Fighting? Brawling? Since when did I have to hide behind someone else?
It was a terrible feeling. But still, Xia Hua obediently stepped behind Lin An.
“You’re here~” Xia Hua said with a confident smile, as if she had everything under control.
“Yeah, uh—” It was only then she noticed Ji Fan was standing nearby too, so she corrected herself, “Thanks to you as well!”
Xia Hua wished she were a martial arts master— twin swords on her back, roaming the pugilist world.
One day, with sword in hand, she’d rid the world of every unfaithful scumbag…
“I really just want to punch a kid,” Xia Hua muttered, pouting in the direction of Chen Kailun.
That was her most urgent wish right now. She gave her thick-rimmed black glasses a push.
The paint on the frame had started to fade—subtly, but noticeably.
She had worn these glasses for three or five years now and just couldn’t bring herself to replace them.
But none of that dulled her desire to throw hands.
“Xia Hua, don’t provoke them anymore,” Lin An whispered.
Provoke? We’re not even halfway there yet!
You might’ve only known me for three days, but I’ve known you for over ten years already, my dearest friend!!
Creating trouble for her best friend had always been something Xia Hua took immense joy in.
She hesitated for a moment, then pointed directly at Lin An.
With a bright smile toward Chen Kailun and his gang, she said, “That’s right. Now you finally know why I’ve been acting so smug, don’t you?”
“If you want to defeat me, crush me—”
“Force me to admit I was wrong—”
“Then you’ll have to get through him first.”
Lin An: “……”
Xia Hua’s smile right now was absolutely genuine.
But somehow, that very smile pricked at Ji Fan’s heart.
She deliberately skipped over me just now, didn’t she?
Was it because she didn’t want to drag me into this?
But still… why mention only Lin An and not me?
Though really, was it all that surprising?
Because to Xia Hua, Lin An— he was her ‘ten-year’ best friend, after all.
“Of course,” Chen Kailun sneered, like he’d just uncovered some grand secret.
“Since you’re a girl, I’ve held back. But I’ve wanted to punch you for a long time.”
“Boys, teach him a lesson.”
Wait—him? Lin An?
Lin An was completely baffled.
He had come to break up the fight, and now he was the one who needed someone to break up a fight for him.
Especially from that instigator Xia Hua—wait, where the hell was Xia Hua?!
WTF凸(艹皿艹 )凸(艹皿艹 )凸(艹皿艹 )
She… she actually ran off.
“Lin An! Hold them off! I’m going to get a teacher!” Xia Hua shouted from afar.
She waved her hand—without even looking back at the friend she’d just thrown under the bus.
After all, what are best friends for, if not to mess with?
Xia Hua didn’t feel the slightest bit guilty. In fact, she was a little gleeful— gleeful that she’d tricked him again.
Looking back, Xia Hua’s adolescence had been filled with way too much crap.
The fact that her heart hadn’t twisted beyond repair was a sign of her strength.
Though if you asked her, the real reason she didn’t end up twisted—
Was probably because she later met Lin An, and that big goofball… ended up healing her.
“Teacher… southeast corner of the school, over there…” Xia Hua ran breathlessly into the campus security office.
She really needed to fix this whole out-of-breath-after-two-steps problem.
Gasping, she shouted, “They’re fighting! Big group fight!”
“What? What happened?” One of the security officers looked up, confusion on his face.
“Don’t panic, student. Take your time and tell us clearly,” another said.
“What kind of fight did you say it was?”
“A group fight!” Xia Hua exaggerated a little, painting a dramatic picture. “They’re about to kill someone!”
“What?! This is outrageous…” The officers, who had just been relaxing over their goji tea, immediately sprang into action.
A student fight was nothing new but if someone was about to be seriously injured?
That was a whole different story.
A swarm of them rushed out in full force— only to find that the fight had already ended.
Lin An’s black shirt had several white footprints stamped across it.
Chen Kailun’s gang? Long gone.
When Ji Fan saw that Xia Hua had actually come back with security officers in tow, she immediately pulled out her phone and showed them a video.
What could she say? Art students really were built different.
From Ji Fan’s angle, it was clear as day— Chen Kailun’s group had been bullying Lin An.
With that video in hand, there was basically no way Chen Kailun could weasel his way out of this.
“You okay?” Xia Hua glanced at the dusty footprints stamped across Lin An’s clothes and asked.
“I’m fine.” Only after the school security officers had walked away did Lin An lower his voice and say, “It wasn’t a big deal. High school fights are mostly just shoving. You throw a punch, I throw a punch.”
“High schoolers still have a sense of martial virtue, huh?” Xia Hua quipped.
“Pfft—” Ji Fan couldn’t hold back a laugh.
“You’re giving Lin An way too much credit,” Ji Fan teased, smirking at Lin An. “He didn’t exactly fight fair, y’know. He charged right in and started swinging. Beat the guy up without giving him a chance to hit back. Most of those footprints on him? Pretty sure he ran into them himself.”
“I…” Lin An was momentarily speechless.
“And Xia Hua,” Ji Fan added, “it was your mess to begin with, and you just ditched us? That’s kinda low, don’t you think?”
“Ai!” Xia Hua waved her hand dramatically, like someone who had gone through deep inner conflict, then declared, “Fine! I’ll treat you both to jianbing. One each. With sausage. Maximum one sausage per person.”
That hurt. Deeply.
One jianbing cost 6 yuan. Three of them? 18 yuan. That was basically her entire day’s meal budget—gone.
Using the excuse of taking Lin An to treat his injuries, the three of them easily slipped out the school gate.
Standing at the jianbing stall just outside, the only one who looked remotely excited was Xia Hua.
Lin An and Ji Fan exchanged a look.
Then Ji Fan pulled out his phone and tapped open the video—the one of Xia Hua being surrounded.
“If you don’t mind,” Ji Fan said, “I think it’s time you explained what’s going on.”
“A girl being chased by that many guys—you can’t really play dumb about that, can you?”
“It’s not that many guys,” Xia Hua said, accepting her jianbing. She blew on it twice, took a bite, and sighed—it was still exactly how she remembered it. “It was… the whole class. The entire class is out to get me.”
“You could say it’s a bullied kid who finally woke up.”
“As for the details… there’s really nothing much to say.”
“I just didn’t want to vent to you guys, hoping for sympathy or help. Honestly. It’s not necessary. I’ll handle it on my own…”
Sure, she could run for a day. But could she run forever?
Day one, it was about attitude.
Day two— she would face it head on.
Day three, Xia Hua would walk into that classroom with her head held high.
She handed the other two jianbing to Lin An and Ji Fan.
“Anyway, thank you both for today.”
“See you.”
Her voice drifted farther and farther away.
But Lin An and Ji Fan couldn’t help feeling a little melancholy.
Especially Lin An. The jianbing was delicious.
“Hey— was that your girlfriend just now? Who’s paying?” the stall owner called out. “You students are getting worse and worse, huh? Don’t tell me you’re trying to dine and dash!”
“Want me to slap your face on the griddle and make a jianbing out of you?”
Xia Hua hadn’t paid. Fuck. (a plant)