Five minutes later, Lin Weixia was sitting in the back seat. The driver was driving attentively. The car was moving forward towards the sea in the corner. The red and white pier and the harbor in the distance were playing frame by frame like a rewinding film.
The road went around the mountain and the space inside the car was narrow. The driver turned a corner suddenly, and even though she tried her best to maintain her balance, she still fell uncontrollably to the side.
Lin Weixia almost fell on him, her forehead hitting his chin, her white lotus-like arm touching his clothes, covering another strong forearm, their skin touching, the blood vessels flowing under the skin, and the cactus fell on the seat next to him.
His chest was broad, with a unique warmth, a fever, and a tremor that only a teenager could have. Lin Weixia felt as if she had been electrified, and the area where she was touching him felt numb. The burning heat came over her, and she could smell the ebony scent emanating from his body.
It was like the hot and humid sea breeze was blowing on my face and all over my body, with nowhere to hide.
"Tsk." The careless tone and the low sound like small particles attached to it vibrated in my ears.
Lin Weixia came back to her senses with a start, rested her elbow on a support point, held the cactus and raised her head. When she retreated from him, she caught a glimpse of the boy wearing black lock-jointed sweatpants, revealing a cold white ankle, and black lilies blooming upwards along the skin texture, exuding an eerie and ostentatious aura.
And there was a bright red blood drop on the index finger of his left hand.
It should be the stab wound just now. Lin Weixia immediately said: "I'm sorry."
After saying that, she searched around her body for a Band-Aid and handed it to him. Ban Sheng leaned on the back seat of the car, took it, hunched over, lowered his head and bit the Band-Aid at an angle, while tearing it open with his other hand.
With a "pop" sound, it stuck crookedly to the wound.
When the car turned onto a flat road, Lin Weixia sat up straight again and pressed the window button. The evening breeze mixed with the salty smell of sea water blew in, and the air suddenly became much brighter.
"Didn't you arrive a long time ago?" Lin Weixia asked to break the awkwardness.
When leaving the house, Lin Weixia took a look at the messages in the class group. Someone posted a picture of the banquet. The picture happened to capture a tired and lazy face. It was Ban Sheng.
Ban Sheng peeled a plum candy and put it into his mouth, and answered her: "I went out for something, and Li Shengran's brother asked me to buy something."
Soon, the car drove into a wide and straight road cut by green lawns and stopped in front of a villa with a red roof. The sea in the distance was slowly sinking with the sunset, and the spectacular scenery was in full view.
Ban Sheng got out and opened the trunk, which was full of things needed for the banquet. The driver hurried over to carry them.
"Master, I just need to carry it two more times. I'll do it, I'll do it." Uncle Chen wiped the sweat off his face quickly.
Ban Sheng didn't give in, and picked up the heavy ones. He said with a hint of sneer, "Uncle Chen, do you still treat me like a three-year-old child?"
Lin Weixia glanced at the carriage and found that the back compartment was full of drinks, snacks, ribbons for party decoration, and hydrogen balloons. She got a ride and couldn't sit idle, so she was ready to help carry the heavy boxes of drinks.
A slender figure appeared before her, picked up a bunch of blue and white balloons and handed them to her, saying, "Just take this."
Ban Sheng stood in front of her leisurely, glanced at the cactus in her arms, raised his eyebrows and said, "A birthday present for Li Shengran?"
Lin Weixia nodded. She didn't have anything good to give as a gift. This cactus was a plant she had taken care of for a long time. It was something she treasured, so she wanted to give it as a gift.
Just when she thought Bensheng would laugh at her gift, he chewed the last bit of sugar on his tongue, suddenly reached out and snatched her cactus pot, turned around and put it in the trunk, and said in a rogue tone:
"This is for me."
"No." Lin Weixia refused.
Ban Sheng was not annoyed. He bent down and took out a red gift box from the trunk and handed it to her, still looking nonchalant:
"This is a photo of a little male star she likes. He asked me for it for a long time some time ago. You can give it to her."
Lin Weixia pursed her lips and said, "I think the gift I gave is very good. If you want to give it to her, you don't have to use my hand—"
"Li Shengran is allergic to cactus."
Lin Weixia opened her eyes and looked at him, and suddenly understood why so many girls were obsessed with him. He was indeed thoughtful and cool, but he actually took care of everyone and would not put others in an awkward situation.
Lin Weixia grabbed a handful of blue and white balloons. Behind her, she heard the sound of a car hood being pulled down. Ban Sheng went in with her, carrying two large bags of things.
Lin Weixia and her classmate Sheng appeared at Li Shengran's birthday party together. The atmosphere was silent for a moment, and everyone looked at them at the same time, with some surprise and some contempt.
It seems like your thoughts are revealed so quickly.
Liu Sijia's face froze for a moment when she saw the two of them, but when her gaze moved to Ban Sheng's face, she tried hard to force a smile.
Liu Sijia was dressed up today in a black flocked long dress with suspenders. The rose pendant swayed gently with her movements, bright and eye-catching.
"Ban Sheng, thank you for bringing Wei Xia up." Liu Sijia looked up at him and said in surprise, as if she had suddenly discovered a new world, "What happened to your hand?"
"It's okay." Ban Sheng curled his lips and handed the things to the housekeeper without making eye contact with her the whole time.
"Sorry, Weixia, I just saw the phone and I should go pick you up." Liu Sijia held her hand.
"It's okay," Lin Weixia smiled, then handed the red brocade box in her hand to Li Shengran and said, "Happy birthday."
Li Shengran raised his chin and took her gift, looking uninterested. After opening the brocade box, he suddenly screamed, his face turned from gloomy to bright, and he coughed unnaturally:
"How do you know I like him? And my idol never signs autographs for anyone privately. You're awesome. Thanks."
"Come in quickly, there are snacks there." Li Shengran immediately became enthusiastic. Liu Sijia was confused and was about to ask when she was called away for something.
The birthday party was a big one, with two long tables filled with snacks and all kinds of drinks. The two floors of the villa, including the swimming pool in the outer courtyard, were the home court of this group of young people. Balloons floated on the ceiling. This group of high school students were like birds out of a cage. Compared to the rules in school, they dressed boldly and played Werewolf or other games very loudly.
It seems that youth should be wasted.
After helping, Liu Sijia was about to go downstairs. As she was walking towards the spiral staircase, she unexpectedly saw Ban Sheng and a few boys chatting there.
Liu Sijia came to Nanjiang City in her first year of high school. She didn’t know Ban Sheng, and she was even less familiar with who he played with or who the brothers around him were.
A boy downstairs whistled and asked the classmate: "The girl sitting on the U-shaped sofa is pretty, what's her name?"
Everyone's eyes followed his movements and Liu Sijia also looked over. Sitting on the U-shaped sofa was Lin Weixia.
Ban Sheng also raised his eyelids and glanced over.
She came to the party without much dressing up, which made her look out of place compared to the other people who were dressed up. Lin Weixia wore a basic short shirt, and because she sat upright, her blue high-waisted jeans looked loose, revealing a slender white, dazzling white, and the waistline was even more faintly visible.
Lin Weixia was not wearing any decorations except for a green headband. Her long, straight black hair fell smoothly behind her. Her eyes were as red as lacquer and her lips were rosy. The last ray of orange light from the dusk shone through the glass onto her left cheek.
The red butterfly birthmark presents a transparent beauty.
Lin Weixia was sitting there playing a puzzle. Someone came over to talk to her, so she put down what she was doing and listened carefully. From time to time, a gentle smile appeared on her fair face.
"Want to make yourself unhappy?" Ban Sheng replied.
The other party was stunned, and a group of people also laughed, looking at Ban Sheng meaningfully.
Liu Sijia was standing at the back and heard the conversation. She felt something in her heart sinking. She no longer had the heart to go up and talk to them, so she ran downstairs instead.
Halfway through the banquet, Liu Sijia regained her composure. She had originally wanted to try to get Ban Sheng's WeChat by playing games or some other means, but he showed up only once when Li Shengran was blowing out the candles, and no one knew where he was the whole time.
Liu Sijia sat there, her elbows resting on the armrests, bending over to pour the juice on the coffee table, her eyes and eyebrows showing her irritability at the moment. Whenever a boy came to chat with her, she would reject him coldly, leaving people to watch from afar.
"I plan to deliver milk to him every morning starting tomorrow," said Liu Sijia.
Lin Weixia took a sip of juice and reminded, "He drank the Chenguang brand, sweet milk."
"How do you know?" Liu Sijia raised her eyebrows and became subconsciously alert.
Lin Weixia put down the cup and sighed: "Everyone in the school knows that Ban Sheng drinks a bottle of milk every morning, and I sit next to him."
Liu Sijia breathed a sigh of relief. In order to divert the awkward atmosphere, she pulled Lin Weixia to play games together. When Lin Weixia thought of Student A's fearful eyes, she made an excuse that she was a little tired and wanted to take a rest.
Liu Sijia didn't force her and walked straight over. Soon she became the focus of the crowd.
Lin Weixia was sitting there and found that she actually saw the thin girl in the class. Her complexion was much better than before, but her bangs were still very thick and long. She was holding a box of biscuits with a timid expression.
When Lin Weixia was about to go over to talk to her, she stood up and the crowd moved back and forth, and the girl disappeared in an instant. Lin Weixia had to give up and wandered around. Suddenly, she saw Liu Sijia surrounded by the crowd and felt that she didn't seem to need her much.
But maybe she is a reassuring presence to her.
Lin Weixia went to the second floor and found that there were fewer people playing upstairs and it was not as lively as downstairs. When she was about to go back, she suddenly heard a sound and stopped.
She looked back and saw Zheng Zhaoxing and several other boys sitting on lounge chairs on the second-floor terrace. They gathered a few chairs together, and in the middle stood a thin girl in the class, looking terrified.
Zheng Zhaoxing sat in a chair in a flowered shirt and beige shorts, holding a young coconut in his hand. He smiled and waved at her: "Come, let me try the cookies you made."
Under the threat of the other boys' gazes, the thin girl lowered her head and tried to open the cookie box several times but failed. The boy behind her pushed her hard and said, "What the hell are you hesitating about?"
The girl fell forward due to inertia and was about to hit Zheng Zhaoxing, but he dodged to the side and the girl fell to the ground flat on her face.
A group of people burst into laughter, the sound was shrill.
Lin Weixia looked at this scene and was about to step forward when suddenly a long arm stretched out and pulled her. Lin Weixia was uncontrollably pulled into a grocery room nearby.
Because the space was too cramped and enclosed, Lin Weixia only felt that the boy was pulling her arm very hard. The two of them were very close, her vision was plunged into darkness, and her sense of smell suddenly became sensitive. The cool smell of tobacco on the other person's body seeped into her nose bit by bit.
Lin Weixia didn't know who it was, and she subconsciously broke free for self-protection until the other person said, "—It's me."
The voice-activated light flickered on and off, and now it was on. Lin Weixia leaned against the wall with her back, and Ban Sheng stood in front of her. His profile was clear and smooth. He still held her arm with one hand, and the other hand was still holding a cigarette. He tilted his head and exhaled a puff of smoke from his thin lips, his eyes staring at her.
This guy is indeed handsome, a little bit ruffian, and his bone structure is also first-class superior.
"Let go." Lin Weixia looked at him.
Ban Sheng let go when he heard the sound, and the sound came from the terrace outside again. Lin Weixia stuck her head out and saw the scene clearly.
Zheng Zhaoxing took a bite of the biscuit, or perhaps didn't eat it, and spat it on the ground. Then he snatched the biscuit box from her arms and threw it on the ground. The people next to him saw this and crushed it with their shoes, stepping on it and laughing.
Zheng Zhaoxing stretched out a finger and kept pushing her, mocking her, "Who asked you to come? Sister Yulin, you are so dirty."
"How dare you bring this cookie you made to the party? Didn't your skin flakes fall onto the cookie when you were making it?"
"Hahaha, big brother, please stop talking. It's disgusting to death."
Zheng Zhaoxing approached, spitting curse words and touching her forehead with his hand. The girl remained silent without saying a word. She lowered her head, and her thick bangs obscured her expression.
A group of people surrounded her, cursing and beating her, and their attitude was even more extreme than before.
Lin Weixia wanted to move forward, but was pulled back by Ban Sheng again. To prevent her from moving, Ban Sheng held her down and put his left leg next to her to prevent her from slipping away.
The more ridicule and insults there were outside, the more tormented Lin Weixia felt. She kept struggling to break free. Ban Sheng held her shoulder with one hand, lowered his head and bit the Band-Aid on his finger. With a "swish" sound, a red spot appeared on the whitened flesh.
"If there is a thorn, pick it out." Ban Sheng looked at her calmly.
"Later." Lin Weixia was absent-minded and just wanted to go out.
Ban Sheng pushed the man back, looked her in the eye, and emphasized:
"Now."
Lin Weixia lowered her eyes and looked at his fingers. After wiping off the blood, there was a green thorn embedded in the flesh. It should have been pierced in the car just now.
It was her who did it, so she should be held responsible.
At the moment she was imprisoned again, Lin Weixia had no choice but to compromise, thinking that she could quickly remove the thorns so that she could go out to save people.
Lin Weixia reached out to touch the light switch on the wall, but there was no response. The light must be broken. Lin Weixia held his hand and could only use the light coming in from the window and the voice-activated light in the corridor to confirm the location of his wound.
The voice-controlled light flickered on and off. Lin Weixia leaned forward, strained to open her eyes, and pinched his fingers to try to get the thorn out.
The two were very close to each other. Lin Weixia was wearing a loose white shirt today. A button had fallen off at some point. When she lowered her eyes a little, she could see a patch of milky white skin on her chest, revealing a white bra. The girl's peach-like chest rose and fell with her breathing.
Ban Sheng's eyes darkened, his Adam's apple slid up and down, and he felt itchy.
Lin Weixia was still fiddling with the thorn on his finger, but it deflected and the thorn was buried in the flesh again. Ban Shengwei raised his head, swallowed, and accidentally saw it and moved his eyes to the top of her head.
"No need." Ban Sheng was about to take his hand back.
Lin Weixia was so focused that she was about to pick up the thorn when the hand in front of her suddenly pulled away. She subconsciously took a step forward, held his hand and said, "Not even a little bit more."
Lin Weixia put her whole face in front of Ban Sheng's finger and was carefully squeezing out the thorn. Ban Sheng felt a slight pain in the nerve of his index finger. The dim light was flowing on their faces, and their breathing was fast and slow. In the end, it was hard to tell who was impatient, and both of them were sweating profusely.
A second before the voice-controlled light went dark, a green thorn finally appeared.
Both of them breathed a sigh of relief and took deep breaths, like fish dehydrated by the lack of oxygen and the heat.
After Lin Weixia finished the tattoo, she immediately became concerned about the situation outside. She wanted to go out and help. However, Ban Sheng seemed to see through her thoughts. A cold and overly rational voice came from the top of her head:
"In Shenzhen High School, you have to learn to get used to it. Also, the more you help them, the more excited they get."
The tone of Ban Sheng's words was that of a cold outsider who had been watching for a long time. For some reason, Lin Weixia associated Ban Sheng with the scene when the typhoon passed that day, when he was smoking a cigarette and beating people with a fierce face, and all the good impression she had accumulated before was lost.
Lin Weixia opened her eyes and looked at him, saying word by word: "Really? Watching others being tortured, what's the difference between you and those people?"
The voice-controlled light lit up at this moment, allowing Lin Weixia to see the expression on Ban Sheng's face clearly. The light illuminated his angular face. In an instant, his brows were filled with sharpness and a strong murderous aura, and a gloomy look flashed across his face.
The lights dimmed again. Lin Weixia didn't know what expression Ban Sheng had. She only knew that he was staring at her with a look that seemed to want to crush her.
After a moment, Li Shengran's clear and powerful voice came from the corridor. She was very dissatisfied: "Zheng Zhaoxing, what are you guys doing? I asked my deskmate to help!"
Lin Weixia breathed a sigh of relief. Suddenly, someone pulled her shirt collar, and the distance between them shortened again. She was forced to look up at him.
Ben Sheng had torn off a NASA badge from his body at some point, lowered his neck, looked at her, unfastened the pin on the back of the badge, and skillfully passed the pin through the loosened collar of the shirt. His bony fingertips accidentally scratched the skin on her chest, which was rough and cold.
Lin Weixia shuddered, but there was nowhere to hide. She looked at him, her breathing becoming heavier, a thin layer of sweat already on her forehead. Something was crackling in the air, the lights flickered, and his face was in shadow.
After the badge was firmly put on, Ban Sheng leaned forward and lowered his head, the distance was infinitely close, almost touching the tip of his nose, and he spoke:
"It makes no difference, so you have to get used to me coming to your door from time to time."