Ch. 16
Bai Yexi walked over and handed a glass of water to Shi Qingning.
The exquisitely shaped glass was filled with fragrant and sweet honey water. The light-colored liquid was swaying gently, emitting a warm and light glow, looking particularly beautiful.
But except for Bai Yexi, no one paid attention to the glass of water.
Shi Xiaolin lowered her head again and again, almost burying her face in her chest.
She stretched out her right foot, which was now stepping on the tip of Kong Que’s shoe, full of resentment.
Kong Que pulled twice but failed to pull it back, so then he gave up and stopped moving and began to pretend to look at the scenery.
The first person to break the silence in this corner was Bai Yexi.
His voice was nothing but calm, “Is it cold?”
This question was obviously directed at Shi Qingning as he took the cup of water.
Shi Qingning was a little dazed. Before he could think about how to explain, he was asked a question. He instantly became incoherent, and could only say a few words.
“Not cold.”
“Auntie said that honey cannot be mixed with hot water.” Bai Yexi said lightly, “But it is good for the stomach.”
Shi Qingning looked at him and blinked slowly as if he was still digesting the other person’s words.
His eyelashes were naturally curled, so when he blinked, it was like a pair of golden feathers rubbing against one’s heart, making one feel itchy.
Instinctively, he followed the other person’s lead and took a sip. After the warm water moistened his throat, Shi Qingning finally got himself back.
He smiled and said, “You also have a drink.”
The sweet liquid soothes the slightly dry lips and tongue, and the light mint aroma dispels the sweetness of the honey itself. It instead tastes a bit like lemon. For Shi Qingning, this was perfect, as he would not feel good if it was too hot, or it would irritate his stomach if it was too cold.
But the temperature of this glass of water was just right.
Shi Qingning took another sip, and the two people who were pretending to be ostrichs slowly reacted and found that Bai Yexi didn’t seem to have the intention to mention the shocking words of ‘supporting him’ at all.
They didn’t know if he didn’t hear them clearly, or that he simply didn’t care.
Kong Que looked at Bai Yexi for a while, and the more he looked, the more he felt that something was strange.
For some reason, he always felt that Bai Yexi looked familiar.
However, after searching through his memory, Kong Que still couldn’t find this face.
Logically speaking, someone so conspicuous should be hard to forget once you have seen him.
Kong Que thought about it for a while but couldn’t come up with anything.
But after being stared at by him for such a long time, Bai Yexi didn’t even raise his eyes, not reacting at all.
This kind of indifference and coldness increased the familiarity that Kong Que felt, so he ended up asking subconsciously.
“Your last name is Bai?”
“Yes.” Shi Qingning answered for Bai Yexi, “Bai from the word cypress.”
“What’s wrong?” he asked. “Do you know each other?”
“No.” Bai Yexi said concisely.
Kong Que held the corners of his lips with his fingers and shook his head, “No, just asking casually.”
Bai Yexi raised his eyes and glanced in the direction of Madam Shi, then said to Shi Qingning.
“Auntie said she’ll take you to meet some friends later after you finish this drink.”
“Oh,” Shi Qingning smiled, “Then I’ll go over now.”
He drank a few more sips of honey water, put the cup on the table, then stood up. Bai Yexi raised his hand and took the book on Shi Qingning’s lap, put the book vertically in the bookcase beside him, and also handed him a tissue.
These movements were skillful and natural.
The two of them got up and walked towards Madam Shi together. Shi Xiaolin had already raised her head and was looking at their backs, slightly dazed.
She had not yet thought about the identities of these two people in her story regarding the prince and the knight, but now after seeing Bai Yexi’s actions, Shi Xiaolin suddenly made a new discovery.
All in all, this was actually the second time Xiaolin saw her cousin after he recovered.
She was too young when she had seen him before the last time, and her memory was very vague.
Shi Xiaolin remembered that he was a sickly little brother who was even more delicate than girls. Her parents always told her not to bump into him because this little cousin was in a very poor health.
The vague memories and the teachings of her elders made Shi Xiaolin mentally prepared before coming.
She had even made a plan to protect the other party.
When he appeared in front of her, he was still the same as before, pale and thin.
But not weak.
Shi Xiaolin was completely convinced after chatting with the other person once, and wholeheartedly regarded him as her idol.
In front of her, although Shi Qingning was weak, he was an absolutely amazing teacher.
Just like an older brother, although he was not.
But her cousin and Bai Yexi were almost the same age.
Shi Xiaolin suddenly discovered.
Obviously, it was her cousin who helped and saved Bai Yexi, at least in the terms of status and circumstances.
But it seems that Shi Qingning is the one who is being taken care of.
“Strange…” Kong Que’s voice came from beside her.
When Shi Xiaolin turned around, she saw Kong Que still looking at Bai Yexi’s back, as if he was thinking about something.
“Hey, what’s wrong with you?”
Shi Xiaolin was puzzled.
“You don’t really know Bai Yexi, right?”
Kong Que glanced at her and said, “I don’t know him.”
Shi Xiaolin was puzzled, “Then why did you ask his last name just now?”
“The surname Bai is not common, right? Is there any famous person with the surname Bai?”
Kong Que pinched two candies and turned them around in his hands, then gave the same answer as before.
“Just a casual question.”
Shi Xiaolin had an expression that said ‘I don’t believe you’.
“You are so cunning how can you just ask this casually?”
“…Middle school student, please don’t use idioms carelessly.”
Kong Que said.
“Besides, just because his last name is Bai, does that mean he must be related to some famous person with the same last name? My last name is Kong, so do I have any relationship with Confucius 1Confucius (Kongzi) was a 6th century BCE Chinese philosopher. His thoughts, expressed in the philosophy of Confucianism, have influenced Chinese culture right up to the present day. – Google?”
Shi Xiaolin looked at him in disbelief.
“Confucius’s last name was Zi! You illiterate!”
After she finished speaking, she stood up, took a few steps back exaggeratedly, and ran away.
“I am going to stay away from you! Otherwise, my grades will be ruined by you!”
Kong Que: “…………”
He touched his eyebrows and glanced in the direction of Bai Yexi.
He always feels that this person’s demeanor is not like that of an ordinary person of their age.
But since their relationship was not that deep and they just got to know each other.
Kong Que thought.
Maybe it’s an illusion.
When Shi Qingning went to look for Mother Shi with Bai Yexi, he hesitated for a moment and decided to explain himself first.
“Mint.”
He called out to Bai Yexi as they were walking towards the corridor. There were not many guests nearby so their voices would not be heard by others.
“What Xiaolin said just now was just a joke. I don’t have such an intention.”
Be it love or wanting to keep him as a mistress, these words are not something that can be laughed at casually for Bai Yexi, the character in the novel who went through several terrible emotional experiences.
“In my heart, we have always been equals. I hope you don’t misunderstand me because of that joke.” Shi Qingning said.
The young man pursed his lips tightly, his expression extremely serious as he looked up at him with extremely focused eyes, his gaze sweeter than even the most expensive honey in the world.
Bai Yexi’s breath quickened imperceptibly, as his wrist moved slightly.
His Adam’s apple bobbed slightly before he spoke.
“I know.”
He raised his hand, took out a tissue that he had apparently conjured out from somewhere, and wiped the slightly wet corners of Shi Qingning’s lips.
“It doesn’t matter.”
“I’m okay with it.”
Shi Qingning took the tissue, his eyes still on Bai Yexi.
“You……” He sighed.
He always feels that Bai Yexi doesn’t care much about this kind of potentially harmful things.
So, Shi Qingning repeated it again, “I won’t do that, don’t worry.”
Bai Yexi’s eyes moved and he paused for a while before speaking.
“……Um.”
Shi Qingning saw that he finally showed some signs of emotion and continued to explain.
“I was just telling Xiaolin and the others that I wanted to go to high school with you.”
“You should be in the first year of high school now, right? This way we can go to class together, and there won’t be people like Jian Ren causing trouble anymore.”
Having said that, Shi Qingning simply asked the other party for his opinion.
“What do you think?”
Shi Qingning remembered that in the novel, it was mentioned that in order to take care of the sickly son of the An family, Bai Yexi was unable to go to school.
He also did not have any experience regarding the normal school life of a student.
At this age, one should be able to study without any worries.
However, after listening to what Shi Qingning said, Bai Yexi did not show much emotion.
He just answered him quickly.
“I’m not going.”
