Chapter 33: Xia Bingbing

The moon slowly sank below the horizon, and the morning sun rose from the east of the Urban City.

A new day had arrived.

And this was also her fifth day of starting over.

“Ring ring ring~”

The morning was quiet.

A girl lay on the small bed, her bare feet tangled in the quilt, and the alarm clock she had set shattered the beautiful scene.

“Awuu… still a bit sleepy.”

Su Xiaoxiao hadn’t gotten up yet, just slowly moved her body to turn off the alarm clock.

Just like that, she lay down a few more times.

Then, she overslept.

Class started at 7:10, but at home, it was already 7:00.

“Ah, I’m late? Dead meat.”

Su Xiaoxiao slowly opened her eyes and looked at her phone, realizing she was already past the time.

She now deeply regretted turning off the alarm earlier and sleeping through it.

A new day started with physical training.

Su Xiaoxiao quickly washed up, slung her bag over her shoulder, and jogged through the empty streets, finally arriving at the classroom door, out of breath.

“Hoo~”

She tried to keep her lips quiet.

Slowly walking into the classroom, she saw the Teacher was writing on the board.

An opportunity!

“Whoosh~”

Like the wind, Su Xiaoxiao quickly and quietly returned to her seat, leaving no trace.

“Late. Wait for the Homeroom Teacher to deal with you.”

But how could a single Su Xiaoxiao defeat an experienced Old Chemistry Teacher?

Even while writing on the board, he understood everything happening below.

“Ugh…”

So unreasonable, even though she had snuck in perfectly.

Damn it.

The first period was boring.

This Old Chemistry Teacher was an elderly master, and his lectures were like lullabies.

She fell asleep immediately.

“…..”

“Xiaoxiao.”

“Ugh…”

Lifting her head, she saw it was the young Teacher.

The Homeroom Teacher had arrived.

“For today’s noon cleaning, you and another person will do it together. Just a simple cleaning will do.”

A punishment… but much lighter than calling a parent or something like before.

Fine.

“Don’t be late next time, okay?”

Unlike the old Teacher, her tone was gentle.

“Mm.”

“Who’s the other person?”

Su Xiaoxiao was a bit puzzled.

So someone else was also late like her.

“You’ll do it with Bingrou. She was late this morning too.”

The Teacher, afraid she wouldn’t recognize her, even pointed out who it was.

Oh ho, what a coincidence.

“Mm, got it.”

Su Xiaoxiao nodded.

“Good.”

After speaking, the Teacher left.

Cleaning together, huh…

“Sss…”

She looked at Xia Bingrou, not far away, feeling a bit nervous and scared.

Xia Bingbing was a nickname Su Xiaoxiao gave her yesterday, because no matter when, she always gave off an aura of ‘stranger, don’t disturb’, cold and aloof.

Su Xiaoxiao really didn’t understand why her parents gave her the ‘rou’ character (soft) in her name, since she wasn’t soft at all.

But thankfully, she was good-looking, so this demeanor could be seen as the ‘cool and beautiful girl’ title.

“Xiaoyun.”

Suddenly, Su Xiaoxiao remembered something.

Ning Xiaoyun had been acting strange this morning and hadn’t said a word to her.

“Mm, I’m here.”

Ning Xiaoyun put down the book in her hand.

“Xiaoxiao, do you want to eat something?”

“Ha… No.”

“I’ll go buy it myself now.”

Yesterday, Elder Sister gave her 500, so now she had money and no longer had to scrounge off the girls’ food.

“Going by yourself? Don’t want it anymore… Ugh, I understand.”

Ning Xiaoyun looked hurt again, deeply hurt.

They had only been friends for a few days, and she was already being abandoned.

Then to seek out a beautiful Senior?

“No, no, it’s fine, thank you.”

Su Xiaoxiao thanked her.

“Did you eat that little cake from yesterday?”

She shouldn’t be sad anymore, right?

Though even now, she still didn’t know why Ning Xiaoyun was sad.

“I ate it.”

“Was it good?”

“Good.”

They spoke mechanically.

“By the way, the Senior who was with me yesterday afternoon talked to me for a long time. She’s a gentle person.”

Su Xiaoxiao tried to find a topic to break the awkward atmosphere.

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“….”

The conversation died inexplicably again.

Su Xiaoxiao didn’t know what else to say, so she turned to look at the small Desk in front of her.

On top of it were brand new Textbooks, untouched by pen or ink.

She wondered if they could still be sold second-hand.

“Xiaoxiao~”

A sweet female voice came from beside her.

Su Xiaoxiao looked up and saw Liu Yun, who seemed to be in a good mood.

“I just found out you joined Xiao Li’s Club too.”

Liu Yun squatted next to her as usual.

“So jealous, I want to join too. There are so many elegant and beautiful Seniors in there.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Su Xiaoxiao nodded enthusiastically.

“And yesterday afternoon, a Senior even played with me.”

Elegant, beautiful, and approachable—a perfect Club.

“Wow, can you tell me her name? Maybe I know her too.”

Liu Yun looked eager.

“Um, Su Xin, Senior Xin.”

“Mm?! …That’s a Senior I’ve always followed! Xiaoxiao, you actually know her?”

Liu Yun spoke quickly, very excited.

“I watched her performance so many times yesterday. She danced so well, I can’t learn it myself no matter how hard I try.”

Wow, so Liu Yun was actually a little fan of Yin Jie.

I really didn’t see that coming.

“How about I introduce you to her next time?”

Su Xiaoxiao looked at the pitiful girl looking up at her.

She knew Liu Yun definitely wanted this.

“Okay! Thank you, Xiaoxiao! Come to my house later, I’ll treat you to something delicious.”

When Liu Yun heard she could meet her idol, she stood up happily.

Liu Yun is so excited…

Is Yin Jie really that famous?

I’ll ask her about it later.

After that, Liu Yun kept holding onto her, asking about Senior Xin.

But since she’d only just met her, she could only talk about the things Senior said yesterday.

“Ring~”

Good times are always short.

Class began.

She said goodbye to Liu Yun, and now only sat with Xiaoyun, waiting for the Teacher.

For some reason, she felt Xiaoyun had become even more silent.

“Class begins.”

A new period started.

At the same time, Su Xiaoxiao entered another daydreaming phase.

She stared at her books, thinking about yesterday’s events and the cleaning at noon.

***

“Ring ring ring~”

After a long bell, a segment of unspeakably bad music played—but if you listened closely, there was a bit of rhythm.

It was noon, school was out, and Su Xiaoxiao had wasted another precious five hours of life in the morning.

“Shall we go clean?”

Su Xiaoxiao walked calmly to the girl’s side.

“Mm.”

She was still cold, glanced at Su Xiaoxiao, then went to get a broom.

Like always.

Forget it, there’s no hope of getting close, just clean.

“Ah.”

Su Xiaoxiao followed, took a broom and a dustpan.

She’d cleaned at Elder Sister’s house yesterday, and now she was cleaning at school.

She felt an inexplicable sense of comparison inside.

If there was a beautiful girl next to her now, maybe cleaning would be more energetic.

Just like yesterday.

“You clean groups one and two, I’ll do three and four.”

Xia Bingrou took the small broom and walked away.

Oh right, there really was a beautiful girl next to her, though her body felt a bit cold…

Alright, now I have energy.

Clean!

Just thinking about cleaning with a beautiful girl made her 200% more motivated.

Soon, Su Xiaoxiao finished cleaning, and a bit of transparent sweat dotted her forehead.

“Not bad.”

Xia Bingrou held the broom and gave a compliment to the hard-working cleaner.

She was surprised to find this girl seemed to be a good child who often did housework.

“Thank you for the compliment, Xia Bingbing.”

“?”