Lin Qing’s friends are truly wonderful
Faced with this scene on the verge of shattering, the first to snap back to reality were those two big brothers.
Both students from Yizhong, these two were much more robust than Li Hua, their voices considerably deeper and louder than his timid throat.
“Li Hua, what are you doing? What do you mean by this?”
Ah, it seems to be an internal fight. That didn’t seem to concern Qiao Yu much; she continued to talk to Lin Qing.
“Do you know this person?”
“Yeah, we were junior school classmates, I didn’t expect to see him here at middle school.”
…The suspicion in the air is quite thick.
Qiao Yu sized up Li Hua, who was making an effort to converse with those two—let’s just call them Bear One and Bear Two—feeling as if she could faintly make out the words “second male lead” etched on Li Hua’s being.
“Hey Qiao Yu, why are there so many people here, can someone fill me in on what’s going on——”
Ignorant of the situation, the male lead only now noticed the crowd and came over, making a fuss wanting to be brought up to speed.
You’re here at last, the dishes are almost cold.
With mixed feelings, Qiao Yu pushed a sweaty Cong Ye away slightly, and straightened her hand to pass him a bottle of mineral water.
“…Anyway, congratulations on taking first place.”
If only you could run thirty seconds faster… But no, now the whole incident of being hit on has got nothing to do with Cong Ye, has it?
She kept her snide thoughts to herself and started to fill him in on the current situation.
“Just now when I went to buy water, Lin Qing was being hit on by those two guys from Yi—”
“Hey, don’t go spreading rumors, okay? We were just asking for directions.”
Bear One’s big ears perked up, and he turned to retort with righteous indignation, catching Qiao Yu off-guard.
“…Asking for directions?”
“Yeah, we two didn’t know how to get to the gym, so we came to ask this sister here.”
“…”
Qiao Yu was taken aback by his greasy tone. Silently, she turned her head to look toward the building at the end of the road on her right, where the words “gymnasium” glittered in golden light.
…Standing here where one could see the gym, he actually had the nerve to give such a pathetic excuse. Did he think she was blind?
She gave the three from Yizhong a look reserved for idiots. Li Hua, unable to maintain his dignity under Qiao Yu’s gaze, hurriedly came over to pull Bear One away.
“Quit the nonsense, everyone is waiting for you guys to get back to practice. If you don’t go back soon, I’m telling the teacher!”
The two clicked their tongues in unison, clearly annoyed, and turned to Li Hua with a hint of mockery in their voices.
“Ouch, pulling out your trump card now, huh?”
“If you had told us this sister was your little girlfriend from the start, we definitely wouldn’t have bothered her, right?”
Li Hua’s fair face flushed with embarrassment, and he stammered, unable to formulate any decent comeback. The other two were grinning mischievously when Bear One was suddenly hit squarely in the face with a water bottle thrown from the side.
He yelped in surprise and turned to see Qiao Yu, still in the posture of having thrown the bottle. As he looked over, she didn’t evade his gaze. She slowly rolled up her sleeves, revealing her slender, strong forearms, her eyes and brows filled with undisguised annoyance.
“If you can’t speak properly, then wash your mouth out.”
Her voice was cold, her gaze filled with disgust as she looked at him.
“If you can’t clean it yourself, I don’t mind helping you.”
Their commotion had already attracted quite a bit of attention, especially since Cong Ye, who should’ve been off registering his top score instead of getting into a tussle here, was involved. Even the judges were frequently glancing their way. Bear One and Bear Two felt a twinge of guilt but their pride wouldn’t let them back down.
“We weren’t talking about you, why are you getting angry for no reason? Are you jealous?”
“That’s right, just because you’re a wealthy second generation doesn’t mean you can be unreasonable. We haven’t provoked you.”
Qiao Yu listened as they finished their words. She didn’t erupt on the spot but rather smiled gently, a smile that didn’t reach her eyes.
“Do you really think that a rich second generation can only move their lips and can’t fight?”
Her words brought the already tense situation to a tipping point. Behind her, Lin Qing quietly tugged at her clothes, whispering for her not to resort to violence here. Qiao Yu knew that fighting in a place where all the teachers recognized her would probably get her a demerit. But she was both angry and calm – furious enough to want to beat them up, yet collected enough to yearn to teach them a lesson in etiquette.
“Don’t fight!”
Just then, Li Hua charged between the two groups, waving his hands like a mediator trying to break up the fight.
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“It’s our fault—we should go back now! If we wait any longer, the teachers will really start coming over here!”
With those words, the two men took the opportunity to back down. They glared at Qiao Yu resentfully for a few moments, and then raced away, one faster than the other, without even leaving a harsh word behind.
“I’m sorry… I, I need to get back too…”
Li Hua’s shoulders, which had been tense all this while, finally relaxed, his face red and white, looking quite pitiable.
“…Lin Qing, I’ll come find you later!”
Before he took off, he did remember to hastily call out to Lin Qing, who nodded politely in response. Qiao Yu huffed indignantly and thought to herself, perhaps it would be better if they didn’t come back at all.
Cong Ye, who stood by with his arms sternly crossed, also scoffed in disdain. He rubbed his face, smoothing away the intimidating look he had given to Bear One and Bear Two just moments ago. He walked over and picked up the bottle of mineral water that he hadn’t even had time to open before Qiao Yu snatched it away to use as a weapon. He glanced at it and then, feeling a reluctance to drink it, silently tossed it into the trash can.
“It’s all because of those guys! Wasting a perfectly good bottle of water!”
Cong Ye was riled up with righteous indignation, chest thrust out, full of outrage. What a scene to make right in front of Qiao Yu! Wouldn’t Qiao Yu be mad! They’re lucky she didn’t hit them! Hmph!
“Forget it, forget it, I’ll buy you another bottle in a bit. You go hurry and register your scores first, don’t miss out on that.”
Qiao Yu waved her hand to dissipate the onlookers and Cong Ye from her line of sight, exhaling deeply. Before she could say anything, she caught Lin Qing’s worried gaze.
“They are two grown men, Qiao Yu—”
Her words halted before they could fully materialize, the situation mirroring the previous one in the women’s restroom all too closely. Qiao Yu had always been the one to get angry on her behalf, to stand up for her.
“…You should consider your own well-being more.”
As Lin Qing spoke, she lowered her head, concealing her own emotional turbulence.
“It’s okay, those guys are all bark and no bite. They wouldn’t dare to lay a hand on us here on our turf,” Qiao Yu reassured her with a smile. Then, leaning in close to Lin Qing’s face, she playfully tried to cheer her up, “Was I super fierce just now?”
Lin Qing couldn’t help but laugh along, “Not that fierce, actually kind of cute.”
…Lin Qing’s standards of aesthetics seemed a bit peculiar. Qiao Yu thought Lin Qing was just being polite and didn’t take it to heart, smiling as she led Lin Qing toward the stands, chattering away, “It’s you who needs to be more cautious of yourself. Don’t bother with those with ulterior motives at a glance.”
Lin Qing let herself be led, reaching out with her other hand to pull down the clothing bunched up at Qiao Yu’s elbow while softly calling her name.
“Qiao Yu.”
“Hmm?”
The person leading her spoke in a warm and soft voice, a stark contrast to the cold hardness from moments ago when dealing with others.
“Have you ever been in a fight before?”
A flash of surprise crossed Qiao Yu’s face, but it quickly softened into a smile.
“You noticed?”
“Mm, when I was younger… I got into a few fights.”
“It’s been a long time since then, don’t worry!”
She admitted it readily, and Lin Qing didn’t probe any further, simply acknowledging with a sound and left it at that.
So even someone of Qiao Yu’s background would get into fights herself.
Lin Qing thought about it, no wonder she reacted so quickly earlier, her face quietly flushed with the realization.
Qiao Yu, who only bared her fangs at those who might harm her, had an allure that was somewhat heart-stirring.
As for why things had turned out this way, Qiao Yu was completely clueless.
Anyway, after she diligently finished her shot put and came back, she saw an uninvited guest, Li Hua, sitting upright on the bleachers. The seating arrangement around him—with Mi Yi to the left and Lu Yao to the right—made it look like a tribunal session.
“…What’s going on here?”
She looked around and cast her gaze towards the most reliable person, Mi Yi, who sighed with annoyance and began to explain to her.
“This person suddenly showed up, said he was looking for Lin Qing, but Lin Qing has been summoned away for something we don’t know, and then Cong Ye detained him.”
Qiao Yu glanced over at Cong Ye, who, with a serious face, gave her a thumbs-up.
…Huh? Why the look that says “I’ve fulfilled your request, brother”?
Seeing Qiao Yu return, Mi Yi, who was already bored of sitting, quickly vacated her seat and gestured “Please, after you” to Qiao Yu. Qiao Yu sat down next to Li Hua, looking bewildered.
“You’re called… Qiao Yu, right? That’s what I heard them calling you…”
Unexpectedly, as soon as she sat down, Li Hua took the initiative to strike up a conversation. Even seated on the backless stands, he kept his spine straight, looking rather uncomfortable.
“My name is Li Hua, I am—”
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“Ah, I know, I know,” she said excitedly, having heard about it from Lin Qing. “You were junior school classmates, right?”
“Yes! We were in the same class. I was the class monitor and she was the vice monitor!”
“Our school came to your gym today to practice for a group event, but those two slipped away and I got roped into looking for them by our teacher. Who would’ve thought I’d see them bothering Lin Qing? I just charged over there! I heard she had moved to this city, but I never imagined it’d be this school. It’s definitely fate—”
“Hey, hey.” Cong Ye, with a stern face, clapped his hands twice and turned to the startled Li Hua, advising, “Just talk. Can you not bring up Lin Qing in every other sentence?”
Ouch, that comment seemed a bit sour. Qiao Yu did a quick mental math and figured this might be Cong Ye showing some—
“Don’t you see who you’re speaking to? What’s with the senseless bragging?”
…It seemed like that wasn’t quite the case.
As the recipient of Li Hua’s comments, Qiao Yu pondered for a long time but couldn’t figure out “who you’re speaking to” means.
She looked at Li Hua, who had become like a frightened bird, too scared to speak, and Qiao Yu felt she had no choice but to play the role of the stern one.
“It’s fine, don’t mind Cong Ye…”
“Click.”
“…He might speak harshly, but actually…”
“Click.”
“He’s a decent person, and his relationship with Lin Qing is also…”
“Click.”
“Good—Lu Yao, what on earth are you taking pictures of!”
The incessant clicking was driving everyone mad. Qiao Yu, with her aura seething, snatched away the camera from him. Lu Yao whined and whimpered in his defense, “It was Cong Ye who told me to take more photos…”
“That doesn’t mean you snap three times in rapid succession for every single sentence! What’s the use of all these photos anyway?”
“…As evidence for court?”
“You better pray that among these shots there’s a good one that can actually serve as evidence for court!”
Qiao Yu, burning with rage, started flipping through the photos previously taken. Cong Ye, along with Mi Yi, also crowded over, craning their necks to peek. For the moment, all of them had forgotten about Li Hua standing off to the side.
“Wow, this is terrible technique…”
“…Isn’t this just all up in the face.”
“I don’t have a single photo of me crossing the finish line! Only ones of me rolling my eyes while running!”
Cong Ye turned around, glaring furiously at Lu Yao, who was shivering and shrinking back.
“What even is all this…”
Flipping through dozens of photos and not finding a single clear one, Qiao Yu was almost amused by these avant-garde snapshots. She continued to flip through absentmindedly until she abruptly came to a halt.
“Ah.”
Mi Yi dramatically covered her mouth, her eyes brimming with teasing amusement as she looked at the two girls holding hands on the camera screen.
“Ah!”
Cong Ye was even more exaggerated, even doing a little jump on the spot: “This one! It’s captured so well!”
Indeed, this photo captured the two figures from the side, one in front of the other, walking hand in hand. The image was crisp and clean, with the expressions of the characters perfectly rendered—a masterpiece compared to the preceding shots.
Qiao Yu was dumbstruck, gazing at herself and Lin Qing on the screen, her eyes lingering for a few seconds on Lin Qing’s bowed head and faint smile, her cheeks embarrassingly heating up.
…Were they being photographed by Lu Yao when they walked back to the stage? Why didn’t she feel anything when holding hands, yet now, just by looking at a… photo, she suddenly felt a bit… bashful…
Cong Ye took advantage of Qiao Yu’s petrified moment to snatch the camera from her hands, looking over the treasure twice with delight, then turned toward Lu Yao, this time with a very pleasant demeanor.
“Excellent, I forgive you now—for this photo, remember to send it to me later, huh.”
“Oh, oh.”
The scene was quite lively, leaving Li Hua, who had been neglected, staring blankly at the group. He couldn’t help but nudge Qiao Yu and asked politely,
“Are you all… friends of Lin Qing?”
Qiao Yu still had a bit of a blush on her face, but determined not to be outdone, she nodded decisively, her expression nonchalant. The unspoken subtext was, “Do you have a problem with that?”
“Ah, don’t get me wrong,” Li Hua hurriedly waved his hands, smiling gently and elegantly. “I just think it’s really nice, because Lin Qing used to be quite quiet, not really the type to make so many lively friends…”
As soon as he said this, the four of them fell silent. Their eyes met, and they all gleaned the same question from one another’s gaze: Was this a backhanded compliment?
Furthermore, why did Li Hua always imply that he was an old acquaintance of Lin Qing’s or that he understood her best, whether through what was said or left unsaid? Qiao Yu, who already had no particular fondness for him, now felt even more aggravated—was it his place to say whether Lin Qing was quiet or not?
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Urged on by the others’ looks, Qiao Yu crossed her arms and began in a tone that was all business.
“We haven’t asked why you’re looking for Lin Qing…?”
“I just… um, I didn’t expect her to transfer to this school. I wanted to ask her for contact information so that perhaps we could have a meal together sometime in the future…”
Li Hua does have one good point: he answers questions straightforwardly, with no beating around the bush. It’s as if he’s pulling potatoes from the ground, bringing everything up in one go.
The people behind them couldn’t help but snicker. Qiao Yu didn’t need to look back to know what they were thinking: For all his show of understanding Lin Qing, it turned out he hadn’t even secured her contact details yet? It seems Lin Qing’s good memory is the only reason she could remember him at all, though, of course, such a… distinctive name might indeed be quite unforgettable.
But Qiao Yu still felt the need to maintain decorum and didn’t voice these thoughts. Instead, she calmly pulled out her phone.
“It’s like this,” she casually swiped through her contact list, “I have Lin Qing’s complete contact information right here.”
“But without her permission, I can’t just give it to you, can I?”
She watched Li Hua nodding vigorously, agreeing with her. Flashing him a dazzling smile, she offered, “How about this—you add me first. When Lin Qing comes back, I’ll ask her for you. If she agrees, I’ll let her contact you, okay?”
Li Hua agreed with great enthusiasm, and he was still reflecting on it with appreciation on the way back to the gym. Lin Qing’s friends were truly considerate, going out of their way to help him like that.
He overheard her mention that Lin Qing was busy all day and couldn’t return, remarking sympathetically, “Lin Qing must be working so hard, huh.”
LP:
李 (Li) is a common Chinese surname, and it is one of the most common surnames in China.
華 (Hua) means “splendid” or “magnificent.” It can also be associated with “China” or “Chinese culture.”
So, ‘李華’ or ‘Li Hua’ can be interpreted as “splendid Li” or “magnificent Li.”
