Serenade

Jin Xi was afraid of Bo Yan's "strawberry" offensive, and had avoided him for several days, not daring to be alone with him. Even when they walked together, if things went slightly awry, she would hurry off.

At dusk, Jin Xi was having dinner with her roommates in the cafeteria, and happened to run into Qu Xuan Xuan.

Qu Xuan Xuan was wearing a pink dress, with her smooth long hair draped over her shoulders.

Facing her rival, Chu Zhao naturally did not have a good expression. She tidied her hair and began carrying herself with composure. Even her eating became dainty bites. She was like a little porcupine with all its quills raised, fully armed and focused on the enemy.

Jin Xi greeted Qu Xuan Xuan, who simply brought her tray over and sat down next to them.

On her tray were two sweet potatoes and a plate of boiled cabbage.

Jin Xi asked, "Are you only eating this for dinner, senior sister?"

"I've been on a diet all this time, I have no choice."

"But senior sister, you're already so slim, you don't need to diet."

"No, I'm almost 90 pounds now, I have to control it."

Upon hearing this, Chu Zhao set her fried fish fillet back down with her chopsticks.

She had lost her appetite for this meal.

The girls exchanged glances. Since no one felt like eating anymore, they might as well leave quickly.

But just then, Qu Xuan Xuan received a phone call—

"I'm still eating."

"Okay, see you later."

"I know, I'll take a walk and come by afterwards."

Her voice was melodious, her standard Mandarin contained some coquettish tones.

After hanging up, Qu Xuan Xuan smiled at everyone and said, "That was your Coach Xu."

Upon hearing this, Chu Zhao dropped her chopsticks to the floor.

An awkward silence lasted for several seconds.

Jin Xi picked up Chu Zhao's chopsticks and quickly defused the situation, "You've dropped your chopsticks so many times today, just like a child. Can't you eat properly?"

Chu Zhao found it very difficult to keep pretending that nothing mattered. She looked at Qu Xuan Xuan and asked, "Are you two together?"

"No, what are you thinking? He asked me to go jogging at night. I've been too busy these past few days to make time. Now that I'm finally free, I agreed to exercise with him."

Under the table, Jin Xi squeezed Chu Zhao's hand. It felt icy cold, and sweat had already oozed out of her palm.

"Senior sister, we can all see that Coach Xu likes you." Lin Luo was a straightforward girl and just decided to bring everything into the open today: "Senior sister, what do you think?"

Qu Xuan Xuan smiled, "Oh my, you're thinking too much. He just asked me to go jogging, nothing else."

Jin Xi gently patted the back of Chu Zhao's hand. Chu Zhao understood her meaning—

You can never wake someone pretending to sleep.

The undercurrents between the girls remained hidden beneath the sweetest, most proper smiles.

They did not pursue the matter further. After all, Qu Xuan Xuan had not done anything wrong. She was the one being pursued and had the right to choose.

The mood at dinner turned bleak and tasteless. Chu Zhao took a few bites then put down her chopsticks.

As they were leaving, Qu Xuan Xuan said to Jin Xi, "I haven't congratulated you and Bo Yan yet for getting together."

"Oh, thanks..."

Before Jin Xi could finish speaking, she heard Qu Xuan Xuan say, "He really cares a lot about you. To win you back, he actually jumped down from the wall and injured his leg. That kind of courage and guts, most men don't have."

"What did you say?" Jin Xi was shocked, "Did you say he did it on purpose?"

"Yes. I heard it from Coach Xu himself." Qu Xuan Xuan deliberately glanced at Chu Zhao and said, "Jumping down a 10-foot obstacle wall, just like that. My, Bo Yan really cares about Jin Xi. But this kind of behavior is quite childish. I can only say youth is great, you can do whatever you want, regardless of anything."

Jin Xi's hand gripped the shoulder strap of her bag tightly. She pursed her lips, her face darkened, and said nothing.

"I'll take a walk before jogging with Xu Chaoyang. Bye bye."

After speaking, Qu Xuan Xuan left.

Watching Qu Xuan Xuan's departing figure with her head held high, Lin Luo shook her head and lamented, "The sexy senior sister's online domination, the scene is too bloody to watch."

"I have something to do tonight, won't go to the library." After speaking, Jin Xi walked towards the training ground.

Chu Zhao thought for a moment and said, "I'll go back to the dorm first."

"Hey! You guys...so discouraged, do you still want to take the final exam!"

**

The early summer night breeze was cool and pleasant. By the wire fence around the training ground, Bo Yan jogged lightly over to Jin Xi, stirring up a rush of hot air.

"Here to see me?"

He wore long sleeves and pants, with the buttons open, revealing a tight T-shirt inside that outlined his sturdy, muscular chest. Having just trained, his body was covered in some grass and dirt, so he just stood by the fence and talked to her. f𝐫eewe𝚋nove𝗹.𝗰o𝚖

"Bo Yan, is your leg healed?"

"Bo Yan? No respect, what should you call me?"

He wanted to rub her little head, but the girl dressed up neatly every time she went out, with clean, cute pigtail braids and wearing a light green dress with sandals.

His hands were dirty so he didn't touch her.

Jin Xi looked up and asked, "What do you want me to call you?"

The corners of Bo Yan's eyes lifted with an enticing look. "Senior, brother, daddy, husband—so many options, not enough for you?"

Jin Xi's hands clenched. "Brother, senior...what kind of brother are you...you're far from my brother."

The smile on Bo Yan's face slowly faded, like the last ray of sunset disappearing from his dark eyes.

"I'm far from him?"

His voice rose in questioning, with restrained ferocity. "Say it again."

Jin Xi did not notice his change in mood. She looked up at the nearby obstacle wall, so tall, it looked terrifying. Falling down from it, how painful!

Her heart quivered and trembled. She slowly raised her hand and pointed to the towering obstacle wall, "You...you jumped down from there?"

Bo Yan was stunned for a moment. "Who told you?"

"Nevermind who. Just say, did you or didn't you?"

He admitted straightforwardly since he had done it. "I did."

Jin Xi was truly angry now. Her hands clenched into fists and she hit him forcefully, "Did you ever think, falling from that height, what if you died! Or became disabled! How can you be so childish!"

Bo Yan did not move, silently enduring it.

The girl's punches did not hurt. Her little arms and legs were like a cat scratching him.

Bo Yan was arrogant by nature and would never allow anyone to harm his body one bit. But he willingly accepted punches from his woman.

Jin Xi tired from hitting him. She took two steps back, chest heaving as she looked at him resentfully. Her black doe eyes were filled with clear anger.

"Vent enough?"

His voice carried a hint of cold weariness.

"What's with your attitude? Did I say something wrong?"

There was a cold edge in Bo Yan's eyes. "It's not wrong that you care about me, but your words just now really hurt me."

"What words?"

"I'm far from your brother."

Jin Xi's mouth opened slightly. "My brother would never do something so stupid!"

Bo Yan turned sideways, leaning against the wire fence, his face obscured by shadows against the light. He looked up at her, his gaze icy and sharp. The corners of his lips pulled into a mocking sneer—

"In your heart, I'm not as good as him."

Jin Xi's rosy lips parted and closed again. She sensed a kind of unfamiliar coldness emanating from this man.

He took a step towards her. Jin Xi instinctively retreated a step, thinking he would hit her.

Bo Yan had originally wanted to touch her face, but his hand froze midair, then withdrew after a moment.

Not far away, the coach blew the assembly call.

Jin Xi didn't know what to say, so she just left.

After walking several steps, she looked back. The man still stood in the same spot, his lonely, bleak figure obscured in the backlit shadows.

**

That night, Jin Xi could clearly hear the sound of the dorm door opening and closing angrily across the hall.

She sat at her computer studying, in a terrible mood.

It was clearly his fault, yet somehow it seemed like she was the one who said and did wrong.

He was already immature to begin with. Her brother would not have done something so childish even in elementary school!

Jin Xi stared at the pitch black phone screen next to her computer, glancing at it from time to time. No new messages came in.

She was determined not to forgive him so easily.

The girls' dorm was exceptionally quiet tonight. Chu Zhao sat on the bed, holding a book on modern Chinese language, staring at it in a daze.

As Lin Luo walked by after washing some clothes, she casually said, "You're holding the book upside down."

Chu Zhao paused for a moment, then silently righted the book.

"That senior Song Xuanxuan is on a whole other level," Lin Luo sat down and said. "With just a few casual words, she easily defeated you two little noobs. I wonder what she's after - Senior Yan, or your Instructor Xu?" She mused, "Doesn't seem like either."

Chun Tong, who had a face mask on, lazily said, "Hmph, maybe she just wants to win."

"That makes sense," Lin Luo said helplessly to the other two girls, "I think you should be more sensible - making enemies for no reason without even knowing why."

Chu Zhao put down her Chinese textbook and gritted her teeth. "I won't let her get the better of me."

"No matter how you look at it, she has the upper hand," Lin Luo analyzed. "Just the fact that Instructor Xu likes her means she's already won. If you want to turn the tables against her, you'd have to give up on Instructor Xu. That's the only way she can't touch you."

Chu Zhao collapsed weakly onto the bed, staring at the pristine white ceiling. "I wish it were as easy as you said."

A strong gust of wind blew outside the window - it looked like rain was coming.

A sunshade scarf Jin Xi had hung on the balcony was blown down to the ground floor. She hurriedly ran out in her fuzzy slippers to the balcony and leaned over the railing to look down.

The scarf was caught in the branches of a camphor tree in the courtyard.

Jin Xi and Lin Luo rushed downstairs with clothes hangers, just as the dorm auntie was about to lock up the building.

"Auntie, please wait a moment longer - my stuff fell down!"

The caretaker auntie stood at the door with keys in hand. "Then be quick about it."

Jin Xi and Lin Luo ran under the camphor tree right below their dorm room, where Chu Zhao yelled directions from above: "A little more to the left, do you see it?"

The white scarf hung tangled in the tree branches. Another gust of wind blew, rustling the leaves, and the scarf swayed as if about to fall, but remained snagged in place.

Jin Xi tried using the hanger to reach for the scarf, but fell short of the needed height. Lin Luo took the hanger and stood on her toes, but also couldn't quite reach it.

She looked at Jin Xi helplessly, "Was that scarf expensive?"

"Uncle Shen Ping Chuan brought it back from a business trip. It's Gucci, so it shouldn't have been cheap..."

Lin Luo's mouth twitched. "Then that's...really expensive."

Jin Xi looked up at the branches. "It seems we'll have to ask the janitor for a ladder tomorrow."

Lin Luo said, "Then let's just sit here and stand watch, yeah? This damn thing might blow away if we don't keep an eye on it. That's tens of thousands of yuan."

Just as the girls were at a loss, Bo Yan and a few other boys happened to amble back from grueling physical training, too exhausted to walk with any real energy.

Having just quarreled with Jin Xi earlier, Bo Yan only glanced at her from the corner of his eye as he walked by -

She stood small and helpless beneath the tree in an over-the-knee nightgown with a white coat over it, her jet black hair draped loosely over her shoulders, holding a hanger forlornly.

Seeing this, Lin Luo quickly waved the boys over. "Seniors! Please help!"

Jin Xi immediately stopped her from calling them.

Kindhearted Instructor Xu walked over with a smile, looking between Jin Xi in white and Lin Luo in black. "What are you two doing, dressed up like the Lady in White and Lady in Black ghosts out here so late?"

"Little Jin Xi's scarf got blown into the tree."

Glancing up, Bo Yan spotted a length of soft sheer fabric caught in the branches.

Instructor Xu took the hanger from Jin Xi's hand and jumped up to try reaching it, managing to get a hold of the scarf, but the sharp forked ends of the hanger were far too damaging for the smooth silky fabric. On top of that, Instructor Xu's movements were rough, making Jin Xi's heart race anxiously with each attempt.

"Instructor Xu, m-maybe we should just leave it..."

"No way, I'm going to get it down for you!" Xu was determined.

"Let's think of another way. Hey, stop jumping!"

Bo Yan stood simmering on the sidelines, not originally planning to intervene.

Jin Xi was nearly in tears, hands clenched tightly, head tilted back anxiously watching her white scarf. Her voice was almost pleading, "Instructor Xu, please, stop..."

Unable to endure it, he strode over and snatched the hanger from Xu, tossing it and his camo jacket onto the ground.

He made straight for the camphor tree, hugged the trunk, and stepped on the protruding knots to nimbly scale up into the branches.

Lin Luo exclaimed admiringly, "Senior can climb trees too? That's so impressive!"

Jing Chi smiled meaningfully at Jin Xi. "Well, someone did claim to be the Monkey King, of course he climbs trees."

Jin Xi looked at Bo Yan's clothes left on the ground, hesitating a moment before carefully picking them up and brushing off the dirt.

Glancing back up, Bo Yan had his knees braced against the trunk as he crawled along a thick branch.

Instructor Xu called, "Careful up there, Bo Yan. Falling from that height would be no joke."

Jin Xi watched anxiously - at first she didn't think it looked too high, but from down here it seemed dangerously far up.

Bo Yan moved slowly, each step carrying the risk of losing his footing. Jin Xi's heart was in her throat-

"Come back down, I don't want it anymore!"

Carefully clinging to the trunk, Bo Yan steadily shifted along.

"Bo Yan, I really don't want it now, just come down, okay?" Jin Xi's voice cracked.

He glanced down at her, an inscrutable emotion flickering in those dark eyes.

Jin Xi looked back worriedly, brows knitted tight.

His bulging, muscular arms appeared full and powerful as he hung one-handed from the branches. Finally grabbing the scarf in his other hand, he tore it free.

Clutching the scarf, he sat amidst the leaves without forgetting to spread it out and check for snags or pulled threads.

The fabric was smooth and unmarred. He carefully tied it around his wrist before nimbly making his way back down in just two to three minutes.

"Wow Senior Bo, you're so skilled!" Lin Luo praised. "Those moves are really something."

Instructor Xu laughed. "Why do you think our Bo Yan qualified for the National Defense Academy's decathlon?"

Bo Yan walked right past Jin Xi without any intention of returning the scarf, not even glancing her way as he left.

Jin Xi hesitated before calling out to stop him. "Bo Yan, my scarf..."

She assumed he'd forgotten, but instead, Bo Yan untied the scarf from his wrist and stuffed it into his pocket, expressionlessly saying, "You said you didn't want it anymore."

...

Jin Xi stomped back to the dorm, fuming.

Chu Zhao teased, "A boyfriend who can climb trees sounds so nice, don't you think?"

Sitting down angrily, Jin Xi declared, "He's not my boyfriend, I don't have a boyfriend like that!"

Chu Zhao looked puzzledly at Lin Luo, who helplessly explained, "Your scarf just got hijacked by tree-climbing Senior Bo Yan, and it doesn't look like he plans on easily returning it."

Jin Xi clenched his dirty camo jacket in her fist. "If he won't give back my scarf, then I won't return his jacket either! We'll see who cracks first."

Lin Luo's mouth quirked. "Trading a sweaty old army coat for your sweet-smelling designer Gucci scarf? I'd be laughing too if I were him."

Jin Xi irritably threw his jacket into a washbasin and headed out to do laundry, stewing.

In room 409 of the boys' dorms, Bo Yan lay on his bed fiddling with the gauzy, feather-light silk scarf, tying it in a bow around his wrist then spreading it over his face. Closing his eyes, he gently inhaled the lingering scent of her perfume.

Jing Chi commented, "He looks just like a little Dragon Girl about to be defiled."

Instructor Xu eyed the man lounging on the opposite bed with a silk veil over his face, legs crossed arrogantly, and shuddered. "I wouldn't dare defile this little Dragon Girl."

"Me neither."

Jing Chi told Instructor Xu, "He acts all cold to her face, then sniffs her handkerchief repentantly when she's gone. This kind of man is a tutorial in how not to treat your girlfriend properly."

Bo Yan thoughtfully nodded his head: "If my girlfriend was angry with me, I would definitely coax her no matter what I had to do."

Bo Yan slowly opened his eyes, long eyelashes brushed over the gauze curtain, gazing at the blurry ceiling lamp, and calmly said: "She thinks I'm not as good as Shen Ping Chuan."

The two roommates looked at each other in disbelief.

After a long time, Jing Chi said: "I heard Chu Zhao say that Shen Ping Chuan had taken care of her since she was little, cooking and washing clothes for her, playing shuttlecock and jumping rubber bands with her. He even knew how to braid girls' little braids, something even her own brother couldn't do with such thoughtfulness and patience. But you, her new boyfriend, easily get angry over nothing. How can you compare yourself to her big brother?"

Bo Yan swept the silk handkerchief off and clutched it in his hand.

Jing Chi's words left Bo Yan speechless, with no rebuttal.

Indeed, no matter how much Jin Xi liked him now, he could not replace Shen Ping Chuan's position in her heart.

Bo Yan got up from the bed, stepped into his sneakers, crouched down to tie his shoelaces, and fished out the door access card from Jing Chi's drawer.

"Where are you going this late?"

Bo Yan walked to the door and said irritably: "I'm going out for a run to let off some steam."

...

Author's note: Please contact me via private message, Mu Qiang.

Also the long review event ends here.