Chapter 476: Qiao Mu Private High School

"I don't even ask too much of you." Xu Wei scolded until his throat was dry, and took another sip of water from his cup, "I don't care about the other things you did in your freshman and sophomore year, but it's your senior year, when you're willing to come to class, you should do it properly, right?"

Xu Wei glared, threw a sketchbook onto the desk and nailed it hard with her red fingernail, "Look what you do in my class!"

The name Bai Liu is scribbled on the cover of the manuscript, and next to it are a few equations that have not yet been calculated, the letters of which are distorted at the end.

Bai Liu picked up the sketchbook, which looked familiar to him, and flipped it open at random, seeing the various simple scribbles on it, and it dawned on him.

It's this book.

He often skipped classes in the early part of his high school years, and in the second semester of his sophomore year Lu Yizhan used various means to coerce him into coming to class, but he didn't attend properly either, mostly wandering or drifting off in class, and drawing random doodles in his notebook.

This is the book where he used to draw his doodles, but it was confiscated by Xu Wei in the middle, so no wonder he didn't find it when he graduated.

Xu Wei snatched the book out of Bai Liu's hand, slammed it down angrily, and flipped the pages to Bai Liu's face for him to read.

"What's all this stuff you've been drawing?!"

Bai Liu lifted his eyes without a ripple and looked at the drawing on the book.

The drawings in this book are made in biros, so they are easy to read, and you can probably make out what they mean.

The first drawings are mostly of a female demon with red nails and bulging eyeballs being killed by a variety of weapons, with an occasional watermelon-headed toad grinning at the same time, which takes up about half of the book and is mostly in red and blue biros colours.

At a later stage, however, the painting takes a turn for the worse and a faceless pencil villain appears, a vaguely described, skinny little one in a school uniform, sitting alone on the edge of a flower bed, looking down at the two ice-cream sticks he holds in his hands, seemingly lonely.

Then on the next page, a black, messy mass of fluffy lines the size of a small dog appeared in front of this little pencil man.

The pile of lines does not allow the shadow to be seen, and it seems that the artist could not see the shape of the mass that suddenly appeared in front of him, so he can only depict the shape of the shadow to his eyes in this vague way.

The fluffy puppy line is crouched in front of the little man's leg, with a picture frame drawn next to it that reads: [Can I have one of those ice creams you're holding?

The villain replied with a dialog box: [No give.].

The puppy line continues: [So can I switch with you?

The villain asks, [In exchange for what?]

The puppy line says: [In exchange for my newly born soul].

Bai Liu looked straight at the sketchbook and reached for it.

He doesn't remember ever drawing such a section.

Xu Wei yanked the sketchbook back and was just about to open her mouth to continue her scolding when she saw Bai Liu's flat stare at her.

Her scalp tingled and her voice weakened as she opened her mouth, "...... What are you looking at me like that for?"

She had never seen such an aggressive look in Bai Liu's eyes before, and for a moment, her back went cold.

"The teacher scolded you for your own good." Xu Wei forced himself to calmly brace himself and move a little less, gently pointing at the book in Bai Liu's hand, "Look at what you've drawn, it's a mess, if it's good the teacher can still help you apply for art and physical education classes, but look at what you've drawn ...... "

"What with the red-nailed banshee and the toad, it's all too scary, it's a monster from one of those horror games you like to play, isn't it?"

Bai Liu glanced at the red nails on Xu Wei's hands and the corner of his mouth quirked up a little, mumbling dispassionately, "Sort of."

Xu Wei cleared his throat, "And those little people and lines at the back, that little person is yourself, isn't it, and what's that mass of lines that's still talking to you?"

"As you know something has happened recently, everyone is very concerned about the psychological problems of senior students." Xu Wei sighed in a feigned manner, "The teacher, too, was worried about your psychological condition, so he took what you drew and asked the school's psychologist about it."

"They say that your kind of drawing then is in part due to self-imposed isolation, leading to a more serious psychological problem in that the non-existent friends of your childhood fantasies remain to this day."

Bai Liu kept his head down and didn't say a word as he held the book.

When Xu Wei saw this, she couldn't help but feel smug about hurting Bai Liu, she slowly puffed up her chest and her expression became hypocritical and arrogant: "Of course, it's not that the teacher can't understand why you have such problems, after all, you grew up in that kind of environment and with that kind of personality, you don't seem to have any friends in the orphanage? "

Bai Liu still didn't answer.

The smile on Xu Wei's face widened: " Qiao Mu's senior year here is very stressful and may exacerbate your psychological problems, as you can see, a number of students have already had problems this year, and the teachers don't want you to have problems too."

"How about this, the teacher can help you apply for withdrawal first, and then you can go to another class when your psychological problems get better?"

As long as Bai Liu is forced out, her grades in the class will not be affected and Hou Tong will not be able to pester Bai Liu.

Seeing Bai Liu still ignoring her, Xu Wei frowned and was about to say more when a female teacher came next to her and knocked on Xu Wei's desk: "Mr. Xu, we are going down to the assembly."

"Okay." Xu Wei stood up, she swept a glance at Bai Liu, " Bai Liu, think about it again yourself."

"I'm doing it for your own good too."

Outside the window is the sound of a loudspeaker announcing: [All students please assemble in the playground! All students please assemble in the playground!

Students bustled down the hall with their stools, complaining to each other about having to meet in the 2pm sun, and basically every student had a frozen bottle of mineral water in their hands and a pocketful of sorbet and ice-cream snacks.

Qiao Mu Most of the students in high school are not poorly equipped to have a pep rally, and everyone buys something to eat while they're there.

Except for Bai Liu.

He can't afford to buy these, but that doesn't mean he can't eat them either.

" Mr. Xu kept you for the whole recess again." Hou Tong grumbled as she walked up, she opened her pocket and handed Bai Liu a popsicle, "At least leave you time for a sip of water?"

Bai Liu closed his half-opened sketchbook, his eyes flicking over the popsicle she handed him, and thanked her politely and detachedly, "Thanks, but no thanks."

Hou Tong was stunned, but she quickly realised what was happening and pulled Bai Liu, who was about to turn away, to explain urgently, "I didn't buy it for you!"

"Fang Dian bought it and asked me to bring it to you!"

Bai Liu paused as he turned to look at Hou Tong.

"No kidding, I really didn't buy them!" Hou Tong eagerly held it out for Bai Liu to see, "Look, it's the cheapest kind of popsicle, 50 cents a piece, I wouldn't buy this for you."

Yes, the entire small pocket is filled with ice-cream costing seven to eight to ten dollars per unit, and inside a cheap double-headed popsicle costing a teeny tiny fraction of another ice-cream looks out of place.

--but it was the type of popsicle Bai Liu ate the most throughout high school.

In the summer, Lu Yizhan and Fang Dian would save their money to buy these popsicles for Bai Liu.

"Thanks." Bai Liu took it and he smiled very lightly, his face less detached and more serious this time, "Please help bring it."

Hou Tong was relieved when Bai Liu took it and left, but when she looked down at the bag of over-priced ice-cream she had in her small pocket, none of which was as expensive as the 50-cent popsicle Fang Dian had bought for Bai Liu, she stomped her foot in defiance and her eyes turned a little red.

How is she any worse than Fang Dian?

Why don't you want her stuff every time!

Bai Liu casually rips open the wrapper of a popsicle as he walks along. These cheap popsicles are two stick-shaped popsicles stuck together.

Before Lu Yizhan and Fang Dian got together, he and Lu Yizhan usually ate one of these popsicles, one for each, which was a good deal.

But after Lu Yizhan caught up with Fang Dian, there were only enough ice lollies for two people to share, and when three people shared, it was awkward, and Bai Liu, the outsider who dabbled in the food and drink, would quit the world of the two and go to the office to get water.

At eighteen, Bai Liu thought calmly, it was finally time for Lu Yizhan to have his own circle.

He Buming wondered why Lu Yizhan had kept him for over four years for no apparent reason, but that suspicion ceased when Fang Dian appeared - probably because there was nothing more interesting around at the time for Lu Yizhan to focus on, so he was bored to keep him.

But soon Bai Liu was caught up in an even greater confusion.

He thought Fang Dian's arrival would put Lu Yizhan on a normal path - get into a good university, graduate, get a good job, get married, have children, make lots of good friends, live a normal and successful life, and that would be the end of his interactions with this marginal figure.

It's as if Lu Yizhan should have stopped at half of the 50-cent popsicle he gave him.

The future Lu Yizhan should not have to eat such cheap popsicles and share half of them with people like him, they are not in the same world in the first place, it is Lu Yizhan who has been forcing himself, forcing himself to the point of condescension.

But this is not the case with .......

Instead of taking away Bai Liu's popsicle, Fang Dian's arrival allowed Bai Liu to eat one more at a time.

This woman would laughingly buy a 50-cent double-headed popsicle as well, then share her other one with Bai Liu, stroking his head and saying, "What are you hiding from, I like you too."

Since then, Bai Liu has doubled his bewilderment as the number of popsicles he can eat has become two.

" Bai Liu!"

A bright and generous voice came from a girl with a high ponytail, wearing a school uniform and skirt, laughing and shouting in the middle of the crowd, her right hand raised and waving, smiling so brightly that the sunlight fell on her and became dazzling and warm, dispelling the dead atmosphere here.

"Bai Liu! This way!"

"Come and sit on my side!"