Incurable Pain
Chapter 11 - IP Chapter 11
Chapter 11 - IP Chapter 11
Incurable Pain | Chapter 11
That day at the movie theater, the two of them almost parted ways unhappily.
Bai Xunyin returned the exercise book to Yu Luoyin. In the remaining less than half month of summer vacation, she didnât go to the library again. The snail withdrew into its shell at home, silently but clearly expressing its attitude.
She didnât know what Yu Luoyin was thinking, but she had no intention of playing those ambiguous games with him.
Youâre students, so you should do what students are supposed to do â This old and common saying sounded ordinary and trivial, but it spoke of the truth.
Bai Xunyin intentionally tried to forget the days she spent with Yu Luoyin.
If it was about repaying favors, she had done enough.
Yet, despite her rational thinking, she couldnât help but feel a bit uneasy and felt emotionally empty sometimes.
Even Ah Mo could tell that her mood had been low lately.
âYinyin, school starts in two days. Arenât you going out to play?â
Ah Mo came to Bai Xunyinâs house, idly playing with the ornaments on her desk, and asked puzzledly, âWhy have you been staying at home recently? You seem to be in a bad mood.â
Really?
Bai Xunyinâs long eyelashes trembled slightly, and she lowered her gaze without saying a word.
Her slender fingers held a pen, and the tip of the pen stayed on the white paper for quite a while. She didnât know what to write.
Ah Mo didnât understand; she was actually afraid to go outside.
Once she stepped outside, Bai Xunyin would see the bus stop at the entrance of the community, and memories of the time when she took the bus to find Yu Luoyin would flood back.
She always remembered those warm afternoons in the library, the wooden tables and chairs in the pine-scented cubicles, doing problems together, exchanging WeChat messages.
This summer, it rarely rained, and every day was dry and warm.
Unfortunately, the WeChat chat box where she and Yu Luoyin had endlessly discussed problems stayed undisturbed a week ago.
It ended with Yu Luoyin. That distant and indifferent person sent his last message to her last week, with a tone that seemed somewhat annoyed yet restrained.
[Bai Xunyin, why are you avoiding me?]
She didnât reply; that message he sent was left lying there unreplied.
Bai Xunyin didnât know how to respond because she wasnât entirely guiltlessâshe knew she was deliberately avoiding Yu Luoyin.
Because of his ambiguous words, his actions that were both close and distant, and because of herselfâŚ
Bai Xunyin was afraid of being âtempted.â
Yu Luoyin was the dream of all the girls in the school, like the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden. She yearned for it, yet she didnât dare to pluck it.
Her thoughts drifted far away, and Bai Xunyin still hadnât answered Ah Moâs question.
Fortunately, Ah Mo was a carefree and imaginative girl, so she started talking about other things on her own.
But the question still pierced her heart.
âBy the way, Yinyin, you mentioned before that you met a very special person. Who is it?â
Ah Mo really knows how to bring up sensitive topics.
Bai Xunyin frowned and childishly covered her ears.
I wonât listen, I wonât listen, Iâll ignore it.
Ever since she started going to school, just like other children, Bai Xunyin had once developed a reluctance towards school after the holidays.
But even though she had experienced some bullying later at Third Middle School, she had never thought of ânot wanting to go to school.â
âThis was the first time.
After summer vacation, Bai Xunyin had, for the first time, felt a bit unwilling to go to school. She was somewhat afraid of encountering Yu Luoyin at school.
For some unknown reason, she felt guilty.
So she dressed up, had breakfast, but unconsciously dawdled. In the end, Ah Mo had to shout downstairs, and Bai Xunyin finally came downstairs under the slightly astonished urging of Ji Huiying.
âYinyin, hurry up! Why are you so slow today?â
Ah Mo pulled her in a hurry to catch the bus. She chattered on and complained, âUsually, itâs you urging me. Why is it me urging you today?â
It was fortunate to have Ah Mo, chattering on and on. It somewhat eased her anxious feelings.
Bai Xunyin found it strange herselfâshe clearly hadnât done anything wrong, yet she always felt a sense of unease.
âOh, by the way, Yinyin.â
Walking to the campus after getting off the bus, Ah Mo whispered another âbombshellâ to Bai Xunyin, âI heard that Grade 12 might be divided into classes again.â
It seemed like Ah Mo had some relatives working at Third Middle School who managed to get some âinside information.â
Bai Xunyin was momentarily stunned, looking somewhat surprised. Her eyes seemed to be asking: Is it true or not?
âIt seems to be true.â
Ah Mo pretended to be mysterious, shaking her head playfully, âIt seems like theyâre planning to form two top-tier classes, the kind that aims for the top 10 universities⌠You know.â
Elite classes in Grade 12 were set up in many schools.
But she hadnât heard any rumors at Third Middle School before, so were they really planning to divide the classes?
Bai Xunyin furrowed her brows, pondering for a moment, but then she thought it didnât matter. In fact, upon closer consideration, it might even be a good thingâif they divided the classes, she wouldnât have to be in the same class as Sheng Churan anymore.
However, if it was an elite classâŚ
Would she and Yu Luoyin end up in the same class?
Unconsciously, her thoughts drifted to this aspect. Bai Xunyin bit her lip, feeling conflicted, and after a while, she felt that she was worrying over nothing.
She had indeed let a vague piece of information occupy her thoughts, even though she didnât know its source.
But sometimes thoughts seemed to manifest themselves out of nowhere. Just as she was uncontrollably thinking about âYu Luoyin,â she heard Ah Moâs slightly surprised voice in her ear.
âAh, are you the guy from the amusement park last time? What a coincidence!â
Bai Xunyin was taken aback and quickly raised her head. She saw Yu Luoyin and Li Yuan standing at the school gate. Their school uniforms were adorned with the arm badge of the weekly inspection.
Clearly, this week they were assigned to inspect studentsâ appearance and their student IDs.
The morning sunlight was brilliant, passing through the mottled leaves and casting a layer of delicate light onto the young men, as if they were coated in a layer of fine powder.
Yu Luoyinâs pitch-black hair was a bit shorter than before, but his bangs still hung over his ivory-white forehead. His bottomless black eyes swept over, expressionless. When he spoke, Bai Xunyin felt her breath catch a bit.
But he only said three words, his voice light and detached, âStudent ID.â
Bai Xunyin snapped out of it, quickly lowered her head to take her backpack in front of her, and fumbled through her things to find her student ID, feeling a bit flustered and clumsy.
After half a month, meeting Yu Luoyin again felt rather abrupt, leaving Bai Xunyin unable to avoid feeling nervous.
Little did she know that the standing boy cast a quick glance and had already âinspectedâ the contents of her backpackâbooks, a water bottle, nothing extra.
Simple and clean, just like her.
After finally finding her student ID tucked away in a compartment, Bai Xunyin hurriedly handed it to him.
Yu Luoyin glanced at it, then furrowed his brows, âThe cover is damaged?â
Huh?
Bai Xunyin was puzzled. It was true that she had accidentally damaged a corner of the student ID before, butâŚ
âIf itâs damaged, itâs considered invalid and will be confiscated.â
Yu Luoyin pulled the student ID from the girlâs pristine fingers, nonchalantly âclaiming it for himself,â and added, finding a reason to nitpick, âIâll get you a new one.â
âŚ
Li Yuan stood quietly by the side, watching his friend act like a big shot wolf, laughing but not saying anything in protest.
âAlright.â
Yu Luoyin looked around again at the bewildered girl in her school uniform, then nodded âgraciously,â âYou can go in.â
Bai Xunyinâs face turned a bit warm and she quickly walked away without looking back.
Perhaps Yu Luoyinâs gaze was too invasive. He had clearly been checking if her school uniform was neat.
But when he squintedâŚ
Bai Xunyin felt that those sharp eyes could unzip her school uniform and peek inside.
Even Ah Mo felt that there was something off between them. After they entered the school gate, she enthusiastically asked, âYinyin, was that student just now the guy we met at the amusement park last time? Right, right? The one who gave us five hundred yuan!â
âDamn, heâs really handsome. Yinyin, why did he confiscate your student ID just now? Is he interested in you?â
âŚ
For high school students, the most ambiguous question they could ask was âIs he interested in you?â
Just hearing it made peopleâs imaginations run wild, not to mention when the person in question was Yu Luoyin.
With her ears burning, Bai Xunyin couldnât stand it anymore and turned around to cover Ah Moâs mouth.
Finally, the world fell silent.
âBrother Yu, I have to say, you should not be like this when it comes to pursuing girls. Youâre so unlikable!â
The morning break ended. On their way back to the classroom after taking off the armbands, Yu Luoyin and Li Yuan were having a conversation.
The latter couldnât help but give Yu Luoyin some advice, âI mean, why did you confiscate that girlâs student ID? Thatâs so boring. Bai Xunyin is the kind of girl who triggers a protective instinct in peopleâŚâ
Yu Luoyin shot him a look. Li Yuan inexplicably felt like he had been frozen with his glance, so he hastily shut his mouth.
What? Wasnât it a mistake to say Bai Xunyin triggered a protective instinct in people?
âBrother Yu, did you specially request to replace the morning homeroom teacher today just for Little Dumb?â
Li Yuan scratched his head in confusion, âIf so, why didnât you tell her?â
Yet Yu Luoyin just gave a stern look, and Li Yuan oddly felt that his words had frozen for a moment before he managed to shut up.
Yu Luoyin ignored him, simply casting his gaze downward and pulling the student ID he had âconfiscatedâ earlier from the pocket of his school uniform.
He opened it, and Bai Xunyinâs one-inch photo was stuck to it.
The photos on student IDs were usually taken when they entered school. At that time, Bai Xunyin was around fifteen or sixteen years old, looking even more tender than now. She wore a slightly larger school uniform with a loose collar that draped down, revealing the slender line of her neck.
Her face, which looked like the size of a palm, was adorned with a ponytail. She looked small, pale, and delicate. The picture was taken with the simplest background and photography technique, yet she needed no makeup to showcase her unparalleled beauty.
Bai Xunyin had a pair of excellently shaped eyesâlarge but not blank, their lines soft and delicate. Her eye corners were charming, sprouting amorous feelings to those who looked at it, while her gaze remained innocent and pure.
When the photo was taken, there was a peculiar sense of vulnerability in her eyes, as if a thin mist had veiled them.
Yu Luoyin looked at it for a while, then took out his phone and snapped a picture of the one-inch photo.
At that time, it was just a fleeting impulse for him.
But he had no idea that for many years to come, he would stay awake at night gazing at this innocent one-inch photo.