After My Crush Came Back from the Dead - Chapter 2

Lu Xin sat down in her seat. The people around her all had different expressions, but not a single one of them took the initiative to talk to her.

She was happy to have the peace and quiet, so she simply took out her phone and casually browsed through social media.

The school’s official Weibo account had just posted a new update, congratulating the Olympiad math group for winning first prize in the province. Among the nine photos posted, one of them included Qi Yuan.

In the photo, Qi Yuan stood on the stage as the representative of the group members, holding a trophy in her hands and unintentionally looking at the camera.

She had a pair of almond-shaped eyes. When she smiled, her gaze was as gentle as water, like the spring breeze had arrived on its own.

But in this photo, she was rarely expressionless. Beneath her high nose bridge, her lips were pressed together slightly. Her eyes were indifferent, without the slightest emotion, and the light reflected off her cheekbones like the edge of a blade. Lu Xin met the gaze of the cold Qi Yuan on the screen and felt as if she had been shot in the heart, leaving it numb and tingling.

By the time she came back to herself, Lu Xin had already pressed save. Seeing that another photo of Qi Yuan had been added to her album, she could not help guiltily hunching over and hiding her phone even more carefully.

For some reason, she vaguely felt that if Qi Yuan had another, truer side to her, then it should be this cold and indifferent version.

But everyone knew that Qi Yuan was gentle and cheerful, and she could be considered a famous figure throughout the whole school. Aside from having a beautiful face, her grades were also excellent. She had won many placements in all sorts of school competitions, big and small.

Lu Xin still remembered the first time she had seen Qi Yuan step onto the flag-raising platform. She had worn a simple white shirt and school-uniform skirt, her long hair draped over her shoulders, giving off a refreshing and graceful impression. The moment she smiled and opened her mouth to speak, Lu Xin had felt her chest leap, as if a pink arrow had appeared out of thin air and pierced straight into her heart.

But because they were not in the same class, there had been no chance for them to interact. So before sophomore year, Lu Xin could only see Qi Yuan in the photos posted on the school’s Weibo and during the occasional times they happened to cross paths.

Because Qi Yuan had taken part in many competitions and activities, there were quite a few official photos of her on Weibo. Perhaps because she was beautiful, the photographer always gave her plenty of shots, which also satisfied a group of eagerly waiting fans—including Lu Xin.

Every time a new photo of Qi Yuan appeared, she would save it as if possessed.

Before the class placement exam in sophomore year, Lu Xin prayed to every god and Buddha she could, studied as if her life depended on it, and her grades improved by leaps and bounds. At last, she received God’s favor. She and Qi Yuan were assigned to the same class.

But Qi Yuan was always surrounded by many people, and Lu Xin did not dare approach her. She only dared to watch from afar. In this way, spring, summer, autumn, and winter passed. In the blink of an eye, they were already in senior year, yet she and Qi Yuan were still nothing more than strangers in the same class.

Although God had given her a blessing, misfortune refused to be outdone and followed one after another.

Li Shanglu was the one who had formed a grudge against her after they were assigned to the same class—or more accurately, Li Shanglu had unilaterally disliked Lu Xin and had been finding trouble with her everywhere ever since.

Every time, she would use the excuse of inviting Lu Xin out to play and call her to a small garden on campus where there were no surveillance cameras. This way, she could avoid being discovered by the teachers while also reasonably concealing the fact that she was bullying her.

At first, it was only verbal humiliation. Later, it developed into punches and kicks. Lu Xin could not understand at all why she had been fortunate enough to receive Li Shanglu’s special attention and always become her main target.

When she discovered that another girl in class, who was similarly introverted like her, had joined Li Shanglu’s group in order to protect herself, Lu Xin understood. Perhaps in Li Shanglu’s eyes, Lu Xin was just a useless punching bag who did not know what was good for her.

A year had passed, and she was still enduring school bullying because she understood that telling anyone about this kind of thing was useless.

Later, some classmates saw Li Shanglu making trouble for her, but they did not dare stand up for her. They could only pretend they had not seen anything and walk away.

Even the teachers, after the Li family had smoothed things over, pretended not to see her being called out by Li Shanglu.

Lu Xin had gone from being full of hope to falling into darkness, becoming more and more numb with each passing day.

For a moment, countless thoughts churned through Lu Xin’s mind. Just then, her phone suddenly vibrated, and a message popped up on the screen.

Aunt: “Bring some money back this weekend. The water and electricity bills are due again.”

Lu Xin’s fingers paused. Expressionlessly, she deleted the message, calculating the wages from the part-time job that had just been settled this week. The fact that her income could not cover her expenses made her feel exhausted all over.

She gripped her sleeve tightly and curled herself into a ball, as if she could still feel the warmth Qi Yuan had left on the school uniform. It brought her incomparable comfort.

When the break was about to end, Li Shanglu swaggered in through the back door. With her hands in her pockets, she swept her gaze around the classroom before stopping on Lu Xin.

From the moment Li Shanglu walked in, Lu Xin felt as if needles were pricking her back. She understood that the new uniform on her body had attracted Li Shanglu’s attention.

Li Shanglu walked over and sat on Lu Xin’s desk, sneering. “Not bad. Where did you get those clothes?”

Lu Xin silently lowered her head and ignored her.

Li Shanglu hated seeing her act like this the most, so she reached out, grabbed her hair, and yanked Lu Xin’s head up.

“Talk. Are you mute?”

“What does…”

Li Shanglu raised an eyebrow. “Hm? What are you saying, little mute?”

Lu Xin squeezed a few words out through her teeth. “…What does it have to do with you?”

The expressions of the people secretly listening nearby changed. They all looked at one another, shocked by Lu Xin’s sudden resistance today. Someone whispered, “Does Lu Xin have a death wish?!”

Sure enough, Li Shanglu’s expression turned ugly. She shouted at the people around them, “What the hell are you looking at? Turn around!” Then she tightened her grip on Lu Xin’s hair, using so much force it was as if she wanted to rip her scalp off from the roots. “Say that again?”

Lu Xin immediately felt a tearing pain spread through the top of her head. Her expression twisted. “It’s none of your damn business!”

“Fuck!” Li Shanglu laughed from anger and flung her hair away. “You’ve grown capable, huh? You changed into a new set of clothes and already forgot what happened this morning?”

Lu Xin stubbornly lowered her eyes, refusing to spare her even a single glance. Li Shanglu’s anger surged. She reached out, about to slam Lu Xin’s face against the desk, when suddenly her wrist was forcefully grabbed by someone.

The grip was especially strong, like iron pincers. A piercing pain forced her to loosen her hand, and she cried out in alarm, “Who?!”

Lu Xin raised her head and saw that Li Shanglu’s hand was being firmly clamped by Qi Yuan. The latter’s expression was ice-cold.

Lu Xin’s eyes widened in shock, and her mouth opened slightly.

Qi Yuan lifted her eyes and spat one cold word at Li Shanglu.

“Scram.”

After having her pride swept away by Qi Yuan, Li Shanglu widened her eyes in both shock and fear.

In truth, she did not dare provoke Qi Yuan. Every time she bullied someone, it was always when Qi Yuan was not in the classroom. The Qi family was currently at the height of its power, and Li Shanglu’s father had warned her again and again that she absolutely must not offend anyone from the Qi family.

Feeling stifled and humiliated, she bit her lip, glared hatefully at the two of them, then turned and ran away.

“You’re not hurt?” Qi Yuan turned back and asked Lu Xin.

Lu Xin froze for a long while before nodding dully. “I’m fine…”

Looking at her fragile, easily bullied appearance, Qi Yuan could not help sighing. In a low voice, she said, “Next time she comes looking for you, go tell the teacher.”

Lu Xin shook her head, her expression bitter. “I did… It was useless.”

Qi Yuan lowered her eyes. Her gaze fell on the pale side of Lu Xin’s neck. Then she suddenly said, “Then come find me.”

After two classes, the dismissal bell at First High rang. Lu Xin still could not figure out what Qi Yuan meant. Absentmindedly, she packed her schoolbag while recalling Qi Yuan’s cool, clear gaze.

Does she want to help me? Lu Xin thought blankly. Can I trust her?

When Qi Yuan walked over, she saw Lu Xin holding her pencil case in a daze. She could not help stopping and tapping Lu Xin’s desk with her fingers.

The moment Lu Xin looked up at her, Qi Yuan said, “Want to go home together?” As she had hoped, she was rewarded with Lu Xin’s frightened expression.

Lu Xin knew that Qi Yuan actually took almost the same route home as her, only two stops apart. In the past, she always waited until Qi Yuan got on her bicycle and rode far away before slowly following behind her and leaving the school.

Now that she was going home with Qi Yuan for the first time, Lu Xin suppressed the nervousness filling her heart and slowly pedaled behind Qi Yuan.

Qi Yuan turned her head to the side, her long hair swaying in the wind. She deliberately slowed down and rode parallel to Lu Xin without Lu Xin noticing. The noon sunlight soaked the streets, painting the side of her face in bright gold.

Lu Xin secretly looked at her, her heart filled with a swelling sense of satisfaction.

“What are you thinking about?” Qi Yuan tilted her head and asked her.

“Nothing…” Lu Xin turned her face away unnaturally. Then, after a second thought, she asked what she had wanted to know. “…Why did you help me just now?”

The air went quiet for a moment. For no reason, Lu Xin suddenly panicked. She lowered her head and hurriedly said, “You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to…”

“Lu Xin.” Qi Yuan suddenly interrupted her. “Do you want to fight back?”

Lu Xin was stunned. “What?”

“Against Li Shanglu. Are you willing to keep being bullied like this?” Qi Yuan looked at her calmly, as if she were talking about something perfectly ordinary.

“I…” Lu Xin took a quick breath. “Of course I’m not…”

Qi Yuan stopped her bicycle and stood on the backlit street, her expression hard to make out.

“Then stand up,” she said softly. “Fight back bravely.”

Lu Xin bit her lower lip and said, “But I can’t do it alone.”

The Li family was powerful. She was all by herself and truly could not fight them.

In a daze, she seemed to see Qi Yuan smile.

“I’ll help you.”