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Bonus chapter! Thank you to alyanna for the donation! ^^
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Ning Su widened his eyes, listening to the deep and rapid beating of his heart, staring at him in a daze.
He did feel a bit down.
Last night, Ling Xiao said that it didn’t matter if his memories were gone.
After all, he was in those memories, too.
So, did it mean it wouldn’t matter if he forgot about him, too?
At that moment, Ning Su realized he didn’t want Ling Xiao to forget him.
If Ling Xiao forgot him, even if they met again, they might not share the same world anymore.
Moreover, there was a possibility that once Ling Xiao forgot him, he might never see him again—the system might take him away during his amnesia.
He had gone through so much to find him.
But upon hearing Ling Xiao’s words, the suffocating pressure on his chest was completely swept away by the rapid beating of his heart.
The feeling of their hearts beating together, heavy and full, filled his chest with warmth and restlessness.
Ning Su tightly grasped his hand, as if holding onto his most precious treasure, and pursed his lips as he looked at him. “Don’t worry. If it takes your memories, I’ll swallow it whole.”
Ling Xiao looked at him and let out a low laugh.
The morning sunlight at eight o’clock fell on one side of his face. The deep and shadowed eyes now lit up, clearly reflecting the image of Ning Su within them.
Ning Su watched as he raised his head with a smile, reaching out to undo the tie around his neck.
The black school tie of Qingyi High School was casual in style, loosely tied, and with a gentle pull of his cool, slender fingers, it came undone effortlessly.
Once the tie was removed, the collar became loose and relaxed.
From the slightly moving Adam’s apple on his neck, down to the clearly defined collarbone, his loose white shirt highlighted his straight and broad shoulders.
Then he began to undo Ning Su’s school tie.
His strong fingers pressed against Ning Su’s collarbone, moving slightly with the action of untying the tie.
Ning Su couldn’t tell if the heat there was from Ling Xiao’s fingers, from the friction, or from something else.
He stared blankly at Ling Xiao’s neck, the light and shadow dancing around it. With the loosened collar, his neck appeared even longer, the cold white skin faintly revealing the blood vessels beneath.
Ning Su swallowed hard. It must taste really good.
The hand untying his tie suddenly froze, remaining still for a long time.
At Qingyi High School, professionals handled hygiene, so there wasn’t any unpleasant odor in the restroom. The citrus scent of the air freshener couldn’t quite mask the fresh, green smell of the plants.
In the small space, the plant’s green scent became less sharp and more mellow due to the warmth.
The hurried footsteps in the restroom came and went, and suddenly, the sound of breathing broke through the silence.
Ning Su, feeling uncomfortable, moved his neck slightly. The black tie around his neck was tugged, and it slipped a little between Ling Xiao’s thumb and index finger.
Both of them stared at it for a few seconds.
Ning Su softly asked, “Why are we taking off our clothes?”
Because his voice was lowered, the young man’s tone sounded husky and soft.
Ling Xiao suddenly tightened his grip on the tie and said in a deep voice, “We’re not taking off our clothes.”
“Then…”
“Bang, bang! Bang, bang, bang!”
“Well, well, you two are actually in there taking off your clothes! Come out right now!!!”
“…”
At some point, the class bell had rung, but neither of them noticed.
The two of them, who didn’t go to class, were caught in the same bathroom stall by a teacher from the discipline office, with their collars wide open and their clothes disheveled.
Caught red-handed.
The female teacher from the discipline office, wearing high heels, angrily pointed at them and said, “I knew there was something suspicious about you two!”
Ning Su blinked and said, “Girls can go to the bathroom together, so can we.”
The female teacher was about to be infuriated. “Do girls go to the bathroom together, go into the same stall, and take off their clothes together?”
Ning Su: “...”
Ning Su looked at Ling Xiao, “Teacher, you should ask him.”
Ling Xiao, who was holding two ties: “...”
Ling Xiao: “I already said we weren’t taking off our clothes.”
“What were you doing, then?”
Ling Xiao: “Fixing our attire.”
“???”
Teacher: “Do you think I’m stupid?”
Ning Su: “Why don’t you go check the surveillance cameras, teacher? We really didn’t do anything.”
The teacher was so angry that she almost laughed. “What kind of school is so perverted that it installs surveillance cameras in the restroom?”
Ning Su was surprised. “Our school doesn’t have them installed?”
Teacher: “...”
The teacher’s chest heaved rapidly. After a moment, she suddenly flashed a sinister smile. “It doesn’t matter whether you did something or not. Hanging out in the restroom during class time is a violation of school rules. Both of you, go to the Reflection Hall and write a self-criticism.”
Ning Su was taken aback.
The male teacher next to the female teacher quickly interjected, “Director, Ning Su ranked 16th in the grade on the mock exam and got a perfect score in math. He’s a promising student.”
Another teacher added, “Yes, both neckties were in Ling Xiao’s hands. Ning Su is a well-behaved and good student. It must have been Ling Xiao who dragged him into the restroom to take off his clothes.”
“…”
The Director of Student Affairs nodded. “In that case, let Ling Xiao write the self-criticism alone.”
Ling Xiao: “Fine, but let me use the restroom first.”
The female teacher gave him a suspicious look before angrily leaving.
With no one else in the restroom, the two of them stood by the sink.
Ling Xiao stood in front of Ning Su, his head slightly lowered as he tied a necktie for him.
Ning Su lowered his gaze and saw the gray embroidery on the tie, suddenly understanding why he was doing this.
The neckties of Qingyi High School’s uniforms had embroidery on them, which included the school’s English name and the student’s name.
The small pinyin* of the name was subtly placed along the edge of the large school name. (T/N: Pinyin is a Romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese, which uses the Roman alphabet to represent Chinese sounds.)
The tie Ling Xiao was putting on him had Ling Xiao’s name embroidered on it.
The tie looped around Ning Su’s neck, passed through his collar, and crossed beneath his neck.
Ling Xiao looked down seriously as he tied the knot and tightened it.
Then he took Ning Su’s tie and tied it around his own neck.
“This is our amnesia code.”
Ning Su returned to the classroom alone.
The first class in the morning was math. Even though he was late, the math teacher didn’t say anything and just smiled, telling him to quickly take his seat.
Ning Su sat down and listened to the class for a while before turning to look at Zhou Xiang.
Zhou Xiang wasn’t paying attention to the class; he was lying on the desk, writing something.
He was probably writing Lu Yue’s name.
Ning Su reached into the hole under his desk and felt for Wang Zhiqiu’s name.
Wang Zhiqiu had carved his own name into the desk hole.
Xia Mengyu had written her own name and her family members’ names on a piece of scrap paper.
Zhou Xiang had written Lu Yue’s name on the inside of his school uniform shirt.
He looked down at the tie on his white shirt; the inside corner bore Ling Xiao’s name.
After class, Ling Xiao’s desk mate, Zhong Huiling, asked Ning Su, “Hey? What happened to my desk mate? Why didn’t he come to class?”
Ning Su didn’t know how to respond.
Should he say that a teacher from the discipline office caught them while untying their ties in the bathroom?
Even though he didn’t say anything, the scene of Ling Xiao naturally tying the black tie embroidered with “Ning Su” around his neck still flashed in his mind.
Thanks for the update!! 🤭🤩😍
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