Chapter 3: The Most Humble When I Like You (12)

  Gu Xiannian and Du Juan nervously followed behind Teacher Qin, arriving at a secluded corner of the campus.

  Du Juan was anxious and just wanted to hold Gu Xian's hand, but she didn't dare in front of Teacher Qin.

  Teacher Qin's face was gloomy and terrifying, unlike the usual smile that would spread across his face whenever he saw them. Her sharp eyes scanned back and forth between Gu Xian and Du Juan, like a thousand-watt searchlight that seemed to illuminate every dead angle of their souls.

  After a while, Qin teacher slowly asked Gu Xianian: "Where is the mobile phone given to you by Zhao teacher?"

  "Yes!" Gu Xi Nian replied hastily, as if trying to cover up his nervous heart, but it only made him more suspicious.

  He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down and appear as usual. He pulled out the phone from his school uniform pocket and handed it over to Teacher Qin with some hesitation.

  Ms. Qin took over and opened the picture to take a look. Inside, everything had been cleared out. Her eyebrows immediately furrowed, and she asked seriously: "What's going on here?"

  "What?" Gu Xiannian looked bewildered.

  "What about the pictures on your phone? How come they're all gone?" Qin teacher was clearly furious, her voice raised significantly as she stared sternly at Gu Xian Nian.

  "Picture? I don't know. After Zhao teacher handed me the phone, I haven't touched it." Gu Xianyan pushed everything away with just a few words.

  Liar! Mr. Qin quickly made a judgment in his heart.

  She knew that asking further would be futile, after all, the only ones who knew about the photos on this phone were Gu Xian and Du Juan, besides herself, Qin teacher. And Gu Xian was doing this to protect Du Juan!

  Teacher Qin stared at Gu Xian without saying a word, while Du Juan on the side was also extremely nervous staring at him. At first, she was scared to death, deeply afraid that Gu Xian would reveal the truth of the matter. Unexpectedly, at the last moment, Gu Xian actually stood on her side!

  Maybe everything he said before was true, and he didn't like Tang Sugar at all! Also, Tang Sugar is ugly and stupid, who would like her?

  But did Gu Xian like herself?

  Just escaped from the crisis, Du Juan immediately fell into another kind of trouble for girls.

  Mr. Qin's gaze towards Gu Xian gradually turned icy, and he said calmly: "You go back to class first, I still have something to ask Du Juan privately."

  Du Juan's face turned pale with a look of distress as she gazed at Gu Xian Nian, seemingly pleading with him not to leave.

  However, Gu Xiannian only glanced at her and said nothing, turning around and walking away alone.

  Azalea kept watching the back of Gu Xiannian disappear around the corner, before turning her head in a fluster, unintentionally meeting Qin teacher's piercing gaze, which scared her so much that she shuddered all over and quickly hid from her line of sight, lowering her head in guilt.

  "Du Juan, lift up your head. The teacher wants to ask you something and hopes you will tell the truth. Did you really see Tang Sugar causing trouble in the classroom with your own eyes?"

  But Du Juan didn't dare lift her head, she hung it low and responded with a weak "uh-huh".

  Teacher Qin nodded and did not criticize her as Du Juan had imagined, saying "You still lie until now!" But her eyes clearly showed disappointment.

  Mr. Qin straightened his back, seemingly unwilling to look at her again, his eyes gazing into the distance, and said with confidence: "You'd better be responsible for every word you say, I'm not asking you questions without reason."

  After finishing speaking, she didn't even ask her to return to the classroom, and turned around to leave on her own, leaving only Du Juan standing still like a statue, analyzing Qin teacher's attitude and words in her heart. Suddenly, she was shocked, could it be that those photos were kept by the teacher?

  As soon as she thought of this, Du Juan felt her head buzzing, like waking up from a dream, and ran to intercept Qin teacher in front of the office building, staring at her steadily and shouting urgently: "I said! I'll say it all!"

  The sky turned dark, and the summer night bought two boxed meals for dinner with Tang Sugar. Thinking of the doctor's casual mention that Tang Sugar had severe anemia, he also bought several boxes of donkey-hide gelatin oral liquid and a bowl of chicken soup.

  Two people ate dinner in the ward, and Tang Sugar urged him to hurry home. Dad was away on a business trip and tonight coincidentally even Mei Ayi took a leave of absence, leaving only Auntie and young Tang Xin at home. Auntie was timid and would definitely be afraid at night, but Xia Ye, although also just a teenager, was tall and big, and could make Auntie feel more at ease at home.

  "I'm leaving, what will you do?" Xia Ye said with a smile while cleaning up the leftover food from dinner, not wanting to leave at all. A girl hospitalized without even a family member to accompany her was just too pitiful.

  "It's fine, it's not like I have a serious illness that makes me unable to take care of myself. Besides, if something really happens, there's an emergency bell here, and the nurse will come running over as soon as I press it."

  Tang Sugar pointed at a red button within arm's reach on the headboard and said with a smile.

  She paused, her face inexplicably reddening, like the faint red glow on the horizon at dusk, quiet and shy. Her voice also became smaller, and one had to listen carefully to hear: "Besides, a girl is hospitalized, and you, a big boy, staying in the ward for a night is not proper!"

  Xia Ye was taken aback for a moment, and finally understood what she meant. He bent down, brought his head closer, and whispered: "Is it that you sleep very ugly at night? Your eyes are half-closed and half-open, revealing half of your eyeball, which is terrifying. And you also grind your teeth, making a 'zizi' sound. In your dreams, you speak loudly and say strange things?"

  Before Xia Ye could express all the scenes he had in mind, he was slapped on the head by Tang Su's heavy palm, shattering those scenes into dust.

  Xia Ye not only didn't get angry, but instead seemed to have a masochistic mentality, and her mood became even better. She smiled and left, and when she reached the door, she reminded him: "Remember to cover yourself well at night, and notify me immediately if anything happens!"

  "Alright, alright, hurry up and go! If you're late again, you'll get scolded!" Tang Sugar said with a pout.

  When I returned home on a summer night, the house was dark and deserted. I immediately felt anxious. Ever since my mom got hooked on playing mahjong, she had never come back early. She always came back in the middle of the night. But Mei Ayi wasn't around today, who would take care of Xiao Xin?

  He hastily turned on the lights in the living room and rushed into Tang Xin's room. The little guy was already asleep, with tear stains on his face. He must have been locked at home alone by his mother and cried out of fear. Xia Ye's heart ached as he quietly covered him with the quilt that had been kicked to one side, and tiptoed out of the room.

  Just as I reached the door, I heard Tang Xin ask from behind, "Is it brother?" with a thick nasal tone in her voice.

  Summer night turned around, Tang Xin had already sat up from the bed, rubbing his eyes with a pair of small hands. He quickly turned around and walked to Tang Xin's side, hugging him and saying: "It's brother, brother is back."

  Tang Xin cried out as if she had been wronged, "Wa" and burst into loud sobs, her two thin arms tightly wrapped around Xia Ye's neck saying: "Brother, why did you come back so late? Don't you want me either?"

  "On a warm summer night, gently patting his little back, she said: 'Want, brother of course wants our lovely heart-heart, who says no! Mom, when did mom go out?'"

  "Mom picked me up from kindergarten and ran away." Tang Xin pouted and said pitifully: "Brother, I'm so hungry!"

  "Mom didn't cook for you before she left?" Xia Ye asked with a mix of heartache and surprise.

  "Mom said brother will be back soon and asked you to cook for me."

  "I'm really defeated by her!" Xia Ye gritted his teeth and said, picking up Tang Xin from the bed to get him dressed, bringing him to the living room sofa to sit down, and affectionately saying: "Xin Xin, good boy, wait a minute, brother will cook for you right away."

  On a summer night, she cooked a bowl of noodles at the fastest speed and cracked several tender poached eggs into it.

  As soon as Tang Xin smelled the aroma of food, he immediately got up from the sofa and sat properly at the dinner table to eat. Xia Ye couldn't help but laugh and feel a pang in her heart as she placed a large bowl of noodles in front of him, saying "Be careful, it's hot, eat slowly."

  "Ah!" Xi Xin responded with a sound and picked up her chopsticks, eagerly starting to eat. The hot food made her tongue hurt.

  On a summer night, I was so touched that my eyes became moist. I thought to myself, fortunately Tang sugar insisted on sending him back, otherwise this little kid would have gone hungry for the whole night, how pitiful!

  After Tang Xin finished eating noodles, Xia Ye washed him clean and prepared to send him back to his room. The little guy hugged his neck and coquettishly said: "Brother, I want to sleep with you tonight."

  "On a summer night, pretending to be angry, she said: 'No way, you're a big man, you should sleep alone!'"

  The little guy said unhappily: "It's not like that, Dad is a man, why can he sleep with Mom? Why doesn't anyone scold him?"

  She was taken aback by him on a summer night, staring blankly at the small thing in her arms, unable to utter a word for a long time.

  It turned out that Sugar Heart had a mind of his own, and he reached out to pat his head, saying, "It's settled then." Without waiting for Xia Ye's response, he buried his small head in his chest like an ostrich, and before they even reached Xia Ye's bedroom door, he was already breathing evenly and fast asleep.

  The footsteps of summer night stopped in front of the tightly closed door next to hers, which was Tang Sugar's room. She couldn't help but think of her and wonder if she was sleeping soundly in the hospital.

  The three days passed quickly, and on the evening of the day she was discharged from the hospital, Xia Ye came to pick up Tang Su. Auntie, who rarely stayed at home, looked at Tang Su coldly: "You really are a rich young lady, just fainting for a bit and making such a big fuss about staying in the hospital, do you know how much money these three days have cost?!"

  "This money doesn't even come out of your pocket!" Xia Ye said discontentedly to her mother, "Tang Tang is also your daughter, have you visited her once in the hospital these past few days? Have you cooked for her once?"

  The air was filled with the smell of gunpowder, and the timid heart hid in one corner...