The night wind rustled the leaves, and the moonlight swayed in mottled silhouettes, falling on them.
Zhu Xingyao looked up at Jiang Tu's face. He was looking down at her. His eyes behind the glasses were dark and deep, and his emotions could not be seen.
At that moment, Zhu Xingyao felt very confused. There were many things she didn't know at that time. She didn't know that the love letter was written by Jiang Tu, she didn't know that it was Jiang Tu who kissed her secretly, and she didn't know that the star lamp was a gift from Jiang Tu for her seventeenth birthday.
Because she didn't know all this, she fell in love with Lu Ji prematurely and was called in for a talk by Director Liu.
However, some feelings cannot be deceived. For example, her heartbeat seems to be faster now, and she feels a little sad and embarrassed.
She didn't know why this happened.
Doesn’t she like Lu Ji
Ding-ling-ling
The bell for the end of get out of class suddenly rang and she was startled.
Jiang Tu turned over and jumped down from the wall, then reached out to her: "Come down."
Zhu Xingyao held onto his arm and jumped down. She had always been well-behaved at school. She didn't want to stay in school before, but now that she was out, she didn't know where to go. Jiang Tu lowered his head and asked, "Are you hungry?"
She shook her head, then nodded: "A little bit."
"Then let's go eat something first." Jiang Tu turned around and walked ahead.
Zhu Xingyao followed behind him and suddenly exclaimed, "I don't have any money." She only had a cell phone in her hand.
Jiang Tu looked back at her: "I have it, let's go."
The two walked into a duck blood vermicelli shop. Jiang Tu brought a bottle of soy milk to Zhu Xingyao. Zhu Xingyao thought about it and sent a text message to Li Xixi, saying that she would go home first.
After the school bell rang on campus, Lu Ji came back from the office and went to the back door of Class 1 to take a look. Seeing that Zhu Xingyao and Jiang Tu's seats were empty, his heart suddenly sank. He called Xu Xiangyang out of the classroom and whispered in the classroom.
The two walked to the stairs, and Lu Ji frowned and asked, "Has Zhu Xingyao never come back?"
Xu Xiangyang said: "No, Li Xixi just received her text message, she said she went home first."
Lu Ji was silent for a moment. He remembered that she didn't bring her cell phone. "What about Jiang Tu?"
"As for him, I don't know when he left. He often skipped self-study classes during the make-up classes." Xu Xiangyang didn't care much. He was more concerned about the fact that Director Liu wanted to talk to them. "Everyone is talking about you and Zhu Xingyao now. Director Liu didn't make things difficult for you, did he?"
Lu Ji said nothing and turned to go downstairs. Xu Xiangyang shouted from above: "Hey, where are you going?"
Lu Ji waved his hand: "Go out for a while."
He and Xu Xiangyang were both recommended students, so they wouldn't talk much even if they didn't come to class. He strode into the woods, took out his cell phone and prepared to call Zhu Xingyao, but suddenly stopped. What's the point of calling? Zhu Xingyao probably didn't want to see him now, and the two of them would have to avoid suspicion for a long time afterwards.
Lu Ji stood in the woods, walking around tree by tree, and it took him more than ten minutes to find the main control switch. He pressed the switch, and the air suddenly lit up. Soon he heard Director Liu's roar.
He seemed not to hear and glanced up.
There were twenty-six trees in total, and thousands of stars, which made the seventeen stars he made look insignificant.
It was already past eight o'clock after dinner. Zhu Xingyao and Jiang Tu stood at the door of the store. In front of them was the bus stop. A bus heading to the city slowly stopped. Jiang Tu lowered his head and asked her, "Do you want to go out and play?"
Zhu Xingyao exclaimed, and Jiang Tu asked her if she wanted to go out and play
Jiang Tu asked: "Are you going?"
Are you going? It seems crazy enough to skip classes just to go out and have fun.
Zhu Xingyao nodded subconsciously, and the next moment, he grabbed her hand and ran forward. She looked up at him in panic.
The two ran onto the bus just before the door closed.
As soon as they got on the bus, Jiang Tu let go of her hand and threw two coins into the car. He looked at her calmly and said, "There are seats in the back. Let's go sit in the back."
They sat in the back seat by the window. The car started moving. The colorful lights on the street passed over their faces. Jiang Tu looked calm. Zhu Xingyao looked at him, lowered her head and whispered, "Brother Tu, will you laugh at me?"
Jiang Tu paused, turned to look at her, and said calmly, "No."
He will only feel doubly uncomfortable.
Zhu Xingyao suddenly didn't know what to say, so he looked up and asked, "Where are we going to play?"
"Where do you want to go?"
"Can we go catch dolls? Last time, Xixi and I tried to catch the rabbit for half a day but failed..." Zhu Xingyao suddenly paused, "Forget it, let's not go catch dolls. Let's go to the square and play some games."
It is very expensive to catch dolls. Last time, she and Li Xixi spent almost two hundred yuan and only caught a few clown dolls.
Jiang Tu didn't bring much money today to the largest arcade in the center of Jiangcheng. Apart from the travel expenses for the two of them, he bought 15 coins. He stood at the front desk, silently looking at the most conspicuous gambling machine, where several adult players gathered.
The thing he hated most in his life was gambling, and he thought he would never touch it in his life.
After struggling and hesitating.
Finally, he walked over.
Zhu Xingyao didn't know what he was going to do. She thought that the 15 coin-claw dolls might be finished in a few minutes. She was walking towards the claw machine, but he suddenly stopped and grabbed her. Zhu Xingyao looked back and found that he was staring at others gambling with coins. She was stunned.
"Wait for me," he said.
Zhu Xingyao instantly understood what he was going to do. She hurriedly grabbed him and said in a panic, "Don't... don't play this."
Jiang Tu looked at her calmly and said, "It will be fine soon, trust me."
He just stood by and watched others play, calculating the ratio of the coin machine to the coin. The adults had a large basket of coins next to them, some with thousands or even tens of thousands. The man with a cigarette in his mouth across from him looked up at him and said, "Boy, you want to play? But you only have so few coins?"
Jiang Tu looked at him and said, "I'll help you win, and you give me half of the coins."
The man raised his eyebrows, showing some interest: "You sound quite arrogant. Are you so sure you can win? What if you lose?"
Jiang Tu threw the sealed bag with 15 coins into his basket and said calmly, "Bet three times, I promise I won't let you lose, and if you lose, I will return it to you."
The man turned his gaze to Zhu Xingyao. Seeing the worried look on the girl's face, he smiled and stood up to make room for Jiang Tu: "Okay, I'll see how you coax your girlfriend."
Zhu Xingyao was stunned. Jiang Tu paused and said calmly, "Not a girlfriend."
The man said, "Sister? Not really."
Jiang Tu's mouth twitched, but he didn't answer. He looked at the players on the opposite side, "Who's playing?"
They were still wearing school uniforms, and other men looked down on a high school student. In the first game, Jiang Tu lost 2,000 coins, and someone laughed at him: "Is this okay? How are you going to pay it back if you lose?" He looked at the man behind Jiang Tu and said, "Hey, man, you let him play with you without any collateral. You can't spend money like that, right?"
Zhu Xingyao touched the watch on her wrist, which was a gift from Zhu Yunping on her 17th birthday.
She took off her watch and put it in the basket. "Then this mortgage."
The man was surprised: "This watch is from Longines, it costs tens of thousands of dollars. If you use it as collateral, you will lose money."
Jiang Tu frowned, and Zhu Xingyao quickly said, "Come on, Brother Tu, I believe in you."
There is a kind of person in this world who can be trusted unconditionally. No matter what he does, Jiang Tu is such a person. Zhu Xingyao doesn’t know why, but she just believes in him. If he says three games, he will definitely win in three games.
In the second round, Zhu Xingyao saw Jiang Tu's tense jawline. He was staring intently at the coins in the slot machine being pushed and dropped. He was actually nervous too. They were lucky tonight and won back 3,000 coins.
In the third game, Jiang Tu let others play first and started after a few rounds. He won back 3,000 coins again.
The men opposite were all stunned, but the man who gave up his seat to him raised his eyebrows and smiled.
Jiang Tu stood up without saying a word, picked up Zhu Xingyao's watch and handed it to her. He then took a basket and grabbed a few handfuls of game coins, without counting them, probably a few hundred. He stuffed the basket into her arms, lowered his eyes and asked her, "Is that enough?"
Zhu Xingyao held the heavy basket and nodded happily: "That's enough, enough for Xixi and I to play with for several times."
"That's not enough. I told you to take half." The man grabbed a few more handfuls and put them in, filling Zhu Xingyao's basket to the brim. There must be thousands of them. He glanced at Jiang Tu, who had a grim face, and asked, "Do you want another handful?"
"No."
Jiang Tu said coldly that he took Zhu Xingyao to grab dolls.
If he has the chance to bring her here next time, he hopes not to exchange game coins in this way.
Thousands of game coins were won. The feeling was different from what Zhu Xingyao had felt when she came to the arcade before. She grabbed a doll and went to play other things. She also found that although Jiang Tu was a man of few words and had no entertainment in normal times, he was too smart. He could learn any game at a glance.
Zhu Xingyao stood next to the claw machine, looking at Jiang Tu who was calmly controlling the joystick, and suddenly said: "Brother Tu, you are usually quiet and cold, I thought..." She thought he definitely couldn't coax girls. Like Li Xixi said, if she wanted to date Jiang Tu, she would have to tolerate his coldness and silence.
The rabbit swayed and fell into the frame. Zhu Xingyao pursed his lips and whispered, "If you had a girlfriend, you would definitely be good at coaxing her."
Jiang Tu bent down, took out the rabbit and handed it to her.
He looked down at her and whispered, "Really? That's very far away."
At 11:30 in the evening, Zhu Xingyao returned home. Zhu Yunping and Ding Yu were still waiting for her in the living room. This was the first time in high school that she skipped classes and played so late. She was also called in for a talk by the dean of studies.
She was holding a bunch of dolls in her arms, and a large portion of the remaining game coins.
She was very naughty today, and her parents are going to scold her.
Zhu Xingyao put a bunch of dolls on the sofa, stood in front of them, raised her chin and said, "Mom, do you want to scold me?"
Ding Yu was stunned and looked at Zhu Yunping with mixed feelings. Zhu Yunping stood up, helped her pick up the pile of dolls, and praised her: "You are amazing. You picked up so many this time."
Zhu Xingyao: “…”
It wasn't her who picked them up, she only picked up three.
Ding Yu also stood up, but when she saw the bag of game coins, she looked at her daughter and asked, "Did Lu Ji take you to grab the doll? Did he buy all these game coins?"
No.
Zhu Xingyao lowered his eyes and said nothing.
Ding Yu thought she had acquiesced, and sighed softly: "Mom and Dad don't want to scold you, it's just that you are still young, and you are still in the third year of high school. You will have a concert in October, and you need to record a performance video to send to the school. You will take the TestDaf in November, and you will go abroad next year. In any case, it is not suitable for premature love now. It will be irresponsible to you and the other party..."
Zhu Yunping interrupted her: "Okay, let's not talk about this for now."
He looked at Zhu Xingyao and said gently, "Go upstairs and sleep first."
In the early morning, Zhu Xingyao was sitting at the table in her pink nightgown. The seventeen stars that Lu Ji had given her were placed on the table. She turned on the switch and the seventeen stars lit up. She picked up her phone and saw that Lu Ji had sent her a text message.
Lu Ji: "Zhu Xingyao, don't stay away from me because of this."
The rumors in the school could not be stopped. Zhu Xingyao asked herself to stay calm and pretend that she didn't hear anything. As for Lu Ji... I don't know what Director Liu said to the two class teachers. The two of them were basically isolated in the school.
They rarely had meals together at school. Occasionally, when Lu Ji came to see her, they would be watched by many people. She would always pull Li Xixi away awkwardly to avoid him. Every time, Lu Ji would feel a little annoyed. Ever since Zhou Yuan knew that they had been reported, he kept saying, "Who reported it? I curse him to be single forever!"
Lin Jiayu looked up and snorted, "It's wrong to fall in love too early."
Zhou Yuan scolded her: "Hey, classmate Lin Jiayu, Lu Ji tutors you every day, why are you always so ungrateful? Aren't you hoping for his best?"
Lu Ji turned his head and glanced at Lin Jiayu, "Yeah, why don't you expect me to be better? What am I not as good as... What's wrong with me?" Why am I not worthy of Zhu Xingyao? Why am I not as good as Jiang Tu
Lin Jiayu asked Jiang Tu if he was the one who reported it.
Jiang Tu neither denied nor admitted it.
She glanced at Lu Ji, lowered her head and said, "I didn't say you were bad."
Every day during the break, Xu Xiangyang would put a bottle of soy milk on Zhu Xingyao's desk, saying that it was brought by Lu Ji.
The whole school knew that they were the ones being isolated by Director Liu.
Classmate J's Friday love letters have resumed, and she feels inexplicably relieved. The letters every Friday have probably become an important bridge connecting her and Lu Ji.
After feeling sad and aggrieved for a few days, Zhu Xingyao got used to it. She was too busy and her schedule was packed. She had to practice the piano to prepare for a concert in mid-October. This concert would be small, with only two or three hundred tickets sold, and the other audience members would be relatives and friends.
Chen Lan will come to guide her because this is a video to be sent to the Berlin Academy of Arts.
In the October monthly exam, Class 1 still failed to surpass Class 2, and Lao Cao’s date with Teacher Xie was ruined again.
Zhu Xingyao's grades dropped to ninth in the class. She felt a little guilty. She missed the last exam and did not do well this time. She always felt that she was responsible for Lao Cao's failure to catch up with Teacher Xie. So, she gave the concert tickets to the two teachers.
All of my good classmates and friends received free tickets.
On the evening of October 19, the audience slowly took their seats in the small concert hall. Jiang Tu did not take the VIP ticket given by Zhu Xingyao, and chose a seat in the back row. He sat down and waited quietly. After a while, the person next to him was patted on the shoulder by Lu Ji; "Can I exchange tickets with you? My ticket is in the VIP seat."
The ticket was given by Zhu Xingyao, she had promised it at the beginning.
Lu Ji sat down next to Jiang Tu, who turned to look at him with a cold expression.
Lu Ji laughed at himself: "I'm afraid his parents will see me, so I can't sit in the front."
There was still no emotion on Jiang Tu's face. He turned his head and looked straight ahead.
On the stage, a girl wearing a custom-made gown and high heels walked out from backstage, holding the hem of her skirt in one hand and a cello in the other. The stage lights enveloped her, casting a soft glow around her. Her every frown, smile, and gesture were incredibly beautiful.
The author has something to say: Tu Ge is a hardcore boyfriend. He made the star-shaped lanterns himself and won them from gambling.
High school is coming to an end, thank you everyone~