His Sweetheart

Chapter 20

"Do not take risks if you know you are afraid. There is no chance to start over in life. Do you know that, Yan Heng?" Qi Yue sighed and after venting his anger, he didn't know what to say next.

Yan Heng pulled the person out of the bathroom and said, "I know. You should go back now. The competition should be over." Yan Heng stood under the tree and waved his hand. Qi Yue remembered it clearly many years later. Yan Heng had a faint smile on his lips, and his eyes were full of sadness and indifference. Fortunately, they found their own happiness later.

When Jiang Tianxin found Qi Yue, he was leaning against the wall smoking. The wall behind the school was messy and chaotic with cigarette butts and broken bricks thrown by students. The ground was uneven, and Yan Heng had three lit cigarette butts under his feet, with white smoke lingering. Tianxin's footsteps seemed heavy, and she couldn't speak.

Yan Heng smoked quickly, and soon there was no more left. Tianxin felt like she should ask something, but her throat couldn't make a sound. She just looked at him, just like that.

Yan Heng threw away the cigarette butt and walked towards her step by step. "Let's go," he held her wrist, and she could feel his scorching temperature, as if he could ignite at any moment.

"Did you win the competition?" she asked.

"We won," he said.

"That's good," she said.

That's good, that's good, that's good. These three words floated lightly like a breeze passed by her ears. Why did she have the urge to cry?

"Little classmate, did you skip class? I forgot, you are a good girl. How could you skip class? Do you want to skip with me? Hmm? I'll take you to play," Yan Heng's tone was full of temptation.

Tianxin didn't say anything for a while. He was talking nonsense. She wasn't like him, saying such nonsense.

"Okay," Tianxin said seriously. Yan Heng turned his head and saw her smiling. It was like a warm winter stove. Even if he couldn't hold her all the time, he wanted to have it. Later, he thought, maybe at that moment, he was completely infatuated and couldn't extricate himself.

Yan Heng tightly held her wrist and took her away as if they were a pair of outlaws on the run, or as if they were going to a sacred ceremony.

Tianxin didn't know why she agreed to him. Her body just followed him involuntarily. She thought it would be okay to compromise once, letting him be willful. Was this her entering his world?

That one compromise was for a lifetime.

Tianxin looked at the school wall, not particularly high, but she couldn't reach it even if she jumped three times. She heard Yan Heng laughing behind her. Tianxin remembered the time he laughed at her on the bus, and she glared at him angrily.

"Wow, you're like a little tiger, quite fierce. Step on my shoulder and I'll lift you up," Yan Heng bent down low. Tianxin hesitated a bit, not sure if she should step on a boy's shoulder. "Come on, I'm getting tired squatting," Yan Heng said with a playful smile.

Tianxin suddenly couldn't figure out what kind of person Yan Heng was. Was he the sad and gloomy one who smoked, or the cold and detached one, or the one he is now?

Tianxin climbed up on his shoulders and jumped down from the wall. Yan Heng laughed, impatient as always. "Scared? Let's skip class together," they walked on the street outside the school.

"Just skip the self-study session this afternoon, we can do it," Tianxin kicked the stones by her feet. She looked around, never been here before, tall trees, winding roads, no idea where they were leading to.

"Are you saying that you wouldn't skip class with me if it was a serious one?" Yan Heng touched her hair. Tianxin glared at his hand fiercely. "Why do you talk so much?" she said.

Yan Heng went silent, feeling rejected. Tianxin got anxious, "Why aren't you talking now?"

"Jiang Tianxin, you're so fickle. You just said I talked too much, now you want me to talk?" Yan Heng looked proud, like a child waiting to be pampered.

"I..." Tianxin stopped walking and looked at Yan Heng, feeling resentful.

"Okay, okay, I'm scared of you. Have you been to an internet café before? Let me take you there today," Yan Heng surrendered immediately. Girls are really scary.

"Yan Heng, underage kids can't go to internet cafes," Tianxin had never been to the internet café before. She had never even passed by one.

"Well, then where do you want to go? We can't just walk around here," Yan Heng said. He saw Tianxin stop and asked, "What's wrong?"

Tianxin closed her eyes and said, "It smells so good. Do you smell it? It's the scent of lilac. Look," Tianxin pointed to a wall where a lilac tree with purple flowers was blooming.

"Do you like it?" Yan Heng asked.

"I just think it's beautiful," Tianxin shook her head.

"Beautiful? Why didn't he notice where we were going?"

"Wait for me, are there any shops nearby? I need to buy something," Tianxin smiled mysteriously, making Yan Heng's heart race with anxiety.

"There's a small shop around the corner. What do you want to buy?"

"Just wait for me," Tianxin ran over, and Yan Heng smiled indulgently. She was such a silly girl.

But when he saw what she was carrying in her hand, he was the silly one. Tianxin was carrying a set of test papers, notebooks, and pens. All he could say was, "MMP."

"Let's go to the library to study. It's quiet there, and you'll definitely study more efficiently. You've been doing your homework very seriously lately. If you work a little harder, you'll surely get good grades in your mid-term exams. I heard you ranked first in Yi Zhong. Your foundation is definitely better than anyone else's."

Yan Heng cried and laughed, he just didn't want to be the first in the exam. Oh well, forget it, he'd just assume he was a laggard.

"Do you think this idea is bad? But I don't really know what else to do. How about we go to the square and have some fun?"

Yan Heng pinched Tianxin's cheek. "Studying is a great suggestion. It resonates with me deeply. Let's go." Yan Heng pushed Tianxin, and the two of them took a taxi to the city library.

The library was indeed very quiet. The two of them sat together, one with a test paper in hand. Tianxin bought a math test paper.

Yan Heng looked at the questions that he could answer with just one glance, but he had no desire to do so.

"What's wrong?" Tianxin looked at Yan Heng, who was motionless. Was it too difficult for him? But he had the A-level test paper, which was the easiest.

"I don't know how to do it," Yan Heng said innocently.

"But you've done your homework so well. These questions are similar to those in the textbook," Tianxin said, puzzled.

"Well, I followed the pattern of the example questions in the book."

Tianxin was helpless. "Then just do what you can do. I'll explain what you don't understand." Tianxin finished her own test paper.

Yan Heng looked at the multiple-choice questions and perfectly avoided all the correct answers. He changed a few wrong answers and then put down his pen to watch the person next to him doing the test.

Tianxin finished a set of questions, which weren't too difficult, but she wasn't sure about some of them. She marked the wrong answers.

"Are you bored staying here?" "Not bored," he replied, watching her doing anything was not boring. Tianxin looked at his test paper, only did the multiple-choice questions, and got half of them wrong. Listening to her explaining the questions, Yan Heng's heart softened, and all his troubles were forgotten. "Yan Heng, did you understand?" Tianxin asked, noticing that he seemed distracted. Yan Heng nodded, and Tianxin continued to explain. After finishing the test, Tianxin checked her watch and realized that the self-study time had ended. They packed up their things and went back to school together. Zhu Ting and Zhao Xuexi were anxious. Tianxin didn't attend the self-study session, and they didn't know where she went. "Zhu Ting, you were with Tianxin. Do you have any idea where she went?" Zhao Xuexi asked. "Not long after Yan Heng left, the basketball game ended. She might have gone to find Yan Heng, but even if she did, she wouldn't just disappear like this," Zhu Ting said, wondering where Tianxin had gone. "Maybe she's with Yan Heng. Let's wait a bit," Zhu Yan sighed. They were two troublesome classmates, always skipping classes together. Tianxin couldn't let Yan Heng influence her. Yan Heng felt trapped, thinking that if Jiang Tianxin became his girlfriend, would they just sit together and study every day? It sounded terrifying. When Tianxin returned to the dorm, Zhu Ting and Zhu Yan were lying on the bed. "Where did you go, Tianxin? You scared us," Zhu Ting put down her book. "I'm sorry. I went out with Yan Heng. I didn't bring my phone with me, and it all happened so suddenly. I'm sorry for making you worry," Tianxin said, feeling guilty for forgetting to inform them. "It's okay as long as you're safe. Remember to let us know next time," Zhu Yan said, looking at what Tianxin was holding. Was she going for extra classes? "What did you do with Yan Heng? You even skipped the self-study session. Don't learn from Yan Heng," Zhu Ting warned. "We went to the library to study. Yan Heng is very smart, and I understood all the questions he explained," Tianxin said proudly. Zhu Ting and Zhu Yan remained silent, feeling a bit like parents being proud of their child's achievements.

Tianxin had already purchased a set of exam papers. She thought of giving it to Yan Heng, saying that she could give it to him tonight. She suggested that he should do the homework based on the example questions and practice more on these papers to master the topic.

Suddenly, there was a meerkat-like sound from the bed. "Ah, ah, ah," someone exclaimed.

"Are you sick? Can you be quiet for a while?" Zhu Yan shook her head and called for someone to take the crazy person out.

Zhu Ting looked at her phone. "I'm so excited. Someone posted pictures of Yan Heng playing basketball on the school forum. The thread has thousands of comments. He's so handsome."

Zhu Yan looked at her sister and said indifferently, "Yes, indeed he is handsome. Unfortunately, we can only admire him from afar. What do you think, Tianxin?"

Tianxin, lying on the bed, made a sound of agreement. She was still scrolling through the forum on her phone when Zhu Yan leaned over and teased her, "Oh, someone is reading it too."

Tianxin was caught off guard, "I'm just taking a look."

"It's okay, we are just taking a look too. Right, Zhu Ting?" Zhu Ting joked and looked at the blushing Tianxin.

"As Yan Heng's desk mate, Jiang Tianxin, what do you think about this matter?" Zhu Yan asked.