Chapter 61: Damn Capricorn

He stopped attending his previous tutoring class.

The teaching assistant had urged him several times, but Ji Xinshen never replied.

Instead, he walked into another newly established training center.

The people here had contacted him, offering him free master-class lessons and a thirty-thousand-yuan bonus if the institution could use his name to advertise and recruit students, along with an additional one-hundred-thousand-yuan bonus if he topped the college entrance examination next year.

Ji Xinshen listened in silence and requested a formal contract.

The other party was somewhat surprised, but they did not refuse.

Using the reputation of a top student from the elite high school to recruit students was far more cost-effective than scattering advertisements everywhere.

Although the master-class lessons Ji Xinshen attended for free were taught reasonably well, they still fell far short of the instruction at his previous institute.

However, he was not too worried.

Even without significant improvement on his part, others would still find it impossible to catch up to him.

It was not merely a matter of differing degrees of effort, but a chasm in intelligence and comprehension.

The only thing he remained confident in was his academic performance.

……

He used his grandmother's bank account to receive the money, keeping the whole matter completely hidden from his father.

How tragic that a father and son had reached such a point.

Yet he and his grandmother had to survive, and the Lin family had made it clear they would no longer provide financial support; he could not simply stand by and watch his future be compromised.

On the public bus ride home.

As Ji Xinshen gazed at the diverse array of people outside the window, an indescribable sense of desolation settled in his heart.

It turned out that Lin Shu had always been the buffer for the conflict between him and his father.

Without her, he would have to face his gambling-addicted father directly, no longer able to play the role of the filial son due to conflicting interests.

……

Yet, wasn't Lin Shu doing it of her own accord?

Why was she able to bear the pressure in the past, but unable to do so now?

People, truly, changed far too quickly.

……

His phone vibrated.

Ji Xinshen unlocked it to find a message from Huang Pingting.

Huang Pingting: I am still fifty yuan short for the supplementary study materials. Can you return the money you asked me to advance earlier?

Ah.

Here was another woman who revealed her mercenary nature after the slightest probing.

She often asked him for help with academic problems, yet she actually had the nerve to ask for the return of a little over a hundred yuan she had advanced.

Ji Xinshen initiated a transfer.

Huang Pingting accepted it in a split second.

Huang Pingting: ……Ji Xinshen, you're not angry, are you? My family is very strict with my allowance, otherwise I wouldn't want to ask you for it.

Ji Xinshen: Mm, I forgot about it. You should have mentioned this money sooner.

Huang Pingting sent a lengthy explanation.

The densely packed text was utterly annoying to look at.

He deleted the chat history.

Glancing at the dozen or so girls in his contact interface, a sarcastic smirk curled the corners of his lips.

Every single one of them was sickeningly polite when asking questions, secretly liking his moments on social media and posting attention-seeking photos, yet when it mattered most, not a single one of them was of any use.

Hah.

Women.

Ji Xinshen deleted the chat logs one by one, until he reached the very bottom where Lin Shu was… The interface still remained frozen on the message he had failed to send.

The bright red exclamation mark looked unspeakably harsh to the eyes.

He swiped left.

Yet he failed to delete it.

Scrolling upward, he could still see traces of the gentle and considerate girl from the past.

Lin Shu: I left breakfast in your locker. Drink the soy milk first, as it will spoil by noon. Today's sandwich is beef flavor, oh~

Lin Shu: Your desk lamp isn't easy on the eyes. Let's replace it with a new one; you must take good care of your vision.

Lin Shu: Wow, the math problem Brother Gang assigned today is something only you can solve. When will I ever be as amazing as you ദ്ദി ˉ͈̀꒳ˉ͈́ )✧

Lin Shu: Remember to wear your thermal underwear…

Lin Shu: How about changing your hand cream to green tea scent? I heard the girls say they smelled flowers on you. Sorry, I just love jasmine too much.

Lin Shu: Finally, vacation time yaaaay~ Want to go out and play? KFC soft serve cones are half-price!

Lin Shu: Zhou Ya stopped talking to me… Sorry, I shouldn't be telling you this; it's my personal business.

Lin Shu: Don't take Grandma's calcium pills at night!

Lin Shu: Don't work too hard, you look so exhausted.

Lin Shu: Ji Xinshen, one day you will achieve great things, I believe in you! Don't mind what other people think! Keep it up!

……

So much nonsense.

Nagging just like a mother.

And in the end, abandoning him just like a mother.

……

Hah.

Women.

……

An auntie in the neighboring seat handed him a tissue, looking at him with concern.

"Child, why are you crying? Did someone at school bully you?"

Ji Xinshen touched his face, only to find it wet with tears.

How could he have been crying completely unaware?

Lately, thinking of Lin Shu would fill him with an unbearable, uncontrollable sadness, as if they were already separated by the boundary between the living and the dead, forever unable to return to the way things were.

How strange.

Even his dreams were a chaotic mess, always raining, accompanied by a pale hand falling outside a white shroud.

Ji Xinshen refused the tissue offered by the auntie, wiped his face with his school uniform, and got off the bus.

……

Sports Day.

The music began blaring early in the morning.

Lin Shu's backpack was stuffed to the brim with Red Bull, electrolyte water, chocolate, and single-serving tubes of glucose.

Zhou Ya had brought some wind-oil essence; one sniff was truly invigorating.

The morning events were scheduled to wrap up quickly.

Jump rope was held in the morning.

Lin Shu stood on the sidelines shouting at the top of her lungs, cheering not only for Zhou Ya, but also for the perennial good guy Ah Bing.

Zhou Ya jumped fiercely.

Ah Bing jumped miserably.

"My god, Ya, you're the group runner-up and seventh overall in the women's jump rope! You get a certificate and a prize!"

Clutching her lower right abdomen and panting breathlessly, Zhou Ya could only wave her hands dismissively.

Ah Bing sat slumped directly on the ground.

Several boys laughed and joked while pouring water over him to cool him down, nearly dying of laughter.

Finally catching her breath, Zhou Ya asked, "The track and field events are about to start. Aren't you running the 800 meters? You'd better get going."

Lin Shu instantly felt like her soul had left her body.

Handing her backpack to Zhou Ya, she walked over to the soccer field and joined the main group for stretching.

Help.

Could they just start running already?

This pre-match warm-up was the most nerve-wracking part; her intestines were tangling together, her heart wanted to leap out of her chest, and her brain felt like a pot of boiling eight-treasure porridge.

"I'm dead, I'm dead…"

Before the race had even begun, Lin Shu's face had already turned ashen white.

"Hey you in front, don't just stretch your legs. Move your neck and shoulders too."

A familiar male voice drifted over.

Lin Shu widened her eyes and turned her head.

Xie Buchend was warming up right behind her.

"Ahhhhh! Brother Chen!"

"Oh, it's Brother Chen again?"

Lin Shu's eyes gleamed brightly, as if she had just spotted her savior.

Without wasting any breath on her, Xie Bucheng reached out, grabbed Lin Shu's arm, and helped stretch her shoulders and neck.

"Lin Shu, your shoulders are so stiff, like a seventy-year-old's…"

"Why are your arms entirely made of fat? Is there not a single muscle?"

"Your feet are so tiny. Don't take steps that are too big later, or you'll trip."

……

Lin Shu pressed her lips together, staring dead-eyed at Xie Bucheng's name tag.

Damn delinquent brother.

Truly deserving of death.

No one in this lifetime had ever slandered her like this; even Ji Xinshen didn't have a mouth as poisonous as this brat.

No wonder Capricorn guys had such a terrible reputation.

Once this little mouth opened up, who could possibly handle it?

"Don't tie your shoelaces like that; they'll easily come undone…"

The boy squatted down, untied the laces of Lin Shu's athletic shoes, pulled out two loops with his slender fingers, wrapped them around each other, and pulled them tight in the middle, instantly producing a neat, secure bow.

He patted her lower leg, looked up, and mocked with a smirk, "Did you see that? Tie them like this from now on."

As their gazes met, Lin Shu's exploding heartbeat and tangling intestines instantly settled down and behaved.

A weightless, floating sensation began to ferment.

It felt.

Mm.

It felt… like being in heaven.

……

Poor Lin Shu, who had lived two lifetimes only to experience for the very first time how wonderful the dopamine of mutual affection could be.

Really, she looked completely dazed, her eyes shimmering with rippling waves of light.

⁽⁽ଘ( ﾟωﾟ )ଓ⁾⁾

Aww—

So touching, it felt like flying.

……

(°ー°〃) (On the surface)

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)✧ (In reality)

……

Someone, uh, never mind, better not say it.