The final class period passed in silent tension between the two deskmates.
Neither knew what to say, so they simply said nothing.
Ye Xingmian occasionally glanced out the window, while Lin Ziyan occasionally stole glances at her profile.
‘I really want to know what’s going through Ye Xingmian’s mind right now.’
‘Is she worried about whether she can leave school safely at noon?’
‘Or is she thinking about Liu Yinuo?’
Lin Zi’s expression dimmed.
A single class period always flies by. When she came back to her senses, the bell for dismissal was already ringing.
Lin Ziyan quickly grabbed Ye Xingmian’s hand.
“Why bother with your schoolbag? What’s so important in there?”
“Wait… I haven’t put on my schoolbag yet.”
Ye Xingmian naturally couldn’t say her phone was hidden inside the schoolbag. Even though Lin Ziyan now probably wouldn’t snatch her phone away without reason like she had imagined before, she still didn’t want to tell Lin Zi.
Lin Zi clicked her tongue in slight dissatisfaction when she saw Ye wasn’t answering. Only after the girl had finished adjusting her schoolbag and put it on, did she take her hand and lead her toward the door.
The school originally had two gates, but for some unknown reason, the side gate had been sealed off, leaving only the main gate for students. As a result, most students didn’t even know a side gate existed.
Lin Ziyan brought Ye Xingmian here, fished out a rusty key from the security booth where weeds were already growing from the walls, and unlocked the rusty iron gate. It made an awful screeching sound when opened.
But coming out from here meant they wouldn’t have to worry about Qin Haiyue blocking the entrance.
Ye Xingmian had never taken this route before. Seeing how skilled Lin Ziyan was, she found it quite fascinating.
Lin Zi usually ate in the school cafeteria, but today she was taking her out to a restaurant. They didn’t have a car and couldn’t walk far, so Lin Ziyan hailed a taxi.
Dragging Ye Xingmian into the car, Lin Ziyan called out to the driver:
“Driver, take us to the nearest shopping district.”
The car started and drove off with the two of them.
Lin Ziyan’s expression was quite smug.
“See? I told you we wouldn’t run into her. You didn’t believe me, hmph.”
Ye Xingmian, however, looked a little nervous.
“Walking out like this… won’t we get caught?”
“Caught? Who would catch us? Why are you such a coward?”
Lin Zi put on a fearless look, as if she had done this many times before.
“Alright…”
Glancing out the window, Ye Xingmian felt a thrill of rebellion for the first time.
But the stronger feeling was still unease.
If they got caught, would she be punished? Would her foster parents hit her? These were all things she had to consider, while Lin Ziyan obviously didn’t.
She looked at the girl beside her, thought for a moment, then decided that as long as she avoided Qin Haiyue, nothing could be worse than being caught by her.
They drove all the way to the shopping district.
The two got out of the car. Lin Zi took out her phone to pay, but suddenly stared at it with a frown and stood frozen in place for a long while.
“Aren’t we going?”
Looking at her, Ye Xingmian found it strange.
“Ah, yeah, let’s go.”
Lin Ziyan took Ye Xingmian’s hand and abandoned the idea of taking her to a higher-end restaurant.
‘She had wanted to take her somewhere nice to raise her favorability or something, but somehow, her money was almost gone. Was it because the holidays were approaching? Or had she been spending too freely lately…’
She didn’t have enough money.
Lin Zi had to settle for second best, finding a restaurant nearby that looked decently decorated, and took Ye Xingmian inside.
The restaurant’s menu was posted on the wall. Lin Ziyan’s heart sank when she saw it.
‘So expensive…’
Ye Xingmian, walking beside her, also felt confused.
“Are we eating here? Isn’t it a bit too expensive? I don’t have any money on me. You’ll have to pay.”
Lin Zi twitched the corner of her mouth, forcing a fake smile.
“No, I still have money. Treating you to a meal is no problem at all. Ma’am, we’ll have one of these and one of these.”
Just two simple dishes cost several hundred yuan, making Ye Xingmian’s heart pound with anxiety.
Although she had been to fancy Western restaurants with Qin Haiyue where meals cost four digits or more, that was Qin Haiyue’s money, so she didn’t have a real sense of it.
But Lin Ziyan was different.
She had lived with the Lin family for over ten years, so she knew their financial situation inside and out.
Though not poor, they were certainly not wealthy either.
Besides, Lin Zi was still a student without any source of income. Spending so carelessly…
Ye Xingmian suddenly had a terrible thought and shuddered.
“Hey, what are you thinking about?”
Sitting down at a random table, Lin Zi noticed Ye Xingmian’s reaction and asked displeasedly.
“Ah… nothing…”
‘Surely she wasn’t thinking that because she couldn’t pay, she’d be pawned off to the shop owner to work off the debt for a few days…’
She herself realized how ridiculous that thought was.
“Tch.”
Lin Zi snorted coldly, listened to the sounds of cooking from the kitchen, propped her chin on one hand, and stared blankly at the street outside.
At this point, the atmosphere fell silent again.
There really wasn’t much to say between them. It was dull and boring.
‘What was she thinking about?’
‘She thought of herself during PE class, helpless and guilty when Qin Haiyue took Ye Xingmian away.’
‘She thought of herself, angry and upset, when Ye Xingmian said she wanted to find Liu Yinuo at noon.’
‘She thought of herself just now, taking a huge hit to her wallet but pretending not to care while ordering.’
‘She felt so conflicted, both sighing at her own powerlessness and feeling frustrated that she couldn’t achieve what she wanted.’
‘And also…’
She looked at Ye Xingmian, who was sitting nervously across from her, fiddling with her fingers.
‘She didn’t know what that feeling was.’
‘When Ye Xingmian was taken away by Qin Haiyue, that feeling of frustration and guilt. And the anger that rose up when Ye Xingmian mentioned Liu Yinuo.’
‘Why?’
‘She couldn’t understand, but one thing was certain.’
‘She didn’t want Ye Xingmian to leave her.’
‘She didn’t want this girl—the one she had bullied since they were young, the one who was weak and timid, and who had now inexplicably become her sister-like figure—to be taken away by someone else and leave her.’
‘But she couldn’t find any legitimate reason.’
‘Lin Zi had rarely felt the emotion called inferiority before, but now she felt it for the first time.’
‘Compared to Liu Yinuo and Qin Haiyue, she really had no strengths, no bargaining chips at all.’
She stared blankly into space until the server came over with the dishes, snapping her back to reality.
In her dark eyes, some kind of swamp-like emotion seemed to be churning.
‘But, she didn’t want Ye Xingmian to leave.’
‘What should she do?’
“Thank you…”
After thanking the server, the girl picked up her chopsticks and smiled at the girl sitting across from her.
“Let’s eat?”
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