Mask

Chapter 23 The Burning Ice Cube (3)
"And..." After thinking hard for a while, Wu Xiaomei sat up straight and said as if comforting herself, "And this time the theme is about European city architecture. I have been yearning for Europe since I was a child, so Xinyu gave me this task. It’s my wish fulfilled, I’m very happy!”

Sensing her gradually improving demeanor, Masako didn't express any opinions, but silently took the speech and began to translate it.Wu Xiaomei also became more and more excited as she talked, and her mind had already wandered to Europe, which she longed for.

After the lecture stopped for half an hour, Wu Xiaomei realized that the time had passed, and immediately stopped talking. When she was in a hurry to look up new words in the book, she caught a glimpse of the last ending period in Masako's pen.She froze for a moment, and took a breath: "Ya...Mo Yazi..."

"Okay." Masako put away her pen and sorted out the speeches and books, very carelessly.

Wu Xiaomei was really frightened, looking at the long string of beautiful and fluent English, recalling that she just buried her head in writing just now, and she was so calm that she mistakenly thought she was translating hastily.However, she never expected that she could translate the whole half of the speech proficiently and perfectly without flipping through the reference book for half an hour. The sentence patterns that have never been learned are simply incredible!
"Masako, have you ever lived abroad?" Originally, she thought she would have to do night work, but she didn't expect to finish it so early. While Wu Xiaomei was elated, she was curious about Masako's ability.

"I have participated in English refresher classes for a while, so I am more familiar with it." Masako replied indifferently, and took the manuscript to the copier. "Pencil writing is easy to fade, so it is better to make a copy just in case."

"You are simply amazing!"

There are three full manuscripts, and the copied A4 paper is spit out from the fuselage.Masako glanced at Wu Xiaomei who was concentrating on the first manuscript behind her, folded up the third manuscript calmly, stuffed it into a bookshelf on one side, and then sorted all the copy paper into a stack, and handed it to Wu Xiaomei: " Senpai, it's done."

"Thank you so much, Masako, if it weren't for you, I don't know when I would have gotten it!" She took the paper and suggested, "I'll invite you to eat in a few days, today... later today I still have a part-time job, otherwise today would be a good day." As soon as she said it, she adjusted her glasses embarrassingly, "Well... don't tell me about my part-time job, the school doesn't allow students to work part-time outside of."

"Okay."

Seeing that she had returned to the tense look of being fully armed, Masako agreed.

Finally, at the moment of parting, Wu Xiaomei's back gradually disappeared in the crowd, and Masako glanced at this small "Wuzhi Bookstore" before leaving.It is clean and low-key, but it cannot hide the greed and treachery overflowing from that billboard.

6
the next day.

The third-grade speech contest was scheduled for the first class in the afternoon, held in the art hall, and when the preparatory bell for self-study at noon rang, Masako received a long-awaited text message——

"Masako, it's too bad, I seem to have missed a piece of Xinyu's speech, can you help me see if you have it?"

"I'll come and help you find it." After typing this reply slowly, she pressed the send button, got up from her seat and walked outside the classroom.

"Masako, where are you going?" Lu Jianer shouted from behind.

"Art Hall."

Afternoon self-study preparations, the bell is played.

The art hall is already crowded with students, and the best speakers in the third grade are all sitting in the first row of contestant seats, reviewing their manuscripts nervously, and the judges have also been seated one after another.

Masako came in from the back door of the hall. Wu Xiaomei, who was looking around in a hurry, saw her and ran over immediately, grabbed her hand and asked, "How is it, Masako? Do you have any over there?"

"I've looked for it, and there isn't one."

"Ah?" Sweat broke out on Wu Xiaomei's forehead, her face flushed and she muttered brokenly, "Too bad... Xinyu is about to lose her temper..."

"Let's look for it again." Masako said, walking up the aisle of the auditorium.

Guan Xinyu on the podium was discussing matters with the host, when she looked up and saw Wu Xiaomei next to her, her face immediately darkened.She pushed away the people beside her and walked straight down the steps: "Hello!"

Wu Xiaomei's body trembled, Guan Xinyu stood in front of her and asked impatiently, "Did you find it?"

"Uh...that..."

"Maybe I forgot it at the bookstore yesterday." Masako interjected lightly.

"What bookstore?" As expected, Guan Xinyu asked closely.

"Wuzhi Bookstore." Masako observed Guan Xinyu's expression, and said slowly and clearly.

"Wuzhi...Wuzhi Bookstore?" She raised her eyebrows, then frowned again, turned around abruptly, looked around for a while, locked a position and shouted, "Hey! Cheng Yao! "

This was beyond Masako's expectations, she immediately looked in that direction, and saw Cheng Yao, the head of the Department of Discipline, sitting beside the judges teacher to communicate, when called by Guan Xinyu, she turned her head with a frown.

"I forgot my speech in your bookstore. Call your dad and ask him to bring it to me." Guan Xinyu folded his arms and ordered firmly.

Cheng Yao stood up in extreme dissatisfaction, glanced at her, and replied coldly, "Get it yourself."

"I'm going to die." Guan Xinyu said slowly, "You and I are in the same class. There will be no other contestants in the class except the two of us. When our second class loses, I won't be the only one responsible."

Cheng Yao didn't say anything else, and after giving Guan Xinyu an annoyed look, he turned around and walked to the entrance of the hall, and took out his mobile phone to make a call.

Guan Xinyu then glared at Wu Xiaomei again, turned and left.

And Masako looked at Guan Xinyu's receding back, and Wu Xiaomei who was talking on the phone at the entrance of the hall, clasping her hands behind her back.

It turned out that it wasn't Guan Xinyu, but Cheng Yao.

"Senior sister, how did Minister Xin Yu know that the bookstore belonged to Cheng Yao's?" After the speech contest, people from the student union were responsible for clearing the place. The task was almost completed, and Masako asked her casually as they walked out of the art hall side by side with Wu Xiaomei.

"I don't know, even I just found out." Wu Xiaomei shrugged, "Cheng Yao seems to be very jealous of people asking her personal questions, so we don't know that her family runs a bookstore... Oh, I see!"

Masako looked at her.

"Xinyu's father invested in the bookstore! Maybe Cheng Yao's family just happens to have a cooperative relationship with her father!"

"Then they should have a good relationship, right?"

"No." Wu Xiaomei shook her head immediately, "the relationship is average, Cheng Yao is more solitary, and Xinyu requires many friends around her, so the two of them rarely talk in class. And Cheng Yao is very busy, she He is the head of the Disciplinary Department, and he also serves as the secretary of the Communist Youth League, and has a lot of dealings with teachers."

Masako nodded after listening, then suddenly thought of something, and called Wu Xiaomei: "Sister."

"Ok?"

"Which class are you in?"

"Me, I'm in the same class as Xinyu, Class [-], Grade [-]."

"But I remember that Yifei-senpai is from Class [-], and I happened to see you at her side last time..."

"Hehe." Wu Xiaomei smiled awkwardly, "The teachers in Class Two and Class Four are from the same group, and the homework is also assigned similarly, so in order to complete the homework, people in our two classes often visit each other."

Having said that, I just arrived at the third grade teaching building, and the students in Masako's class happened to come down one after another, and Lu Jian'er was among them.As soon as she saw Masako, she immediately waved to her excitedly.

"Why are they all down?" she asked.

"The next period is swimming class!" Lu Jian'er jumped to her side, "Our class is going to the swimming pool!"

"Then goodbye!" Wu Xiaomei said goodbye to her.

In the swimming pool, the noise echoed and sparkled.

Following the three high-fives of the swimming coach, the students stood up in a row. The coach began to explain the precautions, and the boys and girls listened absent-mindedly and whispered around.

Suddenly, two people came in at the entrance of the swimming pool. The girl who found it first couldn't help but push the arm of the friend next to her, and looked there excitedly.

"It's Duan Yousi, it's Duan Yousi!"

Masako raised her head sensitively when she heard the name, and there were indeed Duan Yousi and Wan Ye at the entrance.Holding a bunch of keys in his hand, he walked slowly along the swimming pool, step by step, the water reflected on him, the slim white shirt and gray uniform pants, so handsome that the girls couldn't help stamping their feet .

"Here it is!" After seeing him, the coach walked up to him and took the key. "Say thank you to your coach for me!"

"Ah."

He responded lightly, and seemed to have returned to his previous state.

I should feel better.

The coach shook the key to the students, and said: "You all stay here well, I will go to the storage room to get some lifebuoys, don't mess around in the water!"

The students readily agreed, and before leaving, he turned back to Duan Yousi and said, "I'll return the keys to you when I bring out the good things, just wait for a while!"

"Teacher, take your time, don't worry!" Wan Ye, who came up from behind, shouted impertinently.

Now, the girls who were able to see Duan Yousi at such a close distance became excited. He was standing idle by the pool, but the girls kept looking at him and discussing in low voices.The sound of laughter echoed in the empty swimming pool, and the water was rippling.

Wan Ye looked at the girls ruffiantly, blinked his eyes, the girls were immediately amused by him, and he laughed even harder, with an unscrupulous look on his face.

Only once, Duan Yousi glanced back and forth among the girls before falling on Masako.

And at that time, Yi Xialing, who was holding up her mobile phone to take pictures of him, stood in front of Masako in order to capture this excellent angle of view, and made a quick "click".

Duan Yousi looked away.

Yi Xialing was overjoyed. She lowered her head and quickly saved the photos. While chewing gum, she couldn't stop thinking: "You're so handsome, you're so handsome..."

Lu Jian'er gave her a contemptuous look, then shook her head.

With her hands behind her back, Masako took a step back intentionally, hiding herself behind the crowd, and the topics discussed by the girls around her reached her ears more clearly.

"Look, his chin is so beautiful, it makes people want to kiss him!"

"Oh, you're lecherous..."

"No, what I said is true, don't you want it? Don't you want it?"

"Stop talking, the more you talk, the more excited you get!"

"Also, look at his body. He's very handsome. It must be very cool to be hugged. Just standing next to me will make me die of happiness."

"Then let's make you happy, shall we?"

"what?"

"Push you to his side, maybe he will give you a hand!"

"Hey, isn't it...don't be kidding..."

"seriously!"

"Hey, isn't it? Hey, don't push me! Hey!" The girl finally shouted anxiously, but the friends around her pushed her forward mercilessly.

Masako was also taken aback, and the girl rushed through the crowd all the way towards Duan Yousi.

"Oh!" Wan Ye raised his eyebrows.

Duan Yousi also spotted the girl, and just as the girl was rushing towards her with all her teeth and claws, he slowly stepped aside. , fell into the two-meter-deep swimming pool with a "wow"!

"Ah! She can't swim!" The other girls became anxious and screamed, "She can't swim!"

The girl in the pool was thrashing wildly, shouting intermittently: "Pull me...help me..."

"Jiang Shi really can't swim!" Lu Jian'er also realized the seriousness of the situation, and grabbed Masako's hand nervously.

Yu Qi immediately rushed to find the coach, and Yi Xialing watched the fun from the sidelines.Most of the other students had no experience in diving. Facing the two-meter-deep pool, they had to lie on the edge of the pool and watch.This girl named Jiang Shi hopped farther and farther, Yang Xin couldn't reach her hand no matter what, and was extremely anxious.

At this time, with Wan Ye's loud whistle, Duan Yousi went into the water.

After he dived into the water, he popped his head out, and grabbed the girl who was flailing wildly, and the girl hugged his neck in fear.

He sent her to the edge of the pool, and the classmates immediately pulled her up together.The girl gasped in shock, Duan Yousi went ashore, soaked all over, Wan Ye immediately handed him a towel.

Masako breathed a sigh of relief, and helped Jiang Shi, who was crying in fright, to stand up.

The coach came quickly. Duan Yousi unbuttoned his shirt and said to the coach, "Use the locker room."

"Okay, there are just a few clothes in there, you wear them first!" The coach replied hastily.

Wan Ye also followed Duan Yousi, Masako looked sideways.When he walked to the entrance of the lounge, he took off his shirt and wrung it dry vigorously. His strong back tempted Yi Xialing to stare intently. Many girls couldn't help but look back, their cheeks turned red.

7
After the third class in the afternoon, another third grader came to the door of class three, second grade, and called two people's names, one was Masako and the other was Jiang Shi.

When Masako got up, she looked at Jiang Shi in the back row. The girl just calmed down, stood up for no reason, and looked at her friend in blank dismay.

On the other side, Yi Xialing sat with her legs crossed, raised her eyebrows and smiled unabashedly when facing Masako.

So, after Jiang Shi went out with those girls, she went around the tables and chairs and walked in front of Yi Xialing.

Yi Xialing raised her head and looked at her with a cold face.

"Do you know what it is?"

Yi Xialing sneered: "Why did I tell you?"

Masako was still looking at her.

So, she looked at Masako, and slowly replied: "An Qiyan will not let go of any girl who has had contact with Duan Yousi."

This sentence is shocking enough.

Masako rushed to the deserted backyard of the school, An Qiyan was already waiting there, Jiang Shi was standing beside the iron fence with her hands clamped by two girls, trembling, surrounded by girls from the student union, Yu Wenyi sat on the stone On the table, Guan Xinyu had also arrived, leaning against the iron net, watching with a smile on his face.

An Qiyan spotted her when she turned her head, so she took Masako's hand and came to Jiang Shi, grabbed her shoulders with both hands, leaned into her ear and asked softly, "Masako, are we good friends?"

Jiang Shi's hair was a little messy, and her eyes were red with fright.

"Yes." Masako replied softly.

"Hit her." An Qiyan's voice sounded like a curse.

Masako gripped the hem of the skirt tightly with both hands.

"Hit her." An Qiyan continued.

Yu Wenyi folded her arms and watched quietly, Guan Xinyu smiled, Jiang Shi cried out as the girl moved around.

"What did she do wrong?"

"She bumped into Yoss, it's a mistake." An Qiyan said calmly, grabbed Masako's shoulders with both hands, and pushed her forward again.

Jiang Shi choked back with sobs, but was clamped tightly by the girls, and let out a low hum in pain.

"She didn't do it on purpose, she fell into the water at that time."

"The purpose of falling into the water is for Yoss to save her." An Qiyan continued with a mean smile, "Their small group has been discussing Yoss for a long time."

Masako frowned, and couldn't help but look sideways at her.

How much eyeliner does she have?

And An Qiyan also looked at Masako, and at the same time pulled her right hand, aiming at Jiang Shi's left cheek: "It's very simple, just use a little force, and many problems will be solved."

Masako shook her head, trying to break free from her hand, but was held firmly by An Qiyan, and threw it directly at Jiang Shi.

"He will be angry if he finds out!" She quickly stopped An Qiyan's hand with her left hand.

"Who?" An Qiyan replied quickly, "Who dares to tell him?" Then she looked at Jiang Shi and asked loudly, "Do you dare to tell him?"

Jiang Shi hurriedly shook her head.

"Hit!" she ordered Masako.

"He will only get further and further away from you!" Masako pulled out her hand forcefully.

"You're teaching me how to love Duan Yousi, aren't you?" An Qiyan shifted her target and grabbed her by the collar sideways, "I tell you, that's how to love!"

"How can you let her go?"

"The word 'let go' is not in my dictionary!"

Masako immediately looked at Yu Wenyi.

Yu Wenyi looked surprised.

"Then..." She withdrew her gaze and stared at An Qiyan, "There is another person..."

"Whispering words!" Yu Wenyi shouted suddenly.

An Qiyan let go of Masako's collar and looked at Yu Wenyi.

"Class is coming soon, how about next time..." Yu Wenyi glanced at Masako from the corner of her eye, and said slowly.

An Qiyan raised her hand and glanced at her watch, pondered for a while, then looked at Masako with a smile, "Can you swim?"

Masako shook her head.

"She can't either." An Qiyan pointed at Jiang Shi, "But as long as you teach her to swim in a week, then let it go, otherwise I'll throw her into the swimming pool and have someone rescue her again."

She was silent.

An Qiyan smiled lightly: "You, a person who can't swim, must teach her."

Afterwards, accompanied by the bell for class, An Qiyan and all the girls left the backyard one after another.When Guan Xinyu clapped her hands and passed in front of Masako, she smiled and said, "What courage."

Masako walked over to help the limp Jiang Shi.

"However." Guan Xinyu continued, "If it were me, I wouldn't be so stupid."

The class bell rang, echoing harshly throughout the campus.

Jiang Shi grabbed the hem of Masako's clothes and fell to the ground, her shoulders twitched, her eyes staring blankly ahead.

"Masako...what should I do..."

After school, Masako pushed open the door of the swimming pool, and there was no one in the pool, and the sound of footsteps echoed in her ears.She folded her arms and approached the pool, looking at the reflection in the waves.

wobble... wobble...

Suddenly, a picture flashed by. The woman in the water had black hair and rose red lips. She looked at Masako with a smile and stretched out her hand toward the water.

Masako was startled, and when she was about to take a step back, someone grabbed her shoulder.

She turned around quickly, only to see that it was Duan Yousi.

Just like what happened on the side of the road last time, she panicked into a cold sweat.He looked down at her: "What are you looking at?"

"No..." She managed to regain her composure, shook her head and answered, "It's dizziness..."

He looked at her for a while longer, nodded, and let go of her shoulders.

"Teach me how to swim?" Masako cut to the chase.

He listened, put his hands in his trouser pockets, and smiled: "That's why you invited me over?"

She nodded: "OK?"

The afterglow of the setting sun shone on Duan Yousi's hair through the glass window above the swimming pool. He untied his watch, took out his wallet and mobile phone one by one, and then lowered his head and rolled up his sleeves one by one, slowly Ask: "How many days does An Qiyan give you?"

She was slightly taken aback: "You know?"

"She has eyeliner, and so do I." He said lightly, "How many days?"

"7 days."

"Then start from now." As soon as he finished speaking, he pushed Masako's waist, Masako had no time to react, and slid into the pool with a "wow".

The water in the pool was icy cold, and there was another wave of entering the water, and then there was a steady force on the waist. Masako was lifted up by him, and after emerging from the water, she kept coughing and shaking, and hugged his neck in panic.

"Did you bring your clothes?" he asked.

"No, Tikka...no..."

"Is it cold?"

She shook her head and nodded.

"Then move." He said, let go of her waist, and grabbed her hands instead.

Masako was so scared that she choked several times in the following time.

The sky was getting dark, and the swimming pool without lights was getting quieter and quieter, only the sound of rushing water remained.

After practicing for about two hours, Masako was able to swim a little bit. Duan Yousi picked up the mobile phone by the pool and looked at it, then hugged Masako's waist and carried her ashore: "That's it for today."

(End of this chapter)