie Xiao had no interest in Luoluo, she'd stand on her head to wash her hair!
Luo Yanran entered the classroom to the sound of the bell for the beginning of class.
She immediately saw the bag on the desk, her brows slightly furrowed. Before this, people had secretly slipped snacks into her desk, but there weren't many who would brazenly place them on the desk, and why hadn't Liu Ou tried to stop it?
She returned to her seat and asked in a hushed tone, "What's going on?"
They were in a repeat class, where everyone was very competitive, so during evening self-study, it was mainly self-disciplined without much need for teacher supervision, allowing for more freedom.
Liu Ou glanced at her and smiled, then stuck a Post-it note onto the bag, which read, "Your little junior said these are your snacks. Why don't you ask him?"
Little junior? Luo Yanran was a bit bewildered, then somewhat disbelievingly whispered breathily, "Xie Xiao?!"
Liu Ou nodded, and also in a hushed voice, "Yeah, how many juniors do you have? Or you don't want it? If you don't, I might just take it away~"
Of course, that last sentence was just to tease her, and sure enough, before Liu Ou's hand even touched the bag, Luo Yanran had already grabbed it and stuffed it into her desk, the sound of the plastic bag attracting quite a bit of attention from classmates.
Luo Yanran bowed her head, her movements slightly gentler, her heartbeat quickening, and her face feeling somewhat warm.
Only she knew the redness of her face was due to the owner of the bag of snacks, not because of the attention of her classmates.
Her lips curved up ever so slightly; it must be her lucky day.
When Xie Xiao got back to his class, he went straight to the teacher's office, and it was quite a coincidence that today the class teacher was on duty.
When the teacher heard that he wanted to change seats, Mr. Lin was a bit surprised, "Weren't you adamantly against switching before? You said you wanted to tutor Zhou Mianmian?"
Xie Xiao sighed, "Mr. Lin, you've seen it too, it's not working, tutoring is ineffective; I'm ashamed to face the classmates who have faith in me. Lin Yu and I have applied to move to the back, our height is also bothering other students too."
Mr. Lin looked at him and chuckled, "You've had this realization, huh? What's up? Had a quarrel with Zhou Mianmian?"
Seeing Xie Xiao's astonished expression, Mr. Lin looked disgusted, "What don't I know? I just haven't mentioned it, thinking as long as you two don't impact your studies, it's fine. What's this, having a tiff at this critical point? You're in your senior year, it's time to focus on studies…"
Seeing Mr. Lin's face poised to give him advice, Xie Xiao laughed, "Mr. Lin, you've misunderstood. My relationship with Zhou Mianmian is purely platonic; it was before, it is now, and it will be in the future. Right now, my goal is to study hard!"