QTMWSFC Chapter 5

She was clearly such a nice girl. How did she end up like that?

Riding his bicycle, Xu Xinghe couldn’t help but look back once more at the small bedroom where the light had turned on.

He had only received a summary of the plot. It was hard for him to truly empathize with all the dark things Xia Qingmeng would experience if the original plot developed.

But none of that mattered now. He would cut off Chu Xi’s various schemes at the source and deal with her as quickly as possible. Without Chu Xi stirring up trouble, many things wouldn’t happen, and Xia Qingmeng could study in peace.

Thinking of this, Xu Xinghe’s eyes turned cold.

He really couldn’t let Chu Xi off easy!

When she got home, Xia Qingmeng couldn’t help but look down from her small bedroom window. The early summer wind flipped the hem of Xu Xinghe’s shirt. The dim yellow streetlight cast a glow on him, making him look somewhat gentle.

He didn’t seem as violent and terrifying as the rumors said. He actually seemed quite kind and was a good person.

Xia Qingmeng’s impression of him changed a lot.

After escorting Xia Qingmeng home, Xu Xinghe rode his bike back along the same route.

His current residence was an apartment not far from the school. It has two bedrooms, one living room, one bathroom, and one kitchen. Not large, but plenty big enough for him to live alone.

Of course, with the Xu family’s wealth, living in a luxurious villa would be no problem. But there was no need for that because cleaning was very troublesome, even if he didn’t have to do it himself.

After a comfortable bath and a little bit of being narcissistic in front of the mirror, Xu Xinghe finally lay down on his bed.

As soon as he opened his phone, several message notifications popped up on the lock screen. The content was simple and direct. They were all transfer notifications from his family members. Clicking in to see, the amounts were very large.

Father: [A young man away from home needs some money in his pocket.]

Mother: [The temperature difference between morning and evening has been quite large lately. Take care of yourself and don’t catch a cold.]

Older Brother: [I heard it’s quite hot over there. Sending you some money to buy cold drinks.]

Xu Xinghe quickly browsed the messages and replied to each one.

He really was the young master showered with love and affection…

After checking the balance in his account, Xu Xinghe couldn’t help but sigh.

But the feeling of being rich… was absolutely wonderful!

After receiving the money, Xu Xinghe opened the chat window with Xia Qingmeng.

Her profile picture was different from her personality. It was a very cute cartoon cat.

Xu Xinghe thought it looked familiar, as if he had seen it somewhere before. So he decisively did an image search.

Oh, it turned out to be part of a set!

Besides the cat, there were rabbits, dogs, bears, and several other animals.

Xu Xinghe thought for a moment and changed his profile picture to a blue-themed dog. Rounding up, paired with her pink-themed cat picture, they were practically couple avatars. After all, since ancient times, blue and red (pink) have always been the classic CP¹couple pairing.

When Xia Qingmeng got home, she still needed to do some practice problems before going to bed after washing up.

She had just finished two small questions when her phone lit up. Xu Xinghe had sent a message.

[XSTAH: Top student, how do you solve this problem? I looked up the answer but couldn’t understand it either. I suspect some steps are missing. Attached: problem image + answer]

This guy actually took the initiative to study?

Xia Qingmeng couldn’t help but be surprised.

Everyone knew Xu Xinghe was a troublemaker who never did his homework!

Every time homework was collected, don’t ask him. If you ask, the answer was always: No! Didn’t do it!

Xu Xinghe also knew that he didn’t do his homework. Not only did he not want to do it before, but he also didn’t want to do it now. But it might be difficult in the future. After all, he was determined to establish a persona who could turn into a new leaf and work hard.

[XSTAH: It’s almost the third year in high school. If I don’t start studying now, it’ll be too late. Besides, now that I have the top student’s contact info, I might as well take advantage of being near the water’s edge to get the moonlight first (•̀ᴗ•́)و ̑̑]

Despite her suspicions, Xia Qingmeng still patiently looked at the problem.

The answer did indeed have an issue. It had skipped some steps. For some people, it probably wasn’t hard to follow, but for someone like Xu Xinghe who only half-understood, it was indeed confusing.

Xia Qingmeng filled in the missing steps, took a photo, and sent it to Xu Xinghe. But her broken phone and poor network signal made the photo take forever to send and then it got stuck. Meanwhile, he had already sent two messages asking “done yet?”

Xia Qingmeng sighed. The truth was, she didn’t usually use her phone much and certainly not mobile data. It all cost money!

But not using it wasn’t really an option because this was the information age. Without a phone, it was hard to get by.

Buzz—buzz—buzz—

Her phone suddenly vibrated, showing an unfamiliar number.

Xia Qingmeng immediately answered, “Hello?”

“Xia Qingmeng.” A clear male voice came from the other end.

Xia Qingmeng realized for the first time that Xu Xinghe’s voice sounded so nice when transmitted through a cable.

Xu Xinghe: “I think I’m a bit slow. Why don’t you just explain it to me over the phone?”

Xia Qingmeng said “mm-hmm” and began explaining based on the answers she had written.

Xu Xinghe was naturally not listening. With “Subject Mastery” at his disposal, he didn’t need to review at all.

Of course, even without Subject Mastery, he still had confidence in his own ability to improve his grades.

What he was actually doing was listening to the girl’s voice, crisp and clear, with a slightly soft and sticky ending. It sounded great and was completely pleasant.

Xia Qingmeng’s voice matched her perfectly. Despite her cold and striking appearance, she occasionally revealed hints of a young girl’s pure innocence.

One problem was explained, and ten minutes had passed.

Xu Xinghe: “Thank you, Xia Qingmeng.”

For the first time, Xia Qingmeng felt inexplicably shy hearing her own name said by someone else. She hurriedly said, “You’re welcome. If there’s nothing else, I’ll hang up first.”

“Wait a moment.” The male voice on the other end was a bit urgent, “If I have questions in the future, can I still call and ask you?”

Xia Qingmeng originally wanted to refuse because phone calls were very expensive. But then she thought he would be the one calling. So as if possessed, she agreed: “Okay.”

Xu Xinghe: “Thank you. Good night.”

Xia Qingmeng: “Mm, you too. Good night.”

On the night of early summer, the evening breeze blew across a restless heart.

Xia Qingmeng realized that the palm of her hand holding the phone was filled with fine beads of sweat at some point. It was damp and moist, and her heart was pounding uncontrollably.

This was the first time she had ever spoken on the phone with a boy. She only felt that the other person’s voice was so pleasant that it made her heart feel a little uncomfortable.

She stared at Xu Xinghe’s profile picture for a while, then murmured to herself, “He changed his avatar?”

It looked oddly like a matching pair with her own avatar…

But Xia Qingmeng was too self-aware and felt that it was just a coincidence. She shook the unfounded thought out of her head and continued doing practice problems.

In his apartment, Xu Xinghe hung up the phone and grinned foolishly, rolling around on the bed twice.

Perfect. He had seized another good opportunity! Calling Xia Qingmeng every night was great for cultivating feelings!

For the next two weeks straight, Xu Xinghe escorted Xia Qingmeng home from school every day without fail. After getting home, he would then chat with her on the phone for hours under the guise of asking about homework.

Under the old and rundown building, the two said goodbye as usual.

But this time, Xia Qingmeng didn’t go upstairs. Instead, she turned around and called out to Xu Xinghe for the first time.

“Xu Xinghe.”

“What’s wrong?”

Xia Qingmeng looked at Xu Xinghe’s somewhat shadowy figure under the dim streetlight and said, “It’s been two weeks now. It should probably be fine. You don’t have to go to the trouble of walking me home anymore.”

All in all, it was just a small matter. Xia Qingmeng didn’t think Chu Xi would go to extreme lengths. Two weeks had passed peacefully. She felt it should be over. Continuing to have Xu Xinghe walk her home, she felt unworthy of the kindness.

But Xu Xinghe didn’t think this small matter was over yet.

In the original plot, Chu Xi had used this incident to bully and torment Xia Qingmeng in every possible way. But Xia Qingmeng had a tough spine and refused to give in! And when Chu Xi saw that she wouldn’t cooperate, she turned her attention to Xia Qingmeng’s grandmother to force her to submit.

So Xu Xinghe disagreed with Xia Qingmeng’s suggestion. “No. This is the calm before the storm. She’s definitely planning on doing something bad. She just hasn’t done it yet.”

Xu Xinghe’s tone was firm, leaving no room for negotiation. Xia Qingmeng bit her lip but finally nodded.

Either way, she wasn’t losing anything. And having someone to talk to on the way home at night was actually quite nice.

“Then you be careful on your way back too.”

The two weeks of spending time together were not long but enough to make two strangers familiar with each other. Xia Qingmeng wasn’t stingy with her concern for a friend.

“Mm.” Xu Xinghe nodded and turned his bicycle around.

After watching Xia Qingmeng go upstairs and turn on her light, without even realizing it himself, Xu Xinghe let out a sigh of relief before finally leaving with peace of mind.