16.1

Fiery Red Kiss

Zhong Yuan was hard.

My thigh was pressed between his legs, pressed against something hard and solid. I could feel that burning feeling very distinctly, transferring through layers of clothing onto my leg. And then it transferred up my nerves to my head. And then my thoughts turned into a mess…

When someone comes across such an embarrassing situation, the most common response is to freeze with a blank expression on their face. In that moment, I was no exception. My leg felt like it had been frozen in place, and all my thoughts were stuck on that source of heat. And so I lied on top of Zhong Yuan, frozen, staring blankly.

Zhong Yuan was also motionless on the ground. His body seemed a bit stiff. His breathing seemed a bit rough too, probably because I’d fallen too heavily onto him. He was nearly gasping as he struggled to say, “B-blockhead, are you planning on molesting me right now…?”

When I heard that, my thoughts flew back into my head. I quickly climbed up and got off of him. My head drooped as I couldn’t look at him. My face looked like it had been painted with a layer of chili sauce. It was so unbearably hot. Oh my god, this was so embarrassing! No, wait. It’s Zhong Yuan who was disgraceful!

Zhong Yuan sat up, his arms supporting him from behind. “Blockhead, you’re really quite passionate.”

I glared at him, and when I saw his ambiguous smiling-but-not expression, I only grew angrier. He was obviously the one who should be embarrassed, so why was he enjoying the moment so much?!

Just then, Zhong Yuan added annoyingly, “But however passionate you are, you should know there’s a time and place for that kind of thing.”

I clenched my fists and then released them. Forget it. It was an accident. We don’t have to go over the details. There’s especially no need to talk with a guy like Zhong Yuan!
—

In the bus, on the way back to school, someone asked Zhong Yuan about his moment of suffering. Zhong Yuan replied calmly, “It was nothing.”

So then others started joking around. They talked about how it might affect his happiness for the rest of his life, that he should get a checkup at the hospital, and so on. Their expressions when they were talking about it were so very vulgar.

Zhong Yuan remained unfazed though. He said, “I’m really fine. Mu Er can testify to it.”

Suddenly, the bus went deathly silent…

I was sitting next to Zhong Yuan with my eyes closed, pretending to be knocked out. Meanwhile, in my head, he was in the midst of death by a thousand cuts.
—

When I got back to my room that night, I got a call from Little Jie. She regretfully informed me that the 200 yuan I’d bet on Senior Ling Ling had skipped away.

I didn’t believe it. “That’s not right, is it? Although Senior Ling Ling was injured, I wasn’t the one to hit her. It should count as my disqualification, right?”

Little Jie sighed. She said, “That all depends on the president. He was the referee after all.”

I wasn’t happy. “Even if he was the referee, he can’t just distort the facts…” This was a problem touching on economics, which made it very serious!

Little Jie replied, “The president said that when you two set the conditions of the match, no one said that you couldn’t get help.”

Sweat. Can he do that? Did the president get his head chewed on by a dog???

Little Jie added, “The key point is that the president bet 100 yuan. On you.”

I was speechless.

So the president was one of those awful, cunning and treacherous types!