A Faceful Of Lovey-Dovey PDA - Chapter 11

Chu Mei froze when she heard that. She felt as though her heart were a mirror, shattered into pieces with a crash. Her voice trembled as she stammered, “Y-you look again. What is this?”

Forget just looking—Su Qin’s hand had already twisted over. She grabbed Chu Mei’s face. “What exactly has been wrong with you lately? How could you do something this outrageous?”

Chu Mei burst into tears. She shook off Su Qin’s hand, ran straight to the bed, and threw herself onto the large mattress. Her hands and feet kicked and flailed wildly. “Is there anyone more tragic than me? I clearly tattooed you, but you insist it’s some SB.”

Su Qin stared at Chu Mei, who was crying and making a fuss, and froze. Once she reacted, she burst out laughing. Su Qin, who had always paid attention to her image, fell sitting onto the floor and even slapped the tiles with her hand, laughing until tears came out.

Seeing her like this made Chu Mei even sadder. At first, there had been a bit of fake crying mixed in, but now that she saw Su Qin laughing so happily, even snot bubbles were about to shoot out.

In the end, it was still Su Qin who took Chu Mei’s hand and brought her to the tattoo shop.

“You just got it tattooed and already want it removed, little sister? Aren’t you afraid of pain?” The tattoo artist smiled as she looked at Su Qin and Chu Mei. When she saw Su Qin’s beautiful, refined features, she somewhat understood why this little girl had insisted on tattooing someone else’s name on herself. Although this girl was still young, she was undoubtedly a beauty in the making.

Chu Mei wore a mournful face. “She said I tattooed an SB on myself. What am I supposed to do?”

Su Qin bit her lip and lowered her head, suffering from trying not to laugh.

The tattoo artist was amused too. “Fine, removing it is no problem, but you need to be mentally prepared. Removal hurts even more than getting the tattoo.”

The moment Chu Mei heard that, she immediately looked at Su Qin with tears in her eyes. Su Qin stared at her for a while, both angry and amused, then shook her head and sighed. “Let’s go.”

In the end, in order to soothe Chu Mei’s wounded heart, Su Qin took her to eat a meal of spicy crawfish. Faced with delicious food, Chu Mei temporarily threw her pain aside. That was the good thing about youth: not yet knowing the taste of sorrow.

If Chu Mei had known that one day she would become the nation’s Best Actress, and that the SB mark on her ankle would be dragged out by every media outlet and countless anti-fans to mock her, would she still have done such a dumbass thing?

On the way back, Chu Mei licked her ice cream, her eyes still a little red and swollen. Su Qin held her hand. “Chuchu.”

“Mm?” Chu Mei looked at her. Su Qin stared into her eyes for a while.

Chu Mei grew guilty under her gaze. “Why are you looking at me like that? I’ll do my homework when we get back. I’ll also finish that math paper you mentioned.”

Su Qin shook her head and smiled faintly. “That’s not what I wanted to ask. Chuchu, why did you want to tattoo my name?”

At the mention of this, Chu Mei felt a little wronged. “Didn’t I see Ah Su at the front desk tattoo a Guan Yu on herself? So I thought I’d tattoo you on me too. You’re both important figures, aren’t you?”

“Stop being glib.” Su Qin shot her a reproachful look. Chu Mei shrugged. “I don’t know either. I just feel like you’re the most important, so I wanted to tattoo it.”

Su Qin stared at her for a while and smiled. Seeing that she seemed to be in a good mood, Chu Mei carefully asked, “Ah Qin.”

Su Qin said, “Mm?”

Chu Mei whispered, “Can I copy your paper?”

“No!”

“…”

—

For students, first year of high school still had plenty of time to squander and play around.

Chu Mei’s grades were still as half-dead as they had been in middle school, and her attitude toward studying remained just as careless and lazy. When she was in a good mood, she would read a little more. When she was in a bad mood, she would use Su Qin’s lap as a pillow and sleep. The teachers were utterly helpless against her.

After entering high school, Chu Mei’s temper grew stronger, especially when she could not stand any boy being attentive toward Su Qin. At its mildest, she would throw a tantrum. At its worst, she would bring out that high-quality trick of hers again: “I’m not playing with you anymore.” Su Qin was both angry and amused, but every time, she still let Chu Mei have her way. In the end, Chu Mei no longer even needed to lose her temper. The boys in class spontaneously learned to keep their distance from the ice-mountain beauty.

In comparison, Sister Fang and Lin Xueyin were much livelier. The two of them continued playing their “cat and mouse” game. Sister Fang was domineering toward everyone else, but when it came to Lin Xueyin, she was simply a complete coward.

Among all of this, the thing Chu Mei most loved to talk about was a blindingly spicy scene she had accidentally seen in the alley on her way home.

For some unknown reason, Sister Fang had come near Chu Mei’s neighborhood. That usually domineering, roguish person had actually been cornered against the wall by Lin Xueyin, her face flushed, her lips bitten, looking rarely soft and weak.

Lin Xueyin looked at her with tears in her eyes. “Why are you avoiding me?”

Sister Fang did not look at her. “I’m too lazy to bother with you. Move aside.” As she spoke, she was about to push Lin Xueyin away, but Lin Xueyin pressed her down hard. “Could it be that you really think I’m ugly, like Ah Qin said?”

The high school Lin Xueyin really had nothing to do with beauty. How could her strength compare to Sister Fang’s? Sister Fang pushed her away in one motion, whistled, and lazily walked off.

Chu Mei was just about to go up and comfort Lin Xueyin when, out of nowhere, three little thugs came walking from the opposite side.

The little thugs were each as skinny as beanpoles. They were all good-for-nothing dropouts who stayed home and collected protection fees from students nearby. When Chu Mei saw the situation, she immediately hid in the corner of the wall, even using grass to cover her face while she was at it.

One of the little thugs looked at Lin Xueyin, who had her head lowered as she cried. “Little sister, want to play with Brother for a while?”

The other two joined in the teasing. “That’s right. Why are you crying? Raise your head and let Brother take a look. We’ll take you out for a ride.”

Lin Xueyin cried even harder. Seeing her like this, the three little thugs heckled her even more fiercely.

Just as the leading thug’s asking-for-a-beating hand was about to touch Lin Xueyin’s hair, Lin Xueyin suddenly lifted her head.

Fuck!!!

The thug was so frightened that he took a step back. One of the others was even more dramatic and fell sitting onto the ground.

Lin Xueyin stood up and glared viciously at them. “Come on. Didn’t you want to play? Let’s go. I’ll play with you!”

Her face had already gone bright red from crying, and with that forceful expression, the acne on her face looked as if it was about to start bleeding. The three little thugs were so scared they scrambled away in a pathetic mess.

When Lin Xueyin saw this, her tears flowed even harder. She pointed at the corner of the wall. “Chu Mei, get out here!”

Chu Mei: “…”

In the end, not only did Lin Xueyin rob Chu Mei of an entire month’s allowance, she also vented her anger on Chu Mei by leaving one enormous footprint on her snow-white school uniform. Chu Mei went to Su Qin with a bitter face to complain, only to be lectured by Su Qin instead.

Perhaps the shock she suffered that day was too great. As a result, while still only in first year of high school, Lin Xueyin became obsessed with all kinds of whitening and skincare.

In one year, she transformed from a girl with a face full of acne and black-framed glasses into a beautiful young girl with slightly curled hair tips, contact lenses, big eyes, and red lips. Everyone could see the changes in her. Even Chu Mei no longer said she looked ugly. But the one person she cared about most, Sister Fang, still went her own way and ran whenever she saw her. Love could very easily turn into hatred. Lin Xueyin secretly swore that once she finally caught Sister Fang, she would definitely torment her until her liver and intestines broke, making Sister Fang pay back every tear she had shed over these years!

The four girls played and made trouble, and first year of high school passed in the blink of an eye. When second year came, Chu Mei faced the first important choice of her life: choosing between the humanities and science tracks. Actually, with her grades, she was definitely suited for the science track. She had no interest in the rote memorization required for the humanities. But Su Qin was different. Her knowledge of astronomy, geography, and everything in between could make even the teachers click their tongues in amazement.

When Chu Mei got home, she immediately began crying, making a fuss, and threatening to hang herself, insisting that no matter what, she had to study humanities.

Mother Chu’s head grew huge from the trouble. “In the past, when you were willful, Mom couldn’t control you. But this time, I can’t let you mess around. Putting aside how terrible you are at humanities, don’t you know that science has better job prospects?”

Chu Mei tossed her hair and snorted coldly. “Mom, I never thought you’d be so worldly. How can you extinguish your daughter’s slowly rising literary heart? In the future, I’m going to rely on my pen to carve out my own world in the literary circle and win myself an Oscar.”

“…”

“Thank you, but is an Oscar part of the literary circle?” Mother Chu was heartbroken. “A few days ago, weren’t you still saying over and over that you wanted to become an entertainer and earn big money? Why do you suddenly want to become a literary giant now?”

Chu Mei pushed out her chest. “Because I want to be a good person who cannot be swayed by poverty, corrupted by wealth—”

Mother Chu slapped Chu Mei on the butt. With tears in her eyes, Chu Mei added, “—or bent by force!”

“…”

Unlike the tragic chaos of the Chu family, the Su family was much more rational and peaceful.

“Mom, I’m planning to choose the science track.” Su Qin watched television and said it casually.

Mother Su looked at her. “Mm? Why? Haven’t you always liked humanities?”

Su Qin nodded. “I’m tired of it. I want to change flavors once in a while.”

Mother Su: “…”

This was the gap between a poor student and a top student. What a poor student needed tears and blood to obtain, a top student could resolve with a few light, casual words.

The next day, they handed in their registration forms. During lunch, Chu Mei looked at Su Qin with a beaming smile. “Ah Qin, Ah Qin, I have good news to tell you.”

Su Qin used a tissue to wipe a grain of rice from the corner of her mouth. “What a coincidence. I also have good news to tell you.”

“Hehe, then let’s say it together.” Chu Mei loved this kind of little tacit understanding between them. Usually, Su Qin was an aloof goddess in front of outsiders, but only when she was with Chu Mei did she become childish, silly, and adorable.

“I’ll count down from three, and we’ll say it together.” Chu Mei’s eyes curved into happy crescents. When she thought about being able to smoothly stick together with Su Qin, she was so excited she wished she could take flight.

Su Qin looked at her gently and nodded softly.

“Three!”

“Two!”

“One!”

The moment had come to witness more than ten years of their friendship and tacit understanding!

“I chose humanities!”

“I chose science!”

“……”