Chapter 21: Why Did You Slap My Butt?

After using the restroom and washing her hands, Lu Qingyue finally noticed the WeChat notification that Cheng Xingye had just tapped her. She thought nothing of it, holding her phone as she returned to the private room. Passing through the gap in front of Cheng Xingye’s knees, she sat down and casually asked, “Why did you tap my butt just now?”

Cheng Xingye hadn’t had time to explain before Lu Yi, sitting nearby, suddenly turned his head. He looked as if he’d just heard something he absolutely shouldn’t have, his face full of disbelief. “You tapped my sister’s butt?”

Cheng Xingye was speechless. In his twenty-two years of life, he’d never been as dumbfounded as he was now. It seemed that ever since he met her, he was either speechless or on the verge of being so.

Pinching the bridge of his nose with a headache, Cheng Xingye hurried to speak before Lu Yi could murder him, utterly exasperated. “If you want your brother to kill me, just say it outright.”

Lu Qingyue only then noticed the murderous look in Lu Yi’s eyes and quickly grabbed him to stop any impending bloodshed. “He didn’t actually touch my butt! It’s just a WeChat tap!”

Lu Yi was half convinced. Only when Lu Qingyue opened her WeChat conversation with Cheng Xingye for him to see did he finally relax. It was as if he’d just swallowed something inexplicably disgusting—amused and annoyed, he suddenly poked her forehead hard. “Lu Dotdot! What on earth is in your head?”

Lu Qingyue felt quite aggrieved. She was a perfectly respectable girl; if she hadn’t lost a round of Truth or Dare, who would willingly set such an embarrassing tap feature?

Lu Yi finally understood the whole story and, looking over her head, sincerely apologized to Cheng Xingye. “Bro, sorry. I misjudged you just now.”

He’d always considered himself above others, so seeing him apologize was rather surprising to Lu Qingyue. Had he taken the wrong medicine today? He was actually being polite?

But in the next moment, Lu Yi continued in his usual cheeky tone, “With her tiny frame, if anyone claimed they’d touch her butt, I’d suspect she was just trying to flatter herself!”

Lu Qingyue was outraged. There are four types of ‘k’ in the world: spade, club, diamond, and the one where you should just shut up if you can’t speak—Ok?

Fired up by Lu Yi’s provocation, she defiantly straightened her chest. “Who’s tiny? Who are you looking down on?”

She was only sixteen this year—she still had two years to grow! Who could say who would be bronze or king two years from now?

Cheng Xingye initially didn’t want to get involved in such an awkward topic, but when he glanced down, the little girl was puffing out her chest in indignation, determined to win against her brother.

Unable to hold back a smile, he reached out and grabbed her. “Alright, we’re not looking down on you!”

He hadn’t expected Cheng Xingye to suddenly pull her; Lu Qingyue lost her balance and leaned right into him, her chest pressing against his arm.

The moment she leaned on him, she realized something was off. His arm was so firm. Unlike hers, which were soft and unused to exercise—she couldn’t even lift a bag of rice. Were all men this solid? Her cursed curiosity began to swell.

Cheng Xingye quickly withdrew his hand. The dim lighting in the room hid the faint redness blooming at his ears. Meanwhile, the culprit, oblivious, leaned closer to his ear and whispered, “Xingye, why are you so hard?”

This—could you even discuss such a thing with another man?

At that moment, staring into her innocent, clear eyes, Cheng Xingye wondered if he ought to just make ‘speechless’ his mother tongue...

...

After the gathering ended, Lu Qingyue didn’t see the super-firm-armed Cheng Xingye at all for the rest of her holiday.

The National Day break passed in a flash.

Every holiday’s last night, countless people create miracles with a single pen.

Lu Qingyue was no exception. Staying up until dawn to finish her homework meant she couldn’t get up the next morning.

The most dangerous thing in the world is hitting snooze for ‘just a bit more sleep.’

Her ‘bit more’ stretched from six thirty to eight o’clock.

By the time she tumbled downstairs in a panic, the house was empty.

The Lu family valued self-reliance—even girls weren’t given special treatment.

So ever since Lu Qingyue started middle school, no one reminded her to get up or escorted her to school.

Thus, when she dazedly stood at the school gates, the first period was nearly over.

After registering her lateness at the security office, Lu Qingyue slung her backpack and headed upstairs. Just as she reached the classroom door, the bell rang for the end of class.

The Chinese teacher wasn’t strict about discipline. Seeing her standing at the door, the teacher said nothing and left, lecture notes in hand.

But the disciplinary monitor, sharp-eyed, spotted her sneaking to her seat with her backpack and immediately called out, “Lu Qingyue, come sign in.”

Lu Qingyue reluctantly shuffled over, pen in hand, about to write her name on the log.

Suddenly, someone tossed a paper ball in from outside the window, hitting the disciplinary monitor squarely.

Lu Qingyue instinctively turned to look.

The PE monitor from Class 2, who’d confessed to her at the KTV last time, was leaning on the windowsill, grinning lazily at their class’s disciplinary monitor. “Hey, let’s just let it go this time!”

These boys often played basketball together after class and knew each other well.

Immediately, someone jeered, “Xiao Qingrong, you’re so overprotective! Haven’t even caught her yet and you’re already defending her?”

Lu Qingyue, still groggy, heard them calling the boy’s name and turned to ask Zhou Tingting, “Is his name Xiao Qinglong? Like the Azure Dragon from ‘Left Azure Dragon, Right White Tiger’?”

Zhou Tingting was speechless. “Are you a master of misheard lyrics? It’s Xiao Qingrong! Repeat after me: ‘Ong’—Rong!”

Lu Qingyue, exhausted, felt there was no real difference and ignored the teasing, quickly scribbling her name and heading back to her seat to lay her head down.

The first period wasn’t a long break, but she could still nap for ten minutes.

But today was unusually noisy—people chatted and laughed nearby, apparently discussing something about her.

Unable to sleep, Lu Qingyue sat up irritably. She hadn’t expected Xiao Qingrong to still be there, now sitting in the empty seat in front of her, joking with others.

Seeing her sit up, Xiao Qingrong turned and deliberately asked, “Lu, want to have lunch together?”

The nearby boys immediately erupted in a chorus of goose-like “oh oh oh.”

Lu Qingyue calmly tucked her stray hair behind her ear and replied matter-of-factly, “No thanks. I’m broke this month, barely hungry anyway.”

Xiao Qingrong wasn’t discouraged, replying easily, “I’ll treat you.”

Lu Qingyue: “No, thank you.”

Were they even close? Did she need him to buy her food?

Lu Qingyue was clear-headed—she knew it was best not to have too many financial dealings with boys who liked her, lest things become hard to explain in the future.

But Xiao Qingrong, thinking she truly didn’t eat, tried another angle, refusing to give up. “How about, I buy you an ice cream after PE this afternoon?”

Lu Qingyue frowned lightly, still polite as she declined, “No, I have cramps.”

Xiao Qingrong: “Then—”

Seeing he still wouldn’t take the hint, Lu Qingyue couldn’t help but interject, “Dragon—”

Zhou Tingting, exasperated, nudged her and whispered, “Rong. Ong—Rong.”