Peaches and Plums Don’t Speak – Chapter 56
by Little PandaVigilance
Anzhi felt like every hair on her body was standing on end.
Seeing her get so worked up,1 Xu Jia’er froze for a second. “What, you really like girls?”
Anzhi scowled and glared at her.
“…No, I was just scaring you,” Xu Jia’er said. “I mean… I was testing you…”
Anzhi was so furious she could barely breathe, her eyes turning red. She didn’t want to say another word and turned to leave. Xu Jia’er took a long stride and blocked her path. “Hey, Little Class Monitor… I was just joking.”
“Is that funny?” Anzhi shot back, her eyes blazing. “I don’t think so. Get out of my way.”
At that, Xu Jia’er wiped the teasing smile from her face and stood firm, refusing to let her pass. “I’m sorry, I really was…” She scratched her head. She’d been about to say she didn’t mean it, but she had, in fact, been deliberately testing her.
She remembered standing at the podium during her self-introduction, taking in the expressions of all her classmates. There was shock, awe, and a few looks that were a mix of ‘what the fuck’2 and ‘I must be hearing things.’ Only one person had looked at her with curiosity, seemingly mixed with a hint of worry.
When she sat down behind the little class monitor, the first thing she noticed was a faint floral scent, like the quiet fragrance of jasmine or gardenia, but without the usual intensity of gardenia. She couldn’t tell if it was some brand of perfume or just Anzhi’s own natural scent.
During class, she’d found herself staring boredly at the back in front of her. She’d heard Anzhi was the youngest in the class, and while she wasn’t short, she somehow looked especially small. Her voice was soft, with a milky, childlike tone. Her limbs were slender and pale, making her look a lot like a little rabbit.
Xu Jia’er decided she wanted to get to know her. She poked her with her finger, tickled her with her pen, and finally managed to strike up a conversation. Whenever she had a free moment, she couldn’t resist teasing her a little. The way she puffed up her cheeks in anger was especially fun to watch.
Xu Jia’er had known she liked girls from a very young age. Her parents had both grown up and been educated abroad, and they were quite open-minded. They were both interpreters who knew and loved each other deeply. Xu Jia’er possessed the confidence and brightness of someone raised in a home full of love and respect. It made her stand out among her peers, made her especially attractive, and she knew it.
Although Xu Jia’er liked girls, and sometimes loved to tease them, she was an incredibly proud and confident person when it came to love. She felt that any girl she liked had to be the most outstanding, the most adorable, the one who made her heart pound so hard she couldn’t stop.
The moment she saw Tao Anzhi, it seemed she’d found that feeling.
But she wasn’t sure if the little class monitor also liked girls, which was why she’d tried to sound her out.
Seeing the little class monitor so angry she wanted to run, however, Xu Jia’er felt she might have gone too far. After all, not everyone could face their own orientation as openly as she could. Especially someone like the little class monitor, who looked like a strong gust of wind would frighten her—though it was super cute.
She suppressed a smile, blocked her path with a very serious expression, and apologized with great sincerity. “I’m sorry!”
The little class monitor had to be an especially soft-hearted person. A sincere apology should be enough to quell her anger.
Just as she’d expected, Anzhi looked at her hesitantly, as if trying to gauge how sincere she was. Xu Jia’er quickly squeezed out a solemn expression. “Really, I was just joking. You don’t have to answer me.”
Sure enough, the little class monitor let out a visible sigh of relief. The panic subsided, but a hint of vigilance remained in her eyes.
Xu Jia’er laughed inwardly. She already knew the answer.
The strange way she was smiling made Anzhi feel a little creeped out. She didn’t want to talk to her anymore. “Can I go now? Please stop blocking my way.”
The hallway wasn’t very wide to begin with, and Xu Jia’er, a full head taller than her, felt quite intimidating.
“Aren’t you waiting for your mom or dad to finish the parent-teacher conference? Wait with me, we can chat…” Xu Jia’er took a step forward.
Anzhi had no choice but to take a step back. “There’s nothing to talk about.”
“Why does it feel like you’re scared of me? There’s nothing to be scared of, Little Class Monitor.” Seeing the wariness all over her face was just too amusing. She was like a little rabbit ready to bolt with its fur on end at any moment. A slight smile touched Xu Jia’er’s lips; she was in an excellent mood. “Didn’t we swap papers? Little Class Monitor, your English is a bit weak…”
That got Anzhi’s attention.
Xu Jia’er slowly moved closer. “I noticed you got a reading comprehension question wrong, and you lost points on the essay… For the reading part, do you read the questions first or the article?”
“The questions.”
“Yeah, me too. But the one you got wrong was about the main idea. That passage was about environmental pollution… Air pollution was just one part of it… Look…”
Anzhi raised her eyebrows, pulled the test paper from her schoolbag, and listened quietly. She didn’t even notice that Xu Jia’er had propped one hand against the wall, almost trapping her in an embrace, while her other hand pointed at the paper.
When Yan Xi came out of the conference room and walked down the hall to find Anzhi, this was the scene that greeted her. From her angle, it looked like a tall, short-haired person had Taotao circled in their arms. Their foreheads were almost touching as they looked over a test paper and talked.
Yan Xi stopped in her tracks, her brow furrowing slightly. She watched for a few seconds before calling out, “Taotao…”
The moment she spoke, both of them looked in her direction.
Xu Jia’er glanced over and saw a young woman in a long trench coat, a simple knit sweater, and jeans, with block-heeled high heels. She was quiet and gentle, a pleasing sight to the eye.
Just as she was wondering who this person was and who they were calling, the little class monitor she had cornered pushed her hand away and ran toward the newcomer like a pet that had been summoned.
She mulled over the two syllables, “tao tao.” Peach? Tao? Tao Anzhi? So that was it.
The little class monitor, who was usually so stingy with her smiles, was now beaming sweetly at the newcomer, her full cheeks blushing like a ripe peach.
The young woman patted Anzhi’s head affectionately, but her gaze swept over to Xu Jia’er, clearly scrutinizing her.
Xu Jia’er heard Anzhi say softly, “This is Xu Jia’er.”
The little class monitor must have mentioned her to this woman before. A flash of surprise crossed the woman’s eyes before she nodded at Xu Jia’er. “Hello, I’m Taotao’s guardian.”
Guardian? The two of them didn’t look alike, so she couldn’t be her mother or older sister. And yet, they seemed similar in some ways, sharing a sense of familiarity that only comes from years of living together. That was Xu Jia’er’s first impression.
She wondered what this person’s relationship was to the little class monitor…
She put on a formal, detached smile—the kind reserved for adults. “Hello.”
Yan Xi didn’t seem to have any intention of making small talk. She lowered her voice and said to Anzhi, “Are you ready? Shall we go home?”
Anzhi nodded, then said to Xu Jia’er, “I’m heading home now.”
Yan Xi rested a hand on Anzhi’s shoulder, and the two of them turned and left quite naturally.
“What do you want for dinner?”
“Anything is fine. I’m not hungry.”
“Hmm… How about we find a place that serves congee?”
“Okay.”
Xu Jia’er couldn’t hear any more of their conversation. The smile slowly faded from her face. She stared after their retreating backs, lost in thought.
Yan Xi got the car. She watched Anzhi fasten her seatbelt before driving off campus. “So that’s Xu Jia’er,” she said. “I thought you two were getting along well?”
“Not at all! She was blocking me and wouldn’t let me leave,” Anzhi said, puffing out her cheeks.
“Oh? Why?” A smile touched Yan Xi’s eyes at her childish complaint.
“She asked me if I li—” Anzhi suddenly fell silent.
Aren’t you just like me? Do you like girls, too? The question suddenly echoed in her ears.
Do I like girls?
Or do I just like…
Anzhi’s gaze drifted to Yan Xi, to her profile, to her cheek.
That light kiss on the cheek the other night—where had she found the courage? It seemed to have been an unconscious act, done without thinking. Or was it a desire she had held in her heart all along? It had been a quick, light kiss, like the one Yan Xi had left on her forehead all those years ago. The difference was, she’d been too young then to remember what it felt like.
Anzhi’s eyes moved to a spot on Yan Xi’s cheek. Right there, in that little corner. She had used her own lips to place a stamp there.
Anzhi blushed, embarrassed to have thought of such an intimate word.
“Hmm?” Yan Xi had waited for a while, but Anzhi didn’t continue. Instead, she just seemed to get shy. Yan Xi was puzzled. Although Anzhi had always been thin-skinned, this tendency to blush for no reason seemed to be happening more and more lately.
Anzhi quickly waved her hands. “It’s—it’s nothing.”
Yan Xi shot her a confused look. Seeing Anzhi avert her gaze, clearly unwilling to continue the topic, she had no choice but to drop it.
A few seconds later, Anzhi secretly glanced at her again.
If only she knew what Yan Xi thought about liking girls. She could use Xu Jia’er as a pretext to ask, but that was Xu Jia’er’s private business, and it wasn’t right to gossip4 about people behind their backs.
But she was so, so curious.
“Hmm?” Yan Xi sensed her gaze. “What is it?”
Anzhi shook her head awkwardly.
Yan Xi watched her with a helpless expression, then paused. “That Xu Jia’er…” From the way the two of them had been huddled together, and the look in that person’s eyes when they looked at Anzhi, she couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off.
She was always especially careful about the people who came and went in Anzhi’s life. She had warned even Da Pang and Xiao Pang multiple times. She had looked into Chen Wei and decided the boy was no threat. And she thought Yang Mengmeng was a great kid, so she had never worried.
But this Xu Jia’er was different. Yan Xi didn’t know where this sense of vigilance was coming from. The other party was just a kid, after all.
“Huh? What about her?”
“Nothing,” Yan Xi said, swallowing her words.
She’s not a child anymore. She has the freedom to make her own friends. I can’t keep controlling her.
Footnotes
- ‘Getting worked up’ is a translation of zhà máo (炸毛), which literally means ‘fur standing on end.’ It’s a vivid slang term for getting angry or flustered, like a cat.
- Original: rì le gǒu (日了狗), literally ‘fucked a dog.’ A popular, vulgar slang expression of extreme frustration or disbelief, similar to ‘WTF’ or ‘for fuck’s sake.’
- The word used here is gàizhāng (盖章), which means to affix an official seal or stamp. Anzhi is thinking of her kiss as a way of marking Yan Xi as her own.
- ‘Gossip’ here is bāguà (八卦), which literally means ‘eight trigrams.’ In modern slang, it refers to gossip, especially about personal or celebrity affairs.
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