Chapter 24: Love Letters and Homework
Xiang Yang was about to ask Hou Xingrou why she was suddenly interested in Fu Guanxian's affairs, but before she could ask, Xing Zhaoyan walked over, “Xiang Yang!”
“Did you find the book you were looking for?” Xiang Yang didn't expect him to be so quick.
Xing Zhaoyan nodded with a smile, “Yeah, I did. Is this your friend?” He looked at Hou Xingrou pointedly.
Hou Xingrou looked at Xing Zhaoyan, he was tall and lean, with well-defined features. She said to Xiang Yang with a puzzled expression, “So you have other friends you made a date with?”
“No,” Xiang Yang explained, “I met him just now. By the way, let me introduce you, this is Hou Xingrou, my junior high school classmate, and this is Xing Zhaoyan, my high school classmate, our class monitor.”
After hearing Xiang Yang's introduction, Hou Xingrou immediately exclaimed, “Wow! The class monitor? That's amazing! Nice to meet you, I'm Hou Xingrou.”
Xing Zhaoyan also smiled and greeted her, then asked Xiang Yang, “When are you two going to leave?”
“This afternoon.”
“Oh, okay.” Xing Zhaoyan said, “Then let's have lunch together later, I'm also planning to stay in the library for a whole day.”
Xiang Yang had never eaten out with a boy before. Hearing Xing Zhaoyan say this, she immediately looked at Hou Xingrou. Hou Xingrou pondered for a moment, then smiled and said, “How about this, maybe next time we have time we can have lunch together?”
Xing Zhaoyan naturally understood her rejection and didn't push it. He said, “That's fine. Then I'll go over there to read.”
Xiang Yang nodded and agreed.
After they left, Xiang Yang unconsciously breathed a sigh of relief. Hou Xingrou teased her, “Why are you so nervous? Did something happen between the two of you that I don't know about?”
“No,” Xiang Yang immediately denied. It was just that he seemed to be at odds with Fu Guanxian earlier, and if she had lunch with him later, she felt like something was off.
Hou Xingrou didn't know about the involvement of Fu Guanxian, so she said, “If nothing happened, why did you look so awkward when he said he wanted to eat together?”
Xiang Yang truthfully said, “I've never eaten out with a boy before, it always feels weird.”
“What are you afraid of? It's not just the two of you, there's me, the third wheel!”
Xiang Yang said, “I don't know, I'm just not used to it. Besides, we only met recently.”
“Oh, okay, but I think he looks pretty good, and he's the class monitor, and he's good at his studies. You can ask him for help with things in class later. He's definitely better than that annoying Ding Wanjun.” Seeing Xiang Yang was silent, Hou Xingrou continued, “But you really are something, you still don't get used to saying no after all these years? If you think it's too hurtful to directly reject him, then be more tactful. If you're tactful and he still doesn't give up, then be firm and direct! Xiang Yang, you don't have to always be a good person, you need to look out for yourself a little.”
Xiang Yang sighed silently in her heart, yeah, she's just not assertive enough.
Hou Xingrou had taught her, and Xing Zhaoyan had also reminded her. She remembered their words firmly, “Okay, I understand! I'll try to say no!”
“Okay, FIGHTING 💪!”
After finishing reading in the afternoon, when Xiang Yang returned home, she discovered an uninvited guest. Fu Guanxian was sitting on the sofa in the living room, casually flipping through the TV channels. He seemed to be disinterested in watching television, and Xiang Yang stood at the doorway for a while, watching him switch channels several times, each time barely glancing at the screen.
Her parents weren't home, and the housemaid must have been busy in the kitchen. Xiang Yang looked at Fu Guanxian's back, thinking to herself, should she walk over? Or should she sneak upstairs and quietly return to her room?
But even though Fu Guanxian didn't turn his head, he knew she was back.
“How long are you going to stare at the back of my head?”
Xiang Yang heard his voice and thought for a moment before slowly walking towards him. She didn't look at him, and after sitting down, she asked, “What are you doing at my house?”
“Can't I come to your house?” Fu Guanxian put down the remote control, leaned back, and lazily asked her.
Xiang Yang looked at the fruit on the table and asked again, “How long have you been here?”
“You guess.”
Guess what!
Xiang Yang asked directly, “What do you want?”
“I have a lot of things to do. Which one should I start with?”
“What things?” Xiang Yang remembered there was no outstanding business between them.
“How about we settle the score, what's your relationship with that Xing Zhaoyan?”
Xiang Yang frowned at Fu Guanxian, “What do you mean by that?”
“What do you think it means?”
“Just say what you want.” She didn't like playing riddles with him because she knew she wasn't his match.
“I just said it.”
Xiang Yang silently looked at him.
Fu Guanxian lowered his voice and asked again, “Who is that person?”
“Xing Zhaoyan.”
“Do you think I'm asking for his name?”
Xiang Yang was annoyed, this guy was intentionally picking a fight, wasn't he?
“What do you want to know? Xing Zhaoyan is our class monitor. I happened to run into him today, there's nothing else. If you're interested in him, why didn't you ask him yourself? Or I can ask him for you on Monday in class.”
In response, Fu Guanxian snorted coldly, “Xiang Yang, I discovered you can actually twist black into white.”
Xiang Yang didn't refute him. This kind of thing wasn't something he was good at? She was at most just “like a person near vermilion gets stained red, like a person near ink gets stained black.”
Seeing her silence, Fu Guanxian finally said, “Keep your distance from him. I can tell that guy's not good.”
Xiang Yang really wanted to retort, “I don't think you're any better, so can I keep my distance from you?” But right now, she could only filter this thought in her mind.
They suddenly both ran out of things to say. Besides the entertainment news playing on the TV, the only sound in the living room was the tick-tock of the clock.
After a while, Fu Guanxian said, “Do my weekend homework for me.”
She looked at him blankly and said, “I have a lot of homework too.”
“Then work harder, finish it today and write your own homework tomorrow.”
Xiang Yang was reluctant. “I really can't do your high school homework.” She thought he had given up on this idea, but he came back with a vengeance.
“If you can't, look at it more. You'll learn it.” Fu Guanxian picked up the remote control again. “Your schoolbag is here, hurry up and do it. I have to go back after I'm done. By the way, all the homework is in my notebook, just follow it and do it.”
Xiang Yang didn't move.
Seeing that she was still motionless, Fu Guanxian suddenly laughed and asked, “Are you waiting for me to carry you upstairs?”
“You...”
“Or do you want me to go upstairs and write with you?”
“You're thinking too much!” Xiang Yang stood up angrily, reached out to grab his black schoolbag, and found it was a bit heavy.
Fu Guanxian frowned when he saw her pick up the schoolbag and sarcastically said, “You eat so much every day, what do you do with it all? You can't even carry a schoolbag! You're simply wasting food!”
Xiang Yang gritted her teeth. Hmph! It's not like I'm wasting your family's food!
Xiang Yang took his schoolbag back to her room. She didn't want to do his homework, but thinking back to the situation just now, she felt he was prepared, if she didn't finish it for him, he might stay overnight.
She thought, I'll just endure it, this will be the last time!
So, she opened his schoolbag, and as soon as she did, two or three envelopes fell out. The envelopes were pink and light blue, obviously the kind of things girls would use.
Xiang Yang bent over to pick them up from the floor. She saw that some had a heart drawn on them, and some even had the words “Fu Guanxian received” written on them. She was slow to react, then finally understood that this was the legendary love letter?
Xiang Yang couldn't help but laugh. Fu Guanxian actually received love letters!
Although she really wanted to open them and see who wrote them to him, out of respect for privacy, Xiang Yang didn't open them.
She took the envelopes and ran downstairs to find him. Suddenly, she remembered the question Hou Xingrou had asked that morning - did Fu Guanxian have a girlfriend?
Although she wanted to know the answer to this question, for some reason, she wasn't interested in asking him herself. She didn't want him to hold it against her later.
“Your things!” Xiang Yang put the two or three envelopes on the glass table in front of him.
“What things?” Fu Guanxian put his crossed legs down and asked.
“You can see for yourself.”
Fu Guanxian glanced at them and said, “Are you sure these are mine?”
“They fell out of your schoolbag, are they mine?”
Fu Guanxian smiled slightly at her, his tone slightly drawn out, “Maybe they are?”
“What would I write this to you for?”
“Who knows? Maybe it's because I'm handsome.”
“Heh...” Xiang Yang stood up, “Anyway, I gave them to you, you deal with them yourself. Don't lose them and then blame me.” After saying this, she didn't wait for him to open the letters and went upstairs.
Halfway up the stairs, Xiang Yang turned back secretly from the landing. She saw him reach for the envelopes, open one, and look seriously at the contents of the paper inside.
Xiang Yang couldn't help but think to herself: “He still dares to say it's not his, he's looking at it quite seriously now!”
But she didn't know that after Fu Guanxian finished reading, he tore up the paper and all the envelopes and threw them into their family's trash can.
~~~~~
Author's Note:
Fu Guanxian, did you receive a love letter from your childhood sweetheart?
Fu Guanxian:
Hehe, a love letter? I have a letter of self-criticism!
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