Chapter 78

After School

“Raina, I heard some guy from Class Three confessed to you?”

The one asking was a girl who’d stayed back to help clean the classroom.

“…”

Raina froze for a second. It was the girl who’d played Zhu Yingtai at the school anniversary. After that performance, the two of them had gotten pretty familiar.

“Mm…”

She nodded.

“I heard he even wrote you a love letter?”

“Eh? Uh… yeah…”

She hadn’t told a single person, but somehow it had still spread to her class.

“There’re still guys who write love letters these days… Did you say yes?”

“…”

She smiled bitterly and shook her head.

During lunch break today, she’d worked up the courage to go to the next classroom. She’d just wanted to quietly hand over the reply she’d written yesterday. But even so, it had still triggered a round of whistles and teasing.

So embarrassing…

“Figures~”

The girl thought about it, then rose on tiptoe to wipe the blackboard with her towel.

“Your brother’s so handsome, your standards must be pretty high too, right?”

“…”

Raina paused with the broom in her hand for half a second, then continued sweeping.

“That’s… not the same thing.”

“Really?”

“Mm…”

She thought for a moment, then added,

“Besides, the final exams are the day after tomorrow…”

“Whoa, I totally forgot till you mentioned it…”

The girl slapped her forehead.

“I’m doomed, I’m doomed. Later, can I borrow your notes to look over~?”

She put her hands together in a begging pose.

“Oh. Yeah.”

“Hehe, thanks~”

…

Thinking about it that way—

Once finals were over, next semester they’d be in their senior year.

A year wasn’t that long.

Where would she be this time next year…?

…

Forget it.

For someone like her who was never good at thinking about the future, overthinking was pointless…

…

The final exams still arrived right on schedule.

Two full days of tests packed the timetable to the brim, grinding away at the students’ willpower.

But agony was always short-lived, because the end of finals meant only one thing:

Summer vacation.

…

“How’d you two do?”

The moment they finished the last subject, Tong Xiaoling ran over to Raina.

If she was the one taking the initiative to ask, then it was obvious—she’d probably done pretty well herself…

“Mm… I’m a lost cause. There were quite a few questions I wasn’t sure about…”

Lin Ruoxi said with a wry smile.

She’d missed two weeks of class; it seemed it had taken a bit of a toll.

“What about you, Raina?”

“Me? No idea…”

She said that as she slid her unused textbooks into her backpack.

“There you go again. If you did well, just say you did well~ ‘No idea’ my butt, fake much!”

“…”

Raina was speechless and ignored her.

Maybe because she focused too hard during exams, every time she finished one, she never remembered much of the content…

“Summer vacation starts tomorrow~ Got any plans?”

Tong Xiaoling looked at the two of them with bright, eager eyes. That was clearly what she really wanted to talk about.

“Mm…”

Raina thought for a moment.

Uh… she could practically see the luxury cram-course package her mom had prepared for her.

“I’ll probably be at home most of the time…”

“Uh… What about you, Ruoxi?”

“Me? Hmm…”

Lin Ruoxi propped her chin on her hand and thought it over. After a while, her expression suddenly lit up and she clapped her hands.

“Right, I’m going back to my grandma’s place in the countryside with my sister!”

Thump, thump, thump—

Tong Xiaoling suddenly started smacking the desk.

“You two are unbelievable! Are you competing to see whose life is more boring?”

“Eh? Is that… bad?”

Lin Ruoxi looked at her, confused.

“Ladies, please~~~ You’re high school girls! Can you aim a little higher, huh?!”

Tong Xiaoling swept them both a dramatic, judging look.

“…”

“Then what do you want to do?”

“When it’s summer, it has to be sunshine, beaches, and swimsuits!”

“The seaside…?”

“Yeah! Just picture it: strolling along the beach at dusk, running into some mysterious handsome guy, fireworks reflecting on the water. You look at him, he looks at you… your eyes meet, you fall into each other’s arms, and then… you kiss and create a memory that belongs to summer!”

“You’ve been watching way too many movies…”

Raina half-lowered her eyelids and looked at her.

Since when did Tong Xiaoling get this dra—romantic?

“Right, Ruo—”

She turned her head and saw Lin Ruoxi’s eyes sparkling gold.

“A summer memory…”

“Hey…”

“That’d be so nice~ Raina, let’s go to the beach!”

“…”

Brainwashing complete.

“Hehe, that’s two votes against one. Decision made~”

“Then… I’ll go home and talk to my parents first.”

In the end, it was something that cost money. It wasn’t up to her alone.

“I’ll be waiting for your good news~”

As Tong Xiaoling spoke, something else occurred to her.

“Oh right, don’t forget to bring that dog of yours~”

“My brother…?”

“Yeah, it’s dangerous for three young girls to go out by themselves! Logically, we’ve gotta bring a police dog along~”

Police dog…

“Eh?! Brother Nan is going too?”

Next to them, Lin Ruoxi let out a little squeak, then seemed to realize something and quickly covered her mouth.

“Is there a problem with that?”

Tong Xiaoling looked at her suspiciously.

“N-no! I don’t mind…”

Her voice grew smaller and smaller as she spoke.

“My brother still has to work. And he’s the only guy—he might not even want to go…”

Raina thought for a bit, then added that.

“Mm… What if we ask Mr. Wei to come too?”

Lin Ruoxi suggested.

“Oh, good idea! Brother Wei teaches PE, he’ll be great at carrying stuff!”

Perfect. Another pack mule added to the roster.

…

…

Ring ring ring.

The phone went off.

Samson Nan finally stopped his pen and fished his phone out from under a pile of messy documents.

He glanced at the screen.

“Annoying, naggy, never-shuts-up little sister — a.k.a. wife” was calling.

“…”

That’s what it said.

He stared for a second, then turned his head.

Only then did he notice Li Xing next to him, hunched over and shaking, a hand clamped over his mouth.

Samson suddenly remembered he’d lent this idiot his phone earlier.

He didn’t say a word. He stood up and headed for the balcony.

As he walked past Li Xing, he drove his foot hard into the guy’s chair.

…

“Hello, wif— I mean, Raina?”

“Bro, I wanna talk something over with you…”

Her voice came through the line.

“Go on.”

“Um… I’m planning to go to the beach for a few days this summer with Xiaoling and Ruoxi.”

“Yeah? Sounds good. Go for it~”

He’d never liked the idea of her staying cooped up at home all the time. It was good for her to get out and walk around.

“Did you talk to Mom and Dad?”

“Mm, they said okay…”

She hesitated, then added,

“Um, do you want to come?”

“Need me as your bodyguard?”

“…”

Could this guy read minds…?

When the other end went quiet, he sighed and kept talking.

“I can go.”

“Don’t you have work?”

“I’ll take time off.”

…

She went quiet for a moment.

“That doesn’t seem right…”

She muttered under her breath. Making him take leave for something like this felt a bit wrong.

“It’s fine. Things are pretty slow lately~”

His answer was exactly what she’d expected.

“Mm…”

Sometimes, being able to guess what the other person would say wasn’t fun at all…

Did this count… as a kind of cheating too?

…

…

When the day of the trip finally came—

The weather forecast hadn’t lied. It really was a blazing sunny day…

They were braving that scorching heat just for a few brief, cool days by the sea.

Raina wore a sunhat and a light-colored summer dress, pulling her suitcase behind her as she walked to the meeting point Tong Xiaoling had told her.

She’d heard Xiaoling’s dad had arranged a car to pick them up there.

But it looked like… she was the first one to arrive.

Better find some shade and wait…

“Ah, sorry!”

Someone bumped her from behind.

She turned around.

“…”

And froze.

“Raina?”

The girl in front of her had her hair in a ponytail and was also dragging a small suitcase.

“Sis Luo Jia…?”

Raina stared at her, a little surprised.

“Thank goodness. When I saw no one else here, I thought I’d gotten the time wrong~”

“…”

Now this was someone she really hadn’t expected to see…